John chapter 11. If you have the Black Bible, you should find it on page 897. Let's listen to God's word. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and Martha, Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the son of God may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Mary and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he 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. Are you and are you going there again? Jesus answered, Are there not 12 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. After saying these things, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he is falling asleep, he will recover. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was that he meant taking rest in sleep. So then Jesus told him plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Now when Jesus came, he found Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 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. And when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from 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. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. When she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but he was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet saying, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me. But but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and his feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. The very reading of God's word to us this morning. Now kids, if you've been with us for the past few weeks, you might remember that each week I've been telling you to pretend to be something a little bit different. I think one week we pretended to be sheep, and then we pretended to be wolves. Then we pretended to be farmers last week. This week, we're all going to pretend together. We're all going to pretend to be little kids. We're going to pretend to be little kids. Because we're all together going to ask a little kid's favorite question. Why? You know, little kids love to ask that question. Why? Why? Why? But why, Daddy? So there's Daddy going off to work. Daddy, why do you have to go to work? Because I have to earn money. Well, Daddy, why do you have to earn money? Because there has to be food on the table. But Daddy, why does there have to be food on the table? Because if we don't eat, we'll die. Well, Daddy, why will we die? Why? Why? Why? We're going to ask that together. When kids do it, sometimes it can be cute and then occasionally get a little frustrating, but it's going to be incredibly helpful for us in the next few weeks. We're going to ask that question again and again and again. Why? Why? Because here we are in the midst of a completely different mode of living than we are normally used to the other 11 months of the year. For the next month, we're going to live completely differently in so many ways. After all, we're going to have our houses and stores looking completely different, right? Even our worship space looks completely different. All kinds of decorations that we normally don't have here or in your home or in the stores, things are going to look different. Our schedules are going to be different. They're going to be filled with all sorts of social occasions and shopping. Our eating will be different. We're going to cook different foods and eat different foods. Our finances will be different. We're going to spend all sorts of money we normally don't. And the question we want to ask, the thing we want to do is act like a little kid and ask, why? Why? Why all this? Right? Well, it's Christmas. Okay, yeah, but why? Well, because Jesus came to earth and was born in a manger. Yeah, but why? Why did he come? Why did Christ come to this earth? Why is it so important that we would do all this? Why? We're going to ask that again and again, because the temptation for all of us is to forget that. How many people out bustling about and decorating their homes and buying gifts? How many of them never even think to question why they're doing what they're doing? why it's just another thing on their calendar, and what they've always done, and the thing to do, but never actually ask why they're doing it, why Christ came, and what significance it has. But even as Christians, we can forget how often we can get caught up in just, well, doing the things we've always done, or caught up even in just the nostalgia of the moment. We love this old story of the angels and the shepherds and the baby in the manger, Yeah, but why is that old story so significant? We want to make sure we don't forget the reason why. If it's just a cute story that warms our hearts, well, is it really worth all this? Or could it be that the why actually pushes us to see that this is bigger than we ever imagined? or bigger than we remembered, or bring consciously to mind, that this actually shows us the why question, the greatness of all of God's plan. How great is love, how wonderful is salvation, how broad and glorious is his plan for the world. We will see the glory as we ask that why question. So that's what we're going to talk about for the next four weeks. We're going to talk about why Christ came. If you were here a couple years ago, we did this at Christmas time a couple years ago. We asked the same question, why Christ came? We gave a number of reasons. But there are so many reasons from scripture, we can do it all over again and come up with completely different reasons. All a part of God's manifold plan, like different facets of a brilliant diamond. Here we see the light of the glory of Christ reflected at this time of year. Manifold reasons, God's plan revealed in why Christ came. It's going to fit perfectly in with our series in John. We're going to keep going through John and see there presented additional reasons for why this Christ, why this son, why this baby, why all the big deal. And we start with chapter 11. We start with this powerful, powerful passage. We're confronted with one of the most glorious reasons why Christ came he came to conquer death He came to conquer death now that involves us thinking and talking about a subject that Well, most of the time we don't like to think about at Christmastime or think fits very well with the carols and the cookies right death doesn't seem to fit with the Christmas spirit and But John, in our working through it, kind of confronts us with it. And perhaps that's providential because life does confront us sooner or later with death. It's inevitable. It breaks in. It breaks in even to the carols and the cookies. Well, we have to ask the why question because if it's just Christmas because this is cute, when death does break in, there's no hope. I mean, what good really will carols and cookies and gifts do if that's it, when faced with an enemy as ugly as death? There'll just be no hope. There'll just be loss. There'll just be pain. There'll just be despair. But if there's actually a reason and a power, as John 11 will show us, God actually having a plan right in the midst of this enemy, then we'll see something glorious. Yes, Christ came to conquer death. Well, our passage shows us Jesus, how he feels about death and what he does about it. We will work our way through our passage, making three simple observations. First, Jesus allows death. Secondly, he despises death. And finally, and most importantly, Jesus destroys death. We need to begin with the first few verses coming to grips with this idea that Jesus allows death. This is part of the passage that it's really hard to miss as you look at the details, that Jesus seems to very specifically choose not to heal Lazarus, not to rescue him from this sickness, but allow him to die and be placed in the grave. It comes up in the very beginning. He gets this message, verse 3, from the sisters. These women that he knows very well, he loves. This message, verse 3, "'Lord, he whom you love is ill.'" "'He whom you love is ill.'" This is a respectful, polite way of saying, please come quickly. Please come quickly. They know Jesus. They love Jesus. They've seen him do miracles. They know he has the power to heal. And so they send this message with all hope that he will come and heal their brother. But he doesn't. In fact, we're specifically told that Jesus gets the message, verse 3 and verse 6. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. come quickly he's ill you can help and he stays John reinforces this message as we get to the response when he does arrive and greets each of the sisters individually what do each of them say but Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died again in verse 32 Mary says Lord if you've been here my brother would not have died Even the Jews around start thinking the same thing. This is the guy who opened the eyes of the blind, the man born blind. That seems like a much harder miracle than a simple man who is ill. Certainly, Jesus could have healed him. Why didn't he? Why didn't he? Certainly, Jesus could have. Our studies in John have shown us enough miracles to know Jesus could have He healed Lazarus. He had the power. He even had the power. We've learned to do it from a distance. It's not just a matter of he didn't get there in time. Well, we know, first of all, he stayed longer on purpose. But even the distance wasn't a problem. We saw in John chapter 4, Jesus healing the official's son at a great distance. Jesus could have said the word and prevented this death, but he didn't. He didn't. And that's a tough thing to wrestle with, especially as you go on to see the grieving, the weeping, the ugliness of it. And Jesus could have prevented it and he didn't. Of course, it gets even more personal because we can ask that same kind of question, Jesus, what are you up to? As we encounter death. As we come to grips with any time we see someone we love having died, we can say, well, Jesus, He could have prevented this. Does Jesus have that power? He does. He could have healed, but He chose not to. So is Jesus harsh? Is He cruel? Is He unfeeling? Is He lacking in care? Well, the passage seems to emphasize the exact opposite. How much He loved. Lazarus and his family, right? Verse five. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, Mary and Lazarus. In fact, he gets there to the tomb, he weeps. And what did the Jews say? See how he loved him. And John emphasizes this is not a lack of love on Jesus part. No, he he loves them in a in a very specific and powerful way. In fact, The text seems to emphasize that it's his love for them that actually motivates his not healing him. Look at the transition from verse five to verse six. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, therefore, he loved them. Therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer. It doesn't seem to make sense, but you get what John's saying. He loved them, therefore he didn't go. So whatever is going on, Jesus is not motivated by indifference or hostility. He's motivated by love. He loves them. And he does reveal what he's up to. He does reveal what He's up to. Yes, He allows this death, but He has a purpose in it. Even though, as we'll see in a minute, it's ugly, it's an enemy, but right in the midst of it, Jesus is going to reveal His glory. Jesus is going to reveal His glory. Several verses emphasize that. Verse 4, at the end, Jesus says to His disciples, It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. This illness, yes, this illness that will lead to death. This is taking place. This is going forward so that God might be glorified. The glory of the Son might be displayed in the world. You might hear, if you've been with us in John, hear the echoes of what Jesus said about the man born blind. Remember, there's this whole dispute. Why is this guy born blind? Whose sin was it? Was it his sin? Was it his parents' sin? Jesus says there, no, no, no. It's that the works of God might be displayed in him. He was born blind. Yes, that's it. That's an ugly thing in a sense, but There was God's purpose because God was going to reveal his glory Jesus was going to be revealed as the light of the world So the same thing here Yes, there's the ugliness of death and Jesus allows it it goes forward but His plan in the midst of it is to reveal his glory to reveal his glory to reveal, as he will say to one of the sisters, that he is the resurrection and the life. He tells the disciples plainly, verse 14, Lazarus has died and for your sake, I'm glad that I was not there. Glad that I was not there? Not there to heal? So that you may believe so that you may believe. See, God, Jesus, in the midst of this ugliness, in the midst of the death that He allows, is going to do something there. He's going to reveal His power and His glory as the resurrection and the life. As the One who through His power, through who He is, through what He does, is going to take in the midst of death and bring about life through it. And that will only be revealed by allowing the death to go forward. That is the sign He will do. And through it, glorious things happen. Yes, there is life from the dead for Lazarus himself. The crowds around begin to believe. We read that in verse 45. That many of the Jews, therefore, believed in Him. God brings many to faith through this display of the glory of the Son and the power of the Son. death God in the midst of it uses it to reveal his glory to build faith in the disciples in the sisters to bring to faith many in the area now it's easy for us to see it here how God in the midst of this death can bring about his greater glory we can't always see it that clearly As we think, and we did make the application already, that anytime we see someone we love die, we could conclude, well, Jesus could have healed them, but I guess he didn't. Here we see the glory that he brings out of it. We won't always be able to see it. We won't always be able to look back and say, ah, I know what God was up to. Sometimes we'll see good things happen. Sometimes we'll see in the midst of a funeral service people coming to faith, people hearing who would never heard about Jesus. Sometimes we'll see glorious things, but sometimes we might not. The point here is not that we have to figure it out ourselves. We have to see how exactly this makes it worth it to lose this loved one. We might never see it. But what this encourages us to do is encourages us that just because Jesus doesn't heal doesn't mean he doesn't love. Just because he chooses to allow death to go forward doesn't mean he's not at work. We might not be able to figure it out or see it in all its details this side of heaven, but we can be confident. The call is not to figure it out. The call is just to trust the Savior who loves us. to trust the Savior who loves us. Jesus allows death. But that's not it. Thankfully, it's not it. If that's all there was, this would be very hard to swallow. But Jesus isn't done. Secondly, we see that Jesus despises death. He despises it. Here he is. He delays his journey. Lazarus has died. Now he announces to the disciples, now we're going to go. They go. He talks with each of the sisters. He draws near to them in their grief. Quite literally, Jesus weeps with those who weep. You can even just stop there and see what an encouragement that is. To see the Savior, this is the Lord of glory Himself, that in the midst of the ugliness of death and in the midst of that grief, what does Jesus do? But He doesn't keep His distance, but He draws near. He draws near, and he reveals himself, and he weeps with those who weep. What an encouragement that can be to us. In the midst of times, especially with death, when we're tempted to think, Jesus, where are you? Passages like this that can encourage us to what is real, even though it might not feel like it in the moment, we can be confident, I know where you are, Jesus. You draw near to us in grief. You weep with those who weep. You are near to me. You are near to me. He draws near. He weeps. Right, shortest verse of the Bible there. How powerful. Jesus, he weeps. But his emotional response to this scene is more than just sadness. Jesus is angry. Did you catch that? Verse 33. When Jesus saw their weeping, And the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. You get similar language in verse 38. Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. Now, almost all the English versions water this down a little bit, soften the language. The Greek there for the words translated in the ESV, deeply moved. They have this flavor of anger, outrage, emotional indignation. How is Jesus feeling? Weeping, sadness, but also he is angry. He's indignant. Why? What's he angry at? You start to look around and think of the different options. There's really, I think, in my opinion, only one option that really makes sense. Jesus is angry at the scene around him. As he takes in the tomb, as he takes in the grief, as he takes in death, Jesus is indignant. He's angry. He's outraged. There is something wrong here about this scene. Think of it. Think of who Jesus is. How does John 1 begin, but he's, but Jesus as the one who is God himself, the one who made all things. So think of this. Here is the creator himself. Right? The creator who made the world. How did he make it? He made it good. Good. Right? No death, no crying, no mourning. And now that same creator who made the world good is taking in a scene of weeping, of death, of ugliness. This was not the creation that he put together. This is a twisting of it. A twisting of it. It's a fallen, cursed creation because of rebellion, because of the sin of man. They didn't think even about the details. This is the son who created the world, the one who carefully formed the body of Adam out of the dust of the ground. Right. Carefully, lovingly, specifically formed that body for life. And now here is the same creator standing in front of the tomb, knowing that inside that tomb on the other side of that stone is a body. That's decaying and rotting and dead. Right. In sharp contrast to the body he formed. This is the same creator who lovingly breathed into that body of Adam the breath of life and brought it alive. Soul and body perfectly wed together to be this glorious image of God. And now here is at the scene where there's this ugly ripping apart of body and soul. In contrast to how he made it. Jesus the creator the one who who said that it wasn't good for the man to be alone, but instead created a family created relationships that this was a part of his his people bearing the image of God and now here he is the same creator standing at a scene where family relationships have been violently ripped apart This is an enemy he's confronting and he hates it and He's angry with it. He's outraged. This is encouraging to me, helpful, as we take in death. And yes, as we'll see in a minute, or we've already talked about, we'll see more, he does something about it. Yes, Jesus brings glory in the midst of it. But we should never, knowing those things, think that somehow we should just be happy about death. that the response is put on a happy face. Whether it's at a funeral service, or here we are at Christmas, and I know some of you know, because you've gone through this, that Christmas after someone has died, incredibly difficult. Because all you can think about is the one who's not there. And to somehow think that what Jesus comes and says to you is everything's happy. Just put on a happy face. It's really okay. Just smile. It's all sunshine. Not this Jesus. Not this Jesus. Because he sees death for what it is. It's an enemy. It's ugly. It's in a very real sense, something to be hated. And so to weep and to hate it is not wrong, it's the very heart of God. I think that's encouraging. I think that gives us hope, especially where we know Jesus goes. He's not done, right? He's saddened, he hates it, then he does something about it. Not only despising death, but destroying it. Destroying it. And you get this powerful picture of Jesus there, the creator himself, the redeemer himself, face-to-face with the tomb. Now the picture that comes to my mind, maybe I've told you this before, the picture that comes to my mind is a showdown, right? Like in the Old West, there's always this showdown at the very climax of the movie. There it's high noon and you're in front of the saloon or the sheriff's office and there's the sheriff and there's the outlaw and they're standing opposite each other and the whole thing, well, who's gonna win? Who's gonna win? Two powerful individuals at odds with each other, who is gonna win? And that's basically what we have here. We have the enemy of death and we have Jesus, the author of life and the recreator, the redeemer, who's gonna win? And you see, it's not even a fair fight. It's not even a struggle. What does Jesus do? But he just speaks. He just speaks. He gives commands as the Creator, right? Take away the stone. But Jesus, He's been dead for four days. It's going to stink. Take away the stone. And then His powerful command, Lazarus, come out. Do you see the royal decree there? You see the Creator speaking? Remember, again, this is the Son, the Creator, the One who formed the world. How did God make the world? How did the Son make the world? He spoke, right? Let there be light, and there was light. Here is the same Creator in the form of a man, fully God, fully man, and He speaks again. And now it is to recreate. Now it is to reform what is broken. He speaks. Lazarus come out and the Creator's power, the Redeemer's power takes that which is ugly and and recreates it, takes that which is an enemy and defeats it. Lazarus rises up in triumph, rises up alive. Commentators, some of them like to say that here is Jesus outside the city, this place where there's a tomb, probably multiple tombs, like to say, well, you know, it's a good thing that Jesus, or it was specific that Jesus mentioned this name, mentions Lazarus come out, because if he just said come out, then all the dead in the entire area would have raised up from their graves. That's how powerful he is. He has but to speak, and the dead will rise. It's a sign. It's pointing forward to something bigger and better, because that will be the scene on the final day. When this Creator, this Redeemer comes back, then all graves will break forth. The sea will give up her dead, and indeed, all will be raised up. There will be a great resurrection. Death will be destroyed once and for all. But this is a sign of it. Right? A sign. It's not the fulfillment. It's not the end. It's pointing forward to something greater. After all, Lazarus gets old and eventually he does die. But it's pointing forward to something greater. That greater day. And Jesus gives the explanation. Right? Remember all the signs in John. They point beyond themselves to something bigger. They point to Jesus. And here he says, here's what it's about. It's about me. Right? What does he say? What does he say? He says, I am the resurrection of life. Right? Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. He says, it's about me. It's about resurrection. It's about, yes, the enemy of death, but death conquered because through death there is life. And Jesus says, it's not just a gift that I give. It's a person that I am. Not just, I give resurrection. He says, I am resurrection. In his very person, who he is and what he does. This is going to point us forward quite directly to what Jesus is about to do. It's not a coincidence that where the story in John goes directly is, Jesus is going to die and rise. Now we're going to see next week that it's this episode, Jesus healing and raising Lazarus from the dead, that's going to lead the Jews to conclude, we have got to kill this man. This is the last straw. He has got to die. So humanly speaking, Jesus seals his fate by raising Lazarus. Metaphorically, Lazarus rises up with his grave clothes. Take them off. He doesn't need them anymore. He's alive. Metaphorically, Lazarus hands those clothes to Jesus. Now it's your turn. Jesus will have to die. And that's exactly it. That's the plan. That's the plan. Jesus conquers death by taking it on. By dying himself. He goes, faces down the enemy, and taste the ugliness. We don't have a savior who's unable to sympathize with the enemy that we face that comes into our lives, this ugly enemy. He knows it because he tastes it himself. But not just is he able to sympathize, he's able to give hope and life because he conquers it. He tastes death in order to destroy it. Because if it is sin that has brought this ugliness of death into the world, the rebellion of mankind, our rebellion against God brings death, the wages of sin is death. If that was what caused the mess and ruined the good world that the Creator put together, so does Jesus bearing the guilt of that sin that will cause life from the dead. And that's what Jesus will do. bear our guilt, bear our sin, die on the cross, and then rise in triumph. Rise on that third day. He doesn't even need a fourth in the grave. He'll do it in three. Rise up triumphantly so that he can say, I am the resurrection and life. And because he is that life, taking the guilt, dying, and destroying it and conquering it, those who believe in him, those who are connected to Jesus, though they die, yet shall they live." There's the power. There's the hope for us. There's the glory that comes in every death of every saint, of every believer. Yes, the enemy is real, and yes, it's ugly, and yes, we hate it and grieve over it, but we can hold on, cling to that which is true, so true that Jesus showed us with his own death. made it a reality though we die yet shall we live Jesus makes that statement and he turns he turns to Martha and he says do you believe this do you believe this about you do you believe it He connected to this Jesus by faith. You have this promise of life because your faith has you clinging to this Jesus and what he did. If you don't believe it, well then death will win. The enemy will triumph in your life. Because there's no rescuer. There's no one to deliver you from the spiritual death now, from the eternal death of hell. No one. That's why you need to run to Jesus and cling to what he did. But if you do believe it, if you do believe it, look at what hope is ours. Yes, there's an enemy. Yes, it's ugly. Yes, it will come near. In the lives of those we love, in our own life, sooner or later, we'll face it, we'll have to die. But what hope, rock-solid comfort, because Jesus has destroyed death, conquered it, tasted it, borne the guilt, rose in triumph, and through faith, we are connected to Him. We're going to sing in a minute. Jesus lives, and so shall I. There's the good news. There's the good news. It's why Christ came. That's the whole point. This is why He arrives. It's so much more encouraging than cookies and a neat story about shepherds. Jesus sees that there's an enemy and it needs to be conquered and he arrives to do it. What do we sing this time of year? Mild he lay his glory by, born that man no more may die. That we die, yet shall he live. Or that song we're about to sing now. Jesus lives and so shall I. Death, thy sting is gone forever. He who deigned for me to die lives the bands of death to sever. He shall raise me from the dust. Jesus is my hope and trust. Do you believe it? Amen. Let's pray to him. Father, Father, what ugliness, sin and rebellion has caused in the world. But what a gracious God you are, what a powerful God. What a God of victory and life. We thank you for Christ, that He did come, that He did take on the enemy and destroy. Lord, that there is no more sting and death for your people. Lord, that the victory of the grave is crushed. Father, we long for that day when all your people will rise up to resurrection life. We are thankful that we need not be afraid of what the future holds for us and those we love in you. We thank you, Lord, for that great promise. Lord, burn it upon our hearts. Help us to cling to Jesus and his victory. For we pray in his name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing it together. 706. Please stand with me.