Hello and welcome to our broadcast. We're working our way through the book of John. We're in chapter 11. Now, a certain man was sick, it says. Yeah, an interesting story we have. We're going to be looking at it. Stay tuned. Well, we're reading here in John chapter 11, it says, Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was that Mary that anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 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 thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that, saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and thou goest thither again? Yes, he was going thither again. What an interesting story. We have the man who is sick, and his name is given to us here. It is Lazarus. Now, that name is found 15 times in the New Testament. And four times it's talking about the story where Jesus told of the rich man who went to hell and that beggar also died and of course he was in paradise. Now here we have another man by that name. He is found 11 times. Here also we have his sisters who are named Mary and Martha. The 11 times that he is found here, he's referred to as the brother of Mary and Martha, and all of them are here in chapter 11 and in chapter 12. It says also in verse 1 that they were from Bethany. Now that was about a mile and a half from Jerusalem, It was the place where they lived quite often. We read that Jesus stayed in their home during his ministry, and it was a very small town. It wasn't a big place. Here Jesus is going to work an awesome miracle, and he doesn't do it in one of the major cities. He does it in one of the little places. It is interesting that it says here in verse number two, it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. It was that Mary. Very interesting. There's a lot of Marys in the world, and God wanted us to know specifically, it was that Mary. You know, I have to stop and think. There's a lot of Bobs in the world, too, you know, and one of these days I'll be gone. What are people going to say about that Bob? What is your name, George? Your name, Bert? Your name, Mary? Is your name Elizabeth? What is your name? What will people say about that Elizabeth or that George? Specifically, we have here, when he wanted to remember her, it was that she anointed the Lord's feet with oil and wiped his feet with her hair. Very, very interesting. Verse 3 says, Therefore, because he was sick, his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Well, therefore, what we have here is a relationship, a tremendous relationship. It says here, he whom thou lovest. They didn't say, he who loves you. That would throw some kind of obligation for Jesus. You better get over here quick because he loves you. They didn't say that. What it does say is, he whom thou lovest. And they had a tremendous relationship with the Lord. Well, in verse number three, he whom thou lovest, he whom thou lovest is sick. Well, in verse four, it says 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 thereby." Now, here we have the reason for the sickness, that the Son of God would be glorified. Now, glorified is to give an obvious reason why Christ should be honored for who He is. This man, when he gets there, will find he's been dead for four days, and He is going to bring him back to life. Nobody could do that but the Son of God, and therefore by this he should be glorified. Not only would he be glorified, but also the disciples of Christ would be encouraged. It's not going to be very long now that Jesus himself is going to be put to death. And the whole picture that we have here is death and the resurrection. Death is no real problem for those who know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and it was no real problem for Jesus. He rose again on the third day. So this would be a tremendous time of encouragement when they saw Lazarus, come out of that tomb alive again. What a time that would be. Not only that, it would be a chance for Israel, once again, their last chance to say, hey, this is really the Son of God. This is Him. Now, there obviously would have been a remnant who did believe, it tells us that there was a small remnant, and they also would be encouraged by this whole situation. Now again, I mentioned their relationship. Look at verse 5. It says, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sisters and Lazarus. Verse 6, When he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. When he had heard. What an interesting thing. He loved them. He says he loved Martha. He loved Mary. He loved Lazarus. We find that phrase, Jesus loved, five times in the book of John. Then we find it in John 13 and 1, it says, he loved his own and he loved them unto the end. That means he loved them as much as it is possible to love somebody. Well, not only do we read that Jesus loved, we read here in verse 35 that Jesus wept, and they go together. They go together. Now, you find that Jesus heard, verse 4, Jesus loved, verse 5, Jesus came, verse 17, Jesus said, verse 25, Jesus wept, verse 35, and Jesus prayed, verse 41. And how are the Pharisees responding to all of this? Well, we read in verse 51 that the Pharisees said, Jesus should die. Well, after Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was sick, it says in verse 6 that he stayed there for two more days. Then after that, verse 7, saith he to his disciples, let us go into Judea again. His disciples said unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? That's too dangerous. We don't think we really ought to go up there. Now, he gives them an illustration in verse 9 and 10, something that the Jews would understand about every work day and how people worked and when they didn't work in the dark and so on. It says, he answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. And so what he's saying is, it's not dangerous. There's nothing to worry about here. I know it says in verse 8 here, they sought to stone thee. They said that. But what he's saying here in verse 9 and 10 is that can't happen. My work is not done. We have nothing to worry about. Let's just go and get the job done. When we read verse 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 his sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well. I mean, if he's sick, let him sleep. We shouldn't wake him up. Howbeit, verse 13, Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." Now, it's very interesting that the next four words are, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad. What an unusual remark. I am glad. Why? For your sakes, that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. He said, I am glad for your sakes that you will learn to believe. They're going to be facing Calvary here very soon. And they needed this lesson where Jesus could show them how powerful he really was. Well, in verse number 16, then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. Now, it's very interesting. These are the first recorded words of Thomas that you find in the Bible. Let us go, and we'll die with him. Obviously sarcasm. And he is talking to his fellow disciples. It's only a little discord here, I think, Thomas. Thomas means a twin, and Didymus, which he's called, means twofold. Maybe he was bipolar. We seem to blame bipolar for everything these days But in one in other words what I think it's saying here is one time Thomas was up another time He was down and I can look in the mirror and have the same problem with the fall I see looking back at me And I think if you're honest you can say the same thing so let's not be too too too hard on Thomas here well in verse 17 it says then when Jesus came he found that he had laid in the grave a four days already. So that means that when the messenger had come to Christ and said he's sick, he wasn't sick, he was already dead. It's been four days already. Well, in verse number 18, we read now, Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off. Now that's about a mile and a half. In verse 19 it says, many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Now when they had funerals back in those days, it's very interesting how they went, the Jewish funeral, they would bury the person who died immediately, they did not embalm people like the Egyptians did, they would bury them immediately and then people would come to comfort the family and they would go out and they would meet in front of the tomb and they would have what we would call a service and then after that they would have food. It's interesting how we do the same thing now at our funerals and that we don't bury them immediately because we have procedures where people can be involved but we kind of have a service where we get people comforted that are left behind and then we give them something to eat later on. And the Jewish thing is very interesting, that when they did feed them, it wasn't a banquet, it was some very, very plain food, so people wouldn't just come for a meal, because they had a lot of professional mourners who would come and wail, and that's not what they wanted to happen here, although some of them would have been there. Verse 20 says, Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Interesting. It says, Then said Martha. Then said Martha, twenty-one, unto the Lord, If thou had been here, my brother had not died. Then said Martha. Now, you have that phrase, then said. Then said the disciples, verse twelve. Then said Jesus, verse fourteen. Then said Thomas, verse sixteen. Then said Martha, verse twenty-one. Then said the Jews, verse thirty-six. Interesting. You know, you go to a funeral, you're often caught for You know, loss for words. What do you say to people? Everything you say seems to be so empty, and I'm praying for you, and I'm sorry for your loss, and all that sort of thing. Well, we do what we can, but it's always hard, and there's a lot of emotion at a funeral, and I think some of the things that are being said here are being said under the moment of emotion as well. But it's interesting what is being said. Well, then said Martha. What did she say? And then a little bit later, we see that Mary went out and talked to the Lord, and what did she say? Well, in verse number 20, we find that Martha went to meet him, and verse 21 also says, and Mary sat in the house. What a difference in these two ladies. Martha was very outgoing, very aggressive. Mary was the kind of person that sat back, as we can see here. Concerning Martha, we read in the book of Luke, in Luke 10 and 38, that Martha received him into her house. Then in Luke 10 and 40, Martha was cumbered about with much serving, it says. And then she was complaining because she couldn't get her sister to help her get the meal ready. And in Luke 10 and 41, Jesus said, Martha, Martha, thou art cumbered about with many things. Then we get to the book of John, it's interesting in this story that Martha is mentioned eight times, and Mary is mentioned eight times, and concerning Mary it says that she sat still in the house. She sat still in the house, but in verse 28 we find that Martha came to Mary and said, And we find in verse 31, she rose hastily and went out, and it says she fell at his feet. Now, Martha didn't do that, but she did. You'll find a lot of stuff in the Bible about Mary being at the feet of Jesus. Remember, she washed his feet with her tears, and wiped his feet with her hair. She anointed him with oil at that time at his feet. She's always at the feet of Jesus. That's a really good place to be. Well, it looks like we're out of time. We'll carry this tomorrow. We'll continue it. We'll try to make it plain and simple. Be sure and tune in and we'll continue from this point. so