Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. It is not just, Lord, please come and help us, but it is, Lord, he whom thou lovest, the one with whom you have a special relationship, the one with whom you feel very, very close. Say, listen, this morning, it is not about religion, it is about a relationship. A relationship. A real and living and genuine relationship that the Lord Jesus Christ desires to have with every person in this room. And an argument that comes against that sometimes is, well, Pastor, if God loves me, why do the things take place in my life that happen? And I will say this to us, though we don't always understand, it is because God loves us that things happen. Sometimes that we view as bad, but God himself is working in ways that we cannot understand. And so they requested that Jesus would come. After all, certainly, wouldn't Jesus hasten his way to save Lazarus, who, after all, was a close personal friend? Wouldn't Jesus be in a big hurry to get there to make sure he could enact a healing? Both Mary and Martha believed that he could do exactly that, and they had seen these things and understood, to a certain degree at least, whom the Lord was. And so they called for Jesus to come. Look at verse number four. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified. Now pause for a moment. But Lazarus did die. He did. Now note the words of Jesus. The sickness is not unto death. The goal of the sickness was not death. The goal of the sickness was not that Lazarus' life would end. There was a greater goal. Oh, the sickness would take place and the death did take place. Lazarus really died. He was four days in the grave. By that time, according to Martha, he stinketh. He was four days in the grave. But notice the words Jesus said, the end game is not a sickness unto death. but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When he had therefore, when he had heard therefore that he, Lazarus, was sick, he, Jesus, abode two days still in the same place where he was. That is a very curious verse in the Bible. Because here is Jesus having been notified of the serious sickness of not just an individual to whom he had ministered, but of a close personal friend. And Mary and Martha's intent, obviously, in sending word as swiftly as they did, was that the Lord would come very quickly and intervene so that the sickness would not be unto death. Jesus, knowing all things from the beginning, said the end goal of the sickness is not ultimately death, though he knew that Lazarus would die. But he said, the end goal is to glorify God. And therefore, though she had sent a messenger, the sister said, with great haste, though that messenger had gone forth with great haste, guess what happened? Jesus therefore tarried two days. Now, to be honest with you, that is nearly unthinkable. Jesus tarried two days, and he did it because Mary and Martha were in a hurry to get him to come? We don't like to wait, do we? We don't like to be put on hold. How many have been recently in a phone conversation put on hold? Okay, you're the lucky ones who actually spoke to a human being. The other day I was calling my doctor about something. I had a question for him, and I never actually talked to him. Pastor, what happened? It answered automatically. But then it gave me options. Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the options? I have. In fact, the list is so long, you find yourself with a pencil and a piece of paper, jotting down, OK, number one is this, number two is this, number three is that. And I'm listening to the options. All of a sudden, he goes through this whole catalog of options. And then all of a sudden, it says, and now if this is a real emergency, call 911. And the thought occurred to me, I'd probably get to speak to a human being. If I dial 9-1-1, however, they don't like it if it's not a real emergency, so don't go doing that. And I went through this whole rigmarole, and then it started in with this thing, if your doctor is Dr. So-and-so, press this. If your doctor is Dr. So-and-so, press this. And then a list of names. And finally I thought, well, we're going to go through the whole phone book on the list of names. And on and on it went. If you want to set an appointment, do this. If you're sick, do this. And you know what happened? It became so overwhelming that I just said, I hung up the phone and said, I'll answer the question myself. And so I went online. The fount of all medical knowledge and figured it out for myself. What I'm saying is this, you don't like to be put on hold. Now, now, as a pastor, I understand some things about this. If someone's having a personal emergency, by the way, my cell phone number is published in the church bulletin. So if you take a moment sometime today to put that, enter it into your phone book contact, just in case, just in the the wild case you may need me. My cell phone number is listed in the church bulletin, and I'd encourage you to call. But wouldn't it be outrageous? Wouldn't you think, well, Pastor Monty, we're having a personal emergency. We need you to come immediately. We've got someone who's very, very sick. In fact, they're very near to death. Pastor, we want you to come immediately. We'll see you after a while. Here's where they are, what hospital. Gives me the room number, hangs up. What would you think if I waited two days? You'd be like, what's the pastor doing? And with no, by the way, good excuse and no reason. What if I waited two days and not only didn't have a good excuse or a good reason, but what if I said, well, yes, I waited two days on purpose? and actually waited for the person to pass away. May I say that you'd likely have to get a new pastor. People would run me out on the rail. That is exactly what Jesus did, but he did so for a higher purpose. Congregation, please listen to me about something. God's timing in our lives is perfect even when we don't understand. God's timing in our lives is perfect even when we don't understand. When he does not meet our timing, It is still perfect. When we cannot see the purpose, it is still perfect. And Jesus purposely tarried two days, allowing Lazarus to die, made the journey, by the time he gets there, Lazarus has been in the grave for four days! And surely he stinketh. And someone said, Pastor, that stinketh. And the truth of the matter is, God had a bigger plan. Let me talk about God's timing for a moment. Though Jesus' delay was initially deadly to Lazarus, it had a greater purpose. When God delays in your life, you say, Pastor, I've prayed about something over and over and over again and I just can't get God to answer. When God delays in your life, I want to remind you of some things. Number one, number one, God loves us. Look at verse three. We read it a moment ago. Verse number three, John 11. Therefore the sisters, his sisters, sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Drop down to verse number five. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Verse number six. When he heard, therefore he was sick, he abode two days still. Congregation, listen to me. God's delay in your life in answering a prayer or meeting a need does not indicate that God does not love you. In fact, it may be very well the opposite, that there is a God in heaven who loves you so much that he understands the value of the delay. Now, I'll be honest, we live in a day of instant everything. Fast food. I was perusing television one night and they had a study they were doing about fast food restaurants and who has the fastest drive-thru. Does anyone know who has the fastest drive-thru? Who said Wendy's? Y'all watch entirely too much TV, okay? I mean, I'm supposed to convey to you the intelligence of television, but they said, Wendy, the fastest, and they had done experiments. I don't know who pays people to do this, but I certainly would love to be on that payroll. They pay people to go through these lines and to go through the lines on multiple times at different restaurants and to average the time that it takes to receive your meal at the window. Can you imagine this? Maybe we should do this. Maybe after church we should do this, but they take time, they control, and down to the second, and so people say, boy, if you want your food fast, go to Wendy's. But you know why we think that way? Because we can't stand to wait. Because with us, everything has to be instantaneous. And I'm afraid that people have taken that view of God, and have said, if God doesn't answer on my timetable, that somehow he doesn't love me. How many have, well you've all experienced this at one time or another in your life, the scourge of instant potatoes? Oh yeah, oh yeah. Instant potatoes are a bad thing. We don't allow them in the Monty house. They don't show love. When each potato is held in my wife's hands, and gently caressed as she peels each potato. Love is being conveyed from her hands into that food that cannot be conveyed in any other way. When you pour white flakes into a bowl and set a mixer on it and mix it with water, it really speaks of obligation, not love. We're used to things being, do you know where instant potatoes came from? Do you want to know? It came from the idea that we have to have it and have it now. That's exactly where it came from. I'm being a bit facetious this morning, but I'm saying this. We're so trained to have everything in a moment. We're so trained to have information in a moment. We're so trained to have satisfaction in a moment. We're so trained to have our food in a moment. We're so trained, everything in life has to come in a moment. And we're so trained in our society, like Pavlov's dogs, we're so trained in our society that when something happens in our lives and we reach a crisis point of life, we think, okay, God, you're the God of all creation, you can instantaneously step in, and God, we're going to pray, and the moment we pray, God, you won't waste a minute! And then, if he doesn't answer instantaneously, we get this attitude, well, he must not really love me. Maybe God's not really there. God really doesn't care. And I'm so disappointed because I prayed 10 minutes ago and nothing happened. Where is God? And while that may be an exaggeration, there's a lot of truth to that. The Bible says here that God loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and his love for them caused a delay in their request. I wish we had the faith to read the word of God and understand that sometimes God's delay is indicative of his love for us. Number one, God loves us. Can I say this in his delay? Number two, God has a purpose that we don't always discern. Look at verse number four. Jesus heard that Lazarus had been sick, the courier had been sent. When Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, the end game is not death, the ultimate goal is not death, but for the glory of God. Now stop for a moment there, stop for a moment. Mary and Martha, on the other side of this equation, not present when Jesus is saying these words because he has not yet come to them, Mary and Martha are on the other side of the equation and they're watching the physical body of their brother Lazarus as he is emaciated. They're watching as the disease is wracking his body, perhaps as the fever is burning his brow. They're watching as his breaths grow shallow and less frequent. They are watching as life itself is fading away, and all they can see from their perspective is death. Lord, hurry up! He's going to die! And he did die. But God had a bigger purpose. Let me make this statement. If God never put us in what seems to be an impossible situation, we would never know his glory, ever. The sickness, the whole purpose of it, the endgame was not ultimately Lazarus' death. The endgame, according to verse number four, was that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Preacher, why does God allow negative things in people's lives? Why? Well, he's trying to teach us a lesson. Or some would say, he's trying to punish us. And sometimes that's true. He's trying to chasten us back into fellowship with him. Or he's trying to make us stronger. And tribulation worketh patience. So yes, I agree that that's a potential motive. But have you ever thought about this? God allows you to go through the difficult time in life so that you can know him and know his glory. I will be frank with you. If everything in my life always came up roses, I wouldn't need much dependence on God. If everything was always easy, and I never had a tight spot, and I never had a heartbreak, and I never had a pressure, and I never had a trauma, and everything just went my way 100% of the time, I wouldn't need God. But there comes a point. where God says, I will allow his back to be against the wall so he can see my glory. Congregation, listen to me. When that pressure is on, understand that beyond any possible reasoning we can make for why God is doing what he is doing, there is a God in heaven who has a greater purpose. I've shared this story a few times with the church. When I was in high school, there was a boy who was a year ahead of me in Christian high school. He was a very dedicated young man. He loved the Lord. His desire was to attend St. Paul College of the Bible and to become a missionary. That was his desire. And he was known in the school as just a very dedicated, sincere young man. Well, he went away, graduated that summer, And I wasn't real close to him. He was in the class ahead of me, and seniors don't like to fraternize with juniors too much. And so he was in the class ahead of me, a class or two, I can't remember now exactly which. And he'd gone away, and I hadn't heard much about him. We had a Christmas banquet the following year that rolled around, and we were all dressed up and going to have our Christmas banquet, and there was always a guest speaker. And I was interested to know who the guest speaker would be. And the principal said to the school, the guest speaker is going to be a surprise. No one can tell us who it's going to be. And so we were all wondering. And of course, got to the banquet, looked around to see who the guest speaker would be. And it was everybody we knew. And we were all disappointed. We thought, well, it'd just be someone we've heard 1,000 times. When the program time came, they introduced the guest speaker. And they opened the curtain on the big platform. They opened up the curtain. And a young man was wheeled out in a wheelchair. And it was that young man who had given his life and dedication to foreign missions and wanted to train for foreign missions. I'd not heard of what had happened to him, and I was shocked to see him. By the way, big, strong, physically imposing young man, very athletic young man. And I was a little surprised and watched, and he gave a testimony. And I won't go into all the detail, but working in a lumber yard over that summer after graduation, he had been on a forklift and drove the fork truck up a ramp carrying a large load of material of some sort, and the fork truck itself became instable. and it tipped, and as it tipped, he fell off of the fork truck, and he fell in such a way that the forks of that truck severed him right in the middle. He fell on his back so that the forks of the truck went into his midsection and severed all the way nearly to the spine, did not cut through the spine, but the young man to this day is permanently paralyzed. And he told that whole story. You know, by the way, high school kids don't generally cry. But I sure was fighting back tears. But here's the most striking thing he said, and I can repeat it all these years later. He said this. He said, I know God closer now than I've ever known him in my life. And he said, I would never have wanted this to happen to me. But he said, I know the Lord like never before. May I say something, congregation? There's not a person in here, including this preacher, who would want to face something like that. But to come out of the other side and say, I know the Lord closer than ever before, shows that in every area, God has a bigger purpose. We're so concerned and consumed with the small little circle of events that touch our lives. And sometimes if things don't go just exactly as we think they should, things are not going swimmingly, We get all bent out of shape, and we doubt God, and we wonder where is God, and we get all emotionally carried away. Let me tell you something. There is a God in heaven whose purposes go far beyond anything that we could ever know. Romans 8.28 is still in the Bible, and we know that we know. We don't wonder, we don't think, we don't suppose, we don't theorize, and we know! that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. There was a greater purpose that the Lord Jesus had in mind. I want you to notice this also, because here's where we struggle with this, and what God is doing, and God delays in answering our prayer. God holds back in answering our prayer. A third thing I want you to notice is this. This is God's perspective differs from ours. His perspective differs from ours. Now look at verse number 11. Look at verse number 11, John 11, 11. These things said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep he shall do well. Why did they say that? Well, if you're sick, You need rest. The body is recuperating. It is repairing in rest. And so the disciples, the Lord says, Lazarus is sleeping, and I'm going to go to wake him out of his sleep. And then the disciples all of a sudden say, well, now, wait a minute, Lord. I mean, if he's sleeping, don't go waking him up. He does well to get some sleep. If he's sleeping, don't wake him up. Verse 13, howbeit Jesus spake of his death. But they thought that he had spoken of taking rest and sleep. And then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Have you ever thought about this? In every issue of our lives that so affect us, God has a different perspective, a different perspective. Notice what the Lord Jesus said of Lazarus. Well, he's asleep, and I go to wake him out of his sleep. Now, I don't know about you, but I've had the experience in life, and I'm sure you have too, of trying to wake someone up. That can be kind of fun sometimes. Have you ever poured cold water on someone that's sleeping? I'm seeing some heads nod and hands go up. I love this congregation. Sometimes you wake someone up. You wake them up. And it's fun to wake somebody up. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes, you know, they wake up like a grizzly bear. I'm not going to name any names. But sometimes people do that. And sometimes it's fun to wake someone up. But it's a minimal thing. If you wake someone up, if you brush them a little bit and say, hey, hey, it's time to get up. Hey, it's time to get up. That's a minimal thing. It doesn't matter any at all unless you play some horrible joke on them like wear some kind of Halloween mask. We used to do that years ago with our own children. My wife had a Bill Clinton mask. I can think of a scarier one today. But my wife had a Bill Clinton mask, and she used to scare the kids with it a little bit, and wake them up, and there was Bill, you know. I did that to the dog the other day. Don't do that with your dog. Unless you want a psycho dog, don't do that with your dog. But you wake someone up, it's a minimal thing, and then they wake up and go about their day. Now listen, Jesus knew that Lazarus was dead. but he called it sleep. And he so minimized it that the disciples assumed he was really talking about sleep. So, Lord, if he's sleeping, he's good because that means he's healing. The body is recuperating in sleep. And then the Lord had to say plainly, no, no, Lazarus is dead. Now, had the Lord first said, Lazarus is dead, and I'm going to raise him, boy, that would have raised the eyebrows of the disciples. But he purposely used the terminology of sleep to convey the idea that God's perspective and our perspective are two different things. When we look at death, we look at it as such a permanent state. This week, many of you mourned and many of you were present for the homegoing service for Dennis Burke. And what a sweet time that was to talk about someone who so loved the Lord. What a sweet time that was. But we look at that and we say that is very, very permanent. And honestly, from our heart's standpoint and from the missing him standpoint, it's really hard to think of God's standpoint. Can I say something? For Peggy's sake today, he's just sleeping from the Lord's standpoint. That's sleep. Did you see the difference here? We let things get us so wound up. And the Lord says, I have a greater purpose, and he sees it from a different perspective. In fact, it's an entirely different perspective. And our Lord had to deal with the disciples specifically about that matter, the matter of sleep. Notice, notice, drop down to verse 21. See this again quickly, verse 21. Then said Martha. Now Martha was frustrated. Jesus had purposely delayed his coming. Mary and Martha felt that Jesus should hurry up and get there and heal him before Lazarus died. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But she said, I know that even now, whatsoever thou would ask of God, God will give it thee. Verse number 23, Jesus said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Watch this. Martha viewed Jesus' absence as a delay. Jesus viewed his absence as an opportunity. Will everyone please look at me? The disciples viewed Lazarus' death as permanent. Jesus viewed it as merely someone needing to be awakened from sleep. There is a God in heaven who has a perspective on every one of our problems, the perspective of which is so different because he is eternal, he is God, He is almighty. He is all-powerful. Anything that we face, He can correct in a moment. And sometimes for His own purpose, and because He loves us, He delays in the correction of these things so that we might see His glory. His perspective is different from ours, and we can't always see that. But we need to understand, it is always present. What I'm saying this morning is this. that the good that God wants to do in our lives is sometimes wrapped in a package of bad. And every one of us categorizes everything that happens in our lives. This is good, this is bad. Raising salary, good. Ingrown toenail, bad. Well, I had one of those one time. This was many years ago before I had any kind of medical insurance. It just got awful. It was on my big toe on my right foot. Horrible. And small children, bus kids in the church, would come up to me and they'd get all excited around the pastor and somehow almost every Sunday it seemed like one of them would step right on that big toe. I never wanted to wring necks so much as then. You talk about learning restraint and patience when fire just shot through your whole foot and through your whole body. You reach out and you fix it. I don't know if I should tell you. An exacto knife, and I'll not go any further than that. That's what the greatest generation would have done. Every time we have a bad circumstance in life, don't we classify it as being bad? We do. That's bad, that's good, that's bad, that's good, that's bad, that's good. But sometimes God sends the best things to us wrapped in a package that we think is bad. None of us wanted to say goodbye to our friend Dennis the other day. None of us did, humanly speaking. I think God's going to use his homegoing in a way for eternity in the lives of people who knew his testimony. May I say that God's already done that in the lives of the young people with whom he worked in the Iwana program? God's already done that. And there is a purpose in these things that is greater than we know. And it is right for our hearts to be sorrowful, but at the same time understand God's perspective differs from ours, and ultimately God wants to teach us faith. I want you to see something. Look at verse number 15. Jesus said these words the whole issue is to the intent notice this that he may believe verse number 15 verse number 25 Jesus said I'm the resurrection in the life he that believeth verse number 27 she Martha said unto him ye Lord I believe verse number 40 Jesus said if thou wouldest believe verse number 42 that they may believe verse number 45 all these things Jesus did and they believed on Him. If your life never went through difficulty, you would never be brought to the place of belief on Him. If everything were smooth sailing, you would not need God. But the truth of the matter is, God has designed life so that we can take only so much, and then we turn to Him personally. Congregation, everyone look at me and I'm finished. God's purpose is to build greater faith. It is not to destroy you and bring you to mental and physical exhaustion, but it is to build greater faith. And when God pours on the pressure, he does it that we might believe. And sometimes God pours on the pressure and allows it to remain and remain and remain. God, when are you going to come and deliver? God, when are you going to help? And it stays for a long period of time. And we think, God, where were you? You should have been here days ago. And God says, I'm going to push you to the very brink that you may believe. Look this way, congregation. I can't explain everything that happens in life. I wish I could. For if I could, I'd be a busy man, meeting with people all the time. I wish I had an answer for everything, but I know this. Here's one thing I know. I know God loves us. I know He has a purpose that is beyond what we can see. I know God's perspective is different from mine and I know that God's teaching me to believe. And so I need to embrace and to accept and to love and that is the wonder of life and that is the wonder of faith and that is the wonder of my walk with God. I pray you'd help us to see from Jesus' purposeful delay in the face of an emergency situation, truths that apply to us when we feel that you're not functioning on our timetable. Lord, how demanding we are in our limited knowledge and perspective about life, and God, how we need to learn to trust. I know, Lord, sometimes you turn up the heat to bring us to the point of faith and of trust. Father, maybe there are some here in this auditorium who have never come to Christ personally. And Lord, you've turned up the heat in their life for the purpose of bringing them to the place of belief. I pray, Father, that right now the Spirit of God will do what we cannot do in conveying the message and the truth of the gospel to the heart. Help some to come to know you today. Father, maybe there are some who are Christians and feel under this great burden of whatever life is thrown their way, and we don't understand exactly why you seem to delay your answer. Lord, help us to know certain things about it, and then to believe all the stronger. Father, I pray the Spirit of God would take the Word and apply it in every heart, in every life, in every situation, exactly, exactly as is the need of the hour. We thank you for what you'll do in Jesus' name.