John 11:1-10 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. Good morning. Back in the Gospel of John once again. Last week we wrapped up chapter 10.

[0:14] I told you all last week that, I told Vern after service that I told you all last week that at the toward the end of the chapter we would wrap back around Jesus walking in the temple and Solomon's porch and I neglected to do that.

[0:37] But so to go back to that for just a moment. Last week at the end of chapter 10 we read that the Jews had sought again to take Jesus Christ.

[0:52] We read that in verse 39, verse 40. Verse 39 says he escaped out of their hand and verse 40 says, and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized.

[1:06] And there he abode and many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle but all these things that John spoke of this man were true.

[1:18] And many believed on him there. And going back to where we began reading last week in verse 22 it says, and it was at Jerusalem the feast of dedication and it was winter and Jesus walked in the temple and Solomon's porch.

[1:34] And when we read that last week I told you all then that that was significant. That yes Jesus was at the temple but he was in Solomon's porch which was outside the temple.

[1:46] And here at the end of chapter 10 we see Jesus retiring or going beyond Jordan to where John first baptized.

[1:57] And I said then that this was the place where Jesus officially dedicated himself. He was already dedicated, I understand that. But before man he officially dedicated himself to his mission.

[2:11] This is the place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus crossed and he went back there. And the people again they said, or the scripture says that this was the place where John at first baptized and there he abode.

[2:27] So he stayed there. And this is significant because as far as John's gospel account goes, Jesus never again went back to the temple.

[2:38] Jesus never again in fact went back to Jerusalem until it was time for him to be put on trial. It was time for him to be crucified as per the gospel account of John.

[2:49] There's a many resorted unto him there. So when Jesus goes back to the temple in verse 22, verses 22 and 23 here, but he stays actually outside the temple.

[3:01] He was not in the confines of the building of the temple. He was outside of it. Folks, he had displayed himself. He had all but manifested himself in his full glory to these Jews, to the elite Jews, to the religious rulers of his day.

[3:20] And he had done it on more than one occasion. And as many times as he'd done this, they had rejected him over and over and over again.

[3:31] This kind of tells me that the light had shown in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. He had come and he had explained himself.

[3:43] He had said, I'm the light of the world. He had done all these miracles and all these things, and yet these Jews rejected him as Messiah. So he stayed outside the temple there in verses 22 and 23.

[3:58] And we don't see him go back inside there. Of course, that temple was a sacred place to these Jews, but this to me is Jesus showing them that he is the true temple.

[4:09] I mean, we got that in the book of Revelation. John the Revelator, he wrote that there was no temple therein. Speaking about heaven, he said there is no temple therein, but the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple thereof or therein.

[4:24] Jesus Christ is the true temple, but he was staying outside this temple. Folks, Judaism was just a dried up hole at this point.

[4:36] There was no worshiping God in it. And I'm not saying that to cut down the Jews or to speak badly of the Jews, because listen, there's a lot of religion nowadays that claims Jesus Christ, and they claim the power of God, and they claim all kinds of things to do with this Bible, but it is nothing more than what Judaism was 2,000 years ago.

[4:59] But Jesus Christ showing here that the temple was just that. It was a building. But when he went on beyond Jordan, it says many resorted unto him there, and said John did no miracle, but all things that John spoke of this man were true.

[5:17] And I said last week, the words that John the Baptist preached about Jesus Christ, about him being the one whose shoe let you, he was unworthy to loot, about him being the Lamb to take away the sin of the world.

[5:31] These people believed those things, but they were beyond Jordan. They weren't gathered there around the temple. They weren't in the middle of the religious system that the Pharisees and the Sadducees as well, and the scribes and all these other people had set up.

[5:45] They were beyond Jordan. And that's where Christ retired to. And it says in the last verse, verse 42, it's at Britannia, many believed on him there. And I said that it's sad, but that was the last time before the crucifixion, or before the trial actually, and the crucifixion across that we see him in Jerusalem itself in the capital.

[6:10] And I believe that that's the significance there, because he came into his own and his own received and not. And folks say it wasn't just a one-time thing, Christ over and over and over revealed who he was to these people, but they had continually rejected him.

[6:26] So that's what I wanted to kind of get at last week, and I neglected to do so. I forgot about it by the time we got to the end of chapter 10 that I told you all we were going to go there. So that brings us to chapter 11.

[6:38] Chapter 11 is one of the greatest chapters in all of the Gospel of John. We see the greatest miracle that Jesus Christ performed outside of giving himself over for the redemption of mankind.

[6:52] But the greatest miracle as far as a public ministry, and it was actually kind of more private than it was public, but as far as that goes, he raising Lazarus from the dead, as we read about here in John chapter 11, is the greatest miracle outside of the miracle he performed for the redemption of mankind that we can read about in Gospel or in John's Gospel account.

[7:20] So with that being said, John chapter 11 and verse 1 says, Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

[7:32] And verse 2, the Holy Spirit directed John to explain to us which Mary we're talking about here. Verse 2 says, It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

[7:47] Now this to me, and it's arguable, but this to me gives a confirmation for a later writing of the Gospel of John, as opposed to the other Gospels, because it's assuming that the readers of this would have known who this Mary was, and would have been familiar with the Mary's that are brought up in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

[8:13] So he was distinguishing which Mary it was here. Again, telling me that John, of course, directed by the Holy Spirit, would have assumed that they would have been familiar with the Mary's of the Gospel accounts that we find in the other three Gospels.

[8:32] But back to verse 1, Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

[8:43] And this seems kind of insignificant, it seems kind of unimportant if you just kind of scan through it. But really and truly, as I just said, this outside of what Jesus done for mankind is the greatest miracle that he performed.

[9:01] And they chose this little town, it was really a village, it wasn't even a town like we would think of nowadays. But God chose this town of Bethany, and he chose it before the foundation of the world was ever laid.

[9:15] It's not something that God created the world and he put all the critters here on the planet and put them all in the ocean. And the world had gone on for a few thousand years at this point and God just said, I'm going to choose Bethany.

[9:28] No, folks, this place was ordained. It was ordained from the beginning of time to be the place where this miracle took place. The little village called Bethany, it wasn't in Jerusalem where the capital was.

[9:44] It wasn't in any of the other significant cities that were anywhere close by within a few miles or maybe 10 or 12 miles. It was in this little tiny village that was less than two miles from Jerusalem.

[10:00] We read about that a little bit later on in this chapter where he read about 15 furlongs from Jerusalem, this town called Bethany. Really, it's what we would call a stone's throw today, or just a hop, a skip, and a jump as we phrase it here.

[10:17] But it was less than two miles from Jerusalem in this little village where these people, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live, is where God had ordained that Christ would perform this miracle at.

[10:32] And I think that's a wonderful thing. JC Ryle actually made a statement in his commentary or exposition that a cottage with grace is better than a palace that has none in the sight of God.

[10:49] And speaking of this very passage here, JC Ryle said that. And how true that is, how true that is. So this man was sick.

[11:02] That was in Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

[11:14] Now, something I want to point out here, this word here that you've twice here in verse 1 and verse 2, is sick. It's a Greek word called asthanaeo. And this word is not an adjective like we would think that it is.

[11:31] Someone says, Spencer's sick. That's a word describing Spencer. But this is actually a verb. It's actually an adverb. It's describing the verb immediately preceding it here.

[11:45] And it's the same word that's used in John chapter 4 when it's describing the nobleman's son that was sick. It's the same word that's describing the impotent man in John chapter 5 that was at the pool of Bethesda.

[12:02] It's the same word that's used for the diseased folk in John chapter 6. It means sick or sinking or wasting away and doing so rapidly.

[12:15] So when it says that Lazarus was sick, this means that he was at the point of death. He was going downhill as we would say nowadays and he was going downhill fast.

[12:26] This man Lazarus, he doesn't say exactly what his sickness was. He doesn't say that he had a fever. He doesn't say he had some disease or whatever the case was. All the Scripture says is that he was sick.

[12:38] And this same word as Taneos is used to describe several different ways of being sick. Like I said, an impotent man, a nobleman's son, and people that were diseased.

[12:49] And all these situations used that same Greek word to describe them. But it means he was at the point of death. Verse 3, therefore his sister sent unto him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

[13:07] And this is a beautiful statement that Mary and Martha sent to Jesus Christ. They didn't make it directly to him because he wasn't there.

[13:18] But they sent messengers unto Jesus and said, Lord, first of all, Lord is the language of believers. That's the language of people that understood who Jesus was, that he was indeed Messiah.

[13:30] He was the promised one that was here on this earth at this time. They refer to him as Lord. He says, behold, and behold is a word that grasps your attention.

[13:42] He says, pay attention to what I'm saying. He says, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And this is very important. How they said this.

[13:53] How they were relaying this to Jesus Christ. He whom thou lovest is sick. They didn't say, he whom lovest thou, or he whom lovest thee.

[14:05] They weren't talking about the love that Lazarus had for Jesus Christ. Although Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were all disciples, they were followers of Jesus Christ. And I believe all three of them loved him very much.

[14:17] But that's not how they addressed Jesus. They said, he whom thou lovest is sick. Folks, the love of Christ, the love of Christ will always override our love.

[14:28] It'll always overshadow our love. I could never love Jesus Christ as much as Jesus Christ loves me. And this is how they appealed to Jesus Christ.

[14:41] They didn't appeal to his sentiment. They didn't appeal to the situation. They didn't say, he's sick. You need to come. You need to come. You need to show up now and do something about this.

[14:52] They appealed to his heart. They appealed to the love that he had for Lazarus. And folks, we would do well as Christians to take firm lesson on this when we pray ourselves.

[15:06] Not to put so much on ourselves. Not to put so much on our own needs and saying, God, I need this. And God, I need you to do this. We need to depend upon the love that God and the cross has for us.

[15:21] Knowing that if we go to God as his children, that we go in reverence. We go in reverence because he is our Father. We don't go to him demanding things.

[15:33] They never demanded a thing of Jesus Christ and saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. They left it completely in his hands. And when we go to God in prayer, we have no right to go to him and demand that he do things, demand that he fix things, demand that he heal people or heal us or whatever the case is.

[15:55] We go to God and we depend upon the love that God has toward his children. We spill out our hearts to him. And when we spill out our hearts to him, everything that he already knows, he will work it out in his own way and in his own good time.

[16:11] We would do very well to learn how they prayed to Jesus here. That's exactly what this was. It was a prayer sent by a messenger to Jesus Christ.

[16:22] Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. What lesson we can learn from that? I mean, there's other examples of this in the scripture of people pouring their hearts out to God and pouring their hearts out to Christ.

[16:39] One's right here at the end of the very gospel that we're in after the resurrection. In fact, on the resurrection morning, when Mary goes to the tomb and she's standing there weeping, and Christ is there.

[16:53] He says, woman, why weep us, thou? He didn't ask her why she was weeping because he didn't know. He asked her to prompt her to pour her heart out to him.

[17:05] He already knew why she was crying. He already knows every need that you and I have. He also knows our wants, which could be a good thing or could be a bad thing.

[17:16] But he knows our needs already, but he wants us to pour our hearts out to him. Pour our hearts out to him is exactly what we should do.

[17:27] But when we do this, when we do this, we're depending on him and his love toward us and his promise to take care of his own in the scripture. This blows out of the water these people that say that you can claim things from God.

[17:42] Folks, we can claim nothing from God. It is all of grace. It is all of grace. And that goes for saved people and lost people a lot. If a lost person is walking around on this planet right now, they woke up this morning, they've got breath in their bodies, they've got blood pumping through their veins.

[17:59] That is a gift from God and it is of grace that they have that. The gift that we have is of grace. The very throne that we approach is of grace.

[18:10] And if it is of grace, we have no right to claim anything from God. God gives these things to us and he gives it out of grace. Not to mention this man Lazarus here was sick.

[18:24] And this also blows out of the water the notion that true born again children of God shouldn't get sick. Folks, Lazarus was sick and Christ loved him no less when he was sick as he did when he was well.

[18:38] And he loved Mary and Martha no less because their brother was sick and they were associated with him. Then he does before they had that on their mind that their brother was sick.

[18:49] So this blows out of the water the notion and you'll hear people teach that very thing that the people of God should not get sick. That's not the case at all. That's not the case at all. We get sick. We get ill. We have injuries.

[19:04] We suffer death. We do all these things because of sin and that is an infection that has affected the entire race of mankind.

[19:15] These things happen because of sin. I'm not saying every time you get a headache that you need to go repent for whatever sin that you've committed to acquire that headache. I'm saying that you get headaches and you get runny noses and you get sore muscles and sore joints because of sin.

[19:31] It has affected the entire race of mankind. But Christ did not love Lazarus any less because he was sick than he did when he was well. Therefore a sister sent unto him saying, Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick.

[19:45] Verse 4, when Jesus heard that he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified. Thereby. What kind of response is this?

[19:57] When Jesus heard that he said, this sickness is not unto death. Well, Lazarus died, did he not? He wasn't dead at this point that we know of. But Jesus says himself, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified.

[20:15] Thereby. What Christ is saying here is saying, he's not sick just to bring him to the point of death. It's not a sickness, it's a sickness unto death. There is a purpose behind this and folks, when we get sick, it doesn't matter how lotly sick we are, how heavily sick that we are.

[20:32] When sickness or illness strikes our body, when injury happens, when death comes along and claims to love them, whatever the case is, God has got a purpose behind every one of those things.

[20:45] Everything that affects you, everything that affects me, whether it be negative or whether it be positive, God has a purpose for his children and everything that comes our way and that should bring us great comfort as children of God.

[21:01] Says, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereof. Those of you that were here when we started chapter nine here in the Gospel of John, if you'll remember, this is when Jesus had left the temple.

[21:14] He was outside the temple and he come across this blind man and his disciples asked him, Lord, why is this man blind? Is it a sin that he committed or is it a sin that his parents committed? And Jesus said he's not blind from birth because of some sin.

[21:28] He is blind that the power of God might be manifested in him. This is Christ saying the same thing about this man Lazarus, that he was sick and that the power of God would be manifested in him and that Jesus Christ would be glorified in them.

[21:43] And folks, that's something else. You cannot separate the glory of God and the glory of Jesus. You cannot separate the glory of the Father from the glory of the Son.

[21:54] It's the same glory. What glorifies God, glorifies God the Father, will glorify God the Son and what glorifies God the Son will glorify God the Father.

[22:05] You all have heard me say before that all through the New Testament you see God the Father glorifying his Son. When he said, this is my Son and whom I am well pleased, this is my Son, and here ye him is seeking to glorify the Son.

[22:20] The Son is constantly seeking to glorify the Father, but that glory is one glory. You cannot separate the glory of the Father and the Son.

[22:32] This sickness is not under death, but for the glory of God. Remember this Christians, remember this children of God. Your sicknesses, your illnesses are for the glory of God.

[22:44] God may not heal you here. God may heal you here. God may not do anything along the lines of making you better, of making you feel better. You may walk around for the rest of your lives feeling awful physically.

[22:59] But folks it is for the glory of God that this is taking place. Let that bring you comfort. God may be using you to bring someone else into the fold, to bring someone else into his flock of sheep.

[23:13] God may be using you for a testimony to encourage another brother and sister in Christ. God can be using you for any number of different things. The thing is, allow God to use that for his glory.

[23:27] And it's hard for us to do that sometimes, ain't it? We want to hit our knees when we pray, and instead of saying, He whom thou lovest is sick, instead of saying, Lord, you love me and I'm sick.

[23:39] We want to say, God heal me right now. God take this away. God I'm suffering. God this and God that.

[23:50] We want to do that instead of saying, Lord, you love me and I'm sick. And laying it in his hands and letting him do with it what he will in his good time. But we want to demand what we want at that time.

[24:06] Mary and Martha done well here with their request. And Jesus done well with his message going back to them. What Jesus states here in verse four was what he stated to these messengers to carry back to Mary and Martha.

[24:22] Now it would have been heard more and likely amongst his disciples that were with him there in that place. But it's the message that was going back to Mary and Martha.

[24:33] But the main gist of the message though is that Cross already knew that Lazarus was sick. He already knew that he was suffering. He already knew that he was sinking down to the point of death.

[24:46] Cross knew this. And if nothing else in this message that Cross was sending back to Mary and Martha, if nothing else brought them comfort, the fact that Cross already knew about it should have.

[24:59] It should have. And that should bring us the same comfort. Verse five, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus. I don't think it's any accident. Verse five, and I'm not talking about numerical succession here.

[25:12] I don't think that it's any accident that verse five comes just before verse six. It says, when he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days in the same place where he was. But just before this, it says that Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus.

[25:29] But then it says that he abode two days. He continued to stay where he was. And even though he continued to stay where he was, that did not decrease.

[25:40] It did not diminish the love that Jesus had for Mary and for Martha and for Lazarus. It didn't decrease it. One bit says, now Jesus loved Mary and Martha, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

[25:56] When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Folks, this is an awesome thing, an awesome example of how we need to wait on the Lord.

[26:14] Now, in human eyes, maybe even in Mary and Martha's eyes, in fact we read about it a little bit later in this chapter, we won't get to it today. But we're thinking, why isn't Jesus acting now?

[26:27] Why, he knows the problem. He knows that Lazarus is sick. Why is he not doing anything about it? And we think the same thing about ourselves. Lord, you know how I'm suffering.

[26:39] You know how I'm hurting. You know how awful I feel. Why aren't you acting on this right now? And God has his reasons. Jesus had his reasons for tarrying here in verse 6 when it says that he abode two days still in the same place.

[26:58] But this actually looks back to verse 4 as well. Verse 4 says, when Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death.

[27:10] Folks, again, his love did not decrease one bit for this family. But again, in verse 6, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

[27:23] And people will read that and people will think on that and they'll say, well, Christ didn't care. Folks, again, verse 5, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

[27:35] Yes, he cared. And he still cares to this day for his own. Verse 7, then after that, saith he to his disciples, let us go into Judea again.

[27:48] Verse 8, his disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of Lake Saltishtone, and go astighal, thither again. So verse 7, then after that, he saith to his disciples, let us go into Judea again.

[28:04] Folks, this is the same place where just in the previous chapter, and the chapter just before, chapter 9, that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus. That was in Judea. That was in Jerusalem.

[28:18] Now, Jesus didn't say, let us go to Jerusalem here. He said, let us go to Judea. Let us go to Judea, which is where Bethany was.

[28:29] Like I said, that was less than two miles from Jerusalem. Let us go to Judea again. His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of Lake Saltishtone, and go astighal, thither again. The disciples were afraid.

[28:44] They were afraid to go back to Judea. Now, the question here is, do you think they were afraid for Jesus' sake? Or do you think they were afraid for their own sake?

[28:58] Folks, Jesus had made it very plain. Several times throughout the Gospel of John, since we started this couple, a few months ago, whenever it was, He's made it very plain that his time had not yet come.

[29:12] Jesus made it very plain that when that time came, it come. When his hour came, that's when it came. But his hour had not yet come. I think these disciples were afraid for themselves, more so than they were afraid for Jesus Christ.

[29:29] We read Thomas' statement a little bit later in this chapter, where he's like, Well, let's just go. Maybe we'll die with him. I mean, that's basically what he was getting at. And he was saying that sarcastically, in my opinion, here in John chapter 11.

[29:43] He says, let's go on. We may just die with him, but his disciples say in him, Master, the Jews of late. In other words, it ain't been long ago that those Jews in Judea had sought to kill you.

[30:00] They had sought to stone you. They had sought to take you. And here you are wanting to go back there again. This is the question that they had. But Jesus' answer is what we need to concentrate on.

[30:14] Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he's stumbleth not because he sees it's a lot of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he's stumbleth because there is no light in him.

[30:31] It seems that Jesus, upon these disciples making the statement, these Jews tried to kill you, and you just want to go right back to where they are. It seems that Jesus just said, well, I'll just speak a parable.

[30:45] Kind of sort of what he did here. He said, are there not 12 hours in the day? But he was stating an absolute fact in saying that. Are there not 12 hours in the day? Now, we here in the West and 2,000 years later, we view it differently.

[31:00] Jesus said, are there not 12 hours in the day? The day for the Jews was from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. That's the 12 hours that we're talking about here. And at 6 p.m., the sun starts to set just as it's 6 a.m. the sun has started to rise.

[31:16] But that's the 12 hours that we're talking about here. And Jesus says, are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he's stumbleth not because he sees it's a lot of this world.

[31:27] Christ is rebuking his disciples here. He is rebuking them for what they said. How's he doing so? He's explaining something to them.

[31:38] And we don't need to just take it physically from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. that being a day in this context. We need to take it spiritually because that's exactly what he is explaining to his disciples is something spiritual.

[31:55] Are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he's stumbleth not. But because he sees it's a lot of this world. This kind of goes along with what Christ said a couple of chapters before this.

[32:09] When he said, he must work, Christ must work while it is day. Folks, Christ was given an allotted amount of time.

[32:20] Three plus years for his public ministry, for his condemnation as far as people were concerned, for his condemnation of the Jews and from the Gentiles, and all these others.

[32:32] And for his crucifixion and for his resurrection, there was an allotted amount of time that Christ was given. That's why he said a couple of chapters previous to this. He said he must work while it is day.

[32:46] He was only given a certain amount of time. And it's not that Christ, he being God, couldn't have made more time, but this time was ordained before the foundations of the world.

[32:58] But he's telling them here, he says, if any man walk in the day, he's stumbleth not because he sees it's a lot of this world. Christ said, I must work while it is day. And he's saying here, it is day.

[33:11] He said, I got to go forth. But he's telling his disciples, if any man, including those disciples, those that have been following him for about three years at this point, almost three years at this point, those that have been following him, he says, if any man walk in the day, he's stumbleth not.

[33:30] Folks, in the chapters just prior to this, Christ had been making the proclamation, I am the light of the world. And we know from 1 John that God is light and in him is no darkness.

[33:44] And we know from the Psalms that thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path. We know that God is light, that all light comes from him. All light comes from he who originates light.

[33:57] And he's saying here, if any man walk in the day, he's stumbleth not. If you're walking in the light of the day, you're not stumbling. He says, but he tells why, because he sees it's a lot of this world.

[34:11] Folks, nowhere in Scripture does God promise us there will not be obstacles in our path. Nowhere. Sometimes there's rocks we gotta climb, sometimes there's valleys we gotta go down in, sometimes there's streams that we gotta cross, sometimes there's forests that we gotta walk through, sometimes there's wild critters on either side of us, whatever the case is, but nowhere does God promise there will be no obstacles.

[34:38] But if we are walking in the day, if we are walking in the light of God and in the light of his word, we see those obstacles and we can get around them.

[34:49] But if it's not day, we can't see the obstacles. Y'all have heard me quote over and over from Proverbs, where Solomon says he that walketh in the dark, knoweth not at what he stumbles.

[35:02] Why? Because he's in the dark. The folks, if it is the light of day, and if any man's traveling, going on his way, and it's daytime, he can see the obstacles.

[35:13] That way he can prepare himself before he ever reaches the point where the obstacle is. He can prepare himself to go around it, to go over it, to go under it, whatever the case is. Cross says if any man walketh in the day, he stumbles, if not, because he seeeth the light of this world.

[35:28] But if a man walked in the night, I told y'all right before we started this chapter that the light had shown in the darkness. And that's what we've seen over the past couple of chapters that we've been going through in the Gospel of John, is that light showing in the darkness that was the religion of Judaism.

[35:46] And that's all that it was, was darkness. There was no true worship of God in what they were doing. He says, but if a man walked in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him.

[36:00] Not because there is no light around him, but because there is no light in him. Again, we need to take what Christ is saying here and apply it spiritually, just as these disciples needed to apply it spiritually.

[36:16] So it's a warning to the disciples though, because they just said in verse 8, you really want to go back here where they were wanting to stone you. So Jesus rebukes them with what he says here, but it's also a warning to them.

[36:31] In verse 10, that's the warning. If you continue on without me, you're going to stumble. He tells them how to keep from stumbling in verse 9. If any man walked in the day, he stumbles not because he sees it to light of this world.

[36:46] He tells them how to keep from stumbling, then he gives them the warning. But if a man walked in the night, he stumbles because there is no light in him. That's the warning. You continue on your way without me.

[36:57] You let me go to Judea by myself. I'll be fine, but you'll be without me, and you'll be in darkness if that is the case.

[37:08] And folks, it is the same application 2,000 years later. If we continue on our way without Jesus Christ, we are continuing without light, and we need that light to see the darkness.

[37:22] We need that light to overcome the darkness, I should say, and to see the obstacles there that we would otherwise not know about without said light.

[37:34] And I'm going to stop right there at verse 10. Not quite as far as I wanted to get, but that's okay.