In the sermon 'Love, Death, and Glory' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on John 11:1-16, which tells of the sickness and later, the death of Lazarus. Despite Jesus' love for Lazarus and his sisters, He delays visiting them, which appears deliberate, serving to glorify God through the eventual resurrection of Lazarus. The sermon explores the different kinds of love mentioned in the Greek text, emphasizing Jesus' profound love and the purpose behind the delay. It further delves into the themes of life, death, and faith, highlighting how Jesus' actions serve as a testament to His divine nature and mission. The speaker stresses the need for believers to trust in God's wisdom and timing, even amidst suffering, and the importance of turning to Jesus in times of hardship. The raising of Lazarus is presented as a pivotal moment in Jesus' ministry, reinforcing His identity as the Son of God. The sermon encourages listeners to shift from a man-centered to a God-centered perspective, recognizing God's glory as paramount even over personal comfort.

The sermon text this week is John chapter 11 verses 1 through 16. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sister sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love 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 may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days 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, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again?

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. These things he said, And after that, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up. Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well.

However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking about taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.' Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him." The title of the sermon this morning is Love, Death, and Glory. Love because it is said in the text that Jesus loves the characters in the history.

Lazarus, Mary, and Martha are loved by the Lord. Death, because even though He loves them, He lets death descend into their lives together and dominate their lives for a period of time. Even though He loves them, it doesn't save them from death coming into their world. Glory because all of these things serve to put God on display as the all-sufficient, all-glorious God. When we last left off, the Jews perfectly understood Jesus' claims.

Because they didn't believe him, they took up stones to stone him to death. He escaped and went beyond the Jordan where John the Baptist had been baptizing at first. Huge crowds of people were coming out of Jerusalem and Judea to go where John the Baptist was. This is where Jesus has returned to. Many people go to him there and they acknowledge that everything that John the Baptist had said about Jesus had proven to be true things and many people are believing in him there.

This week begins a totally new account and it is the account of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. It takes up all of chapter 11 and We will be in chapter 11 for four weeks and Lazarus won't be raised from the dead until week number three. So we have a lot of lead into the resurrection and a lot of background material is given by John the Gospel writer. So we begin that journey this week. You are God, there is no other.

You are king. You make alive and you kill. You rule over the smallest details of life. The smallest details of life and you determine whether I live to the end of the day or whether my time of life has ended. It is right that we would worship you.

Life and death are in your hands every day. I pray that you would Press this great truth on our hearts over the next four weeks that we would see you as all sufficient and all glorious. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I'd like to begin by looking at the first four verses.

Breaking off the first four verses and looking at them. Hopefully your finger is in John chapter 11. Follow along as I read verses 1-4. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore, the sisters sent to him, to Jesus, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, the Son of God may be glorified through it. Here in these verses, we have the sickness of Lazarus and the glory of God. So if you have a handout and you are filling in blanks on the handout, sickness and glory fill in the blanks. The sickness of Lazarus and the glory of God.

This is the first mention of Lazarus. He is not mentioned in any of the other gospels. You have a Lazarus in Luke chapter 16, but he is a beggar. This is not the same man at all. He shares the same name, but Luke 16 isn't this Lazarus.

This Lazarus isn't mentioned in Matthew or Mark or Luke at all. His sisters are here in this text, Mary and Martha, but They have not been mentioned in the Gospel of John at all. We will get to their mention in the Gospel of Luke. None of this family has been mentioned in the Gospel of John. This is our introduction to a family.

He is called Lazarus of Bethany. He is tied to a location. That location is Bethany. Then it said the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This brother and these two sisters are from this place.

We are told in verse 18 more about this place. This isn't in our text, but if you just look at verse 18, we read, now Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles away. This is two miles outside of Jerusalem. So it is very accessible to Jerusalem. That is going to be important as we work our way through the text.

It is east of the Mount of Olives on the road to Jericho. There are three feasts per year where most Jews would be coming up into Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city on a hill, and so you come up into it. This is why we have the Psalms of Ascent, because you would be ascending into Jerusalem. You would be going uphill to Jerusalem.

Almost all Jews would be going uphill into Jerusalem for these three feasts. This road would start at Jericho and it is about a 17 mile uphill climb into Jerusalem. This road would go right by Bethany and you would be almost to Jerusalem as you were coming through this little village of Bethany. Jesus will be staying in Bethany during the final week of his life. He will be traveling into Jerusalem, preaching in the temple courts, and then going back out at night either to the Mount of Olives or into this village of Bethany during the week leading up to his crucifixion and he will ascend into heaven from Bethany.

We learn that in Luke chapter 24. This is a really, really significant place in scripture. In the 300s, a church was built over the spot that is believed to be Lazarus' tomb. In the place around this church, there are hillside tombs from the first century, right at the time this is. So there are the ruins of a church there to this day.

Lazarus has two sisters, Mary and Martha. And John, the Gospel writer, takes the opportunity to say which Mary it is. It is the Mary who anoints Jesus' feet and wipes His feet with her hair. This hasn't happened yet. It is going to happen in the early verses of chapter 12.

But John the Gospel writer wants to point out which Mary it is. And that's important because there are a lot of Marys in the New Testament. There are at least four. It could be more. There are at least four Marys of significance in the New Testament.

So John the Gospel writer says it's that Mary. It's the one who does what we'll actually see in the early verses of chapter 12. So I won't pre-preach that sermon, we are going to get there, but John the Gospel writer, his point in saying that it is the Mary that anoints Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair is to point out which New Testament Mary is being described here. The anointing hasn't happened yet, but it will happen. John's Gospel is the last gospel, and at the time of John's Gospel, that Mary anointed him and wiped his feet with her hair is well known.

So he is able to just point to that event. Luke is actually the Gospel writer that introduces us to Mary and Martha. If all we had was the Gospel of John, we would know nothing of this, but Luke the Gospel writer records something that had happened earlier with Jesus and Mary and Martha in Luke chapter 10. So, turn there, turn to Luke chapter 10. This is our introduction to Jesus' interactions with this family.

Lazarus is never mentioned in Luke chapter 10, But Mary and Martha certainly are. You know the text, but we will look at it together. Luke 10 verses 38-42. Now It happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. We learn in Luke chapter 10 here that there is a very sweet pre-existing relationship between Jesus and this family.

That permeates our text in John 11. It's not hard to read that into our text, but we see it here explicitly that The Lord Jesus Christ has captivated the heart of Mary. We get that here in Luke chapter 10. He has captured the heart of this woman. Even though there is stuff to do, she would rather sit at his feet and enjoy his fellowship and hear his words.

That is the great truth from this text. Not that we should make time for Jesus, although we should make time for Jesus. That is a very man-centered sermon to be preaching from this text. The God-centered sermon to preach from this text is that Jesus is worthy of having our hearts captivated with Him. That's the God-centered sermon here.

Something is wrong with you if your heart isn't captivated by the Lord Jesus Christ. If you wouldn't rather sit at His feet and enjoy His fellowship and hear His words than anything else in the world, something is wrong with you. You should pursue that level of affection for the Lord Jesus. Mary had that and my guess is that after this time Martha has that too. It reads that way in our text in John chapter 11.

We learn that this brother, Lazarus, is sick. He is so sick that these sisters, Martha and Mary, think that they should alert Jesus. So they send a message to him that simply says, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. We learn a couple of things from this very brief, very simple message. Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.

First, they think that Jesus loves their brother, and they are right. John the Gospel writer confirms that just a couple of verses later. The point is, They have perceived that Jesus loves Lazarus, even to the point that they don't even say Lazarus is sick. They say, Lord, He whom you love is sick. They don't even think that they need to mention His name.

They think that will be sufficient if they just say, He whom you love is sick. So that is the first thing we learn from the message. They think Jesus loves their brother. And they are right about that. Jesus' former words and actions in their family have led them to conclude that Jesus has an affection for Lazarus.

Jesus has related with them, with their family, in a way that has told them, maybe not in words, but at least in actions that Jesus' heart is towards Lazarus. He has an affection for this man. Secondly, they don't feel the need to prescribe Jesus' action. They don't presume to tell Him what to do. All they say is, He whom you love is sick.

They don't tell Jesus what He ought to do. They don't tell Jesus what they think He should do. They seem to understand that Jesus will know what is best and that Jesus will do what is best. They don't bother to tell Him what to do because they have come to know Him and They have come to trust Him to the point that they can just say what is happening and really just entrust it to Him. We so so often know what's best, don't we?

We so often prescribe to Jesus what he ought to do to do what's right and good. Enough, enough, Jason. Enough with knowing what is best. Enough with pressing on Jesus what he ought to do to do what is wise and good. Are you sick of that in your own heart?

When I encounter this and the simplicity of the message that doesn't prescribe to Jesus what he ought to be doing to do the wise and good thing, It just makes me say, enough Jason, enough of your pattern with presuming that you know what is good and wise. This is really a model for our prayers that we would just bring and lay these things before Him knowing that He knows what the good thing to do is and that He will do what is best. Because we have lived long enough in the Lord to know Him and to trust Him. These are clearly people in Mary and Martha, these sisters. They know Him and they trust Him and so all they need to do is give Him the information and they know that He will do what is wise.

When Jesus hears the message, He says this, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. He means that the end result will not be death. There will be a dead body. We are going to learn as the chapter unfolds that there is going to be a dead guy in the text. But it is not going to end in death.

Since we have read the whole chapter and we know how it ends, we know the appropriate interpretation of this. If you just had the verse in isolation, you could interpret it as it means he is not going to die, but we know that is not how the chapter plays out. So the right interpretation is, it is not going to end in death, though there will be a dead man during the course of the chapter. Jesus gives the outcome of the sickness. Death will not be the outcome of the sickness.

The glory of God will be the outcome of the sickness. His own glory, the glory of the Son, will be the outcome of the sickness. Look at this, verse 4, of the sickness. Now look at this, verse 4, But for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. God says, I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory, I will not give to another.

This is Isaiah 42 verse 8. I believe Josh quoted Isaiah 42 last week. It's a very messianic Psalm. In that prophetic chapter, it's not a Psalm, in Isaiah 42, that prophetic chapter about the Messiah, God says He will not share His glory. He will not give His glory to another.

He is jealous over His glory. He doesn't share it. Jesus is saying that this sickness will not result in death. It will result in the glory of God and it will result in His own glory. How do you make sense of that?

Jesus is God. There is only one way to make sense of that. We are brought face to face with another instance where Jesus must be God or a blasphemer. This is where the Jews are getting it from. It is statements like this.

Jesus, stop saying things like that. They want Him to stop. He is not stopping. We have another text and another week where we are brought face to face with an instance where Jesus, This man who is saying things in the New Testament is either God or he is a blasphemer and he ought to be stoned for his claims. God will be glorified.

Yes, but God doesn't share His glory. That's okay. The Son will be glorified too. Jesus is in His use of the Son of God. Not a son of God.

I am a son of God. If you are a believer, you are a son or a daughter of God. Not that. Jesus' use of the Son of God, He is making Himself equal with God and the Jews got it. Moving along to the next section, verses 5-11.

Follow along as I read John 11 verses 5-11. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days 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, lately the Jews sought to stone you and you are going there again?" Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. These things he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." In these verses we have a planned delay in Jesus' associated teaching. If you are taking notes on the handout, you are filling in blanks. It is planned teaching.

A planned delay. He delays on purpose. And Jesus' associated teaching. Jesus takes advantage of this opportunity to teach his disciples things that they will need to know. Now John the Gospel writer tells us that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.

He loves these two sisters and their brother who is sick. At this point, I need to say something about the words. Earlier in verse 3, he whom you love is sick. The Greek word behind love, translated love, is phileo. Phileo is a friendly fondness or affection.

Friendly fondness or affection. Strongs says this, personal attachment as a matter of sentiment or feeling. I love that guy. Personal attachment as a matter of sentiment or feeling. I love that guy!

Personal attachment as a matter of sentiment or feeling. It is the feeling of love. Most of you are aware that Philadelphia, the part of Philadelphia, is known as the city of brotherly love. This comes from out of the same Greek heritage. Brotherly love, that kind of love, this friendly fondness or affection, This personal attachment as a matter of sentiment or feeling.

That was verse 3. We think you love our brother this way. We think you have the friendly affection. You love that guy. Here in verse 5, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

A different Greek word is being rendered here. Agapao is the Greek word. From the same family of words is agape. That's probably the one you're familiar with. Strong's renders that this way.

To be full of goodwill towards and exhibit the same. In other words, it's the kind of love that has goodwill towards and acts on the goodwill towards the object of love, or to regard the welfare of. Our common understanding of agape is unconditional love. Haven't you heard that in many sermons described that way? Agape love is unconditional love.

That is because with agape love, the focus is not on the sentiment. The focus is on the welfare of the object of love. So in the case of the sisters they perceived that Jesus had this affection for, this sentiment in his heart towards Lazarus based on the things that he had said and how he had behaved previously. But when the Gospel writer talks about Jesus' love for Martha and Mary and Lazarus. He is using the deep word that is somewhat detached from sentiment.

Not that there is not sentiment, but it is not the focus of the world. It is the welfare of the object of love that is in view with this next word. One caution, it is possible to make too much of the distinction. I will say this, having looked at it carefully this week, there is a reason that the translators make no distinction. There is a reason That verse 3 was translated love and in verse 5 it is translated in love and there is no clue that they are different Greek words.

That reason is that there is a lot of overlap. In fact, if you look at the New Testament usages of phileo and agapao, what you find is that if you just look at the verses that all render it love, you have a hard time guessing which one it is. Sometimes you say, oh that's got to be agape, That really has to be the unconditional, it's the welfare and it's actually phileo. You'll get it wrong if you play that guessing game. So don't make too much of the distinction.

There's lots of overlap, but there is a distinction to be made here. So Jesus hears that Lazarus, who He loves, is sick, so He leaves right away for Bethany. No. No. That's not what the text says.

That's what I expect the text to say. That's not what the text says. He doesn't leave right away for Bethany. Verse 6 says he stayed two more days. He stays right where he is even though he has gotten word that the one that he loves, a message sent from ones that he loves, and yet he doesn't leave right away for Bethany.

He stays where he is for two more days. Then in verse 7 he says, let us go to Judea again after a two-day delay. It can only be described as a planned delay. Do you agree with me there? This is on purpose.

We don't know exactly where they are geographically, so we don't know exactly how long it took the messenger to get from Bethany to Jesus or how long it will get for Jesus and his disciples to travel back to Bethany. But we do know, number one, Jesus knows exactly what is happening. In verse 14, He says, Lazarus is dead. Jesus isn't ignorant of the severity of the situation. Not at all.

He is God. He knows it. And He actually says what is happening in verse 14. So number one, Jesus knows exactly what is happening. 2.

Jesus doesn't need to be present to heal Lazarus. His presence is totally unnecessary for the healing of Lazarus. At the end of John chapter 4, Do you remember the nobleman's son? Jesus is in Cana. The nobleman comes.

He is desperate because his son is dying. His son is sick to the point of death. He comes to Jesus. He says, come to Capernaum to heal my son. And Jesus says, go your way.

Your son lives. Cana is 15 miles away from Capernaum and he is being begged by the nobleman to come the 15 miles so that he can be present to heal his son. But Jesus knows that's completely unnecessary. He doesn't need to be there. He can say the Word.

He's God. He can say the Word and this son will be healed at a distance. Only one conclusion can be drawn. Jesus wanted to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus didn't want to heal a sick man.

He wanted to raise a dead man. He doesn't want to heal a sick man. He has healed a lot of sick men and women in the Gospels. He wants to raise a dead man in a village that is right outside of Jerusalem. Verse 17, the first verse of next week's text, we find out that when Jesus arrives, Lazarus has already been dead and in the tomb for four days.

In other words, he is really, really dead. I know there is not such a thing as really dead. You are either dead or not dead. He has been dead and buried for four days when we pick up the text next week. So now Jesus is ready to go back to the doorstep of Jerusalem.

That's how you should think of Bethany. That's how you should think of the place where Lazarus is dead. He is at the doorstep of Jerusalem where the Jews had just taken up stones, and so the disciples are not confident that's a great idea. Look again at verse 8. Rabbi, Lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again?

The disciples said this to them. How did the disciples say that to him in unison? Did they rehearse this and all say simultaneously this? Well, it says the disciples said it to him. What the Gospel writer John here is communicating is that there is a unified sense among the disciples that this is a questionable decision.

The disciples are agreed about what just happened. They just took up stones. Maybe a month or two beforehand they were on the cusp of stoning you. So the unified sense of the disciples is that going to the doorstep of Jerusalem is not a good idea. Jesus responds by saying this again in verses 9 and 10, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because The light is not in him. Jesus has used almost exactly the same words, almost identical language in chapter 9 verses 1 through 4. So flip back to the beginning of chapter 9. Let's look at his use of almost identical language here in chapter 9 verses 4 and 5.

There he said, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." So, his previous use of almost identical language helps us here to understand exactly what Jesus is communicating here in John chapter 11. The point there, as he uses it in chapter 9, as well as here, is that as long as Jesus had His Father's work to do, He was untouchable.

As long as Jesus has works given to him by his Father still to do, he is untouchable. It is impossible. He has the power to lay down his life. No one can take his life from him. Right in John chapter 10, this is exactly what we were just studying.

No one has the power to take his life from him. He has the power to lay it down and he has the power to take it up again. As long as he still had works from his Father given to Him to do, He was untouchable on the doorstep of Jerusalem or anywhere else on planet earth. Friends, raising Lazarus from the dead is the crowning work of Jesus' public ministry. As we will see, Because it is right on the doorstep of Jerusalem, many come from Jerusalem.

By the end of this chapter, people will be streaming out of Jerusalem to come see for themselves that this dead man really lives and is two miles from their gates. This work, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, definitively declares that Jesus has been sent from and by his Father. I'm choosing my words really carefully here. This work, the raising of Lazarus from the dead after being in the tomb for four days, definitively declares, it is a sermon in itself, it definitively declares, preaches that Jesus has been sent from God and by God. Many prophets, many with the words of God in their mouth, have been sent by God.

Jesus is saying much more than that. He is saying much more than, I have been sent by God. He has been saying, I have been sent from God and by God. I might be like the previous prophets who had the words of God in their mouth and did miracles from God. They were sent by God and God gave them miracles to prove that their words were from God.

But Jesus is claiming to be different. He is from God. What does that mean? That means that He predates His birth. The prophets didn't talk like that.

The prophets didn't say that. They said, I was sent by God, but they never said I am sent from God. My existence predates my earthly life. Jesus has been claiming that and Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead to prove, and it is proof on proof on proof, that He is sent by His Father, but fundamentally sent from His Father. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning. The Gospel started here. Finally, Jesus says this in verse 11, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up. This brings us right into the final section of our text where we learn that the disciples don't understand at all. But this is a declaration.

I don't want to leave verse 11 too quickly. This is a declaration of intent by Jesus. I'm going to raise him from the dead. So he is beginning to use the figurative language of sleeping and being awakened as death and being raised from the dead. Bringing the figurative language over into plain speaking, Jesus is declaring His intent to raise Lazarus from the dead here in verse 11.

He is telling His disciples, I am going there to raise this man from the dead. Now, verses 12-16. John 11, beginning in verse 12. Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest and sleep.

And Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him. Then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with Him. These verses, Jesus speaks plainly.

So if you are filling in blanks on the handout, plainly, Jesus speaks plainly. The disciples demonstrate that they don't understand. They think that Jesus is speaking of normal physical sleep and They are glad to hear it. Nothing is good for a sick person like sleep. And so when they hear that he sleeps, they think problem solved.

But Jesus was speaking figuratively as Scripture often does of death. From Genesis to Revelation, the figurative language of death being sleep is everywhere. And Scripture does that because physical death is not the end. Why does Scripture use this figurative language? Because nowhere in the Bible does God want you to think for a second that physical death is the end for anyone, the righteous or the wicked.

Here is an example of this in Daniel chapter 12 verse 2. Listen to Daniel chapter 12 verse 2. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." So the righteous who sleep, figurative language for death, So the righteous who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake to everlasting life. But the wicked will awake too, to shame and everlasting contempt." The Bible wants us to know that physical death is not the end. Away with annihilationism that says that the wicked will actually be destroyed and there will not be an eternity of conscious eternity for them.

The Bible never teaches that. The Bible uses this figurative language to tell us that death is not it. It is it for our physical life on this earth. But there is an eternity ahead of the righteous by faith and the wicked. The disciples don't understand so Jesus drops the figurative language he speaks plainly.

Verse 14, Lazarus is dead. Then he says something astonishing, I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Jesus was glad in a sense that Lazarus died for the sakes of the disciples. Now he is grieved at the suffering. By the time we get to the end of chapter 11, it will be so clear that Jesus grieves over the suffering of what is happening here.

We're coming to verse 35, the shortest verse in all the Bible, the easiest to memorize, Jesus wept. He is going to get there and when He is there in the middle of the suffering of this man who He loves, death, and his loved ones, Mary and Martha, he is going to go to the tomb and weep at the tomb. Sickness and death is in the world because of sin and God's curse on rebels. Jesus doesn't like sin or the consequences of sin in the world, but He uses it. He doesn't like it, but He uses it to teach His people to depend more and more and more and more upon Him.

He doesn't like sin. He doesn't like the effects of sin, sickness and death in the world, but he surely uses it to teach us to depend upon Him, to grow our faith. The truth is, this is a chapter full of growing people. I want you to think of John 11 as that. The chapter full of growing people.

The disciples are growing in John 11. Lazarus is growing in John 11 as a result of him dying and being brought forth alive from the tomb. Mary and Martha are growing in John chapter 11. Others in Jerusalem who are dead spiritually come and they see and they believe for the first time, they believe savingly and they begin the life of growth in John chapter 11. This is a chapter full of growing people.

Jesus uses the death of this man. It's right to say that Jesus kills him and then Jesus raises him. I would go for that to the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. In Deuteronomy 32 verse 39, God, and Jesus' God, says, I kill and I make alive. Who killed Lazarus?

The triune God killed Lazarus. You can't say that it was God the Father that killed Lazarus and God the Son raised him from the dead. They operate together in these things. Jesus did this for the growth of the people in chapter 11. They grow.

We can actually read chapter 11 and grow. God intended that. Finally, Thomas, whose name means twin in Aramaic, that's why he's called the twin, that's the meaning of his name, says to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. So Jesus in verse 11 says, I go that I may wake him up." Thomas here in this final verse, verse 16 says, let us also go that we may die with him. This shows a lot of devotion and courage but not a lot of faith.

We will give Thomas high marks for devotion. He is willing to go to Jerusalem even though he thinks it will mean all of them dying at the hands of the Jews. So devotion and courage, High marks, faith not so much. Jesus doesn't say, I'm going up to Jerusalem to die. When He is actually going up to Jerusalem to die, He will say it.

He will tell His disciples that that is what is going to happen. He actually said, I'm going to raise this man from the dead." He is doubting Thomas. We are going to see that again in John chapter 20. He has to actually see the physical marks or he won't believe. So Jesus shows him the physical marks.

Jesus is actually very loving and patient towards Thomas. But, listen to what J.C. Ryle says about Thomas. I'm so glad. J.C.

Ryle says, Let us remember that this same Thomas, so despondent in our Lord's lifetime, he's doubting Thomas, was afterwards the very apostle who first preached the gospel in India, according to ecclesiastical history, and penetrated further east than any whose name is recorded. Did you know that? You don't have it on Bible authority, but you have it on the authority of church history. It's not the same level as the Bible, but you believe other historical things. We have historical data that says that Thomas made it as far as India with the preaching of the Gospel.

Hey, Thomas is growing in chapter 11 too. Thomas is growing here too. Don't despise Thomas unless you want to despise yourself. Thomas isn't thinking right, but Thomas is growing. And Thomas grew into a man who took the gospel to India.

He went further east than any of the disciples or apostles. Applications 3. Number 1. Let your man-centered worldview be laid waste here in chapter 11. Let God lay waste to your man-centered brain.

To your man's centered brain. God cares more about His own glory than your ease or your comfort or even if you are alive another minute. We are not talking about the God of the Bible here. We are not talking about the God of your fancies. We are not talking about the God that is embraced and loved by a world that actually doesn't believe and isn't born again.

We are talking about the God of Scripture who cares more about His glory, about showing mankind who He really is than He does about your comfort or ease or even if you live another minute. We have already encountered this in the Gospel of John. Remember in John chapter 9, Jesus encounters a man born blind. What does he say? He says, it wasn't this man's sin, it wasn't his parents sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

And we stopped right there to say, what is Jesus saying here? He is saying that God did it. God is to blame for that man being born blind and living his whole lifetime into adulthood in blindness with all of the hardships and privations this man was a beggar into adulthood and God did that for this moment in time when the Son of God would come and give him his sight. And God won't apologize to you for it. And God won't apologize to Martha and Mary in our chapter for killing their brother.

For delaying in coming. Why? Because he is more concerned with putting himself on display than he is with our ease and comfort. In fact, our ease and comfort actually pulls against our knowing him. If God gave us ease and comfort, we would never know Him.

So what do you want? What do you want? Ease and comfort. I know, that is what you want. Forget it.

Forget it. He is not prioritizing my ease and comfort. I praise God for that. I do want to know Him. God is able to weave together our good and His glory.

His glory is not the enemy of our good. It isn't. But we have to know Him and trust Him. We have to know Him and trust Him. And He will weave together our good and His glory.

So His glory isn't stepping on our good and our good isn't stepping on His glory. He knows how to accomplish both. He is God. That's number one. Let your man-centered worldview be laid waste.

Number two. Hardship including sickness and death is a tool in the hand of God to grow our faith. I think this has been an application every other week since we came into John, but here we are again. It's a real application from the text. Hardship, including sickness and death, is a tool in the hand of God to grow our faith.

Is it possible that God brings hardship, even sickness, even death into your life as discipline or judgment if you are not in Christ. It's possible, but you can't go straight there. There's no indication in the text that Lazarus dies as the judgment of God upon him. There is every indication that he is just trying to grow his people up. He is trying to Take babies and bring them to maturity.

Don't skip right to, oh sick person, who sinned? Like in John chapter 9, who sinned? Sometimes that's the wrong question. We should ask that question, but we should be prepared for the answer that he just wants us to grow. It's a mighty tool.

Hardship is a mighty tool in the hand of God. That brings us to number three. Final application. When we come into hardship, we should go to Jesus. That's what Mary and Martha do in our text.

Hardship comes into their life, eventually death comes into their life, but when hardship comes, they know who to go to. They send a message to Jesus. They tell Jesus. We are not presuming to know what the right thing to do is, but knowing who they trust. So they run to Jesus.

They send to Jesus. Listen to this from 2 Chronicles 16 verse 12. I'll end here. This is a fascinating verse. 2 Chronicles 16 verse 12 about King Asa.

And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe, yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord but the physicians." Severe malady in his feet. This was a king whose heart was towards the Lord a lot. He had a thirty-nine year reign and actually much of what is said of him is good, but here he does not finish well. He did not seek the Lord but the physicians. It doesn't say he shouldn't have sought the physicians.

It does say, he should have sought the Lord. You can go to the doctor while seeking the Lord. We should do that. It doesn't say in our text, I would be shocked if Mary and Martha didn't send for the doctor. But they sent for Jesus.

Hardships can put us in a mode where we are trying to dig out and make things happen. Hardships put that pressure on you to take matters into your own hands. Hardships can make you forget God. God is actually trying to make us more dependent. He is trying to use hardships to make his people, me, more dependent upon him.

But sometimes in our immaturity we forget Him and try to seize control of these things. That's what Asa did after a life with a lot of faithfulness to the Lord. It should be a warning to us. Go to the doctor, go to the doctor. But do it by faith.

When God brings hardship into your life, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do anything, but it means that everything that you do should be by faith, looking to the Lord. God wants to teach us to trust Him, to go to Him first, to depend upon Him. Father, I thank you for our text. I pray it would be so in our lives that we would learn, that we would grow. You would use the death of a man 2, 000 years earlier than now in our lives to press us to go to you, to know you, to trust you.

Thank you that you do use hardships in our lives so that we might know you. Let us know you. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.