John 11:28-44 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. Moving right on through the Gospel of John. We'll be back in chapter 11 this morning.

[0:12] Thus far in chapter 11, just a real quick recap. We've seen Jesus get word that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick.

[0:26] And Jesus, of course, said that sickness was not a sickness, it was unto death. And he hung out where he was, which was beyond Jordan.

[0:38] We read that in the end of the previous chapter, but he stayed there for a while afterward. And Jesus has since come close to Bethany, and Martha has run out to meet him wherever it was that he came to.

[0:55] And if you don't exactly tell us where that was, Martha went out to see him when she heard that Jesus was coming. And that's kind of where we left off last week.

[1:09] We spent a couple of Sundays getting up to that point, granted. But when we left off last week, we stopped in verse 27. We'll reread verse 25 through 27 here.

[1:23] And of course, this is Martha leading up to this. Martha said, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother had not died. And we talked about that pretty extensively last week.

[1:37] That line in the next one, but I know that even now whatsoever that will ask of God, God will give it thee. And we talked last week about how that sounds good.

[1:49] And it sounds like Martha making quite a statement there and saying that, however, that Greek word that is used there and what Martha said, which contrasts with, or which it, let me back up, that Greek word that she used there, I tell, was not good.

[2:14] Because it put Jesus, it kind of dragged Jesus's level down in Martha's mind, not literally, but dragged him down to the level of the prophets.

[2:25] Yes, I know you are a man of God and God will give you whatever it is that you want instead of using the Greek word Eretel, which is what should have been used there and was used throughout the rest of the New Testament when referring to such things as Jesus asking of the Father.

[2:43] But Martha didn't phrase it like that. So what that showed was Martha's, Martha had faith, yes, and her last statement that we read last week, which is, she saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

[3:00] That's a great statement. But what did Jesus ask just before that? He said, And whosoever liveeth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeest thou this? And granted, she said, Yea, Lord, which is yes.

[3:14] Yes, I believe this, but her statement after that, who sa-er, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

[3:25] So yes, this was a statement of faith and it was a statement saying, Yes, I believe what you say, but where we pick up this week, kind of gives us a glimpse as to how deeply, or not so deeply, Martha really believes.

[3:42] So verse 28 and John chapter 11, And when she had so said, so just after she said, I believe that you are the cross. This is very similar to what Peter said when Jesus was asking the disciples, you know, whom say men that I am?

[3:58] Some of them said that he was a prophet, some of them said that he was the spirit of John the Baptist and so on and so forth. And Jesus said, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter steps up and says, Thou art the cross, the Son of the living God.

[4:11] So what Martha had just said was very similar to what Peter said. And both of them were statements of faith as far as whom Jesus was. But this verse begins, verse 28, And when she had so said, so as soon as she said this, she went her way and called Mary, her sister secretly, saying, The master has come and calleth for thee.

[4:35] So as soon as she said that, almost like she was running away from a situation, almost like she was getting away from an interrogation. And there kind of was an interrogation going on because Jesus Christ had just asked her a couple of verses before this, Believe us, thou this, do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life?

[4:54] Do you believe that I am life itself? Do you believe these things which I am telling you? And she answered affirmatively when she said, I believe that thou art the Christ.

[5:05] I believe that you're the Messiah. You're the Savior. You're the one that was promised way back in the Old Testament, way back for us, not as far back for Martha here, but you're the one that has been promised to come into the world.

[5:18] So yes, but as soon as she said that, when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary, her sister secretly, saying, The master has come and calleth for thee.

[5:29] Now there's a lot of commentators that make a big deal over this line here, it says, where Martha says that the master has come and called for thee, because nowhere in the scripture do we read that Jesus Christ called for Mary. That doesn't mean that it didn't happen and John just didn't record it.

[5:47] I don't know what exactly the situation here is, but I can tell you for certain because of other scriptural accounts, it was Martha's personality and it was Martha's demeanor to be hasty and to be impatient.

[6:02] That was Martha's demeanor and she is not the one that's found at the feet of Jesus all the time. It is Mary that is found at the feet of Jesus. Every time that you read about Martha's sister Mary, she always winds up at the feet of Jesus Christ.

[6:18] If it's not there in the opening statements of a passage, she winds up at the feet of Jesus Christ. Mary, the sister of Martha does. So Jesus makes these statements in the previous verses on the resurrection of life.

[6:32] He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this, maybe that was a little over Martha's head. She wasn't the one at the feet of Jesus, learning of the things of Jesus.

[6:46] Maybe this is why she immediately, after she answered Jesus, yes, I believe you are the Christ. I believe you are the promised one, but she immediately runs and gets her sister. And it's a very good possibility.

[6:59] It's because what Jesus said and when he has to question, believe us thou this. Maybe Martha said, Mary, my sister is the one that's been at Jesus' feet.

[7:10] She'll know this. She'll know the answer. But nevertheless, whatever the case was, why Martha went to Mary and said, the master has come and called for thee.

[7:23] This term master, it wasn't false. It wasn't a lie that Martha was saying here, but she just said. She had just said that she believed that he was the cross and Messiah, yet she refers to him as nothing more than a teacher here or a rabbi.

[7:41] Yes, he's master. But how does Martha phrase it? The master has come. But Mary knew exactly who Martha was talking about. The master has come and called for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him.

[7:55] My goodness, what lessons we could learn from Mary here. As soon as she heard that the master was coming, as soon as she heard that Jesus was close by, she arose. But what do we do?

[8:07] Even though Jesus Christ himself has given us the promise in Scripture, low on with you always, even to the end of the world, He is our last resort so many times. And I'm talking about saved, born again, true, blue Christians.

[8:20] He's the last one that we think of in certain situations. That's right. God help us with that. God help me with that. I'm not pointing a finger at you all without pointing one back at me, pointing three or four back at me.

[8:34] I'm as guilty of it as anyone, but as soon as she heard of this, and we have this promise from Christ that He will be with us always. But Martha went and said the master comes, says as soon as she heard that she arose quickly and came unto him.

[8:48] Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, which was Bethany, but was in that place where Martha met him. So Martha had left her house when, as soon as she heard Jesus was coming, went out and met him.

[9:01] Now Martha has gone back home. However far that it was, remember Bethany, we have a distance for Bethany. It was about 15 furlongs or just under two miles from Jerusalem.

[9:12] But we have no idea how far this was that Martha was running back and forth and that Mary ran out to meet him here. But now Jesus was not yet come into town, but was in that place where Martha met him, verse 31.

[9:25] Then the Jews, then which were with her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying she goeth under the grave to wait there.

[9:37] There's something peculiar about this. When Martha come to Mary and said the master is close by, the master comes and he's calling for you.

[9:48] I don't read about a single mourner, not one single Jew that came from all around, their family, their friends, whomever it was.

[10:01] I don't read about one of them going out with Mary to see the master. Yet when Mary arises and goes out to see Jesus, these mourners follow her.

[10:15] These mourners go with her and meet personally. I think this speaks volumes of as far as how Martha is depicted to us.

[10:26] Once again, she's hasty. She's impatient. Can you all stand to be around people like that? It gets aggravating. Impatience gets very aggravating.

[10:38] So when Martha rises up, we don't read about any of these people going out with her. Some people might say, well, maybe she just sped off before anybody had a chance to, but that's very possible.

[10:49] Nevertheless, I don't read about anybody going out with Martha. The Jews then that were with her in the house and comforted her. When they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and followed her, saying she goeth under the grave to wait there.

[11:05] Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet once again. If it's not at the passage, doesn't begin with Mary at his feet.

[11:16] Every time we read about Mary, the sister of Martha, she winds up there. She winds up at the feet of Jesus Christ. She fell down his feet saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

[11:29] Now, these mourners that go out with her, they were doing their absolute best. We talked about this last week, how these Jews, most of them would have come from Jerusalem less than two miles away to comfort her.

[11:44] I realized that back in this day, there were actually paid mourners that would take sums of money to mourn the death of people. The more money you had to pay, the more mourners you could get together, and the more of a great big mournfest that you could have for your lost loved one.

[12:02] Whether these were paid mourners or not, I have no clue. Scripture doesn't tell us, but we do know that they're mourners, but the Scripture does say plainly that they comforted her.

[12:16] They were doing everything that they could, and I said last week that unbelievers, it's about an impossibility for unbelievers to truly comfort a believer in Jesus Christ.

[12:29] They might be able to stroke our head, they might be able to pat us on the back, they might be able to tell us that everything's going to be okay, but they cannot comfort us like a fellow believer can, and they certainly cannot comfort us the same way that Almighty God can.

[12:45] Almighty God can comfort us using the Spirit of God, Almighty God can comfort us using the Word of God, and He can use both of those things simultaneously to comfort a believer in Jesus Christ, but the comfort that comes from the world isn't very comforting at all.

[13:04] And the comfort that a Christian on the flip side of that coin, the comfort that a Christian gets from the Word of God, a non-Christian and a non-believer cannot get that comfort.

[13:16] It's an impossibility. We cannot hand a Bible to someone who is unregenerate, someone who is unsaved, and say, I hope that this Word brings you some comfort because all the Word of God does to a non-believer is condemn them and show them that they are condemned.

[13:33] However, the Word of God also shows us how we can be saved. It tells us how we can be saved. But as far as an unregenerate person goes, the Word of God cannot bring comfort. It's an impossibility for that to happen.

[13:49] The only comfort, or the only way that the Word of God can comfort is if we are regenerated, if we are born again. So these mourners said she'd go with under the grave to weep there there in verse 31, unbeknownst to them as to why she was leaving, because the Scripture tells us that Martha came and told her secretly, secretly that the Master came and was calling for her.

[14:23] We'll read about that in verse 28, so verse 32, then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

[14:35] Well, if you skip up to verse, go up to verse 21, Martha said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. So they both have the same thoughts here, and they both said, as far as our English translations go, they both said the same thing, although in the original group that this was written in, the order that the words were in, Mary spoke them in a different order.

[14:59] We're not going to get into that because there's all kinds of debate as to why that was, but they both had the same thoughts. Lord, if you had just been here, my brother had not died.

[15:12] They're both expressing faith in that. Martha expressed faith. Lord, if you'd just been here, Lazarus would still be here. If you just showed up when we first sent for you, and Mary is expressing the exact same thought here, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died.

[15:30] My brother had not died. Verse 33, when Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

[15:41] Well, praise God and amen and hallelujah for a Savior that will enter into our grief with us, just as Jesus Christ here did.

[15:52] Folks, John chapter 11 is one of, if not the absolute best chapter in the New Testament that shows the humanity of Jesus Christ.

[16:03] Yes, it shows his deity, and it shows his deity. We haven't gotten that far yet, when he raises Lazarus from the dead, but it shows his humanity as well.

[16:14] It shows that he was truly the God-man, 100% man and 100% God. He wept, but why did he do it? When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit.

[16:30] When he saw her weeping, this is what caused him to groan, when he saw someone that had expressed belief in him, someone that had spent time with him, someone that had helped to prepare meals for him, someone that had sat at his feet.

[16:46] When he saw someone that he loved, and whom loved him, weeping, this is what caused him to groan in the spirit.

[16:58] It caused him to groan in the spirit, and was troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? Folks, it's not because Jesus didn't know where they put Lazarus.

[17:09] Jesus knew exactly where Lazarus was. Jesus told the disciples in the beginning parts of the chapter, or in the beginning parts I should say of the chapter, when they thought that Lazarus was just taking a sleep for a rest, he said, Lazarus is dead.

[17:23] He knew Lazarus was dead, even though no messenger had come to tell him that Lazarus was dead. So don't tell me that he didn't know where Lazarus was after he had died.

[17:34] But he asks, he asks, and said, where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. This is just another example out of thousands that we can find in the Scriptures.

[17:50] Although Jesus knows things, even though God knows things right now, he still wants us to petition him, and he still wants us to talk to him, and he still wants us to pour our hearts out to him.

[18:05] And what did these people do when he said, where have you laid him? Come see. Come see, it was an invitation from Jesus to show him, for them to show him what was bothering them.

[18:19] There was a dead brother, Lazarus, that was laying in the grave. And we just read in the verse previous to this that her groaning and her weeping and her current state is what caused Jesus Christ to groan in his spirit.

[18:35] And he says, where have you laid him? Folks, when we go to God, the Bible tells us several times over that we should go to God with everything.

[18:46] I mean, in a nutshell, that's what the Bible tells us. It says that we should go to God with Thanksgiving. We should go to God with all of our supplications, all of our petitions. We should make our petitions known unto him.

[18:57] And it's not because he doesn't know, but praise God, he wants to hear from his children as high up as he is, and as powerful as he is, and as omnipotent as he is, and as omniscient as he is.

[19:12] He still wants to hear from us lowly human beings that he is redeemed. Praise God that we have a God like this. And this is a wonderful contrast to the gods of this time, the Greek gods and the Roman gods, because the Greek gods and the Roman gods, that those people worship, they had no feelings.

[19:31] They couldn't have cared less about humanity. All they were worried about was their own affairs and their own estates and what was going on in their neck of the woods, so to speak.

[19:43] But they could have cared less. And if you look back at Roman and Greek mythology, the gods could care less about the humans. It was all about the gods. The folks we have a God, the one and the true God, the God of this Bible, Jehovah God.

[19:59] We have him and he cares about his creation, and he loves his creation. And he sent his only begotten Son that we could be redeemed, that his creation could be redeemed to him.

[20:12] Amen. God commenced his love toward us and said, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Hallelujah. I'm glad he didn't wait till we went in centers, because we'd all be sitting here this morning on our ways to hell.

[20:28] But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And it goes on there in Romans to say that he died for the ungodly. That was me. That was me.

[20:39] Wherever you laid them, they said, Lord, come and see. Verse 35, the shortest verse in all scripture, Jesus wept again, showing the humanity of Jesus Christ.

[20:50] Jesus wept. Amen. He was fully manned and fully God. He showed emotions, He had emotions. The book of Hebrews talks about how we have not a priest that cannot be touched with our infirmities.

[21:03] He can be touched with our infirmities. He knows our ailments. He knows what we suffer from. He knows how we feel. He felt it all. He felt pain. He felt hunger.

[21:14] He felt thirst. He felt abandonment. He felt all of these things. He can relate to every one of us. But here, in this particular passage of scripture, we read, Jesus wept.

[21:27] Why did He weep? Well, in verse 33, we see that Mary was weeping and those that were with her, and that caused him to groan in His spirit. Jesus wept.

[21:39] When else did Jesus weep? We know that He wept over Jerusalem. We know that He groaned over Jerusalem and her impending doom.

[21:53] Jerusalem's impending doom. He wept then. But what led up to those things? Both those times that Jesus wept, either directly or indirectly, but either way, it was linked to sin.

[22:09] It was linked to the sin of the unbelief of the Israelites that were in Jerusalem. And their rejection of them, their ultimate rejection of Messiah, Jesus.

[22:21] And He wept over that. And here, why was Mary weeping? Because her brother had died. What is death? It's the wages of sin.

[22:34] So both times that cross weeps, now we read about in scripture. I'm going to go to the garden and guess how many if you want to. But we're not going to cover that here.

[22:45] It gets a little bit more in detail and we've got time for. But both times we read about assuredly in scripture that Jesus cross wept. It was both either directly or indirectly linked to sin.

[23:00] Lazarus had died. Death came. And death comes now because of sin. And this begs us to go back to the beginning of John chapter 11.

[23:13] And Jesus says this sickness is not a sickness that is under death. Folks, Lazarus died. How do we reconcile those two? How do we reconcile that Jesus Christ said this sickness is not unto death?

[23:26] But the fact that Lazarus died, did Jesus cross lie? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I'll tell you why it happened. We ain't even got that far yet. It wasn't a sickness that was under death.

[23:38] Yes, Lazarus died. But that sickness was unto resurrection. Lazarus was brought back from the grave. That's what the sickness was for. If you remember, Jesus Christ told him that Lazarus was sick, that the glory of God might be revealed.

[23:54] That his own glory might be revealed the same way that in John chapter 9, when the disciples asked, why is this man blind? Why was he born this way? His sin is that his parents sinned.

[24:05] And Jesus says that the glory of God might be manifested. Lazarus' death was not a sickness that was under death. It was a sickness that was unto life, under resurrection life.

[24:17] Now granted, Lazarus died later. Later on after that, Lazarus died twice. But Jesus shows his deity when he raises him. I'm not sure the way until we got there, but that's okay.

[24:29] Verse 35, again, Jesus went. Verse 36, then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. Again, the Jews, these mourners that were with Mary here and Martha, misinterpreting what was going on.

[24:46] Jesus was crying. But we read a couple of verses previously this, why he was crying. He groaned in his spirit because Mary, one of his own, was weeping over the death of her brother.

[24:59] Jesus was standing here outside the grave of Lazarus, weeping. Why? Because his creation, because those whom he loved was weeping.

[25:12] We're commanded, we're commanded in the book of Romans to weep with those that weep. Folks, I could use a lot of improvement in that area. I could.

[25:24] I'm not as bad as I used to be, but I'm not a naturally sympathetic person. And my wife will testify to that all day long. My boys will testify to that all day long.

[25:35] I'm not a sympathetic person. God has helped me tremendously with that, though. But I remember, you know, just on a side note, I can remember from elementary school all the way up through high school and into my 20s and even on into my 30s.

[25:50] People's grandparents would die. And I could have cared less. I'm like, it's your grandparents. It's not like it was your mom or your dad. And why was that?

[26:01] Because all my grandparents were dead by the time I was born. I never met any of them. I didn't know I had the importance of grandparents. So I could not sympathize or empathize with these people. But that was my literal thought.

[26:14] It's not like it was a brother or sister or your mom or your dad. It was Grandma, Grandpa. They was due to die anyway. That was my attitude. And God has helped me with that, though, tremendously.

[26:27] Tremendously. But I'm still not a naturally sympathetic person. But I do my best. And God has helped me incredibly with that.

[26:38] I try to mourn with those that mourn. I try to weep with those that weep. And I try to rejoice with them that rejoice. I try to do all these things. And God helps me with that. I prayed that God made me a more sympathetic person.

[26:53] And as much as Missy will testify that I'm not a naturally sympathetic person, she should also be able to testify that God has helped me incredibly with that.

[27:05] You know, I was one of these, my boys wrecked on their bicycle. They come screaming to me and crying. I didn't see any blood. I told them to shut up, go get back on their bicycle. If it ain't bleeding, it didn't hurt. That was my attitude. I was not sympathetic.

[27:19] And to this day, I'm not naturally that way. But God has helped me. Then said the Jews behold how He loved Him. So the Jews thought that He was crying because of His love for Lazarus. And this could have been part of it.

[27:31] But He was crying because Mary was weeping. Folks, He was crying for the living, for Mary, for Martha, possibly for those mourners that were gathered there.

[27:44] He was not crying for the dead, though. He knew what He was going to be doing for the dead. He was crying for those that were still alive. And some of them said, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died?

[28:02] This shows us that many of these mourners were from Jerusalem because they were going back to just the two chapters previous to this, the first chapter of the Bible, chapter 10, with the man born blind and all the rigor-moror that happened surrounding that.

[28:20] Jesus Christ healed this man that had been born blind, had never seen anything. And all the Pharisees and all the Jews were upset about it because of this and because of that, and because Jesus Christ laid claim to deity in doing so, saying that He is the light of the world, and all these other things.

[28:37] We read in two chapters previous to this. And this shows that many of them were like that. And this shows us something else. We've read a couple of times throughout the Gospel of John there was a division among the Jews. And here we see another division.

[28:51] Then said the Jews, behold how He loved them, but some of them said, not all of them, some of them said, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died?

[29:03] Answer me something, though. Why didn't they go to Jeres' daughter? Why didn't they say, did you raise Jeres' daughter from the dead? Why didn't they go to the centurion's servants?

[29:16] Why didn't they go to these folks? Those miracles happened in Galilee. Now, could these people have heard of it? Of course they could have, but those happened in Galilee.

[29:27] But this thing about the opening the eyes of the blind man happened very, very close to the time that we're reading about right now. Very close to that.

[29:38] They were very recent in their memories. Very fresh in their memories. Yes, Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, and yes, He had power that Lazarus not died, and He could have healed him from afar.

[29:51] He could have healed him up close. He could have healed him from heaven. He could have healed him from under the earth. Jesus Christ has all power to heal anyone at any time that He wants to, but there is a purpose in everything that God does.

[30:05] And there was a purpose in what God was doing here, and what Jesus was doing here. Verse 38, Therefore again, Jesus, therefore, again, groaning in Himself, coming to the grave, it was a cave and a stone lay upon it.

[30:17] So He's grown from Mary, and He's grown from Martha, because they're standing there weeping. But here we read that He groaned again. Why did He groan again? What is the verse immediately preceding this, that some of the Jews said, not this man that opened blind eyes, have also healed Lazarus, had made it to where Lazarus had not died.

[30:42] Jesus, therefore, groaning again, this made Him groan. Their unbelief made Him groan. He was groaning originally from Mary and Martha, because of their groaning, because of their sadness, because of their weeping.

[30:55] But here He's groaning for a completely different reason. It's because of the unbelief of those there in verse 37. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take away the stone.

[31:06] Martha, the sister of Him that was dead, said unto Him, Lord, by this time He's stanketh, for He hath been dead four days. Martha, once again, exhibiting unbelief.

[31:18] She should have known what was going on. He is the very one that told her, just several verses before this, I am the resurrection. I am the life.

[31:30] Remember, Martha told Him when He said, Lazarus will live again. Lazarus is going to rise again. She said, I know that He will rise at the last day. I know that that's going to happen.

[31:41] And we talked about that last week, how she had more faith in an event that was promised in the Scripture than the person that was promised in the Scripture. In Jesus Christ.

[31:52] But here, Martha, the sister of Him that was dead, said unto Him, Lord, by this time He's stanketh. She's, what good is it going to do you, Lord, to roll away this stone?

[32:05] He is dead. Corruption has done set in on the body. He's done started to decay. He's already started to rot. What good is this going to do us? What good is it going to do you?

[32:17] Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. And this is a verse that contenders of the Bible will use, trying to disprove the Scripture.

[32:31] They'll say nowhere in this passage did Jesus say those words to Mary. And I beg to differ. Because if you read verses 26 and verses 4, you find both of those statements, and both of them were directed at Martha.

[32:46] Verse 26, He said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. So, you couple that with verse 4. This is when the messengers came and told him that Lazarus was sick.

[32:59] And 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 not be glorified thereby. So, when He said, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, we find that, we find that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.

[33:19] We find this in verse 26 and in verse 4. So, He has said both of these things unto Martha. Granted, different occasions, different ways. One of them He sent by messengers to her. But either way, He had said these things.

[33:31] He had intimated these things unto Martha. And even if that wasn't the case, Martha should have known. But we're not going to go there. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always.

[33:52] But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. They took away the stone. They took away the stone from Lazarus' tomb, Lazarus' grave.

[34:08] And what does Jesus do? He doesn't immediately say Lazarus come forth. He takes time to thank God for hearing his prayer. I read nothing about Jesus praying to God in this passage of Scripture.

[34:22] But folks, we've got to remember. We've got to remember, Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. That gives Jesus Christ all kinds of time to be praying to God. And I promise you that He did.

[34:34] I can guarantee you that He prayed to God because He knew what miracle was coming up and He knew what was going to be happening here. Folks, and Jesus Christ, He continually prays.

[34:45] Up to this day He prays. The Bible speaks of Jesus Christ forever making an intercession on behalf of us to redeem the saints of God. Intercession is prayer.

[34:56] So He continues to do so. And some of the scariest stuff about Jesus praying is found in John chapter 17. When He's talking about the world, He says, I pray not for the world.

[35:10] He's praying for the redeem. He's praying for those that the Father has given him. But that's John 17. We'll get there probably in a few months.

[35:21] But anyway, He says, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, because of these people which stand by, folks, remember, Martha went to marry secretly and said, the master is here.

[35:38] God overrode this secret. When God's got a plan, it doesn't matter what we have in plan. Mary and Martha's original plan was sin for Jesus and He'll fix this situation and Lazarus will not die.

[35:50] That was their original plan. But God overrode that plan and Lazarus died. And Martha comes to Mary, tells her secretly, the master is here and calleth for Thee.

[36:01] But there was still a crowd of people that showed up at that graveside. And why was there a crowd of people there? It's not because God needed them there. God wanted them there.

[36:13] God wanted them to see this miracle. And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And He that was dead came forth, howl, will you? He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with great clothes, and His face was bound about with a napkin, Jesus saith unto them, loose him, and let him go.

[36:33] Back to verse 43, and when He had thus, when He thus had spoken, with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And it has been well commentated, it has been well remarked over commentators and Bible teachers and preachers over the years.

[36:47] This is certainly not an original thought of Spencer, but I agree wholeheartedly that if He had just said come forth, every grave in Jerusalem would have opened. But this was something personal that He wanted for Lazarus.

[36:59] And folks, when God redeemed someone, when God looks down in the despair that they are in, and the pit that they are in, when He sees them at the bottom of the barrel, and they are dead, and their trespasses and sin, He calls that person personally to respond to the gospel message.

[37:15] It has not changed. It has not changed. He personally called Lazarus forth. Me personally, I don't think it was just Jerusalem. I think every grave on planet Earth would have opened up at that time if He had just said come forth.

[37:29] Why? Because He is life. Jesus Christ is life. You don't read about one single person dying in the presence of the living Christ all throughout the gospels.

[37:41] You can go to the Thebes on the cross if you want to, but Christ died before either one of them did. No person is recorded in the gospels ever dying in the presence of the living Christ.

[37:53] He is life. He is the resurrection. He is the life. He's the way, the truth, and the life. And only He who is life is able to impart life. Once again, and He that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes.

[38:09] He that was dead came forth and folkship is the same way with the gospel messages. It's the same way on a spiritual level. When God calls and He makes that personal call and tells us to come forth.

[38:21] When we come forth, we come forth from a dead place. We come forth where there was no life. We come forth where there was no life. We were as barren as Sarah's womb, but God was able to bring life forth out of something that was dead and barren and God is able to do that with us spiritually.

[38:43] Before we are saved, we are of no benefit to God. We're of no benefit to mankind. We're of no benefit to anyone. Why? We're dead. Dead people can't do anything.

[38:55] Dead people can do nothing. He that was dead was still bound up. He was still bound up. And it goes on to say, and His face was bound about with a napkin. Lazarus had received life.

[39:07] He had been dead for four days, but God had imparted life unto him. But He was still in His grave clothes and He was still bound, or His face was still wrapped up in a napkin. He couldn't see the cause of the voice of Jesus Christ.

[39:21] He knew where to go. Folks, when things get dark, call around us. When the world is dark, when our family is dark, when sickness comes, when cancer comes, when heartaches come, when death comes, when any of these things come, and the voice of Jesus Christ cries out to us and tells us to come forth, or tells us to be still and know that I'm God, or it tells the storm to be still, or whatever the case is, we don't have to see where we're going.

[39:57] Christ was there, and Lazarus knew exactly which direction to go, although His face was bound up with a napkin. Jesus said, send unto them loose, loose hand, and let them go.

[40:11] This is important for us, the church. Not only this, but He had also told them just a few verses previous to this. Roll away the stone. Roll all the way back to John chapter 2.

[40:23] He tells the servants to fill the water but with water. Jesus Christ uses His servants to fulfill His will and to do what He needs done.

[40:37] Does He need us to do that? Absolutely not. God needs no one. God needs nothing. He is completely and utterly self-sufficient. He doesn't need me to do anything, but He calls me to do things.

[40:51] And when He calls me to do things, just as He called Lazarus to come forth, I should do them without hesitating. But anyway, I had to blow through that last part real quick. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that?

[41:07] God bless you. God bless you. I appreciate you.