How We Love His Promise
John 11:17-44
Introduction
Adrian Rogers said, “There is no promise God cannot keep, no prayer God will not answer, and no problem too hard for Him to solve.” That is a great expression of the life of faith in God. He keeps his promises, He answers prayers, he solves problems. But in our experience, there have been times when we weren’t sure about these things. Have you ever wondered, when things go wrong in life, if you can count on God? If he actually listens to our prayers? If he has reached the end of His work in our life?
Our text today centers on a family that has experienced a loss. A faith-filled family, a Jesus-devoted family. In John 11 we have, at first, an experience that is common, followed by a miracle that makes it uncommon.
Mary, Martha, Lazarus are friends of Jesus. Mary, the one who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped
his feet with her hair. John records this in chapter 12. (Found in all four gospels.) Mark 10:9 “And truly, I say to you, where’ve the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” These friends have close connections to Jesus. So when Lazarus becomes ill, the sisters send for Jesus. Jesus delays in coming, and during that time Lazarus dies. When Jesus does arrive, the sisters express disappointment. Jesus does not rebuke them for their expressions, instead he asks to go to the tomb of Lazarus. There he prays, calls Lazarus to come forth, and raises him from the dead.
This text relates to us all, addressing so many human questions.
1. Questions About Suffering
John 11:1-5 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
When we have disease, death, significant losses in life, it’s easy to wonder if it matters that we are disciples of Jesus. How can Jesus be my friend and allow suffering? (1-3). Is my suffering wasted or can God redeem it? (4)
If I suffer, does that mean God doesn’t love me? (5).
Every Christian has struggled with the idea that God allows suffering to take place. We should take some comfort in the truth that we are not alone in this struggle, the Bible does not dodge the question, but we may not always know an answer.
2. Questions About Death/Grief
John 11:21-24; 32 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 from 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 on the last day.” .... 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Is it ok to be unhappy with God? “If you had been here”. Mary and Martha expressed their feelings to the Lord - and He did not rebuke them. Lipe: “The question men have been trying to answer throughout the ages is ‘How can we defeat death?’” When a loved one dies we often have many questions for God and often we may feel that those questions go unanswered. But it is ok to express them to God.
3. Questions About the Love of God
John 11:32-37 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Does Jesus care when we hurt? Does He see? The plaintive song, Does Jesus Care?, asks that question in a haunting verse, but affirms in the chorus, “Oh yes, He Cares, I know He Cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary the long nights dreary I know my Savior cares.”
4. Questions about Trust
John 11:38-40 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
In the face of the command to take the stone away, Martha tried to manage the situation (38-39). She seems to always be trying to manage situations! In the previous chapter, ‘Tell Mary to come help me in the kitchen!’; In this chapter she is the first to talk to Jesus about the death of her brother. Jesus’ response: vs 40. Jesus reminds Martha to trust him!
Do we trust Jesus, even when the instructions seem odd? Have you read the Beatitudes lately? Aren’t we glad to have Martha here… struggling to trust Jesus, but never rejected by Jesus!
5. Questions about Prayer
John 11:41-42 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Questions about prayer are expressed throughout this passage. I’m sure Mary and Martha prayed for Lazarus.
They may have prayed that Jesus would hurry. Did they ask God why Jesus didn’t come soon enough!
Jesus’ prayer here is unusual, because it is prayed so that others could hear. The relationship of Jesus and the Father was so deep that there is no question he had already been in prayer for this moment. The prayer life of Jesus is profound, and often the Scriptures reference his times spent with his Father.
In this prayer we have an example:
-Affirming that God hears all of our prayers (41)
-Giving thanks in a time of stress and heartache (41)
-How prayer has an effect on helping others believe! (42)
6. Questions About Resurrection
John 11:43-44 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jesus had the power to raise the dead, and Lazarus came forth. The greatest dilemma all humans face is the reality of our own deaths and what happens after that. How do we prepare for that eventuality? Jesus has the power to overcome death! Lazarus would eventually die again- unhappy consequence! But Jesus is the author of eternal life - and we only are to die once.
Job 14:14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
Hebrews 9:27 “…It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…”
7. Questions About Eternity
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus is the answer to all of our questions. For the Christian, death represents a time of victory in Jesus!
2 Timothy 1:10 “… our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”
Victory over the spiritual death of sin and separation. Eph 2:4-5 …God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved"
Victory over physical death. (John 11:25-26). “If we are faithful to Christ, we can believe that we will be
carried by angels to ‘Abraham’s bosom’ when we leave this world (Lk. 16:22).” - Lipe. One poet wrote that “The tomb is not an endless night - It is a thoroughfare, a way That closes in a soft twilight And opens in eternal day.”
Victory over eternal death. Revelation 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Because of Jesus , we can avoid being lost, separated from God forever. I Am The Resurrection…The promise that answers the most basic issues of life.
Conclusion
Jesus shouted to dead Lazarus to come out! What is he shouting to you today?
Adrian Rogers said, “There is no promise God cannot keep, no prayer God will not answer, and no problem too hard for Him to solve.”
Revelation 14:13 “…’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ 'Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”
We love him because of His healing, salvation, compassion, leading, and promise.
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Video of this message will be available on the YouTube Channel for Forsythe Church of Christ.
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Discussion Questions for John 11:1-44
1. When Jesus receives news that Lazarus is sick, why does he delay going to heal his friend? What does this tell us about God’s response to our prayers and needs?
2. Why do you think John stresses Jesus love for Lazarus and his sisters in this account (11:3, 5, 36)?
3. Dealing with the issues surrounding death is a significant part of this chapter. What facts about death (if you knew for sure they were true) would ease your concerns about dying?
4. What elements of doubt and faith do you see in Martha’s statements to Jesus (vv. 17-27)? How does Jesus stretch Martha’s faith in this brief encounter? What does he mean when he says “I Am the resurrection”?
5. Jesus is “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (vs 33) when he encounters those mourning the death of Lazarus. This is a difficult translation, many scholars believe that there is an implied anger here. If this is not just empathy, but anger - at what would Jesus’ anger be directed?
6. N. T. Wright says that “Jesus bursts into tears at the moment he sees Mary, and all the Judea’s with her, in tears (vv. 33-35). The Word, through whom the worlds were made, weeps like a baby at the grave of his friend.” How does this challenge the way people - including many Christians - often understand God?
7. What seems to be the biggest fear among the chief priests and the Pharisees when they hear of the sign Jesus has performed in raising Lazarus (vs. 48)?
8. What assurance can we find in this passage during our own times of suffering?
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Resources
Connelly, Douglas. John: The Way to True Life. InterVarsity Press, 2002.
Lipe, David L. Truth For Today Commentary, John 1-12. Searcy, AR: Resource Publications, 2019.
Wright, N. T. For Everyone Bible Study Guides: John. InterVarsity Press, 2009.
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