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Would invite you to open your Bibles this morning to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. And I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but we live In a very ungodly world in an ungodly time. But ours is not the first and it won't be the last.
I collected a few quotes here of atheists and their thoughts close to death why. Because We're gonna talk about death this morning. These are brilliant men absolutely Brilliant, and these are their dying thoughts.
David Hume an atheist philosopher Famous for his philosophy of empiricism and skepticism of religion. He cried aloud on his deathbed. I am in flames. It is said his desperation was a horrible scene. Caesar Borgia Said while I lived I prepared for everything but death.
Now I must die and I'm unprepared to die. Thomas Paine author of common-sense Leading atheistic writer and the American colonies said this To those in the room with him stay with me. I cannot bear to be left alone.
Oh Lord help me. Oh God what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter? I? Would give worlds if I had them that the age of reason had never been published. That was his book. Oh Lord help me.
Help me. No, don't leave stay with me send even a child to stay with me for I am on the edge of hell here alone. If ever the devil had an agent I have been that one. Another atheist Robert Ingersoll said Oh God if there be a God.
Save my soul if I have a soul. Sir, Thomas Scott who was Chancellor of England said until this moment. I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel there are both and I am doomed to Perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.
Charles the ninth was a king of France. And that his mother's urging he had the Huguenots Slaughtered fifteen thousand of them for no other reason other than they loved the Lord Jesus Christ. The guilty king suffered miserably for years after that.
He finally died died bathed in blood Bursting from his veins to his physicians. He said in his last hours Asleep or awake. I see the mangled forms of the Huguenots passing before me. They drop with blood.
They point at their open wounds. Oh that I had spared at least the little infants. What blood? How will this all end what shall I do? I am lost forever. I know it the hopelessness the helplessness of Atheism of passing into eternity godless Christless Godless.
Let's look at our text this morning. John chapter 11 verses 28 to 45. John 11 verses 28 to 45. And if you recall we ended with Martha's profession. So this will be Mary. That's the she when she had said this she went and called her sister Mary saying in private The teacher is here and is calling for you.
And when she heard it She rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out they followed her Supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him She fell at his feet saying to him Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping.
He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled and he said Where have you laid him. They said to him Lord come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said see how he loved him. But some of them said Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying.
Then Jesus deeply moved again Came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said take away the stone. Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time There will be an odor.
For he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God. So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I Thank you that you have heard me.
I Know that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around That they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice. Lazarus come out.
The man who had died came out his hands and feet bound with linen strips and His face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them Unbind him and let him go. Many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary and had bit had seen what he did believed in him now.
For those of you who've not been here for a few weeks a week a little bit of review if you recall John 10 Ended with Jesus proclaiming his equality with the Father and The Jews the Jewish leaders who were there were not pleased with this.
In fact, they said you being a man make yourself out to be God and so they went to stone him but he mitigated their anger by appealing to the Old Testament the Psalms and Psalm 82 and when they considered what he said Instead of stoning him.
They just wanted to arrest him which ultimately would have led to his death anyway. They wanted to arrest him, but they didn't somehow he escaped. It's not given to us in our text exactly how he did that.
But when he did so he left Jerusalem and he went across the Jordan River probably to Bethany a little village out in a fairly remote region but it was where John the Baptist had done ministry and Many during this period of time came to believe in Jesus because they remembered the ministry of John the Baptist.
Now John 11 Out there in Bethany across the Jordan our Lord receives word from Mary and Martha that his friend his beloved friend and Their brother Lazarus was sick. He wouldn't set a note if he just had the sniffles.
He was very sick. They were concerned that he was going to die so they sent this messenger to Jesus hoping of course that he would respond wanting to Let them know but or let him know but he they didn't even say please come.
Their relationship was such that that was enough just let Jesus know and he would come. But he waited two more days before setting out for Bethany. Bethany is the other Bethany the Bethany that were Mary Martha and Lazarus lived a little village on the backside of the Mount of Olives just two miles from Jerusalem.
You just go out Jerusalem up the Mount of Olives down the Mount of Olives and there you are in Bethany. Took a few days to get there but as they neared This group when I say they it's Jesus and the disciples and as they near the home of Lazarus's family Martha apparently receives word that Jesus is coming and so she goes out to meet him.
She's of course excited that he's there and he tells Martha That he is the resurrection and the life. Meaning that he has power over Resurrection and life and that he is the source of Resurrection he will raise his own from the dead and give them eternal life.
Then when Jesus challenges Martha's depth of faith She responds Brilliantly, she says that he is the Christ the Son of God the one who is coming into the world. She in a very short few words Summarizes who Jesus is everything that she could have known about Jesus.
She states right there and That's where we left off last week and we pick up right there and this morning. We're going to look at what is unquestionably The greatest miracle of Jesus earthly ministry the greatest thing he did.
We're going to see four actions. Four actions that Jesus is Involved in. I can't say he performs because the first one he doesn't actually perform but they're really ultimately display his divinity that he is God in the flesh.
That he is literally Lord over death and the grave that he's conquered it or that he will conquer it. Our first action is that Jesus is worshipped. Jesus is worshipped and that's the one he didn't do he was worshipped.
So action number one. Jesus is worshipped. And the first thing we see is a private message to Mary. Verse 28. When she Martha had said this She went and called her sister Mary saying in private. The teacher is here and is calling for you.
Mary as we saw last week had remained in the house. She was probably greeting mourners says she was seated in the house and being seated was a way that you would greet The mourners who would come at that time.
Today, we probably wouldn't do that unless we couldn't stand up. But they were. This is how they would greet the mourners. Now we can picture Martha kind of picking her way through the house and then getting over to Mary.
I mean everybody's getting out of her way. She's the person in distress and she gets over to Mary and she just sort of whispers in her ear. The teacher is here. And he is calling for you. Jesus wants to talk to you.
The teacher then we see punctual movement. She doesn't waste much time verse 29 and when she heard it She rose quickly and went to him now. Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out they followed her. Supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. All the language here just emphasizes how quickly she responded.
Martha comes in whispers in her ear and she's out. She goes right outside. And if you if you kind of piece things together as you walk through this text here. What you really see is that the Jews even though it says that they followed her I think they followed her out of the house, but they didn't see where she went because she was gone that quickly.
They went to the tomb. They suppose that she went to the tomb to weep. Weep there and they missed it and you say well, how else would you know that? Well, you'd know it and what's coming up here in a minute.
Let's just say a word here now I want to kind of clear this up about how morning m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g. Not m-o-r-n-i-n-g. It's hard to spell when you're in front. Is this spelling me? No. How morning in this culture was different than what we do?
Morning in ancient Israel was extremely different. It had more of an Eastern or Asian mindsets. It's different than I mean. We're almost like stoic when somebody dies. It's okay if somebody's really close to you if you break down and you cry.
But if it was somebody, you know an extended family or somebody that you're not that familiar with and you were sobbing that would be kind of probably a little odd maybe Might just show that you're really soft-hearted.
But when I was in patrol way back when I once got a call of a dead body. I Responded to this call and when the door was opened There was a noise like I'd never heard. I mean I I went in probably a little faster than I should have because it sounded like somebody was dying.
That's how loud it was inside and When I saw the person that I'd been called it was this little Asian man probably in his late 80s or so obviously dead. But also just like it was clear that he'd been there.
I mean he was like Dying for quite some time and he couldn't have weighed if he weighed 80 pounds, I would be surprised I mean he was completely withered away. There was not much left of him, but his family I mean Understandably crying, but they were carrying on and screaming like he was in his 20s.
This is cultural. This is kind of Consistent with that view of how you mourn how you show your respect for the dead. And in ancient Israel, that's exactly what they would do a lot of what we see here when we see crying is there were weeping and wailing and screaming and So a funeral was anything but a somber.
Kind of morose affair. It was loud and In fact, it wasn't unusual to even hire if you were concerned that the funeral wasn't gonna be loud enough. You could hire mourners to go and just you know, like really amp up the sound.
The goal I guess would be, you know, instead of saying oh the the sermon was really nice at the funeral or whatever. That was really a noisy funeral. That was really a noisy wake. I mean, it's just kind of not the same way we think about things.
But look at what Mary does Verse 32 now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet. She worshipped him. She wasn't this wasn't out of exhaustion or out of just abject sorrow. But this was a heart of worship.
Saying to him continuing on in verse 32 Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Almost verbatim what Mary had sir what Martha had said this wasn't a Complaint again. This is just saying what they believed that if Jesus had been there knowing how much he loved Lazarus He would not have let Lazarus die.
He would have healed him that he could have he had the power to prevent the death of Lazarus. She knows that Jesus has the power to do this. She's seen him Perform miracles. She's heard about the miracles.
She knows that he can heal the seemingly unhealable the man born blind. The man lame for most of his life. She is simply making a statement of fact one that she believes. So Jesus is worshipped action.
Number two. Jesus wept. Every child's favorite Bible verse I get a dollar per verse. Jesus wept. There's a buck, but we're gonna see really humanity and deity meet death. And how they deal with it verse 33 when Jesus saw her weeping and The Jews who had come with her also weeping.
He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. Why is it that the Apostle Paul wrote You know rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. It's not this isn't, you know, the Apostle Paul's rules of etiquette.
This is not just because it's appropriate. It's because we are to empathize. Empathy is the ability to have compassion for those who are suffering physically or emotionally. And it's a good thing and it's an attribute of God which is communicable that is we can reflect that we can exhibit that.
I'll just think if God had no empathy if he had no ability to Empathize to feel what we feel the sense what we feel and to feel sorrow over it. What do we call people who don't have the capacity for empathy?
Call them sociopaths because they don't feel what anybody else does. Thankfully that is not the case. Look it says he was deeply moved. Deeply moved that verb was originally used to describe the snort of a horse and it came to mean angry.
More than irritated but really moved to anger. We could put it this way that Jesus is indignant and you say well, that's odd. He sees Mary crying. He sees these other Jews who'd come to mourn. He sees them crying and his response is Anger, is he mad at them?
Certainly not. Now, let's just step away from that a moment and we'll come back to it. I Sometimes say I hate cancer. Why would I say that because I hate cancer? I Hate what it does to people. I hate what it did to my dad hate what it's doing to my mom.
I hate what it does to a lot of different people. I am indignant. Angry at cancer why? Because I hate the disease and I hate what it represents. It represents sin without sin. Cancer doesn't exist. No disease exists.
No sin, no sickness no suffering no death. How much more. Does God and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ hate the impact of sin than I do. Well a lot more and as he watches the suffering of Mary the suffering of these other mourners.
He knows the root cause of it and he hates it, but we Er or er depending on where he went to school if we believe that God Cannot exercise more than one attribute at a time. He's not just angry. He's not just indignant.
He also has compassion he also has empathy also verse 33 he's greatly troubled. And it really gives a picture of being shaken like so upset that he is Shaking. So it's one thing to be filled with righteous anger over the effects of sin.
It's another to view the victims of these effects to see what they're going through. To feel compassion to have empathy for them. If you recall, I mean if I were to ask for a show of hands on this I bet that everybody above the age of 10 would raise their hand.
Just a couple months ago that horrible incident down at Disney World. Where the little boy was taken right out of the hands of his father you could not Listen to that story on the news. And not have empathy for those parents.
And not just Feel so sorry about what they went through. It's crushing. Death loss. Suffering these are crushing crushing things. We put ourselves in the place of people that we don't even know. It happens even when we watch movies even Disney movies.
We are by nature empathetic we have that well how much more is Jesus empathetic. He is our high priest, and he is well acquainted with grief. And he sympathizes with us he identifies with us in our weaknesses and in our sorrows.
He's there with us. And he was there with Mary Martha with these other mourners. So he goes to the tomb look at verse 34, and he said where have you laid him? And they said to him Lord come and see now sometimes.
You know when we see these pronouns the days that he's the she is or whatever we can lose track of. What we're talking about. And even as I read it. I just thought well. Who's the they is he just talking to the crowd?
No, he's talking to probably Mary and Martha. They would be the focus of his intentions their brother. Who's dead. When he says where's the body? However, he said it. He didn't say it matter-of-factly.
There might have been a little choking in it there might have been a little passion in it, but somehow or another he communicated. The pain of their loss in it. He's asking them where their brother's body is.
And notice they don't give him directions. But they lead him to the tomb and now we come to the that famous verse the shortest English verse. Jesus wept. And John uses a different verb for Jesus than he did for Mary and for the others.
Because there is no Wailing there is no shouting. There are no histrionics with this verb. But it does mean that he cried noticeably that people could look at him and see that he was upset. You know when you're really upset the color of your face changes.
It's pretty hard to hide the tears streaming down your face. But nobody who was there doubted his sorrow. In fact look at verse 36 so the Jews said. See how he loved him. They know it they see it. But all they get is they just connect the tears of Jesus with the fact that Lazarus is dead.
They go. Oh, we had compassion on Lazarus. It's not wonderful. How we loved Lazarus. But that's not it that's not the limit of it. He's also sad because he knows the impact of sin on the people that he loves.
Then look at Verse 37. But some of them said. Could he who opened the eyes of the blind man or could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man. They recall this. Also have kept this man from dying. I said last week that there seemed to be some or me was week before but some in this Company called the Jews that might have been friendly to the Pharisees, but not in this crowd.
No one here that we can readily see nobody who's speaking here because they recall the miracle that the Lord Performed and they don't question it. They don't question his motivation. They don't question the timing of it.
Remember. That was a big deal. How could he do that on the Sabbath? These folks are Genuinely thinking that he he might have been able to do this. He could have stopped Lazarus from dying. They certainly weren't antagonistic Toward Jesus, so now we've seen Jesus is worshipped.
Jesus wept. He's empathetic. Third action. Jesus walked. He goes to the tomb and There he meets resistance and a most unexpected person. Verse 38. Then Jesus deeply moved again. Came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said take away the stone now that seems to be a prelude to something great. But look Martha who's just made this great profession a few moments before. The sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time there will be an odor.
It's like she's standing in front of him going wait. By this time there will be an odor for he has been dead for There he's been dead four days. She wasn't the one who was going to move that stone. But she did in her seat in the King James the famous words there Lord by this time he stinketh.
You ever been around a body that's been dead for a few days. It's not it's not pleasant. I mean I watch these Autopsies that are done on TV. You know all the police officers surrounding the autopsy table and the.
What's the person who does that the pathologist? You know standing there and he's talking about this that and the other thing and you know I found the Particular hemorrhage and blah blah blah blah all the stuff that they talked about.
And I think it's so amazing because everybody's just kind of looking around like you know. They're looking in a pile of doughnuts. I I went I don't know why doughnuts. In the Academy you have to go to an autopsy and you know right before we go into the room.
There's somebody like in the back. Just handing around this jar of Vicks vapor rub, and I'm like you know somebody has it to me. And I pass it on to the next person that person handed it back to me thankfully.
They go you're gonna want that and so I'm like okay fine. It's bad. It's really bad and Martha's saying it's gonna be bad. It's gonna be really bad. But you have to just ask yourself for a moment. Why why was it that she did that?
Why did she stand there? And you know maybe she's just thinking that he just wants to get closer. You know to just kind of feel closer. I don't know what she's thinking, but she knows one thing look. He's beyond hope.
There's nothing that can be done for Lazarus. All that's gonna happen is we're all gonna be assaulted by the horrible odor. That's gonna come out of this cave. Nothing good is gonna happen here, and by the way we don't have any Vicks vapor rub, but Jesus asserts his authority.
Look at verse 40. Jesus said to her did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God. Now that's not exactly what he said, but we'll get to that in a moment. That's not a quote. But he'd certainly led up to that.
Let me ask you this have you ever prayed for a miracle. And if not why not? Seriously, why not I can think of plenty of cases where I've actually prayed. That God would heal somebody of cancer. That he would remove it.
I pray for my brother that his vascular tumor would be removed. Why? Because I know God can do it. He created the universe with a word he sustains it like it's nothing. He can do whatever he wants. But I also know this.
That miracles are very rare. Why. Because they're miracles, and I'm willing to settle for the amazing providences of God. Surgeons who perform surgery that would have been Impossible a few years ago. The medical advances that make treatment of cancer possible.
And one day. I'm sure if the Lord tarry's. Which honestly I pray he doesn't. Someday, there'll be a cure for it, but now imagine you're Martha. The whole time Lazarus is heading downhill. He's getting sicker and sicker and sicker, and there's nothing you can do.
All you can do is pray. I Hope that Jesus comes. And I don't even know what they did in those days. I don't even know if they were up to bloodletting yet. I don't know what their medical treatments were but you're just trying to keep Lazarus comfort.
You're comfortable. You're doing whatever you can for him, but Jesus didn't show up. God didn't answer my prayer. Lazarus is dead, but Jesus has been all throughout this chapter here giving us some hints.
Martha wasn't around for this but in John 11 for he said this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. She didn't hear that but the disciples did.
They were there that too. But how would there be glory if Lazarus died and remained dead. There wouldn't be. But even in verses 21 to 26 we read this. Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.
What Mary said later. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you. Having no idea that her brother was gonna come back from the dead. Verse 23 Jesus said to her your brother will rise again.
Well that's a pretty good indication. But as I said last week she hears this and she thought well this is just like I'm sorry for your loss. This is just a common Jewish customary way of comforting somebody.
Martha said to him I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. In other words prior to heaven. Jesus said to her I am the resurrection of life. Whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live.
And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this. This is a demonstration. This miracle is not just a miracle. It is a demonstration of his power over life and death. He didn't just want to comfort her.
That's probable that I mean she put all this together after the fact she pieced all these things together. This is often true of the people that we pray for. We know that everybody's going to die one day.
And Martha in the midst of this illness with her brother Mary as well. They knew that everybody died one day. And when he died they just thought was the will of God. But he's not done yet. First action Jesus is worshiped.
Second Jesus wept. Third Jesus walked. And fourth Jesus one W O N. I'm doing a lot of spelling today. Notice here Jesus praying in verse 41. So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me. But I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe you sent me. Now Jesus uses the past tense. I thank you that you have heard me. It's already done.
But look again. Father. Not our father. Not even my father. Just father. Like first name father. I mean this is. This is indicates the closeness of the relationship. Look again why he offers thanks during his prayer.
Not because of the great thing that's about to happen but on account of the people standing around because he wants them to believe. That you sent me that he's the son of God. That he is the Christ. That he is the Messiah.
Everything that John wrote this book to prove he wants them to believe. Now look Jesus. They want to talk about Jesus calling. This is Jesus calling right here in verse 43 when he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice.
Lazarus come out. I'm not shouting because I don't want to blow the sound system. Lazarus come out now. It's been well said. What I mean you guys could a lot of you could probably repeat it's a good thing.
He named Lazarus. Otherwise all the tombs would have emptied out. Right. Just come out like a general command to all the dead bodies. As far as his voice would go all those people would come out. But there was a specific targets for this call and this call would have its desired effect.
In fact we could call the effectual call. He called Lazarus out and Lazarus responded. Look at verse 44. The man who had died came out his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go. What is a miracle. What is a miracle. God intervening in the space time continuum to reverse the natural order of things in a way that only God can do. Right.
When we think about the parting of the Red Sea wasn't Moses was the power of God the part of the Red Sea and so the natural course of things is for the Red Sea to be united. The miracle was all of a sudden there's a highway of dry land right through the middle.
That's a miracle. Jesus first sign his first miracle turning water into wine that's only can be done by the power of God. The natural state of water is to remain water turning into wine represents a miracle.
Walking on the Sea of Galilee was a miracle defying gravity. Now calling a decomposing stinking body out of the grave and having it respond reversing death. That's a miracle. That's an act of God a dead body of its own what does nothing but rotten decompose doesn't come out of the grave.
Let me just say this isn't any kind of a sorry zombie resurrection. Because if it's some mindless Lazarus that comes out that has no personality no memory. No nothing. That's not a miracle. That is not a miracle.
A miracle demands that Lazarus come out and be recognizable that he loved the same things he loved when he went in there the same people that he loved that everything be the same except for he's been dead for four days now.
These linens I mean we you know when we see these dopey mummy movies you know they're wrapped up and everything but they can just keep walking. Well the idea here is that they're actually bound together to.
I mean this is a big mess and he's all wrapped up in these things. And you know part of the miracle would be this that he actually was able to get to the the edge of the cave because it's very likely I mean the way it's described I would say that he probably had to like hop or you know balance himself on something.
It was very difficult to move. But look at the response. Many Jews responded with faith. Verse 45. Many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary had seen what he Jesus did and believed in him. They'd come expecting to just kind of mourn and show their respects for the family and weep and wail and carry on.
Instead they saw something that they never had seen before and would never see again. The man that they came to mourn came out of the grave and was alive. And the verb there the way it's translated at the end of 45 really kind of underplays.
It says they had seen what he did. I mean it makes it look like they just saw. They just saw it. They were especially impressed. They were they were blown away. This wasn't just something that they momentarily saw.
And then it passed from their thought. They focused on this for a long time. They would never forget this. Many of the Jews therefore believed. Some did not and we'll see that next week. But let's just have a few observations here as we close contra these so-called preachers on TV.
These word-faith people. You know you have to have enough faith for a miracle. Mary Martha. They didn't have any faith that Lazarus was coming forth from the dead. Lazarus. No faith. Right. That whole idea is rubbish.
Miracles are entirely dependent upon the power and the desire of God further to just kind of go after these false teachers on TV there was no gift required by Mary or Martha. You know I often read about these people.
And here's what they say. To get something you have to give something. That's a universal law. What was given. Nothing. The God of the universe doesn't need any gifts. He acts as he wishes. Amazingly.
Here's another observation. Amazingly that as with the parting of the Red Sea if you recall what happened after that a lot of people started worshiping a calf. And after this some of people aren't convinced either.
Do you see somebody raised from the dead after four days. That's not evidence enough. It just goes to show that you could give all the evidence you want to unbelievers. What is needed is a work by the Holy Spirit.
Only he can cause you to be born again. No miracle can do that. No sign evidence can do that. Another observation. Really kind of a question. If you recall the purpose what did he say back in the wilderness what did Jesus say.
Said he was delaying things for the good of Mary Martha. And Lazarus even told the disciples that it was for them that he was doing this. Do you think their strength of their the faith of Mary Martha Lazarus was strengthened.
I think. So. What about the disciples. And you want to say yes absolutely positively. And then you just think well wait a minute. That would have included Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Thomas who upon seeing the resurrected Christ has to do what.
Examine the wounds. Stick his hands into his side. This miracle wasn't enough for him. Final observation is when we go to funerals to wakes we have really a crowd of people that are focused on death focused on things that matter.
It's a good time for the gospel. It's an excellent time for the gospel. And that's why we do what we do now. I open with some dying quotes by famous atheists. Why. Because they like to atheists like to suppress the truth and unrighteousness.
They like to deny the obvious that God exists. But as they approach death it gets harder and harder to do so. And so what happens. They devolve into panic. Everything that they believed everything that they say they believe they realize is absolutely meaningless when they are about to have to answer eternal questions.
When we think about the purpose of this gospel that John wrote his gospel to demonstrate the deity of Christ nothing more fully demonstrates it than this that he raised Lazarus from the dead. I am the resurrection and the life he said.
And then he proceeded to demonstrate that fully human fully divine Lord over life death and the grave friends in Jesus alone is there sure hope of victory over death in Jesus alone is there forgiveness of sins in Jesus alone.
Is there the granting of the righteousness. We need to see heaven. All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity with him. And if you're not yet a believer I pray that even today as you just contemplate Jesus standing in front of the tomb and saying Lazarus come forth.
I pray that today would be the day that you would believe in the deity of Christ. That you would believe in his sacrificial death his perfect life and be saved. Let's pray father in heaven there is no greater testament to the fact that Jesus Christ is God.
Then what you had him do that day calling forth Lazarus from the dead. Death is the enemy. We spend so much time in this culture either ignoring death pretending it doesn't exist or some people glorifying in it.
But the truth is every single person will die. And it's only in Christ by being in him by trusting him fully that we can go to our death not screaming in terror but trusting the one who died and rose.
Again you have put all things in subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ all things including death hell and the grave. Father we praise you and thank you and pray for each and every person here that does not know you.
That you would convict them by your spirits. That you would call them to yourself that you would grant them eternal life. Even today in Jesus name we pray.