THIS ISN’T THE END OF IT
SCRIPTURE: John 11
INTRODUCTION: (v. 1 – 7)
v. 1 Lazarus is sick
Sin brought forth sickness.
We’ve all experienced sickness to some degree.
v.3 Lazarus was loved by the Lord
v. 4 Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick.
When you are sick, Jesus knows, but He wants to hear from you.
Sickness not unto death. Death is a separation.
James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead,”
That is, it is not going to cause a permanent separation.
v. 5 Martha and her sister Mary, and Lazarus were loved by the Lord.
You can feel the passion of these Scriptures as the writer sets the scene for one of the greatest events in the ministry of Christ. This event will illustrate more perfectly the gospel that He is preaching and the hope that He is presenting.
I. THE REALITY OF IT (v. 11 – 14)
II. THE IGNORANCE OF IT (v. 20 – 27)
III. THE PAIN OF IT (v. 30 – 35)
IV. THIS ISN’T THE END OF IT (V. 38 – 45)
V. THE END OF IT
I. THE REALITY OF IT (v. 11 – 14)
A. Sickness --> Lazarus is Sick (v. 3)
1. We get sick, some more often and more severe than others.
2. Sometimes the sickness is unto death, separation of the spirit and the body.
B. Death --> Lazarus is Dead. (v. 14)
That’s it. That’s as far as we can go, but this isn’t the end.
1. It is an appointment.
Job 7: 1 “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?”
Job 14:16 “For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?”
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
2. We don’t have power to recover it.
II Samuel 14:14 “For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.”
Job 14:2 “He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a
shadow, and continueth not.”
II. THE IGNORANCE OF IT (v. 20 – 27)
A. What? Lazarus sleeps? There’s hope.
I Thes 4:13 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”
B. If a man dies?
Job 14:14 “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”
What change?
I Corinthians 15:51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
C. There is a resurrection.
I Thes 4:14 “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
III. THE PAIN OF IT (v. 30 – 35)
A. Mary and Martha wept. (v. 33)
B. Jesus wept. (v. 35)
C. You will weep.
Psalms 30:5 “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Skeptic Debater Changes Sides by Rebecca Megli in Pulpit Helps April 2003
After spending 10 years as a skeptic and the past 25 years researching the resurrection, Gary Habermas has a solid case for why Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead.
Habermas’ passion for the subject of the resurrection includes a personal experience. “ I do not know why my wife passed away in 1995 . . . Nothing worse could have happened to me in life,” he said. “I don’t know why I suffered in 1995, but I do know Somebody that knows the answer.”
“Here’s what the resurrection says: There is an answer, even if I do not know what it is. The resurrection says it’s not over.”
Weeping may endure, but there should be comfort in knowing that this isn’t the end of it.
IV. THIS ISN’T THE END OF IT (V. 38 – 45)
A. If this was it:
1. What could we say about those who die?
2. What could we do to comfort others or our self?
3. What should our response be?
I Corinthians 15:32b “if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.”
(Deaden your senses.)
Proverbs 31: 6 “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine
unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.”
B. But this isn’t it. Why?
1. John 11:28b “The Master is come, and calleth for thee.”
“The nails in His hands would be stakes through Satan’s heart. The metal through His feet would be nails in the devil’s coffin.” Joe McKeever
2. The Alpha and Omega says so.
Job 19: 25 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:”
V. THE END OF IT
A. “Saints don’t die.” Gene Strother Not in the sense of permanent separation.
1. They depart from this side.
Philippians 1:23 “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:”
II Timothy 4:6 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
2. They arrive on that side.
II Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
From our perspective, we say, “He’s gone. [Or, she’s gone.]” But in Heaven, they
shout, “He’s home!” The Resurrection and the Life by Gene Strother
B. Saints are resurrected!!!! “Come forth!!!”
Because of Christ, the end is better.
Ecclesiastes 7:8a “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof:”
CONCLUSION
“Jesus Christ. The Resurrection. Jesus Christ. The Life. Without Him you have no hope of either. But with Him, you have the promise---from God, who cannot lie---of both.”
The Resurrection and the Life by Gene Strother
