Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Resurrection and the Life | Ep. 282 | Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

Even in the face of death, Martha and Mary believed that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Seeing the grief, sadness and pain experienced by His dear friends in this world caused both anger and tears to well up in Jesus. He approached the tomb, had the stone rolled away from the entrance and proved He is who He says He is by raising Lazarus back to life! For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to the Daily Drive. I'm Mike Bro, and we are currently spending a few minutes each day walking through the Gospel of John. Now, gospel again, means the good news about Jesus, and John was an eyewitness who wrote down these things so that we might believe in him. We left off yesterday in Chapter 11 where we find Jesus going to a town outside of Jerusalem called Bethany. Some of his closest friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live there, and he goes because his buddy Lazarus has passed away. A family and friends are all torn up about it and a whole bunch of people that gather to grieve, and Jesus goes to see them.

But he goes not on their expected timetable. After he gets the news that his friend was really, really sick, he waits a few days before making the journey, and when he gets there, Lazarus has been dead and in the tomb for four days. One of the sisters, Martha, comes out on the road to meet him and expresses their disappointment in him not being around. We left off with those amazing words that he gives her in John 11, verse 25, when he says, I am the resurrection and the life.

Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who believes in me and lives in me will never, ever die. Next to John 316, those might be the most famous words from Jesus. They're used a lot at funerals. I've used them almost every single time. There are words of truth and hope. And Jesus gives these words to Martha personally. And then he gently asked her, do you believe this?

Well, Martha tells him, yes. Yes, I believe. I've always believed that you're the Messiah, the promised Savior, the son of God, yes, I believe in you. And then she goes back to the house to get her sister, and she says to the people there, excuse me, I need to speak with my sister, pulls her aside, and she says the teacher is here. He wants to see you. Now, Jesus has stayed outside the village where Martha confronted him and Mary the feeler. She rushes out of the house to go meet with him, and all the people assume she's distraught

and headed to the grave to mourn so they all follow. When she sees Jesus, she's not as confrontational as her sister. But in her desperate grief, she falls at his feet and says the same if only thing. She says, Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. Did you know that God hates death? He looks at death and just hates it. To witness our heartbreak to enter into our grief, our sorrow, not only does it break his heart, but check this out, verse 33.

When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. I don't know, but maybe Jesus was thinking it shouldn't be like this. The condition of this world made the way it is by mankind and free will rebellion, all the evil, all the dysfunctioned disease, brokeness, heartbreak, grief, pain, sadness, all that stirs anger in our creator. After a moment, Jesus asked them, Where's the grave?

Where'd you put, Lazarus? I said, we'll show you, come on. Then in the shortest, but one of the most power-pack passages in the entire Bible, John records this, John 1135, then Jesus wept. Man, I love the power. In these short phrases that John uses, that just paints an accurate picture of God, like back in Chapter A with the woman accused of adultery that gets thrown down the dirt in front of Jesus, John writes, but Jesus stooped down.

Just four words. to describe how God is, what God does, and hear just three words, then Jesus wept. He loses it. Did you know when we weep, he weeps? Scripture tells us that he collects our tears in his bottle. He cares deeply. The people standing around see Jesus break down, they say, man, look, he sure did love Lazarus, didn't he? I knew they were close, but Jesus is really, really emotional about this.

But it also says that other people began to whisper and grumble. well, yeah, but he healed an anonymous blind man not long ago. If he really cared about his friend, he would have kept his good friend Lazarus from dying. Verse 38, Jesus was still angry. I think he's wiping his tear, he's still mad at death, disease, and heartbreak, as he arrives at the tomb, a cave cut in a rocky hillside, with a stone rolled across its entrance. Jesus tells them, roll the stone aside.

But Martha, not Mary, the bold one Martha, she says, Lord, he's been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible. Or in the old King James version that says, but Lord, by this time he stinketh. If you've ever served in middle school summer camp, you know what she was talking about. After four days, ooh, they stinketh, right? Verse 40, Jesus responds, didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe? So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father, thank you. for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me. And then Jesus shouted,

Lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out. His hands and feet bound in grave clothes. His face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, unwrap him, and let him go. I am the resurrection and the life. You know, I hate death too. I hate what it does to families, I hate what does the friends, loved ones. I hate death. But man, I love Jesus. And I believe his words here are true. That not only does he hate it, not only does he weep with us when it happens, he's the resurrection in the life. And even though Lazarus was raised from the dead and his family and friends got to be with him once again, he would eventually die again. But he would die with the assurance of hope and life. Because through his own resurrection, Jesus would conquer death.

Jesus would kick the end out of the tomb and he'd make it a tunnel from life to life for everyone who believes these words. It says in verse 45, many of the people who were there with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. I mean, I can't even imagine being in that crowd. Then it says this, but some went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done. Uh-oh. Heal on a blind man was spit in mud, a man who had been an invalid for 38 years and both done on the Sabbath, feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five biscuits, water in the wine, casting out demons, the Samaritans and other notorious sinners are included, the lame walk the deaf here and now dead people live, this was way too much. Something

must be done with this guy. And you know what they were right? Something must be done to somebody that great, like maybe fall down and worship. Man, I hope you're in all of the power, the goodness, and the love of Jesus today. He really is the resurrection and the life. See you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturday

at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com.com. Church slash daily drive.