This morning we will be in the Gospel of John chapter 11, so please turn your Bibles to John chapter 11. We will be reading the first 44 verses, so 1 through 44. John 11, 1 through 44. Hear now the Word of the Lord. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to him saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard this, he said, this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve 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. This he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of his sleep. The disciples then said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. Therefore, Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go so that we may die with him. So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world. When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying secretly, the teacher is here and he is calling for you. And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, see how He loved him. But some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man also from dying? So Jesus again, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was laying against it. And Jesus said, remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me. Because of the people standing around, I said it, so that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Thus concludes the reading of God's word. Let us pray and ask the Lord to bless the preaching of His Word. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank You this morning and we pray that You would please be among us and please bless the preaching of Your Word, that Your people would be nourished, that they would be edified, and that our Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified. In His name we pray. Amen. It has been said that there are only two things that are certain in this life, death and taxes. Scripture testifies that it is appointed for man to die once, and after this comes death. Death is not only certain, but it is painful. Although not always, but it is sometimes painful for those who experience it. But it certainly always is painful for those left behind. Those who loved dearly the one who has died. And we live in a time in history and in society that doesn't think much about death. There is so much death in television and movies that it almost seems fictional. And people don't think about their own death, about their own mortality in a serious manner. At least not until they experience death, or the death of a loved one, or are staring death right in the face. And for them, those who do not believe in Jesus, who do not believe in God, what a tragedy it is to experience the death of a loved one and have no hope of ever seeing them again. If we consider what is life apart from Christ and in the light of the reality and certainty of death, life is pointless, meaningless, and hopeless. But herein lies the great truth and hope that only believers, Christians, can have. And that is that in Christ, there is eternal life for all those who believe in Him. Because He is the resurrection and the life. It is because of who He is, we have hope that though we die, One day we will live. Our text this morning deals with this very difficult issue of death. But it gives us hope that for those who are in Christ, by faith, death will not have the last word. In this narrative, we come to the last miraculous sign that John records in his gospel. This sign is the climax, the pinnacle of Jesus' miraculous signs found in the gospel in his earthly ministry. Though Jesus had performed many signs as John himself acknowledges, he organizes his gospel to communicate his message about who Jesus Christ is by including only seven major signs or miracles of Jesus. Keep in mind also that a sign was not for the purpose of mere show. A sign, whether done by Jesus or one of the apostles, was always to confirm, to validate the message and ministry of the one who performed the sign. Jesus has been claiming to not only be the Christ through His signs and teachings, but by those same signs and teachings, He has claimed to be God in the flesh, to be the source of eternal life for all those who believe. The sign found in this chapter, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, is the conclusive sign, the sign of all signs in Jesus' earthly ministry that confirms His identity as the Christ and as God in the flesh. And as the Christ, Jesus is the source of life. the resurrection and the life, proving definitively that He is God. And because He is God, we can trust Jesus in our most difficult trials because He has defeated our great enemy, death. Let us look then to our text and see these wonderful truths this morning. And let us do so then by looking at three major things in our text. First, the purposeful delay of Jesus. The purposeful delay of Jesus. And secondly, the comforting presence of Jesus. The comforting presence of Jesus. And then lastly, the sovereign authority of Jesus. The sovereign authority of Jesus. Let us look at our first point. The purposeful delay of Jesus. Imagine you are away from your home on business, and you get a call that someone you love dearly is in the hospital. Death is certain, but the timing is unknown. All you know is that it is urgent. It could come at any moment. And you have the ability to go to that person and see them and be with them, the family, and comfort them. I think many of us in this situation would immediately drop what we're doing and go to this individual. Go see this person in the hospital. We would excuse ourselves and leave. But none of us, I think, would continue in that situation, wait a couple days, and then go see our loved one who was about to die. The situation that arises in our text, the conflict that arises, is similar on the one hand, but also quite different on the other. Your presence at the hospital, unfortunately, would not prevent the death from taking place. As much as we would like to do something to prevent it, ultimately, there is nothing that we can do to prevent death from taking place. But in the situation in our text this morning, Jesus could have done something to prevent the death of his beloved friend, Lazarus. In this first section, in verses 1-16, we are told at the very beginning that Lazarus was one whom the Lord loved. Look at verse 3, "...Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick." Martha and Mary both knew how much the Lord loved their brother. But not only Lazarus, in verse 5 we are told that Jesus also loved Martha and Mary as well. And because Jesus loved them, and because Jesus loved Lazarus, and because he had the power and the authority to prevent the death of Lazarus, they send messengers to Jesus telling him that Lazarus is sick. And I'm sure that they expected Jesus to immediately respond and set out to see Lazarus and prevent death from taking place. But that is not what happens. We read a difficult statement in verse 6. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, it says, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. You would expect to read something like this. So when Jesus heard that he was sick, he immediately went to Lazarus. But he doesn't do that. When he heard that Lazarus, his beloved friend, was sick, he intentionally stayed longer. Did he not care for Lazarus? Did he not love him? Did he not love Martha and Mary enough to go visit their brother who was sick and to heal him and prevent his death? Of course He loved them. And I think this is what makes it so hard to understand that someone whom Jesus loves, who is suffering, who is in need, who is about to die, and who needs Him to be, who needs Him there, and He doesn't go to him immediately. He delays in going to Him. Why would some, why would He do this? It was only after two days that Jesus tells his disciples, let us go to Judea again. They briefly attempt to dissuade him from that by reminding him that the Jews or the religious leaders were attempting to kill him. They were now seeking to stone him. It is at this point that Jesus reveals the situation to his disciples in verse 11. Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I go so that I may awaken him out of his sleep." And Jesus did not fear the Jews. He knew what he had to do, and as always, he was faithful to his Father in doing those things that he had been called to do. Of course, the disciples misunderstand Jesus as usual and assume that he is speaking of literal sleep. Lord, if he is falling asleep, he will recover. He is sick. He needs to rest. Let him sleep a little more. He will recover. He will be well. At which point, Jesus tells him plainly, Lazarus is dead. And on top of the delay, he says something else that is hard to understand on its own. He says, I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him now. The delay after hearing that Lazarus was sick And this statement, taken on their own apart from anything else, might be confusing and difficult for us to understand. It might give the impression that Jesus did not really love Lazarus. In fact, this is what is assumed of Jesus because of his actions by some of the people. We see this in verses 36 and 37. After Jesus weeps for Lazarus, some of the Jews were saying, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man also from dying? If he loved him so much, why didn't he keep him from dying? Why didn't he come earlier? Up to this point, the healing of the blind man had been the pinnacle of His signs. He had performed such a marvelous sign in healing a stranger. Could He not have done the same for Lazarus, whom He loved? If He loved him so much, why didn't He heal him? And this is the point of the delay. Had Jesus gone to Lazarus, He would have done what had already been done before. He had healed the nobleman's son and prevented him from dying What is happening here is that Jesus is building upon all the previous signs. And the height, the pinnacle of this sign is here, of all His signs is here. What Jesus shows here is that there is no inconsistency in Jesus loving Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, and His delaying. Because there was a purpose. And we can say there was a loving purpose. A good purpose for His delay. Jesus knew well the purpose and the outcome of this tragic situation. He says in verse 4, This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified. Everything, from the beginning of His ministry, all the signs that He did, all of His teachings, all pointed to Him being the Christ, the Son of God. This is what we have been seeing time and again. This sickness, was not to end in death as its final result, as its end goal. And this is what Jesus is saying. Death would not have the final saying. This is what differentiates this situation from the hypothetical one at the beginning of this point. In that situation, death is certain and final because we can't do anything about it. Once we've exhausted every possible treatment, there is nothing that can stop death from taking place. But in this situation, Jesus could do something. Death would not have the final say. Jesus would literally have the last word. And the purpose for this sickness then was not to end in death. The sickness, as well as the death, were part of the greater purpose of God, to show Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh, the one who has life in himself, the one who is the source of eternal life. And in showing this, the Son of God would be glorified. The ultimate purpose of this sickness, of the death of Lazarus, is not to end in death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified. Now, when we consider our death that is certain, that is sure to come, or when we consider the death of a loved one, or when we consider the dark and threatening trials that are facing you now or will face you in the future, we cannot and dare not look at those trials apart from the good purpose of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. If we do, whatever delay in response, whatever delay in action, whatever delay in comfort, whatever delay in experience on the part of God, will make our trials much more difficult. We will fail to see the purpose in this trial. We may be tempted to see this delay as proof that God does not hear us, that God does not care for us. that the present result or the present trial could have something else, could have been something else if only God would have acted sooner. But beloved, whatever comes our way, that is the way that God had purposed it. That is the way that God has ordained it. And that is the way that it was supposed to take place. This doesn't mean that we should not take responsibility for our decisions or our actions, or that we should not take precautionary steps to avoid trials. We should, and we are called to. But this means that on top of all of that, God has ordained every one of your trials for His glory and for your own good. That trial that you are experiencing or will experience will not have the last word. Jesus' delay is purposeful, intentional, and shows that He knows what He is doing. But it also shows something else about this trial, about death. And that is that in the midst of the trial, of the death of our loved ones, and one day our own death, not only is there a purpose, but there is love. Jesus' love for Martha and Mary and for Lazarus, whom he loved, whom he allowed to pass away, is not diminished or contradicted by his death. His love, rather, is expressed and magnified so much more, even in his delaying, because of the greater purpose that Jesus had for them. He would demonstrate his love Not by simply healing Him or whatever it was that He passed away from, but by giving Him life, by restoring to Him life. By bringing Him back from the dead. By proving conclusively to them and all who believe that He is God. He is the Son of God, the Christ. The love of Jesus is not, therefore, incompatible with His delays. The love of Jesus is not incompatible with our trials that He Himself allows. It is in our trials, in our darkest hour, that the love of Jesus shines brightest. And it is even in our very darkest hour that Jesus is present to light our path. And this brings us to our second point this morning. We have seen the purposeful delay, and we can even say the loving delay of Jesus, in relation to death and trials. Let us now look at the comforting presence of Jesus in death and trials. The comforting presence of Jesus. What we see in this section, verses 17 through 28, is the struggle and trial of faith. On the one hand, they are struggling, Martha and Mary, to understand the death of their brother. And on the other, they are still trusting in the Lord, trusting in who He is and what He has promised. We see this in their interaction with Jesus. By the time that Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days. and as intense as the confrontations were between Jesus and the religious leaders, as incompetent as they were as spiritual leaders, yet they were there doing what they were supposed to in this situation. They were comforting Martha and Mary. But in the hour of darkness, the great hour when one is facing death or one is experiencing the death of a loved one, no earthly thing, no earthly teacher or ungodly teacher can comfort the soul. Only Jesus, His presence and His word can truly comfort even in the midst of pain and grieving. We see this great comfort when Martha first hears that Jesus is coming. Without considering the guests and the religious leaders, she went out to meet him. When she reaches him, we find her casting her grief before him, while at the same time expressing her faith in him. She says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. So you can see the faith here that she has in Jesus. She knows that even now, whatever he asks of God, God will give to him. But you can also see the hurt, the pain, the confusion, the weakness of faith, the lack of understanding why Jesus didn't just come sooner. If you had been here, my brother would not have died. If only you had done what I expected you to do, as I wanted you to do, Lazarus would not have died. This is essentially what she is saying. And beloved, sometimes we can see one way and one way alone to remedy a situation. But God sees differently. He sees according to His eternal purpose and decree, and He acts accordingly to bring about His plan and His purpose for the manifestation of His glory and the glory of the Son. Now, in this particular situation, you can't blame them for thinking there was only one way to prevent the death of her brother. And so she struggles and she keeps her faith in Jesus. Her faith was being affected by her emotions. Not just after death, but not just after the death of her brother, but even before. Now, did Jesus really need to come and be present to heal her brother? Recall the son of the royal official in John 4. The official there is distraught, heavy laden with concern and worry and sadness because his son is sick and is close to dying. And the man, the royal official, comes to Jesus desperate and he says, come to my son, heal him, he's about to die. And does Jesus go with the man? Does he go to the son? No, he doesn't. Jesus, without being physically present, from a great distance, heals the boy. He says to the official, go, your son lives. Jesus, though physically absent, was nevertheless able to heal the official's son. But overwhelmed by her emotions, Martha complains because she does not understand. She does not know the purpose of God in this situation. It doesn't mean there was no purpose, because there was, as we just saw. It simply means that Martha did not know the purpose, and we don't always know the purpose of our trials. But this narrative teaches us that even if there is some other hidden purpose for death or some other trial, God's ultimate purpose is for His glory, that Christ would be glorified, and ultimately that we would benefit from it. We notice the same thing with Martha's sister, Mary. She too confronts Jesus in the same way. But before Mary confronts Jesus, Jesus gives Martha and John's readers the greatest comfort of all regarding death. He reminds her who he is and clarifies the hope that they have because of him, because of who he is. Look at verse 23. He says, your brother will rise again. And Martha said, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus says to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha knew about the resurrection of the dead from the Old Testament Scriptures. But Jesus here is clarifying that hope. Yes, there is a resurrection to come, Martha. But I am the resurrection and the life. And what Jesus wants to make clear is that He is the source. I am the resurrection and the life. He is a source. And this is something that He has been saying throughout His teaching. That He is the source of eternal life. He is a source of the living waters that flow continually, unendingly unto eternal life. He is the bread of life. He is the light of men, which is the light of life. The life of men. So, in His teaching, He has been teaching this very crucial, very important point that He, and in Him, is the source of all life. That if anyone is to have life, it is going to be through Him. Because He is the door. He is the source. Now, what does He mean when He says, He who believes in Me will live again even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die? This may be confusing and difficult to understand. What does He mean by this? Before we understand this, we need to understand why this is possible. It is because of who Jesus is. God will indeed raise Lazarus from the dead on the last day, but Jesus once again, and with full force, and with all the science behind Him supporting and validating His teaching and His identity, all of His signs culminating here, Jesus takes the divine name of God for Himself. And we cannot miss that. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. But the word there again, I am, is the ego eimi, the I am of the Old Testament. I am, I, the God of Moses and the resurrection and the life. It is because of who Jesus is that believers have hope and assurance that they will be raised from the dead. And this promise is only for those who believe. As Jesus says, the one who believes in me will live even if he dies. When dead sinners are made alive and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are united together with Him through faith. They become partakers of the life that Jesus provides, eternal life. Thus, Jesus is the life, eternal life. And because of this, even if or when believers die physically as Lazarus did here, they will live again. They have that promise because they have eternal life. They will never die eternally. Beloved, this is our hope. When you die in Christ, believing in Christ, you will live again. Your loved ones who have died in Christ will live again. Your grandparents who died in Christ will live again. Your father or mother who have died in Christ will live again. Your spouse who has died in Christ will live again. Your son, your daughter who has died in Christ will live again. Not because they have the authority and power within themselves to bring this about, but because they died united to Christ. who alone has the power and authority to raise from the dead, because He alone is the resurrection and the life. He is the source of eternal life. And this is the comfort that the presence of Christ brought to Martha and Mary as they mourned for their brother. His abiding presence reminds us of who He is and what He has promised. And this is the only thing that truly brings comfort to grieving and weary souls. The comfort of Jesus' presence. The comfort of knowing that through our trials, as we make our way to our heavenly home, Christ is present with us. He is present through His Spirit, and He is present through His Word, through His promises, And so we have hope. And because we live in Him, we will never die eternally. We may die physically and temporally, but not spiritually and eternally in hell. And the key to this comfort The key to this comfort is faith. It is because of the weakness in the faith of Martha and Mary that they struggled to understand. And so Jesus explains this wonderful truth and He asks Martha, do you believe this? And that is the question that we all must answer. Do you believe this? Do we believe this? If so, then this hope is yours. This hope is ours. This promise is ours by faith. One thing that we should not miss as we consider the comforting presence of Jesus is that He is not a distant participant. He is not one who is a stranger to our infirmities, our weaknesses. Scripture tells us that we can draw near to the throne of grace in time of need, in times of such trials, because we have such a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, with our pain, with our grief, because He has been tempted in all things, just as we have, yet without sin. He has experienced the grief, the anger, the pain, the anguish and suffering that you have experienced. And He can sympathize with you. After His conversation with Martha and Mary, and sees everyone weeping, John tells us that Jesus was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. The word translated here as deeply moved is an intense word carrying the idea of being indignant. It is to have an intense, strong feeling of concern, often with the implication of indignation. On the one hand, as he sees the devastation, the pain, and the hurt because of death, because of the death of Lazarus, he is indignant. Why? Death was not natural to mankind. God originally intended for man to live eternally, but scripture tells us that it is an account of sin, the first sin committed by the first man ever created, Adam, that death entered into the world and has since become the common and certain reality in life. He is indignant at sin and death and the destruction and pain that they cause. But on the other hand, He is troubled in His spirit because of the love that He has for Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Because they are experiencing the loss of His friend and seeing the suffering of Martha and Mary and the rest. Because of this, He is moved with great compassion and John says that Jesus wept. And here we see the emotion, the compassion and sympathy that Christ has and that He experienced as well. And beloved, in such times, it is okay to weep. It is okay to cry your heart out for the loss of your loved ones. Scripture never forbids weeping when we grieve. But it does tell us that because of the great hope that we have in Jesus Christ, that though we die, though we have loved ones that die, we ought not to grieve, to cry, to mourn as those that have no hope. Because they have died in Christ, they will live again. When they die, they are presently with the Lord. And one day when He returns, they will be risen bodily and will be with the Lord forever. It is indeed very sad and tragic when people die separated from Christ. That would be something to really be mournful about and crying. But for believers who die in Christ, again, we have this great hope. And the most comforting thing anyone can have In the most darkest trial, when one is facing death or experiencing the death of a loved one, is to be confronted with the truth and reality of who Jesus is, and to be reminded of His promises. In such times, we need to be comforted by His loving presence. No earthly thing can ever provide the comfort we need in such times. Only Jesus will do, for He is with us in our trials, even if we don't always perceive Him. If we do not see the sun in the sky because it is hidden by the dark and tempestuous clouds, we do not conclude that the sun is not there. Its rays and warmth are merely veiled by the clouds and the storm. Similarly, when we encounter the dark and tempestuous storms of life, We should not conclude that the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is not there because we do not have a clear view of Him or feel the soothing warmth of His light. At the right time, Jesus came down to comfort Martha and Mary, even though He was already with them in spirit when He first heard the news. Only Jesus will do. But we, as fellow brethren, can bring Christ to them. Jesus uses us to comfort one another with his truths, with his word, with his promises, with hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs. But a promise is no good if the one who promises can't deliver. But we have confidence because Jesus not only promises, but is able to do it because of His sovereignty and authority over life and death. And He will now prove this to His audience. And this brings us to our third and final point this morning, the sovereign authority of Jesus. As I mentioned, a promise is not good if the one who promises can't deliver. Jesus has been saying that He is the source of eternal life, that in Him is life, that when He was talking in John chapter 2 about the temple, He said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. Remember, He was talking about Himself. He was foreshadowing that He would die and be risen on the third day. So Jesus has been teaching this, that He has the authority to lay down His life, to raise it up again. He has the power of life. He has the authority to give life to whom He wishes. And now, here is the hour. The moment where He will now prove this to His audience. And so, He asks Martha and Mary where they have laid Him, and they take Him to the tomb. And John, so when they get to the tomb, there is a stone there laid on the tomb, and he asks them to take the stone away. And John inserts an interesting statement here by Martha, one that will establish the fact that he really is dead. John didn't simply swoon. He was dead. He had died. And as Jesus asks for the stone to be taken away, she replies by saying, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead for four days. I think most of us or many of us have heard the King James version of this statement by Mary. And I think it's a better, it's better. She says, Lord, by this time he stinketh. But this shows that Lazarus was really dead. His body was decomposing and therefore it stunk, it smelled bad. But He again reassures her with His promise. And having removed the stone, He prays. And He says, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I know that You always hear Me. But because of the people standing around, I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me. Jesus lifts up His eyes and prays. And this prayer, what we see here, this is a prayer of thanksgiving. We don't see a petition here. Jesus is not asking. God to raise Lazarus from the dead. We assume from this that He has already been asking, but now He's thanking in public so that the people will what? So that the people may believe that God sent Him. This is in line, in harmony with John's purpose. That people would read the Gospel and believe and come to faith in Christ. So Jesus prays to His Father And what we see here then also in this prayer that he has been praying for Martha, for Mary, for Lazarus, is we see the nature of Jesus as our intercessor, as our mediator. And this is the blessing that we have in the New Covenant. Remember Martha's faith, we saw her faith when she says, whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Which is a true statement, right? Whatever Christ asks of God, He will give him. And this is the blessing that we have in the New Covenant, that all those in this New Covenant, in this New Covenant that is made and ratified by the blood of Christ, all of the members of this Covenant have Jesus Christ as their mediator, as the author of Hebrews says. As New Covenant members, He must and does intercede for us. And whatever He asks of the Father, the Father does. And if Jesus is mediating, interceding on our behalf, how can any one of us ever be lost? Because Christ is interceding for us. He is asking of the Father for us. And the Father will give Him what He asks. Jesus had prayed and given thanks to His Father. And now the resolution to this great conflict is about to take place. And with a loud voice, With a shout, Jesus cries out, Lazarus, come forth. Some commentators have said that he had to say Lazarus, otherwise all the people in tombs would have come forth. So he's like, no, no, no, not all you guys, just Lazarus, you come forth. But here, as Jesus speaks to Lazarus and calls him to come forth, with everyone looking in anticipation, what Jesus said and claimed about himself is so amazingly validated right here, when Lazarus obeyed. The one who had been dead for four days obeyed. In John 5, Jesus had said, And this is exactly what happened here. This is not just a mere human authority, because none of us could ever do this. If I or you go to a cemetery and start calling people to come out of their graves, how many people do you think will come out of their graves? None. I don't care what authority you have on earth. You cannot call people from the dead. But Jesus' authority here is a sovereign and divine authority. When He calls, people obey. In this case, He called Lazarus and He obeyed. So this is the glorious and this last wonderful great miracle that we see here Christ performing. And one thing that I want to draw, one application that I want to draw from this before we conclude. Before I came to Reform Theology, I had heard many people use this illustration as an example of how God calls dead sinners to life, and why we can't, in and of ourselves, come to Christ And I never understood it. I never agreed with it. I always thought, no, there's something wrong there. Because obviously I can hear, you know, Lazarus was dead. Dead people can't hear. So of course they can't obey. But a sinner who's alive can hear the gospel and they can choose to believe. But what I was missing here is that I was confusing the analogy. Here is a picture of a man who, not a picture, but a narrative of a man who was dead, had no life in him. What did he need in order for him to obey the command of Jesus to come forth? He needed life. He needed life to hear the voice, to understand the words, and the strength of life to be able to then obey in His will and then come forth. So He needed all these physical things in order to obey this call. But Scripture tells us that all of us are dead spiritually. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. So a person can hear the gospel preached powerfully and mightily, but they will not come to Christ. They will not believe in Christ as long as they remain dead. Because the call to believe in Christ, the call to come to Christ, is not a physical call necessarily. It's a spiritual call. I mean, yes, we repent and we can see the works as a result. But coming to faith in Christ, is a spiritual action that requires spiritual life. And until God, Christ, gives us life, we will not come. But this is what we see here. God calls Lazarus, and God calls us. He has called us. And that is the only way that we will ever be able to come to Him. And we are thankful this morning that those of us that are here God called us. Christ called us by name. As we saw in Jesus as the Good Shepherd, that He knows His sheep by name. He calls you by name. When you were dead in trespasses and sins, when you were an enemy of Christ, He called you by name and He said, Mark, come forth. And you came forth. He called me, Jaime, come forth. Harry, come forth and you came, you obeyed because He gave you life. And they should humble us. And because we came, because we now believe, we have this great promise that we will live even if we die. We have a great hope that one day our Lord will return for us. And this sign is a foretaste, a picture of that great day of resurrection. Now this coming back from the dead of Lazarus is not the same kind of resurrection that we will experience. He came back with the same earthly mortal body and he died again. It was a picture, a foretaste of what was to come. Our resurrection will be like the one of Christ. We will be raised with immortal bodies, spiritual bodies, heavenly bodies. They'll still be material, but heavenly as in spirit-led bodies, spirit-filled bodies, incorruptible, without sin, without blemish, perfect. That is the hope that we have in Christ because He is God in the flesh. because Christ has defeated death for us. That is why we have this wonderful hope. Therefore, because of who He is, we can trust Jesus and find our utmost comfort in Him, in our darkest and most difficult trials, because He is the God who is sovereign over all of them. He has defeated the great enemy of God's people, death. Therefore, we should trust in Him. The only way that we can ever make sense of this great enemy, death, is by understanding who Jesus is, and that though we may not know everything He is planning to accomplish, we know that He has promised to accomplish the great purpose of raising His people from the dead. Beloved, those dearly beloved who have left us are not forgotten, not by us, not by our Lord. He loves them just as He loved Lazarus. But if they died in Christ, they died believing the promise that though they die, yet they would live again, and they will. So mourn, cry, but again, do not mourn as those who have no hope. We have a hope, a great and glorious hope, that we will be raised from the dead. The purpose of Lazarus' sickness, which led to his death, was not to end here in death. The death of God's saints is precious to him because when they die, they die faithfully. They die in Christ. And our death will not have the final word. Though we die, we will one day hear the voice of our Lord, the Almighty, calling out our names. Come forth, and we will come forth from the tombs, from the graves, and we will always be with Him. But to those who have not believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, Know this. You will die. It is certain. You will die without Christ, and therefore you will die in your sins. And for such, death will have the last word. And one day you too will hear the voice of our Lord calling you by name. Come forth. Only it will not be unto the resurrection of life, but to the resurrection of judgment. Trust in Him. Believe upon Christ. Trust your life and your soul to Him. Cast yourself upon Him. Confess your sins to Him, for He is merciful. He is gentle. He delights to save. He is loving, and He is mighty and powerful and authoritative. He will forgive all your sins. He will make you spiritually alive, so that one day you too may experience the resurrection of life. Because Jesus and Him alone, the Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh, He is the resurrection and the life.