deals with Lazarus, death and his resurrection. This chapter is filled with a lot of truths. You can read it fast and miss them. There's things in here that should help you. I don't know that I can convey them as best as I can this morning. But there's statements, there's things going on in the mind of Jesus that these people couldn't get. I dealt with the reasoning of man, I think Thursday I dealt some with it, how that We reason different, and that's why I read that verse over in Isaiah 55. Our thoughts are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are not my thoughts, he said. Your ways are not my ways. His ways are higher. And so I hope that I can somehow bring that out in this message, try to make us see and feel what Jesus was experiencing. You could read this and go through it, like I say, and everything works out all good. And you know, he raises Lazarus, but he had to wade through some attacks of the spirit. I guess we don't, we don't really, really honestly really consider What spirit is moving us? You have to admit that the wrong spirit moved Peter when the Lord rebuked him. That's why the Bible says, try the spirits, see the Spirit of God. I was thinking about how in Timothy it says, They're seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And those spirits are aiming at deceiving your mind. It's very subtle the way they work. Even as you're reading your Bible, those spirits will try to give you a different view than what God is conveying. You might see some of that in this message or in this chapter we're doing here. It's a, it's a example of how that a lot of times you miss, misunderstand what God's saying. This is a chapter dealing with Lazarus and his two sisters, and in it you'll find the humanity of Christ. We fail to see that a lot of times, that he did have a human body, just like you and I have. If He didn't have a human body, He couldn't have been tempted at all points like we are, yet was that sin. He had a human body. He was also a man of God. He was also the Son of God, the Son of Man. And so that's an area it's really difficult to explain and enter into, and I'm not going to touch it this morning. But you have to recognize both. If you miss one, you really don't know him. You won't understand him. You must recognize that he had some of the same feelings and emotions you have. And I think this chapter brings it out well about his humanity. This home, this home that he was welcomed in, and I'm going to give you a few verses besides here in John, but it was a home that he felt at home in. He'd visited different times, and I'm going to show you that in the Bible, but Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, had a home, and Bethany, it wasn't but two miles from Jerusalem. And so I was thinking probably you could see the temple from their house, two miles, you probably could. And so it's, I believe that it's a very important chapter for us to really see the Lord's side. I read it and read it and read it and read it and I thought, my soul, how frustrated I'd be if I was putting up with what he is. And I hope you see that point. Hope you see his long suffering, his patience with us, his willingness to endure our misunderstandings and keep going. Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair and whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him saying, Lord, behold, Notice the commas between them, they want you to recognize this. Lord, behold. Now she's going to stress it. He whom thou lovest is sick. Putting the pressure on him. You know Lazarus? You've come to our house? You love Lazarus. And He's sick. What are you gonna do? I mean, here comes the pressure, you're gonna put it on him. When Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death. Now, you read that verse, that part of it, that's then. Did he die? I'm gonna try to help you to see some of this stuff in the spiritual realm. Jesus his death is called a sleep and it's not something that's gonna last On down father. You'll see where he says he sleepeth our friend Lazarus verse 11 sleepeth, but I go that I may wake him out of his sleep To Jesus it was temporal To a person in our mindset. It was permanent And so they're already putting the pressure on him and You love him, what are you gonna do? Well, I wanna go back to this household first. Maybe why he put up with them. This was a household that he was accepted in. Look with me to Luke 10. Luke 10. And verse number 38. Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also, read this real slow and look at the words, sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words, his word. I'm wanting to point to you that these two women were worshipers. These women, Mary and Martha, knew the Lord Jesus. They loved him. And we'll see, I don't know how far I'll get into our text, but you'll see how much he taught them. The more I read it and read it and understood what Martha was saying, I said, wow, you're so far advanced. You couldn't have been saved long. You're so far advanced in the faith that she had perfect faith in him. No doubt whatsoever. You didn't see any doubt in her statements. She just believed him perfectly. And Mary, Mary knew how to worship. She sat at his feet. Listen to his word She's wanting to hear everything She's wanting to show her love for him She's wanting to show How that she don't want to miss a thing he has to say she wants to catch every word He's saying so she says now Martha clumbered about a little bit the Lord rebuked her for it. That's the other verses But my point is I want you to know these two ladies Welcomed him into the house Lazarus there and they would feed him. Let me see another verse here. I have in John 12, John 12 and verse number one, John 12, verse number one. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper." Hey, he's eaten in that house a bunch of times. And he'd go there often. He felt welcomed there. No, no, I'll go further. He felt comfortable there. He felt he was in good company. You've been in places you just want to get out of. You've been invited at homes that was just though it was chaos in there. This was a home that Jesus felt comfortable in. He'd go back to this home and have meals with them. Said that they had made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of sparkler, very costly ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. Can you picture somebody doing that today? You'd have to think more of him than you did of yourself. You think so, that'd be all right. You had to think an awful lot. He had an awful lot of love for Jesus. If you're going to wash his feet and then take your hair and wipe his feet. I'm saying these women know how to worship. I believe Lazarus did too. Lazarus sat at the table. Of course, no doubt they conversed a lot and the Lord loved them all. And it shows his love back in our text. But I want you to see these two were, these two women were worshipers. and showed their adoration and proved that certainly the Lord was special to them and precious to them. They loved him and would do anything for him to hear him, to be near him. And they certainly, he felt, look back in Isaiah 57. I said, he felt comfortable there. Isaiah 57, look at verse number 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in a high and holy place. Now read the rest of these verses. With him or her, him that Him also that is of a contrite and a humble spirit. Would you say that these two women had a contrite and humble spirit? To revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite one. You're finding why Jesus was welcomed and felt comfortable in the house of Lazarus and Mary and Martha. They were contrite, they were humble people, and they showed their humility in the way they treated Christ, the way they spoke of Christ. But yet, even though all that was going on, you're going to see that even as much as they loved Him, even as much as they devoted themselves to and worshiped Him, they still missed really missed on what his intentions were, and really falsely accused him. I want you to see people. So often we're, our minds are more on what suits us best, what would be good for us. not necessarily on thy will be done but you know if you'd have been here he wouldn't have died twice each one of them said it and he loved these people and you'll see it he loved them but yet it's so easy to get yourself wrapped up in what would be best for me. Go back to our chapter that we're preaching on, and you'll see even, look at verse 15 right quick. Jesus finally told them, they didn't, because he told them he's sleeping, but notice what he says. He said, Lazarus is dead. Because they thought he was sleeping. They misinterpreted. They didn't understand that when Jesus said. Because Jesus was speaking in the spiritual realm. He told them he's just sleeping. It says it often in the Old Testament. They should have known what that meant. But instead, come around to rationale thinking. They really got it in here. They got things that they don't see spiritual whatsoever. And they stumble and stumble and stumble right in the presence of God. But here you go. Then said Jesus plainly, Lazarus is dead. You got it? I said he was sleeping. You didn't understand that. I tried to make it clear. Let you know that he's going to wake when you sleep, you wake up. When you sleep, you're going to wake up. That's what he wanted to understand, he's gonna wake up, there's gonna be a resurrection, oh my, he's dead, okay? Notice what he says, and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there. Now imagine how that hit them. Lord, Lazarus, The one behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And now he's saying, I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there. You see, if he was there, if he'd run out there and healed Lazarus, how much glory would he get out of that? They'd hardly recognize that was so common. You know, He's healing everyone that come to Him. They wouldn't have counted that to His deity. The people, the Jews that were following, why? They didn't recognize that as deity. All the different miracles He did. The last chapter we went through. They kept on arguing and arguing and arguing, you know, about healing the blind man. Healing these others before that the man was impotent that couldn't get in the water healing him feeding the 4,000 feeding the 5,000 That don't mean you're God That means you're a prophet now. I'm telling you some of them prophets had God used them to do miraculous things some of them prophets So you can see their mentality, you know, that didn't necessarily prove. I mean, you're, you can be a good prophet to do some of those things. The God you use you, but that don't mean you are God. And so they wouldn't accept it. He says, I'm glad. I'm glad I didn't go. I'm glad it's going to help you more. What's going to happen. I know they couldn't see it. They just, they couldn't reason it out. They couldn't figure it out. just what he had in mind. All this time, through all this, he KNOWS what he's going to do. He knows his intent, he knows his will, he knows what his plan to do, how to help people to understand that he is the Messiah. He knows how it's all going to turn out, but all the way through it, they couldn't see it, they couldn't believe it, they didn't understand it. You know, Martha Cubs says, when Jesus came, He found the... No, I want to go back up. I want to back up. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well. Howbeit, Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking a rest and a sleep. Jesus said unto them, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. To the intent, to the intent, ye may believe. Notice that statement, to the intent, ye may believe. Of course, they didn't get that either. Believe what? I mean, they believed Jesus, but they didn't believe FULLY in Him. He's wanting them to really grasp the truth completely that He IS the Messiah. That's the whole intent of this, is He's wanting these people to realize that He IS the Messiah, no question about it! And so he said, this will help you. This will open your eyes. I'm glad for your tenant didn't happen any other way. I want you to see the effect it'll have on your life. Then said Thomas was called Didymus, which means the word Didymus means a twin. He must've been a twin. Onto his fellows, let us go that we may, now look, you talk about these guys being off. They never hit whatsoever. He says that we may die with him. Did Jesus say anything about dying? Well, the problem was the Jews had taken up stones in the last chapter and they were after him and he escaped out of their hands. But now we're only two miles from Jerusalem, which is Jewry. where the Jews kind of held more power out in that area where they were. And so they had said to Jesus, you know, you ought not go out there. You know, that's dangerous ground. But Jesus ignored all that. I mean, he's going to go. He heard Lazarus. He knew Lazarus. He knew exactly what he's going to do. That's why he didn't go right off the bat. But here they've got it all mixed up. Well, Jesus is going there. He's going to get stolen and died. I thought if I read my Bible right, he's already told him a number of times how he's going to die. He's already told about the crucifixion. They're not in the dark. There's no reason for him to even say this. He's made it clear that He has to die on a cross. He's sent to be the propitiation for our sins. He's sent to be our sacrifice. And here they say, well, we'll go with you, we'll die. No, no, that ain't where we're going. That ain't why we're going. I'm saying to you, it's just, you see these people in their faults, Well, let's keep going. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. It was close, they all came, they knew him. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. I love this section. I hope you'll glean out of it as much as I have or more. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary's still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, here we go. If thou had been here, my brother had not died. Do you think that's kind of a cutting statement? Do you think maybe she's putting blame on him for her husband being dead? She spits these words out without thinking because she knows better. She knows better. Look what she has to say. I like the next three words. I love them. She says it a number of times, but I know She's going to correct herself, help a little bit. But I know that even now, now this shows her knowledge of God's power of he get his answers, his prayers answered, shows that he is God. And she's, but I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, I know he'll give it to you. Do you have faith like that? I know, I know, whatever you ask. I got no doubt, anything you want, he'll give you. Would you say Martha had some faith? She had some faith. It goes further. Jesus said to her, thy brother shall rise again. Here she goes. Watch this, Martha said unto him, what's the next two words? I know, you're not a foreman, I think I don't know about you, I know. Boy, I read that too, I knows, man, I wanted to shout, I said, oh my soul, listen to Martha. I mean, she knows, she's got it down, she knows him, she knows what he can do. Why'd you accuse him back here? Martha said, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Would you say she was pretty well informed and knowledge of what God was going to do about the resurrection, all these things? Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection. She said, He'll rise in the last days. Martha, I am the resurrection. You're looking at the power of the resurrection. Paul said, all that I may know the power of the resurrection. Jesus said, I am the resurrection. Everything about the resurrection is in me. I am the personification of it. I am the power of it. I am the authority of it. I'm the only one that is raised from the dead in the manner he did. Martha, you're looking at it. I know you're not believing it hardly, but I want you to know that I have that power to raise people. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever believeth, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Martha, Martha, believest thou this? Here goes Martha. Yay, Lord! I got it. I got it. I know what you're saying. I understand. I believe everything you say. Martha, you believe this? Yes. Yay, Lord. I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. She set her peace. She set her heart. She knew what God said, what the Lord said. And she said, I know, I believe, I've got it. I know who you are. And I believe everything you say. She had no more questions to ask. She had no doubt in her mind. She didn't go away doubting and questioning. He said he's the resurrection. What else do you want to hear? He said, it's all in me. I'm the one that'll do it. I'm the one that can. I am the resurrection and the life. He said, believe me, though we're dead, though he were dead, Lazarus, though we were dead, yet shall he live. Well, Martha, I believe you. You know, her faith, I marvel at her faith. Unquestionable. He said it, it's truth. There's no sense trying to pick it apart and see something different in it. He said it, I believe it. Yeah, I believe. He said, yay, Lord, I believe that. I got no questions in my mind, no doubt in my mind. You said it, I believe it. Would you say she had good faith? Would you say that she had grown marvelously in faith, comparable to most people? I mean, look at all the other ones back in these other chapters. My, they say they believe it and turn around and go against him. But Martha says, yep. I believe no problem there. I understand thou art the Christ, the son of God, which should come into the world." And when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary. It's your turn, Mary. She called Mary, her sister, secretly saying, master is come and call her for thee. As soon as she heard that, Mary said, rose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet coming to the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. And the Jews, when they were with him in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary rise, that Mary rose up hastily and went out, followed her saying, she goeth to the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and she saw him, What did she do? I'm saying these two women, I marvel at them. She's gonna say the same thing, but I want you to see the reverence. I want you to see the fear of God, how she honors him. Hey, her heart's broken. Her brother's dead. He's been dead four days. Her heart's broken. falls down at the Lord's feet, saying unto the Lord Jesus, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews weeping, which came with her, He groaned in his spirit. Now, let me get away from the sympathy just for a minute. If you've got a strong syncordance, I challenge you to look at that word groan. Twice it says in here that he groaned. Actually the word means, the meaning of the word groaned carries the meaning with it to be snorting with anger. Now if you looked at a Strong's Accordance, when it says groaning, the first interpretation of it is snorting with anger. Both women accused Him. He loved them. They loved Him. But both women accused Him of letting their brother die. Both of them. You see, Jesus not only is the Son of Man, but He's Son of God. And Jesus knows how those spirits move in the minds of people. No doubt he excused them, but just the thought, just the thought in his mind how that the devil was doing his best to try to defeat this. He was taking the most precious people that Jesus communed with, ate with, prayed with, instructed, And these people thought in their mind, he didn't do what he ought to do. He didn't really try. He didn't spare my brother. He let him die. Jesus let him die. I mean, you loved him. He's the one you loved. But Martha's message said, He's the one that he whom thou lovest is sick. Martha, Mary, you let him die. You let him die. Jesus groaned in his spirit. Hurt, no doubt. He was misunderstood. That's the way we are a lot of times. You could put your shoes in here. And there's times people's gone through trials and hardships and you've prayed and they didn't improve. Things didn't change. Who gets the blame? You've heard it. Good night. When we have some tragic event in the United States, like those airplanes heading for the buildings. What did they say? What did the news men say? Where's God? Where is God? No, He's still there and in control. You just don't know Him. Your ways are not His ways and your thoughts are not His thoughts. You don't live in that realm of the spiritual realm. My thought of that verse over in Romans talks about how that how good things work, how does it work out for the best for us? Talks about how that we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose. Oh no! Who believes that? And all don't always work out good. It didn't work out for them too. Up till now it didn't. Would you agree? They didn't think it worked out for their good. I'm trying to let you see into the mind of Christ what he's groaning in his spirit over. They don't understand. They won't realize who I am. They don't know me. They don't believe me really. He's battling this in his mind. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping, which came with her. He groaned in his spirit and was troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said, Lord, come and see. And Jesus, humanity broke out. I guess he had enough. The Son of God could handle it, but the Son of Man, it got to him. He had a tender heart, and he did weep. He saw their tears. the tears of the Jews, and Jesus wept. Shows that what he teaches us, to weep with those that weep, to rejoice with those that rejoice, enter into their lives Make them know that you feel it. It's not something that just happens. Make them know that you feel a part of their sorrow and their grief. Let them sense your heart. Jesus could have been hard-hearted there. My, after all they said, the humanity part, overcoming, and he wept. wept for their love, how they've shown their love to Him. This is the last place. This is the last place and the last time He needed to be corrective and straighten them out and show them how foolish they were in their reasoning. No, not here. Not now. It'll come. They'll see. They'll see. Just wait on the Lord in due time. and due time. Where have you laid him? They said, Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. I'm not gonna go any further in this message. I hope you see, I hope you see the heart of God and how it is to him when we just don't understand him. And it certainly happens at times. We're, our minds are not on his ways. We won't enter into his ways. We don't, we don't acknowledge that he has ways that are not like we would do things. If it had been me, I'd have run up there and given some medicine. Jesus had other motives that would help him and that he would be glorified and they would recognize him to be the Messiah. The Lord knows best. All things work together for them to love God, called according to his purpose. He knows what's best, though we don't see it, though we argue against it. I want you to just get a picture. I want all of us, I want my mind to get a picture of how times we argue with God. Lord, it looks like you don't care. Looks like you don't understand. It looks like you're failing us. You're not doing what we want you to do. Tell me where he laid him. We'll see. We'll see. Let's see it. There's such a message there. There's such a message there of our lacking spiritual understanding. The Apostle Paul deals with it in the beginning of 1 Corinthians, and he helps us with it, and we just miss it so often. He says, which things also we speak, not with words which man's wisdom speaketh, teacheth, but what the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual with spiritual. You can't compare spiritual with natural. It won't fit. And that's why a lot of times you get confused about the word of God. You get confused about the way things go. You try to make both realms work together and they don't work that way. His ways are above our ways. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolish, and neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The way we respond, I want you to listen to me just for a second. The way we respond to God's Word determines our growth. If we lack spiritual discernment, God's Word is not blamed, the Holy Spirit of God is not blamed. You find in Hebrews chapter 5 a rebuke for failing to grow to understanding the Word of God and be able to discern between the right and the wrong. It should be, as you grow spiritually, it should be crystal clear, not a bunch of question marks. This is all right, this is all right. No, no, no. It should be crystal clear, exactly what God wants you to do in your life. Father, in Jesus' name, you're good to me, and I bless your name, and I thank you for the time this morning. Thank you for the help. I pray that something in the message speaks to each one. I pray that it would awaken us all No doubt every one of us are guilty at times at arguing with you, maybe even casting doubtful thoughts towards you. How foolish, how vain. The psalmist even said, I hate vain thoughts and boy, we have them. I pray Lord that we'd learn some lessons from this, from Martha and Mary. They no doubt meant well, and I believe with all my heart they loved him. I got no doubt in my mind they loved him and they worshiped him, yet they'd accuse him. Boy, we fall into that, guilty. Help us, I pray, to grow to where we have unwavering faith, To where we believe you completely, without doubt, without question, without inserting our views and opinions. Yea, Lord. Martha said, I believe. Thank you. Thank you for the instructions and righteousness in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You are dismissed. Yeah.