From Death To Life; And From Life To Death Series

FROM DEATH TO LIFE, AND LIFE TO DEATH

JOHN 11:45-53

GREENMOUNT AND O’LEARY CHURCHES OF CHRIST

AUGUST 01, 2021

Phillip’s Residence August 07, 2021

Video Link: https://youtu.be/kQn7VZTbao4

INTRODUCTION:

This morning’s message deals with Jesus raising Lazarus back to life. Because of that great miracle the desire to bring Jesus to his death became even greater.

A.) As a result, I have titled my message “From Death to Life, and From Life to Death.

The Timing of John 10 was the feast of Dedication around December or about four months before the crucifixion of Christ.

I am not sure of the time frame between John ten and eleven, but John eleven was very close to Passover when Jesus would have been crucified.

As a guess, I would estimate John 11 to be maybe two or three weeks before the crucifixion of Christ.

JESUS BROUGHT LIFE IN THE MIDST OF DEATH.

Lazarus was dead.

A.) In our message last week we saw that Lazarus was sick but by the time Jesus got there he had died.

B) Certainly, the hope had been that Jesus would get there in time to heal the ailing body of Lazarus and that death would not occur, but that was not the case.

Lazarus was now dead and in the grave for four days.

Any hope of him being restored to life was long since gone.

The Jews had a belief or superstition that the spirit of a person stayed with the body for up to three days after death.

ba.) I have no idea where this thought pattern came from.

bb.) It is not a teaching from the Word of God but more from Jewish folklore.

bc.) Perhaps for the first three days they still held out hope that Lazarus could be restored to life, but by the fourth day, all hope was gone and yet Jesus asked that the stone be removed from the grave.

.01) John 11:38-42

.011) At this point Jesus had not raised Lazarus from the grave but was praying to God the Father.

.012) The prayer which Jesus gave was for a certain purpose.

.013) He did not pray for the resurrection of the dead.

.0131) As a member of the Godhead, Jesus fully had that resurrection power himself.

.014) What Jesus prayed was that the miracle he was about to perform would move those who witnessed it to have faith that Jesus was from God and had been sent by God.

Jesus called Lazarus from the grave.

A.) John 11:43

B)” Jesus called in a loud voice”

ba.) This sounds very similar to the scene when Christ comes back for all those who are in the grave.

bb.) 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

C.) “Lazarus, come out”

ca.) I want you to take note of how Jesus addressed him.

cb.) He specifically called Lazarus by name.

cba.) I believe there was a reason for this.

cbb.) Had Jesus not personally called Lazarus by name then every grave would have opened, and all the dead brought back to life.

cbc.) It would not just have been Lazarus but all who had ever died from the beginning of creation until that day would have come forth alive resurrected from the grave.

cbd.) There will come a day when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, but that day will not be until the end of the world.

.01) John 5:25,28

cbe.) The resurrection of Lazarus was merely a preview of the grand work of God at the end of time.

cbf.) The resurrection of Lazarus merely whetted the appetites of believers of that day, and of Christians who have lived and died in the 2,000 years since that time.

.01) Lazarus was the verification of the testimony that Jesus had just given to Martha that He is the resurrection and the life.

.02) As we think of that title of Jesus, what excitement it brings to our soul as we anticipate that glorious day when every graveyard will proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ.

D.) “The dead man came out.”

da.) John 11:43-44

db.) What a sight this must have been as this man came walking out of the grave with his burial clothes still wrapped around his body.

dba.) Jesus gave orders to remove the burial clothes and free him.

.01) He would no longer be needing the rags of death but would wear the clothes of life.

dc.) Grander than this, what a sight it must have been to see a man walking around who had been dead and buried for four days.

dca.) The shock and bewilderment the people of that day would have had would be no different than if we were to experience such a thing today.

dcb.) Next to the miracle of resurrection Jesus would soon do in his own body, this was probably the greatest miracle that Jesus had performed.