Incarnation 32 - Gospel of John - Nate Prazuch - John 11:1-16

[00:00:10] Well, like we said, we are getting into John 11 today after a couple weeks in different areas of Scripture. But this chapter is the central chapter of John. Now it doesn't mean it's the most important or least important, but it is in the middle.

[00:00:25] And those chapter divisions did not come until many, many years after the Gospel is written. But just to give you an idea of where we are in John, 21 chapters and we're at the very center.

[00:00:37] We won't be able to get through the entire chapter today, so we'll break it up a little bit. But we'll begin in John 11. And of course, in John 11 we have the account of the raising of Lazarus.

[00:00:50] And if you go back to a couple weeks ago on John 10, John 10 was a really a theological dense chapter. There are so many doctrines in John 10 and Jesus gave us all of these pieces of knowledge and wisdom through an illustration.

[00:01:07] It was a really wonderful illustration of the good shepherd and his sheep. And so there are many doctrines and teachings that we've learned just through that little story. We learned about how salvation works that Jesus came to save and to seek and save the lost.

[00:01:25] We learned about the effectual call when he calls us. When he calls his people, they all come to him. Just like the video of all the sheep.

[00:01:33] We learned from people who remember that. They wouldn't come. They wouldn't come. They heard their shepherd and they ran. They all ran to him. God's sheep know his voice. I've learned about limited atonement and not all people will be saved.

[00:01:46] But that there will be people that are saved definitely and God has determined that. And so we are to go and help preach the gospel. We learned about the fact that God preserves all the believers until they read their last breath and enter into the kingdom.

[00:02:03] The Holy Spirit seals us until the day of redemption and Ephesians tells us. whom Jesus saves, he saves forever. And so all these things just from our previous chapter, which are deep theological truths, are a little different than what we're going to have in John 11.

[00:02:24] And this is something different, something a little different. And we all like variety, variety is the spice of life. So in John 10, we have an illustration. A word picture from Jesus to teach us. Well now in John 11, we have a historical account of something that actually happened.

[00:02:43] The illustration he gave about the shepherd and the sheep. That was like a parable. It was a story, a word picture. An example. But this, in John 11, is something that actually happened a historical event. And it was amazing. And it was Jesus' pinnacle miracle to this point.

[00:03:03] And so we'll read from John 11, verse 1, and John writes. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary, her sister Martha. It was Mary who had knighted the Lord with ointment, and white his feet with her hair. Whose brother Lazarus was ill.

[00:03:25] So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. 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.

[00:03:39] Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister in Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again.

[00:03:53] The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. And are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he is not stumble. But he sees the light of this world.

[00:04:09] But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I go to awaken him. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.

[00:04:24] Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told him, plainly, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I'm glad that I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him.

[00:04:41] So Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. That's pretty good. They're heavenly Father. This is your word that you've given us and so we pray for understanding this morning as we walk through it.

[00:05:01] We trust that you put these words in the scripture for our benefits so that we identify ourselves and corporately in the body of Christ, and that you are glorified. Holy Spirit, have your way as we look at John 11 together in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:05:21] And so the Aconv Lazarus does fill the entire chapter of John 11, but we can't cover it today. And we'll go through the first 16 verses Lord willing. And in the first four verses, John introduces us to a few characters in the Aconv.

[00:05:38] In verse 1, he begins now a certain man was ill. Lazarus of Bethany, the first character in the story, the village of Marion, there's sister Martha, two more. He was Marion who had knighted the Lord with oightments and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

[00:05:55] So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. Jesus of course in the Aconv take center stage.

[00:06:07] And we also have Marion, it's the same Marion that in actually John 12 will read about how she wiped Jesus' feet with ointment and with her hair at her sister Martha. And then we have who John calls a certain man.

[00:06:26] It's kind of like how they say in the newspapers, a Florida man did this or did that. Fun on alligator on the Gulf Curse if you heard those stories. A Florida man, well, John says a certain man could be any man. And Lazarus was actually a common name.

[00:06:41] This wasn't the same Lazarus that we may have remembered from Luke 16, the story of Lazarus and the rich man Lazarus was a common name. It was from the Hebrew LEAZAR. And so there were probably many Lazarus' around, but this was a certain man Lazarus. Could have been anyone.

[00:07:02] John introduces us to many people that Jesus interacts with in his gospel. We think back to John chapter 4 when he said a woman from Samaria who came to draw water. Just a woman could have been any woman. That day Jesus taught her about spiritual thirst.

[00:07:18] And he told her that he gives us living water. Well, that was a real story that happened, a real event, a real account of woman from Samaria. Really did go to that well and meet Jesus' heaven interaction was taught about spiritual thirst.

[00:07:35] And he mentions that I'm living water. I give you living water. In John 6, fast forward a couple chapters. Jesus saw the large crowd following thousands of people, the nameless faces of crowds. He saw a large crowd and he fed them by the thousands.

[00:07:55] And Jesus that they taught them about spiritual hunger. And he told them that he was the bread of life. A real account. Things really happened. But I use that to teach a very important spiritual lesson. I mean, look at John chapter 9.

[00:08:14] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. Just a man blind from birth. That day Jesus taught him about spiritual blindness. He said how Jesus takes these opportunities and he makes them into amazing truth, lessons for us.

[00:08:34] That day, he told that man that Jesus was the light of the world. And so now here today in John 11, Jesus deals with his friend Lazarus. Now it's his friend. Somebody he knows. He knows Mary. He knows Martha. And he knows Lazarus. There is friends.

[00:08:52] They are not the dangerous faces of a crowd or just some woman in Samaria or just some man who was blind from birth. This is Lazarus we're talking about. And during that account, he teaches us about spiritual death.

[00:09:08] And he tells us that he is the resurrection and the life. Amen? Your first note if you're taking notes. So as the events in Scripture are not merely there to fill space. There to reveal who God is and to define our relationship with him.

[00:09:31] Who's God and who is he to me? Kind of like they say, who are you and why should I care? I'm going to be able to talk to you that way. Who has gotten and what does it mean for me? How do I relate to him?

[00:09:48] These aren't just nice stories and cute little fuzzy sheep stories with the shepherd. These have immense and deep and heavy theological truth which will get you through those tough times in life. Because if all you have for dinner is dessert, you're going to be hungry.

[00:10:06] What I mean by that is if all you focus on in your spiritual walk is our superficial things. They're not going to get you through the tough times.

[00:10:14] What's going to get you through the tough times is the knowing, the knowledge of your strong foundation in Christ and faith. And who he is? He's my Redeemer even if I lose my physical body and death. I'm still alive in Christ. That's what gets you through.

[00:10:32] As we go through the Scriptures are we, I hope, becoming better able to see these great spiritual truths in Jesus' teachings and his interactions in Scripture. Hopefully we can see now it's not just a story about sheep and a shepherd.

[00:10:46] This is a story about how God finds you through his son Jesus Christ and the Gospel and he brings you into the flock. How if you're spiritually blind, he comes through the Gospel message and shows you by the light of the world who he is. The truth.

[00:11:02] And how if you're spiritually dead, he brings you in life. And we'll see more about that as we go in the following week or two about how much Lazarus wanted to come.

[00:11:16] Lazarus wanted to come out of that grave or did he because he was dead, did he want anything? Was he even aware? Spiritual death. And so these things happened. For us to know who Jesus is, how will you relate to him?

[00:11:36] And I love how Jesus gives us these lessons through what I like to call glorified object lessons. You know we have object lessons sometimes in kids' church or Sunday school. But he was this big object lessons. How many feet about 5,000 people today?

[00:11:52] As an object lesson to teach you about how I'm the bread of life. That's our Lord. And so there was a certain man who was ill. You ever been a certain man or woman that was ill? I have.

[00:12:07] Well in this, in this, the first few verses here, let's take verses three and five together because they both mention love. And then we'll go back to verse four, sandwiched in between there. Verse three says, so the sister sent to him saying, Lord, who you love is ill?

[00:12:23] Well, we would probably respond in a certain way. All of the person I love is ill. Oh no. You look a little closer to the Greek word here for love. Translated love and English is fulletal. You might have heard that in the before it's brotherly love.

[00:12:41] Oh, that's where we get the name for Philadelphia. They call it Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Philio. According to Mary and Martha, his sisters, Lazarus sisters, Jesus loved Lazarus like a brother. Love them like a brother.

[00:13:02] Let's look at how John speaks of the Jesus had for Lazarus in verse five now. It says, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Right, that's what we just read in verse three. English says love. Lazarus, Jesus, Martha, Mary, there's love here like a family, right?

[00:13:25] Brotherly love in verse three and verse five, however, the word here, excuse me, in Greek, different word for love. The word here in verse five is Agapao or where we get the word Agapé. That's a godly love. It's a different kind of love.

[00:13:44] You don't greet there seven or eight different words for love depending on what type of love. Brotherly love, the love you have for a brother. Godly love, Agapé love. The kind of love God has for his people unconditional.

[00:13:56] If your mind, your mind, I'll never let you go that type of love. There's error, love between man and wife. There's different kinds of love but in English we just also love. I wish we had more sometimes articulate language that we could say, well,

[00:14:12] you know, I love my wife but I also love cheeseburgers. But there's, we know there's a difference there. Greek is very precise. What kind of love? You love me. How do you love me? Well here in John chapter 11 we see Martha Mary said,

[00:14:29] the one you love like a brother is sick and John the Apostle says, no, no, he's more than that. Jesus loves Lazarus and Mary Martha the way God loves his people. From Thayer's Greek lexicon, I like reading from commentaries because they already did all the homework

[00:14:47] and now we just get the benefit. Okay so here's from Thayer's Greek lexicon. Lexicon is a collection of work that shows us in a different language, how that language was used at that time because word meanings change through time and everything.

[00:15:01] So this word Agapé all, this type of love that God has for his people is the kind of love that Jesus had for Lazarus. And Thayer says, used often in the first epistle of John of the love of Christians toward one another.

[00:15:12] The Christian kind of love of the benevolence which God in providing salvation for men has exhibited by sending his son to them and giving him up to death. This is the ultimate kind of love. That's Agapé love.

[00:15:28] This is the love that's found in John 316 for God so loved the world. It says, God so Agapéed the world. Yes Jesus loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha like his own brothers and sisters sure but he did love them much more than that. He knew them.

[00:15:48] She loved them in a way that God loves the world. Now in between these two verses three and five we have verse four. Talking about where Jesus clearly states the purpose for Lazarus illness is important. Verse four.

[00:16:06] 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.

[00:16:18] Lazarus illness was for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. He said, well Lord why am I sick? Well he answered the question here in Lazarus case. Your sickness is for the glory of God.

[00:16:32] Do you think that would make Lazarus feel any better? No, okay but I still really feel sick. And I just wonder if that's how we perceive our sicknesses and our illness as in our diseases. God how can you be glorified through this?

[00:16:49] You know I haven't shard in three days. I feel sick. My head is going to explode. I'm just nauseous. How are you glorified through this? I feel like I'm about to die. Jesus said this illness does not lead to death. But Lazarus died.

[00:17:14] You see Jesus is not as concerned with physical life as he is with spiritual life. But we are. We're more concerned about physical life. We shouldn't be and theoretically we say, oh yes we are.

[00:17:31] We're very concerned with spiritual life and but when it comes down to it we really care about the physical life. The only. We fear death at times. No way.

[00:17:45] Many of us if not all of us have kids and I am always concerned about the safety of my kids, especially if they're doing dangerous things. I fear that there'll be injured. I fear that there will be hurt or God forbid even killed. But here Jesus says,

[00:18:01] I'm not so concerned about the physical. Not as concerned as you are about it. I'm concerned about the spiritual and you should be too. But he sees what we can't see. And he's more concerned with the eternal things. More concerned than we are at times.

[00:18:25] And we should be more concerned about eternal things. In fact, we should just be concerned with eternal things. Let alone more concerned about eternal things. Jesus said that the purpose of this or deal with Lazarus was for the glory of God.

[00:18:40] And that's so the son of God may be glorified through it. You see, we view our sicknesses very differently than how God sees them. Very differently. Because our sickness is all about us. I feel sick. I can't go to work. You have to deal with the work.

[00:19:00] I have to stay home. I have to rest. I don't feel good. Your next note says, God is even working through our sickness for His glory. He is. It's coming up over the past weeks. And I'll say it again. I guess it's just part of life.

[00:19:20] A common part of life that the Christian should suffer well. Because not only is the world watching because you see your Christian. You've got to target on your back already, but the Lord's watching. Are you going to bring shame to His name because you don't suffer well?

[00:19:38] To go through trials and tribulations after He said, Don't worry about anything. Even if you die, you'll live. We should suffer well. He's working through all of the sickness, through all the illness, somehow for His glory. Verse 6. So when He heard that Lazarus was ill,

[00:20:02] He ran immediately to help. It's not what it said. So when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stopped everything He was doing and dropped it and just went to His house and healed Him. That's what we expect to read.

[00:20:16] But it says so when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. What? God, you love Lazarus. You love Him like God loves His people. When you think that Jesus would want to stop and drop everything

[00:20:33] and go to His friend and save Him. He loves Lazarus. He loves the whole family, Martha Mary. Yes, you would think that. And I would think that if your ways were His ways and if your thoughts were His thoughts, you might think differently.

[00:20:52] But those two things don't always align. My thoughts and God's thoughts, my ways and God's ways. We know that. God hears what I would do in the situation. Go to Lazarus right away and heal Him. God says, oh, that's not what I'm going to do.

[00:21:06] What do you mean? Why not? That's what makes sense. But see, Mary and Martha's objective was focused on helping that Jesus would do that. That He would come straight away to save the brother's life, but Jesus had a different objective.

[00:21:24] I don't really think it's that hard to understand and believe that the Lord would have a different objective than we do about our lives. You think if you gave the opportunity to write out the plan for your life, and then you did that,

[00:21:41] and then He gave you the plan for your life. Would they manage? Absolutely not. We'd never have a cold. We'd never get sick. Well, in my plan, I don't get sick, Lord. You've got a bunch of sicknesses here. What's that about? He says, no, that's the plan.

[00:21:57] And I'll be glorified by that. That's how it is. It's not hard to understand. So why are we so surprised when we get sick? When we go through trials. Financial, relationship, loss. The Christian shouldn't be. You know if there's one thing about God,

[00:22:14] it's that He always has the best objectives. He's got the best plan. And He accomplishes them all. Look at Isaiah 46, a famous passage. Verse 9, I am God. He speaks to Isaiah. There is no other. I am God. And there's none like me declaring the end from the beginning.

[00:22:36] And from ancient times things not yet done, saying, my console shall stand. And I will accomplish all my purpose. That's who God is. Praise God for that. Your next note. God accomplishes all His objectives. And all His objectives have a purpose.

[00:22:54] It's just that our objectives and His objectives are not always the same. And who's objectives? Would you rather be accomplishing rather than God's? Yours? Hi. Verse 10. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to Him,

[00:23:25] Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. And you're going to go back again. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day? He does not stumble because He sees the light of this world.

[00:23:38] But if anyone walks in the night, He stumbles because the light is not in Him. Remember, back to John 10, the previous chapter. Jesus had slipped away from the Jews who had cornered Him. And they were about to stone Him and it said that they picked up stones again

[00:23:53] to stone Him. They were going to stone Him right there. And to stone doesn't just mean to throw a couple rocks. It means to stone to death. He just got out of there. And how he's going to go back? But the disciples says, are you crazy?

[00:24:07] Well, how does he respond? Well, he's a response by telling them a little proverb about there's 12 hours in the day. And there's 12 hours in the night. And if you walk by the day, you won't stumble. You walk in night. You're going to stumble. What does that mean?

[00:24:28] Back to first nine. Are there not 12 hours in the day? The Jews at that time measured the day by the day light hours. 12 hours of sunlight, 12 hours of moonlight or darkness. If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because you can see where you're going.

[00:24:46] You don't trip over things because he sees the light of the world. If anyone walks in the night, that's a different story. You're going to stumble because the light is not in him. What does this mean? Another commentary, Myers commentary. This is what it means.

[00:25:03] The sense of Jesus' allegorical answer here is this. The time appointed to me by God for working is not yet elapsed. My time is not up. 12 hours in the day. God has fixed the day to be a certain amount of time.

[00:25:20] And the night to be a certain amount of time. And it's fixed. You can't change it. You can't add an hour or take away an hour. And so by this, Jesus is saying, The time that God has appointed for me, it's not up yet.

[00:25:32] It's not my time yet. So if I go to Judea, we'll be fine. As long as it lasts, no one can do anything to me. But when it shall have come to an end, I shall fall into the hands of my enemies. This is still there. Myers commentary.

[00:25:50] Like him who walketh in the night and who stumble because he's without light. He can't see. So of course at night you're going to stumble and fall. Your time is about up. And what do we do when we get old? We stumble.

[00:26:01] We don't walk as fast and we fall and we die. Because that's the curse of sin. But in this way, giving his disciples this little proverb, Jesus, kind of comforts his disciples.

[00:26:19] He sets aside the anxiety on the one hand by directing their attention to the fact that his time is not yet up. There's still time to work. Jesus still has things to do.

[00:26:31] And the father will not allow anything to happen to him until all those things are accomplished. Until that time, we should be about our father's business on earth. Like he was even from the age of a child. He was in the temple as Francis.

[00:26:48] Why are we in the temple? He says, don't you know he should be about my father's business? We should be doing that. If we're here breathing today, there's something more that we should be doing for the Lord. Job 14 tells us that man's day or the days are determined.

[00:27:07] We don't live forever. So why are we surprised when people round us that we love? Say God, how could you let this happen? Our time is when God's Cesitous. Our time is up when he says it's up, not before. And not after.

[00:27:30] And that's what Jesus was saying here. And he knew that it was not his time yet. And that's how we should live through our sufferings and through our toils.

[00:27:37] Your next note here says that the Christian can confidently say nothing will happen to me that has outside the plan of God. Nothing will happen to me. That's outside the plan of God. How can I say that?

[00:27:53] You can confidently say nothing's going to happen to me outside the plan. I know that because God's in control. Because God's God. Nothing will happen to me outside God's plan. Now my plan, that's different. Things are going to happen to me outside my plan every day.

[00:28:13] But I suggest that if you can't say that, if you can't say that nothing's going to happen to me outside God's plan, then you're there saying one or two things. You're either saying that God's really not in control of everything. It's really not God, that is he?

[00:28:28] Or that you simply don't approve of his plan for your life. And both options should cause us to reconsider our very standing before God Almighty. Shouldn't it? Am I going to complain to God? God, why'd you do that? I had a better way.

[00:28:48] We could have figured that out. Think of who you are and who God is. Maybe we need to refresh your memory about Isaiah 46 again. I just read it. He says, I am God. There's no other. I am God. There's not like me declaring the end from the beginning.

[00:29:08] I will say how it goes. From ancient times, things not yet done saying my council shall stand. Not yours. And I will accomplish all my purpose. Other translations I do whatever I want because he's God. Your next note says,

[00:29:31] when we complain and I know this is including all of us, when we complain about our circumstances, we're essentially arguing with God. What are you thinking there? How could you do that? How could you allow that? Any answer to you?

[00:29:45] Both Mary and Martha at separate times did this. In John 11 we'll see you next week. They both said, Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here, if you'd only have been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died. That's if Jesus didn't know that. But that wasn't the plan. Jesus had bigger plans.

[00:30:12] And Jesus had better plans. But how could God allow the man to be born blind? God, what a life that would be. How could you allow that? Jesus said, that was according to plan. Well, God, how could you let Lazarus die? You love him? You love his family?

[00:30:37] How could you let that happen? There'd have to be a better way. Well, Jesus said it was according to plan. But God, how could you let the only innocent man who'd ever lived? You're son. Be beaten and murdered because that was according to plan. That's why.

[00:31:00] Look at Acts chapter 4, verse 27. For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you ennaunted, both herred and Pontius pilot, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

[00:31:20] He says that was all according to plan. It wouldn't have been my plan. Wouldn't have been your plan. But it was according to his plan. And it worked out perfectly. Because of Christ's murder on the cross, we have salvation.

[00:31:47] His blood was shed, the perfect blood of a person, truly man, was spilled and it washed away all of our sins. Once we have faith in Christ, we're saved. Because of that. We see that even the most heinous crime, tragedy, and human history, the murder of Jesus,

[00:32:14] God's son, he never did anything wrong, was according to plan. I can't add a single hour to my life. You can't add a single hour to yours. I can't take one away, not from God's plan. No one can shorten or lengthen the day or night. They're fixed.

[00:32:37] They're fixed by God himself. So what do we take from that? Well, don't worry, Christian. Don't complain as much. Don't be afraid. These are easy to say. Harder to do. Embrace your course. You know there's a saying. I believe it's in the Marine Corps. I could be wrong.

[00:33:03] I'm not a military man but I've heard this. One of the things is everything's perfect. And when you're in the foxhole and it's raining and it's cold and you're freezing, and everything's wet and you can't load your weapon because there's mud in the chamber.

[00:33:19] You just look at your partner and say, hey, everything's perfect. I'm embracing this. They say embrace the suck. Because sometimes it sucks. Be content in your circumstances. Paul told us that. And Philippians for. Yeah, but Lord, my circumstances are very hard right now. These are exceptional circumstances, Lord.

[00:33:46] He says, be content. Some will die for the sake of Christ. It's all according to plan. Verse 11. After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I go to awaken him. The disciple said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover.

[00:34:15] Now Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them, plainly, Lazarus has died. The disciple seemed confused and I think I would have been to. Mary and Martha first come and say, hey, Lazarus, he's sick.

[00:34:33] And then Jesus says, well, this illness doesn't last. It doesn't lead to death. Okay, well, this is his whole pair. He's sick. What does it lead to death? Then they hear, Jesus said, the Lazarus is falling asleep. Okay, we'll son of he's sick. Not going to die.

[00:34:50] We're now sleeping. Jesus is going to go awaken him. And then Jesus says, no, no, Lazarus is dead. The disciples, what is going on? They must have been confused. You've ever felt that way in your life. Everybody confused by the work of God that's happening in your life.

[00:35:11] Like, Lord, you're doing a lot of work in my life here. It's been a tough six months or six years. I'm confused about why, how are you being glorified through this? Give me some answers. Lord, please, I'm confused.

[00:35:27] You might seem like God must have forgotten that you're having a hard time. He's got other things going on. He'll get back to you in a minute. Like when things don't seem to be going according to a plan. God, have you seen what's happening here?

[00:35:48] It's not going to plan. He says, which plan are you talking about? We don't know this famous verse Romans 828. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose, according to His purpose,

[00:36:14] according to His objective, according to His plan, His plan. We complain so much why because it's not going according to my plan. You can take your plan and say, here, Lord, do what you will because my plans are not working out. I'll trust you with your plan.

[00:36:34] Your next note, says when you find that you don't understand God's purposes and objectives in your life, lay down your confusion and trust the plan. What else can you do?

[00:36:46] Get a new plan, get a different plan, get a better plan, just say, God, you don't want to make the plan. I'll trust you. I'll trust your plan. Remember, God does whatever He purposes to do. And nothing will ever happen without God's consent. Otherwise, He wouldn't be God.

[00:37:06] If something ever happened without God's consent, would He still be God? It'd be like Him saying, oh my goodness, what just happened over here? I missed that one. That's not God. That's not our God. He knows all things. He determines the end from the beginning.

[00:37:25] Nothing will ever happen without God's consent. And He always has a purpose, that's another thing about our Lord. He always has a purpose. God is not in the purpose list business. He doesn't just do things off the cuff, Willie Nilly. There's purpose and everything He has ever done.

[00:37:43] Purpose. A reason for His glory. Do you trust Him? Do you trust Him or not? Jesus had just told His disciples, Lazarus is dead. Next verse 15 says, And for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there. That's now what I would have planned in to say.

[00:38:15] Lazarus is dead and for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there. What? Here comes the purpose. Second part of verse 15, so that you may believe. Let us go to Him. I'm glad I wasn't there. So you may believe. That's the purpose. I know you guys believe in me.

[00:38:38] Kind of. I'm sure some of them believed, totally. Some of them were still. Who's this guy? You know what? If you go and see your friend that you know, die. And live again? You're going to believe. You're really going to believe. And you'll go to your death believing.

[00:38:55] And that's what they all did. I'm glad I wasn't there. So you're going to believe now. Remember John tells us that he's writing his gospel in John 20, so that you may believe that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[00:39:14] That's what John is writing his gospel for John 21. Jesus in the Father's purpose for his perceived delay is revealed. I say perceived delay because I don't think Jesus was really delaying. And I don't think God was delaying because delaying means I'm going to hold off.

[00:39:33] I'm going to wait. God was right on time. Jesus showed up right on time. He was still they may believe. That's his purpose. But we don't like anyone God delays. This past week I saw a road sign going up somewhere. It's a road construction season.

[00:39:54] And I saw a sign that said daily lane closures. That is not a sign I want to see. Daily lane closures coming up. Great. You know, we're complaining. I'm complaining. Great. Now I want to be delayed every time I go over here. It's convenient.

[00:40:09] I got to change my plans because now it's not going to go according to plan. Daily lane closures. I mean, I'm 35 today. They're going to have another closure. Going south. Yesterday was going north. Miles of cars. Not moving. Perfect time. Perfect opportunity to complain. We don't like delays.

[00:40:29] And we really don't like when God delays. God, I really needed that. I really needed it by Tuesday. You didn't come through for me. What's the delay? What are you doing up there? That's how we act. Like little babies.

[00:40:45] God says, I have a plan and it's going perfectly. I don't think God actually does as we say delay. I think he's always perfectly on time. We just don't like his timing. I think delay is a subjective term based on your perspective.

[00:41:08] Well, you know, whatever time and you're supposed to be here. And the person says, no, I was gizzard at this time. It's subjective. Well, according to Jesus, the reason he delayed if you want to say that going to last

[00:41:20] Recynher was to strengthen the faith of those who would witness the miracle. And the reason for his apparent delay was to culminate in the belief of others, the belief of some who maybe wouldn't have believed in him unless they would have seen America like that.

[00:41:34] And he knew it. He is the friends and family of Lazarus suffered grief. And they cried. And they wailed, I'm sure. They held each other. But more were brought to faith in Christ because Lazarus died than if you would have just gotten better.

[00:42:00] Everybody gets better once in a while. And we can give God the glory for that. But if you die, you're dead for days and later in general, 11 will say in the King James, he's stinky.

[00:42:19] If you're that dead and you live again, that's a different start than just getting better. And Jesus knew that. Just like the man born blind in John 5 when the disciple assumed it was because of some sin that he had or his parents.

[00:42:37] Jesus said it was not that the man sin or his parents. But that the works of God might be displayed in him. That's why he was blind from birth. If he was blind because he got knocked in the head and he lost his sight for a dare to.

[00:42:50] And then I'd come by and he can see again, you know that's pretty cool. But you know, being blind for his entire life never having seen. Then seeing when you come and heal him, that's a bigger deal. There was purpose for this man's blindness.

[00:43:06] And a link to God's glory. Mark came to believe. Sickness, illness and disease can all be used for God's glory, believe it or not. It's not like God's taking a time out in your life from your seconds.

[00:43:17] Okay, I'll get back to you, Nate when you feel him better. No, he's working in there. Maybe even more than when you're healthy. People are seeing you suffer well, giving praise to the Lord even though you're sick. You're praying for people from your bed in the hospital.

[00:43:32] And I say, we should be praying for you. What is that? Oh, I got to join the Lord of my heart. That's a ministry. And that's a testimony. Sure. Martha Mary has family grieved, they suffered, they cried. But God considered all those things worthwhile because of his objective.

[00:43:57] I know you're going to be sad for a couple of days and it's going to hurt a lot. But more people are going to come into the kingdom. And we should have that excitement like Jesus does.

[00:44:09] But we're too focused on how I'm, how sad I am, how sick I am. Jesus has bigger plans and better plans than we do. Are we to argue with the wisdom of God? God, they could have been a better way you could have done that.

[00:44:29] He said, that's not the plan. You see, man is so process driven, so concerned with or worried about why things aren't going the way I plan them to go, the way they should be going.

[00:44:47] But he sees the big picture, he sees the whole picture, something we can't see. We can't because of that because he can see the whole picture, he knows best. He just does because he sees everything we don't. Because he gets to decide what is best.

[00:45:06] One last note here in the last verse about what Thomas says here at the end. Verse 16, so Thomas called the twin said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. You know, Thomas has a reputation for being pessimistic and scripture.

[00:45:29] He's called doubting Thomas because he wanted to see the scars. But what Thomas is saying here is striking. He's not talking about going to die with Lazarus. He's talking about going to die with Jesus to Judea because they're about to kill him again.

[00:45:45] They were just going to kill him with stones. And Jesus loves Lazarus so much he says, guys, we're going back. And Thomas is fine. If you're going, I'm going. If I die, I die. This is the perspective we should take.

[00:46:07] When we go through all of the junk, when we see ourselves entering into a trial that we know it's going to be tough. We should say, well if that's where Jesus wants me to go, and I was going to be hard. It's a long road. I might die.

[00:46:28] If that's where he wants me to go, I'll go because I'm going with Jesus. If I was going on my own plan, I might want to think twice. But if Jesus goes before me, that's where I'm going. I'm going to go right behind him.

[00:46:48] Do you know God's elaborate plan for your life? I don't know God's elaborate plan for my life. The answer is no, we don't know. Do you know how exactly he's going to use all those trials and all the stuff you go through to glorify himself?

[00:47:03] No, I don't know. I can have an idea, but I don't know, but do you trust him? It's easy to say, yeah, trust, I trust the Lord. But when you're sick and you're grieving and you're suffering loss, it's a little harder to say, Lord, I trust you.

[00:47:22] This was your plan. If you do trust him, even if you don't understand the how or the why or the what's going on, if you're confused, if you trust him, you can trust the plan. You can trust his plan. You see, you're going to do something that's wrong?

[00:47:45] No, God always does the right thing, the best thing. So we can trust the plan. We can trust it. He'll be glorified by what happens to his people. That's us. Believers. Everything works out for our good, for those who are called and I love him.

[00:48:02] According to his purpose, you can trust God. You can trust the plan through the good times and the times that are devastating. We don't always know how he's going to be glorified, but it doesn't matter. We don't have to.

[00:48:27] We just know that he will be the call of the gospel of Christ in closing is so similar to what Thomas says here. He says, let us go that we may die with him. That's what Jesus calls his people to do when they follow him.

[00:48:47] We hear things like take up your cross, deny yourself. What do you do? I've said before, what do you do? When you're carrying your cross, there's only one place you're going. That's going to die. It's the only place you go when you're carrying your cross.

[00:49:05] The gospel of Jesus calls us to lay down your lives and to deny yourselves. Put the old man to death. It sounds like something's dying. My old man, the person I used to be, he's gone. I've died to sin.

[00:49:21] We put the old man to death and then he gives us eternal life through our faith in him. Have you put your old man to death? And sometimes he really wants to resurrect. That's a sinful man. That'll never leave us because we're living this fleshly body.

[00:49:40] We'll have you taken up your cross, expecting to die. Yes, Jesus, I'm going to deny myself, I'm going to take it my cross. And when you do that and you're willing participant, well now you should be expecting then to die to give everything.

[00:49:56] Or do you still want to both ways? Like, I'm sure all of us have at some point in our lives because we're humans. Well, I want to both ways. I want to die for you, Jesus, but I still want my stuff.

[00:50:12] Let me tell you something, that's not the plan. That's not the plan. God's plan is an all or nothing, plan. It's all his way. Take it or leave it. He's the one who dictates the terms and I encourage you to embrace those terms.

[00:50:32] Because his plan is better than any plan you could ever come up with. I urge you to embrace the terms because they're the best terms. In the gospel, Jesus holds out his hand to you and says, come, die with me.

[00:50:47] Come, die with me and I'll give you eternal life. Last verse of the day, Galatians 220, Paul tells us, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I died a long time ago.

[00:51:13] We should all be saying that person who wants it my way, who wants to live out my plan and is going to stick his foot in the ground and tell it happens and be stubborn and complain and cry when it doesn't happen.

[00:51:26] As much as we can, we should be crucified that person and submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ plan for our lives. Even though it hurts, even though we suffer physical pain and grief, God is glorified when He comes to Christ and by faith,

[00:51:44] our hidden in Christ and you endure all of what life throws at you. Despite all of it, you'll reap eternal benefits and that's where we should be more concerned. Eternal things, spiritual things like Jesus. And He'll be glorified and we believe that, don't we? Amen.

[00:52:07] Please stand with me as we close and prayer. Lord willing will get to the second or third part of John 11, the next week or two. But I urge you to think about the plans you may have had for your life

[00:52:23] and just submit them all to the Lord so he can throw them in the trash. And give you the perfect plan and be okay with his plan. Amen, they're heavenly Father. We all have our plans and Lord, I pray that you urge us and encourage us

[00:52:41] to lay them at your feet because we're just setting ourselves up I believe for disappointment. And so Lord, show us to trust you to believe you and to not complain about when things don't go our way.

[00:52:55] Help us to learn patience and long suffering and contentment in our circumstances even though they aren't going according to our plans and to seek for ways to glorify you in those struggles because life is mostly struggling anyway.

[00:53:09] So Lord, we should look for the opportunity, show them to us. Give us the eyes to see those opportunities to glorify you through those things so that you may be glorified. Be with us today and all those friends and family that are away,

[00:53:21] summer sick and summer hurting, be with them as well and bring them close to you during times like this because you should get all the glory and may you forever. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen, amen.