79 John 11:45-46 BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS Introduction: When Jesus called Lazarus from the grave there was a large crowd was present. Some must have been local people from the village of Bethany. The majority, however, were from Jerusalem. In our text John tells us that some of those who were present got saved, but some of them did not. I. All witnessing the evidence The people had all witnessed the evidence that Jesus is the Christ. What they had witnessed must have been spectacular. Can you imagine how surprised they had been to hear Jesus cry out to Lazarus and tell him to come forth out of the grave? Can you imagine how much more surprised they must have been to see Lazarus come walking out? First they witnessed Jesus as He looked up into heaven and asked God's blessings on what He was about to do. Then they heard Him call for Lazarus to come out of the grave. They must have stood in awe as Lazarus came walking out of the grave wrapped from head to foot in the grave clothes. Jesus told the people to take the grave clothes off. Can you imagine how excited the people must have been as they began to unwrap those grave clothes and hastily found some other clothes for him to put on? Can you imagine the questions they asked Lazarus? I can imagine that TV talk-show hosts of our day would love to have a fellow like him on their show today. They would ask him all manner of questions. They would surely want to know what he had seen and what he had heard when he was on the other side. They would want to know what it was like to hear the voice of Jesus call for him to come out of the grave. They would want to know if he felt any regrets about being called back to this life. I can also imagine that many of the people back at Bethany did not get much sleep that night. They must have talked about the events of the day long into the night before going to bed. Then after they eventually went to bed they must have found it difficult to get to sleep. II. Vital questions which they all faced These people knew about the Old Testament scriptures which prophesy about the coming of Christ, who would be just such as man as Jesus. They knew that many people in their own day had already concluded that Jesus is the Christ whom the prophets had promised. They knew that Jesus had recently given sight to a man and had openly proclaimed that God in heaven is His Father. Thus, indirectly, He had claimed to be the Son of God and the Jews understood it to be such a claim. They knew also that He had proclaimed Himself to be the Bread of Heaven, the Water of Life, and that He would give eternal life to those who believe in Him. Further, they knew that the man to whom Jesus gave sight said that he believed Jesus to be who He claims to be. He believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God. Now they have witnessed with their own eyes and ears as Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and called for God in heaven to sanction what He was about to do. They heard with their own ears as Jesus cried out to Lazarus, the dead man, to come out of the grave. They witnessed with their own eyes as Lazarus came walking out of that grave wrapped in grave clothes from head to foot. They would now face some vital questions. Is He, indeed, the Bread of Heaven? Is He the Water of Life? Is He the Son of God? Can He, indeed, give eternal life to those who believe in Him? There was no doubt about one thing. He does have the power to raise the dead back to life again. They have just witnessed as He called Lazarus out of the grave. III. Those who believed in Jesus John informs us that many of these people had a life-changing experience as a result of this event. V. 45, "Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him." They believed on Him and were saved. They believed that He is the Christ of God. They believed that He is the Son of God. They believed that He is the Water of Life, The Bread From Heaven, the Savior of men. They believed that He is the resurrection and the life. They place their own personal trusting faith in Him and they got saved as a result. I am not certain just how quickly they believed. Some probably believed right there on the spot at the grave of Lazarus. Some may not have believed until later in the day as they talked about it and reviewed it in their minds. Some of them may have come to believe on Jesus as they lay awake that night after going to bed. Some may have believed the next day. Some may not have believed until a later time. But John tells us that many of them did believe and we know that they got saved when they did believe. But let me point out one thing to you. The great miracle which they witnessed must have had some influence on them and helped them to believe, but it was most certainly not the deciding factor. In Luke chapter 16 the rich man who died and went to hell requested that the beggar, Lazarus, be sent back to earth to witness to his brothers so that they would be saved. The rich man was told that his brothers had the writings of the prophets to warn them about hell. He was told that if men will not believe the word of God that they would not believe even if one arose from the dead to give them warning. You see, what happened was this. These people who believed in Jesus already knew what the Scriptures had said about the coming of the Christ. They heard Jesus pray and seek God's approval for raising Lazarus from the grave. Then they witnessed as Jesus called Lazarus from the grave and Lazarus came forth. They added it all up and they could see that Jesus is, indeed the very Christ whom the Scriptures had promised. Therefore, they placed their faith in Him and they were saved. They had rejoiced to see Lazarus raised from the grave. They had rejoiced for Lazarus. They had rejoiced for Martha and Mary. They had rejoiced even more to know that the promises of the coming Christ had been fulfilled and that they had the privilege of seeing Him and witnessing one of His greatest miracles. Yet their greatest joy was concerning their own eternal destiny. When they placed their faith in Jesus the great burden of their sins was lifted and there was a peace with God within their hearts and souls. There was a joy within their hearts that could not be expressed adequately with words. The Scripture calls it "joy unspeakable and full of glory." IV. Those who did not believe in Jesus But not all who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus believed in Jesus. V. 46, "But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done." These people were not at all convinced that Jesus is the Christ. They were not at all convinced that Jesus is the Son of God. They were not at all convinced that Jesus could give eternal life. They still despised Him and thought Him to be a wicked man, a danger to their society, a danger to their country. They were outright enemies of Jesus. They were familiar with the same Old Testament scriptures which had helped to enlighten those who believed in Jesus. They had seen and heard Jesus as He prayed to God the Father. They had witnessed the same great miracle which those who believed in Jesus had witnessed. They saw the same proof that the others had seen that God in heaven heard and answered the prayers of Jesus. They heard Him call for Lazarus to come out of the grave. They saw Lazarus come walking out of the grave. They saw the grave clothes unwraped from his body. They, no doubt, heard him speak. They saw him move his arms and legs. There was no doubt in their minds that Jesus had performed a mighty miracle. But they had pretty well made up their minds already that Jesus is not the Christ and they stubbornly refused to change their minds. Perhaps they were afraid of the Sanhedrin Council who had already excommunicated the former blind man from the Jewish synagogue because he expressed his faith in Jesus. They may have been afraid the same thing would happen to them if they believed in Jesus. They may have just been afraid of criticism from family or friends. But for whatever reason, they willfully and deliberately rejected the overwhelming evidence before them that Jesus is the Christ. But they were more than just unreceptive to Jesus. They became outright enemies to Him. They went right straight to the Pharisees whom they knew to be enemies of Jesus. They went to the Pharisees and told them about the miracle which they had witnessed. They acknowledged that Jesus had indeed raised Lazarus from the grave. They informed them that a large number of people were now convinced that Jesus is the Christ. They knew full well that the Pharisees would take action to try to bring the ministry of Jesus to an end. But the worst thing about their rejection of Jesus, as far as their own well being was concerned, was that they remained unsaved. John 3:18 says, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that beliveth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." They had been lost before they saw the miracle and they were still lost when they went to the Pharisees to inform them about the miracle. There is every reason for us to believe that they are still lost today. They will remain lost and condemned for ever and ever. They had every opportunity to believe in Jesus and be saved, but they passed up their opportunity. If they had only believed in Jesus they would have been saved and their souls would be in heaven today. V. A similar situation today We see the something similar today. The word of God is preached. The Scriptures of the Old Testament still give evidence that God would send His Christ to the world to be the Savior of men. The New Testament scriptures still give the record that Jesus of Nazareth is the Savior that was promised. The record of His birth, His life, His ministry, His miracles, His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary, His resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven are all right there in the word of God for men to read and see for themselves. The gospel message is still being preached inviting all men to place their faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. We can thank God the preaching of the gospel is not in vain. There are some who believe the message and all who believe get saved. John 3:12 says that as many as receive Him to them He gives power to become children of God. Everybody who repents of sin and trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation gets saved. In Acts 16:31 the Apostle Paul said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I want to thank God than I am one of that number who has heard the gospel of Jesus and that I had the opportunity to believe in Him and be saved. I can testify to you that I do believe in Him. I trusted Him as my Savior at 16 years of age and was saved. I also thank God that many of you have likewise have heard the gospel of Jesus and that you have been saved. We did not get to see Lazarus when he walked out of the grave nearly 2,000 years ago. But when Jesus comes again and all of the redeemed of all the ages will be raised we will be there to witness it. Better than that, we will be resurrected and go up with them to meet Jesus in the air. But, I am sad to say, there are still a lot of people who reject the gospel even in our day. They have the same opportunity to be saved as others. God sends the gospel to them the same as He did to us. He send the Holy Spirit of God to convict them of their sins, the same as He sent Him to us to convict us of our sins. They have every opportunity to hear the gospel and to believe the gospel and be saved. But there are countless numbers who reject the gospel and refuse to trust Jesus for the salvation of their soul. They willfully refuse to trust in Jesus. They deliberately refuse to call upon Jesus and ask Him to save their souls. Maybe they are afraid that somebody will criticize them. Maybe they do not want to become Christians because they are afraid that will put a damper on the kind of sinful lg to call upon you to call on Jesus Christ and ask Him to save your unworthy soul. Then when you turn your soul over to Jesus for salvation, I am going to ask that you walk this aisle and turn your life over to God to live for Him. Will you come?