The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 6: Lazarus

Episode Date: May 14, 2023

You don’t have to do the things you used to do because you are not the person that you used to be. The old you is dead. The new you is alive in Christ.

Amen. And amen. Church, I am here to tell you this, that it ain't over until Jesus says it's over. You hear me? It ain't over until Jesus says it's over. Some of you think your marriage is over. But it ain't over until Jesus says it's over. Some of you have gotten a diagnosis from the doctor, and you think that's it. Listen, though we love all the doctors around here, they don't get the last word, Jesus gets the last word. That it ain't over until Jesus says it's over. And if you got your Bible, go to John Chapter 11, and we're going to see this played out. an actual event that happened a couple thousand years ago. As you turned there, I would once again, I know a bunch of people have said it, but I want to say it, happy Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day. Now, if that came as a shock to you, then you should probably get on Amazon Prime same-day delivery and do something about it right now, all right? Make a reservation or something. And so, Mamas, we appreciate you, we love you, we couldn't do this without you. All right, Jesus is the head of the church, but praying mamas have been the backbone of the church since the empty tomb. Amen?

One more time, fellas. Amen? Amen. Amen? Yeah. And then I would also say this. If you are an adult female, also known as a woman, I know that's confusing for some people in our world, and you don't have kids, let me just tell you this, okay? Happy Mother's Day to you too, because this is a family. This is a faith family. And it takes more than a village. You don't want the village raising your kid these days. You have the village, idiot. It takes a church, amen? And if you go to Genesis chapter two, this is very important,

This is some theology of mamahood, okay? The Bible says that her name was given to her Eve because she was the mother of all living things. When she was given that name, she had no babies at that point. You understand? It was a role that she played, not just a biological reality. And so, two, every adult female here, we say, happy Mother's Day. And thank you, thank you, thank you.

On behalf of the Martins, there's a bunch of single adult females that are in this church that have helped us raise our kids. And so to everybody, all of you, we say, happy Mother's Day. Amen. Good. John chapter 11. Spoiler alert. Lazarus is going to make it out of the tomb, all right? 111 says this. Now, a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany. The village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with the ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. Now, that hasn't happened yet. That doesn't happen until the next chapter, chapter 12. For us, it's going to happen next weekend. Don't miss next weekend. because next weekend we're going to show us how you rightly respond to the grace of God.

And what they're going to do in John chapter 12 is they're going to throw a party, which is what the church ought to be. And next week we're going to throw a party because God has graced us. So whatever you do, don't miss this. But John is writing this probably in about 90 AD, so 60 years after these events have happened. And he is looking back through the resurrection, through the empty tomb, through the cross, and he already knows, in retrospect, the things that are going to happen. And a part of the reason I think he mentions this is because he wants us to see and know how close the relationship was between Jesus, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

You see, she's going to anoint his feet. They have a very close relationship. Jesus would use their house in Bethany. He would use it as kind of like a rest stop when he would do ministry. And a part of the reason I think he went there is because, well, Martha could cook and Mary could listen. It's what every dude is looking for, by the way. And fellas, if you find that in one human, get on. on a knee and ask her to marry you, all right?

So they are very, very, very close. They're very, very good friends. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. And so the sisters sent to Jesus. You see, they're thinking, okay, Lazarus is sick, but we know Jesus. He has a refrigerator rights at our house. He comes over all the time.

He knows the garage code. surely he will help us out. And so the sisters sent to Jesus saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. Now, I don't know if John was offended by this because he's like, whoa, whoa, I'm the one he loves, but he didn't bring it up. I imagine Martha's the one that puts the note together.

Martha's driven type A. She's kind of, she's a ball. She gets stuff done. Anybody know somebody like that? And so I'm sure she's like, hey, come here, because you can't send a text, can't send an email, can't like send a DM. So she's like, hey,

Listen, I need you to send this note. Tell Jesus that Lazarus is sick. Then she goes, no, no, no, no, no. Tell Jesus the one that he loves is, yeah, yeah, put that. The one that you love is sick. Which means there's two things that are simultaneously true right now. That Jesus loves Lazarus. That's a fact.

And Lazarus is sick. Also a fact. You see, oftentimes we begin to. to think that if God loves you, then he won't let you go through pain. That is not true. That God loves you and your circumstances could seemingly be completely out of control, but they're not in control because he's still got the whole world in his hands. And so what do you do when you are in a time of pain?

I ask you this all the time. Is prayer for you a first response or a last resort? Because the first thing that she does is, I've got to take this to Jesus. That's what she does. Is that the first thing that you do? What's the first thing that you do every day when you wake up? Don't say it out loud to you embarrass yourself in church. I know what you do.

Probably the first thing that you do is grab this thing to see what the rest of the world thinks about you instead of getting on your knees and praying to him who tells you who you really are. Here's what I want you to start doing every single one of us. I want to take your phone tonight and I want you to throw it deep up under your bed. So tomorrow morning when you get up,

you've got to get down on your knees to go get it. And while you're there, you can pray to the God that can do something about it instead of scrolling through all the crap that's ruin our lives anyway. I'm going to start making the 1122 charger that fits neatly under the bed. That's what I'm going to do.

Somebody write that down. We'll sell it. Hope's cause it. So what they do, the first thing that they do is they bring their need to Jesus. But when Jesus heard it, he said this illness does not lead to death. But it does.

It just doesn't end in death. It leads through death. And then it goes on to say, it is for the glory of God so that the son of God, may be glorified through it. You see, what Jesus wants us to know is that just because he loves us

and just because we love him, that he doesn't keep us out of the valley of the shadow of death. He says, but fear no evil. Not because there's not evil to be feared. He says, but fear no evil. As you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, why? Because he is with us.

His rod and his staff comforts us. And oftentimes, the miracle that we are looking for is on the other side of the pain that we're walking in right now. And the reality is, man, the deeper the pain, the greater the platform for the glory of God. Now, this is about the fifth week I've covered this, so if y'all hurry up learning, I'll quit talking about it. But people can't ask me, okay, so why do bad things happen, why I'm in this pain, there's at least five reasons. I've done this every week for the last four weeks. Why trouble, why suffering, why cancer, why?

Here's why. Sometimes it's a test from God. Just straight from God. Where do you give that? Genesis. Abraham is promised a son. And then the Bible says, God tells Abraham, I want you to take your son,

your only begotten son. I want you to take him up on the mountain and sacrifice him. And then it says, and God told Abraham this to test him. Last week, we did the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus asked Philip a question to test him. God does not mind putting you through tests. And listen, listen, sometimes people are going to say some stuff.

This is why you got to know your Bible, because people will, like, misquote Bible verses. They'll make up their own Bible verses. Anybody ever tell you this? God will never give you more than you can handle. You should punch them in the face. Like, you can handle that? Don't picture you on the face, okay? Just, theoretically speaking.

That's not what the Bible says, man. No, no, no. What they're talking about is the verse out of Corinthians. It was like, God will never allow you to be tempted where there's not a way out. But that's not what this, God can't get it. you more than your handle. The whole essence of the gospel is we can't handle it. The whole essence of the gospel is I need you to do for me what I cannot do for myself. The essence of the gospel is that we are not mistakeers that just need to do better and kind of tighten up our life a little

bit and then we will be made righteous. No, no, no. We need an alien righteousness, someone to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and God does not matter, does not mind allowing us to walk through some pain for the platform of his glory. Sometimes it's a test from him. Sometimes the reason when we walk through pain is your own sin. See, the woman called an adultery. Now, I know to the men we're doing shady stuff too, but in John chapter 8, Jesus looks at this woman and says, leave your life of sin.

Sometimes we're in pain because of our, it's our own fault. Sometimes it's other people sin. See, see Joseph in the book of Genesis. This isn't like Jesus' stepdad, this is Old Testament Joseph. I mean, he goes through, he's beaten up, there's domestic violence, there's human trafficking, he's lied about and he's forgotten in prison.

And none of those things were his fault. All of these things happened to him. And sometimes the pain that we walk through is because of other people's sins. Sometimes it's demonic attack. And here's what's crazy about this one. And God is even in charge of that. It has to at least sip through his hands.

The Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians. He says that he goes to God three times in praise that God would remove the thorn from his flesh. Now, I think when he prays three times, I don't think it's like one, two, three. Amen? No. I think there's like three seasons in his life of prayer and fasting, saying,

Lord, would you please remove this thorn from my flesh? And thank God he doesn't tell us what the thorn is, because if so, there'd be like a whole section in the Bible bookstore about what the thorn was. You know, we missed the whole point. And the Bible says that it was the demonic that tormented him so that he would not be filled with pride.

put that in your theological pipe and smoke it. God's handing out demons? Holy moly. Nobody's got a category for that. And yet, God knew that it was for his own good because God opposes the proud and gives favor to the humble. So sometimes it's demonic attack.

And then sometimes it's just the fallen world that we live in. See John chapter 9, the man born blind, see the invalid at the pool of Bethesda. But the reality is no matter which category you're in, Romans 828 is still true, that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. The things are not the subject of the Senate. God is the subject of the Senate. He ain't driving an ambulance.

He's not riding around cleaning up our messes. This is why Joseph in Genesis chapter 50 when he's standing before his brothers who beat him up and sold him into slavery and they think he's going to kill him because he's senior VP of Egypt at this point. He looks at them and he says this, am I not in the place that God would have me? And then he says, this is crazy. He says, what you intended for evil, God intended for good. He didn't say what you intended for evil, God used for good. No, no, no. God don't play second fiddle, man.

He is preeminent. That even the evil things that were intended against you, God intended those things for good. And the deeper the pain, the greater the platform. Now, verse 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And so, don't look at your Bible, look at me. If you didn't know the end of the story, and I know you do because you're all theological giants,

and I already told you how it's going to end, you would think, you would think the way our mind's work is this. Now Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus, so he threw some miracle dust from all wherever he was, and Lazarus came out of the grave, and revival broke out in Bethany. You would think that's what it would say, right? Or Jesus so loved these people that he showed up immediately, walking on water and levitating through the air and doing all the things they want them to do? Because isn't that how we think?

Like if you love me, then you'll do what I want you to do. Here's what the Bible says. Now Jesus love Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Wait, what? Apparently God's love and cooperation have nothing to do with one another.

That's it. apparently God's love for you and doing whatever you want him to do in prayer request have nothing to do with one another apparently God does not mind that we suffer temporary pain if it leads to a God glorifying in and let's just talk about it I mean you ever been there you ever notice the Lord's timing and our timing ain't the same is it just me you pray and you pray and you feel like you're not getting the answer well what we're going to see here is that just don't ever give up, because you might just be in the two-day waiting period. Because God is, he's never late.

He ain't never early either, is he? He's just on his own time. I mean, you pray for this? Like, you know, we show these marriage videos where people have dead marriages and the Lord breathes new life in their marriage, and that's what you've been praying. Come on, Laura, come on. I got this thing figured out.

Would you just, would you just grab onto my husband's heart and just bring him and you're praying? That's a legit prayer. Seems like one the Lord would answer, right? And right now, he ain't him here with you on Mother's Day. He's playing golf. And he ain't even that good, let's be honest. And he's a liar.

He don't even count all his strokes, all right? And you're like, Lord, that seems like one that you would be happy to answer. Or maybe it's healing, or maybe it's for your prodigal son or daughter to come home. Or maybe it's to have a baby. These seems like legit prayers, God, if you love me, come on, just say yes to this one. And then you show up a disciple group. And somebody's like, how's everybody's weak going? And somebody in your disciple group's like, it's just so, I'm just blessed.

I was going to the mall and I prayed for a parking spot. Got one right up front. And you're like, are you even being serious right now? You're giving out parking spots to Tammy and I can't get like a real prayer request answer here. Here's the thing, man. The Lord's never in a hurry. He's just never in a hurry.

I'm always in a hurry. I mean, I don't pray for patience. I pray you people would hurry up. That's what I pray for, okay? I'm mostly talking to my family, but that's a different sermon, all right? You ever think about this? why did God take six days to create everything?

He could have created it all in one word. He could have just said, everything, boom, there it all is. But he doesn't. He spaces it out. Six days. And the Bible says, with God, today it's like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. And there's this rhythm to it. And he takes all this time to do it.

He's never been in a hurry. Maybe it's because he lives outside of time and space. And so for two days, Jesus is just hanging out. Verse seven. Then after he said this, to his life. His disciples, let us go to Judea again. And the disciples said to him, rabbi, the Jews, this means like the religious leaders. Rabbi, the religious leaders were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?

Do you ever question the plans of God? 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 anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. Does that help anybody at all? I'm telling you, man. I believe that when he said this, the disciples, they were like, oh, that's so good. That's such a word.

They're tweeting it out, you know. Praise hands, praise it, it's fire, fire. Matthew leans over to Thomas, and Thomas is like, oh, rabbi is so deep. He's like, what does that mean? I have no idea. But the more confused I am, I feel like the deeper it is, right? So they don't understand what he's saying. All he's saying is while I'm here, we've got work to do.

That's what he's saying. And after saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. but I go to awaken him and the disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. He ever tried to explain to the creator of all things how the world works?

Don't act like you don't because you know you do. Be like, Lord, there's this thing called the stock market. I could really, if you can turn anything green this week, I'd appreciate you. God, I've been praying for my one more Tammy. She sits across from me and you're describing Tammy. He's like, I know. She's fearfully wonderfully made. I knit Tammy

together in her mother's womb. ahead, keep talking. I can't tell you the number of like prayer meetings I've been with leaders, church leaders, where we're seeking direction from God, and then we do all the talking, as if we need to inform God what's going on, as if he's up there like, now what is it you need again? Nah, man, you cannot simultaneously talk and listen. Maybe sometimes we should shut up and listen a little bit. So the disciples are explaining to Jesus how naps work.

Then verse 13, now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought, that he meant taking rest in sleep. By the way, I've got good news for you. If you have a hard time understanding the scriptures and there's some stuff that we say that kind of goes over your head, if you're a little slow on the uptake, man, I've got great news.

You can make a phenomenal disciple. Because these brothers understood virtually nothing that Jesus talked about, and he used them to turn the world upside down. And so Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. I love it. It's just bottom shelf.

And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there. Think about that. I love Lazarus. I let him die, and I'm glad I let him die. What? Why, Jesus? So that you may believe. But let us go to him.

Again, it's over their heads, but the reality is this, is that he'll break us or bless us, whatever it takes to draw us to him, and it's worth it. J.I. Pachor says, and still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and he sends both joy and sorrow to detainment. detach our hands from the things of this world that we might grab on to him.

And so Thomas called the twin, this is doubting Thomas. And so Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. I think Thomas gets such a bummer of a nickname. We call him doubting Thomas. I think he was surprised when he got to heaven. And we're like, what's up, doubting Thomas? What do you mean, I'm Thomas the brave? You're like, nope, you're doubting Thomas, all right?

His statement here is a pretty good definition of what being a disciple is. It starts with come and see, and over time, you get to come and die. That's what he's saying here. Verse 17. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days. Now, I think the reason he waits until he's in the tomb for four days is because there's this first century Jewish legend that the spirit would hover over your body for up to three days. And Jesus wants everybody to know that Lazarus is dead dead, not sort of dead, not kind of dead, not Princess Bride dead, but he's all. all the way doorknob dead dead.

And Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off. You know why this is in the Bible? Because Bethany was in Jerusalem about two miles off. Myths don't have these kind of details. This isn't a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. This is an actual event that happened in an actual place that you could go to Lazarus's house. It's a real thing.

And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. In the first century, you could actually hire people to come to your funeral and cry. Isn't that cool? If you didn't think you had enough people showing up to your funeral, you could just, you know, pay some people in a casserole or whatever, and they would just show up and get all dressed up. And it was time to cry. They'd go to the graveside and they'd cry with you in 40.

It's kind of a big deal. And, you know, different cultures, handle funerals different ways. The first funeral I ever did, it was crazy. I just graduated from seminary. and I got hired by the Southern Baptist Church just outside of Roanoke, Virginia. And it was a, I don't know, it was a few hundred people at the church. And there was only like four pastors on staff. Well, I got hired, and my first day was like Fourth of July weekend, and nobody was there.

And everybody else took like two weeks off. But when you're the youth pastor, you don't get to be going on the holidays. You're like the holiday preacher and you have to be around on the holidays. Well, my pastor, the guy that hired me, Dr. Bill Rawls, great guy. He had set up this deal in our county. if anybody in our county needed to do a funeral but didn't have a local church, then we volunteered to do it. And it was his way of doing evangelism and getting people connected. And so we just get this random phone call and be like, will y'all do the funeral?

And I'm the only guy. I'm like, sure. So I'm going to show up and do my very first funeral. Last Day of Seminary, they give you this little black book and it's like a little cheater book. And you can go to whatever the event is and all the things that you're supposed to say. You know, I'm talking about, don't you? All right. It's got weddings.

It's got baptisms. It's got, I mean, all kind of house blessings. So I just turned a funeral. I'm like, cool. I'll read this. And it was only going to be a grave side, so I didn't have to do the thing in the church, just get to the graveside. So I turned on the graveside page, I was like, I'll do it.

So I show up. And culturally, it's a little different there at the funeral, at the graveside, than how I grew up. And so I get there, and there's a bunch of people. And it's, like I said, it's July in Virginia. It's about 105 degrees. And they got little pudding green. You know how they roll out little pudding green? Everybody sits on it in the kind of wobbly chairs.

They got a little one-timp that it's not big enough. And everybody is dressed to the night. I mean, three-piece suits and flat, look like prom. And then Nana was there, and Nana had just hats like this big and gloves up to her biceps, you know, and was her husband who passed away. And he was a veteran, so they had a flag over the coffin. And so the guys from the VFW were going to do there to recognize him as a veteran. Super cool.

But this isn't the most polished honor guard I've ever met in my life, if you know what I mean. And so they show up. Apparently nobody there knew how to play the trumpet or the bugle or whatever. so they had taps on a boom box. Google Boombox, all right? And then somebody hadn't hit Rewin on the cassette tape. Also Google cassette tape. All right, y'all don't even know what rewind is.

Anyway. So it's like, and then it's still in the songs. They do it about three or four times. They're like, let it get to the beginning. So right, rewind it all the way to the beginning. They hit play taps via boombox and kind of a wobbly cassette tape comes out. And then they're about to do their, the three shot salute, right? So like, ready.

Hey, aim, fire, p, and it's not exactly one shot. Ready, aim, fire, and on the second shot, I mean, the second those guns went off, man. I don't know if the chair gave way or if Nana was too hot, but bro, she goes, boom, hits her back, and somebody screams out, oh, Lord, that unshot Nana, and it's over, man. I mean, they're screaming and crying and wailing, and this is my first, and I'm like, ashes to ashes. I don't know what to do. So anyway, all right. So in this culture, people would show up and they would just kind of wail over the grave.

And so that's what's going on here. Verse 20. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary remained seated in the house. What I want you to see here is I want you to see how Jesus meets each one of these unique individual women in very unique and individual ways. They got the same mama and daddy, but how many of you know the same parents can make vastly different children? Amen? You see, Martha's driven, man.

She gets stuff done. Back in Luke 10, we find out that she's cooking and cleaning and getting everything ready for Jesus. And Mary, who's like an introvert and quiet, sitting crisscross apple sauce at the feet of Jesus. And Mary is a worker. She goes to Jesus. She's like, would you tell my sister, help me with the chores? So they're very, very different human beings. So when Martha hears it, man, she goes running, verse 21.

And 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 from God, God will give you. So she's like, God, I believe, I believe, I believe. But where you been? Have you ever been there? God, I've got this thing figured out. Why didn't you just run my playing plan?

I'll give you the glory, I promise. When anybody asks, what happened to Lazarus? I'd be like, Jesus healed him, okay? So I've slid this to you in the form of a prayer request. Help me understand why you won't do what I'm asking you to do. I mean, because when I read my Bible, sometimes I'm like, Lord, you healed a lady in Copernian one time on accident. We're going to study that one in a few weeks. I mean, you're just walking around and you're like, who touched me?

I felt power go out for me. So if you're accidentally healing women that you didn't even mean to, how about give me one on purpose, the guy that you love, your friend lasts? And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Now, she's thinking like, she's going to go all theological. He means, like, in a minute. And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again. in the resurrection on the last day. Martha believes and has good doctrine,

and doctrine matters matters. So why we study the book all the time. You can't rightly love God without right thoughts about God. But she automatically goes like to the sweet by and by, and then Jesus says to this, he's going to redefine what resurrection is. She's just thinking in regards to theological categories. And Jesus says her, I am the resurrection in the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he asks this question, do you believe this? You see, he redefines what eternal life is. He's saying, listen, listen, heaven is not just a place that you go. Heaven is a place. Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. But what makes heaven heaven heaven?

It's not streets of gold and mansions and banqueting tables. What makes heaven heaven heaven is a person in his name is Jesus. He is the resurrection. He is the life. The Bible in Colossian says that Jesus, Jesus is the firstborn from among the dead. That doesn't mean firstborn like we think of firstborn. The Greek word for firstborn there is prototoko.

It's where we get the word prototype. He is the prototype from among the dead. Here's what this means. If you're a manufacturer and you want to make a new product, then what you do is you put out a prototype. And you test that thing and test that thing and test that thing. In fact, this past year I got invited to go to the factory of Matthews Archery, the guy that makes bows.

Matt McPherson makes them. It's pretty awesome. And also Matt McPherson loves the Lord like crazy. He started a whole line called Mission Line, and he gives a big chunks of money to, like, support missionaries and missions and that kind of stuff, which is why I told Gretchen, every time I buy a new boat, baby,

I'm just sowing into the kingdom of heaven. You understand? That's basically tithing. And so, and while I was there, I got to see the upcoming prototype. And what they do is so they build out this bow and they test it. And when it works, when it pass all the tests,

then they move from prototype to mass production. Jesus is the prototype from the dead, the first born from among the dead. This means that God the Father sent God the Son, he dressed himself in humanity, he was obedient, he accomplished every prophecy and promise in the old covenant, he was tempted in every way that we are tempted, yet he never sinned even one time, he was submitted to the will of his father, he goes to the cross, and not only does he die for us, he dies instead of us, and whoever would believe in him would be made righteous because he took our sin upon himself and paid the full debt on our behalf. And the wages of sin is death, but since he didn't have any death when he got to hell,

they couldn't hold him there. And so God the Father resurrects him from the grave and he walks out of the empty tomb. And because he walked out of the empty tomb, you and I can walk into newness of life too. The you and I are the mass production of the prototype that is Jesus. And by the way, for the almost 700 people of you right now that are signed up to get baptized next weekend, that's what you're going to be symbolizing. You're going to walk out into that water, and we're going to say, who is Jesus?

And you can say to Prototoco, but he is my Lord and Savior. And we're going to say, upon that public profession of Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my Christian brother or sister, in the name of the Father of the Son of the Holy Spirit, and we're going to dunk you under there. We're going to bury you in, not for real, but we're going to bury you in the Atlantic Ocean. And when you come out of there,

the reason that you can walk out of the grave in the newness of life is because of him you are in a new life. Amen? That's what he's talking about. Now, this is a big deal. Then he says, do you believe this? But he didn't explain all of this like I just did. So when he says, do you believe this?

Her mind could have gone in one of two directions. It could have gone circumstantial. Yes, I believe you can change my circumstances. But that's not where she goes. She lifts her eyes up off of the horizon of the temporary, and she answers it in the right way. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming.

to the world. Here's what I want you said. She's walking through pain. She's walking through losing her brother. And she has this deep theological discourse about who Jesus is. And that truth helps her. Because that's just the way she's wired. She didn't necessarily need a hug. She needed a homiletics course on what resurrection is about. And that's exactly where Jesus meets her. She says, I believe. Verse 28. Now she's got a sister who's wired totally differently. And when she said this, she went, she called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and she went to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

And 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. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, notice what she does. Before she says a word, she fell at his feet. I mean, she's spiritually and emotionally exhausted. But she falls at his feet and says, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.

She says the same thing that Martha's saying, but she doesn't say it from a theological perspective. She says it just from like a relational heart perspective. She's saying, God, what are you doing? But notice where she goes first. She goes to the feet of Jesus. Where do you go when you're in pain? I'm going to tell you, I know I've told you this way too many times,

but I don't care, I'm going to keep telling you this. Listen, when I lost my best friend Bradley, man, I love that guy, I baptized a guy. I live in Christa's mama sitting right there, man. Do you know what I couldn't wait to do is get here with you? And I was supposed to be on sabbatical. And all these sabbatical coaches, I mean, what a job that is. So a sabbatical coach was like, hey, listen,

during your sabbatical, you can't hang out at your church so they'll make you work. And I'm like, what is wrong with you, man? These are my people. I'm going to live with these people until I die. This is my ride or die crew right here. Who am I going to go? Go to another church.

I don't even like that good. And as good as ours as I can't do that. They're all good, but ours is the best. I don't care. And here's the thing, man, here's the thing. I just had to get here. I just had to get to the feet of Jesus. And while the Lord is omnipresent,

that means he's everywhere all the time, man, there is a manifest presence of God when the saints of God get together to make much of Him. I mean, the Bible says that he inhabits the praises of his people. And I just wanted to get in here with you. I wanted to hear the sermons preach. I wanted to sing the songs.

I wanted to pray the prayers. And then in that last song, I wanted to come fall at the feet of Jesus right over here and just pour it out on him because I knew he'd meet me there. This is what she does, man. He doesn't rebuke her. He doesn't say dumb stuff. Mm-mm. He just meets her right there.

Let me ask you. Is it okay to question God? Apparently, both sisters question. Now, there's a difference in questioning who's in charge and questioning why your Lord and Savior didn't do it the way you thought he ought to do it. In fact, Psalm 221 says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

In a long time before Jesus ever close that on the cross, David's doing his quiet time and writes that in his journal and the Spirit of God's like, that's good, Dave, write that one down. My kids are going to need to pray that for a long time until I come back and get him. You see, I think what Jesus really wants from you is you. Just bring your real prayers to him. Just pour your heart out to him.

He can handle it. Now listen, if you have to do a little memorized prayer to kind of get the prayer juices going, that's fine. But, I mean, sometimes we pray such dumb stuff, and he doesn't want us to pray just little things that we've memorized. He wants us to pray, pour out of our heart. I mean, think about the, I remember the dumb way I was taught to pray. Remember this one?

I was a kid. We prayed this one. Now I lay me down to sleep. pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake. I went to my mama. Mama, what's Fy should die? We praying in Latin?

What are we doing? Varsity. She's like, we mean Fy should die. I's like, you know, Fy should die before I wake. She goes, no, that's if I should die before I wake. I'm like, good Lord, woman. What is happening in our home tonight? Then I'm praying to survive eight hours.

Are we serious right now? Maybe we should call the police and what is happening. So if all you ever do, man, it's just kind of, it's just rope memorization. Then you're missing it. You ought to get really good at pouring out your heart to Jesus right now because there's going to come a day where you're going to need it and you're going to need to know the tenderness of your shepherd when you get to that day. So she shows up, falls on his feet, Lord, if you had been here. My brother would not have died.

And 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 in his spirit and greatly troubled. This ain't sad cry. This is, the word that most often describes Jesus' emotion toward his people comes from a word called splogizomai. It means like compassion or empathy. That's not this word. This word is embryimi-mi-mi-mi-mi. It means like it's sad but with an emotional indignation.

Like he's ticked, man. He's angry at death. He's angry at hell. He's angry at sin because when he first created it all, there was no death. There was no dying. There was no tears. And so he gets, listen, I need you to know that God has given you emotion to navigate this thing called life. It is, man.

When it's time to cry, you better cry so that when it's time to laugh, you can laugh. When it's time to mourn, you better mourn so that when it's time to dance, you can dance. That's from Ecclesiastes chapter 3. And what he does here is he gets moved by the emotion of everybody else and he joins in that emotion. Listen, I can get choked up. I don't, you know, I don't love to do it in front of everybody when I got a job. to do like I buried my grandmother a couple years ago did her funeral and it's not a tragedy I mean she's like 90-something years old her and Moses were in Sunday school together she's in heaven no

problem man it's great but still at the funeral it makes me sad you know I miss Mert she helped lead me to Christ she's a big deal so my brother Russ was at the funeral and he's tough he thinks he tough he's real tough he's a big-time cop in St. John's County like you know I'll call him on the phone I just hear gunshots going off he's like I'm at the range I'm like what okay so he's where's body armor you know, and he's like, dude, what can I do for you? Because he knew I was speaking, and I was like, here's what I need from you, man. He's like, I don't mind crying, but in front of everybody, I need to get through this thing, you know, to honor Mert and do my job. So here's what I need, bro.

If I could just look over here at you, and if you would just be like a rock, then I will look at you and then I'll find strength and I got this. And he's like, I got you, dude. And we did that bro hug, you know, where you clasped hands and then you, just so your chest don't touch. That's why you actually do it. But you do that, but you do like, I got you. He's like, I got you. I was all right. And then I get up there to introduce myself, hey, I'm Joseph Perry Martin, the third, named after her husband.

He was senior, and I'm her favorite grandson. It wasn't even close. And then I kind of felt the coming, and so I looked over at Russ. He's going to be my right. He's going to help me, man. And that joker looked like a claymation who was melting. I was like, oh, God. And I don't cry good.

I can't even cry good. Some of you old guys, you old heads, you cry good, man. You just jog. It's big. like Thanos, one tier. Bing, not me, man. How can bolts try to eat my lip? I can't do it, man.

All right. Jesus has deeply moved in his spirit in greatly troubled. This is like, sometimes I'll use that word to describe what a bull sounds like when he snorts. That's what he's doing. And he says, where have you laid him?

Jesus never runs from our deepest pain. He wants to go right to the source of it. And they said, Lord, come and see. And then this next verse, 1135. It's the shortest verse in the whole Bible. Jesus whipped. If you need to memorize scripture, start with this one. If you don't have verses memorized, do this one. You're going to need it. Because here's what's crazy, man. Jesus, sitting there with Mary, weeps.

So I don't know who the person is that tried to equate strength without crying, you know? Because Jesus is the strongest man who's ever lived. And he found it very appropriate when it was time to cry, cry. Again, Ecclesiastes three gives a whole thing. list of all kind of different emotions and emotions are a gift from God to you to navigate life. So when it's time to cry, you need to cry so that when it's time to rejoice, you don't feel guilty for rejoicing. And so Jesus sits down with her and just weeps, just cries. You ever have people at funeral say dumb stuff? Say dumb stuff, man. Good gracious. I think I attracted it. I think people want to try out there good theology on me and it's so dumb. We had a funeral and be like,

Why are we crying? We shouldn't be crying. She's in heaven. I know. I'm going to send you to heaven. Shut up, man. That's my grandma. That's my best friend.

I'm sad. You know it's okay to be sad? We had a lady in our church. She used to attend another church, and you'll hear why in a second. And she called me one day. I was in a meeting or sent me a text. And she's like, I need some help. These pastors came over to my house because I just lost my dad.

She unexpectedly lost her father. He's very healthy. He's played golf on Friday. He passed away on like a Monday. She's all tore up over it. And she says, she said, these other guys made me feel like I don't have any faith because of the amount of tears that I'm shedding. I'm like, whoa, that's spiritual abuse, man. Because are you saying that Jesus doesn't have faith because he's crying?

You see, the Bible tells us that we should weep with those who weep. Let me give you some pastoral advice, okay? Because everybody, if you're a believer, you're in the ministry, and at some point you're going to be called on to minister to somebody in a tough time, and your temptation is going to try to say something awesome. You're not going to say something awesome. And what usually happens is you say something dumb, and then that's the only thing people remember. So here's a little pastoral advice. Ready?

Shut up and show up. That's it. Just shut up and show up. Put your arm around her. When it's time to cry, we weep with those who weep. And if you don't know what to say, here, steal this for me. You just look at him and go, I love you. You could never go wrong with that.

Why did this happen? We'll talk about that one day. I love you. This is what he does. And crying does not equal weakness. In fact, a couple years ago, we did this daddy-daughter retreat at the retreat center. A bunch of us dads take all our little girls. I forget the ages, like maybe 8 to 11 or something like that.

Here we go, and it's great, and we do all these things and spend time with our daughters. And then on the last night, we have a daddy-daughter dance. So all the girls get all dressed up, and then we dress normal and put a jacket on. You know, how I said dad dress up these days, and then we show up. But one of the things that we did before the dance is we wrote blessings over our daughters. We just rode them out. Because I'm telling you, the weight of a dad, man. I mean, the words of a dad weighed 10 million pounds.

They just do. And we got in that little room. We danced for a little while and did the, you know, left foot one time, all that stuff. Then we got knee to knee, eyeball to eyeball with our little girls. And I'm talking about some big, burly 11-22ers. Because as compared to church, we're the toughest church you've ever met. I mean, just a lot of tattoos and guns and knives. and, I mean, I'm talking about the service right now, okay?

We're the most geared up. If UFC had a church division, we would be the title holders. It's not even close. All right. And these big, burly men, to the one, every single man, I went last, every single one got eyeballed, eyeball. With their little 10-year-old girl, and we're like, baby, I just wanted, oh, I mean, they were just blubbered. Looked like De Niro, you're talking to me, that's what they look like. And that wasn't weakness.

It was strength. It was a demonstration of strength. In fact, if more daughters saw the strength of their dad's tears as they blessed them, they'd stop listening to the lives of this world, amen? So be strong and cry. That's what Jesus does. Now, theologically, though, I do have to ask why you crying.

Because he knows, he knows the end. Before he even showed up, he said, this thing is not going to end in death. So he knows what he's going to do that day. And how long does he wait? I don't know, the Bible doesn't say. Fifteen minutes, 30 minutes, hour and a half. I don't know what the standard time to wait

before he draw somebody out of the grave is, but he's chilling. crying. I've told you this before. I record all the Georgia football games, but I only keep the wins. So like last year, I recorded all of them. Okay?

The year before that, that was only one I had to delete. According to my DVR, Georgia has been undefeated since 1980. Since Lindsey ran, we hadn't lost the game. Okay. Now, what will happen is Reagan Capri, who's a cheerleader, but she somehow sitting figured out when football season is. Don't worry about that. She will come in and sit down on the couch and July and be like, the dogs are playing.

I'm like, they sure are, baby, let's watch this. And we watch it. And she will be perplexed with throwing interception or fumble. And she's like, oh, no, daddy. I'm like, oh, ye of little faith, baby, just hang in there. Glory, glory to old George is coming. She's like, how do you know? I'm like, honey, I know how this one ends, so I'm not worried about the details right now.

Jesus knows how this one's going to end, and yet, why is he crying with Mary? Here's why. Seven times in the gospel of John, Jesus makes these. I am statements. I am is the covenant name of God. Yahweh in Exodus chapter 3. It's supposed to sound like breath. Breathe in, breathe out.

Yahweh. That the spirit of God is what gives you life and God is as close as your next breath. That's his covenant name. The best translation that we have in English is, I am that I am, or I be what I be. That he is the eternal present. There's no past and future for him because he's there and he's there. maybe this is why the elders right now in the heavenlies are singing holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come they're saying I am that I am you are that you are the eternal present is right here with us and so he meets you right where you are even though he can already see how he's at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose even though he can see clearly what right now we see dimly he is perfectly present with you right now especially in your tears.

And so then the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? Let me just tell you, even if your Jesus is always a critic. No matter what you do, there's always a critic.

If you lead anything, let me tell you what I learned in COVID, no matter what decision you make, there's always three little bears. There's going to be some people who think, that's not enough. And some people are like, that's too much. And then there's some people that are like, that's about right.

You should roll with the, that's about right people. because these people are criticizing Jesus. And then Jesus, deeply moved again. He came to the tomb. It was a cave. And a stone lay against it. And Jesus said, take away the stone.

And Martha. Last time we saw Martha, she said, I believe. Remember? Jesus said, take away the stone. And Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Jesus, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Literally in the King James it says,

but Lord, he stinketh. And Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? You see, true faith isn't just mental consent or a fuzzy feeling on a Sunday morning. True faith is acting as if you actually believe. And I think this can happen a lot. Like you sit in church right now, and you believe. You believe. You better be.

I mean, we've sung three powerhouse songs. We've got another winner coming in about five minutes. I've been preaching my face off, getting all you believe juice is going, and right now I would ask you, what are the stones that Jesus has asked you to roll away? I mean, maybe it's to make that phone call and begin the hard work of reconciliation. And right now you're like, yeah, I believe, I believe.

Or maybe, this one always makes somebody nervous. Or maybe God is calling you to make a move of radical generosity because you've been clinging on to some stuff, but somehow it's got a hold of you, and you get in church, and you hear about it, and you're like, yep, Lord, I should downsize, I should sell that thing, I should move a bunch of my ships into the kingdom of God. And you were like, ooh, I believe.

But then after a few days, you're like, I stinks. I don't think I can do that. What stone is he called, maybe it's to get baptized? Every time we talk about it, you know you should? Or maybe? Maybe it's to start that ministry. I mean, what is it?

What stone has God called you to wait? Because here's what's crazy about every single one of the miracles that we've looked at. God doesn't need us at all to accomplish any. of the works that he accomplishes. And yet he's a good dad. He loves to take his kids to work. And every single miracle that we've looked at, God partners with somebody else to make the miracle happen.

So what if he brings Lazarus up out of the grave or alive, but they don't roll the stone away? He's just going to die in there. Or what if the bread and the fish that's been blessed never gets handed out. The miracle never happens. Or what if the water turned to wine never gets scooped out and taken to the master ceremonies?

What's the stone that he's calling you to roll away? Because maybe the miracle that you're looking for is on the other side of a step of obedience. And so they took the stone away and Jesus lifted up his eyes and he says, Father, I thank you, that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me.

And when he said these things, he cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus come out. You see, Lazarus would have been buried with a bunch of people in that cave. And Charles Spurgeon says, if he didn't call Lazarus, he would have empty the graveyard. It would be like a thriller video. Spurgeon didn't say thriller. I said thriller, but you know, but dun, dun, that's what it would be. They all be out there.

And the man who died came out. This is a picture of our salvation. He did not go in there and get him a set up a prerequisites and say, if you can do these things, then you can come out of the grave. He didn't go in there and spray perfume on the rotting body so it wouldn't stink too bad. No, no, no, no. He calls Lazarus his name, and when he calls his name, he puts life in him, and he brings him out. Has he ever called your name? Has he ever called your name?

Have you ever heard it? And when you say, hear it, what do you mean here? Like hear it? No, no, no. Way louder than you hear with your ears. I'm talking about deep down at the soul level where it matters for eternity. By the way, I do want to celebrate this, that at our very first Duval Women's Correctional service, we had two women there who heard Jesus called their name and they were moved from death of life.

Amen? And the man who had died came out. His hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. The NIV says it this way, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Why? Because living people don't need to wear dead people's clothes anymore. Listen, here's what this means.

You don't have to do the stuff you used to do. You're not the person you used to be. the old you is dead. You can leave that behind. This is so much bigger than right and wrong than good and bad. What do you've got to think about when you think about obedience to Christ,

the good shepherd, is every time we take a step of obedience to do the things that he has told us to do, we are always and only moving in the direction of the abundant life that the good shepherd has for us, and every single time we begin to go back to our old ways, those old habits,

those sinful patterns in our life, then we are like living people putting on dead man clothes and it only leads to death. So take off the grave clothes, man. You don't need them anymore. Don't need to drink it or take it or smoke it. Don't need to go see her or him.

Whatever that thing is, take off the grave clothes. And notice, though, you can't do it by yourself. You do it in community. You see, Lazarus needed some other believers around him to help him take those steps of obedience. So we're going to respond. We're going to respond. And though we do it every week, I want us to lean in to what we're doing here, okay?

You see, every single week we bring our ties and offerings. We bring worship through resources. Say, Lord, they're yours because you're worth it. And every week, we join our voices together, and we sing all together, and we make much of him. And this week, like we invite you to do every single week, if you're in need, I want you to Bring it to Jesus. Some of you need to bring it on behalf of somebody else, just like Martha did on behalf of her brother. And some of you need to come down here, get on your face before the Lord and say,

Lord, the one whom you love is ill, and they need help. And some of yourself, find yourself in that two-day window, and you've kind of given up praying. I know you never say that out loud, but you quit praying for you one more, and you quit praying for the miracle. And I'm just telling you, keep asking and keep asking and keep asking and keep knocking and keep seeking. He hears you. He hears you. So I want you to come and pray. And some of you are like Mary. You're just emotionally, spiritually exhausted, and you need to come and pour out your tears on the feet of Jesus. And I promise you that he will meet you right here. Some of you are alive in Christ,

but every single week you tend to put your grave clothes back on. And by the power of the spirit of God in you, you need to repent that you need to come down and get on your face before the Lord say, God, by your power, by the word, by the power of your Word and the power of your Holy Spirit, would you help me put these old clothes off because they don't fit me anymore and help me walk in a newness of life? Somebody invite you to come. My one request is this. Just don't come alone.

Invite somebody to come and pray with you. And if you came here alone, you can either, when you get here, you just raise your hand and somebody on staff or a care team member will come and pray for you. Or honestly, this is 1122. You can just be like, hey, will you come pray for me? And they will. It's so loud. You can't hear what this.

saying anyway, it'd be fine, okay? And then lastly is this, is there somebody here? And maybe today, for the very first time, if you'd be honest, Lazarus condition really explains yours that spiritually speaking, you're dead and in a tomb. That you're dead in a tomb. That spiritually you know, you're not just a bad person that needs to try to do better, but you're spiritually dead. And today, somehow, for the very first time, you've heard him call your name.

Maybe in a way that's not explainable, but it's undefixtended. You know in this moment that he's calling your name, and he made you this promise. If you believe in him, whatever situation you're in is not the end of the story. It's not over until he says it's over. And he wants to offer you eternal life. How? Just by admitting it, I'm dead spiritually. And believing when he died on the cross somehow, that counted for me.

And then you just confess, Lord save me, and he will. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? and if you would say that's me, that's it, that in this moment right now, I know that the Lord is calling my name and in this moment I put my faith, my trust, in Jesus Christ for my salvation. If that's you, I want you to lift your hand as high as you can right now and say, here I am, Lord, save me. Praise God, all over the place. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us.

And Lord, I thank you that you sent Jesus to the tomb of our life to call our individual-specific name for us to come out of the grave. And so, Lord, I pray for every single follower of you, Lord, may we walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus. God, may we surround ourselves with the kind of people that help us take off the grave clothes and we just leave the dead stuff in the tomb that we may walk in this newness of life, this abundant life that you have for us. God, I pray right now for the Marys that are emotionally, spiritually just spent. Lord, I thank you that you are the God that weeps and even bleeds for us. and that you collect our tears and bottles is what the book of Revelation says. But Lord, I also thank you that we do not mourn as those without hope

because we know in you, in you hope has a name and his name is Jesus. God, we pray this in the good, strong, matchless, and undefeated name, the only name that matters when you pray. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand? We're going to sing, we're going to bring, and I would invite you and invite you.

and somebody with you to come. Cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you. Come and pray.