John 11 - Jesus Wept

Have you ever felt that God did something? He just didn't do it at the right time? So you maybe have had a bill that needed to be paid, but you absolutely didn't have the money. And that day came when the lights went off, or the water didn't turn on, or, you know, we lost Internet. I mean, can you imagine?

But, you know, you just didn't have enough money to pay the bills. Or maybe you didn't have enough money to provide for your whole family and you had to go to the food pantry to pick up some necessities, but God showed up. He just showed up a little bit too late. Maybe. Maybe someone needed healing, but they weren't healed like you needed them to be healed.

Or you need God to show up in your marriage, but you just don't feel like he's doing what needs to be done and it seems like it's too late. Feel like your marriage is falling apart. But what do you do when the God who has the last word doesn't speak the word that you think he needs to, or he doesn't speak the word that you thought he would? I think these are some very real questions. If we're honest with ourselves and some things that we Might ask a little too often, but we're in church.

I'm glad to see you all here today. Missed meeting with everyone last week. But since we are in church, we don't have to answer these questions in and of ourselves. We can look to the Bible and see what the Bible says. So that's what we're going to do.

You can turn your phone on to John chapter 11 or you can open it to John chapter 11. And we're going to see what the Bible has to say to answer these questions. But. But we're going to start with the fact that Lazarus is dead.

Doesn't seem like a very hopeful place to start, right? Lazarus is dead. And Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha. All three of these people were very important people to Jesus. They loved him and he loved them.

In fact, they cared for him and his disciples, they provided for him, they learned from him. But now Lazarus is dead. And it seems that Jesus was just too late to help. You see, a few days before, Lazarus was just sick. He wasn't dead, he was just sick.

And so Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus. They're like, hey, the one you love is sick, right? And so there's kind of two people that you hear about being described this way in the Bible. And one of them is one of the disciples and the other person is Lazarus. And so I can imagine they fully expected Jesus to drop whatever he was doing and to go see Lazarus right away.

Because they knew that he could heal him. But Jesus stayed for two more days and he told his disciples, this sickness will not end in death. It's for God's glory. So that Ben Elohim or the Son of God, speaking of themselves, may be glorified through it. Jesus says, this is about to happen so that I will be glorified.

And in turn God will be glorified through me. Because what will happen? And so he stayed where he was. And after those two days, Jesus tells his disciples, he's like, all right guys, now let's go, let's go see. But the people in Judea, which is where Bethany was, where Mary and Martha lived, they hated Jesus.

And the Bible tells us that they were actively looking to kill him. And so the disciples cautioned Jesus. And even though Jesus is repeatedly trying to teach his disciples time and time again, just like the Bible tries to teach us time and time again, even though they were hard headed, I won't speak for any of you, but even though I may be hard headed, sometimes you can apply it if it's Necessary. But he tells them again. He's like, look, there's 12 hours in a day.

If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble because he sees the light of the world. Who's the light of the world? Jesus is the light of the world. But if man should walk around at night without Jesus, then he stumbles because the light is not in him. The.

Did the disciples get it? Nope. Went right over their heads. Kind of like many times when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, trying to teach us something, and we completely miss it. But they're around Jesus.

They hear the words of Jesus, but it just hasn't clicked yet. What he's trying to tell them is that we have to do what we've been created to do while there is time left for us to still do it. He's trying to tell him, stop. And it's a little ironic because he waited two days. But stop procrastinating.

Stop waiting for something else. Even if you have questions, even if you don't understand everything about Jesus, hey, guess what? I don't either. I don't ever understand everything in the Scriptures. But.

But I learn. I continually learn. I continually grow deeper in Christ. We have to walk in the light while we still can. You may always have questions, but you will not always have time to do what God has called you to do or be the person that God has called you to be.

And so I imagine that Jesus is getting a little aggravated with his disciples. And so he says plainly, lazarus is dead. And then Thomas, I kind of like this remark. He says to the other disciples, all right, let's go too, so that we can die away with him. They figured that Jesus was walking into a trap, right?

And they knew that the people were trying to kill him. And so they were like, all right, Jesus, if this is going to happen to you, we're going to go right along with you. I don't know about you guys, but we all need somebody in our life that is willing to go to the ends of the earth with us to accomplish the things that God has called us to do. If you don't know anybody like that, you could probably find someone here at church to be that for you. But John 11:17, 24 says this.

So when Jesus arrived, he discovered that Lazarus had been in the tomb already for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Miriam or Mary to console them about their brother. Verse 20 says, When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Miriam sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, master, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

But I know even now that whatever you may ask of God, he will give you. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said, I know he will rise again in the resurrection, on the last day, she had faith, but she didn't quite get it. She was almost there. She didn't see what Jesus was doing, but she still had faith.

Do you have enough faith to believe that God is orchestrating things in your life right now to bring about his glory in your life? Do you have faith? Do you trust? Jesus said to her in verse 25, I am the resurrection and life. Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live.

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And then very pointedly, he asked her, do you believe this? She says to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah Ben Elohim, who has come into the world. Now, if you remember, throughout the Gospel of John so far, we have learned that Jesus is the bread of life. Not only is he the bread of life, but he is the light of the world.

We learned last week in John chapter 10 that he is the door or the gate of the sheep, and he is the good shepherd. And now Jesus reveals to everyone present that he is the resurrection and the life. These are some iconic I am statements that Jesus makes in the Gospel of John. But Jesus doesn't simply say that he brings resurrection and life, but that he is resurrection. He is the everlasting life.

Without him, these things do not and will not exist. First, John 5, 11, 12 says, God has given us eternal life, and this eternal life that we have been given is found in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son, God does not have life. Now, many of us may remember Martha for being the one who was too busy doing all the things to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Her sister was right there. But we remember Martha as being the one who was too busy to sit down at the feet of Jesus. Yet she makes one of the most bold and declarative statements about who Jesus is. We often remember her for this statement rather than her frustration with her sister Mary. This statement shows that Martha makes a declaration of faith by saying, one she believes that he is the Messiah, that He is the Anointed One, two that he is the Son of God.

So she understands who he is in this world. More importantly, she understands who he is in the entire place of eternity and Third, that he is the one that they have been waiting for. He is the deliverer, the one that will accomplish the will of God on earth. Do you believe those things about Jesus today? John 11:28 33 says this.

After she said this, she left and secretly told her sister Mary, the Teacher is here and he's calling for you. As soon as Miriam heard this, she quickly got up and was coming to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. And so when Marian came to where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying, master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Judeans who came with her weeping, he was deeply troubled in spirit and himself agitated.

See, the Greek word here for deeply troubled implies a strong, intense reaction of anger, outrage, and irritation. But what is Jesus outraged at? What is he upset about? What is he irritated and angered over it? He's upset about the fact that that death exists.

This was not just mere sadness, but he was upset about the fact that death exists in this world. Death, chaos, destruction, they are not part of God's original plan or design for this world. Death. Yeah. Amen.

Death reveals that the world is not as it should be and that it stands in need of redemption. Christ alone is the conqueror of death and the redemption that this world needs. And it's only through his victory that Paul writes, when this corruption will have put on incorruptibility and this mortal will have put on immortality. Then shall come to pass the saying as it was written, death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting? First John or John one tells us, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God. Speaking of Jesus, he was with God in the beginning.

And all things were made through him. And apart from him, nothing was made that has come into being. In him was life. And this life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overpower it.

Everything that was made in the beginning was good. And when humanity was created in the image of God, then God said that they were very good. And not only that, but at the end of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, we read that once humanity was created and it was very good that the creation was complete. But just as sin entered into the world through one man, and through sin, death also entered, the Bible tells us that also through one man, all shall live. Jesus is the Resurrection and the life.

According to Hebrews 2, verse 4, it says, Therefore, since the children share in the flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same humanity, so that through death he might break the power of the one who had the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who by the fear of death, were in bondage all their lives. And it is of him that Hosea prophesied that he would ransom them from the power of Sheol, that Jesus would redeem them from death. Jesus is the living one. He is the first fruits of the dead. And behold, he is alive forevermore According to Revelations 1:18.

And he alone has the keys to death and Hades. One day we will celebrate in the resurrection. One day we will celebrate in the eternal life of Christ. If we have faith. It's not a blanket promise.

It is a conditional promise. We have to believe in him. We have to put our faith and our trust in him. And then Jesus said to his friends, he says, where have you laid him? And they said, come and see, Master.

And they tell him. And then verse 35, shortest verse in the Bible, but probably one of the most profound. Jesus wept. I think many times we kind of just read right over that. That's an easy one to read past, right?

Jesus wept. But Jesus sat in their pain with them and chose to weep. This time, it's not tears of pain. It's not tears of anger, but it's tears of pain and sorrow and grief. The reality of the situation was that Jesus knew that he would raise Lazarus from the dead, but they didn't know.

But he also knew that in just a few days, he would lay down his own life as a ransom. But in this moment, he chose to sit in this pain, to empathize and to feel Mary and Martha's pain with them. He was present with them in their anger, in their pain, in their grief, because he knew that there was a better way than death. Did you know that it's okay to be angry? Did you know that?

That emotion is not the issue. It's what we do with our anger that's important. Mary and Martha were disappointed that Lazarus died. In fact, they were grieving. You can imagine that they were angry, that they were confused.

But they brought it all directly to Jesus. They didn't stay busy or distracted. They didn't try to clean up their emotions. They brought their pain straight to Jesus. And what did Jesus do?

He didn't correct them. He didn't try to explain the pain away. He didn't give a speech. He cried. Jesus wept.

With them, he felt the weight of grief and the bitterness of that moment. Did you know that God is near to us in our deepest, darkest, saddest, most confusing, most isolating moments of our life? God is not distant from our pain, especially when we invite him to be a part of it. What you choose to carry alone will harden and destroy you. But what you bring to the feet of Jesus, he can heal.

Healing requires proximity. Though no one who comes to him with an open heart and open hands is ever turned away, Jesus always enters into where he is invited. And he will meet you right in the middle of your pain if you will bring it to him. John 11:38, 44, says this. So Jesus, again, deeply troubled within himself, comes to the tomb.

And it was a cave, and a stone was laying against it. And Jesus said, roll away the stone. Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, master, by this time he stinks. He's been dead for four days. Jesus said to her, didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

And so they rolled away the stone. Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but because of this crowd standing around me, I said it so that they may believe that you sinned me. And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, lazarus, come out. And he who had been dead came out wrapped in burial clothes, binding his hands and his feet with a cloth over his face.

And Jesus tells them, cut him loose and let him go. If there is any doubt in your mind whether God cares about what you're going through, let me tell you 100% without a shadow of a doubt he does. And not only does he care what you're going through, but if you will let him, he will walk you right through it. As Lazarus walks out, he's still wrapped in burial clothes. But what we see here in Jesus, simple instructions to unwrap him and let him go shows us two things.

One, obviously, that Jesus miraculously brought him back from the dead. But to that, Jesus glory as creator and sustainer of the heavens and earth is on full display as his words immediately restore not only Lazarus spirit, but his decayed body back to health and wholeness. There is nothing, not even death, that can stop the power of Jesus. It's never too late with Christ. See, the deep meaning of the cross of Christ is that there is no suffering on earth that is not borne by God.

Grief is messy, and faith is often too Frail. But we must cling to Jesus, promise that he is the resurrection and that he is the life. And everyone who believes in him will never die spiritually.

You see, the reality of the situation is Jesus was not late. He obviously needed them to see this, to see Jesus as both fully God and fully man. With the resurrection, power over death, and even with authority over death, he still had enough compassion to sit with them in their grief and not be scared by their emotions. He wasn't late then. And whatever you're going through in your life, he's most definitely not late today.

You may not see what God is doing, but God is orchestrating things that you may not even realize in order to bring you to the place that he needs you to be so that he can do what he needs to do in your life. So it's not too late to make a change. Even if you don't understand why God is asking something of you, or even if you don't fully understand everything that he's asking of you, it's not too late to take a step of faith to offer forgiveness. It's not too late for God to provide. It's not too late for God to redeem.

It's not too late for God to bring you through whatever he has brought you to. How do I know that? How can I stand here and confidently say that to each and every single one of you? Because I have seen him do it in my life and in the life of the ones that I love time and time again. It doesn't always look like we think it should.

Sometimes it's messy, sometimes it's painful, sometimes it's confusing. But he is never late. And when Jesus shows up, nothing stays the same. When we invite Jesus into our hearts, into our lives, into our situations, nothing stays the same. It may not look exactly like we want it to with our earthly eyes, but everything changes with our spiritual life the second that we invite him in.

As the worship team comes in just a moment, I just want to encourage you.

If you have questions, that's okay. If you have emotions, if you are angry about something, if you're confused, if you're struggling with something, that's okay. Jesus is not scared of it. Did you know that God created each and every single one of us? He knows exactly how he created us.

In fact, he knows that we have emotions. He gave them to us, so he's not scared of them. So we can bring whatever emotions we have to the foot of the cross, to the foot of Jesus, and He will move in our lives. If we allow him to, if we invite him in to the situations, if you will, please stand with me.

We have an opportunity today to spend a few moments together in prayer.