John 11:28-46

Sunday Morning Bible Study

April 7, 1996 (Easter Sunday)

Introduction

This week's Newsweek has a cover story on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As I was reading the article, which discusses how scholars still debate over the Resurrection, and whether or not it was even important, I come to one conclusion.

They really don't understand, do they?

Some of these "scholars" just don't realize how crucial the resurrection is to Christianity.

If you get rid of the resurrection, you eliminate Christianity.

In the sunrise service, we looked at:

»1Corinthians 15:12-19 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

If Jesus is not raised from the dead:

1. The apostles are all a bunch of liars.

2. You are still in your sins.

3. There is no hope that we too will be raised from the dead.

The story we've been looking at is kind of appropriate to this time of year.

It's about someone who has died, who Jesus is going to raise from the dead.

A few weeks ago, we started a story about Jesus and His three friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

A message arrived that Jesus' friend, Lazarus, was sick.

And we were told that because Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus so much, that He delayed doing anything about it for two days.

When Jesus reached His friends in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead for four days.

When Martha went out to meet Jesus, she kind of rebuked Him for having taken so long, saying,

»Joh 11:21 ... Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Then Jesus said to Martha:

»John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

What we see happening to Lazarus is what will one day happen to us.

And we that we can count on it happening, not just because it happened to Lazarus, but because Jesus raised Himself from the dead as well.

:16-32 Jesus arrives at Bethany

:28 she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly

It seems that Martha wanted to have Mary follow her, but not the rest of the people in the house.

:28 The Master is come, and calleth for thee

Jesus had sent Martha with this message.

The tradition was that those who came to comfort, would go to the house, and sit with the mourners.

But Jesus doesn't go to the house.

In fact, He's asking Mary to come out of the house.

He hasn't come to comfort them in their mourning, He's come to raise Lazarus from the dead.

It's not that He doesn't have compassion for them, in verse 35 we'll read that Jesus weeps.

But He's got a greater mission than just to help them through their grief.

Illustration:

As a young man, D.L. Moody was called upon suddenly to preach a funeral sermon. He hunted all throughout the four Gospels trying to find one of Christ's funeral sermons, but searched in vain. He found that Christ broke up every funeral he ever attended. Death could not exist where he was. When the dead heard his voice they sprang to life. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life."

Lesson:

Tradition is nice, but a mission is better!

There's nothing wrong with traditions, per se.

The Jewish traditions concerning mourning are actually kind of nice.

But Jesus isn't about to get side tracked from His stated mission, just for the sake of traditions.

How do you respond to life's little difficulties?

Do you have little pat answers to give to people?

Do you have little formulas or rituals you go through to respond to certain things?

What if God would have you respond in a new, unique way?

Would you be willing to hear it?

Would you be willing to be a little uncomfortable and try something different?

When people are confronted with hard circumstances, I often hear them say, "I don't know what to do, I've never been through this before."

You know, that's not all that bad of a place to be.

It's just possible that God may be able to get your attention, and show you His way of dealing with the situation.

:31 She goeth unto the grave to weep there

They didn't know why she got up, and just assumed that she must be going to the grave to weep.

:32 Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died

Notice how Mary says the exact same thing that Martha did?

»Joh 11:21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

It seems that these sisters had been talking to each other.

I wonder if when Lazarus got sick, these sisters looked at each other and said, "We need Jesus!".

I wonder if when they sent the messenger to get Jesus, they had said often to each other, "If only Jesus would get here soon ..."

Then after Lazarus had died, I wonder if they had been sitting around saying to each other, "If only Jesus had been here..."

Probably saying it to each other over and over and over again.

Lesson:

The futility of the "if only's", or,

The danger of living in the past.

We need to be careful of not thinking too much about how life could be different for us "if only" something was different.

It can become a dangerous obsession, one that doesn't solve anything.

Illustration:

I once knew a person who, at their doctor's recomendation, taken a certain kind of perscription drug.

And they were convinced that from that time, their life was irrevocably changed.

They felt that the drug had caused such damage to their mind, that they would never be the same.

And if you ever talked with this person, sooner or later, they'd bring up this situation, and say, "If only I had never taken that drug ..."

It got to be like a broken record.

It's all they ever thought about. They were convinced that the only thing that could ever make their life better would be to go back in time and reverse their action.

But it can't be done!

Is it possible to go back and change the past?

NO!!!

Don't spend your time looking to the fix the past, look to the future and keep your eyes on what God has for you there.

»Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

We shouldn't be thinking "what if", but "what now?"

:33-46 Lazarus is raised

:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping

weeping - klaio - to mourn, weep, lament; bewail

:33 and the Jews also weeping which came with her

So, when Mary left the house, the "comforters" thought they'd go with her.

Remember last week when we talked about the rituals that the Jews had for the mourning of a loved one?

It was even thought to gain favor with God (brownie points) if you went to "comfort" a person in mourning, and help out with some "weeping" (read, "wailing")

Some of these may indeed be sorrowful, but some may be in it just because they get extra bonus points with God.

:33 he groaned in the spirit

embrimaomai - to charge with earnest admonition; to snort with anger like a horse (RWP). It occurs in the LXX (#Da 11:30) for violent displeasure. It carries the idea of indignation.

:33 and was troubled

tarasso - to agitate, trouble; to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind.

:35 Jesus wept.

The shortest verse in the English Bible

wept - dakruo - to weep, shed tears

Mary's crying: to weep audibly, wail, cry as a child

Jesus' crying - to shed tears, weep silently

Why did Jesus cry?

We aren't really told.

It could be that He's crying because of the unbelief in the people around Him.

It could be that He's crying in true sympathy for Mary and Martha, and the anguish they've been going through over Lazarus.

Lesson:

Jesus understands, and He cares.

Sometimes we can get the idea that God is just too big, and that He's just too far away, and I'm so small and insignificant that I must not matter much to Him.

But when God became a man, He experienced everything we do.

»Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.

For those of you struggling with fighting certain temptations in your life.

Jesus was tempted directly by Satan himself.

For those of you who have been hurt or betrayed by someone close to you.

Jesus was betrayed by a close friend, Judas.

For those of you who have been through the terrible pain of divorce.

He's been divorced from His bride, Israel.

Jesus cares. You can go to Him for help.

And because He cares and understands so much about us, we can go to Him and throw all our troubles at His feet, knowing that He'll accept us, understand us, and help us.

»1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
:39 Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Some people would like to say that Jesus raised Lazarus because of Martha and Mary's great faith.

But to me, this says that Martha wasn't yet clued in to what Jesus was going to do.

Lesson:

God is able to do way above what you believe He can.

Believe it or not, God isn't limited to what you are able to believe Him for.

Sure, He wants you to trust and believe.

But He's not limited to your faith.

»Ephesians 3:20-21 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
:42 but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe

A lot of what Jesus is doing and saying now is for the sake of those standing around.

He's concerned that they have a chance to believe.

He wants it to be clear to them that He is the reason for Lazarus' resurrection.

:43 he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth

It has been suggested that the reason Jesus said "Lazarus come forth", and not just "come forth", is that if Jesus had not mentioned Lazarus by name, all the graves would have been emptied!

I think there's some truth to it!

Here we see Jesus demonstrating what He promised earlier:

What was Jesus saying?

1. That if you believe in Jesus, even though you experience physical death, like Lazarus, you will live again after death.

2. If you are alive and believe in Jesus, you will never experience spiritual death, which is a separation from God.

:46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees...

Some of the people saw Lazarus' resurrection and believed in Jesus.

Others saw the same miracle, and in their disbelief went back to tattletale on Jesus to the Pharisees.

Lesson:

Miracles don't always make believers.

We've all heard people say to us, "Well if God would do a miracle right in front of my eyes, I'd believe too".

Though it's possible that they might believe, it's no guarantee.

Does God do miracles today?

Yes.

Even in the last few weeks we've seen some pretty incredible things happening.

I've been in the Tuesday morning Men's Prayer meeting, listening to the guys pray for certain requests, and then I get a call later in the week saying that the thing turned around on Tuesday.

I was in a hospital room a few weeks ago, watching a family pray for their father crippled with a stroke.

And that very day things started turning around in the man's health.

Two weeks ago in church, we all prayed for another brother whose body had been rejecting his kidney transplant.

We found out last week that the doctors can't find anything wrong anymore, and he went back to work and was feeling fine.

But the working of miracles isn't always the issue of believing or not believing.

Sometimes the real issue is pride.

Sometimes the real issue is admitting that you need help and need a Savior.

What do you believe about Jesus?

Do you realize that you need help?

Do you believe that you are a sinner?

Do you understand that your sins have kept you from knowing God personally?

Do you believe that as Jesus hung on that Roman cross 2000 years ago, He was paying the price for your sins?

Do you believe that when He rose from the grave three days later, that He proved to the world that He had conquered sin and death?

Have you opened your heart to Him, asking Him for His help, and making Him the Lord of your life?