God, you are so good, and we are so thankful for the opportunity to think about your greatness, that you are our rock and our redeemer, the greatest treasure of our souls, of our hearts. We are so thankful that we can gather together to rally around that truth and to think about it all week. And so I pray that you would help us in this time. As we look into your word once again, I pray that you would help us to see clearly that you are truly good. Father, I declare my dependence upon you. I've got nothing apart from you and your truth. And so I pray that your word would speak through me as a channel and that your people will be blessed. by what they hear. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Is God really good? Is God really good? In the fall of 2021, my sister, grew concerned about a lump that she was feeling on the side of her nine-month-old baby boy. And then in just a few short days, she heard something that no mom should ever hear. Your baby boy has cancer. That kicked off a year that for her felt like more of a decade. Tests, treatments, ultimately a liver transplant, all of which took place at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital where she was face to face with a host of people that were all really asking the same question. Whether or not they verbalized it, they were all asking the same question. Is God really good? How can a good God allow these kids to be sick? How can a good God allow a mom to watch their baby die? This is a real question, it's a question that all of us face at some point in time in our lives. When life gets difficult, when life gets painful, when it's very difficult for us to see through our natural eyes that actually God is good. So as Bible conference begins today, you guys are about to spend three days talking about the goodness of God, which I'm pumped about for you. You're gonna hear rich messages from the word of God about how great he is, about how good he is. But my guess is that there are a number of you in the room, even now, who already have your walls up a little bit. And perhaps in your own way, as a result of a variety of experiences, you're a little bit bunkered in there in your seat. And so I just wanna encourage you for a few moments to think with me through a text about the face of Christ. If you'll sit with me for a moment, I would like to show you something on the face of Christ that I needed to see, and I trust that it will help you to open your ears and open your hearts to what God has to say to you this week. It's from John chapter 11, and if you would take your Bibles and go with me there at this time, John chapter 11, and it's a chapter that is dominated by the theme of death, dominated by the theme of death. And I want to prove that to you for a moment. If you'd allow your eyes just to fall down through this chapter, we don't have time to actually read the whole chapter. But in summary, it's a chapter all about a guy named Lazarus. So I'm just gonna walk through and point out some things and again, prove to you that this chapter is indeed really dominated by the theme of death. Verses one through three, you find that Lazarus has taken ill. He's sick and his sisters, Mary and Martha are worried sick about him. And so they send for Jesus. Jesus, we need you, come and help. Then in verses seven and eight, you find that the disciples are worried about Jesus going to help Mary and Martha and Lazarus, because that would bring him in proximity to Jerusalem, where there are a lot of people that want him dead. In fact, in verse 16, If you can allow your eyes to glance down there, you find that Thomas, the disciple Thomas, makes a kind of sarcastic comment about them all going with Jesus to Jerusalem just to die. Death is everywhere in this chapter. Throughout the chapter, Jesus seamlessly talks about two different kinds of death, a physical death and a spiritual death. In verse 14, though, we get confirmation that Lazarus does indeed die. Verses 17 through 19, this kicks off a kind of professional mourning that happened regularly in this culture. Mourning that often lasted for an entire month. But indeed the first week of which was severe mourning. So undoubtedly you can find their implied weeping and wailing. Eventually you find a four day tomb stay where they talk about things like odor being present. Then in verses 38 through 44, you find that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, which causes verse 53, the Pharisees to want to put Jesus to death all the more. And like the icing on the cake, verse 50, there's even an unwitting prophecy made by an evil high priest named Caiaphas about a propitiatory death. So in summary, In this chapter, you have Lazarus's impending death, his actual death, his resurrection from the dead. You have Jesus talking about spiritual death and physical death. And you have the fact layered in that the authorities want Jesus dead all the more. So the theme of death permeates this entire chapter. It sits as the backdrop of this entire chapter. Death is everywhere. I'll never forget a moment that happened at my grandfather's funeral in 2013. 2013, my grandfather went home to be with the Lord and all of our family gathered there in Chicago for his viewing and then funeral. And during the viewing, which lasted, in my mind, I'm remembering it was like six hours long. It was way too long for a family, but we had our entire family there. And we were there all that time. And at that point, my oldest son was five years old. And as you can imagine, after a while, he got a little bit squirrely in there. And so my mom, trying to help out the situation, pulls out her brand new digital camera that she was pretty impressed with at that time. I guess she didn't have an iPhone yet. So she pulls out her digital camera and straps it to my son's wrist and starts allowing him to take pictures. Well, eventually, Dawson wants to take pictures of grandpa. And my mom was like, no. That's not going to be good. But eventually she conceded to allow him to take a picture of my grandfather's hands. And so she pulls up a chair next to the casket. Dawson stands up there, takes a picture of his hands. Well, about a half hour later, another family member comes back into the viewing parlor that we were in. It was a big funeral home. He comes back in bringing my son Dawson. And he says to me, you might want to watch your kid. because he found him at another viewing down the hall. Dawson had actually like just sauntered out. I guess he thought, I'm going to go into business being a photographer. He saunters out of our viewing down the hall into another family's viewing. pulls up a chair to the casket and starts snapping pictures of the corpse. It's a true story. Later that day, my mom was horrified. She's like, oh, oh, delete, delete, you know, pictures of a corpse in front of her. I've thought of that moment often, though. And I've hoped, in my mind, although that family might have been horrified and certainly confused, to see this little five-year-old taking picture of grandma or whatever. I've hoped that that moment actually brought a little levity to what was an otherwise heavy scenario. Why? Because death is heavy. There's nothing trivial or light about the reality of death. It's violent. It's cruel. In fact, the Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians says that it is the last enemy to be destroyed. And he calls it the last enemy for a reason. It is a true enemy. If you've ever been up close and personal with someone facing death and then witnessing their breath getting more and more shallow, increasingly shallow. You know that there's nothing pretty about death. It's ugly, it's cruel, it is indeed an enemy. And yet there's something that you and I need to grab here that's important for our understanding of this entire text. The reason why, the fundamental reason why death is a true enemy is because of its connection to sin, because of its connection to sin and Satan. For friends, understand God did not create this world for death. He did not create humanity for death. He created life. You found in the creation account that God created a perfect, beautiful world and set Adam and Eve there and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life. God intended for them to live in that perfect place in paradise, immortally, but sin entered that picture. And the way the Bible describes it, it's like when sin opened up a door, it was like floodgates where death poured in after it. Death poured in in its wake. In fact, Paul summarizes it concisely in Romans 5, 12, with this statement, sin came into the world through one man, through Adam, and death through sin. Death comes rushing in through sin, and so death spread to all men. It's injected, as it were, into this planet, thus, Even though our world is still beautiful, reflecting the goodness of God, it's also a little bit off. This is why we have weeds and hurricanes, why we have disease and sickness and injustice. It's all here because of sin. because we effectively have rebelled against God and have ushered sin into God's perfect world. So death as the by-product of sin is like an ultimate affront, an ultimate rebellion against God. So if Jesus, to put it simply, has come to give us life and life more abundant, Satan, slithers in to bring us death and the stench of death more abundant. And yet, here's something I want you to see, my friends, this morning. In John chapter 11, you have a kind of clash of titans, the author of life coming face to face with the reality of death. with what you might say is the peddler of death. I don't mean to present them as equals. You'll see that as the text unfolds. But what I would like for us to do this morning is to take a few minutes to consider this clash, as it were, this collision between life and death, the author of life and the reality of death. And so in order to do that succinctly and simply, I just want to show you six encounters that each of the characters of the story have with the reality of death in the text. So we're not going to read a lot. I'm going to encourage you to read on your own. We will read at the end of the chapter, but I want you to see just for a few moments how these characters all interact with the reality of death and it all comes together to tell a story. All right, so number one, see with me that for the Pharisees, for the enemies of Christ, death was something to be used. This is implied early in the chapter, but certainly articulated in verses 45 through 53. You can allow your eyes to glance down there. Now for the enemies of Christ, for the Pharisees, death was something to be used. Jesus was inconvenient for them. He was an inconvenient reality. So instead of actually examining the claims of Christ and examining his teaching and what he did, proving that he was indeed the Messiah, what they simply decided to do was to kill him, to get rid of him. Death for them was a solution to an inconvenient problem that was right in front of them in the face of Christ. I just want to say to you, In brevity here, we don't have much time to tease all of these out. I want to say, guys, death is never, underline never, it is never a solution to a problem. Never a solution to an inconvenience, you might say. Murder is never a solution. Abortion, never a solution. It's only a tool in the hands of the enemy. It's only a tool in the hands of the wicked one and certainly suicide. Never a solution to a perceived problem. Friends, your life, can I just encourage you with this? Your life is so precious. All of you in this room are stamped with the Imago Dei. The image of God. Your life is precious. If there's ever a moment in time in your life in which you are entertaining the notion that killing something, including yourself, would be a solution, a positive solution to a perceived problem or a perceived inconvenience, friends, talk to someone. Talk to someone. It's never a solution. It's a tool in the hands of the enemy. This is the solution. for the Pharisees, for the enemies of Christ, death was something to be used. Number two, see in the text that for the sisters, death was first something to be feared. Death was first something to be feared out of love. Of course, the Bible teaches us not to fear death for ourselves, and yet it is entirely appropriate to fear death for someone we love. but they're acting really out of a natural impulse to love their brother. They loved their brother. They couldn't imagine life without their brother. And thus, when he got sick and started to go downhill quickly, the sisters start to panic. They get increasingly desperate and they're like, where's Jesus? We need Jesus. We know that he can heal him. We've seen him heal other people. So Jesus come to help us. These guys are desperate. Why? Because they love their brother. And I think it's beautiful that in the text, Jesus never rebukes them for this. He never acts as if they were wrong to fear death for Lazarus. He knows that they are acting out of love. And when it becomes clear, guys, that Lazarus indeed is going to die, They get increasingly desperate and you'll see in a moment that they're frustrated that Jesus isn't coming. For Lazarus, excuse me, for the sisters, death was something to be feared and then ultimately something to be suffered. For the sisters and Lazarus, it was something to be suffered. Can I encourage you to use your imagination for a moment? And just think with me about the agony of this situation. Be reminded that this is the first century. So Lazarus is not like hooked up to an IV drip. He can't reach for a bottle of pills. Death was horrific. Indeed, it seems in this text that this was a sickness that hit him suddenly. it was likely violent for him. And I can just imagine in my mind's eye, the sisters, Mary and Martha, just pacing back and forth in that first century house there in Bethany, pacing back and forth, just fearful, increasingly fearful that this is going to take his life. And I'm imagining, I hope you can imagine this with me, that whether or not they said it out loud or not, they were thinking, where is Jesus? Death was something to be suffered. Ultimately, Lazarus dies. I'm imagining that the sisters are just numb in shock, in disbelief. Where is Jesus? In our pain, where is Jesus? We called for him. He knows that we're suffering. He knows that Lazarus is on the way out. Where is he? Why hasn't he come? Why isn't he here with us in our pain? But for them in this moment, death was something to be suffered. Lazarus dies. And thus, number four, for the sisters and Jesus, death was something to be grieved. The sisters were rocked by this moment. You can see this throughout the text, but perhaps most strikingly in their initial encounter with Jesus when he does eventually arrive. For Martha, you can find it in your text verses 20 and 21. For Mary, verses 31 through 33. So when they encounter Jesus, they love him, they have a relationship with him already. There's no pleasantries, there's no like side hug and how was your journey? We need to talk, but you know, we're gonna encounter you quickly here. It was not that way. Mary and Martha immediately rushed to Jesus and they just collapsed at his feet and effectively say, where were you? It didn't need to be this way. If you had been here, he wouldn't have died. So Jesus, you have some questions to answer for us. For them, It was something to be grieved. They were rocked by this moment. Certainly it kind of rocked their faith a bit. But it's here that we find, I think, something beautiful. Because when Jesus does come, he enters into their grief with them. Friends, understand that in this moment, Jesus freely enters into their grief, into their suffering with them. But first of all, with the truth, with Martha, he effectively says, you need to trust me. He utters beautiful words that he's going to prove true. He says, Martha, I, I am the resurrection and the life. Trust me. Then with Martha and Mary together, you find that he also enters into their suffering, not just with word, but with silence. As the text tells us in verse 35 that Jesus weeps. He weeps in a way that's so profound that the watchers say, oh how he loved him. I would suggest to you that Jesus weeping in this moment is more so about the sisters. As he experiences with empathy, he experiences their grief, he experiences their suffering and he enters into it with them to weep alongside of them. I don't think that Jesus is sorry necessarily for Lazarus because he knows full well he's gonna see him in like five minutes. But with Mary and Martha, he's present. And this is such a beautiful reminder for you and I that Jesus, while he doesn't always sweep in and just solve every problem, you can always count on the fact that Jesus is present in your pain. You can always count on the fact that Jesus is present with his people in moments of sadness, in moments of sorrow. Thus, Jesus weeps. Friends, this is a reminder that He is a great high priest, amen? He is a great high priest who has experienced life and the trials and pain of it, thus he can sympathize with us in our weakness, in our sorrow, in our pain. But there's actually more in Jesus' emotional intensity here. Allow your eyes to fall down to verses 33 and 38. 33 and 38. I think it's interesting and important to know that the language that's translated here in the King James, groaned and deeply troubled, or in the ESV, deeply moved. This is a rare word. It's a rare word that's exclusively used for a kind of volatile anger, a kind of volatile, anger and frustration. Thus, I want to say to you that there's more going on here than Jesus just being present with his friends in the midst of their pain. I want to say that for Jesus, death was not something to merely be accepted. For Jesus, death was not something to merely be accepted. I think Jesus is outraged in this moment. He is furious in this moment. For everything about this scene is a kind of hovering evil. It's like a haunted house where everything is sort of themed with death and darkness. He's surrounded, just imagine the scene with all of these professional mourners. And he's also with his friends who are weeping. I mean, tears just flooding their face. He's surrounded by tears and dirges being sung. It's harrowing for him. Why? Because of death's connection with sin and with Satan. It's like all the horde of evil along with the white witch around Aslan and the stone table. It's a picture there of Jesus shrouded by death, shrouded by the byproduct of sin, the antithesis of him, the antithesis of God. his bringing of life, thus he's outraged. I love what D.A. Carson said when he wrote this. Jesus is outraged for what he sees is death, the last enemy. It is outrageous. Death is desperate. No. It does not have the last word, but it is the last enemy. And Carson says, we ought to be outraged by it. We lay our spouses in the tomb. We bury our babies. We bury elderly parents. And of course, there is a part of us that remembers with a certain kind of joy that death does not have the last word, but It doesn't detract in moments like this from the tragedy of the ugliness of disease and death and sorrow and bereavement and all that because of sin. In this moment, Carson says, Jesus sees sin and the tears and the death and the loss and he is outraged. and is troubled and he weeps. But friends, what I want you to see and rejoice in this morning is that for Jesus, he doesn't merely have to accept it. He doesn't have to accept and just merely grieve in the face of death. He doesn't have to just come to terms with it like you and I might have to. No, in this moment, Jesus acts. And so he says, take away the stone. Take away the stone. Allow your eyes to go to your text, verses 38 through 44. And with this, we'll bring this message to a conclusion. Jesus says, take away the stone, verse 38. Of course, Martha steps in and says, no, don't do that. He's been in the tomb for four days already. There is undoubtedly an odor. But Jesus insists, pick up your text in verse 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, guys, just imagine this scene. Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." Jesus, in our language, says, Father, I don't need to pray this out loud, but I'm doing it for these present. And you can put yourself in that category. I'm doing that for you today, that you might hear this and know who I really am. Verse 43, and when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes. and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto him, loose him and let him go. Verse 45, then many of the Jews, which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. So despite their reluctance, Jesus insists on going to the tomb. He insists on having the stone rolled away. And then he cries out with like the most authoritative voice ever heard on this planet, Lazarus, come out. If you can use your imagination and just imagine that stone having been rolled away from that cave and in that shadowy gap, all of a sudden you start seeing movement. Can you imagine what that must have been like? No one's ever seen something like that before really or since. A human, someone who looked like a human. Of course we know fully God, fully man crying out to a grave, come on out. And Lazarus comes walking out. And so my friends understand that Jesus indeed does this to display his glory. And it is another in a series of actions whereby he's declaring, I am clearly the Messiah. But I think also in all of that, He calls out Lazarus in the face of an ancient foe to foil an ancient foe, because for Jesus, death was something to be conquered. Amen? Death was something to be conquered. In this moment, Jesus wins. And guys, understand that when Lazarus comes walking out of the tomb, this is about way more It's about way more than a guy in Bethany having a few more years on this planet. This is a shot across the bow against Satan, sin, and his enemy called death. Jesus is saying, I win. I win. For in just a few short days after this, At another grave came the morning that sealed the promise when his buried body began to breathe. And out of the silence, the roaring lion declared, the grave has no claim on me. Amen. So we can sing hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, our living hope. And so friend, if you're here this morning and you're struggling to believe that God is good, if you're tempted to think that Jesus is ambivalent to your pain, He's ambivalent to the sorrow you've dealt with or to the questions that you have. That he is somehow ambivalent to the evil and death and disease and injustice in this world. Can I invite you to look into the face of Jesus in John chapter 11 and see there someone who weeps with us who is present with us in our pain, who is outraged with us, outraged at the sin, sorrow, sadness, and injustice in this world. But this is also a face upon which you can see that he wins. Jesus weeps with us, but he also wins. For Jesus, not death, has the final word. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for your grace. We are so thankful that as we've walked through this text around the theme of death, that we can trust and know that you are victorious. We praise you, Jesus, that you went to the cross and you laid your life down as a sacrifice for sin. And you were also laid in a tomb, but you walked out of it. You foreshadowed that moment with Lazarus. We are so grateful to know that you weep with us, but you also win. It's in your name that we pray, amen.