Incarnation 34 - Gospel of John

[00:00:20] We're in John 11 and we've been in John 11, I believe this is the third week and I heard a pastor once say This is a course about the account of Lazarus and Lazarus at this point has been in the grave for four days

[00:00:32] He says but we've had him in there for 21 days and we've got to get him out So we're gonna get him out today. It's a God's glory In John 11 we saw

[00:00:44] We understand the story is about the raising of Lazarus and this is Jesus pinnacle miracle to this point His ministry he's done some miracles before but this is really the top of the list

[00:00:56] And as we go through this chapter, we have to understand that Jesus is not just talking about physical things He's really talking about the spiritual aspect of what he's doing And it's through an event which includes physical death and Physical life

[00:01:10] And he's showing us on a spiritual level man's mankind's hopelessness in sin Yours good as dead And without his intervention to bring us to life we would stay dead Forever in both respects physically and spiritually

[00:01:27] We left off last week where Jesus had set the stage remember he brought every one of the table and and he was there finally

[00:01:33] And the Jews had come from Jerusalem and the family was there and the friends were there and the Passover crowds were coming in and everything was set And they knew Lazarus was dead and the new Jesus loved him and they knew that that he might do something

[00:01:45] And that's where he picked up today He set the stage for us to here this question that they all heard with their physical ears that day Through these events, he was really asking these people do you believe? How about now do you believe now?

[00:02:05] So we'll read from John 11 beginning in the verse 38 And John writes Then Jesus deeply moved again Came to the tomb It was a cave and a stone lay against it Jesus said take away the stone

[00:02:22] Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time there'll be an odor for he's been dead four days Jesus said to her Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God So they took away the stone

[00:02:37] And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank you that you've heard me I knew that you always hear me but I said this on the count of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me

[00:02:48] And when you'd said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come out The man who died came out His hands in feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go

[00:03:06] This is the word of the Lord Let's pray Well, they're Lord we're here again We'll come to the culmination of This amazing miracle that you did 2000 years ago Pray that you show us how it affects our lives this day We can learn from it that will

[00:03:26] Something that will never lose an understanding and greater understanding about who you are and what you've done for us in white matters It's a Lord I pray that you guide us guide me as we worship you today through the preaching of your word

[00:03:38] We pray in Jesus name amen and as we come to the Near the end of the of the gospel or of the chapter 11 of the gospel of John a few thoughts About a miracle but what a miracle is

[00:03:56] And this is the seventh sign of seven major signs in John's gospel and We've probably heard before that the number seven in Hebrew culture is significant it means completion or perfection And John probably thought to himself him being a Jew

[00:04:11] I'm gonna I'm gonna put seven in here so the reader would know and of course John writes this to the world but Those Jewish readers would know This is all we need to know these seven things because in the last part of John's gospel he tells us

[00:04:27] If I if I put everything Jesus ever did all the signs and miracles and wonders he ever did into a book it would be so big the world couldn't contain it So he picks his seven And he calls these things signs

[00:04:41] and we say miracles are we say wonders but he calls them signs and what does a sign A sign is something that points to something else A signs not the substance If you go up here on i35 north you'll see a big green sign that says manyapolis

[00:04:59] And then right next what it says same Paul and you can go left or you can go right well those signs aren't many Appalists in same Paul and we all know that They're pointing to the real thing

[00:05:11] We don't just want to say I'm gonna go to Minneapolis today and then you drive up to the sign and you park it to sign and say this is This is great

[00:05:18] It's Minneapolis right see says right there many apples and then guy next to says I'm in same Paul No, we don't know that we don't do that we understand that that's a sign pointing us to the real thing So when

[00:05:31] John tells us about the miracle of Lazarus that's true that really happened and that's an an amazing miracle But that's not where Jesus stops He says this sign is Amazing and it's true Lazarus came back to life But he's pointing to something better something greater

[00:05:49] Namely himself being the resurrection and the life And so we have to remember These signs these miracles Are great in and out themselves, but that's not where Jesus stops He wants us to see them as signs pointing to something else himself

[00:06:04] Your first note if you're taking notes says a sign implies that there's something more ahead Something better and more substantive I think in years pass I've always used the The idea of Disney land or Disney world or some amazing

[00:06:23] Destination and you see the brochure in front of you and you have the brochure in his pictures on there and you say well this is Disney land It's not Disney like we know it's not That's just a sign pointing to something else and so

[00:06:36] That's how we have to see these signs and it's interesting about in the at least in English the way the word signify Is drawn out from the words sign it's almost like you're it says signify

[00:06:51] It's spelled the same so what are these things signify well number one the first Of his signs were was the turning water in a wine at the wedding in Canaan John chapter two and John even says in verse 11 of chapter two this the first of his signs

[00:07:06] Jesus did in Canaan and Gale the first of his signs What what is this sign point till we talked about how it signifies it happened at a wedding and throughout scripture We're talking we hear that we are the bride of Christ and he's our bride groom

[00:07:22] The idea of salvation is Coming together and most in a in a way and that's how he views him and his church as a as a a wedding And we see the water being converted into wine

[00:07:36] Just as we are converted our hearts are converted from hearts that are against God being born as children of wrath and being at enmity with God as the word says

[00:07:45] But then turning into as he gives us the right to be called a child of God and that conversion happens Somehow in a spiritual way and he shows us these things through these signs

[00:07:57] This deeper spiritual meanings than just an amazing act of water turning into wine which is amazing But there's even more things Associated with these signs His second sign was in John chapter four the healing of the official son and

[00:08:12] Jesus divinity was shown here over power and over sickness sickness and over distance He never went to the official son the official came to him in faith and Jesus said your son will live

[00:08:26] And he did number three was done in John five the healing of the invalid man Showed us that yes the healing of the invalid man was amazing in itself But what it has show us

[00:08:40] But that Jesus can give grace to whoever he wants this man was not seeking Jesus He'd been ill for years Depressed Jesus came to him and found him and

[00:08:54] And think back if you were saved later in your life not really looking for the Lord how that might have been for you Were you really seeking the Lord at the time that your eyes were open and you maybe fell in your face at your lowest point

[00:09:06] You said I need help and Christ was there the fourth sign Was the feeding of the 5000 John chapter six well the feeding of the 5000 was an amazing act and it was Real and true and we could have stopped right there and said Jesus you're just amazing

[00:09:25] But that's not where he wants us to stop He wants us to look ahead the what that sign is pointing at Which in this case was that Jesus is the bread of life He says you think this is amazing we just I just fed 5000 people

[00:09:38] I'm the bread of life you come to me. You'll never go hungry and John chapter six Jesus walks on water shows us Not that he can just do amazing magic tricks But that he has authority and and he is sovereign over nature itself

[00:09:54] The sixth sign was the healing of the man born blind No one had ever been healed of being born blind before Jesus shows us not only that it is very great that this man saw after being blind as a life but

[00:10:15] That miracle that sign pointed to the fact that Jesus brings spiritual sight to the spiritually blind He brings spiritual Well sight to the blind but In the last sign the raising of Lazarus the seven sign the final one We can stop right there and say

[00:10:38] Jesus just brought a man to life that was dead for four days any any stunk But he says don't stop there What that sign points to ultimately is that Jesus brings the spiritual Dead person to life Not just spiritually blind not just spiritually deaf or lost

[00:10:57] The spiritually dead person Jesus can bring to life So this is how signs work we call a miracle sometimes Seven signs in the gospel of John and what is John doing in his entire gospel we learned

[00:11:13] That he's really bringing us evidence the reader evidence and in John chapter 20 He tells us again the reason why he wrote his gospel And John 20 Verse 30 he says now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book

[00:11:29] But these are written so that you may believe That Jesus is decreased the son of God and that by believing you may live And have life in his name He's writing his gospel so that you might believe

[00:11:45] He's giving us evidence he's laying it all out for us making his case And Jesus here in John chapter 11 asks Martha in a microcosm of The whole macro of John's gospel do you believe Do you believe we're halfway through the gospel? Do you believe and so

[00:12:04] Today we're gonna look at his last sign here In the gospel of John chapter 11 and and ask yourself what does this signify what is this And I just like that that term that I made up signify

[00:12:18] What does it signify we'll begin in verse 38 in the text then Jesus deeply moved again came to the tomb It was a cave and a stone lay against it And if you remember from last week we see it again here this phrase deeply moved

[00:12:36] And in most of the English versions it'll say something near to deeply moved or Attrabbled But in the Greek it remember the term anyone remember the term bonus points and bramat oh my And I said once the last time you were amber mott oh my

[00:12:52] And it doesn't mean sad it means Indignant and outraged Jesus was angry and he was definitely sad to he wept but he was outraged I mean went through a couple reasons why he's looking at death Which he hates I'm the resurrection and the life

[00:13:13] I'm looking at death and I hate it I hate what it looks like it smells it makes my friends who I love Grieve and I don't like seeing that this is not right

[00:13:25] It's what indignant means looking at something and saying I'm right justly angry about this this should not be And I'm right about it It shouldn't be it's in unjust So he comes here again deeply moved that word amber mott oh my

[00:13:43] I just put a definition here from strong's definitions. It actually says to snort with anger It means there's some kind of verbal Outpouring here he's grunting or grumbling or just oh so mad To have indignation to sigh with chagrin to groan or murmur against he's mad

[00:14:03] This should not be and I'm gonna do something about it Jesus was deeply moved in his humanity Over his friends death and just to remind us again We're told that this was in a cave and there was a stone rolled in front of it

[00:14:19] And this was typical in that in the first century culture in the ancient nearing bodies would be wrapped And put into caves and usually cut out a limestone there'd be kind of shelves in there and

[00:14:30] People would put the spices and the ointments on the bodies because they didn't in bomb so there would be an odor soon They put a stone in front of the the cave or the entrance to keep the odor in and the animals out

[00:14:44] And so that's where Jesus finds himself this day standing in front of the tomb He's finally here. May the two-day journey after waiting two days And here he is and everyone's around watching Verse 39 Jesus says Take away the stone

[00:15:03] Martha the sister of the dead man said him Lord by this time there'll be an odor for he's been dead four days Here he is on the stage on center stage to do whatever he's gonna do You finally arrives here at the tomb and

[00:15:19] He tells them to do something and they probably thought we'll love he've been waiting four days Two days after we told you And we really been anticipating you would come and you would do something and you can now come here and you just tell us to

[00:15:36] To do something to move the stone away. We're relying on you here because we all know Jesus could have walked up there And says okay here I am and just wave his hand and then tomb what have opened or snap his fingers or disappeared

[00:15:51] But he gets there and he says okay now guys get to work moving stone away for me Your next note here says God delights in employing people alongside him to accomplish his work We see that all throughout scripture

[00:16:09] We don't have a god that just likes to show up in the snappest fingers We have a god that likes to use his creation Use his people that reflect him in his work He employs people us to do what we can do

[00:16:23] And then he goes ahead and does what only he can do Because the people sure they could move the stone back. They moved it there to begin with But they couldn't raise him from the dead That's why Jesus was there

[00:16:36] He says you can do all these other things in prep the body and make the tomb and roll the stone back But you can't do what I'm about to do I want you to do what you can do And I'll do it only I can do

[00:16:51] Remember in John chapter two when Jesus had the disciples fill the jugs of water in his first sign Mary says Sun were out of line and when the first day of the wedding we really need more wine or this family's gonna be disgraced

[00:17:05] Jesus could have said well go check again because I just I just made it With my mind powers and it would have been there but that's not what he did. He says hey disciples come around I need you to help me on this

[00:17:18] Not that he really needed the help But he wanted to use them in the work get your hands dirty He says I want you to fill all those water jugs with water

[00:17:28] Because I'm gonna about do about to do what only I can do. I know you can fill the jugs so I want you to fill them And then I'll step in And they did Orange on

[00:17:40] Chapter six when he asked that his disciples to find food he's about to feed the five thousand people He could have just said okay Everybody close your eyes and open them and now you have a plate of food in front of you He could have done that

[00:17:51] That's how he breathed creation and and to being with his With his word let there be light and there was He didn't do that he uses his people He says okay go find some food work him to get food fill up. He says well. There's a

[00:18:05] Best state of down the road a little bit and Somebody says well, there's a little child here with a couple of fish and some loaves Why did Jesus go through the trouble? Because he wants to build our faith Bring us alongside

[00:18:19] And utilize his people for his work or in Matthew 17 when Peter and Jesus were Confronted about paying the temple tax half a shackle each Jesus says Peter go catch a fish and there's gonna be a coin in there for both of us to cover the tax

[00:18:37] And he did and there was a coin in the fish's mom Jesus you didn't have to have Peter go get his rod and find a hook in a worm and throw You know you could have saved us five ten minutes

[00:18:48] He wants to do that he enjoys using us That glorifies him And so we should embrace that Why does he do these things because he delights and doing it my dad would tell me a story about how

[00:19:04] After my grandpa passed away my dad would mow the lawn the way grandpa used to mow it Not the way my dad used to like to mow it and somebody noticed I think it was one of his brothers

[00:19:15] This is why you mowing it like that you never do it that way and he says because dad liked it done this way

[00:19:21] And he was he was honoring his dad and they never knew why dad liked it done that way because it was kind of a weird way to do it But grandpa did it cuz that's how he liked doing it

[00:19:30] That's why God does this I don't know why he does it. He just likes doing that so we honor that Kind of like when we say because dad said so that's why

[00:19:40] We honor that okay you'll like it you can use us and we like that you use us God We should feel honored for that we do what we can do and God does what he only he can do Amen for that And so as we go forward here

[00:19:56] If we approach what Jesus said here with spiritual eyes and spiritual ears and not just the physical eyesight that the world has Think of this way of this way what would rolling away the stone is the people did in the first century? What would that look like

[00:20:11] for us in a spiritually? When Jesus brings to spiritual life someone around us or is about to You might look something like our rolling away the stone in a spiritual sense might look like sharing the gospel with someone We can do that

[00:20:27] Sir, like Jesus can just snap his fingers and make everyone believe But he wants to use the the means of his people to get the gospel out Why because he wants to that's why

[00:20:40] The rolling away the stone in a spiritual sense of the people around us those dead and their sins Like we used to be Can look like showing them the love of Jesus

[00:20:53] Exhibiting the fruit of the spirit being loving with them having the join your of the Lord in your heart Having peace Having patience being kind being good gentle having self-control with them All those things are spiritually rolling away stones for them

[00:21:11] Is there hopefully about to come out from spiritual death to spiritual life we can do those things Praying for salvation for them we can pray for salvation for our friends and once they do to come to the Lord We can disciple them

[00:21:24] We're charged to do that so we should do that Those are some ways that we can view this physical act of rolling the stone away

[00:21:33] Which is what those people could have physically done before Jesus does and steps in what only he can do because we can't save anybody I can't save anybody but I can make the path a little clearer little more Clear from my friends understand the word

[00:21:50] Show them what the love of Jesus is But then he has to step in and say Now let me do my work in their heart Your next note here says since the Lord employs his people To accomplish his work we should fully embrace these opportunities

[00:22:09] We should fully embrace them self your praying for your brother or sister to be saved and then the Lord opens a door For a conversation about Jesus with them don't shy away from that Run to it embrace it the Lord's using you

[00:22:27] And we do what we can do And he wants us to do what we can do But we have to understand we can't do everything We have to at some point move out of the way and say okay, Lord we roll the stone away now what

[00:22:40] That's all we know how to do you have to come in So Jesus tells them the rule the stone away and Of course Martha says probably what all of us would have said yeah, but Jesus what about the smell It's gonna smell what about the stench

[00:22:56] Jesus looks at her and says And I always wonder what his face model might look like as he said to her and he turned his head and he might have said Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

[00:23:09] We just talked about this It's as if Jesus paused When he's about to do his thing and he she says what about the smell and he says Are you serious Martha's faith is waning a little bit she still doesn't have

[00:23:26] The expectation of a miracle she doesn't have yet that expectation or brothers actually gonna walk out of that tomb She says yeah, but he's dead as a durnal in their Lord and it's been hot and I'm sure he smells

[00:23:37] You really want me to open that and I think You might feel like Jesus could say this to you and I feel like he could say it to me too when I Waver or falter my faith or doubt and say yeah, but Lord what about?

[00:23:54] All those problems I was telling you about If he prompts us to say okay here we go here's that big meeting we're going in And you have a feeling in your heart that you're supposed to do something or not do something and you see in your mind

[00:24:08] You have a Lord what about the issues I've been praying about they're not resolved yet there's still problems here I still see trouble ahead He says hey, I thought we talked about this you believe me, right? You said you believed in me, right?

[00:24:22] What is this now this doubt? but moment and so We find these Bottle necks in our lives we get to the point where something's about to happen we're on the stage

[00:24:48] And we've prayed before and we felt pretty good about it. We get there and we little kind of shaky That's just human I think we understand that so we can empathize with Martha He's about to open the tomb he smells she thinks he does

[00:25:03] Verse 40 as Jesus looks at her did I not tell you that if you believed you'd see the glory of God Your next note here says the things that we see as troubles Are not seen as trouble some to the Lord?

[00:25:18] We see things all the time and we make them into troubles on our own minds and really sometimes are not even troubles at all That's where the Saying well you're making a mountain out of a mole hill comes from

[00:25:31] It's not even a problem you're making an issue because you're worrying about it There was a problem from Martha Lord that's gonna smell really bad my family's here. It's a holiday week Really want me to open it. That was a trouble for her

[00:25:43] Lord didn't see trouble with that he knew what was on the other side of the stone She was worried I can remember times in my life when after We got past the issue that I thought was going to be an issue that really wasn't I thought

[00:26:02] The Lord could have really kind of set me straight through and after it came back to him and say Lord why was I so worried you had it the whole time and in fact it worked up better than I ever even thought it could

[00:26:14] He tells us many times in scripture don't worry Don't worry about tomorrow The ground's got enough problems of its own And it doesn't mean to say that we should worry about today either Just don't worry

[00:26:27] How easy is it to say that it's really easy to say those words, but it's not easy to live them out Because we're human and so it's nice to see that Martha's human too

[00:26:37] Lord, I know you you're the son of God. I believe that you'll raise Lazarus on the last day, but now We're kind of hopeless Did I not tell you That if you believed you'd see the glory of God

[00:26:53] Martha will see the glory of God. She'll see the glory of God on resurrection day on the final day But I think little does she know that she'll see the glory of God today in her life

[00:27:04] When Lazarus is raised in a few moments and I think after this you think her faith was encouraged and strengthens at there She saw her brother walk out of that grave. I think so That's one thing about God's people Having walked through something like that for her

[00:27:22] To lesser degrees we can look back and say yeah, I walked through some tough times too and after those tough times my faith was strengthened God got me through that thing and and I'm better for it actually. I'm stronger now

[00:27:33] I'm not a shaky in my faith. I learned something through that I have more perseverance. I learned endurance and patience and all those things those are priceless things to learn As God's people we can see that we can see how God's glorify through troubles

[00:27:51] In a way that the world can't The world just says oh another bad thing happened Oh Now what's gonna happen next? Oh yep, there it is a bad thing happened But for the believer we can see

[00:28:05] Well, how am I growing in that you know that through this tragedy in the first century this family Let alone others there either had their faith strengthened or came to faith That's the best kind of life we talked about last week the spiritual life

[00:28:22] I can say boy I really learned patience through that trial. I had a couple years ago But I really learned this attribute that reflects the Lord of this attribute. I know now how what peace really is

[00:28:35] Or joy really is through a storm the world doesn't care about those things But God gives us the eyes to see his glory even in what we would call bad things And we can see how God's glorified

[00:28:49] In this story because many more believed in him and that's what Jesus said was most important I'm glad for your sake. I wasn't there because more are gonna believe We can see as God's people how God has glorified Through the long road of

[00:29:04] One's chemotherapy regimen. That's a practical thing we go through that We can see the joy to learn the peace in the heart of a believing patient despite their life hanging in the balance

[00:29:18] You might have a Christian believer going through chemotherapy at death's doorstep was joy to learn the heart I have seen that and the world says how You're about to die but the patient who's in Christ says yeah, but I still live But the real can see that

[00:29:42] they're not sure or they don't believe But we believe We can see as God's children how God has glorified in the midst of miscarriages injustices Persecutions and all sorts of pain What do you mean?

[00:30:04] We can see how God has glorified in that God's people can see the glory in that Something the world can't our family's been through some miscarriages and you know you could say I'm angry with God

[00:30:21] Or you could come closer as a husband-wife family and I think believers come closer at least they tend to I hope they would Let's lean into the Lord. Lord help me through this Instead of shaking my fist at him

[00:30:37] After all how would we know what compassion even is Without hurt how could we you ever experience that amazing feeling of being forgiven If at first you didn't betray someone how could we know about The beauty of sacrificial help and assistance without dire need Those things aren't pretty

[00:31:12] The betrayals the sickness the pain the need that we see in the world. They're not pretty But somehow through those things God has glorified by people who are compassionate for those who need help Who say I forgive you even though you hurt me pretty bad

[00:31:28] That's how God's glorified and that's one way the Christian is unlike the world He gives us a different perspective to see it through And if you've ever seen as we're going to see the mixed reactions of the crowd Who's come mix company here? believers non-believers

[00:31:46] People coming in from out of town Jewish leadership the family the disciples we're gonna see mixed reactions from The people about what Jesus is gonna do here and Remember as Jesus put it if you believe you'll see the glory of God. What will they see?

[00:32:02] Let's go to verse 42 So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank you that you've heard me I knew that you always hear me but I said this on a count of the people standing around

[00:32:16] That they may believe that you sent me he says it again all these things are so that they may believe And he says it again do you believe? I'm waiting here so that you'll believe

[00:32:29] I'm praying out loud to the Father so they know who to give credit to so they'll believe It's about believing it's about faith calling his people Through what they're seeing to him And Jesus knew the Father heard him in his prayer

[00:32:47] Of course the Father always hears Jesus his son In his prayers But Jesus said these things so that the people would know Who's doing the work God Almighty and he sent me You believe in him you believe in me What Jesus is saying

[00:33:04] He was sent by the one true God the God that sent Jesus and from last week remember in first John five We read same author and this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will He hears us

[00:33:22] What Jesus did here and if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask this would Jesus is saying here I know that you've heard me we know that we have the request that we have asked of him He's saying if I pray the Lord's will

[00:33:37] He's gonna hear me and he's gonna give it to me we know this See say well why are all my prayers answered? Do the math you're not praying the Lord's will We're praying your selfish will or The will that wants me to be comfortable or happy or wealthy

[00:33:55] Maybe the Lord wants you to struggle a little bit right here. He says I'm not gonna give you that Extra-purchase paycheck, but I'm gonna give you grace instead I'm not gonna give you that healing right now

[00:34:06] I'm gonna give you a patience right now because I know you're gonna need it in about five years We can't see those things that he sees he knows what's best for us. He's our good father here on Father's Day

[00:34:19] We know what's best for our kids as parents better than they do We should that's in theory. You know I mean we should know what's best for our kids better than they would know

[00:34:30] Well, Mom can I just have five pop schools for breakfast and some chocolate cake for lunch? No. Why if tastes good Because we know what's coming. You're gonna get sick To an infinitely greater degree that's what our Lord does for us

[00:34:45] But Jesus I want my blessings right now He says no. I don't it's not what's best right now for you There could be a person a neighbor down their own

[00:34:57] Three four five years it's gonna need to hear a message from you because you're the only person they work with and can talk to And it has to be about this issue

[00:35:05] And I want to use you because your migration and I delight in using my creation my people and so in order for that message to be Delivered in five years you have to go through this trail now and learn something Because that's how I want to do it

[00:35:19] That's our god We can't just be like baby saying no Lord. I want it now like a little kid wants dinner right now And it's not ready for ten minutes and mom says it's not ready yet. You can't have it

[00:35:30] I'm not gonna give it to you go wait for ten minutes. Oh, why in wine cry way We're just like little baby sometimes Because we're humans But if we pray anything according to his will he'll give us that every time

[00:35:47] So if you start praying Lord teach me patience be careful because he'll teach you See why myself frustrated all the time while you prayed that you could learn patience So I'm giving many opportunities to learn patience Proverbs 15

[00:36:03] Speak about this Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous If you're in Christ If you're saved If you love the Lord in his word He hears you and the more we're sanctified and that means more separated from the world and more

[00:36:22] conform to his image The more he hears this the more he listens because we're becoming more like him The more we grow in him and become more like Jesus the more he listens because not he you're speaking his language

[00:36:35] The Holy Spirit's having that effect in your life to see I'm I'm more mek now. I'm more humble now It's not all about me the Lord loves a contrite heart

[00:36:49] And so Jesus prayed to the Father like this allowed for a pump for a reason so that people around him could hear Oh, He's praying to somebody who's he praying to he's praying to the Father the God of Israel

[00:36:59] Okay, well, what's gonna happen anything and when it does they know okay This came from God Almighty He must have sent this man Jesus on the monotransfiguration Jesus shows up in the cloud with a lie Judd Moses long dead The cloud comes down goes back up again and

[00:37:19] And he hears and the disciples Peter James and John hear the voice of God the Father say This is my son listen to him Elijah Moses We're gone the Father was saying you had been following Elijah the point of the Christ the sign to Christ

[00:37:36] You were falling Moses a sign to Christ now Christ is here the substance Elijah Moses the signs have gone away. They've done their job. This is my son listen to him now I sent him and in a way that's what's happening here in John 11

[00:37:52] I'm sending my son he's praying to me allowed to let you know who's doing this Listen to this man After all he's got incarnate You've seen the son you've seen the Father. He told Philip

[00:38:05] He's doing these things so that they may believe that you sent me he says and so for Jesus as it should be for all of us It's all about people coming to him. It's all about him finding his sheep and they're coming to him

[00:38:23] It's about his glory. It's about God's glory But death of Lazarus the raising of Lazarus wasn't about so Lazarus would feel better It was so God would be glorified your next stone here says The more we gain God's higher and eternal perspective the way he views things

[00:38:47] The more we bring the heart of the Lord into all things There's a song that says something about Lord let me see Things how you see and I don't know how it goes, but let me see the world the way you see it Give me your eyes

[00:39:05] The more we gain his perspective on things his higher perspective. He can see everything More eternal perspective he can see it all the way through From everlasting to everlasting The more we see things as much as we can his way

[00:39:20] The more we'll bring his heart to all our issues in life and we might say well, you know what this has been really hard

[00:39:25] But to God be the glory. Let me give you life a lot easier. Let me tell you if you set your bar and your expectation is so high You're gonna be frustrated because you're gonna be disappointed a lot

[00:39:41] But if you say Lord, I'm here to just to serve you and if I live or die Let it be the year glory You're gonna have a more peaceful life More joyful life because if you go and make a checklist of how your life's going every day

[00:39:55] Today was a six Yesterday was about nine Couple days ago. I was a two on a scale of one and ten You know what be content in your circumstances let God be glorified in the good times of course

[00:40:08] That's when we forget about God most but in the bad times Because like we said last week that's usually when God does most of his best work is when we reach out and cry out to him

[00:40:20] Because things aren't going so good when we see things this way we can see How can God be glorified in these things not how our comfort can be accomplished necessarily Or not how our convenience can be accomplished necessarily But how his glory can be accomplished versus 44 three

[00:40:51] When he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come out The man who had died came out His hands and feet bond with living strips And his face wrapped with a cloth and so after the stage was set Just imagine this picture here

[00:41:11] Jesus is here before the tomb the crowd sees it he's walking forward maybe he's about 10 feet away or so as he stopped maybe the crowd was There's a pause they're looking I'm sure People kept it down no one made a sound it just watched People holding their breath

[00:41:35] What's gonna happen What really happened? Is anything gonna happen Here we are he looks up to have any praise He says thank you Lord for hearing me And as he's bringing his eyes back down to the tomb Opening he says

[00:42:00] Basically three words two words in the Greek but basically three words Lazarus Meaning I'm talking to you specifically Lazarus come out Two words in the Greek And then what pause again people waiting watching listening you see anything

[00:42:19] Maybe it's not gonna happen and then we see what John writes The dead man came out The man who had died came out I wonder how is John gonna put this in the words?

[00:42:40] We're all here the stage is set we've been waiting for four days the son of God comes he's standing before the tomb He says Lazarus come out What's John gonna do? Is it gonna be a grand finale?

[00:42:52] The build up is amazing last week I think I used to phrase pregnant anticipation John records what happened By saying the man who died came out Well isn't there more than that? I don't want to know more Wouldn't you the man who died came out Boy

[00:43:18] You would never be on the best cell or less if you wrote like that I'm novel I want all the details in my color and what are people saying what did Lazarus say How did he feel what was it like being dead?

[00:43:28] Was it like coming back to life? Was it you know all these things we have questions we want on all the details John the apostle knows better I'm sure he thought to myself fight put all those details in there the glory is not gonna be on

[00:43:39] Christ anymore. It's gonna move over here somewhere else The storyline story telling Jesus said Lazarus come out and he came out Now let's get back to Jesus Amazing ending of course

[00:44:03] And it was amazing that God sent Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead and he was risen from the dead That's amazing in itself But that's not the ultimate point The ultimate point is Jesus we want fanfare More than Jesus we have to check our priorities

[00:44:27] John does include that in the end here in verse 44 The fact that Lazarus hands in feet were bound with linen and that his face was wrapped with a linen cloth That's as much details wherever we're gonna get from the story Lazarus coming out Keeping the focus on Christ

[00:44:42] So why does John put that in there of all the details you could have put We could assume yeah he's wrapped in linen cloths hands and feet and his head

[00:44:52] Why does he put that in there seemingly insignificant details John if you're to give it a three details those are the three you gave us Maybe it's because of what Jesus says next in the second half of verse 44 Jesus said to them

[00:45:05] What was that Jesus said to them Unbind him and let them go I want you guys to step back in though. I saved them from death eternal I asked you first in preparation for this to do what you could get the stone move away

[00:45:20] Okay, now it's time for my work to happen. I didn't I work he's out he's alive. I can't get back to work disciple him Take his Klaus off of his face and off his feet let him walk around his feet let him go

[00:45:33] Take away those feathers and those chains We can do that what does that look like? Well this looks like discipling new believers Unbind him help him get rid of that stuff he's got keep in them back Show them the way gave him something eat

[00:45:51] You can do that can't you yeah, we can do that Jesus. Okay. I did what I can do only I can do brought up the life Physical life the physical physical that the physical life But I'm really saying I can only I'm only the person that can

[00:46:05] I'm the only person that can bring someone from spiritual death to spiritual life and now that I've done it in this person I need you all back in here come around him and Get him back on track John eight

[00:46:20] 31 says so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him if you abided my word You're truly my disciples and you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free So off the sun set you free You'll be free indeed

[00:46:36] Lazarus was set free that day from the tomb and He was free indeed Jesus said such free indeed when he brings us from a spiritual death to spiritual life your free indeed

[00:46:48] There was a post on Facebook yesterday and I never get involved with these things because they're time-consuming and if you get into a Especially a theological Conversation on Facebook I mean really

[00:47:02] Jacob you know anything about that and so my loving wife says hey, would you respond to this one? Yeah, can respond Simple and I just know because I've done it so many times before in years past where it goes back and forth

[00:47:19] It's not it's not heated. It's just interesting questions and here's a good view over here Give you and then the next thing you know You know you've been on the phone more than you've been more in the lawn or doing whatever you gotta do

[00:47:29] But I did I did one thing But the question was about are we really safe when we're saved or is there more that we have to do or something like that and so I just started this verse I thought it fit here

[00:47:43] When Jesus saves you when he brings you out of that tomb when he sets you free your free indeed Indeed you're free and it he doesn't give us temporary eternal life He gives us eternal life

[00:48:00] Eternal life is not something you give someone that you take back. Give it take that that's not eternal That's called intermittent We don't serve a God that gives us intermittent life Amen

[00:48:14] He gives you eternal life and when he gives it to you you got it because he gave it to you It's not something you earned and you lost and you earned and you lost He does it he gives it

[00:48:27] That's who he is why because that's what he said That's what he delights newing that brings glory to him because he can bring the dead to life Not you not me you can't bring yourself to life

[00:48:38] You can't even want to be alive if you're dead like we talked about last week did Lazarus want to come out of that tomb? No, because he didn't know he was in the tomb

[00:48:46] He brings sight to the blind brings the dead to life like only he can do So that last day Standing in front of the tomb Jesus set Lazarus free physically, but he said us all free if we believe in him spiritually free and

[00:49:05] That's the point of this miracle. That's the point of this sign the miracle isn't About Lazarus It's about the lost who have no hope and their dead is door nails without Jesus coming in and calling them out

[00:49:24] That's what this signs about and we all come into this world like Lazarus Dead in our sins were told many times the scripture you were dead in your trespasses as helpless as a rotting corpse In a dark and dingy tomb That's how much hope we had without Jesus

[00:49:54] Left for dead Darkness Unless and until Jesus comes and calls you out who else can call you out of that tomb you can't do it He's the only one And until and unless he calls you out And gives you life will be left for dead

[00:50:17] You last known here says Jesus miracles aren't about the miracles They're about him they're about him and about what he does for his people The miracles are great in a month in and of themselves and they're amazing stories and they really happened in there unbelievable

[00:50:38] But they're not about them they're about him We might have heard of the term the golden chain of redemption Romans 8 29 30 I thought of something

[00:50:53] I don't I don't want to catch on but I just thought in my head we could think of this maybe as the golden road from death to life These verses you can review later

[00:51:02] Clashions to you were dead in your sins. That's how we start you were dead in your sins No one can come to Jesus unless the father draws him you got to stay in the tomb unless Jesus calls you out Jesus to good shepherd knows his sheep

[00:51:16] And he calls them by name. He said Lazarus come out some commentators say if Jesus wouldn't have addressed Lazarus The whole world graves would have opened up He said Lazarus I call him my people by name come out His sheep here is voice John 10

[00:51:34] When you hear him call you from the grave You hear him and John 6 where told all of his sheep will come to him when he calls them

[00:51:44] And John 6 39 this is the will of my father that everyone who looks in the sun and believes should have a turn on life and I'll raise them up on the last day That's how close John's written these things in the his own words so that you may believe

[00:52:05] And Jesus asked Martha and I'll ask you do you believe we should take things from this account like Jesus is God incarnate who else could bring the dead to life Having power over death it's self

[00:52:23] We should understand that Jesus is God's own our man's only hope and salvation And since we believe these things I believe we're all Believers here The names of those people who we believe in our lives don't yet believe should come to mind

[00:52:40] Knowing that they're still in those graves those tombs dead They've been in their four days or more And they have no hope will come and out and let's us through Jesus Christ and he wants to use us to get his message out

[00:52:57] God has determined how people are saved through the message of Jesus Christ He's also determined to meet determine the means and that's you and me to get the word out He employees us solution embrace that These people need to know Jesus as we all do and so we

[00:53:18] Help roll the stones away We pray for them So they can also come out of their tune once Christ comes in and does his work and we can partner with Jesus That's what he did lights in When we believe in him, we call his friends

[00:53:37] That's what rolling the stone away looks like for us. That's what unbinding those claws look like for us taking the All the junk away as much as we can as friends and family members Discipling them

[00:53:54] Because when you think about back in your life someone did that for you and so now it's your turn To do that for someone else and that's how Jesus has lyrified through the tragic death of a person he loved

[00:54:14] Because more people came to him and yeah, he brought him back to life But our faith rest in the only person that could ever do that Jesus Christ, amen Would you please stand with me as we close him prayer?

[00:54:32] Do Heavenly Father once again on Father's Day, we're here and we think of our Heavenly Father You sent your son to us because you loved your children so much I pray that If there's father is here in this room which I know there are or listening online that

[00:54:51] That they understand that they need to be more like you even if they're a good dad and then has to do with things like Seeing how you're glorified in tough times father through this message that we've heard today

[00:55:05] I pray that we can look at tough times and see how you're glorified in them to a greater degree Help us to See opportunities as they come up Maybe we're gonna be getting together with family this week Because of fathers day or even this afternoon

[00:55:21] Lord if doors are there to be opened have us see them and let us open them and only spirit go before us So that we can share your love in grace and help Begin rolling stones away from the

[00:55:35] Tumes of these people so they can come out and see you and be saved We'd like we'd already pray that you're glorified this week in the good times we have in the bed the praying Jesus name amen