Dead Man Walking
12/27/09
John 11:1-44
The title of my sermon comes from the days of inmates who were on what was known as “Death Row”. Death Row is where condemned prisoners were housed while waiting for execution. And as they were being lead down the hallway of the prison to face eternity, the prison guard would call out, “Dead man walking, dead man walking here”.
Can you imagine what it must have felt like to know that you are a few minutes away from death and have it reminded to you as you are walking to that death?
When we enter this world and we come to the knowledge of right and wrong, we all become dead men (women, and children) walking. We read in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When I think about wages, I think about something that is earned. We go to work so we earn a pay check. We earn our wages. And it tells us the wages for sin is death. This is not talking about the physical death, but rather the spiritual death, being eternally separated from God. We ether die physically and we go to a place called Hell being in torment separated from God or we go to heaven to have eternal life with Christ.
Some times the word dead is used in other ways other than the physical or the spiritual. It could be making reference to a church service. I could be making reference to a marriage, or something as simple as a car battery. It simply means there is no life; it’s dead.
Death is not looked upon as a positive, but a negative. Whether it is your spiritual death, or your marriage, Jesus wants us to have life. While Satan comes to destroy, Jesus wants to restore. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
This morning we will look at death as it was presented when Jesus walked this earth so that we can be restored again. First I want you to realize...
Jesus Loves You when you are Dead
John 11:1-3 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
The one whom You love is sick. Now Lazarus was one who Jesus had no doubt spent a lot of time with. We read in the Bible about the two women were often having Jesus over for dinner. It is believed that these two sisters lived with their brother, there by making him share many a meal with Jesus. It would be easy to see why Jesus loved him.
But you know what? Jesus loves you even when you don’t love Him. If you are here this morning and you chose to wait, or to ignore your need of a Savior, then He still loves you.
I think back to the time when they crucified Him. The beat on Him; they spit in His face. They drove the nails in His hands and feet and yet we read in Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
That is the last thing I would want to do to them, yet Jesus loved them. No matter what shape on condition you are in. No matter how bad you may think you are. Jesus loves you. He loved Lazarus. He loved the ones who drove the nails in His hands and feet. And He loves you!
Jesus Hears You when you are Dead
John 11:4-7 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." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
John 11:11-15 These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him."
So here we read that Jesus hears about Lazarus being sick. This person who is described as someone He loved was sick and what did Jesus do? Nothing, He waited two days before He even left. Now the disciples when Jesus told them that Lazarus is sleeping and He needs to go wake him. They all say, hey leave him alone. Let him get his rest. But then Jesus tells them plainly, “Lazarus is dead”.
I think there is a lesson to be learned there. Have you ever been at a low point in your life and you wonder where God is in your time of trouble? It may seem like He is either ignorant of your situation or that He simply does not care. But neither could be the furtherest from the truth. He knows everything there is about you. He knows when you are struggling. He knows when you hurt. He knows when you seem like you are at your ropes end.
It may be a situation that seems helpless. It could be in your marriage, it could be a wayward child, and it could be in a job or maybe a loss of job. The bills can be unbearable, the burden be unbeatable, Jesus hears our cry and nothing is a surprise to Him.
You see the thing about when we cry out for help, He hears and sometimes He does not always answer right at that time. Some times He waits. Not to be mean or to hurts us. We have to understand that His timing is not ours. And He is control of all time and will react when He feels like it is time and not before. Ecclesiastes 8:6 Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,
I thought about it like this; your child needs a shot. They become afraid and begin to cry out for you to save them from the needle when it has never even had the cap off. What do you do? Do you jump in and throw yourself in front of your child and dare them to try to stick a needle in your child? No, you hear their cry but you know what is best for them, you do nothing.
Jesus did nothing, but He knew that the Son of God would be glorified through it. When we are hurting, when we feel like we are dying. We may think God does not care, but He hears your cries and He has a reason for not answering right at that time.
Not only does God love us when we are dead, and hears us when we are dead, but also...
Jesus Hurts for You when you are Dead
John 11:17-37 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you." As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there." Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus wept. He groaned in His spirit, meaning that He was deeply moved. This goes back to the point I made before. Jesus does not sit in heaven on His throne and throw lighting bolts at us. No, when we are hurting, He hurts. When we turn from Him, He weeps. It does not bring joy, it makes Him sad. When we have a marriage that is dying, He hurts. When you are struggling with your finances, He hurts. When your job is on the skids, he hurts. The reason He even came to this world, the very reason He was born was for our benefit. But the most important thing that I want us to remember is my final point...
Jesus has the Power over what ever is making you Dead
John 11:38-39 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."
The King James states, “He stinketh”. I don’t know about you, but when I feel beat down and dead, it stinks. And what ever you may be going through right now may stink as well but remember this. Jesus has the POWER over what is making you dead.
John 11:40-44 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
While others may have seen the situation as dead, Jesus brought life. And you know what. He wants to loose you of what ever is making you seem dead as well.
Now I am not saying that if you or a loved one is facing physical death like Lazarus, then you will be made well. Think of what our population would be if everyone who cried out to the Lord for life would never die. The bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Unless the Lord returns, we all will die physically, but with the right relationship with Jesus, we never have to die spiritually. Maybe you have some problems in your life right now that are wearing you down. Maybe it could be your marriage, maybe a child that is heading the wrong direction, maybe something in the way of your job, or your finances. Jesus has the power over what ever is stinking up your life and can make you alive again. But you have to realize that we need to do our part.
Maybe you are here this morning and you are dead in your sin. You have never entered into that personal relationship with Christ. His desire is to make you alive. Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
All you need to do is accept Him for what He is and what He did. Maybe you are here this morning and the burdens of this life are killing you. Maybe you have already accepted Christ as your Savior but you are in a situation that seems like a dead end. That is not the life that Christ intended for you. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
He wants you to have an abundant life. He wants you to life to the fullest. It means that we simply need to TRUST in Him. Make sure we have the proper relationship with Him. If you have any sins that are binding you, you can be loosed from them. If you have a relationship with someone else that is dead, God can restore it.
He brings life. He restores life. As the New Year approaches us, maybe you are here this morning and you want a NEW life. Christ can give that to you.
