Lazarus Lessons: Resurrection - John 11:17-27

Jesus being “the Resurrection and the Life” tells us the he rules over two things: Life and Death.

Jesus rules over life

1. Because he creates life physically.

• Jesus was at work in creation.

• Gen. 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

• Ps. 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

2. Because he sustains life physically.

• Col. 1:17 And in him all things hold together.

3. Because he creates life spiritually.

• 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

4. Because he sustains life spiritually.

• Phil 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

• 1 Thess. 5:23-24 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

 

Jesus rules over death

1. Because death cannot happen without him allowing it.

• No one has ever died “before their time” from God’s perspective.

• From the littlest baby to the oldest saint, from the martyr to the war victim. No death ever happens that God says, “whoops, how’d that happen?”

• He didn’t say to Mary and Martha, “You’re right, if I had only been there he wouldn’t have died.” No, He didn’t say that because it was not true. He could have stopped it had he wanted to do so. He had stopped the death someone before when he was not present with them (John 4:50).  He had greater reasons for not stopping Lazarus’ death that were beyond their understanding.

• He is as much in control of everyones death as he was in control of his own death.

2. Because he can reverse death at his spoken word.

• Lazarus Come out!!

3. Because he defeated death himself.

• When Jesus rose from the grave it was the death of death. The fear of it being the end was obliterated and consumed.

   

Jesus is the Resurrection

1. He is so much in control of resurrection that it is right to call him “The Resurrection.”

2. Because he can raise anyone.

3. Because he is alive himself.

Lazarus Lessons: Sickness - John 11:1-16

There is truth in this passage that every person needs to know and remember. They need to put it in their heart and mind, because it will be tested.

We should not be surprised at sickness

1. Everyone gets sick – even those who love God get sick.

• Heb. 9:27 It is appointed unto man to die once and then the judgment.

2. God uses sickness for His glory.

He uses sickness for our good

• He used Lazarus’ sickness for his own good. 12:10-11

• Ps. 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

• Ps. 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

• George Muller at his wife’s funeral

I said to myself, with regard to the latter part, “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”—I am in myself a poor worthless sinner, but I have been saved by the blood of Christ; and I do not live in sin, I walk uprightly before God. Therefore, if it is really good for me, my darling wife will be raised up again; sick as she is. God will restore her again. But if she is not restored again, then it would not be a good thing for me. And so my heart was at rest. I was satisfied with God. And all this springs, as I have often said before, from taking God at his word, believing what he says.

He uses sickness for the good of others.

• It was good for Mary and Martha

• It was good for the disciples 14

• It was good for family and friends 41-42

Two lies we sometimes believe.

These lies have led many to run from God or abandon God altogether.

1. Our sickness and death indicates the weakness of our faith.

• People with no faith at all are sometimes the healthiest people.
• People with the strongest faith sometimes go through the worst sicknesses.

2. Our sickness shows God does not love us as much as he does other people.

• Jesus’ love for you may lead to sickness.
• Jesus’ love is a perfect love not a pampering love.

When we are sick…

1. It is right to take it to Jesus. 3

2. We find that Jesus has compassion. 35

3. Remember Jesus already knew it was going to happen. 4

4. Remember there is no sickness to great for Jesus.

• Jesus is not anxious or rushed. He does everything in his perfect timing.

• If Jesus can conquer the sickness that lead to all other sicknesses, then there is nothing left to fear, even if there is death. 

The Replacement by Doug Eaton

A Gospel-Driven Father – 1 Thess. 2:1-8

A Gospel-Driven father is a father changed by the Gospel.

• There is no chance of being driven by the Gospel if you have not by changed by it first.

• Paul was changed dramatically by the gospel. Every change that comes from the gospel is dramatic.

A Gospel-Driven father is a father motivated for the Gospel.

• Bold

• Be bold in the Gospel.  Your children are watching even still.

• Don’t be satisfied with the minimum when it comes to standing for the Gospel and teaching your kids the gospel.

• Sometimes we think that just making sure our kids know there is a God and Jesus is enough. We ought to be proud of our kids for knowing those things, but we should not be satisfied with only that.

• We are proud of our children when they learn to ride a bike with training wheels. We told them they did a good job, but after a while we should encourage them to do more. If they don’t move on then it becomes embarrassing. Imagine a 12 year old riding their bike down the street with training wheels. What dad is going to stand back and say, “That’s my son” or “that’s my daughter, look at her go.”

• The problem is that we live in a town and country where everyone is spiritually riding their bikes with training wheels. And we are proud of it, when we should have moved on by now.  Paul’s Gospel driven heart has challenging a word to a culture like ours that places the truth of the cross on such a low priority level.

• Able to stand for the Gospel in conflict.

A Gospel-Driven father is Pure.

• A father with a gospel-driven heart is not deceptive

• Paul was not for the gospel for deceptive reasons. He had a pure heart.

• Children can see right through false motivations. They see their parents go to church and sit there half asleep, not even singing, and then go home to the ball game only to yell with excitement and scream with frustration when their team does good or bad.

• They can tell that you are only going to church because “It is the right thing to do.” and that you are watch football because “you love it.”

• A father with a gospel-driven heart is wants to please God.

• A father does not just stand for the gospel because he wants to please his wife.

When a Generation Goes Astray - Judges 2:6-15

A generation goes astray when they have no leadership. 8-9

• Joshua had died – leaving a gap in the leadership.

• A generation goes astray when its parents have low expectation.

• Parents don’t expect their kids to be responsible any more.

• Sowing my wild oats. He will grow up eventually.

• There weren’t always teenagers.

A generation goes astray when people do not remember the work the Lord has done in the past. 10

 

A generation goes astray when the people do not experience the Lord for themselves. 10

• Some will speak of being something they have not experienced themselves. They trust in their parents religion.

A generation goes astray when they prosper. 6

• They inherited the land (flowing with milk and honey)

• It is good for everybody to struggle to some degree.

A generation that goes astray will meet the vengeance of God. 14-16

• The question is not will God punish, but when will it happen.

• Even though their parents may not have done the best, God holds them responsible.

• The devil didn’t make you do it.

• It’s my parents fault. NO!!!!

The Shepherd Pursues His Lost Sheep - Luke 15:1-7

 1. He pursues His lost sheep.

• He gets his book of life out where he keeps the list of all his sheep and when he realizes one that is written down has gotten away in sin, he pursues them.

• Is. 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way.

• I don’t care if you were the kind of person who had nothing but explicits for God before. Or if the only time you talked about God in the past was to follow his name by a four-letter word.

• If Jesus pursued those kind of people how much more ought those who are his followers to pursue those kind of people.

• The evidence that the shepherd pursues sinners is that I am here and you are here today. Look around the room; There are members of this church who have done things that we would not even what to talk about in church especially. They were lost in sin wandering around aimlessly, but he pursued them and rescued them from their sin.

2. He pursues until he finds you.

• The is his purpose.

• Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

• He does simply stand and call for the lost sheep to return. Then say, “Well I tried.”

• When my cat gets away I call for it, I don’t go searching for it.

• This Shepherd does not give up, he is relentless. He will stop at nothing until he finds his sheep. He is unstoppable in his efforts, not even death cannot hold him back.

• If you are his sheep, you will find the shepherd of your soul. The Lord Jesus will chase you down until he finds you. He may chase you down with a storm like he did Jonah. He may chase you down with the word of this sermon or another. He uses many different methods, but one thing is certain, if you are his, he will stop at nothing get you.

3. He pursues to unusual places.

• He will follow you in your sin. He will follow you to your house and sit with you.

• The Shepherd goes where people think he should not go.

• He went through the forbidden Samaria to get the Woman at the well.

• He went to Zaccheous’ house to get him.

• In this passage he is going again to tax collectors and sinners.

• The Shepherd does where he didn’t want to go in order to get the lost sheep.

4. He pursues to bring you back.

• There is no sheep that wanders back into the flock. The shepherd must go get him and bring him back.

• Little Bo peep did even love her sheep enough to go after them herself.

• “Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep And can’t tell where to find them. Leave them alone, And they’ll come home, Wagging their tails behind them”

• A sheep cannot survive on its own that is why the shepherd must go as soon as he realized the sheep is missing to bring him back.

5. His pursuit always ends in rejoicing.

• The Shepherd rejoices

• Heaven rejoices

• The Sheep rejoice

• It always ends in rejoicing because the Shepherd is always successful.

6. He pursues because he wants to show us how good God is.

• Not because he wants lamb chops in the future.

• Because wants to show us the goodness of God.

Conclusion

The shepherd counts his sheep 97,98, 99. There’s one missing. He checks again. He realized that it’s the white one with the black marks on his to back legs. He knows because he knows all his sheep. He immediately goes after the lost sheep. He cannot loose one. He will not loose it to the wolves. The sheep has wandered away. He knows it will not come back on it’s own. He must go get it. He travels far through some places he would rather not go, but he knows the sheep went that way so he must go in order to save it.

Meanwhile the sheep has wandered into the wilderness and it is getting dark. The howling of the wolves is getting closer and they seem to be coming from all directions. The defenseless sheep is in a hopeless situation. A pack of fierce hungry wolves finds the sheep hunkered down in the bushes. It is going to be certain death. He is helpless to the wolves. Just before they attack the shepherd arrives. But these wolves are relentless and hungry. They are wild and deranged and want something to eat. The shepherd cannot fend them off. They turn and attack him. The sheep goes on and while the wolves tear into the shepherd ripping his flesh from his body until he bleeds to death. The shepherd has died, and the sheep lives on. But the sheep is not back with the flock. The shepherd gave his life, but it was not enough. So the shepherd rises from the dead a little later and finds his sheep. The sheep sees the shepherd, his body is still dripping with blood. The sheep strays, but the shepherd paid the price. As they walk back the sheep is captured by his shepherds love for him.