Well, hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're in John chapter 11. Have your Bible ready. Well, we're working our way through the book of John. We're in chapter 11. We're talking about Lazarus who, of course, died and was brought back to life again. When I was 12 years old, I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and I was told at that time that it would be a good idea for me if I would read the book of John five times before I read anything else. I did that. The first time I read it, it was good, and the next time I read it, it was better, and by the time I read it the fifth time, it was exciting. Well, the book of John to me is like walking through a diamond mine, and you've got a bucket, and you just bend over and pick up another diamond in almost every verse. It's a tremendous, tremendous book of the Bible. Well, we're going to read here today, beginning at verse number 20. Jesus and his disciples are on the way, and Martha hears that they're coming, and we read in verse 20, Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. He continued in verse 26, And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord, believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth Then in verse 29, as soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha had met him. The Jews then, which were with her in the house, and comforted her when they saw Mary, that she arose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, she saw him. She fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping with which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And Jesus said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold, how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. And Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Well, it's a very, very sad time for the people that are involved in this story, including the Lord. Lazarus is dead. It's a little town called Bethany. It's a small town about a mile and a half from Jerusalem. It's interesting that Christ did a lot of mighty works in small places, and he would like to do that again today. We get the idea that it's a successful thing. If we have a large number of people around, that's not the case. What we saw in our last broadcast, the purpose for all of this, it says in verse 4 that the Son of God might be glorified. He said to his disciples, this is all happening, in verse 15, that ye may believe. There's a remnant, a small remnant, represented here by Mary and Martha, who really, really did believe in the things of the Lord while most of the people in Israel didn't want anything to do with Him. And then in verse 45 we read again, many believed. Now you understand, many believed. There's a small group of people out of the nation of Israel that are at this funeral, and many of that small group believed. And so we see here that the Son of God would be glorified, that the disciples would believe, that the remnant would be encouraged. We saw last broadcast also in verse 5 that Jesus loved, and then in verse 35, Jesus wept. We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That word feeling is translated compassion in Hebrews 10 and 34. Our infirmities, our pain and our suffering, Jesus knows all about that. Well, let's go back to verse number 21 through 24 and we'll look at that. We read in verse 21, Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, My brother had not died, but I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Now, Martha, you know, with the time of the funeral, everybody's, if it's someone you really care about, everybody's very emotional. Sad, sad time. And Jesus comes along and Martha says this big word, if. If you had been here, you could have saved his life. She said, I know, I know that he will rise again. That word means to perceive. It's found five times. It's translated perceive. It has to do with discernment. And Martha certainly did have a lot of discernment. In verse 23, Jesus said, he will rise again. And she said, yeah, I know. I know he'll rise again at the resurrection. Now, in verse number 25 and 26, we have these amazing verses. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. He's talking here about spiritual things. What a tremendous verse for the whole plan of salvation. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he's speaking here of something that is physical. But then he switches over to the spiritual, and he says, And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Interestingly enough, she says unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into The world. I believe that thou art the Christ. That word means Messiah. That is the one who would come into the world and be the Messiah, the King of Israel. Keep in mind, this is a group of people in Israel here that are talking. There may be a few Gentiles There the Bible doesn't say but the focus is completely here at this time on the nation of Israel and of course Martha Mary Lazarus all these people are Jews and she said I believe that thou art the Christ I believe that thou art this the Messiah for Israel the king who would come and set up his kingdom and But she also says, I believe thou art the Son of God. And so in one case here, we're talking about the Messiah. In another case here, we're talking about the Savior. One thing for sure, Martha had a tremendous insight into the things of God. And so it says in verse 28, when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, The Master's come. and calleth for thee." Now, obviously, the Lord has said to Martha, I need to talk to Mary. Well, as soon as she heard that, verse 29, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now, Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. Keep that picture in mind. He is not there. He is outside the town of Bethany. He isn't even close to that house. And so she quickly gets up and finds out, oh, if Jesus is there, that's where I want to be. And so she arose and she went quickly to where he was. Now notice it says the Jews then which were with her in the house and comforted her when they saw Mary that she arose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, she goes under the grave to weep there. Can you see the plan of God in all of this? What is happening here is that you have two ladies. You have Martha. She's very outgoing. She's very forward. She's the kind of person that's right up front saying all the time what needs to be said. Then you have her sister Mary. She's that quiet person sitting in the background. And she is very, very upset. having a really hard time with this whole thing, and she's back sitting in the house, these two people. Jesus said to Martha, you need to go and get your sister Mary. Why? Because Mary, he knew, would come out and guess what would happen next. All of those people that were there would follow her. And what was about to take place with Lazarus being raised from the dead, everybody needed to be there. And this is how he's getting everybody there. Well, then when Mary was come, where Jesus was, she saw him, she fell down at his feet. That's what Mary does. This is that Mary, the Bible says in this chapter, that Mary, which we always find at the feet of Jesus. Good place to be. And she said unto him, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. He groaned in the Spirit. That's very, very important. The Bible says that when God made man, He said, let us make man in our image. What is God's image? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When He made us, He made us a body, soul, and a spirit. The body, that's what we see. We don't see the person. We see a person's body, and the person lives inside, and that is the soul, which is made up of the mind, the will, and the emotions. Then there's another part of us is called the spirit, the spirit of a person, a body, the soul, and the spirit. The Bible says the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, the Holy Spirit and our spirit, not our emotions, not our mind, not our will, not our emotions, but the Holy Spirit deals with our spirit. Well, when it says here that Jesus groaned in the Spirit, it's far more than an emotional thing. It goes right down to his spirit, that he was troubled. And again, because he cared, we quoted earlier in the broadcast here, Hebrews 4.15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings. of our infirmities. And so we read in verse number 35, Jesus wept. That verse means He actually burst into tears. It was an absolute expression of love for Martha, for Mary, and for everybody who was there. The Bible says the Jews were weeping also. The Bible says that Jesus loved them unto the end. That means He loved them as much as it is possible to love. Well, here in verse 37 we're getting some opinion of some of those Jews that were standing by, and verse 37 says, Some of them said, Could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died? Now remember, we just read here in the book of John about that story where Jesus stopped and opened the eyes of a blind man. That is what they are referring to. Well, verse 38 says, Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave, and it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. He was groaning in himself." Now this is not the same word as what it referred to back here as in his spirit. This is in himself. This is not in the spirit. This is in the emotions. And once again, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Well, in verse 39, Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. That's quite a moment in this story. Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Jesus said unto her, Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Well, very interesting. If thou would believe. If thou would believe what? What are we talking about here? The word if, sometimes we use that word, is usually, you know, we mean since. You say, well, if you're going to the store to pick up some bread, pick up a couple of loaves more of this other stuff. We really mean since, and so I think that's what we're talking about here. We've already read a couple of times that Martha believes, and as a result of the fact that she believes, she is going to, in a very few minutes, see the glory of God. Well, the next verse says, then they took away the stone. What's going to get exciting here? But we're out of time. Tune in again tomorrow. We'll try to make it plain. We'll try to make it simple. so