Lazarus – John 11:17-44

About 10 years ago, I rode my motorcycle out to see my sister living in Georgia.  I stopped in Birmingham, Alabama to get some gas and when I went in the little convenience store to pay I didn’t really pay much attention to the young lady behind the counter.  I was tired from travelling and it was getting late and I just wanted to get going and find some place to stay for the night so when she slid me the receipt to sign, I just scribbled my signature and slid it back to her.  Then she spoke.

“You…sure…have…an…interesting…signature.”  It took her a minute and a half to say those 6 words and by the time she was through I was smitten!  I didn’t want her to stop talking.  This little Birmingham Belle went from being average in every way to the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.  I couldn’t even respond.  I was afraid the only words that would come out of my mouth might be, “I love you.”

When she spoke it was so soft and sultry and that southern drawl was like honey dripping off her tongue and I found myself just staring at her, mesmerized by her words.  Even now, I don’t remember what she looked like but I remember the caress of her speech on my ears.  Am I making too big of a deal about this?  I’m telling you it’s worth a trip to Alabama just to hear the women speak!

Have you ever heard words that soothed you?  Have you ever heard somebody say something that brought great peace and you didn’t want them to stop talking?  You’re thinking that is not the case today, aren’t you?  Well, I am not blessed with a great speaking voice or with great words to speak but I know of One who is and His name is Jesus.

When Jesus spoke in the New Testament His words had great power.  They had the power to attract like they did for the disciples when Jesus simply said, “Follow me” and they immediately dropped what they were doing and followed.  In John 5 Jesus told a lame man to pick up his mat and walk and just the power of His words healed that man. 

He had words to convict like He did with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 where He talked of living water and the woman’s life was changed.  He spoke words of comfort in John 14.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God.  Trust also in me.”  And when He said, “I am He!” to the men coming to arrest Him, the very words coming out of His mouth knocked them off their feet.

The words of Jesus had great power and maybe nowhere more so than in John chapter 11 where we see the words of Jesus have the power to comfort, to encourage, enlighten and even bring the dead back to life.  We are starting a new series today looking forward to the coming of Easter.  Yes, I know Easter is another month and a half away but I want us to gradually start focusing on it because Jesus was trying to get His disciples to start focusing on it months ahead of time as well because it was all about Easter for Him and it is for us as well.

While Jesus preached and taught on all kinds of different subjects, His whole focus; His whole reason for even being born, living and dying was so He could be glorified on that Easter Sunday when He rose from the grave and broke all the rules and changed everything as He fulfilled prophecy and the Law.  So, as He went He gradually started preparing His disciples for that special day so that they would know without a doubt that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Son of God come to earth to redeem all of mankind.

Turn to John 11 and I want to read verses 17-44.  It’s on page 760 of most of the Bibles in the pews.  Here we see a passage that is used oftentimes at funerals and well it should be.  There is great comfort in the words of Jesus but we also see the great power of His words as well.  Jesus has gotten word that His good friend Lazarus is sick and his family has asked that Jesus come to him.  The problem is that Jesus waits for a while before leaving and by the time He gets there Lazarus has been dead for 4 days.  It’s obviously too late for Him to do anything.

Lazarus was dead.  He was decayed but at the risk of spoiling the ending, we will also see that he was delivered.  Let’s read John 11:17-44.

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” ²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”  ³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Several times in this passage I find myself wanting to ask the question, “Why?”  Why did Jesus wait?  Why didn’t He just heal Lazarus from a distance like He had done others?  Why did He cry?  Why did He tell them to move the stone when He could have done it Himself with a word?  Some of these questions we can probably answer and some of them we can’t.

One thing I do know is that none of this happened by chance.  It didn’t surprise Jesus.  It happened for a reason.  Jesus Himself says it happened so that God might be glorified and in this glorification Jesus prepares His disciples for His own resurrection.  If He has the power to bring Lazarus back to life after 4 days, He surely has the power to resurrect Himself after 3.  I see this as one of the first ways Jesus was preparing them for what we now call Easter.

We don’t know what kind of disease killed Lazarus and it doesn’t really matter.  It worked quickly and now Lazarus was dead.  I remember the first time I saw a dead person.  I was just a small child and my dad was about to officiate a man’s funeral and he and I got there early for some reason before anybody else and we went to view the man’s body in the casket at the front of the church.

Pop picked me up so I could see into the casket and he told me I could touch the man’s arm if I wanted.  I wasn’t about to do that but I remember Pop gave him a bit of a nudge.  It wasn’t disrespectful at all.  It just showed me that the guy wasn’t asleep.  He was dead and dead people don’t respond to things like people who are alive.  You can shout at a dead man or beg him to wake up or try to bribe him with his favorite food or lots of money.  We all know that is ridiculous because he is dead.  He couldn’t make that decision if he wanted to.

The Bible says that unsaved people are dead in their sins.  (Eph. 2 & Col. 2)  They are spiritually dead and there is nothing you can do; no power of your own that will bring them to life.  It is only the Word of Jesus that can do that.  Have you ever tried to witness to somebody only to have them completely blow you off?  They aren’t interested in church or the Bible or worship.  They wouldn’t come in here if we were handing out free money.

Do you know why?  Because they are spiritually dead and it is ridiculous to think they would be motivated by spiritual things.  In John 6:44 Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.”  The act of coming to faith in Jesus is initiated by God but it is the power of the Word of God through His Son and written in the Bible, the Word of God, that brings a person out of death and into life.

I quote my friend Scott Parrish again when I say that Jesus did not come to earth to make bad people good.  He came to make dead people alive and we have the responsibility to share the Word of God with people to give them the opportunity to truly live.  What dead people don’t need is education or sermons or religion.  What they need is new life in Jesus.  Just like Mary and Martha did, we need to bring Jesus to those who are dead and let His Word resurrect them spiritually.

Lazarus was dead.  He had been dead for 4 days and he was decayed.  Jesus waited for a while after He got the news about Lazarus.  Why do you think that was?  (Response)  I always like to research every aspect of what I am going to say to make sure that what I say is truth and so I researched how long it takes for a human body to decompose.  I wish I hadn’t.

Trust me.  I will NOT go into detail but I did learn that 4 days is plenty of time for the human body to seriously start decomposing.  That’s all you really need to know.  Lazarus was decayed and Jesus waited on purpose so that there would be no doubt of His power to bring life.

In Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel is led by God to a valley of dry bones and God says to him, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ 10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Isaiah 26:19 says, “But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise-- let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy.”  Even the people who are nothing but dust and ashes will one day be resurrected.  Now, I have a question.  Was Lazarus more dead than somebody who was only dead for 2 days?  Was he less dead than somebody that was dust and ashes?  No.  Dead is dead.  Lazarus was more decayed but he was not more dead. 

People sometimes think that they are too far gone for Jesus to forgive them or for them to be used in God’s Kingdom.  Imagine with me, if you will, that every time you sin a thousand times you get one of these red pieces.  (Pieces of red construction paper cut up) Some of them are big and some are small.  Some are fairly normal and some are pretty ugly.

Ok, this is the life of, say, Billy Graham.  He only has a few of these normal shaped red pieces.  Here is the life of your grandmother.  She has a few more, bless her heart.  She really tried.  This is your neighbor.  He has quite a few and you don’t even want to know what he’s into.  It’s pretty bad.

Now, here is your life.  Yep, you have a bunch.  Lots and lots of red pieces and some are pretty gnarly.  Ooh yuck.  Look at this one.  I can’t believe you did that.  Now this is horrible.  How can a human even do something like that?  Over and over and over again!  Have you no shame?  It’s too much!  It’s just too much!

But Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  All unrighteousness.  Yes, you are decayed.  Yes, you are nasty and putrid and disgusting and that is on your best day but you are not too decayed for Jesus.  Nobody is.

In fact, being decayed brings all the more glory to God for His love that He has shown to us because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)  We were dead and spiritually unable to come to Him and so He came to us.  Then He cleansed us from all unrighteousness even though we were decayed.  Now look at verse 43.  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

That phrase “called out” is the same word used to describe what the crowd did as they cried out “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” just a short time later.  They called for death.  Jesus called for life and look what happened in verse 44.  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

He was dead.  He was decayed but now he is delivered.  “Let him go!”  By the power of the word of Jesus, His friend Lazarus was set free.  Freedom is a big deal.  Nobody wants to be a slave.  You know we sing that song, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!  I am free to dance, free to love, free to sing when I can’t carry a tune…or whatever it says.”

But what does it really mean to be free?  (Response) What are we free from and what are we free to?  Romans 6:22 says, “But now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God.”  See, you are going to be slaves to something.  That’s just the way it is.  You are either going to be a slave to sin and the death and decay that goes along with it or you are going to be a slave of God.  Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came to give us a full life.

When you see that neighbor of yours that we talked about earlier who is into some really weird, nasty stuff, just know that weird and nasty is what sinners do.  They are supposed to.  I’m not saying it’s right.  In fact, just the opposite.  I’m saying that unbelievers are slaves to sin and they are going to do what sinners do.  You can expect it.  Don’t be surprised when dead people start to decay and don’t be surprised when sinners sin.

But we have been called out of that.  We are free from sin and free to new life.  Romans 6:4 says, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  That’s what our baptism is about.  It represents the death and resurrection of Jesus and just like Lazarus, we are called to new life.

Let him go!  He doesn’t have to decay any longer.  He is living a new life.  For us, we don’t have to keep sinning.  That pet sin of ours is kicked out.  By the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit working in our lives, we are new creations.  We are free to live without sin.  In fact, sin should be the exception and no longer the rule.  Did you know that you can’t sin when you are worshiping?  When you are communicating with Jesus, there will be no sin.  So when you are tempted, run to Him.  Grab your Bible.  Sing a worship song.  Worship.

Just like thousands and thousands of our military men and women have died to provide us with freedom as a country, Jesus died so that we might live free; free from sin and free to a full life.  Lazarus was physically dead just like we are spiritually dead in our sins and decay.  But he was raised to live a new life just like we are when we meet Jesus.

If you are a Christian struggling with sin then something is wrong.  You are no longer a slave to sin.  Give it to God in worship.  Do it right now.

If you are not a true believer then that would explain your struggle with sin.  That’s what you are supposed to do.  You are supposed to decay.  But if you don’t want to live in that life of death any longer then come to Jesus today to be cleansed of all unrighteousness and live a full life.

Repent of your sin.  Turn away from it and ask God for forgiveness before it’s too late.  There is a real Heaven and a real Hell and while being a believer in Jesus will not always be easy, it brings peace and joy in this life and eternal life in Heaven with our Savior Jesus in the next life.  Ask Him to be your Lord and Savior today and by the power of His word you will be changed.