14th June 2026 : John ch 11 v 1 - 45

John ch 11 v 1 - 45

The reading this morning is taken from John chapter 11, verses 1 to 45.

And this is the word of God.

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. 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. But after this, he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again? And Jesus answered, 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. 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'll 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'm glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.

Then Thomas, who is called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. 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. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. And 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 he's 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's 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. And 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? And 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? Then Jesus again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone laying 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 4 days. And 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 out. And he who had died came out, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, loose him and let him go. Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him

May the Lord bless his word to us.

Thanks Sue. Super.

We'll pray and invite the Lord to do that, shall we? And bless the word. It's his word. Lord, all the word of God is caused and inspired by your Holy Spirit. And Lord, oh, it's handled by the hands of men. Lord, still you proclaim the living word when a gospel is preached and you proclaim the word to each heart and each soul when you want to speak to them, saying the things that you want to say. And I just pray, Lord, that your spirit will go to work right now in the heart and mind of those that you're speaking to and in the way that you're speaking to each one of us what might be different but say those things and touch us with those things that we might be sensitive to what the Spirit is saying to the church. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.

This passage, I must have spoken on it 1000 times and maybe another thousand times, God willing. But I like to no, I was inspired to, let's have it right. This came to me the other day from the Lord, so I'm confident it's the word of God. But I'll split it up into different characters, a bit like a theatre set with different characters in a story. This is real, the theatre's fiction. But if you enjoy a good yarn, you can understand it that way. And there are different characters featured in it.

There are the mourners. Verse 19 and verse 33, they came to comfort Martha and Mary, nothing wrong with that in principle, but sometimes that's the only response that people make, not one of faith, they just mourn. Sometimes, and it's a negative, remember this, we're moving from the negatives to the positives. Sometimes you can hear people mourning or moaning, and sometimes you just have to remind them of the grace of God in as loving way as you can. But notice that Jesus didn't speak to them. Those that mourned and those that really gave off a kind of hopeless persona, Jesus said nothing to them. There isn't a word, not one single word to them. He just walked right past them. So mourning doesn't really get us anywhere, does it? Neither does moaning or any of its bits and pieces.

And then you've got the sceptics, verse 37, you know, could not this man, you know, this man who opened the eyes of the blind, couldn't he do something for this person before he died? A bit late now, you know, could not this man do that? And they're just so sceptical, they're so critical, they're so negative. It just seems to be a habit form perspective for some people that they don't really expect much from God. And to them, perhaps God is some remote person, up there and we're down here and they believe in God, but they never reach out to him because of the scepticism. Notice also that Jesus walked right past them and he didn't say anything to them either. He didn't have one word for any of those people. He came straight to the point. Well, actually, it took about four days. But when he did, he came straight to the point with everyone he did speak to.

Just as Sue was reading this passage, I thought I've left one group of people out. I didn't see it until she read it. And that's in verse 16 where Thomas called Didymus said, let us go to Lazarus that we may die with him also, you know. And I call that the optimism. The optimists fill that group, don't they? I should say pessimists, the direct opposite. Again, there's no expectation. They believe in God. Didymus was one of the apostles, but all they could say, let's go and die with him, you know. And it's not very encouraging, is it? It's not what you want to hear. It's not something that you want somebody even to say. And Jesus didn't say anything to him either. Wow. So, far, Jesus hasn't said very much.

And then you get the disciples, those walking down the road with Jesus. Now, this is a bit more information with this. Don't forget that everywhere he went, he took them with him. Everything he did, they saw it happen. Everything he said, they heard it with their own ears and saw it spoken from his own lips. That's a fascinating privilege, isn't it? But the key to it was that they were with him. Are you with him, beloved? Is that your experience of Jesus? Not mourning or moaning, you're not a critic, you're not a sceptic, you're not a pessimist. You're not even spiritually optimistic, but non-producing. Instead, you're with him. There is a difference.

When you're with Jesus and you know Jesus is with you, there's an expectation in the air. It's atmospheric. You don't have to reach up there to him. You just speak to him. Like a man speaks to his friend. And the disciples were with him going along the road. Now, listen, they weren't perfect. That's not a perfect experience, is it? On a day-to-day basis, Jesus tested them really in verse 7 by saying, let's go into Judea again. If I just paraphrase that a little bit, they responded by saying, are you joking? They were going to stone you to death there. Or have you forgotten? You know, it's a little bit dangerous. Let's not go there. Again, is that faith speaking or is it fear?

You can be with Jesus and still be inhabited almost by a spirit of fear and apprehension. You know, you should be moving forward. You know, Jesus has said, come on, come with me. We're going to Judea. You're never still, it he. He said, there's 12 hours work in a day. I don't, I think I did once when I was on shifts, I did work 12 hours a day. But we didn't work all day. Let me assure you that you wouldn't, you wouldn't keep it up. But Jesus said, there's 12 hours in a day for work. And he was talking about spiritual work, gospel work.

Let's keep going. Let's carry on. We're going to Judea. Dangerous or not, that's where I'm going. You're coming with me. And all they could do was say, but it's dangerous. And we're a bit apprehensive. Do you do that sometimes? Even though you're with Jesus, it's still possible if from one moment to the next to go from faith in all its boldness and expectation to a level of apprehension and even fear that makes you stand still. And all you can do is shake yourself and say, this is not the real me. I'm with him. All right? They were with Jesus. That is crucially important. What did Jesus say about this subject later in the gospel? Chapter 15, still in John's gospel, verse 5, you know it, don't you? It's an easy one, this. Abide in me, for apart from me, you can do zero in your own strength. You can do all the right things, but they might not necessarily usher in the kingdom of God that you want to see. Abide in me, said Jesus. It's been with him and following him. And when he speaks, let's go into Judea or let's go into Leigh or let's go into Asda or Hurrigan House or wherever. You don't say, oh no, it's dangerous. You say, right, we're coming with you. Fellowship with God in the spirit, with Jesus. That's crucially important. Apart from that, you're not going to see the kingdom of God, you know.

And then we get these two ladies, I love them to pieces, two spiritual women, you know, Martha and Mary. I mean, I've heard some people take this passage on and they've got a little bit of critique for these two women, you know, they should have done this, they should have done that. And I thought, what are you talking about? The brother was sick, first of all, and they sent a message to the Lord. What would you do? Didn't do anything wrong, did they? You know, their first resort was the Lord. Most people, the first resort is their doctor. You'd be lucky if you see him. It's true, isn't it? Oh, there are no appointments. No, not for weeks, you know. And you think, well, what do I do now? But their first resort was to go to the Lord. They didn't do anything wrong. All the way through this passage, you can follow it from verse 19 onwards. They were just pouring their heart out to him. Every inch of the way, they knew they were going through a struggle. They knew they were going through a trial. They were in a desperate circumstance. First their brother was sick and then he was dead. And they buried him. And still they poured out their heart to the Lord. Verse 20, Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. Lazarus was already dead. How about that for faith? How about that for relationship? How about that for trust in the Lord that no matter what happens, he's going to bring some good from it? Stunning.

And then later, Mary was the one who, had anointed Jesus' feet. And in verse 32, it tells us she was back down there again. Verse 32, when she came to Jesus and she saw him, she fell at his feet, this time not to wash them with her hair and perfume, but to worship and to cry out to him. If you'd have been here, he would never have died in the presence of God. They just poured out the heart all the time I don't think they've put a foot wrong in fact I'm envious of them. You know whenever I look in the Bible and I look at so many spiritual women and I think what faith you know some beautiful prayers that look, sound when you read them as own angels just spoken you know uh and Martha and Mary are two of those women they're two of those women.

What would you do? What would you do? What do you do when it's going wrong, seriously wrong? They'd sent a message to Jesus and he didn't come, not straight away. And when things don't happen straight away, how do you respond? A lot of Christians, you know, they bottle up and go, oh, I must have been praying wrong. Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe I don't know enough. I'll go and get an expert. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe they go or get embraced by a spirit of fear, a spirit of apprehension themselves. Maybe they give up prayer. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. They didn't do that. They kept with the Lord. In fact, we'll have a bit of fun with this one because in my Bible, I'm reading the King James today, hallelujah, verse 18.

You know how far from Jerusalem Bethany was, the journey that Jesus had to make? It was 15 furlongs. How about some fun? Do you know what a furlong is? I can say yes, because I was under the imperial system and the metric one. You're only used to metric, aren't you? Most of you. Maybe all of you, right? Eight furlongs in a mile. Okay. How many chains in a furlong? No hands go up. 10. How many yards in a chain? No hands go up. 22. How many inches in a foot? Ahh. How many feet in a yard? Good, you're getting better. But chains and furlongs, what's that? If there's 15 furlongs, and that was the distance roughly between Jerusalem and Bethany, do you know how far that is? If there's 8 furlongs in a mile, it's just short of two miles. If you're still worried about that and you're still in metric and you don't even know what a mile is, how many kilometres to a mile? 1.6 is it? Yeah, thank you. So go on, you can do the next bit. If it's 2 miles, 3.2 kilometres. How long would it take you to walk that distance? 40 minutes? Think of somewhere that's only 3.2 kilometres away. 40 minutes, 45 minutes, just walking steadily. And Jesus took four days. And they sent a message to him, will you come? Our brother is sick. They poured their heart out to him from start to finish on that, and they had to wait.

Beloved, is anyone in the room waiting right now? Are you waiting? Are you confused? Do you think it's all going pear-shaped on you? You've done something wrong. Or maybe I'm a sinner. God won't listen to me. But if you go to him and you hold it with him by faith from start to finish, you've gone to the right place and the right person. Sometimes the answer comes lately rather than sooner. And in this passage, we're told why. Jesus told us why in verse 4, said this sickness isn't unto death. Now he did two things there because he also said this is for the glory of God. This is so that God will be glorified. He could have healed him from way back in Jerusalem without going to Bethany. He'd done that before, hadn't he? The centurions servant. He could have done that. But he waited and there are two things there in verse 4.

First he put the seal upon that man's sickness. Okay, that's a seal. When he spoke, sometimes the Lord will give you a seal. It's just a word of knowledge or a word of faith. And you know in advance before you get into a situation, as you're praying. But remember, speak it out, own it, test it, take it to the Lord. And if the Lord's speaking through you, you speak over that situation, no matter what's happening, and you put a seal on that. It's a bit like in the Old Testament, remember the story of Elijah and the dead boy, and he was caught up by the widow, the boy's mother, and he said, what's wrong? And when she told him, he gave his staff to his servant, he said, run and put my staff on that dead boy, because that was the symbol of his authority. And it came as a seal on the dead boy while Elijah was still on the way there.

Now your seal is the name of Jesus. You don't need a staff. You own his name. You've got the seal. It's the word of God. You pronounce that over the situation, the person. You do that in advance. And especially if it comes to you that the greater purpose than the obvious one is for the glory of God. It would have glorified God if Jesus had healed him straight away. But when he let him die and let him be buried, and then came four days later, how much greater glory to God when he spoke the word and the dead man came out. Those people standing there must have been jaw-dropped. They've never seen anything like it. And we know that they did glorify God.

So that's Martha and Mary, they had to wait a little bit. And while you're waiting, you might start panicking or doubting or become fearful. But it might be the wait, the delay might be for the greater glory of God. And it's usually only afterwards that we can actually see what God has really done, all the things he's wraught, because you prayed with faith, because you trusted God. And it was more than you imagined, and it was more than you asked for in the first place. Sounds a bit like the Bible now, doesn't it?

But then there are other groups of people represented here. What about the dead man? He was absolutely powerless. Absolutely powerless to do anything for himself. Absolutely powerless to deliver himself from sickness or death. Absolutely powerless to come out of the grave. He was dead. Just like all those who are dead in the sins out there. They are powerless in their own strength to be delivered or saved. The word of God has to come to them. And that has to be a living word, not just a written one or a spoken one, a living word that says, come out, come to Christ, come right now, come all the way. In a manner of speaking, I mean, this is the gospel in picture format, really, in this passage. In a manner of speaking, Lazarus was born again. He lived, he died, he was born again. It's not like the resurrection at the end, he died again. At the last day when you're raised to life in Christ, you shall never die again. All right? Completely different.

Can you see God's purpose in this now? There's no one so far from God, no situation so impossible that he cannot save them or reach them or deal with it. And Lazarus is the proof it was then, it is now. And that's Lazarus. That's all we can say about him. He had no power of his own. like all those who are dead in their sins, they must be saved and only Christ can save. All right.

And then we come to Jesus, last of all. Well, let's take a good look at him. We've already focused on something that he said when he put the seal, God's word on this situation. But then in verse 39, before he said, Lazarus, come out, he said this, Take away the stone. You see there was a seal over the grave, not the one he put on it. Man had put another type of seal on it. was a big boulder. And it was a big thing, a solid thing, and it was sealed against the cave. But he didn't take that away himself. He gave that work to the people standing round. Anything that's in the way, anything that's a roadblock, anything that prevents the grace of God working its way through, take it away. And that's a work the church can do. That's a work God's given you to do. He stood there, he could have done it himself, but he said, roll away to stone. And nothing happened until they did.

Look at all the roadblocks and obstacles in people's lives. Maybe there's some in your own. They have to get removed. Anything in your life to start with, never mind anyone else's, it happens with Christians, doesn't it? Things that they hang on to, the baggage they carry over. You know, in ancient Egypt, when the people of God were delivered and they took all their victuals with them, it's a lovely word, isn't it? They came out of bondage in Egypt and had all the stuff with them. And it's a bit like coming out of bondage to sin into Christ. They got lots of baggage. And they took that into the wilderness and it troubled them a long time, didn't it? And some Christians are like that. They come over into the faith with a lot of baggage. But the word of God to them is, take that stone away. It's a roadblock. Anything in your life that prevents the grace of God or the outworking of his love for you, it's time to own your belovedness. We just sang it, didn't we? And how do you own it? Get that stuff out the way.

And what about people who are not in Christ? All your loved ones, your colleagues, your friends, your neighbours, anyone you've been praying for maybe for years? One person we prayed for for over 20 years, and I was just praying through, it was a routine. I knew I should, but I don't know, in a funny sort of way, humanly I'd ceased to believe God. But then that person came through. And I was astonished. But you see, I didn't realize, spiritually, there's probably a lot of stuff in the way. And all those years when we were praying, it was like peeling an onion. Another piece came off, you know, and God kept working gently but thoroughly and bringing a person to a place where they could hear him. Couldn't hear him before, couldn't see him. They were blind, they were deaf, they were dumb. That man who opens the eyes of the blind does do that. He still does that. And he does it when you pray.

Sometimes that takes a long time and sometimes it's, ask the Lord if there's someone you're praying for, some situation you're praying into and say, is there a blockage? Is there something in the way like this stone? Show me, tell me what it is. And the Lord will give you a word of knowledge. They might give it you through some other Christian. But then it's for you to pray with authority, roll that stone away, get that roadblock gone. Okay, now that's the work Jesus gives you to do. And then he did his bit. Lazarus come out, be born again. Only God can do that. I can't save anyone. That's what he does.

Okay, but look at the next bit. It's something that you do as well. When that man came out from the grave, he must have been like that. You know, like someone all wrapped up. He was wrapped up round his head. All wrapped up. You contrast that with Jesus when he came out of the tomb. They went in the tomb and they found all the grave clothes carefully and neatly laid, didn't they? didn't come out wrapped up. But he's no ordinary man. He's God's man. Lazarus came out all wrapped up. And you know when people are born again, they come out all wrapped up. And it takes a while. It takes some loving fellowship and some prayer and some gospel ministry to unwrap them. And guess who does that?

Jesus said in verse 44, untie him, loose him, let him go. That's your job. That's your privilege. That's when you pray for each other. That's what love does. It just unwraps people and brings out the best in them. And then people start to blossom and discover they've got a part to play in all this, something they've never seen. God has actually welcomed me into his kingdom and I can do this or that. And then they get the freedom to move forward and all the wrapping starts to come off. And then you start to say, hey, what a Christian. And who knows what can come of that. But beloved, it's for us to do the unwrapping. Jesus says, come out and you unwrap. And again, sometimes we've got wrappings of our own. Sometimes it's a feeling, you know, have you ever felt that as a Christian? You think, well, it's all off, I know they're all off around my head because I can see clearly. I know all that stuff and but it's like I've still got some cobwebs around my wrists or something like that. It's like there's still some of the past clinging on. Isn't it a nuisance? The sin that so easily entangles and stuff like that sounds a bit like the Bible again. And you know, sometimes we have to go to the Lord and ask, do I need still to be unwrapped a little bit to make me more effective in this work you've given us to do to unwrap other people?

Well the Lord's still unwrapping. He's still speaking to people. He's putting a seal on the people he speaks to. And it's still the business of God's people to roll every obstacle out of the way and to start unwrapping and to continue in it faithfully, even if Jesus doesn't turn up when you first speak. Remember this, it's quite likely that his purpose is a greater one than you could see at first, for the greater glory of God.

All right, I'm just going to pray a blanket prayer. I believe God has ministered to people. I believe he's going to carry on this morning. We'll reach a close of this part of the service, but the church is still open. We're still in that place where the Lord has put us and he's done that with a purpose too.

Father, stretch out your hand. If there's any unwrapping to be done, Lord, let it commence. Let it continue. People visited by thoughts or things or anything of the past that still clings to them. Lord, in Jesus' name, we would strip it away, prayerfully, lovingly. And Lord, in Jesus' name, powerfully. Lord, release your people into ministry, all your people, so that we are a real priesthood of all believers. Release us, Lord, unwrap. Just do that unwrapping as we put it to you, Lord. You're the power, you're the glory. Lord, every obstacle that's in your way, we just pray that you show us what those are, that they might be dealt with, that we might deal with them, that we might just remove everything that stands in the way, that causes fear or doubt or unbelief or confusion. Lord, you're not a God of confusion. You're a God of order and a God of peace. And we proclaim that peace. We proclaim that order amongst us. And we pray, Lord, that we would even smell the perfume of Jesus, fill this place. Lord, just hear us as we pray and as people move in to the grace of God and own afresh all their belovedness. For there is no condemnation now, not for those who are in Christ Jesus. Write it on our hearts, Lord, in Jesus' precious name. Amen.