The Book of Signs - 024 Lazarus Jesus: Absolute in Power and Authority JOHN 11:1-6 (NKJV) Things can change suddenly and unexpectedly. Situations can become uncomfortable, unmanageable and uncontrollable. We can find we have no power to do anything about these situations. Lazarus was sick. We do not know anything about his sickness, except that he was ill enough that Mary and Martha felt it was necessary for Jesus to come. They expected that He was the Christ, the Son of God, and that if He came, Lazarus would be healed. They sent word to Jesus - he whom You love is sick. Since they knew where Jesus was staying, they could figure out about how long it would take Him to get to them, once He heard the news. However, Jesus did not come. Mary and Martha must have been desperate. They finally realized that Jesus was not going to get there in time. Imagine their emotions - hurt, fear, confusion and disappointment. They were powerless to do anything. You may know someone who is desperate and is waiting for Jesus to show up. Perhaps you are waiting yourself. (John 11:14-15 NKJV) Then Jesus said to them (the disciples) plainly, Lazarus is dead. {15} And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him. Jesus did not make a move to do anything until Lazarus is dead. He told His disciples, Lazarus is dead and I m glad! Let s go! Jesus was not surprised at the situation. Jesus did not wake up one morning, hear Lazarus was sick and say, OH NO! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? The problem was not a surprise to God. POINT 1: There are no surprises in heaven. God is never surprised at your problem. Back in Bethany, Mary and Martha had watched their brother die. They believed that the situation was now impossible to change. In their eyes, there was no way out. However, Jesus knew they were now perfectly positioned to see a miracle! The people you know who are in an impossible situation are positioned for a 1.
miracle. You can tell them about Jesus, the Miracle Worker. He is: The Bread of Life; The Light of the World; The Good Shepherd; The Way the Truth the Life; The Door; The Gate; The True Vine; The Resurrection and the Life; and finally The I AM THAT I AM! He is not the great I WAS. He is the great I AM. He is never too late. He never lacks the power or the will! He never lacks the compassion to make a difference. He wants to give people every opportunity to believe in Him. (Psalms 46:1 NKJV) God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. There will be times when the Lord asks us to walk with Him to a place where our experience will teach us what nothing else can. Why? 1. Human nature will bring the Word of God down to the level of our experiences, our thinking, and our faith. The divine nature of Jesus + faith offers us the opportunity to come up to the level of His Word. (1 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV) For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. (Luke 8:15 NIV) But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. 2. Jesus knew He was about to demonstrate His power. Everyone involved would have an opportunity to go to a new level of trust, faith, understanding, and maturity. 3. Whenever trouble shows up, it has the potential for positive change in us. Trouble has the potential to teach, strengthen and transform us. God is never surprised. His help may come only after we think all is lost. Faith has an expectation that goes beyond lost hope. Faith expects the unexpected: the supernatural intervention of God. POINT 2: God is infinitely bigger than your problems. (John 11:21 NKJV) Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 2.
Four days had gone by. Lazarus was in the grave. Healing was not in the realm of natural possibility. There were no prospects for change or improvement. The tomb was sealed. It was finished. It was the end of the story Or was it? God was bigger than a sealed tomb. There is purpose when God allows suffering. There is purpose when God delays. There may not be divine authorship of your trouble, but there is divine purpose! You can rest in the delay and abide in the expectation that God is still God! 1. God will take your circumstances and He will mix them into the clay of your life. Then, He will shape and reshape them (and you) so you can shine for His glory. (Romans 8:28-29 NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. {29} For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Whatever we face, whatever we go through, we have the opportunity to become more like Jesus in the process. 2. Delay and even apparent defeat play into the hands of the Potter. Will your first choice be to put yourself in His hands? 3. Be a faith-filled epistle for the world to read! You may not understand it. You probably will not like it, but you know He loves you. Isaiah 55:9-11 tells us that His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways. (Isaiah 55:9 NKJV) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. I AM the Resurrection and the Life. JOHN 11:21-25 (NKJV) Faith never has to say, Lord, if you had been here Faith simply says, I believe. The rest is God s responsibility! John does not use the noun faith (pistis) anywhere in his gospel. Rather he used the verb believe, trust, or obey (pisteuo) almost 100 times This means that belief is not a mere act of the mind but it is a conviction that results in specific behavior and action. 3.
Faith simply believes, then behaves accordingly and lets God manage the outcomes. (Dr. Joseph Stowell, Shepherding the Church, (Moody Press, 1997; Dr. Charles Stanley; Dr. Bob Abramson - All use this saying often.) (John 11:35-39 NKJV) And He said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see. {35} Jesus wept... {38} Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. {39} Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days. The natural condition of the situation stunk! However, God is always able to interrupt time and space with His grace and glory. God is bigger than even the stench of death. Jesus said to Martha, (John 11:40 NKJV) Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? POINT 3: Expect your miracle and settle for nothing less. God is faithful, able and willing - always. (Psalms 62:5-6 NKJV) My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. {6} He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. Faith experiences the supernatural intervention of God. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will intervene for you. Only believe! Jesus said, Take away the stone. The stone represented the natural conclusion of the matter. It was a symbol of earthly expectation, limitation and even defeat, death and the grave. Often, we seal the circumstances of our lives with gravestones. A gravestone represents the end of hope and the futility of faith abandoned to the apparent result. Looking at the gravestone, Martha said to Jesus, a. Don t bother, it stinks in there. b. Don t bother; he has been dead four days. c. Don t bother, it is finished. The only time the words It is finished have any authority is when you say them to remind yourself of Christ on the Cross. What was finished? Weakened expectations were finished! Hopelessness was finished! Disillusionment, defeat, doom, death, hell and the grave ALL FINISHED! 4.
Notice that Jesus asked those present to do their part, to take away the stone. Then He did His part. Jesus could have spoken a word and sent that stone to Mars or the moon. He chose instead to involve people. He asked them to do what they could do so He could do what only He could do. He waited until somebody acted out of obedience and sent His resurrection power into a stinking tomb and brought forth a new beginning. When you obey and take away the stone: You give Christ access. Light floods into the darkness. When the natural conclusion stinks, wrap yourself in the sweet aroma of obedience. Take away the stone! (Psalms 23:4-6 NKJV) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. {5} You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. {6} Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever. There is only one voice that has the power and authority to bring the matter to its final conclusion! Jesus said, come forth! (John 11:43-44 NKJV) Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! {44} And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Loose him, and let him go. Dead men do not walk. But Jesus said come forth and Lazarus came out of the grave! A door of escape opened and a dead man walked through. He was alive again. He was not sick. He was not suffering. He was not dead! 1. Jesus is not surprised by our problems. 2. He is bigger than our problems or our thinking. 3. Expect your miracle (When you reach the end of your rope, let go and hang onto Him). Point 4: God will do what He promises! (2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV) For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 5.
Recap: POINT 1: There are no surprises in heaven. God is never surprised at your problem. POINT 2: God is infinitely bigger than your problems. POINT 3: Expect your miracle and nothing less. Point 4: God will do what He promises! You are here in school to be equipped to live life successfully and do the work of the ministry significantly. You are here to be stretched and challenged to be all that God is called you to be. You are here to INCREASE in your ability to be used by God, to reconcile others to Christ and to destroy the works of the devil. Take what you learn and look for opportunities to put it into practice. It is amazing what God will do when you get out of the boat - and walk in faith. His hand is outstretched. 6.