Dramatic Moments in Scripture: Lazarus Raised from the Dead

It was July 30th, 1967. 1967. She was just 17 years old at the time. She was athletic, good-looking young lady. She went with her family for a day at the Chesapeake Bay. And on that day, July 30, 1967, she dove into the Chesapeake Bay and that dive would change her life forever. And it's from her story that we're going to learn some great truth about our lesson for today.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to John chapter 11.

And just keep your finger there at John 11, and we're going to read some passages in just a moment.

The Gospel of John has a purpose. And John, unlike some writers of Scripture, explicitly tells us his purpose when he writes. You can actually go in your Bibles to John chapter 20, verse 31, and John tells us plain out why he wrote the book. Here's why he wrote it. John wrote, These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

John wants us to believe in Jesus Christ and by believing find life. that's his purpose and in order to help us choose to believe in christ he organizes his book this way the first 11 chapters of john are called the book of signs the book of signs and the last part of the book chapters 13 to 21 is called the book of glory so the first part of john john gives us signs or reasons that we should believe in Jesus Christ. I think on your handout I gave you two Greek words, dunamis and Simeon. Do you see that on your handout? Right there at the book of signs.

In this first 11 chapter, John gives us seven miracles of Jesus. And in the Greek Bible, in the New Testament, miracles are sometimes called dunamis, from which we get dynamite miracles are power when you see jesus do a miracle you see power but when john talks about miracles in his book he doesn't use that word from which we get dynamite he uses a different greek word he uses the word simaion which means signs and what john wants us to understand is this is that the miracles that he tells us about these seven miracles of jesus in the first 11 chapters of john aren't just acts of power they are acts of power but they're not just acts of power they are signs they are telling us something about jesus christ it's like john is holding up a big sign and saying given this act of power understand and know something about this Jesus Christ and knowing this you should believe. Miracles are not just acts of power. In John's gospel they are also signs to guide us to Jesus Christ. Everybody understand me? Okay here are the seven signs. The first one Jesus was a good baptist he turned the water into wine we baptists have always had trouble with this story happened we just can't get around it jesus turned the water into wine and he didn't just turn it into some old sickly not good wine it was the good stuff we'll talk about that more later second he healed the son of a royal official the second sign the third sign he healed an invalid at the pool of bethesda lame for 38 years he heals him fourth sign feeding of 5,000 people the only sign in john that is recorded in all the gospels the feeding of the 5,000 number five walking on water jesus walks on water to show he's got power over nature sign number six he gives sight to a man born blind thus demonstrating he is the light of the world but then we come to sign number seven in the first 11 chapters and it is the most dramatic of all the signs in the first of 11 chapters it is the raising of Lazarus from the dead my question for us today as we look at this seventh sign of Jesus is why did Jesus let Lazarus die?

Okay? Let's pray as we begin. Dear Lord, we pray that this day as we come to your word that we will see that the sign you have set before us will be evident to us. And having seen this sign, may we be changed. For it's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Our story takes us to a little town called Bethany. It's a little town. Here's Jerusalem right here. Bethany is just a couple of miles away.

And Jesus is in Jerusalem when he gets word that his close friend who lives in Bethany named Lazarus is sick. Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha, and this brother and two sisters were very, very close friends of Jesus. Apparently when Jesus would travel to Jerusalem for the feast that the Jews would celebrate, he would often walk the couple of miles to Bethany and stay in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. So this town was very important to him, and these people were very important to him. So Jesus hears that Lazarus has died, and if you read the story, you know that what Jesus does is when he hears Lazarus has died, he doesn't just rush.

Excuse me, not die. When he hears Lazarus is sick, Jesus doesn't just rush to Bethany. If you read the story, Jesus waits. Not just one day, not just two days, not just three days. He waits four days and Lazarus is dead.

Why did Jesus let Lazarus die? Well, I think there are at least three reasons. Here's reason number one. Jesus let Lazarus die to demonstrate his glory. Look at John chapter 11 with me.

Look at the first four verses, which reads, Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death.

No, it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two more days and then he started his trip which would take him a little more time it was four days by the time he got there why did Jesus let Lazarus die he let him die first to demonstrate his glory what does the glory of God mean in the old testament there was a word for glory in the Hebrew language that came from a Hebrew meant to be heavy and this word for glory in the old testament has the sense that when we talk about god's glory and glory we are talking about his heaviness or his weightiness you know we talk about somebody being a heavyweight and when we say they're a heavyweight we mean they're somebody who's got clout who's got power who's got status who's got position and when we talk about god's we are talking about those things that show he is a weighty, powerful, mighty being. In the New Testament, the word for glory is doxa, from which we get doxology. We sing the doxology, right?

Everybody remember the doxology? How many remember the doxology? We need to be sure we're still teaching our children that song. We don't sing it as often as we used to. the doxology it's the song where we praise God and when we talk about God's glory we're talking about those things that he does we're talking about his character and we're talking about his power that shows he is worthy of our honor our praise these are the things that show he is a splendid God, a great God. So Jesus let Lazarus die so that his glory would be demonstrated.

We're going to see Jesus do something that shows his weightiness, that shows his power, that shows his glory. Everybody got that? The second reason that Jesus let Lazarus die was to demonstrate that he and he alone conquers death. Now let's pick up on the story and read several more verses here in John 11.

Let's start at verse 21. Let's get down to verse 21. Here we go. So Jesus has traveled to the village now and Martha comes out to see him, the sister of Lazarus. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die do you believe this yes lord she told him i believe that you are the christ the son of god who was to come into the world now go down to verse 32 and mary has now come out to see jesus when mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet and said Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled where have you laid him he asked come and see Lord they replied and Jesus wept Then the Jews said, See how he loved him.

But some of them said, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there's a bad odor, for he's been there four days.

Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go.

Jesus let Lazarus die to demonstrate that he and he alone conquers death. The central statement in this passage is I am the resurrection and the life. is so familiar to us, we almost yawn when we read it. And as I was preparing to teach this lesson, I've got to say, I kept trying to think, how can I impress upon the class? This is not a yawner.

This is one that ought to move us at the core of our being. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. You see the emphasis of I am. Remember we talked about Moses in the burning bush a few weeks ago? where Moses learned that God is the great I am.

Well, here Jesus is identifying himself with that God of the Old Testament when he says, I am. In other words, Jesus too is the I am. What he was, he still is. What he is, he always will be. Jesus is real.

He is. He is self-defining, self-sustaining, unustaining inexhaustible unshakable God he is the great I am who is the resurrection and the life and it's in this verse these verses right here that we have some of the greatest promises made to us as Christians they are promises that are made to those who believe in Christ look at this with me look in your bibles look at verse 25 he says i'm the resurrection and the life and there are two promises made but each of the promises is conditioned on believing in him he who believes in me and then go down it says in verse 26 and whoever lives and believes in me you hear that These promises are for people who believe in Jesus. And in your handout, I told you, literally what it says is not believe in Jesus. It's literally, there's a little word there, the word ace, it literally means believe into Jesus. Okay?

And here's the picture. To be saved, we must believe into Jesus. It's a picture of someone standing outside of Christ the stuff about Jesus. He's the Son of God. He died on the cross. He was raised from the dead.

He's coming again. But you're not saved until you believe into Him. And it's the picture of joining with Christ, of uniting with Christ. It's the picture of bending the knee and submitting to Him as Lord and Savior. I just went over this with the deacons in a meeting recently that we had.

I think this is so important. And let me tell you why. I believe we've got people sitting in churches all over this nation, and maybe even in our own church, who believe a lot of things about Jesus Christ. But you are not saved because you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You are not saved because you believe He died on the cross.

You're not saved because you believe He rose from the dead. You're not saved because you believe He's coming again. Satan and his demons know all those things. You're believed when you bend the knee. And you say, you are my Lord.

I commit my life to you. I will serve you and follow you from this day forward and forever. That is when salvation comes. So yes, we need to believe things about Jesus. But just believing about him does not give us eternal life.

It is believing into him. So hear me. if you want to know the resurrection and the life you've got to unite with christ you've got to bend the knee if he is not lord he is not savior here's some verses that i want to emphasize and this this issue of jesus being the only way of salvation is such a hot topic these days you you say that in a crowded room outside of church you're liable to get people angry at you jesus is the only way of some verses here and i've given you these references in your handout whoever believes in him shall not perish but will have eternal life in him and that's christ john 3 36 whoever believes in the son has eternal life but whoever rejects the son will not see life for god's wrath remains on him john 14 6 i am the way the truth and life no one comes to the father except through me Acts 4.12, salvation is found in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. 1 John 5.12, John's always real plain. He who has the Son has life.

He who does not have the Son does not have life. Romans 10.9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved my purpose in reviewing those scriptures quickly is just to demonstrate that scripture over and over and over again says there's only one way of salvation it's through faith in christ i'm talking to the choir probably but i have been in some churches where i taught this and it was a novel idea that jesus was the only way of salvation Some might have said he was a way of salvation, but to say he's the only way of salvation is for some a different thought. What do we get if we believe into him? Or what are the promises?

The promises are, first, resurrection, and secondly, life. Jesus says, if you believe in me, or literally into me, we will live even if we die. Did you hear that? anyone who believes in me will live even if he dies even if he physically dies he will still live and the reality is the reality is from an eternal perspective we never really die that's the promise of life so the promise of resurrection is even though we physically die we will live and he is the life meaning literally we really never die when we physically die we never cease to exist we just step from one existence to the next we always are alive if i could give you a pill that would so you would never die a lot of i could make a lot of money if i had that kind of pill couldn't i i've got it his name is jesus christ you want to never die take this pill bend the knee believe in him you will never die so we no longer have to fear death right we may not look forward to the process of dying that's no fun the hurt the pain but death itself we need never fear because we just go from this existence to the next okay jesus response to lazarus death i think is interesting you see several words in the text it says as jesus sees the people weeping and wailing jesus is deeply moved he is troubled and then he even himself begins to cry the word for deeply troubled literally means he begins to snort like a horse that that was the literal meaning it's it was a word used for when someone was deeply angry about something and the word for trouble has the idea he was deeply agitated and then weeping is a sign of sorrow why did why was Jesus angry agitated and even to the point that he began to cry there may be several reasons but let me at least give you a couple of ideas of why he may have begun to be so angry and cried number one he may have been angry and disturbed because of the mourners who were present you know at every Jewish funeral even poor people were supposed to hire two or three professional mourners and they had people who made a living going around attending funerals and mourning so there were mourners there who were wailing and weeping as part of the funeral ritual and Jesus may have been disturbed that they acted like people who thought there was no hope for the dead secondly he may have been he saw what sin had done to humanity you know when someone dies you know why they die at ultimate root there may have been some disease that was the immediate cause but at root death exists on this earth because of sin before sin entered the world there was no death so jesus may have been angered at what sin has done to humanity and then finally he may have wept just because he had compassion He knew his friends were hurting at the loss of their brother, and he may have wept for that reason. But Jesus doesn't leave Lazarus in the grave.

With a loud command, he shouts at Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus' name literally means whom God helps. It was a fitting name for Lazarus, right? Because it would be God himself who would help Lazarus come forth out of the grave. John 5, 28 and 29, that one day those who were in the grave would hear his voice.

John chapter 5, verses 28 and 29, he had promised that one day those who were in the grave would hear his voice. That happened with Lazarus. And Lazarus coming forth is a precursor to another day when the dead who are in the grave will hear the voice of Jesus and the voice of the archangel. 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 and 17, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first because those who are in the grave will hear the voice and will be resurrected the raising of lazarus is a promise of that i think the last reason that jesus let lazarus die is to put before people a choice what you see with the raising of lazarus is a response to that by the jewish leadership look at with me at verse 45 of john 11 therefore we're told many of the jews who had come to visit mary and had seen what jesus did put their faith in him so you got one group that puts their faith in him but some of them went to the pharisees and told them what jesus had done then the chief priest and the pharisees called a meeting of the sanhedrin what are we accomplishing they asked here is this man performing many miraculous signs. Simeon. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up.

You know nothing at all. You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. Jesus let Lazarus and now he's present people with a stark choice will you have faith in me some chose to have faith in him some were like mary and martha who declared he was the christ the son of the living god but then you have others who reject him and who basically begin to decide they're going to kill him at the end of this story the question for us is this we have seen the reality that jesus is the resurrection and the life. We are told by this account, he has raised the dead. What will we do?

Will we be people of faith who trust in him or will we reject him and walk away like the Pharisees did and the Jewish leadership? What's your choice? Are you going to choose resurrection and life or not? Those are the two choices, folks. Failing to choose Christ you've chosen death rather than life if you want the resurrection and the life you've got to choose christ here are my lessons for life keep jesus christ at the center at the center of everything i've been i've started i've started this as part of my prayer practice there's a prayer called the jesus prayer there's some who work daily to say this prayer over and over and over and over and over and over again literally thousands of times a day i'm not that diligent but i do on a i have started just recently on a regular basis saying lord jesus christ son of god have mercy on me a sinner that's the jesus prayer lord jesus christ son of god have mercy on me a sinner Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

And one reason I like to say that several times during the day is it keeps Christ at the center. He should be the focal point of our lives. He should be the focal point of what we do with our lives. Keep him at the center. And if he's not at the center, get him at the center.

If you let yourself be distracted for whatever reason, get Christ back at the center. Secondly, recognize that apart from Christ there is no hope. It's just that simple. That should motivate us to want to lift Christ up, to point Christ out to other people, because in Him alone is hope. The third lesson is this.

If we believe into Christ, there is nothing that can separate us from Him or His love. Do you hear me? There's nothing that can separate us. I don't care what you face in life. I don't care what dungeon you're cast into, what difficulty you face, what dark valley you walk through.

If you believe in Him, there's nothing that can separate you. Fourthly, let's live more fearlessly.

As I have read and studied church history and seen the people who were fearless for Christ, who would go anywhere, anytime that Christ called them, I am persuaded they are people who believe this truth, that Jesus was the resurrection and the life. And they were able to live more fearlessly because they knew they had nothing to fear. Because in the end, if they died, they would be with Jesus. I'm not sure we have had that fearlessness for Christ. But there's something attractive about living fearlessly for Christ.

I think it's a magnet for other people. to become a reality in our own lives. We have to become more fearless, people of greater courage, but it only comes when we believe and buy into this truth. Fifthly, let's think more about heaven and less about earth. I'm not saying we don't need to deal with things on earth, but what I'm saying is that if we begin to think more about the resurrection and the life, that one day we will be with Christ, I think it changes how we live here on earth if we think about eternity we will live differently here i've been reading the spiritual disciplines of saint ignatius of loyola it's a it's a book he wrote about how to grow in the christian life and he says anytime you have to make a choice in life there are three things you ought to think about if you're faced with two choices number one he he says if you're trying to make a choice between one of two things first ask yourself if someone were coming to you saying I have these two choices before me what would you advise that person to choose and he says you should always advise them to choose that which gives the greatest glory to God the second way he says to make choices is he says if you got are faced with two choices assume you're going to die tomorrow now decide which of those two options is most important and do that option thinking that you're going to die tomorrow.

The third way he says to make a decision between one of two choices is assume that tomorrow you'll be standing in front of Jesus and will have to defend which of the choices you made between the two options before you. He says choose the one that you can best defend when you stand in front of your master. That's a pretty good test, right? What would you advise somebody else to choose between one of two options? Assuming you're going to die tomorrow, is the most important of the two things to do.

And thirdly, assume you're going to have to stand before Jesus tomorrow and tell him why you chose which of the two things. Which did you do? Some of you are facing choices. I know some of you are struggling with your marriages. I know some of you are struggling with other decisions that you've got to make.

What are you going to choose? Think more about heaven, less about earth, more about being in front of the Savior. What are you going to choose? Sixthly, let's look forward to the day that we'll be in God's presence forever. Do you look forward to that day?

I think we should. I think we should look forward. I think we ought to be ready to say, let's go. It's his timing, not our timing,

to die is gain. Seventhly, remember, a central truth of the Christian faith we will one day have resurrected bodies that are immortal, imperishable, glorious, spiritual bodies. Now hear this. Some people don't know this. The Christian faith teaches not just that our spirits will be in eternity forever, but the teaching is that one day our spirits will be reunited with our bodies and we will one day have bodies that are immortal, imperishable, glorious bodies.

We will recognize one another. We will be able to tell who we are. But we will be strong, unencumbered, unimpaired. All those things that slow us down in this life or disable us in this life will be no more. We will one day have glorious resurrected bodies.

But it's because Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Do you hear me? And that's the truth that would carry this young 17-year-old girl who dove into the Chesapeake Bay. She had no idea when she dove into the water how shallow it was. And when Johnny Erickson Tata dove into the Chesapeake Bay on July 30, 1967, her head hit the bottom fractured her spine and since that day since she was 17 years old she has been a quadriplegic with virtually no motion or movement or feeling from her shoulders to the bottom of her feet

she went through much difficulty with that but she tells and recognize the great hope that we have in Christ. She tells the story about how she was seated in a Christian conference. Someone else was speaking. She's now quadriplegic in the wheelchair, and the leader of the conference invites everyone who's present at the conference to kneel to pray to Jesus. and Johnny remembers thinking how terrible she felt because she could not get down and kneel.

She grew up as a reformed Episcopalian where in her church it was very common to kneel and it meant a lot to her to be able to kneel in worship. But on this day in this convention center she could not kneel and she just began to weep as everybody else knelt and she just had to sit there. in her chair. But she writes this. Listen to these words. Sitting there, weeping while everybody else is kneeling, I was reminded that in heaven I will be free to jump, dance, kick, and do aerobics.

And although I'm sure Jesus will be delighted to watch me rise on tiptoe, there's something I plan please him more. If possible, somewhere, sometime before the party gets going in heaven, sometime before the guests are called to the banquet table at the wedding feast of the Lamb, the first thing I plan to do on resurrected legs is to drop on grateful, glorified knees. I will quietly kneel at the feet of Jesus. And then she writes, I cannot wait. Amen? Amen.