Lazarus Come Forth!

Good afternoon! Well, it's wonderful to see all of you. It feels so comfortable coming in those doors and seeing the smiling faces, and so it is wonderful to be here and to hug some of you and shake hands and catch up a little bit.

Jennifer and I were talking on the way here, and it's been a little over a year since we moved, and so it's gone very fast, I will tell you, and my blood hasn't thickened yet. The Knoxville congregation, we canceled services today because of snow there, so they do receive a lot of the seasons that sometimes we miss a few down here, I know, but I will find myself referring to, oh, we're going to go back home.

And, you know, as I was talking about going back to Texas, so I still say that that verbiage, so it is again wonderful to see all of you. In many ways, this was a work trip. We helped prepare Jennifer's mom to move. She's going to be moving in about a month to Janan and David Whitlarks next to them at their property, and so we're helping her get prepared a little bit for that move. But the side benefit, of course, is to see all of you. Well, the title today's study is Lazarus Come Forth. Lazarus Come Forth.

And if you'll take your Bibles and turn with me to John's Gospel, Chapter 11, the Gospel of John, Chapter 11. And we'll begin today by reading verses 1 through 16. John 11, verse 1 through 16, as we come to the just what is the incredible account of the raising back to life of Jesus's dear friend, Lazarus.

And we can ask right up front, how is it that Lazarus could be dead for this period of time and then come back to life? Well, it is only by the hearing of those words come forth that he would rise from the dead and only one would ever be so bold to use those words, Jesus Christ, to give such a command. And we'll get to that dramatic command in just a moment, but beginning here in this incredible account, let's see what John records for us here to set our foundation.

So John 11, verse 1. Now, he says, a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary was anointed with the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, the sister sent to him, that's Jesus Christ, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. When Jesus had heard that, he said, the 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, and when he had 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. Verse 8, the disciples said to him, Rabbi, lately the Jews have sought to stone you, and you're going back there again? Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks in the day, does he not stumble? Because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

These things he said, after that he said to them, our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I might wake him up. Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking about taking a rest and sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.

Verse 16, then Thomas, who is called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we may die with him. Let's stop there. Now, we remember that John stated very clearly that the purpose to which he wrote this gospel, the reason he wrote it was so that the hearers would believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that by believing, they might have life in his name. You can actually find that purpose statement in John 20 verse 31.

We won't take the time to turn there, but John 20 verse 31, where John says, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So when we're coming here to the 11th chapter, we come to a chapter that is to help the reader now come to that belief. Because here in this chapter, we do have the event of the Raising of Lazarus back to life, an event that will help us move to fully grasp this fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And in fact, if you allow your eyes to fall down a little bit here in the chapter here to verse 15 chapter 11, that same purpose is stated. This purpose comes this miracle. He says in verse 15, I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. And in fact, this is the inherent purpose in all the signs and all the wonders in which Jesus Christ performed. They were given to bring about this belief in the hearts and the minds of those who would be observing and those of us who are reading these accounts.

Now later here, this miracle was done that they might believe and that you might believe and then be transformed by that belief. And it's a belief that comes and it's not just any ordinary belief, the one that comes and cuts to the heart and then moves the believer.

A belief that hits the heart but then moves down to the feet, if you will, and moves them to obedience and to walk God's way. So that's why it's important for us to give ourselves to this account this afternoon. So let's begin. So here in verse 1, we see we notice the one to whom the miracle revolves.

A man by the name of Lazarus, it says, described from Bethany, it is, and the location is described here as the town of Mary and Martha, his sisters. And of course, we know his sisters, don't we? Mary is described in verse 2 as being the one to whom poured perfume onto the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.

You remember that account. And John actually details that in the next chapter. So these first two verses set the foundation for us. Before we begin now with verse 3, with the letter. The letter that is going to describe the desperate state of Lazarus. A letter from his sisters. Verse 3, this was sent to Jesus Christ. And look what is contained in this letter. Verse 3 again, therefore the sisters sent to him saying, these are the words sent in the letter here, it said, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. So what do we notice first and foremost? Well, right away we notice the closeness here. Closeness in which they shared. By the fact that the sisters were merely able to write a letter to Jesus Christ and just simply say, the one to whom you love is sick. Without actually identifying the one to whom they were speaking of. That speaks to just the close connection here that Jesus had with this family. And it shows how much he cared for the three here. Speaks of a deep, deep relationship. And I find this so interesting, this letter, because if you noticed, it didn't... the sisters didn't ask anything of Jesus Christ, did they? They don't even ask him to come. They don't even appeal to him to come and heal their brother, do they? They simply send word, Lord, behold, the one to whom you love is sick. And we can understand this, of course. That fact may be grounded in the understanding that Jesus Christ, they knew his love. Jesus's love for their brother, Lazarus. Of course he would respond. And he would respond in this love. He loved him dearly.

And that might be an important note for us. Because with this same confidence, we are to send our messages to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Our messages, our prayers, should be sent with the same understanding of the love that God the Father has and Jesus Christ has for us. Where is our confidence that he will respond to our letters, if you will? To our prayers. Our confidence comes from our understanding of how much he loves us in the same way. So that certainly is a lesson for us. And also, notice another thing in how this is written here.

Likewise, in our prayers, we don't have to feel the need to detail how we would like God the Father through Jesus Christ to help us. Did you notice this letter? None of that is detailed. And so there may be times, just like Mary and Martha, that we can simply just put forth the issue, put forth the need, and then rest. Rest in our confidence that he loves us and he will respond in that love. That's important. And we're gonna talk more about that in just a moment. Let's continue here. Let's bring our attention to verse 4 here. Notice how Jesus Christ responds. Verse 4, when Jesus heard that, he said, the sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. So right up front, very clearly and immediately, he says the sickness is not under death. But we can only read forward in the details here to understand that Lazarus was clearly going to die. Can't we? So we understand that Jesus Christ obviously wasn't stating that Lazarus would not die. So what did he mean by this? Well, what Jesus Christ is establishing here in verse 4 is that Lazarus's death would not be the ultimate conclusion of all that was about to occur in this account. In other words, the ultimate conclusion at the end of this event, it will not be that Lazarus was sick and that died. And that was the conclusion of it all, the end result. No. Rather, the final conclusion of all that is about to occur, of all that we're about to read, will be that the Son of God is glorified through it. That's what he's saying. The final conclusion will be that Jesus Christ is glorified through it. Now that's important to consider. And this may remind us of another account in which these same kind of words were put forward regarding an element that someone had. And we can see this just quickly here. Let's go back a few chapters to chapter 9 here. Go back to just a few chapters, John chapter 9.

Let's just read for a moment verse 1 through 3. Jesus Christ spoke of it in a similar way, a similar understanding regarding a man who was born blind. Look at this. John 9 verse 1 through 3. We see Jesus Christ is going to give the same understanding. His glory, his works revealed are to be the ultimate significance in all things. Look at this. John 9 verse 1. Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind. And Jesus answered, neither this man nor this parent sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed through him. Let's stop there. But that the works of God should be revealed through him. So Jesus says to his disciples, just so you understand, the ultimate significance, the ultimate significance in a blind man's blindness, is not necessarily the blindness, or even that he'll see again.

The ultimate significance in that element is that God's works are revealed. Likewise, the ultimate significance in Lazarus's death isn't necessarily Lazarus's element or his death. The ultimate significance, and the conclusion of it all, is to be in the glorification of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. That's important to grasp. Because the ultimate significance of my life, the ultimate significance of your life, and everything that happens, all of it, blind, sick, whatever it may be, the ultimate significance of all that happens in our life and even our death, just as it is in Lazarus's life and death, is that it all is to be to the glorification of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

The significance of all that we go through, all these things in our life, is that God be glorified through it all. We glorify God now until the day that he glorifies us beyond measure. And so that allows us to see our whole life, our whole life, in this way. And it's quite profound because that understanding will reset our focus when we're in need. It will reestablish our purpose as to why we're here when we're most in need. In all that we go through, it allows us to see our life, our life ultimately only has its relevance in relation to it shows his works.

And our life only has its relevance only in that it glorifies God. And that's really important to establish at this point in the story. Let's go back to chapter 11, if you will, John chapter 11 and see this. Let's read verse 4 again. John 11 verse 4, he says, when Jesus heard that, he heard that he was sick, 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 again, that's important to establish as we come to verse 5, 6, and 7 here. Without that foundation that we just spoke about, these verses 5 through 7, they're going to seem contrary to our understanding that Jesus Christ loves Lazarus.

It's going to be contrary, seemingly, because look at this. Look at verse 5 through 7 again. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister in Lazarus, so when he heard that he was sick, he rushed off immediately? No. He stayed two more days in the place where he was, and then he said to his disciples, let us go do Judea again. So when he heard Lazarus was sick, we might expect that, oh, we know he loved him, so he rushes off to immediately to him. Now it says he stayed where he was two more days. How do we reconcile that? How do we understand this delay? Well, it's in knowing the ultimate conclusion that's to be achieved.

What is that? His works are revealed. His glorification. So again, I think this is a great lesson for us this afternoon, and we touched on it just a bit ago when we looked at the letter and we noticed that it didn't have a lot of details in it. A great lesson for us is that when we have prayed and when we have laid out our desires to him, we've come to our knees, we've asked him to rescue and to heal, we've laid it upon him, we can't judge then God's response in light of how we think he should respond.

I find myself doing this all the time. I wonder if you do too. We kneel before God in our requests, and yet subconsciously I've already determined how I want him to respond. I need this resolve, I need this healing in this way, whatever it may be, and when it doesn't happen according to my perspective or according to my timetable, somehow I conclude that the the response wasn't given to me in love. So when the disciples come to Jesus Christ here at this moment, they're learning something that we need to learn as well, and that is God's ways...

they're very mysterious, aren't they? Very mysterious. Ecclesiastes 11, as you don't know the way of the wind or how bones grow in the womb of one that has child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. So don't judge the Lord on your own understanding. I added that last part. That's not Ecclesiastes. So we are to just know that whatever his delay, he never forgets us. He never forgets his loved ones. God is in control, and his delays in his response, however mysterious it may be, it may merely be to reveal his works or merely to be to reveal his glory.

He is in control. His delays, how he responds, may merely be to reveal his works and to reveal his glory through us. Because whatever purpose in all these things, it is to reveal those things. And that's a word. It's a word for me. It's a word for many of us here this afternoon. And Mary Martha and all those who would witness this miracle, they were about to discover this very thing.

So let's go back here, back to Judea with them in verse 8. John 11 verse 8, Rabbi. They're going now back to Judea, and the disciples say, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and you're going back there again, they say. So we read previously that they had picked up stones to stone Jesus Christ, and of course the disciples would be expected to follow him back.

And this may be a concern for Jesus Christ, but it also may be a concern of their own necks as well. Thomas brings this out. Just let your eyes fall down to verse 16. I love this. Verse 16, then Thomas said, okay, he said to his fellow disciples, let us go, that we may die with him. So they were concerned about that.

This may seem familiar. God says, we're gonna go here now, we're gonna go in this way, and we say, are you sure that's a good idea? What's occurring when we do that? What's occurring when we do that? Doubt. Doubt is a darkness. Doubt that he's in control. Doubt that he's even listening. Doubt that he even loves me.

Doubt is a darkness, and that's what Jesus Christ now comes to here. The darkness of doubt. Look at verses 9 and 10 here. Verse 9 and 10. Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world, but if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. What is he speaking about here? It is just that. All that darkness of doubt comes into our minds.

Fear. Continuing here, verse 11 through 15. These things he said, and after that he said to them, our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him. And his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. That's funny. They're still angling away. He's gonna be okay if he's just sleeping. We don't actually have to return to Judea, do we? Verse 13. However, Jesus spoke of his death and they thought he was speaking of about taking a rest and sleep.

Then Jesus said to him plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him. He says, let us go. So they did. Continuing with the story here. Verse 17 through 19. So when Jesus came, he found that he, Lazarus, 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.

So here we have the arrival of Jesus Christ. It may be important to note here, here in verse 17, that Jesus Christ found Lazarus and he'd already been dead in the tomb for four days. So there's a kind of a time reference that's given to us here, isn't there?

In relation to the timing here, from the departure of the messenger to Jesus Christ to the time that Jesus Christ returns and finds Lazarus, four days, the timetable. So we may be able to deduce that when the messenger left, it maybe had taken one day to reach Jesus Christ, a two-day delay then by Jesus Christ, maybe another day for Jesus Christ to return to him. So one day for the messenger to get there, two-day delay, one day maybe for Jesus Christ to get back to Lazarus.

So when we read here in verse 17 that he already found him dead in the tomb for four days. So even without the two-day delay, it's very probable that Lazarus died almost immediately when the messenger left to take this message to Jesus Christ. So even if he would have left immediately. And another interesting side note here is that the Jewish belief at this time, it was a prevailing belief, it was an odd one and an incorrect one. Many believe that the soul stayed near the grave for three days. Some Jews believe this. It stayed near the soul and hovered maybe for three days around the grave before it moved on to its final resting place.

They would say, of course, that's an odd belief and an incorrect belief. But in that context, grief and sorrow would have reached its peak often. Right around the fourth day, the grief became most increased because some had this belief. So they would have been saying, many of them, it's been four days. There is no likelihood that Lazarus is coming back to us at this point. So hopelessness would have been kicking in. John records here in verse 19, many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brothers.

So there's a great concern now to spirit this moment. It was just covering this whole situation. And as we continue here, this is interesting. We want to notice the attitude and the approach of Martha here.

And I think if you look at it, be looking for ways that you might see yourself in this and in Martha here first. Continue here, verse 20 through 27. Verse 20 through 27. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, get this, she said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not 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 in the life. And 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? He says. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into this world.

Let's stop there. Now Martha, when she heard this news in verse 20, she was gone there. But Mary stayed in the house. She moved out. That might line up with Martha's personality. We know in the account in Luke 10 that she was the one bustling around, making the food when Jesus Christ visited Lazarus and Mary and Martha's home.

She was the one bustling around. And so when word hits Martha, maybe part of her personality, she immediately gets up and to meet him.

Mary stays home. And look at what she says upon her protein, Jesus Christ here. Look at verse 21. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And that's quite a statement, isn't it? Isn't it? And we can read this in a way where it conveys, almost comes across almost like she's rebuking Jesus Christ. You can read it in that way. Lord, if you would have been here, or perhaps could we read it in a way where it's a declaration of faith? What if we read it this way? Lord, if you would have been here, Lord, if you would have been here, in other words, I know he wouldn't have died. I believe you would have been able to heal him. I know how much you love him. Oh, if you'd had only been here. Because we know in relationship to the timing, it's very probable that only a short while after the messenger left that Lazarus would have died. Oh, if you had only been here, Lazarus would still be living. I know. Maybe it's a declaration of faith in knowing who Jesus Christ is. Maybe it's that. She certainly was feeling a lot of sorrow, deep grief at this moment. And now here at the...yeah, but even know, verse 22, even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. There's some hope there. There's some faith. But even now I know that you're able to bring him back, she says. She might have had just hope and faith at this moment. Maybe it was just for a moment, though. Because let your eyes just go down for a minute to verse 39. Look at this. Verse 39. Jesus says, take away the stone. We're fast forwarding here. And look what Martha says. Verse 39. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead for four days. So, verse 22, I know you can do anything. Verse 39, don't even bother with taking it away. What's the point? What's happening here? Well, this seems very familiar to me. When tragedy hits, what happens to us? Ah, great swaying. There are moments in tragedy I can make great statements of faith right high above those waves of doubt. And in the next moment, I find myself just drowning in those same waves of doubt, back and forth. The moment I have great faith and the moment just drowning in our doubt.

And we can assume, maybe, that the one who was carrying the letter had already made his way back to the sisters and presumably had told them what Jesus Christ had said. That this sickness is not unto death. So, perhaps, you know, if the messenger came back to them and gave them those words, well, this is what Jesus Christ said. Well, that would have been rolling around in her mind, wouldn't it? Well, I know he said this isn't unto death, but Lazarus is so clearly dead. Trying to reconcile all these things. Faith and doubt, battling in our minds, wrestling. So, Jesus says to her in verse 23, your brother will rise again. This is interesting. Look at her response. Verse 24. Yeah, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. So, speaks of resurrection, but in the last day. Your brother will rise again. Oh, yes, I know. So, there's a faith, but it's a faith in not in any immediate sense at all. There seems to be just hopelessness. A hopeless cloud has settled over her. She needed assuring up at this point.

She needed a renewing of her faith. It's about to be given to her. Look at verse 26 through 20...25 through 27 here. Verse 25 through 27. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection in the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whosoever lives and believes in me, shall never die. Do you believe this? Yes, he says. And she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe you are Christ, Son of God, who has come into this world. Yes, Lord, she says. I believe this. I believe who you claim you are. I believe it. And that is the belief that you and I need to grasp onto and never let go, especially in uncertain times. That's our certainty. Grab on to this. Who is he? Do you believe he is who he says he is? Grab on to it. Have it just convict your heart. Have that just change your whole perspective and how you move through these trials and tribulations. A belief that just changes everything. And notice this carefully. Jesus Christ does not say, I'm the one who gives or furnishes resurrection in life. Of course he does, but he says, I am the resurrection in the life. I am the source. I am the cause. I am the fountain of life. Oh, when tragedy hits, grab on to that. Don't let go. With him, resurrection and life are available to us. Without him, death remains. Jesus Christ conquers death. I hope you know that. And he says, do you believe this? In verse 26, do you believe this? Martha, do you believe this? Do you and I believe this today? I mean truly believe it. And in this, in this all, just know there's a wonderful analogy for us all in this because God's Word tells us that men and women are dead in their transgressions and in their sin. Dead. As dead as Lazarus was in this tomb. And so do we believe that Jesus Christ, through God the Father, God the Father through Jesus Christ brings us life? If you believe that, if so, then now is the time to come out of sin, come out of that death, make progress, significant progress. We have the power of the one who has conquered death. Access it. Now in verse 28, verse 28 and following, Jesus speaks to Lazarus here. And let's finish this, the climax here of this incredible event. Verse 28 through 44. What a story this is. What an account. 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 come into the town, but was at the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her, when they saw Mary rose up quickly and went out and followed her, saying, She must be going to the tomb to weep there. Verse 32, then when Mary came to where Jesus was, she saw him, she falls 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 his 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? When Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb, it was a cave, 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's been dead for four days. Verse 40, Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? And they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. 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 out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And he who died came out, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to him, Loose him and let him go. Let's stop there. Incredible. So, Martha declares her faith in verse 27, goes back to get her sister Mary. Verse 28, The teacher has come, she says to her, he's calling for you. We want to hear those words, don't we? The teacher has come and he's calling for you. She called her sister aside a private word. You know, maybe the private word was she knew there would have been enemies against Jesus Christ there. This would allow her sister to get out ahead of the crowd to make her way to Jesus Christ. Verse 29, immediate response. As soon as Mary heard that, she quickly arose, came quickly to him.

She was responding. This was an invitation by Jesus Christ to come to him. The mourners follow, supposing she was going to mourn there at the tomb. And look at this, verse 32.

Mary reached the place where Jesus Christ was. She fell down at his feet and says to him, look at these words, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Same words, isn't it?

Same words as Martha's response. Lord, if you'd have been here, oh, but she falls at his feet.

It's this posture that she takes of just worship and reverence of Jesus Christ, falls at his feet, bowing to him. We need to bow to him in the reverence of his power.

And here it is, verse 33 through 38. Jesus Christ comes and he stands and he's going to confront this whole moment. Confront death itself now. It's important for us to understand, you know, everything that built up to this moment. And we know that this event is in the shadow of what is to come with his sacrifice, his own sacrifice, and his own resurrection in Jesus Christ.

So Jesus Christ is confronted with Mary weeping. The mourners are weeping.

All this despair. He looks out at the group and he says, in verse 33, it says, he groaned in his spirit and was troubled.

The two words that are used here, groaned here, it's a Greek word, and it actually is described often as like the snorting of a horse. The groaned there describes what a horse does often.

So it's this deep wrenching, a deep groaning here, John says. As he looks out in this group, in his spirit was moved, it says. That's another graphic word. The same word here, that he was moved in spirit. It's the same word that he used when he was predicting his betrayal.

When the scripture says that Jesus was troubled in spirit, it's the same word when he said, one of you is going to betray me. So he looks out in the same sense, deep within him. He looks at this crowd. So keep that in mind, keep that image in mind as we come to this next verse, 34 and 35. And he said, where have you laid him? He said, Lord, come and see. Verse 35, Jesus wept. Shortest verse in the whole Bible, we know. So much commentary, written on those two words. So much commentary to try to grasp the depth of those two words. Two words, Jesus wept.

I don't know if we could ever capture it. This expressive, this expression from our creator. And we may ask, why did he weep? Why did he weep? Well, it's an outpouring from the one who truly feels our infirmities, truly feels our sorrow, truly feels our grief.

You think he can't sympathize with us? He's been through it all.

There is not an aching of your heart that hasn't also wrung his heart.

Why did Jesus Christ weep? Well, we know he didn't weep because Lazarus was dead. He was about to bring him forth, wasn't he? Now, he looks out at this crowd, this group, this sealed tomb, hearing their hopeless cries. And he's come face to face with death, the last enemy to be destroyed. Death. And he snorts.

He sees all these men and women. They don't know how to deal with it.

Swain from their faith and their doubt, confronted with the sin, sin that causes death. Death and sin have their grip on every man and woman. And he sees it all.

And he weeps.

Jesus Christ, the one who had come to deal with the sting of death. And he's coming to destroy it once and for all. And now he's seen it in all of its darkness, in its ugliness, in its destruction.

And he groans. And he weeps.

But he doesn't groan and weep as one who is a helpless bystander. Oh no.

He comes to this moment as a conqueror, a death conqueror, if you will. We sing it often. His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.

So here we are in verse 43 and 44. Verse 43 and 44. Now when he had come and said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes. His face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus Christ says to him, loose him and let him go. He cried out with a loud voice, come forth. How could Jesus Christ give such a bold command? He is the resurrection in the life. That's how.

And Lazarus came out, grave clothes around him. He says, get him off. Get those grave clothes off of him. Loose him, death. Loose him. Let him go.

How is it that Lazarus could be dead and come back to life? Well, he heard the voice of the one who makes dead people here. In listening to his voice, new life the dead receive.

In the same way, Jesus Christ gave physical life back to Lazarus. It's the same way he brings life into the deadness of men and women spiritually today.

You want to know how to honor the life of a loved one who's passed, who's died?

You want to know how to honor that life? Come out of the sin yourself. Make progress. Honor that life that way. Come out of death and sin. We don't have to be hopeless in these things.

We don't have to be hopeless in these things. No, there's no hopeless in this.

There's no hopelessness in death because we know that Jesus Christ once again is going to come someday soon and say, come forth.

And we'll conclude with these future words today. Let's conclude with those words. Turn with me to John 5, if you will. John 5, verse 25 through 29. John 5, verse 25 through 29. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is going to come once again and to his loved ones, those of his own, speak these words to his first fruits and then to all of humanity? John 5, verse 25 through 29. Listen to these words.

Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself and has given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man. Verse 28, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

Let's stop there. You see, this is the picture given to us. The picture that's given to us in the death of Lazarus is that there is a future promise coming to all. It is about to come soon to those first fruits, those of Christ's own, who have fallen asleep. Do you believe this? Believe it. And the teacher has come and he calls for you now. And if you will hear him today, and if you allow that conviction of heart to move to your feet, to make progress, to move in his way of life, to do good and not evil, then one day at his return you will also hear those words, come forth, and you will be raised as a first fruit. Your grave clothes will be removed, and he will say to death, Loose him, loose her, let them go, and you will rise to live with him forever.