We turn in God's Word tonight again to John chapter 11. John 11. We'll pick up our reading at verse 28. This history is well known to us by now as we have read this chapter many times over the last few months. We'll pick up our reading after Jesus' declaration to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. And after Martha's confession, Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And now John 11, verse 28. And when Martha had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then, which were with her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, she goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, She fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. And some of them said, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. This is the Word of our God, holy, inspired, infallible. May He bless it to our hearts this evening. Our text is v. 35, Jesus wept. Beloved congregation, our Lord Jesus Christ, many, many years before Jesus walked on the earth, as God was promising His people the coming of their Savior, the coming of the servant of the Lord, God said something that might have taken them by surprise. Something that was hard to make sense of. Way back in Isaiah 53, God said about the Savior, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. The Savior, the promised one, would be a man of sorrows and would be acquainted with grief? How could that be? The truth that Jesus is the man of sorrows, or was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, is borne out in our text before us tonight. The shortest verse in all of the Bible, but one of the deepest verses in all of the Bible, Jesus wept. at the grave of Lazarus, Jesus wept. There is that man of sorrows. There is his acquaintance with grief. Jesus wept. But the Word of God, in teaching Jesus as the man of sorrows, and in teaching His weeping, teaches you and me our salvation. For Jesus was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief as the one, Isaiah 53 verse four, who hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. The Lord Jesus Christ came as the man of sorrows acquainted with grief under the heavy hand of God to deliver all of his people from their grave, and from their death, and from their hell, and from their sin, by his perfect sacrifice as the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. It was our grief that he bore, and our sorrows that he took upon him. Also here in John 11, facing the grave of his friend, of Lazarus, Jesus wept, because He was taking upon Him, even there, already, the cause of that grave and that death, which is God's curse against our sin, and removing it. This is the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept, but a very profound verse. For in that verse we find our man of sorrows acquainted with grief for our salvation. Let us consider this word of God using the text itself as our theme. Jesus wept. In the first place, consider his troubled spirit. In the second place, consider his human tears. And in the third place, consider his divine consolation. Jesus wept his troubled spirit, his human tears, and his divine consolation. We find in John 11, Mary having her turn to speak to the Lord. Martha had had a conversation with him. And at the conclusion of that conversation went back to the house where Mary was and called her secretly saying, the master is come and calleth for thee. Mary hurried from the home and went to the road to meet Jesus by the way where Martha had talked to her. As Mary hastens to go see Jesus, some of the people in the house noticed she was leaving in a hurry and assumed that she was going to the grave overcome with grief that she might weep there. And so many of the Jews followed Mary into the way and also met Jesus before he had come into the town. We read in verse 32 that when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Almost the same thing that Martha had said to Jesus when she had met Him. And now, as we continue observing this scene there on the road to Bethany, we see the great trouble that afflicts the souls of the people involved. For we find in verse 33 that Jesus saw Mary weeping and that He saw the Jews which had come with her weeping. That word weeping in verse 33 is a different word than the word weeping in verse 35. Jesus wept. In English, they're the same word. Weeping and wept. But in the original, these are different words. The weeping in verse 33 of Mary and the other Jews is the noisy weeping of crying. It is weeping that is accompanied with the voice of the one who is weeping, crying out in anguish in that weeping. It's noisy, very noisy. so that as Jesus is there by the side of the road, Mary, on her knees before Jesus, having fallen down at his feet, is crying out, and all of the Jews around her are crying out with her, moved by her grief at the loss of her brother. That's the scene there on the road on the way to Bethany. a great noise and a great cry from Mary and the Jews. When Jesus saw that weeping of his friend, Mary, and of these Jews, some of whom were also his people, Jesus responded in the first place by groaning in His Spirit, verse 33. He groaned in the Spirit. And a little bit later in verse 38, we read the same thing. Jesus groaned in Himself. Groaning in the Spirit and groaning in Himself is the same thing. And Jesus groaning in the Spirit or groaning in Himself is a non-vocal groaning. He groaned internally, but no noise came from his throat as he groaned in the Spirit and groaned in himself. There was no audible indication that he was groaning. There was a visible indication of it, as we'll see in a moment, but there was no audible indication of this groaning. And Jesus groaning in both verse 33 and 38 is the groaning of indignation. The word for groan in both of these verses is a word for fierce, hot anger. Jesus groaning was a groaning of anger, and therefore his weeping, when we come to verse 35, also was characterized by anger. Jesus groaned in the Spirit, and He groaned in Himself. He was filled with indignation. There was a visible manifestation of that indignation, and that was that Jesus shook Himself. He shook His body in that groaning. That's the word in verse 33, troubled. He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. That word means to shake, to move rapidly. Jesus, groaning in indignation, gave an indication of it by a shake of his shoulders and his arms and his head. The Lord Jesus Christ groaned in his spirit and was troubled. And Jesus wept. Verse 35. And that word for weeping does not mean an audible cry as the weeping of Mary and the other Jews, but this word for weeping means the shedding of tears. Silently, tears streamed down Jesus' face. He was groaning inwardly. He shook himself outwardly. And Mary and the Jews could see tears upon his face. Jesus wept. What was Jesus weeping at? What was He groaning at? What was this indignation all about? Well, we find that the occasion for His weeping, as well as for His groaning, is verse 33, His sight of Mary and the Jews weeping. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Jesus saw Mary weep. He heard her cry out in her anguish. He saw the Jews weeping and crying out in their anguish. And in response to that weeping of Mary and the Jews, Jesus wept and Jesus groaned within himself. There is an indication here, first of all, then of sympathy. We'll get to the indignation in a moment. But there is an indication of sympathy here for Mary and her loss. He saw Mary weep. He heard her cry. He saw her grief at the loss of her brother Lazarus. And that grief of his friend Mary moved him. He was sympathetic towards her and he himself wept in sympathy with Mary. There is also in this weeping of Jesus sympathy for the natural bondage of his people to fear and to death. We read of that bondage to fear and to death because of sin in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews 2 verse 15. Jesus came to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The child of God by nature is subject to a terrible bondage. He's subject to the bondage of fear. The child of God by nature is fallen in Adam. The child of God by nature deserves eternal punishment. He deserves death as the punishment of his sins and hell. as the outpouring of God's wrath against his sins. And that fear itself is a terrible, terrible bondage so that everything in this earthly life must turn to ash in the mouth of the child of God by nature. The Lord Jesus Christ saw that terrible bondage that his people were in by nature and wept in sympathy for that bondage. But then in the third place, this weeping of the Lord Jesus Christ was indignation. It was fierce and hot anger. And that fierce and hot anger was not directed against Mary and the believing Jews for their grief. Grief is legitimate for the child of God. grief at the loss of a loved one and in the other hardships of earthly life is legitimate for a child of God. That grief may not be given authority and rule in the life of the child of God. That grief must not be allowed to take over our souls. The Apostle Paul says, I would that ye grieve not as other men, who have no hope, but grieve in the hope of the resurrection. Our grief is not the same as the world's, but our grief is sanctified by the Lord and is a legitimate response of the child of God to loss and to hardship in this life. Jesus' indignation was not indignation against Mary and the believing Jews for their grief. The passage itself indicates what Jesus' indignation was directed against. In verse 33, we read, He groaned in the Spirit, that is, He was indignant in the Spirit, and was troubled and said, Where have you laid Him? He talks about the grave. Where is His tomb? Where did you bury Him? Where have you laid Him? That's the object of his wrath and his indignation. And again in verse 38, Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was the grave against which Jesus was angry. It was sin and death against which the Lord was indignant. It was the devil against whom Jesus was angry, as we read in Hebrews 2 again, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. By nature, man fallen in Adam is given over to the devil. So that the devil has the power of death, not that the devil is sovereign ultimately over death. Jehovah God is sovereign over death. But man fallen in Adam dies spiritually and is given into the control of Satan. Man by nature is dead in trespasses and sins and under the bondage of the devil. And Jesus came that through death he might destroy him that had the power over death, who is the devil. That's against whom Jesus' indignation was directed. He was angry with sin and angry with the devil, who was the enemy of his people. He was angry against death and the grave. The Lord Jesus Christ groaned in himself and was troubled, and Jesus wept. By this weeping, Jesus revealed that he truly is man. He is truly human. These were human tears that ran down Jesus' face. Jesus cried, that is, Jesus wept and shed tears according to his human nature. The divine nature does not weep. The divine nature is blessed forever. But the human nature weeps The Lord Jesus Christ shed these tears as a demonstration that He is truly human. He is truly one of us. Throughout the book of John, we see brilliant, brilliant flashes of Jesus' divinity. He is the Word who was in the beginning with God and who is God. The Word who came in our flesh. He is the light of the world. He is the resurrection and the life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. But in this Gospel, according to John, we also see the true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, at the grave of Lazarus, Jesus wept. That takes us to the doctrine of Jesus' two natures. Jesus is truly God and Jesus is truly man. He is truly divine and He is truly human. His one person is the second person of the Trinity. That person of the Trinity has come in our flesh and united our flesh to Himself so that He is truly God and truly man. He is the eternal Word made flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ, come in our flesh, is the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus Christ, come in our flesh, could be born into this world, could suffer in this world, could weep in this world, and could die in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and He is truly man. And here at the tomb of Lazarus we find that true humanity as the Lord Jesus Christ weeps. There's something mysterious about these emotions of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find that even in our own hearts, our own emotions are mysterious. Our emotions are the soul's reaction to the things that are going on. Our souls can be touched. Our souls can be affected and our souls react in emotion to those things going on. It's something like the fact that our bodies also can react to things going on. If we touch a hot stove with our hand, our body reacts by pulling away and feeling pain. Well, so it is with the soul of the human being. The soul responds to things going on and can be touched and affected by things going on. Things that are sad affect our souls so that we respond with grief. Things that are happy affect our souls so that we respond with joy. The soul of the child of God can feel and experience emotion. It's something mysterious. By virtue of our creation, well, how much more so with the Lord Jesus Christ. There, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord from heaven, who is Jehovah God Himself, come in our flesh. His soul responds. to the sorrow of Mary and her loss, to the fear that is the bondage of his people by nature, with indignation against sin and the devil and death, the Lord Jesus Christ wept. The child of God, as he examines his own emotions, must recognize that the Lord has sanctified those emotions. By His own death and resurrection as a man, He has sanctified those emotions. The child of God then does not look to emotion to judge what is real and to judge what is true. Emotions are true. Our sorrow and our joy are real things, but they are not the measure of truth. A child of God must not say, I'm going to find out if God loves me by seeing how I feel about it, and then turning inside to see if he can feel enough about God to know God's love. Those emotions are not the measure of truth. The child of God looks to the truth itself, to Jesus Christ himself and the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ, who says to his people, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. There's the measure of truth. There's the measure of what's real. The child of God, having these real emotions, does not found his belief on those emotions. The object of faith is always the Lord Jesus Christ and his word and his promise. The Lord Jesus Christ here at the grave of Lazarus shows himself to be in perfect control of his emotions. He groaned Within Himself, He hated death and sin as the enemy of His people. The Lord Jesus Christ wept real human tears. The Lord also showed by this how compassionate He is for His people in our distress. Jesus came so thoroughly into our flesh that He wept. In fact, we never read about Jesus on this earth laughing. Perhaps He did, but it's never recorded in Scripture. We read about Him weeping. He was the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He so thoroughly came into our flesh that he was clothed even with these human emotions that belong to the soul of a man. And Hebrews 2 speaks of that as well. Verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." Hebrews 2 shows at length that the Lord Jesus Christ took on him the seed of Abraham. not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. And because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He took on the same. The Lord Jesus Christ was really, truly a man for our sakes and for our salvation. That shows the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows His compassion and the mercy of God for His people. Who would want to be a man Who would want to come into the flesh of fallen man that is so affected by sin and death that fallen man weeps, that fallen man is affected like a hot stove by the loss of a loved one and is wounded by it? Who would want to come into that kind of flesh? And yet the Lord Jesus Christ did. came into our flesh, was subject to all these things that we are subject to. The only difference between him and us being that he was without sin, without original sin, and without actual sin. But the flesh that he took upon him was flesh that was weakened by sin, so that he could weep, so that he was the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. The Lord Jesus Christ came so fully into our flesh that He wept. He was made like unto us in all things. There's more to Jesus' mercy and love and His coming into our flesh and His weeping in our flesh. And the more of it is this. The Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed of you and is not ashamed of me. That's what Hebrews 2 teaches about the incarnation. Verse 11, for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Jesus is not ashamed of you as a human being and me as a human being. Jesus is not ashamed that you belong to His family, and that I belong to His family. That is marvelous mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. For there are many, many reasons to be ashamed of us. Of us who are fallen in Adam. Of us who disobey the law of God. of us who carry around with us that old man of sin who's never improving, never getting better, who remains corrupt all his days. There's all kinds of reasons to be ashamed of us. There's all kinds of reasons for someone to say, I don't want to be associated with them. Not with them. Maybe there are some other nobler people somewhere, but not them. We find that even in our own hearts, sometimes to our own shame, to our own sorrow, that there are certain ones that we might be ashamed of. We might say, I don't really want to be associated with them. We fallen sinners can sinfully be ashamed of each other. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed of you and not ashamed of me. He's not ashamed to say about His church, these are my brethren. I came in their flesh. I was made like unto them in all things, sin accepted, for their salvation and deliverance. The Lord Jesus Christ is so merciful to His people that He is not ashamed to call us brethren. This is the King of Kings we're talking about. This is the Lord of Lords we're speaking of. This is the one who sits at God's right hand. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. That's the mercy of the Lord that's on display as Jesus quietly, silently walked to the tomb of Lazarus. with the tears, the human tears streaming down His face. The consolation that the Lord Jesus Christ gives us then is divine consolation. Yes, Jesus is human. Yes, He is made like unto us in all things. sin accepted. But the Lord Jesus Christ is also God. Jesus Christ is not helpless at the tomb of Lazarus the way all of the others were helpless. What could Martha or Mary do at the tomb of Lazarus, except cry out a warning, Lord, by now he stinketh, for he has been dead four days. What could all of the Jews do who were gathered there at the tomb? All of them were helpless, because all of them were only men. But the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah God come in our flesh, the second person of the Trinity, His power is divine and He came into our flesh that He might stand before the tomb and that He might open it and bring forth His people from their death to everlasting life. He came as God in our flesh that in our flesh He might die and take upon Himself all our sorrow and all our grief, which sorrow and grief, according to Isaiah 53, is the sorrow and grief of our sin and our guilt, and which fear, according to Hebrews 2, is the fear of death, which all our lifetime we otherwise would be subject to bondage because of. The Lord Jesus Christ came into our flesh as God, that He might bear our guilt and our iniquity, which is the cause of our death, in His own flesh, and might redeem us from that sin and death by His shed blood. Hebrews 2 again, verse 15, And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And verse 17, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. The Lord Jesus Christ by his death has saved us from our sin and from our death. and the Lord Jesus Christ, having saved us from our sin and death, rose again the third day from the dead and ascended into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God and is able to succor those who are tempted. He is able to help and nourish and strengthen Those who yet weep here on this earth. That's Hebrews 2 verse 18. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. The child of God who finds himself weeping in this earth also finds by the gospel of Jesus Christ that there is a merciful and faithful high priest at the right hand of God, who also wept, and who has delivered us from all our sin and death, and therefore can help us in all of our tears and in all of our loss. So that the writer to Hebrews a little later in Hebrews 4 says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And then we see that this prophecy that God made regarding the Savior all of those years ago, that he would be the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief is not such a strange prophecy after all. That was the prophecy that our Savior would come in our flesh, even weeping in our flesh, in order to deliver us from all the sorrow of our iniquity through his death and resurrection. Behold him there on the road to Bethany, Behold his tears. And in that declaration, Jesus wept. Hear the gospel of our salvation. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy word to us this evening. Bless it to our hearts. We thank Thee for our Savior Jesus Christ, who with His blood hath fully satisfied for all our sins. who has come into our flesh and sustains us by His grace in all of our sorrows. We pray that Thou wilt sanctify our tears, that Thou wilt give to us the assurance, confidence of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Psalter number 381, 381. Exaltation in God, having sung psalms that refer to weeping, we now sing this song of exaltation in our Lord Jesus Christ. The four stanzas, all four of 381. Praised be for thy truth and grace, For truth and grace should ever shine, In thy most holy Word divine. In thy most holy Word divine. I to Thee am bowed in sin, Thy word of grace to purge me. The kings of earth shall thank Thee, Lord, For they have heard Thy wondrous word. They shall come with songs of praise, O great and glorious are thy ways! O great and glorious are thy ways! O Lord, enthroned in glory bright, Thou greatest hymn far and delight, Love will revive and strengthen me. Love will revive and strengthen me. for me be done, shall by thy grace be wholly done. Forever mercy trust with thee, O Lord, my Maker, think of me. O Lord, my Maker, think of me. Praise ye the Lord, ye hosts of old, in yonder heavenly light, and bless the Lord, ye saints below. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen.