Jesus Wants To Heal Your Broken Heart Series

Jesus Wants to Heal Your Broken Heart

The Gospel of John

John 11:27-45

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - April 19, 2017

(Revised November 29, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 11 to continue our study of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In this miraculous Bible story, remember that Lazarus, Martha and their sister Mary were all very close to Jesus. But vs. 1 tells us that Lazarus was sick. He was very sick. In fact, Lazarus was about to die, so Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus. Verses 3-6 tell us:

3. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.''

4. When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.''

5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.

*Then in vs. 7, Jesus said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again.'' By this time so close to the cross, it was extremely dangerous for Jesus to return to Judea. Most of the leaders who wanted to kill Jesus were there in Jerusalem. And in vs. 8 the disciples replied, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?'' Then in vs. 16, Thomas spoke to the other disciples and said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him.''

*The Lord did wait two more days before He returned to Judea, but Jesus did not delay out of fear. He delayed for the glory of God. As Jesus said in vs. 4, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.''

*Jesus delayed for the glory of God. He also delayed because He loved Lazarus and his sisters. Jesus delayed because He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And Jesus delayed because He wanted us to know that He has the power over death.

*Verse 17 tells us that "when Jesus came, He found that (Lazarus) had already been in the tomb four days." And vs. 20 tells us that Lazarus' sister Martha was the first to meet the Lord. We focused on her story last week and heard her great declaration of faith in Jesus. Please listen again to this part of the story in vs. 20-27:

20. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

21. Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

22. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.''

23. Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again.''

24. Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.''

25. Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

26. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?''

27. She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.''

*With this background in mind, let's read vs. 27-45, and as we read, please think about what Jesus does for us when people we love pass away.

INTRODUCTION:

*Until I graduated from college, I only went to two or three funerals, and none of them were for people close to me. Now it's almost 2020, and my dad has been gone 43 years, Mom 24 years, one brother and one sister 11 years, plus many more close relatives and friends. Unless you die very young, the sting and pain of losing loved ones will come your way too. And the longer we live, the more we have to say good-bye to people we love.

*But if you are a Christian, if you have trusted in the Lord, God will surely help you in your times of grief. One of the things Jesus said in Luke 4:18 was this: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has . . . sent Me to heal the brokenhearted." Jesus wants to heal your broken heart, and the story of Lazarus shows us how.

1. FIRST: THE LORD COMES TO US AND CALLS US CLOSER TO HIM.

*Whenever we are in grief, the Lord comes to us and calls us closer to Him. We can see this happen in vs. 27-32.