Greg Laurie - The Look of Love (09/27/2017)
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Pastor Greg Laurie shares from John 11 the story of Lazarus' death and resurrection to reveal "The Look of Love"—God's intentional, everlasting love for us. Even in delay and sorrow, Jesus weeps with us, gets angry at death, and brings glory through suffering, showing His love motivates every action in our lives.
The Look of Love
Let's grab our Bibles and turn to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. The title of our message is "The Look of Love". Let's start with a prayer.
Father once again we return to Your Word. Every word of it is breathed by You. It has so much to say to us in life. And I know there is a lot of needs represented here. People that have come here with life going pretty well. Some coming with a few challenges. Others coming with great challenges. And even others coming really with tragedy. Oh Lord we know that Your Word will speak to every person here. Because it is alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. But it is not a sword to destroy. It is a scalpel to heal. So Lord would You use Your Word in our life now. Speak to us what we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Guess what tomorrow is? Very good. Why is it the girls all know? The guys are like, what? I actually went to a store and got my wife a gift today for Valentine's Day. And the lady that helped me said, wow, you are early. I said, early? Valentine's Day is tomorrow. She says, yeah most guys show up here around 5 o'clock in the evening. I thought, typical men, right?
Do you know how much money is spent on Valentine's Day? Seventeen billion dollars. That is a lot of chocolate and flowers. That is what a lot of the money is actually spent on. Here is an interesting little stat. Men spend twice as much on women as women spend on men. So we may be late, but we come through in the end, see. But, and then here is another weird stat I found. On Valentine's Day people spent 360 million dollars on their dogs. These people need to seriously get a life. These are probably the same people that are pushing dogs around in strollers. This has to stop now.
Now, okay, quick poll. How many of you push a dog in a stroller? Thank you. So, really, was there one? It, yeah, well, so. You know, I remember when I was in school, we gave out the little Valentine's cards and stuff. But, you know, there was always someone you might have a crush on and you wanted them to be your Valentine. But then they made this rule, you have to give a Valentine card to everybody. So it is fair. So no one is left out. And there were some people, honestly, you did not ever want them to be your Valentine. You were afraid they might even get the wrong idea.
I watched an episode of The Simpsons a number of years ago. Some of you may remember this one. Our Lisa Simpson had to do that, give a Valentine card to all the kids in the class. So one of them went to one of her classmates, whose name was Ralph Wiggum. He was kind of a nerdy little kid. And he took it literally. In fact, on the cover of the card, it said, I choo, choo, choo, with a little train. He thought that was to him. And he thought Lisa was in love with him. So the cartoons about how he was pursuing her and how she was, you know, not wanting to respond to those advances.
Have you ever pursued someone that did not reciprocate? Did you ask someone to be your Valentine and they said, ah, no? Did you tell someone you were in love with them and they blew you off? Well, we all have our perception of love. And the problem is, a lot of it is colored by popular culture. You know, we envision that if we are single, we are going to meet the love of our life one day on the beach at sunset. They will be on one end of the beach. We will be on the other. Or strike the music. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. And you are going to be running in slow motion. It is not like that at all.
Or, you know, you watch these films. They call them rom-coms, romantic comedies. And you think, I want a relationship like that. I want to feel that kind of love. And really when you get down to it, almost everyone is looking for love in life. I read about an extensive survey that was conducted in the United States by a leading polling agency. Questions were distributed to people of various ages and occupations. And the key question was, what are you looking for most in life? And when the answers came in, the analysts were amazed because most of them expected they would have people saying that they wanted more material things. But what they found was at the top of the list, what people in America want more than anything else is love. People want to love, and people want to be loved.
What True Love Really Looks Like
But what is love? Do we even know? I mean, if you look to Hollywood for your example, I hope you don't, these people can't keep a relationship together for a week, much less a year or a lifetime. And I think a lot of times it is lust. You know, you are initially attracted to someone. You explore that relationship. You get what you want out of it. Or they get what they want out of it. And then at the first time a challenge or a difficulty comes, you break up the relationship and you are on to someone else.
Well, every love is going to be challenged. And for a love to stand the test of time, it has to be based on a solid foundation. And I want to talk a little bit tonight about God's love for us and our love for God. The fact of the matter is, the reason that we love God, quick poll, how many of you love God tonight? Raise your hand up. That is good. Okay. You know why you love God? Because He first loved you. Your love is a response to His. The Bible even says we love Him because He first loved us.
Matter of fact, God choo choo chooses you. It is true. Listen to Ephesians 1:4-5. Even before He made the world, listen to this. Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Christ. This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure. So unlike Lisa Simpson, God did choo choo choo choose you. He does love, love, love you. It was an intentional love. It is an intentional love.
You might be thinking, well Greg, you know, you can stand up there behind your stupid red pulpit with a red screen behind you and talk about love. But you don't know what I have been facing lately. I am kind of wondering if God really does love me because of some of the hardships I have gone through or the circumstances that I am facing right now. Well that is what we are going to look at and it is a story before us because it is a story of a family that was devastated by an unexpected tragedy. They were a tight knit family. One that was very close to Jesus literally. I mean they had Jesus coming over to their home. He would show up with His disciples. He would sit at their dinner table. He would spend long hours with these people. I am talking about Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. They lived in a little town called Bethany. So when you were making your way to Jerusalem you went through Bethany and this is one of our Lord's favorite places to go.
But tragedy knocked on their door one day and they immediately sent word to Jesus. Let us read just a few verses. Go to John 11 and we will read just verses 1-3. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany. The town of Mary and his 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 saying, Lord behold he whom you love is sick. You might underline he whom you love is sick.
So here they are. They are close friends with Christ. And Lazarus is very ill. So what do they do? They let Jesus know. They sent word to Jesus. Lord the one that you love is sick. Here is what I find interesting. They don't tell him what to do. They don't say get here as quickly as you can. They just say, Lord your buddy, your friend, your pal, Lazarus is very sick.
Life's Pain and God's Unchanging Love
So what do we learn from this story? Number one, life is filled with pain and sorrow and the death of loved ones. I know some of you are thinking that is like the most depressing point ever. Did you really have to say that? Yes I did. And I will say it again. Just so you get it. Life is filled with pain and sorrow and the death of loved ones. We need to accept that and understand it. And don't be shocked when it happens to you. No one gets a free pass on human suffering.
You know, sometimes when we suffer sudden loss we will say, why me? Even though we know it could happen to us, potentially, we may be shocked when it does. But here is what 1 Peter 4:12 says, Beloved, don't think it is strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing were happening to you. The better question might be, why not me? Because it is only a matter of time until it will be you in some way, shape, or form.
Now when you are young you don't necessarily get this. Because maybe you have lived a relatively crisis free life. A pain free life. And you figure that is the way it is always going to be. But then the inevitable is going to happen. First your grandparents are going to die. And then your parents are going to die. And news flash, one day you are going to die. Or maybe someone close to you dies unexpectedly. And it makes you aware of your own mortality. But whatever it is, this is what happened in Mary and Martha. They never expected their brother would just suddenly die. Or at least get sick. He hasn't died yet. But he is very ill. They are concerned.
Point number two. God loves us. Very simple. It almost sounds like a cliche. We say it so often, God loves you. But it is absolutely true. Don't rush over it. Don't misunderstand it. Let it sink in. God loves you. Therefore, whatever he does or allows to happen in your life as his child is motivated by his everlasting love for you. Let me repeat that. God loves you. Therefore, whatever he does or allows to happen in your life as his child is motivated by his everlasting love for you.
There are things that happen in life that God does. And then there are things that happen in life that God allows. But whatever the case, he is aware of it. It is not catching him by surprise. So Mary and Martha knew this. They knew they were loved by Jesus. So they appealed to their loving friend. And they give us an excellent example of what we ought to do when crisis hits, or we are facing hardship, or we are sick, or we are in need. We should call on the Lord. We do not necessarily need to tell God what he should do, but we call on the Lord.
Now you can pray for your problem to go away. I mean if someone comes up to me and they are very ill, they say, Greg will you pray for me to get better? I do not turn them down. You know I say, sure I will pray for you to get better. And that is what I pray for. I say, Lord, touch this person. Heal this person. You are the creator. You are the great physician. You have promised in your word that by your stripes we are healed. Lord, we take hold of that promise right now. Touch this person in the name of Jesus. But then I will add this. And I hope you do not think it is a cop out. But Lord, we also know you may have a plan or a purpose in this. So we say, nevertheless, not our will, but yours be done.
Some would say, don't say that. Why not? Well that cancels the prayer out. No it doesn't. It is just an acknowledgement that God knows more than I know. And there are times He has a purpose in suffering. A plan through pain. So you want to always leave that option open. But it is okay to pray about it. In fact the Bible even says, you have not because you ask not in James 4:2.
Paul had his Thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was. We assume it was physical. It was something that bothered him. Three times he asked the Lord to take it away. He prayed about it more than once. Now to the point, God did not answer the prayer as Paul wanted him to by removing the Thorn. He rather gave him the grace to get through the time of difficulty. But Paul prayed about it more than once. And we can pray about it more than once. And Jesus even said, ask and it shall be given to you. Seeking you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened. And in the Greek it can be translated keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. So the Bible encourages persistence. Bring your troubles to Jesus.
You know when the Israelites were criticized, excuse me, when the Israelites criticized and turned against Moses, we read in Exodus 15:25, Moses cried unto the Lord. That is a good thing to do. When you are being criticized, when you are not being appreciated, just bring it before the Lord. When Hezekiah received a threatening letter, Isaiah 37:14 says, he spread it out before the Lord. Have you ever been threatened in an email or threatened in a text or in a letter? Maybe it is a lawsuit? Just take that thing and just lay it out and say, God, I put this in front of you right now.
When John the Baptist was beheaded, his disciples, we read in Matthew 14:12, went and told Jesus. And that is exactly what we ought to do when hardship comes our way. Just go and tell Jesus. Why? Because Psalm 46:1 says, he, speaking of God, is a very present help in time of trouble.
Now I want you to notice the basis for their appeal. Was it because they had fed him many times? Where they are saying, hey Lord, man you owe us. You chowed down in our house and you crashed in our pad. It is payback time. Come on now. All those free meals. It is time for you to come through. They did not say anything like that. They just made Jesus aware of it. And I love the basis of their appeal. Verse 3. The sisters sent this word to him saying, Lord, the one that you love is sick. Notice they didn't say the one that loves you. Their appeal was not based on their love for him, but on his love for them. And that is good. You know why? Because my love is fickle. Don't look at me that way. Yours is too. Our love is inconsistent. It runs hot and cold. Sometimes we are feeling it. Sometimes we aren't. But God's love for us is consistent and persistent and never stops.
So they don't base it on their love for him, but rather his love for them. They are saying, Lord, because you love us we are calling on you. And Jesus was going to answer in his time and in his way. Look at verse 5 now. Now Jesus loved Martha. I want you to underline Jesus loved Martha her sister and Lazarus. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And he stayed two more days in the place where he was.
Does that make any sense to you? Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Okay. Good. Got that? Now I expect the next verse to say, so he transported himself from where he was to where they were. Jesus could do stuff like that if he wanted to. Or he spoke the word and Lazarus was immediately healed. Or he got the fastest horse and made his way to where Lazarus was and touched him. That would make sense to me. This one doesn't make sense. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, when he heard he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place that he was.
See, that could almost seem like a contradiction. If Jesus really loved Lazarus, why didn't he go and immediately heal him? And in the same way, when hardship, tragedy, even death hits in our lives, we might ask the same. If Jesus really loved me, why did he let this happen? The point is, even though we cannot see how the situation will end or why it has come upon us, we know it flows from the love of God and it is controlled by him.
Let me repeat that again. Even though we cannot see how the situation will end or why it has happened, we know it flows from the love of God and it is controlled by Him. But here is the problem. It is hard to see through eyes filled with tears, isn't it? Sort of like when it rains really hard and you turn your windshield wipers on but they are not working and you just can't see anything. And if your eyes are filled with tears you lose perspective. You don't understand why this is happening to you.
But here is what you need to remind yourself of. His delays are not necessarily his denials. Just because God doesn't do it as quickly as you want Him to do it, doesn't mean He will never do it. It just means that God has His timing just as surely as God has His will. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, God has made everything beautiful in His time.
Different Kinds of Love in the Story
And here is a little twist in this story. There is two words used for the word love in this chapter. And this is important. You know, the Greeks had a number of words for love. They had agape, phileo, Eros, storge. And we have one word for love, pretty much love, you know. And we use it to describe everything from I love my wife to I love my dog to I love Mexican food and I love... Wait, I hope you don't love your wife the same way you love your dog. In fact, some people probably love their dog more than their wife. But, you know, you are describing different situations and by the context of what you are saying we would understand you don't mean love in quite the same way.
Now here is an interesting thing. With these different Greek words we have the sisters sending word to Jesus, Lord, the one that you love is sick. And the word they use for love is phileo, which is translated Philadelphia. We have a city called that, right? And it means a city of brotherly love. Philadelphia, phileo, is brother love. It is also good cheesesteaks, but that is not the meaning of the word. But it is brother love. So a man can have phileo love for a man. A woman can have phileo love for a woman. It has nothing to do with physical attraction, nothing to do with sex. It is just brother love. Hey man, love you like a brother. Love you like a sister. Love you like a friend.
So they are effectively saying, Lord, your buddy, your friend, remember Lazarus, he is sick. But then in verse 5 we read, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And a different word is used for love. It is not the word phileo. It is the word agape. By the way, that is the word used for love. It is translated love more than any other word in the New Testament. Whenever you read the word love, it is more than not the word agape. So he is using the word agape. They are using the word phileo.
Now we don't want to make too much out of this, but we have a similar situation. In John 21, after Jesus was risen from the dead and Peter was out fishing and he brought in a great catch. And so they are standing there by the little charcoal fire and cooking up the fish and warming their hands. And they look at each other and Jesus says, Peter, do you love me? And he uses the word agape. Peter, do you love me? Peter says, Lord, I phileo you. Which is, I love you like a brother. So to put it in our vernacular, it is kind of like maybe you are in love with a girl and you say, I love you. Do you love me? And she says, I like you. And you say, but I choo choo choo you. She says, you are 21. That is really sick.
So the idea is that we use different words. So in effect, yes, your friend is sick, but because Jesus had agape love. So the idea is we think of the temporal. God thinks of the eternal. We think of the here and now. God thinks of the by and by. We think of the small picture. God looks at the big picture. It is just like a kid. All a kid can see is what is happening to them in the moment. You know, they do not understand when you do things for them. You are doing it for their own good. Like when a child gets cranky. And you know what the problem is. They need a nap. But they do not know that. They are just cranky. And they think it is like the worst thing imaginable that you laid them down for a nap. But you are trying to help the child.
Now when you get older and someone lays you down for a nap, this is a good thing. But when you are young, it is a horrible thing. You are looking at the bigger picture. You tell your child to discipline themselves. You tell them to work hard. You tell them to study. They think that is horrible. You are trying to help them. Preparing them for their future. So they will not live with you when they are 60. So the idea is that God is looking at the big picture too. Jesus loved Lazarus. But He waits. And He waits a long time. He waits so long that Lazarus isn't just sick now. Lazarus is dead. And now Lazarus isn't just dead. He has been dead four days. The process of decomposition has already set in.
So not only did Jesus not rush back and heal His close friend. But He missed the funeral. And Martha was not happy about it. You can see the closeness of their relationship. And the way that she actually speaks to Christ. As we come to John 11. Starting in verse 20. So here comes Jesus. Walking down the road. Look what happens. Then Martha. As soon as she heard Jesus was coming. Went and met Him. But Mary was sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus. Lord if you would have been here. My brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God. He will give it to you.
Jesus said. Your brother will rise again. Martha said. I know He will rise again in the resurrection. At the last day. Jesus said to her. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me shall never die. Yet shall he live. Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? We will stop there.
Now look at Martha's words. You want to talk about being brash. Verse 21. Lord if you would have been here. My brother would not have died. Can I loosely paraphrase that? Martha speaking. Lord you blew it. Okay. We were bragging on you to our friends. We were saying. Yeah. You know Jesus. He comes to our house all the time. That is the chair He sits in. Here is His favorite dish. That we know all about Jesus. And we will just call out to Him. And He will be here so quickly. And you didn't come when we wanted you to come. Where were you?
Have you ever felt that way? Something happened. You said God where were you? Where were you when this marriage dissolved? Where were you when my parents divorced? Where were you when my child went astray? Where were you when that loved one died? I want you to notice something. Jesus did not reprove Martha for what she said. He said he could have. In some ways it seems like he should have. But here is why he did it. Because it is not sinful to tell God how you feel.
Did you know God is not impressed by flowery prayers? So don't think you are going to like con God. You know I see some people go, Oh our most gracious and loving Heavenly Father. Just say it already. Will you just? I mean look I am all for praise and worship. But their prayers are so flowery and ornate that I don't even know what they are saying. I don't even know what... Just talk to God. And tell Him how you are really feeling. And guess what? If you are hurting, tell God you are hurting. If you are in pain, tell God you are in pain. If you are happy, tell God you are happy. But the point is, be honest to God, because He already knows what's really happening. And this is all Martha was doing. She was just being honest to God.
Jesus Weeps with Us in Our Pain
And we are told to cry out to Him. Even our Lord, when He hung on the cross, and was bearing the sins of the world, cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That could sound accusatory. Couldn't it? My Father, why have you done this to me? He was simply describing the reality of this situation, as He was bearing the sins of all of humanity. But the point is, He cried out to God.
Here is what I am trying to say to you. Talk to God about it. I think one of the problems that can happen is we withdraw from God, and we withdraw from others. Something happens, it's hard in life, and we are sort of mad at God. And we are mad at Christians. I have met people, I am mad at the church. The whole church? Yes, the whole church. Just mad. Mad. So over it. And you know, I just don't want to be around Christians, and I am just bitter. Yeah you are, aren't you? Bitter. Party of one. Pretty sad, isn't it? You need God and you need God's people. And you need fellowship. I am not saying the church is perfect, but I will tell you what. It is better than anything else out there. And though we have our shortcomings and our flaws, we have the Lord and we have each other. And it is the only organization Jesus started. That is right. That is right.
So we may wonder why. In the book of Job, when calamity befell him, he asked God why many times. There is nothing wrong with asking God why, as long as you don't feel that God somehow owes you an answer. I mean I think if God actually gave us the answer, we wouldn't be satisfied anyway. I mean what if the Lord, if you are saying, Lord why did this happen? Okay I am going to tell you right now. Are you ready? Sit down. Okay. Here is why. Here is why. Okay. That was a quick Bob Coy imitation. If you don't know who I am talking about, forget it. Okay. But, so he explains it to you. Do you think that would really satisfy you? I don't think it would. If the Lord told you why things happen the way they do, would it ease your pain or heal your broken heart? I don't think so. I think it would raise more questions. See God says my ways are above your ways and my thoughts are above your thoughts. We live on promises, not explanations. So we shouldn't spend too much time asking why.
Yes Martha cried out to Jesus. Unfair. Foul. Not right. But she did cry out to Jesus. And we should do the same. And then we should listen to his response. Jesus does not correct her. He tries to give her this eternal perspective. He says, Martha, your brother will rise again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. On the resurrection of the last day. No Martha, you are missing the point. Read my lips, Martha. I am the resurrection. And the life. And he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And this whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Then he asks, do you believe this? Martha, are you even listening?
See, here is what she didn't know. Jesus was about to raise her brother from the dead. She wanted a healing. He wanted a resurrection. Sometimes we limit God through our prayers. Lord, I pray you will provide me with this. This is why I like to say, Lord, this is what I need but not my will but yours be done. Maybe God wants to give you more. Ever stop and think about that? Don't limit Him. God was going to do abundantly above and beyond. That which they could ask or think.
Well now Martha has had her say. Along comes her sister Mary. Generally, Martha was the outspoken one. Mary was the more quiet, laid back one. But even Mary is aggressive in this particular instance. Look at verse 32. Then when Mary came to where Jesus was and she saw Him, she fell down at His feet saying to Him, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. Basically saying the same thing as Martha.
Verse 33. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the Spirit and He was troubled. And He said, Where have you laid Him? And they said, Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. And then the Jews said, See how He loved Him. This brings me to point number three. Jesus weeps with us in our time of pain. Jesus weeps with us in our time of pain. Yes, Jesus was God with all that power and glory. But He also was a man who felt our pain and sorrow.
And you know, men don't generally like to cry. Do they? Women are far more able to express their emotions. Men hold this back. I was watching a movie with my wife the other day. It was funny and then it got sad in the end. And I was kind of choking it. But I am holding it back. I don't want to cry watching a movie. But that is just sort of the nature of men in general. We sort of hold it back. And sometimes it is even thought, Well it is not manly to cry. Really? I have a two word answer to that. Jesus wept. Jesus wept. And there was never a more manly man than Jesus of Nazareth. Know that. He was truly the man's man. Even Pontius Pilate, after Christ had been scourged, said of him, Ecce homo, which means behold the man. Look at this God. Look at this man. What he went through. That whipping. That scourging. That beating. And still he carries that 400 pound cross through the streets of Jerusalem after that loss of blood. After that trauma. After that beating. He falls beneath the weight of it. He gets up again. That was a man like no other. He was a tough guy. And Jesus wept.
And that is because this was a very sad situation. You know he felt their pain. Remember President Clinton said once, I feel your pain. With a thumb always. I feel your pain. And he would bite his lip. I don't know if President Clinton felt our pain. But I know Jesus does. If it touches us, it touches him. Here is an example. Have you ever had your little child running down the street and they fall? And you literally felt pain? You know I mean it is like you almost felt it. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah. Now you didn't fall. But because you are so connected to that child you felt it in almost a physical way. So Jesus sees his pain and it breaks his heart in a sense.
And the Bible tells us Job 34:28. God hears the cry of the afflicted. David wrote he forgets not the cry of the humble. David again said, The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right. His ears are open to their cries for help. Listen. Girls. You know this. Crying is your secret weapon. You can yell at a man. You can nag a man. You can threaten a man. He may be unmoved. You cry. He is melting. Just shed a few tears. What? What? I am sorry. I am sorry. Right? When God sees us cry he cares. I am not saying that he is being manipulated. But he sees our hearts are hurting and that he cares. His ears are open to our cries for help.
You see Jesus has walked in our shoes. He knows what it is like to feel pain. He knows what it is like to feel sorrow. Isaiah 53 verse 3 says, He was despised and rejected. Listen. A man of sorrows. Acquainted with the bitterest grief. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. He felt our sorrow. He cares about our sorrow. If it concerns you, it concerns him. If it is a big deal to you, in effect it is a big deal to him. In fact the Bible even says that God keeps our tears in a bottle. Psalm 56 verse 8 says, You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all of my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Listen. God keeps our tears in a bottle so we can wipe them away someday. Because the Bible tells us one day he will wipe away every tear.
But Jesus was not only sorrowful. He was not only sad. He was also angry. Go back to John 11 verse 33. When Jesus saw her weeping. He saw the other people wailing with her. He was moved with indignation. And was deeply troubled. Again, Jesus was troubled as they came to the grave. Now I am dropping down to verse 38. And again Jesus was deeply troubled. And they came to the grave. It was a cave with a stone across its entrance. The word trouble can be translated, He was mad. There is not a lot of occasions where Jesus got mad in Scripture. But this is one of them. He was angry. Why was He angry? Do you think He was angry with Mary and Martha? You light weights. Come on. Toughen up. No, I don't think so. His heart broke for them. He understood that sadness and that pain. I think He was angry, if you will, with death itself. With the grim reaper, so to speak.
Because this was not God's plan originally. God didn't want men and women, mankind, men and women, to die. He wanted us to live forever. He didn't want us to age. He didn't want us to lose our hair. But because of the curse, because of our first parents eating of the forbidden fruit, this disease called sin spreads to all of us. We are all born with it. We are all very adept at it. We all do it very naturally. And we also reap the repercussions of sin. And I don't just mean doing bad things, but I mean just that part of sin that is called the curse. Like aging. Like death. And so Jesus was just angry with the whole thing. And now He is going to violate the basic laws of nature here. He is going to put God's glory on display. He thanks His Father for hearing His prayer. And then He says these words, Lazarus, come forth.
You better believe that prayer was heard everywhere. It is a good thing He didn't just say, come forth. Because if He had every body and every grave, would have burst from the ground immediately. That is the power of Jesus. Lazarus, come forth. Where is Lazarus at this point? He is on the other side. Now sometimes the question is asked, what happened to people in the Old Testament when they died who were believers? Well they went to a place called Hades. And Hades then had two compartments. Two sections if you will. Smoking and non-smoking. There was a place of comfort in the bosom of Lazarus. Or the bosom of Abraham. Excuse me. And then there was a place of torment. And Jesus actually talked about this in the Gospel of Luke. Two men that died. One who was a believer named Lazarus. But not the same one in our story. One man who went to the place of comfort. And then another man who was wicked who went to the place of torment. They couldn't cross over.
Now, that is where believers went before Jesus died and Rose. But after He died and Rose again from the dead, believers now go immediately to heaven. So at this point, Lazarus, still kind of in the Old Covenant section because Jesus has not died on the cross yet and risen again. He is in the place of comfort. So it is like heaven in so many ways. He is in a place of bliss. A place of just wonder and awe. And he hears Jesus saying, Lazarus, come forth. He didn't want to come forth. Trust me when I tell you, if you could talk to anyone in heaven and ask them, would you like to come back to earth? They would say no. And if I drop dead, I will one day, of course. But let's just say I was up here and I drop dead preaching. And well let's pray God raise his grave from the dead. Don't you dare. I will hurt you.
So if a person goes to the other side, they would never want to come back. So in a way this was kind of a raw deal for Lazarus. Oh great, now you get to die twice. It is not bad enough to die once. You get to die two times. So he went over to the other side. Jesus says, Lazarus, come forward or come forth. Well, what else could he do? He had to come. When Jesus calls, you come.
Glory Through Suffering and the Promise of Resurrection
That brings me to point number four, my last point. God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad. Again, God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad. Yes, in this case, Lazarus was brought back from the dead. But that usually doesn't happen now, does it? Sometimes God will remove the affliction. Sometimes God will heal the illness. Sometimes God will take away the cancer. And sometimes the person will get worse.
Years ago I had a friend who was very sick. And he asked me to pray for him. And I did. And he got worse. And he said, I don't ever want you to pray for me again. See, sometimes it goes the wrong way in our estimation. We say, Lord, touch this person. Heal this person. Be glorified through this. And the Lord says, I will be glorified but I am not going to do it the way you want me to. I am going to do this other thing instead. And this is their time to go to heaven. And, of course, we don't usually like that. No matter what the age of the person is. But it is in these times that God can be glorified.
Because, you see, everyone suffers in life. And Christians suffer too. But when a Christian is suffering and can still glorify God, that is a powerful testimony to a lost world. You see, non-believers may look at us and say, well, you Christians, you know, you are so happy and all that. You know, you don't know what life is really like. Like you have this sweet little life. Well, yeah, we suffer too. And when they see us honoring the Lord through our suffering, it shows them how real our faith is. But guess what? It shows us how real our faith is too.
There is a lot of things we take by faith. We say, hey, God won't give you a trial so hard. He won't be able to handle it. Oh, I believe that. And then one day that trial comes and you are going, oh boy. There is that bridge. Get out and walk on that bridge now. And that bridge isn't looking all that stable to you. But on faith, you step out on it. And you take God's word at face value. And you stand on the promises of God. And you find that bridge sustaining you each step of the way. And you are assured that God's word is true. And your faith doesn't get weaker. It gets stronger.
Do you think your faith is going to get stronger if everything is easy in life? No. It is going to get stronger through hardship. And here is something that might surprise you. You will even develop more hope through tribulation. Romans 5:3 says, We glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. Perseverance produces character. And character produces hope. Hope grows in the garden of pain. It doesn't grow in a garden without challenges or difficulty. It grows in hard times.
It is sort of like when you build your muscle up. You build it up by breaking it down. Right? That is why after... If you have not worked out for a long time. And you go have a vigorous workout. You are feeling good. Oh I am good. I am strong. The next day it is like... Right? Because you have not caught on those muscles for a long time. There has been the breakdown. So what do you need to do? Never work out again. No. You have got to get back to the gym. And you work out again. And you keep working on it. Pretty soon that muscle gets stronger. And it grows. And so you develop strength through your weaknesses. And so this is true of a Christian. In the spiritual life as well.
Lazarus was raised from the dead. But the bigger point is death is not the end. That is what we have to remember. Death is not the end. Physical death is not the end of existence. It is only a change in the state of existence. The tomb is not an entrance to death. But to life for the believer. Because heaven is the earthly life of the believer. Glorified and perfected.
So if you are going through a hard time. And you wonder where was God? I will tell you where God was. He was right there with you. And I will tell you something else. He is going to be with you tomorrow. And the day after. And he is going to be with you on that day. That you leave this earth for heaven. Because Jesus is the same yesterday. Today. And forever. God is going to be with you on your good days. And on your bad days. He is going to be with you at the death of a Saint. And at the birth of a baby. He will be with you in both places. So you don't have to be afraid. God has got this covered for you.
Jesus said I will never leave you or forsake you. Isn't that good to know? It is so true. Isaiah 43, God says, When you go through deep waters in great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through the rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. David said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For what? Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. He is with you. He will be with you. So you don't have to fear evil.
So sometimes when we pray like Mary and Martha, it may seem that God is late. But God is never late. His delays are delays of love. And God's silence can even be a silence of love. He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him. And He will enter into that pain with us. And He will answer in the way He chooses. But call on Him.
You know, Jehoshaphat, the king, was in trouble. He was leading Israel. But there was a force coming after him that was far larger than his armies. There is this powerful little story of Jehoshaphat standing out there with his family and with the children and the small ones. And he says, Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. I love that scene. There's just a picture of weakness, really humanly speaking. Lord, here we are. We've got the kids. I mean, what are we going to do here? We have an army coming toward us. And God intervened and answered his prayer. And that's a good thing to say. And sometimes when God comes through for us, it's later than we expect, but He does come through.
There's one occasion when there was a storm at sea. The disciples were calling out to God for help. And Jesus finally shows up, coming to them, walking on the water. But when does He come? In the fourth watch of the night. You know when the fourth watch of the night is? That's the last part of the night, right before the sun begins to rise. You know when you wake up like at four o'clock in the morning, and it's technically A.M. , but it still feels like P.M., because it's dark outside. But, you know, you wait a little bit longer, and it's dark, and it's dark, and then suddenly the sun begins to rise. And so that's when Jesus came. That meant that they were toiling at sea, trying to get through the storm for hours, and Jesus comes at the last possible moment. But the point is, He did come, and He always will come. And He'll come for you, and He'll come for me. So we need to just trust Him.
You know, sometimes we wonder, Lord, are you paying attention? Are you aware of what's happening? And that's how people felt the first time Jesus came. You know, Israel was under the power of Rome. There was no more powerful force on the planet than the military machine known as Rome. And here was Israel that was now under enemy occupation. They were crying, Lord, when are you going to send the Messiah? And the Bible says when the time was just right, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that are under the law. At the perfect moment in history that God had preordained, Jesus was born as a baby in the manger.
And now today we say, Lord, when are you going to come back again? Are you looking at our world? Are you looking at this horrific violence and this wickedness that's happening? When are you going to come back? And again God says, God is not late. As some men count lateness, He has longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He will come when the time is right. So we just wait. And just remember this. He loves you. Because He choo-choo chooses you. And He loves you with an everlasting love. And that love is not fickle. And that love doesn't change. And that love is persistent. And that love is consistent. You are loved by God.
Now don't misunderstand what that means. You know, some people say, God loves me and He accepts me the way that I am. That's true, kind of. God loves you the way that you are. But He doesn't want to leave you that way. So don't use that as an excuse for immoral living or for ungodly behavior. God loves you, but He wants you to change. And it is actually that love for you that will change you. Because you think, man, a God that loves me this much, I want to follow Him.
You know, the Bible says, to whom much is forgiven, that one loves more. And I think when you realize how much the Lord has shown His mercy to you and will forgive you of all of your sin, you want to serve Him with greater passion, I hope that's your attitude right now. But there might be some of you that have joined us who never knew God loved you. Maybe you grew up in a home where no one ever told you you were loved. I did. No one ever told me I was loved. My mom never said it. There was never a dad around, for the most part, long enough to tell me. My adopted father, Oscar, told me a few times, but that was a very short time I had with him. So I grew up never knowing if I was loved. And then one day, I heard that God loved me. I heard that Jesus loved me.
And I want you to know that you are loved by God. And He's shown that love to you because Jesus said, For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There is no greater demonstration of love in the universe than what God did for you. This is better than buying you a box of chocolates or flowers. He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sin and bore all the wrongs that you've done. And if you'll turn from that sin and put your faith in Jesus, you can be forgiven.
So I want to close tonight by extending an invitation for you to believe in Jesus, for you to know the love of God, for you to know what it's like to be loved by Him, for you to start loving Him back. And He will change your life and do amazing things for you, but you must come to Him. Jesus said, Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He's saying, Come on now. Come to me right now. I'll give you that rest.
We're going to close in prayer, and I'm going to give you an opportunity to come to Him and to believe in Him if you've not done that yet. Let's all bow our heads. Let's everybody pray, please. Father, we thank you for your love for us. and showing that in such a vivid way by sending Jesus to die on the cross. And Lord Jesus, thank you for laying your life down for us at Calvary, for letting them pound those spikes through your hands and feet because it wasn't those spikes that held you to that cross 2,000 years ago. It was love for us. You put up with that because you loved us, and you love us, and you call us. I pray now for any here that have never believed in Jesus, any here that have never responded to this love, any here that have never found your forgiveness, help them to come to you now into a relationship with you. We ask in your name.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying, maybe someone here would say tonight, Greg, I want to know Jesus Christ. I want to be forgiven of my sin. I want to go to heaven when I die. I want to start this relationship with God that you've been talking about. Pray for me. If you want Jesus to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that when you die, you will go to heaven, will you lift your hand up wherever you're sitting, and let me pray for you tonight. You want Christ to come in your life? You want Him to forgive you. Raise your hand up. I'll pray for you tonight wherever you're sitting. Lift it up where I can see it. You want His forgiveness. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? You want to know Jesus in a personal way. You have done things you are ashamed of and you want a second chance in life. Here it is. Offered to you by God Himself. Raise your hand up. Let me pray for you. God bless you. God bless you. And you. And you.
Maybe there are some of you here that knew the Lord at one point but you have fallen away from Him. You have been living in a way that you know is wrong. But you want to come back to the Lord again. You have been a prodigal son or daughter. If you want to return to the Lord would you raise your hand up? Let me pray for you. God bless you. Anybody else? Raise your hand up. God bless.
Listen. All of you that raised your hand if you would please. I want you to stand to your feet and I am going to lead you in a prayer right where you stand. Just stand up. If you raise your hand. Even if you did not raise your hand but you want Christ to come into your life. You want Him to forgive Stand up right now. Raise your hand even if you didn't. Stand up. I am going to lead you in a simple prayer. You want to make that recommitment to Christ. Stand to your feet. I am going to pray with you right now. Stand up. Don't be embarrassed. Others are standing. You are not the only one. You want to make that commitment a recommitment to Jesus. Stand to your feet. There are more of you that need to do it. Go ahead. Stand up. God bless you. Anybody else? Stand to your feet. One final moment. We are going to pray. Stand up. Let me lead you in this prayer. God bless you. Anybody else?
All right. Now you that are standing, you pray this prayer out loud after me right where you stand. Again, as I pray, pray this prayer out loud after me. Pray this if you would. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. But you died on the cross because you love me. Now I turn from my sin. And I choose to follow you. Be my Savior and Lord. Be my God and my friend. Thank you for calling me and loving me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.