1. II. JESUS KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS TO LOSE A LOVED ONE.
1.1. John 11:35-36 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!”
1.1.1. It is not uncommon to see someone, even years after a loved one has died
1.1.2. Be brought to tears by the mention of that person’s name or something else that evokes a memory
1.1.3. While it is true that we need to get on with life after losing someone we love and not be paralyzed by that loss
1.1.4. That is not the entire story
1.1.5. If you love someone deeply
1.1.6. If that person was part of the fabric of your life
1.1.7. Then those tears are one of the most powerful ways to say that it was glorious to have loved and to have been loved
1.2. When you weep from the loss of someone you love, remember that Jesus knows what that is like
1.2.1. You cannot experience any sorrow that he himself has not also felt and even now feels with you
1.3. Jesus also understands what it is like to face one’s own death
1.3.1. The raising of Lazarus took place shortly before Jesus’ arrest and was the final event that moved his enemies to kill him.
2. III. JESUS OFFERS ETERNAL LIFE TO US AND TO EVERYONE WE LOVE.
2.1. This world grasps in vain for some way to escape the certain reality of death
2.1.1. But Jesus has already shown us how to overcome death
2.1.2. The point of raising Lazarus was to show to all that Jesus is the resurrection and the life
2.1.3. He was saying to all who would come to trust in him
2.1.4. “Look, if I can do this for Lazarus now, I can do it for you later.”
2.2. Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
3. CONCLUSION
3.1. Only Jesus has the power over life and death
3.2. His own resurrection from the dead altered the universe forever
3.3. He is ready even now to raise spiritually dead people to spiritual life
3.4. And he stands ready to raise us all to eternal life when he comes again
4. John 11:17–27
4.1. John 11:17–18 17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem,
4.2. John 11:19-20 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.
4.3. John 11:21-22 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
4.4. John 11:23-24 23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
4.5. John 11:25-26 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
4.6. John 11:27 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
5. Hebrews 4:15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
5.1. Although death is inescapable
5.2. Jesus can help us face it today and overcome it in the future.
6. I. DEATH IS AN INESCAPABLE PART OF LIFE
6.1. Jesus came first to Martha, then to Mary, they each greeted him with the same words
6.1.1. John 11:21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.
6.1.2. John 11:32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
6.1.3. Although Jesus possessed and used his power to cure life-threatening illnesses, the fact is that he did permit Lazarus to die.
6.1.4. When he first received the news of Lazarus’s illness, he waited two more days before coming to Bethany
6.1.5. John 11:6 he stayed where he was for the next two days.
6.1.6. And even after being resurrected on this occasion, Lazarus still eventually died a natural death.
6.2. Since the time of the fall, when sin entered God’s good creation, death has been a part of life.
6.2.1. Only a fool does nothing to prepare for it.
6.2.2. Hebrews 9:27 27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
6.2.3. Psalm 90:12 12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom
6.3. American magician Harry Houdini
6.3.1. World’s most famous escape artist
6.3.2. He showed astounding ability in extricating himself from
6.3.2.1. handcuffs
6.3.2.2. ropes
6.3.2.3. straitjackets
6.3.2.4. locked trunks
6.3.2.5. jails
6.3.2.6. bonds of any sort
6.3.3. He once had himself tied and then locked in a packing case
6.3.4. Which was bound with steel tape and dropped into the harbor off the Battery in New York City
6.3.5. Houdini appeared on the surface of the water in fifty-nine seconds.
6.3.6. But there was one prison from which Houdini could not escape
6.3.6.1. Death
6.3.7. Before he died on Halloween night, 1926
6.3.8. Houdini had promised his wife that he would attempt to communicate with her from beyond the grave
6.3.9. He devised a ten-word code that would authenticate any message he would communicate to her
6.3.10. Every Halloween for the next ten years his wife Bess sat in their home before a candle-lit portrait of Houdini and waited for a signal from him
6.3.11. That signal never came, and finally in 1936
6.3.12. Bess put out the candle and never lit it again
6.3.13. It is futile for even the cleverest and most gifted human being to think he can escape from the prison of death.