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John 11:17-27  JESUS AND MARTHA SISTER TO LAZARUS

Introduction:

 	Jesus was in Perea when a messenger had come from
Bethany saying that Lazarus was sick.  Actually Lazarus had
died shortly after the messenger left Bethany, but the
messenger did not know that.  Jesus knew and after a two day
delay announced to His disciples that they would go back
into Judaea.  This decision was made in spite of the fact
that the last two times He had been in Judaea, Jewish
leaders had tried to kill Him.
	Our text today deals with the arrival of Jesus and His
disciples back in Bethany where Lazarus and his sisters
lived and where Lazarus was buried.  Martha was the first of
the two sisters to learn of the arrival of Jesus and to make
contact with Him.

I.  The arrival of Jesus in Bethany

	V. 17, "Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain
in the grave four days already."  When Jesus arrived in the
village of Bethany He did not go directly to the home of
Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus.  But in the
village, He encountered someone who told Him and His
disciples that Lazarus had already been dead and in the
grave for four days.
	As mentioned earlier, Lazarus had actually died right
after the messenger left Bethany to go to inform Jesus that
he was sick.  It was common in those days to bury an
individual the same day that he died.  So Lazarus was both
dead and buried while the messenger was enroute to Perea to
find Jesus.  By the end of that day Lazarus had been in the
grave for the greater part of the day.  Then Jesus tarried
in Perea two additional days after He got the news and that
made three days that Lazarus had been in the grave.  Then
Jesus and His disciples spent the fourth day traveling to
Bethany and that made a total of four days that Lazarus was
in the grave when He arrived.
	Jesus, of course, already knew that Lazarus was dead and
knew how long he had been in the grave.  The disciples also
now knew that Lazarus was dead because Jesus had informed
them, but they did not know that Lazarus had been in the
grave for four days.  So it was news to the disciples when
someone from the village informed them that Lazarus had been
in the grave four days.
	V. 18-19, "Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about
fifteen furlongs off: And many of the Jews came to Martha
and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother." Bethany
was but a short distance from the city of Jerusalem ---
about two miles.  Therefore many friends and perhaps
relatives who lived in the city of Jerusalem came to Bethany
to comfort Martha and Mary.
	As I mentioned earlier, Jesus did not go directly to the
home of Martha and Mary.  Rather, He stopped in the village
and sent a message to Martha and Mary that He had arrived
and that He would wait in the village for them to come there
to see Him.

II.  Martha's encounter with Jesus

	V. 20, "Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was
coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house."
Martha was not a person to sit still.  She had to be doing
something.  Even now, she was apparently tending to the
necessities while Mary sat grieving in the innermost part of
the house.
	Since Martha was the one who was up and about, she was
the one who took the message that Jesus had arrived in
Bethany and would wait there for Martha and Mary to come and
meet Him.  She must have been very glad to get that news.
She did not even bother to contact Mary.  She left
immediately without telling Mary that she was leaving.
	John tells us about that meeting with Jesus.  V. 21,
"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
my brother had not died."  I used to think that Martha was
trying to blame Jesus for not arriving earlier so that He
could heal Lazarus and prevent his death.  Not so.  She knew
that Lazarus had died immediately after the messenger left
Bethany.  There was no way he could have reached Jesus to
give him the news in time for Jesus to arrive before the
death of Lazarus.  Lazarus was already dead before Jesus got
the news and she knew it.  So she was not reprimanding Jesus
for not arriving earlier.
	What she was really saying was that she had enough faith
in Him to believe that if He had been present He could have
healed Lazarus and prevented his death.  Perhaps she waseven
somewhat apologizing to Jesus for not sending Him word
earlier.  At the very least, she was not blaming Jesus for
the death of Lazarus.  She was just very glad to see Him now
and she was trying to express that to Him.
	V. 22, "But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt
ask of God, God will give it thee."  Martha not only
believed that Jesus could healed Lazarus and prevent his
death if He had been present, but she also believed that
even yet He could raise Lazarus from the grave if He would
choose to do so.  She knew that He had raised others from
the dead and she believed that He could raise Lazarus.  No,
she did not just believe that He could.  She knew He could!
	She said she knew that Jesus could ask permission from
God the Father to raise Lazarus from the grave and that God
the Father would grant Him permission to do so.  She knew
that He had the power to do so and she knew that God would
grant Him permission to do so if He would only ask.
	Now Martha did not directly ask Jesus to raise Lazarus.
Yet she made it perfectly clear to Him that this is what she
wanted.

III.  The promise which Jesus made to Maratha

	V. 23, "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise
again."  Jesus at first did not say whether or not He would
or would not raise Lazarus.  He did, however, reassure
Martha that Lazarus would come back to life without telling
her when.
	V. 24, "Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise
again in the resurrection at the last day."  Martha already
believed in a resurrection of the dead.  I am not certain
how much she knew about it, but she knew that in the
end-time that a resurrection would take place and that
Lazarus would be in it.
	Technically, there will be two resurrections.  Before
the millennium there will be a resurrection of the saved and
they will rule and reign with Jesus during the millennium.
That is the resurrection which Lazarus would be in.   Then
after the millennium there will be another resurrection.
This is the resurrection of the unsaved wo will be will be
raised, judged and cast alive into the Lake and Fire and
Brimstone.  Lazarus would not be in that second
resurrection.  Lazarus was a saved man and would be in the
first resurrection.
	It was good that Martha believed that Lazarus would be
in the resurrection of the redeemed.  Knowing that would be
a great comfort to her about her deceased brother.  The
Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection at all and would
have no comfort concerning the destiny of their loved ones
nor concerning themselves either.

IV.  What Jesus wanted Martha to understand

	Yet Jesus wanted Martha to do more than just believe in
a resurrection.  He wanted her to know His role in the
resurrection.  Listen to what He said.  	V. 25, "Jesus said
unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
He wanted her to know that the resurrection of any man
depends on Him.  No matter when the resurrection takes
place, whether at the end or whether it takes place
immediately, the resurrection of any man depends on Jesus.
	He also wanted her to know that it is important for men
to place their faith in Him as the Christ of God and as the
Savior of man.  He wants all men to know this.  Martha and
Mary and Lazarus had all three placed their faith in Him and
would be in the resurrection of the redeemed, but there were
many who had not trusted in Him.  By explaining to Martha
the importance of trusting in Him, He could get the message
to whatever villagers were present there to hear.  There are
still many even today who have not yet trusted in Him.  By
explaining to Martha the importance of trusting in Him, He
would get the message to all who would read this passage of
Scripture or hear it read.
  In this verse Jesus states first that He is the
resurrection and the life.  Jesus is the One is the giver of
all life.  He is the One who gave life to Adam and Eve.
According to John chapter 1 Jesus is the Creator.  Allthings
were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made.  He is the One who created the animals and gave
life to the animals.  He is the One who created Adam and Eve
and gave life to them.  He is the One who setup the laws of
nature by which animal and human beings reproduce.
	Whenever a child is conceived in keeping with the laws
of nature, Jesus is the one who puts a living spirit within
that little body.  The parents can produce the body of a
baby, but it is the Lord who puts a spirit within the body
which the parents have produced.  Anyone who has ever been
born into this world has a spirit life which came from Jesus
Christ.
	Jesus is also the One who gives eternal life.  He is the
One who saves the soul of a lost sinner and causes him to
live with God in glory forever.
	Jesus is also the One who possesses the power to raise
the human body from the grave.  Even though it has gone back
to the dirt, He has the power to raise that body back to
life again.  Just as He could take dirt from the earth and
turn it into human flesh and make it come alive, even so He
can take the human body which has turned back to dust and
make it come alive again.
	Furthermore, Jesus said, "...he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live."  This is a promise
that applies to the believer only.  It is a promise that
applies only to those who will come forth in the first
resurrection which will take place before the millennium.
It is true that after the millennium even the unsaved will
be resurrected, but they will be cast into the Lake of Fire
and Brimstone and that is not what Jesus is talking about in
this verse.  When Jesus raises the believer from the grave
that believer will live a life of joy and peace and beauty,
but those who are brought forth in the second resurrection
will suffer in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.  The believer
will never be cast into the Lake of Fire.  I repeat: Jesus
in this verse is talking about a resurrection in which only
believers are involved.
	The same is true in verse 26.  This is a promise which
is made for believers only.  V. 26, "And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die..."  Jesus promises here
that the believer will never die.  What does He mean?  Does
He mean that the believer will never die the physical death?
He could not mean that.  Lazarus was a believer and Lazarus
had just died just four days earlier.
	Then what did He mean?  For one thing, He meant that the
believer would never be cast into the Lake of Fire and
Brimstone which is the second death.  The believer may die
the physical death, but the believer will never die the
second death.
	For another thing, He meant that even the physical death
for the believer is not permanent.  Death for the believer
is more like sleep than it is like death.  Jesus at first,
when He was talking about the physical death of Lazarus, had
said to them that Lazarus "sleepeth."  Later the Apostle
Paul, when writing to the church at Thessalonica, would
speak about dead believers as those who "sleep in Jesus."
	Physical death for the believer is more like sleep than
it like death.  The spirit or soul of the believer does not
sleep in death.  It goes to be with the Lord in Paradise and
is very much awake and aware what goes on around them.  But
the body which is left behind is in a state that is very
much like sleep.  Some day the Lord will come and awake the
body of every believer and call it back to life again.

V.  The question which Jesus asked Martha

	(V. 26), "...Believest thou this?"  Then Jesus put this
question to Martha, "Do you believe what I just told you?
Do you believe that when a believer dies he does not die in
a final sense?  Do you believe that?  Do you believe that
some day the Lord will come again from heaven and that He
will call the body of every believer out of the grave even
as He called the body of Lazarus out of the tomb in Bethany?
Do you believe that?
	I like the answer that Martha gave Jesus.  V. 27, "She
saith unto him, Yea, Lord..."  Martha did not hesitate.
Martha believed.  She believed all that Jesus said.
	Then she gave the reason that she believed.  (V. 27),
"...I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God,
which should come into the world."  The reason that Martha
could so firmly believe what Jesus had said to her is
because she believed that He is the Christ, the Son of God.
Since she believed that Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of
God, then she had no trouble believing all that He said.
	Now let me direct that same question to you.  Do you
believe what Jesus said.  Do you believe that Jesus is the
giver of life?  Do you believe that Jesus is the One who
gives eternal life?  Do you believe that the resurrection of
all men depends on Jesus?  Do you believe that Jesus can
save a lost sinner and give him (or her) everlasting life
within the soul?  Do you believe that even when a believer
dies the physical death, that the believer goes on to a
better home to live with the Lord in Paradise?  Do you
believe that even though the physical body of a believer may
go back to the dust again, yet the Lord will awake him from
sleep and call his physical body back to life again?  Do you
believe that Jesus will raise all of the redeemed to live
with Him through the millennium and throughout all eternity?
	If you truly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God --- that He is Deity God in human flesh --- then you
should have no trouble believing these things.
	But let me direct one more very important question to
you?  Have you ever called upon Jesus and asked Him to save
your soul?  Have you acknowledged to Him that you are a
sinner and asked Him to cleanse you from all your sin and
save your soul?  If not, then I am going to ask you to do so
while we have an invitation hymn.  I am going to ask that
every unsaved person in this auditorium come forward and
trust in Jesus Christ to save your soul.
	I am also going to call upon every Christian who stands
in need of moving your membership to this church to come
forward and present yourself for membership.

Invitation:
	
	Who will come?