Dr. Wayne A. Lawson
Antioch Institutional Baptist Church
Oklahoma City, OK 73109
RevWLawson@aol.com
Preached Sunday, November 1, 2009
TITLE: THIS ONE
SCRIPTURE: ST. JOHN 11:1-4
I imagine that some have already settled in this morning ready to hear another sermon on Lazarus. I want to caution and encourage you to stay with me this morning; this will not be your traditional sermon on what we understand about the death of Lazarus. I want to focus strong this morning on practical application. If the Scriptures don’t become alive for us and we find a relevant message – it is to no avail.
This chapter centers upon a special home in the town of Bethany in Palestine. The name "Bethany" means house of dates. This was a special place and home for several reasons. It was special because Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus lived there. These were two sisters and a brother who knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Their hearts were open to Jesus and so was their home. Since there was no Motel 6 to leave the light on in that day, travelers depended upon the hospitality of the local people to receive them into their homes and help them along the way. This home was always open to Jesus and He would often stop, rest, and eat there.
This home was special because it was filled with the love of God. Jesus was always welcome here. This was a place of Rest and Refuge for the Savior during His earthly pilgrimage. In VS 2, John mentions one example as evidence of love in that home. He says, "IT WAS THAT MARY WHICH ANOINTED THE LORD WITH OINTMENT, AND WIPED HIS FEET WITH HER HAIR, WHOSE BROTHER LAZARUS WAS SICK.” In VS. 1, we read that news came to Jesus and His disciples informing him that Lazarus was sick. The disciples were all too aware of the attachment Jesus had with this home and especially Lazarus. Upon receiving the news, the disciples began to anticipate the Saviors response. In VS. 3 it says, "THEREFORE HIS SISTERS SENT UNTO HIM, SAYING LORD, HE WHOM THOU LOVEST IS SICK.”
• Mary and Martha did not give instruction for Jesus to come to their aid, that would be unnecessary.
• Surely He would come and with haste, after all, Jesus loved Lazarus
• Jesus would rush right over to Bethany and render aid to His friend Lazarus, or so everyone thought.
And somehow these sisters, in a distressed frame of mind were able to send a message to Jesus. And the message is absolutely beautiful. It is just loaded with truth. Listen to it, VS. 3, "LORD, BEHOLD HE WHOM THOU LOVEST IS SICK." And you can almost catch the flavor. The word "BEHOLD" could be translated "LISTEN." Lord, listen, the one whom You love is sick. It’s a tender, humble, beautiful, simple message. There is no medical diagnosis there. Lord, Lazarus has compound whatever of the whatever. It doesn’t say that at all. It doesn’t say Lord, here’s the problem, now we’ve ... You’ve got to do something, Lord. No, it doesn’t even ask Him to do a thing. Did you look at it again? It doesn’t even ask the Lord to do anything. It just says, "Lord, listen, the one You love is sick."
• That’s all.
• It doesn’t tell Him what to do.
• It’s a surrender of love.
• It just says, "Lord, here’s a need," and that’s all it says.
• It doesn’t even say his name is Lazarus.
• But the Lord knew who He loved. No problem there.
t has a lovely Humility. I like it because there aren’t any instructions in it. How do you talk to God? "God, oh I have a need, now let me tell You how to work it out." See. "God, if You’ll just do this and do this and make him do this or make her do that, that’s..." You don’t need to do that. "Lord, here’s a need." Give it to Him, that’s it. That’s all it takes. You don’t have to say, "God, here’s my need now let’s work on the solution." No. They didn’t do that. They just said, "Here’s a need, Lord." That is the surrender of love. Here’s my need, there it is. Lord, I’m just going to leave it with You. That’s it. That’s really good – that’s all it takes.
It is at this Juncture that the narrative takes an interesting turn. Jesus did not do what His disciples and loved ones anticipated Him to do. As a mater of fact, I would suggest to you that they were bewildered by His response. The actions and attitude of the Savior wasn’t what they had anticipated.
• If we were honest, we would admit that there are times in our lives when we are bewildered by God
• We are perplexed by what He is doing or not doing in our lives and the lives of others.
• One of the most difficult things we have to handle as Christians, is what to do when God does not do what we have been taught to expect Him to do
• Let’s just be honest – we act shocked when God does not do what we want Him to do
At first, we hear that Lazarus was sick. Obviously Lazarus was in some sort of distress. Mary and Martha would not have sent word of their brother’s condition if it wasn’t perceived as life threatening. The name "Lazarus" means whom God helps. This was the personal friend of Jesus. There are those who teach and believe that all sickness can be attributed to some sin in our lives. If you are sick, then you have messed up somewhere. If your illness is serious, then you have messed up big time. The friends of Job ascribed to this School of Theology. They sat before Job and urged him to fess up. The truth was however, Job’s calamity and illness had nothing to do with sin. God had allowed the Devil to touch him so to prove his love and devotion to his God!
• Trials are ordained by God for our good, to prove us, and supply in our lives and our faith that which is lacking
• JOB 23:10, " But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as pure gold."
• Peter said much the same thing in I PETER 1:7. He says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ”
Much of the problem with Christianity is that we give too much power and oftentimes praise to the Devil. This is why most Churches no longer have devotional service. Devotional Service turned into giving the adversary Power that he does not have.
• Devil tried to stop me from coming
• Did not feel well this morning, nothing but the devil
• Devil gave me a flat tire on my way to Church
• Very rarely say a Word about God
There are simply some things that happen in our life no matter how uncomfortable -- it is Ordained and Sanctioned by God. Notice the response of Jesus in VS 4. "WHEN JESUS HEARD THAT, HE SAID, THIS SICKNESS IS NOT UNTO DEATH BUT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, THAT THE SON OF GOD MIGHT BE GLORIFIED THEREBY.” Jesus was clear when he said “THIS SICKNESS” - The Lord had a purpose in this illness and it wasn’t intended to the end of Lazarus’ permanent departure. Lazarus would die, and God would allow it so to accomplish His purpose. Jesus said this was all happening for the "GLORY OF GOD."
One of the most amazing verses in the Bible is VS. 6 which says that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick he spent 2 days longer in the same place where he was. Imagine that! He deliberately waited for 2 more days before he came to them. But when he got there we know the results of his coming. His delay in answering their call did not mean a denial of their call.
• Jesus came late but he was still on time
• God always has our best interests at heart, but he acts according to his own agenda and timetable, not ours
• Jesus has a purpose in waiting to come to Bethany where Mary and Martha were.
The death of Lazarus would set the stage for the last and greatest of miracles performed by Jesus before His passion. Jesus would arrive in Bethany in His own time and raise His friend from the dead in a spectacular display of His power. At the raising of Lazarus from the dead, many would believe, trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Jesus said that the sickness and death of His friend would not only bring "glory to God," but "that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."
Just like some of us, we too place limits on what God can do. I imagine when Jesus showed up after three days, the sisters of Lazarus as well as the crowd understood there was nothing that Jesus could do at this point. Now there already have been SIX (6) MIRACLES IN JOHN’S GOSPEL ALONE -- TURNING WATER INTO WINE - HEALING OF THE NOBELMAN’S SON - RESTORING THE IMPOTENT MAN - MULTIPLYING THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES -- WALKING ON THE WATER -- CURING THE MAN BORN BLIND - Six miracles. Now here comes number Seven. And if God uses numbers and seven is the perfect number, then this is the climatic miracle. But there are some problems here. The people don’t believe there is anything that Jesus can do.
• After three days in the Grave things begin to breakdown in the body
• After three days in the Grave all hope is lost
• Someone even said “Surely His Body Stinketh By Now
• Jesus we are just glad you were finally able to show up
Why does god wait so long to answer our urgent problems? This is where I want to taxi to the terminal.
• We have emergencies, as human beings, and God just waits.
• I just don’t understand, sometimes, why God doesn’t [snap] come when we want Him to come.
• We’re back there in Bethany praying, and Jesus is out there doing who knows what.
• He doesn’t come
• You pray over and over and nothing happens.
Mary and Martha waited. Their brother got worse and worse. They waited some more, and I think they said, “Lazarus, just hold on. If you hold on, Jesus, He’ll be here any minute. He’s coming. I know He’s coming. He would not come. But Lazarus finally lost consciousness, and finally his battle was over and he died, and I can just picture Mary and Martha saying, “Why does this happen?
• Jesus heals whole town-loads of people and He can’t even come here and heal the one that He loves!
• He could have saved our brother.
• He was only 20 miles away.
• We know where He is - He’s had the message and He didn’t come
This is a hard lesson to learn. No one likes to wait. We want what we want from God when we want it. However, it is in our times of loneliness – loss- pain - sorrow - that we are driven to the very heart of God. God’s timing, not ours, is designed to:
• Increase our capacity for Him
• To sharpen our sensitivities and understanding
• To temper our spiritual lives, so that we may become channels of His grace and mercy to others.
This message this morning is for those of you that are going through something. You need to understand that it is not the devil, but God Designed what your going through -- and using it for His glory. Jesus looked at His disciples and said “THIS SICKNESS.”
• Not that Previous Sickness
• Not that Previous Surgery
• Not that other bad report you received
• But THIS ONE – is designed for His Glory
-You may not be going through a sickness today but I can still hear Jesus saying “THIS ONE!”
I know you have been through some storms in your life
- I know that you have had some trials along the way
- But what you are going through right now – I am talking about THIS ONE!
- Not yesterday’s storm – not yesterday’s problems – THIS ONE!
- THIS ONE was designed for God’s Glory
- That is why Paul said we go from Glory to Glory to Glory
- That problem that you are going through right now - That issue that you have been praying over for a long time – THIS ONE was designed that God may get the Glory.
-You are trying to figure this out and trying to tell God how to do it and how to fix it.
-This is not about you looking bad or looking good or what others think
– THIS ONE was sent for God’s Glory
--I know you have been waiting a long time but THIS ONE!
(close)
