New Life Bible Fellowship Church
3-23-25
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  • Trusting Jesus
  • Blessed Be The Name

  • Introduction:

    Last week we began a glorious but rather lengthly narrative about a miracle unlike any others up to this point; a miracle which constitutes the final and ultimate messianic sign of Jesus in this gospel. A miracle in which the context provides the opportunity for Jesus to declare the “I AM” statement, “I am the resurrection and the life”, removing the hopelessness and finality of the grave. As we looked at Jesus’ preparation of his disciples, Mary, and Martha for the miracle he was about to perform, it was necessary for them to understand the greater miracle that Lazarus was alive at that present moment, the fulfillment of all that Jesus declared regarding the eternal life he gives his sheep.
    This morning we will pick up where left off last week, after Martha’s confession of Jesus being the Christ, we will see the empathetic love of Jesus, and Hs great authoritative power, but also the resulting increased opposition of His opponents. See let’s read together, John 11:28-57.

    Text: John 11:28-57

    John 11:28–57 ESV
    28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 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.” 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?” 38 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?” 41 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.” 43 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.” 45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. 54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

    Main Idea: Since Jesus has the power and authority to raise the dead, we as His people must trust Him fully in all matters of life and death.

    I want us to understand the flow of this chapter…it was necessary for Jesus to show us the most important miracle of all concerning his sheep; that he calls them, transforms them and gives to them eternal life and that life begins in the here and now and extends into eternity. Without this understanding, the miracle we are about to witness becomes superficially focused only on what is transient and passing away, even with a moment of gladness.

    I. Despair Met by Divine Empathy (11:28-37)

    I want us to note that even though all that we said last week concerning the first half of this chapter is emphatically and profoundly true that because Jesus truly is the resurrection and the life, and that Lazarus their brother was alive presently, however, even though we believe this, as Martha did, there is room for sorrow and empathy as we face our last enemy death. This is what Jesus teaches us in this section.

    A. Empathetic Call (28-32)

    28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
    When she had said this, - which refers to her confession in the previous verse:
    John 11:27 ESV
    27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
    The Teacher is here and is calling for you. - It is now time for Mary’s interaction with Jesus; His interaction with Martha left her with a confession of him as both Messiah and God.
    29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. - note Mary’s immediate response.
    30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. - Jesus used this outskirts of the village to teach and disciple Mary and Martha without the distractions of the people who opposed him.
    31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
    It should not escape us that also this decision on the part of the Jews, namely, to follow Mary to the tomb, was in the plan of God. He wanted the Jews to see the miracle!
    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.”
    she fell at his feet - When Mary saw Jesus, at that very moment she fell weeping (see verse 35) at his feet. In the attitude of reverence and worship as she repeats what Martha had also said,
    “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”“ - Note that both sisters acknowledged the sovereign power of Jesus to heal, and both seemed to indicate that Jesus arrived too late.

    B. Empathetic Identity (33-37)

    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.
    [he was deeply moved] (enebrimaomai [aor, mid, ind] - to censure severely or angrily) in his spirit and greatly troubled. The outward expression of sorrow does not leave Jesus unmoved. He sheds tears (v. 35) in sympathy for the bereaved. As this phrase indicates, Jesus expresses outrage or indignation—not toward the grieving but toward death, the cause of their grief.
    In his spirit does not refer to the Holy Spirit but to Jesus’ own human spirit.
    34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
    Where have you laid him. John’s gospel teaches both the deity of Christ (1:1, 18) and His full humanity. As the Mediator, Christ acts within the limits of His sinless humanity without laying aside His deity. Though to us this is difficult to understand, nonetheless, scripture tells us that He experiences human emotions and can express ignorance of facts.
    35 Jesus wept. Jesus joins his friends’ sadness with heartfelt sorrow, yet underlying it is the knowledge that resurrection and joy will soon follow. Jesus’ example shows that heartfelt mourning in the face of death does not indicate lack of faith but honest sorrow at the reality of suffering and death.
    36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” - note how these Jews understood, perhaps in a superficial way, what the scripture declares regarding Jesus, our great high priest.
    Hebrews 4:15 ESV
    15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
    37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
    Could not he. The questions raised have to do with what sort of power Jesus has and when He will choose to use it. Lazarus has been allowed to die and the sisters to mourn, in order that God’s glory might be manifested (v. 4; 9:3). The healing of the blind man is remembered as clearly supernatural.
    It’s as if the Jews regarded the case of Lazarus to be closed. The matter was hopeless now. After all, Lazarus was dead! But why had not Jesus prevented this death? Some asked in criticism, others in sheer perplexity: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man (the last great miracle at Jerusalem, about which the people were still talking; chapter 9) have kept also this man from dying?” 
    So we saw here first of all that the utter despair of Mary and Martha were met with divine empathy, but next we see how this…

    II. Despair Conquered by Resurrection Power (11:38-44)

    A. Glory of Resurrection Power (38-40)

    38 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.”
    Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb - note that Jesus love and empathy drove him to action.
    a cave - this was not uncommon since caves were a natural permanent tomb.
    Take away the stone - Jesus asks those who were there to do the unthinkable…they all knew what a dead body smelled like, and any good Jew knew that any association with a dead body would make them unclean and unable to participate in the temple… which sparked the response from Martha…
    “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” - note the emphasis on what would be absolutely necessary for Jesus purpose to be realized…that Lazarus was dead four days…
    40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” - Jesus here not only poses the question to Martha to remind her to trust him, but his question was in synch with what he told his disciples back up in verse 4:
    John 11:4 ESV
    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.”

    B. Authority of Resurrection Power (41-44)

    41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
    Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Jesus offers thanks for the answer to His prayer. He is careful to relate this miracle to His mission as Messiah.
    Remember that throughout Jesus’ interaction with the religious leaders, their ongoing criticism arose from where Jesus’ authority come from. Over and over again, Jesus would state that his works and words were witnesses to the authority and mission he recieved from the Father, thus Jesus adds to his prayer…
    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.”
    Jesus public prayer to his Father was done in order that those who heard it would know that the Father had sent him…and to prove this to be the case, he backs it up with a declaration to the one who is dead…
    43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
    Lazarus, come out. The dead cannot hear, but Jesus wants those present to see that God’s voice can raise the dead (5:28, 29). This divine call that gives life to the dead vividly illustrates God’s call to the spiritually dead that raises them to spiritual life (5:25; Eph. 2:5), enabling them both to hear the Shepherd’s voice and to follow Him (10:27, 28).
    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.”
    Remarkably, John does not record Lazarus’s reaction or any of the aftermath of his raising since the focus is on Jesus, not Lazarus.
    I want us to pause here for a minute and really focus on what just happened before we go on to the decisions that would be made as a result. Let’s try and understand the purpose of this miracle and how it fits into the whole scheme of John’s purpose:
    Jesus teaches last week how that miraculously, his sheep, who were dead spiritually, will her his voice and even if they physically die, they are alive. Then this week we see the miracle of physical resurrection of one who was physically dead. So we ask the question, which miracle was the greatest?
    Similarly, Jesus does a spiritual miracle in Mark 2, followed by a physical miracle for authentication…
    Mark 2:1–12 ESV
    1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
    The point is, Jesus miracles move from the greater miracle (spiritual), the the lesser (physical), since we are unable to physically see his divine work, he shows us his human work.
    Finally, not only does Despair Met by Divine Empathy, and is Despair Conquered by Resurrection Power, but as a result…

    III. Decisions at the Crossroads of Faith (11:45-57)

    Note: This work of God has a double result: faith in some, and resistance and unbelief in others. I might add that every time God’s truth is revealed, we stand at a crossroad of whether to believe and obey, or disbelieve and disobey…it should be noted also that these roads are mutually exclusive, meaning, you can’t travel both…

    A. Road of Belief (45)

    45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, - Here John uses the phrase the Jews in a positive way, to refer to those Jews who believed in him. We are told if this belief in Jesus was real or superficial, however, in the context we will assume that it is real…

    B. Road of Unbelief (46-53)

    46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. - however, there were those who took the road to unbelief, reporting this miracle, unlike any others, to the council (Sanhedrin)…
    47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
    “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. - the reaction seemed almost desperate…there was no denying or explaining away what Jesus was doing. All that he had said and done were indisputable, and to them, this was dangerous to their cause.
    If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
    take away both our place and our nation. The Sanhedrin, which has supreme religious authority in the land, fears that Jesus’ ministry will provoke a popular uprising that the Romans will crush by force of arms. “Our place” is probably the temple, although it could refer to the council’s position of authority, since the two are intertwined.
    Note here, when a cause gets to this point, there no longer is any common sense of rational behavior, they care about one thing and one thing alone, there own selfish hold on power.
    49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.
    Caiaphas. He is a Sadducee (no resurrection or miracles, and held to the Pentateuch only) and the son-in-law of Annas (the real high priest), who was deposed as high priest by the Romans but had considerable influence over the religious leaders (18:13).
    You know nothing at all- displays the rudeness allegedly characteristic of many Sadducees (as confirmed by Josephus).
    50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
    Caiaphas callously suggests that eliminating one innocent person may be excused if it secures security for an entire nation. He has forgotten the message of Prov. 17:15, which condemns the punishment of the innocent. Ultimately, Caiaphas does not realize that his statement points to the redemption that Jesus will offer on the cross.
    Proverbs 17:15 ESV
    15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
    Die for the people invokes the memory of the Maccabean martyrs (2 Macc. 7:37–38).
    51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
    he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. In the purposes of God, Caiaphas unknowingly utters a prophecy that is far more profound than he realizes. It is a blessing that Jesus died, because His death was necessary for the salvation, not only of Jews, but of the elect of the whole world; and the rescue that His death procured for so many was not merely from military invasion but from eternal punishment.
    52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
    The children of God … scattered, as referred to here, are the Gentiles (cf. 10:16). John anticipates their future inclusion into God’s people.
    53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. - Jesus, now a marked man, is not powerless against those who claim to be powerful, but this road that Jesus is about to travel is a…

    C. Road For Believers (54-57)

    54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
    The increasing hostility of the Jewish leaders leads Jesus to withdraw for a time from Jerusalem until the time was right.
    55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
    This is the third and final Passover mentioned by John. People went up early to purify themselves from any ceremonial uncleanness that would have prevented them from celebrating the Passover.
    56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” - they knew that every male Jew, especially those in leadership would always attend the passover in Jerusalem.
    57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him. - this of course would be in God’s timing, using these power hungry, selfish, irrational leaders to bring about God’s plan purposed in eternity past.

    So What?

    Do we understand that even though we know the truth regarding eternity, that there are still times in the midst of our faith to express sorrow?
    Do we see the greater miracle of the new birth and eternal presence of God, or are we focused only on and desiring of the temporal miracles of physical health and happiness?
    Do we see the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as part of an eternal plan with not one item out of order or unaccounted for?
    In the same way, do we see our lives as Christ’s sheep, as also a part of God’s divine plan in which no item is out of order or unaccounted for?
  • He Is Lord
New Life Bible Fellowship Church
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