← ArchiveSunday, April 7, 2019DateApril 7, 2019Speaker—TextJohn 11Passages in this sermonJohn 112:58John 11:14:05John 11:34:35John 1010:11Ephesians 224:55TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00There exists a love far greater than we will ever understand.0:23A love prophesied for ages. Then, to disrupt the rain, the dark.0:48One, to challenge the skeptics. A love back quenches our thirst. Seeks after the sick.1:12That meant the broken. A love that came to our rescue. Despite our betrayal and our denial, we bowed the way of our sin. Faced with death. By being nailed to the cross.1:46And while darkness appears victorious, this love, he learns from the grave.2:07Well, how's everyone doing? This size of weight. Thank you, guys. I appreciate you. Let me remind you, if you feel like you should be getting baptized, and you have not, we will have a baptism workshop next Sunday at 9 o'clock here. So join us at that point, and we can give you information. Or most of you have my number or my email. It's in the bulletin. We would love for you to be a part cross India. We cannot tell you how proud that we are that God is working in your life and will use you to reach the nations for the gospel. And why not us?2:37Why not you? Why not you too? My name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here. I haven't had the chance to introduce myself yet. Today, we begin our journey to Easter. It's really two weeks away at this point. And we are starting today a new Easter sermon series called The Unbelievable Story of Our Rescue. So if you have the Word of God with you today, join me in John 11, verse 38. John chapter 11. I believe the words will also be on the screen.3:06And in John 11, what we have is the longest narrative of Christ's life other than Easter in the book of John. So what's John telling us? This is vitally important to understanding who Jesus is. This is actually the seventh sign that John gives us specifically to say, hey, Jesus is God. And if you believe that Jesus is God, he deserves more than Sunday. He deserves more than Christmas.3:36He deserves more than just one day on Easter. He deserves our lives. If Jesus is, if Jesus can do the things that we read in this book, and you believe that this is true, he deserves our everything. So John paints this beautiful picture and says, look, Jesus raised you and he raises Lazarus to new life. So let me catch us up really quick and then we'll read the scriptures beginning in verse 38. So in John chapter 11, verse 1, Jesus' friend Lazarus is sick.4:05Lazarus is a modern take on the old word Eleazar, which means God is my help. Now that's going to come back into play later. And two miles away in Bethany, his friends send Jesus' word that, hey, Jesus, your friend is sick. And Jesus hears this news and he tells those that are listening, Lazarus is sick, but he will not die. That's in John chapter 11, verse 3 and 4.4:35Guess what? Lazarus dies. He's not resting. And Jesus says, okay, he's not dead, but he's sleeping. And the disciples say, well, Jesus, if he's sleeping, then why do we need to go there? Because he will get better. And Jesus ultimately says that God may be given glory. This is going to take place. So this is where we pick up in verse 38. Lazarus was sick, then he was really sick, then he dies, but Jesus says he's not going to die.5:02And Jesus tarries for four days. Amen. And this is all two miles away. Not a long journey. And in verse 38, Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, remove the stone. And I love Martha.5:32Practical. Martha, the dead man's sister, again, he is dead. He's not sick. He's dead. And told him, Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days. And Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his hands and his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you heard me.6:00I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here, I said this, so that they may believe you sent me. You can circle that. After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth.6:27And Jesus said to them, unwrap him and let him go. Let's pray. Father, truly, your word is living and it is active. Truly, you are who you say you are. You are the one that can speak into the dark recesses of our dead hearts. And you can tell us to come out and be alive again.6:55Although we desire to understand you because we have read your word. So we ask through your Holy Spirit that you would open up our minds to know you. You would open up our hearts to love you like never before. And you would open up our hands to serve you and make a difference in this world. Lord, we are no different than Lazarus. We who are dead in our sins desire new life. We pray this in Jesus' name.7:24Amen. Wow. Lazarus, come forward. So let's look at the tomb really quick. And the sermon title this morning is The Unbelievable Story of God's Rescue. But today, rescued for new life. Rescued for abundant life. And we begin in verse 38. Jesus moved deeply, came to the tomb. Came to the tomb.7:53What a beautiful picture of the gospel. That Jesus, seeing someone who is dead, didn't say, good luck. We'll see you in heaven. Jesus, seeing someone dead, went to the person, went to the tomb, and gives new life. That's the gospel. That's the good news. You see, this is what the scripture tells us. That the tomb was sealed with the stone. Now think about this. Who is the one doing the resurrection? If you don't know the answer, just say Jesus.8:26That's always a good church answer. And there's a rock that is in the same diameter and the same size needed to put into this hollow rock face. And I would imagine that this tomb is very much similar to the one who Jesus is going to be buried in very soon after this. And we don't know why Jesus is moved. But can you imagine the emotions going through the Messiah when he goes and he realizes, one day I'm going to be in this tomb so that others might have life.8:56And Jesus goes into the tomb. And he says what? Don't stay there. Get up. I've given you new life. This is God's desire for you. This is God's desire for me. God does not want you to stay dead in your sins. That's not his desire. God wants you to have new life, abundant life. And let me just say this. If you are professing Christ as Lord and Savior,9:25and you're not living as if you have abundant life, I don't know if you understand fully who the Messiah is. Because I know this about Lazarus. He didn't stay the same. He didn't. And so how can we look at Jesus and say, Jesus, you saved me, but I'm going to stay in the tomb. How foolish of that. How foolish would it have been for Lazarus to argue and say, Jesus, I like this dark place. I was resting well.9:55God's desire for your life is that you would have abundant life. That you would not stay in your sins. That you would not stay dead in a spiritual state. But you would have new life, abundant life in him. Jesus says so in verse 10 of John 10. I have come that you might have life, and life more full, more abundant. Are you living that truth out today in your life? Are you living in the abundance of the new life that Jesus has given you?10:23That's his desire. And you know, I think too often in church world, we make the mistake of thinking that abundant life is found after the grave. We sometimes communicate the gospel this way. Well, if you just trust Jesus, one day you'll go to heaven. And that's true. Right? That is true. But listen, if Jesus wasn't in heaven, if God wasn't in heaven, heaven wouldn't be heaven.10:51We need to communicate that, hey, the gospel is that you can be with God. Face to face. A holy God. A righteous God. Abundant life does not begin when you die. Abundant life begins when Jesus died for you. And there's a great chasm between how we communicate the gospel and what the gospel is. When did new life begin for Lazarus? The moment Jesus said, Lazarus, come out.11:20And that is Jesus' desire for us. Josh, wake up. You have new life. You have abundant life. Don't wait. This is a story of your rescue. Don't stay in the tomb. Wow. What good news. What good news is that? But that's not the only story. Look at what happens. Jesus says, verse 39. Remove the stone.11:51Now, obviously, if Jesus is going to heal Lazarus, he's not going to let him stay where he is. Jesus is not going to heal Lazarus and leave him there. And Martha, I love Martha. She's practical. I'm a practical person. I was always the person in the school that if I didn't know why I would use it, I would shut down. I was a person that would always ask, well, why? I know you say I'm going to use math for the rest of my life, but why? If you can tell me why it's practical, I'll learn it.12:20And Martha, the very practical person, says, Jesus, I know who you are. I believe you have power to do everything, but do you not understand that this guy's been dead for four days? And the old King James, if some of you have the King James right now, it says this, Jesus, he stinketh. This is the point where the King James nails it. And Martha says, Lord, I believe in you, but man, Jesus, do you know what's going to happen?12:47And Jesus says this in verse 41. In verse 40, Jesus said to her, Martha, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? Here's an important point. Martha believes at the resurrection that she will see her brother again because of the power of Jesus Christ.13:13But what Martha has in this moment is a cursory knowledge of God, a cursory knowledge of Jesus. But Jesus is asking her to go deeper. He's basically saying, Martha, I know you grew up in church. I know you believe that Lazarus is in heaven, but do you not believe that I have power right now to do anything that God gives me? Really, Jesus is asking, Martha, do you trust me fully?13:42And that's the gospel. The gospel is, do you trust Christ fully today in your life? The greatest indicator of a saving grace in me is a sustaining grace today. And so Christ is asking her, go beyond a basic knowledge. Trust Jesus. Trust him as a child. Trust him with faith that saves.14:11Trust him with faith that transforms. Trust him with faith of a childlike hope and expectancy. Do you trust Jesus that much today? Do you trust Jesus that he can do anything that he so desires in your life? That's the hope that we need. We don't need to say, God, I'll trust you with the things that are convenient. But Lord, I will trust you with my life, even if it costs me my life. Jesus, I will trust you.14:42John Calvin says this about faith. Faith prepares the way for the power, for mercy and goodness of God, that they might be displayed towards us. Listen, without faith, we can't be saved. For it is by faith that we are saved. It is by faith that we are saved. Do you have true faith in Jesus Christ? Of course I grew up in church. That's not what Jesus asked, is it? Do you have faith to stand up like Cross and India did today and say,15:13you know what? I will be crucified with Christ and I want to be raised in new life. I have that faith in Jesus Christ. That is the unbelievable story of new life. This faith in us. And after all this, Jesus walks to the tomb. He knows that Lazarus stinketh. And in verse 43, Jesus says what? Lazarus, Lazarus, hey, if you're awake, this is Jesus.15:43Wake up. That's not what Jesus does, is it? What happens in verse 43? With a shout, Jesus said, hey, guys, watch this. Lazarus, come out. Now, I'm wondering, why does Jesus shout? The guy in me just says, probably because Lazarus is not the first or the last man in history to have selective hearing.16:12Right? Lazarus, I know you can hear me. But I think it is more for the people. The prayer is for the people that they might what? That they might believe. That they might hear. And is it not interesting that Jesus resurrects Lazarus, not by a touch, but by what? By word. By shout.16:41By shout. And what does scripture say? In us, that faith comes from what is heard and hearing from the word of God. Let me just say this right now. I don't know where you are spiritually, but the Bible is God's shout to you right now. That he loves you. That he sent his son to take your place. Don't stay dead in your sins. If you need a message, Jesus is shouting, guys, I have given you new life if you trust me.17:06Do you trust him? Do you trust him? The Bible says this. Listen to what he calls Lazarus in verse 43. It's easy to miss this. He does not say, Lazarus, he does not say, hey, hey, you, hey, guy, hey, friends, hey, bud. What does Jesus call this man?17:35He says, Lazarus. He calls him by name. And what does John 10 say? John 10 says that Jesus knows the name of his sheep and his sheep know his voice. Is it not comforting to know that you are not a number to God? That if you know Jesus Christ, he knows your name. And so much so that Revelation says that you have a name that only Jesus and you know.18:00That one day if you are in Christ and when you see him face to face, he's going to call you by a name and you're going to say, hey, that's me. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus called my name. He knows me. He loves me. He cares for me. You are not a number to God. You are a name. He gives you a new identity as Dan already prayed and shared with us.18:29This is a resurrection. This is the new life. John Calvin, once again, comments this way. In raising Lazarus, Jesus exhibited a visible token of his spiritual grace, which we, listen to this, which we experience every day by the perception of faith when he shows that his voice gives life. You want God to speak to you, open up his words and the spirit, which inspired his word.19:00If you are in Christ, it's the same spirit, which will illuminate your ears in your mind to receive the word of God, to correct you, to encourage you, to train you in all righteousness. Man, what a glorious thought that Jesus knows my name and that he will look into the grave and he will say, Josh, come forward and you're not going to stink anymore.19:26I'm going to make you new. I'm going to restore you. I'm going to give you abundant life and I want you to live differently. And just like that, verse 44, what happens? The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and face wrapped in cloth. And again, the same linen, the same sweat rag that Jesus would have been wrapped in himself.19:54Identical clothes. Now, can you imagine Lazarus trying to come out? How long did it take for him to come out of the grave? One commentator says this, that even if he were alive, he would not have been able to walk in those burial shrouds. So here's Lazarus, right? Lazarus, come out. Here he goes. Lazarus, keep going. Don't give up. And the people are just waiting.20:25And I love what Jesus does. Jesus almost turns and looks at them and says, what are y'all doing? Church, wake up. Unwrap the guy. You help. Do something. Quit sitting in the pews. Quit sitting in the dirt. This is what exactly Jesus says. He says, unwrap him and let him go. What is Jesus saying? He's saying, people, you have witnessed something and I want you to be a part of this witness.20:52You don't sit idly by when you see Jesus transform and give someone life. You do something about it. You help them. You unwrap them. You encourage them. I looked across in India this morning and said, I want you to look me in the eyes. I will be praying for you. I will be encouraging you because I just saw Jesus take someone who is dead and make you alive. And it's our job, church, to unwrap them and tell other people about this. We are the witnesses.21:23If you are in Christ, be a witness. Go to all nations. We have a hand in the power of Christ working out for the world to see. Christ intended to employ the hands of the spectators as witnesses. Church, how's your witness? How's your witness? So where do we go from here? Look at verse 45 really quick.21:53You're thinking, man, this is awesome. I want this power. I want abundant life. And how could anyone not believe? Verse 45, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him. But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. And from that moment in verse 12, chapter 12, verse 9, we see that people plotted. To kill Jesus, but also Lazarus.22:22Why would they do that? Well, because Lazarus was a living testament to the power of Christ working in his life. Every time someone saw Lazarus, they said, this guy was dead and now he's not. So we're going to kill him again. If I'm Lazarus, I'm like, go ahead. It happened to me once. And God will raise me again. That's what the world needs to see. They need to see people who stunk, who now have new life.22:49And believe me, in our sins, we were dead and we stunketh. None of us didn't, none of us smelled good before Christ. Some of us don't smell good now. And yet Christ can redeem us and he can make us new and he can restore us. So we need to get off our high horses and we need to be a living testament to who God is. I wish that others would see me and say, you know what? The only way to stop him from testifying about God is to kill him.23:19And we can't kill him because he believes so much in the power of Christ that Christ might raise him up again. And then the testimony is twice as strong. So what are we going to do? Well, maybe we should believe. Are you living that testimony? Maybe you're here and you say, I don't believe it. I just can't believe it's true. I believe. I stand. I will give my life to believe that Jesus took my place. I would stand on the truth of Christ that says, Jesus came and took my place, that he called me out of the tomb and that he desires that you and I have abundant life.23:50And the reality we see in the scripture is this. There is no middle grounds. You either believe or you want to kill Jesus. You want to kill Lazarus. There's no half way. There's no, well, if I just live good enough, then God will accept me. It's either we take Jesus as who he is, the Messiah who lived a perfect life, who died on the cross for our sins.24:20And that three days later, he rose again, just as he raised Lazarus. And that if we believe he will take us through, we're dead in our sins and make us alive again. Or the other option to say, I don't believe. And I'm willing to do it on my own. I just simply want to ask, do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus can do what he says he can do?24:50Maybe you're here right now and you finally for the first time realizes, Ephesians 2 says, that you're dead in your sins and your trespasses. That you're walking according to the ways of the world, according to the prince, the power of the air, the Satan, according to the spirit that lives within the sons of disobedience of whom I once was. And blessed be the God and father of my Lord Jesus Christ, that Jesus one day looked into the tomb of my dark heart and said, Josh, come out.25:15And then I said, if Jesus was calling my name, I would be a fool to stay in the tomb. That same life can be yours if you will turn from yourself and trust him fully. Church, God desires for you to have abundant life and life more full.25:41Live out the life in the Messiah. Let's pray.More sermons on John →
