According to John 11:1-44 [NLTse]

A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. ² This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. ³ So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling Him, “Lord, Your dear friend is very sick.”

⁴ But when Jesus heard about it He said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” ⁵ So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, ⁶ He stayed where He was for the next two days. ⁷ Finally, He said to His disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

⁸ But His disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone You. Are you going there again?”

⁹ Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. ¹⁰ But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” ¹¹ Then He said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”

¹² The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” ¹³ They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

¹⁴ So He told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”

¹⁶ Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived at Bethany, He was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. ²⁰ When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask.”

²³ Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. ²⁶ Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told Him. “I have always believed You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One Who has come into the world from God.” ²⁸ Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” ²⁹ So Mary immediately went to Him.

³⁰ Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met Him. ³¹ When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. ³² When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

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. ³⁴ “Where have you put him?” He asked them.

They told Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Then Jesus wept. ³⁶ The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much He loved him!” ³⁷ But some said, “This Man healed a blind man. Couldn’t He have kept Lazarus from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus was still angry as He arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. ³⁹ “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

⁴⁰ Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” ⁴¹ So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to Heaven and said, “Father, thank You for hearing Me. ⁴² 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.” ⁴³ Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

Sermon

The focus for today’s message is not the Lord Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead. And yet how can we read about it without being amazed by God’s grace? What must the Lord Jesus have been experiencing to pray, “Father, thank You for hearing Me”? Had He asked the Father for Lazarus’ life, and had the Holy Spirit spoken and given Him the Father’s okay? We don’t know. But Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die.” And then Jesus, always ready to back up His claims with action proves it by tearing Lazarus out of Death’s hands and bringing him back from the dead!

He is God, this Jesus Whom we worship. Only God has the power over life and death. And Jesus brings Lazarus back to prove that He and the Father are indeed one! How great is our God! How mighty is our Savior! Our lives can be put in no better hands and to no better use than trusting Him, repenting of our old ways, and living our lives following Him wherever He leads!

Amen?

Now, along with the Lord Jesus’ confidence of the Father’s hearing His prayer for Lazarus, I want to draw our attention to v. 21 and Martha’s confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, where she says: “Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would not have died.” She doesn’t say, “Lord, if you’d been here, You might have been able to save Lazarus.” No, she said, “If you’d been here, my brother would not have died.” And her sister Mary shows that same faith when in v. 32 she falls at Jesus’ feet and says the exact same words: “Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

How confident – like children – these sisters are, not only confident in Jesus’ power but also confident in Jesus’ love for them and their brother that they knew – they knew – that He would have used God’s power to save their brother, Lazarus.

Are we as confident? How confident are you that Jesus has and will keep on saving you through your troubles and through to the new Heaven and Earth and eternal life? Are you “pretty sure”? Do you like to “hope so”? We talk about being the family of God. What assurance to you have that you’re part of God’s family? Being the Church is like being a part of God’s team here in the world. How confident are you that you’re on God’s team?

Earlier in John the Lord tells us how we can have such confidence. He says, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to My message and believe in God Who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death to life.” (5:24) Most literally Jesus is talking here about “those who are listeners [on-going action] and those who are believers [on-going action] have eternal life.” And the “believers” here is that pisteu-o I spoke about some months ago: Not some passive, intellectual believing but a faith that reorders our values, priorities, and morals and directs our thoughts, words, and actions according to what we have believed.

So, I ask you, “Who here has listened to Jesus’ good news message?” … And, “Who here have believed that message, acting on it and letting it transform your lives?” … Well, then, according to Jesus Christ – not according to me – but according to Jesus, as you continue listening and believing you will never be condemned for your sins having already passed from death to life!

That’s you..! That’s me..! Hooray!

Let’s look at another one: 1 John 5:13… The apostle writes, “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life.” John is telling us, and all who would read his letter, that if we believe in the name of the Son of God – Jesus – that we have eternal life. Again, believe is on-going action, so most literally, “you who continue believing”, and “believe” is, again, pisteu-o, that is, faith that is active, exercised, acted upon, and that transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ.

Again, I ask you, “Who here believes in Jesus Christ, and has let His great news change what we set our minds to, what we say and how we say it, and what we do and why we do it? Have you let His great news change you?” Then, according to the apostle John, you have eternal life!

And we need to know this. We need this confidence. We need this assurance. Because, what happens to a child who isn’t assured of their mother and their father’s love? They go looking for love in all the wrong places. And what do Christians do who are not assured of the Father’s love? We add to the good news: Things like, God will save me because I’ve been good, or, God will save me because I tithe, or, God will save me because I gave up this or that bad habit, or, God will save me because I helped this or that person, etc.

All of these acts are a part of our believing Christian life, but none of them is why God has saved us. No, we are saved because, by God the Holy Spirit coming upon us and within us, we miraculously continue listening to and actively believing on the great news of Jesus’ sacrifice for sin, and our having been born anew into His resurrection-life because of it!

As a part of your devotions one day this week, write down a description of when, where, and how you began listening to the good news and began believing it.

Our Father not only wants us to be saved from sin, eternal death, and the fear of death, He also wants us to know He’s saved us from it all. The Lord Jesus is asking us, along with Martha, today, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Are you believing this?”