The Severe and Sweet Providence of Christ | John 11:1-16

If you have your Bibles with you, let me invite you to turn in them to the Gospel of John chapter 11, the Gospel of John chapter 11 this morning we're going to be in verses 1 through 16. If you're visiting Trinity Church, my name is Zach DePremah. I am the preaching pastor here at Trinity Church and I want to welcome you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to read verses 1 through 16 of John chapter 11 and because we're a needy people I'm going to pray once more for God to be at work in the preaching of his Word but listen now as I read John 11 verse 1 through 16. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with her hair, anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." When Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. Are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" If anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him. Not to saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they had thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died." "For you're sake, I'm glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, we'll just go to him." So Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die within," let's pray. Father it is evident in the gospel of John, as it is in this very text that "Your desire is for the strengthening of faith so that we would believe." For some in this room the task is for faith to be created, for people to see and to savor the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time. The task is similar for everyone else in the room, that we would believe, that we would have greater trust in Jesus. His leadership, his friendship, his free author of grace, "Lord, may each of us draw close to the Christ now as He ministers to us through the preaching of Your Word. Help us," we ask. In Jesus name, Amen. There's a hymn we sang last week that I want to quote to you, and that hymn is "Christ our hope in life and death," we sang it last week, and it's the second verse that says the following. What truth can calm the troubled soul? God is good, God is good. Where is His grace and goodness known in the great Redeemer's blood? Who holds our faith when fears arise, who stands above the stormy trial? Who sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore, the rock of Christ? Hear that last line, who sends the waves that bring us nigh? What are the waves in that hymn, Christian have you ever thought of this? Rather than the waves of the numberless trials, the indescribable grief and untold suffering of the people of God, those are the waves washing over the people of God and carrying them to Christ, but who sends them? At least according to that song, it's the Lord Jesus himself. It's not ultimately Satan who sends the waves. It's not the random chaos of creation. It is the rock of Christ, or to say it more precisely, it's the triune God. Rather than I think most of you know this could be true, at least you would affirm this reality of God's providence, His sovereign work in your lives. Or I know many of you wrestle with this. At least the authors of that hymn, Christ our hope and life and death, they wrote that in that song because they believe it to be true because they find it in the scriptures and brothers and sisters, I agree with them because we find that truth written throughout almost every book of the Bible. And indeed, we see it in our text this morning in John 11. The main idea of this sermon is the following. Our good shepherd intends all things even suffering for the glory of God and the good of his friends. Our good shepherd intends all things, including suffering, and we could even say especially suffering for the glory of God and the good of his friends. One of the questions I want you to be asking yourself throughout this sermon is am I a friend of Jesus, is Jesus my friend? That's not a Cavalier thing to ask, that's not a sentimental thing to ask, Jesus calls His followers His friends and we want everyone in this room to number among those friends. And we want everyone in this room to be able to call on Jesus as not only their good shepherd but their everlasting friends. With this in mind, I have two points this morning, first the severe providence of God, the severe providence of God and secondly, the warm friendship of Christ. We're seeing the providence of God and then the friendship of Jesus Christ, consider with me point number one, the severe providence of God. Look at verse one, verse one. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sister sent him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. We need to do a little housekeeping on the people in this narrative as well as the place. Let's think of the people outlined in these first few verses. We have Lazarus, Mary and Martha, these are siblings who were evidently very dear to Jesus. Now how they became dear to Jesus, the text doesn't say. We don't know how Jesus became close with this family, this brother and his two sisters. Perhaps this family represented a home base of followers, their outside of Jerusalem, indistinctions from his followers and Galilee where he had many more followers. But regardless, these three siblings are very close to Christ. Lazarus, for his part, to my knowledge, I know he's only mentioned in John's Gospel, I think he's only mentioned in this chapter, and chapter 12, sort of a small figure in the Bible. There's another Lazarus who shows up in a parable of the Lord in the Gospel of Luke. That's a different Lazarus. This Lazarus only shows up once. Meanwhile, Mary and Martha, they feature prominently in Luke 10. You've heard of maybe worrying Martha, anxious Martha. That's a part of the narrative of the Gospel of Luke, and her sister, Mary, who sits at the feet of Jesus and considers the good portion in his presence. That's an account we hear in the Gospel of Luke. Now there's debate as to whether or not this Mary, the sister of Martha and the sister of Lazarus, is the one who washed Jesus' feet in Luke's Gospel. I'm not here nor there on that. There's also the unnamed sinful woman in Luke 7. Now, I think it's unlikely that this Mary was that woman because that happened in Galilee in a completely different context. Meanwhile, for those who are interested, I think she may, in fact, be the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus' head in Matthew and Mark's Gospels. Just a little housekeeping actually has no bearing on the narrative that we're going to see in John 11. Regardless, I think verse 2 offers a fascinating insight into how John wrote his Gospel. Look at verse 2. John says it was Mary, who anointed the Lord with ointment, wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was ill. Now you may know at this point that that's sort of an interesting preface, an interesting editorial remark in John's Gospel because if you've been paying extremely close attention in our series through John over the last year and a half or so, you might know this has never shown up. The person who annoys Jesus, that's not yet happened in John's Gospel. Yet John says here at the beginning of chapter 11, this is that Mary who, you know, annoys the Lord's feet. What's going on there? Well, I think there's probably two things going on. First, John expects his readers to have sort of a baseline knowledge of the life of Jesus Christ and his times and some of the significant things in his life. But there's another, I think, more interesting wrinkle. And that is that John expected his Gospel to be read more than once. So John is writing the beginning of chapter 11 thinking that you probably already read the whole thing. And this is probably your second time around. And he's signaling to you, hey, this is that woman who's going to do that thing in John 12, washing the Lord's feet. I find that to be merciful from the author, John. I'm one of those guys who doesn't read very good and want to learn how to do other things good as well. And I appreciate when an author like this mercifully signals and sort of brings the cookies on the bottom shelf and tells me more and more about this person who's going to show up again in the narrative. And I think that also teaches something about how we read our Bibles. We don't just read Gospel Narratives once. We don't just read our Bibles once. You don't read the book of Ezekiel one and then you're done. No, you should be feeding your whole life on the Word of God day by day, day by day, just as you need food for life. That's a little bit about the people in the narrative. Probably more importantly, let's think about the place. This is in Bethany. Now this is not the Bethany beyond the Jordan in John 1. Rather, this is a tiny village suburb right outside of Jerusalem. You can think the distance between Kenisaw and Marietta. There's no distance. There's just a line. That's what this Bethany is like right outside of Jerusalem. That matters because at the end of John 10, in the beginning of John 11, Jesus and His disciples are some 25 miles to the east of Jerusalem by the Jordan River. So what does that mean about the requests that the sisters make about Lazarus? Friends, we should know that when the sisters of Lazarus informed Jesus of their brother's illness, which included an implicit plea for the Lord's presence, they were making an urgent and audacious request. This was a bold request because you remember what happened in John 10? They tried to kill him in Jerusalem. They tried to seize him in Jerusalem. They picked up stones with which they were going to do what they do with stones to stone him. They wanted to put him to death. And here, Martha and Mary are saying, "Would you please, our brother's dying, we know you could probably do something about it. You can at least draw near to be a faithful presence, but you could probably heal him. Would you come?" It's an audacious request because Jerusalem was no place for Jesus at this point in the gospel. That leads us to verse 4. We see Jesus response to this request. When Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now, Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Do you appreciate the connection between verse 5 and verse 6? The text throughout Luke 11 is going to stress again and again and again, how much Jesus loves this family? How much Jesus loves Lazarus? Look at verse 5 again. Jesus loved Martha, and he doesn't just say he loves these three people. He names them. He loves Martha and her sister and Lazarus. What do you do with people you love? What do you do when people you love request something of you? What does Jesus do in verse 6? Oh, he loves Martha. He loves her sister. He loves Lazarus. So, comma, therefore, because of this, when he heard Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. The text says that Jesus waited two days longer because of his love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Do you think they understood? I promise you they did not. There are at least many lessons we should learn from this. I want to highlight two lessons we should learn from just those verses. First, we should learn something here about God's providence. If you want to just working definition of providence as a word, Christian people like us use a lot, even non-Christians use the word providence. The word providence just basically means purposeful sovereignty, or you could say just purposeful power, the purposeful power of God. It's that doctrine that says that God plans the end from the beginning. He knows the end from the beginning. He's at work in all the events of human history, including the most minute details of your life. And we learn something in this text about Jesus and God's providence. God works through and orchestrates both bad and good events. He uses both tragedies and triumphs. Friends, I just think we can't think about this enough. The vast majority of Christians have an infantile view of God's activity in the world. Most of us amble through life with a breezy sentimental view of God's sovereignty, one that shatters at the first pinprick of suffering. Yet if you read the Bible long enough and study the history of the church long enough, you recognize that most American Christians have a faith far too weak to last the cold of the winter and far too weak to last the heat of persecution. We are so utterly soft and weak in our discipleship of Christ. And I think this weakness almost always shows itself first in a small view of God. I'm going to return again to my favorite punching bag. There's that phrase. It's a God thing. You've heard that phrase. Perhaps you've used that phrase. If you use that phrase, I love you. And the Lord loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life. But I'm going to criticize that phrase for just a moment. Basically, when people use that phrase, it's a God thing. They mean God did something that I like. What's a God thing in the new evangelical dictionary of non-theology? It's something God does that I like. I ask for one scoop on my ice cream cone and I got two. Oh, what a God thing. Rather than that is a patronizing view of God's sovereignty. And you just have to realize it is galaxies away from the Bible's teaching on the providence of God. No, God is at work in far more than the things that you deem good. Let me ask you, was it a God thing when the Job's family and health were stripped from him? It was, according to Job, when the whirlwind took away his children and his health and his wealth. What does Job say? The Lord gives. And the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That was a God thing. Was it a God thing when Babylon sat Jerusalem? It was, according to the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote the book of lamentations, who can say in the same breath as he's recounting the suffering of God's people, that it's the Lord who did this. It's the Lord who sent Babylon. And he can say in the same breath, "Great is life, faithfulness, O God, my Father." Was it a God thing when Jesus was delivered over to be crucified? When Pilate did that see the cowardly act, I say, "Yes." Because it's exactly what the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 53, "Surely he has born on griefs, he's carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, smitten by who?" Yes, it was the Jews who crucified him. Yes, it was the Romans who crucified him. Yes, it was my sin that nailed him to that tree. Yes, Satan was at work in all of it, but it was God who smote his shun. Until we have faith, brethren, and a God who actually controls and plans all things, we will quickly melt in the heat of trials. But there's a second lesson we need to see. And that is that Jesus pursues his Father's glory above all things. And as we see in the text, his Father's purpose to glorify himself. Jesus determined foremost to glorify his Father and himself through the illness and subsequent salvation of Lazarus. According to Jesus, the purpose of this illness and death were to provide a canvas for the finger of God. Like the man born blind in John 9, the life and times of Lazarus were leading to this monumental moment for the glory of God and the eternal good of the church. And we know the whole story. So we know that Jesus ultimately raises. Lazarus from the dead. Jesus purposes clear to us. And we can even understand why Jesus wants to dramatically let Lazarus die so that he can sort of shine forth and show his glorious power in the resurrection of Lazarus. Like that clicks to us. That makes sense to us. You know who it doesn't make sense to? Lazarus who's dying in Bethany or Mary and Martha who are pleading with the Lord to come, would to come, would to heal our brother. What are you doing? Why are you waiting? Don't you love us? I assure you it did make sense to them. God's work, his activity, whatever silver lining there might have been, they didn't see it. And yet the Lord waited. The text stresses again how much Jesus loved them, yet he does nothing for days. Maybe you're living in those days right now. Jesus waiting in Jordan. There's another month. There's no baby coming. No fruit of your womb. And then there's another month and there's still no baby coming. Another year is going by and you've pled with the Lord again and again and he's not taking away that illness. He's not taking away that sickness. He's not taking away that pebble in your shoe and you prayed and you saw him. You don't know what he's doing in your pain. Maybe you're going through some crushing relational conflict and so much as it depends on you, you're doing everything you can to be at peace with that friend or that child or that grandparent or that brother or that sister or that coworker. You're doing your homework. You're doing all that you can do and you're seeing no fruit and you're pleased with God. What's he doing? Christian Jesus waited in the Jordan two days because he loved Lazarus and the Scriptures tell us a day with the Lord is a thousand years. How do you know you're not living through day one of Jesus staying at the Jordan? In the meantime, I assure you God doesn't waste an ounce of his people suffering. Instead, he designs each and every detail for the supreme exaltation of himself and his beloved son and he works all things for the good of those who love him and we just need to live like this is truth. Like burn this text in your mind because you're going to suffer this week. You're probably suffering now. You're going to encounter trials of various kinds as the apostle Peter says. What does Paul say in 2 Corinthians 4? He says we do not lose heart. Though the outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison and you think, Paul, you don't know my suffering, you don't know what I've been through, maybe you don't know what Paul's been through. 40 lashes minus one, shipwrecked. If the health and wealth and prosperity got to was true, the Lord hated the apostle Paul. Again and again, afflicted, conflict, bewildering trials and problems throughout his ministry. And he could say this, this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal. This brothers and sisters, the application for us is never distrust God's providence in your suffering. Never distrust how God is working in your suffering, learn to seek the face of God in the midst of your pain. I want to dwell on this just a little bit longer. So I want to ask you, brothers and sisters, here are seven questions, seven questions for saints enduring suffering. If you want, I can send you this later. I don't expect you to write all these down but seven questions for saints in suffering. That means if you encounter some sort of trial, whether that be a grave trial, that could be something as serious as the loss of a loved one, bereavement or child loss or infertility, that could be some pain that you're going through, that could be some relational conflict. It could be something serious or it could be something rather benign. I want you to ask yourself these questions when you're going through suffering. First, how in my response to trials of various kind do I evidence an unwavering faith in God? How do I respond to trials of various kind? How in these trials do I manifest an unwavering faith in God? That matters because many of us love God and respond to God and respond to our circumstances, the way the world responds to circumstances. We're happy in Jesus so long as we're being provided for and things are going our way. But many more of you know what it's like that your faith is refined by the trials and the ways that bring you nine to Christ. That's what suffering is to do in the Christian life. It's to produce endurance in the Christian life. Question two, what opportunity does this trial give to glorify God that my comfort did not? What opportunity does this trial give to glorify God that my comfort did not? Question three, what sin does this trial no matter how large or small reveal in my life and my heart? What sin does it reveal? I'm not blaming whatever suffering you're going on on your sin. Though sometimes the Lord deals with His people in that way. But the point is is is that suffering or trial you're enduring revealing some non-conformity to Christ. And here's the thing, if we truly believe that holiness is happiness which it is then what's the kindest thing God can do for us? He can make us more like a son. And His choice means of often doing that is through the means of suffering. I just think of this as just in a small way in my life. I've talked to you recently about my basement that is being redone. I said some nasty things about contractors that I need to repent up from the pulpit a couple weeks ago. We've been actually dealing with some great contractors recently and I bless God for that. But I notice as we were going through what is really just a massive inconvenience but a trial nonetheless costing us more money than we had planned to spend this year and that is what it is. We're fine. But it was challenging for me in my life. And I had to ask Lord what are you revealing in my heart? Why is this so hard for me? I feel like this shouldn't be that hard for me. And I just realized I as a person who's been walking with the Lord for 25 years and loved Him and I'm a pastor, I love money. I love money. I love money. I love the things money can buy. I love the security money provides. And I realize this is a horrible thing in the heart of a pastor. And I need to root this out of my life and thank you Lord for using this small trial to help wean me from my attachment to things and attachment to the world. There's a small way that illustrates how God uses suffering. Question four. Have I allowed this trial to isolate me from the body of Christ or drive me deeper into it? Have I allowed this trial to isolate me from the church or drive me deeper into it? This is going to be the biggest problem or one of the biggest problems as we continue to grow as the church in northwest Metro Atlanta. I've already seen it over the last three years. We are a group of people that at least on the outside look often like we have our act together and we don't have a lot of problems. That's fine. I want to be around people that have their lives together. But one of the problems is we're not going to fall into the ditch of being overly needy and dependent on one another. Rather, we're going to struggle to share when we have needs, whether those be relational needs, whether those be community needs, whether those be financial needs, whether I need somebody to help watch my children this week. All of those things are things we're unwilling to share because we don't want to be viewed as needy. And we don't want to be viewed as dependent and we don't want to be viewed and as people who are suffering. Christian, that is you. You shouldn't realize that's pride. And if you are choosing to be isolated in your suffering, that is not pious, that is not godly, that is not pleasing to Jesus. No, you need to be bringing that to your pastors, you need to be bringing that to the people of God, you need to have brothers and sisters that as who they are, your family, you can rely upon them. That's what the Lord intends to use, how he intends to use the church. It's a drive us towards the people of God not away from them. Question five, what greater act of faithfulness may god be assigning you in your trial? What greater act of faithfulness may god be assigning you in your trial? I think one of the best examples of this is in the book of Esther. Many of you remember what happens in the book of Esther. You remember what Mordecai says to Queen Esther, who's now married to the king, kids, you remember that story? And the book of Esther is a phenomenal book, what's fascinating about it? Is god is actually never mentioned in it? And the closest thing to god being men in actually in the narrative is in Esther 4 where Mordecai says this to Esther. He says, "And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" The nation of Israel is on the verge of holocaust. And Esther is the one that can stand up to the king. Esther is the one who can make a request to the king to put it all to an end. And Mordecai says, "Hey, this suffering, this trial, that the Lord has assigned on you, where you have to be married to this man, you can do something. He's giving you an opportunity for greater faithfulness to his word." That's so often what God does when he signs us to certain trials and bouts of suffering. Number six, how does this suffering weaken my fear of man and strengthen my fear of God? How does this suffering weaken my fear of man and strengthen my fear of God? Number seven, and this might be the most important one, how does this trial intensify my hunger for holiness and longing for heaven? How does this suffering intensify my longing for heaven? Some of you may be know what it's like to be persecuted by your family or by loved ones. I hope that suffering doesn't end with your feeling of sadness for what you're going through. I hope it awakens an appetite for glory. For Christ who's going to come with power and glory to judge the living in the dead. I hope it heightens your expectations for heavens because that's what it's supposed to do. I'm supposed to bring you closer to glory. It's to help you to long for the reward that is to come. Blessed are you and the Revival you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you. Falsely on my account. Why? You're to rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for so they treated the prophets who came before you. That's what trials are supposed to do. That's what persecution, the heat of suffering. It's a lead us to greater anticipation for eternity. Some of you are familiar with Amy Carmichael. She gives us this wonderful illustration for how God imposes and uses suffering in our lives. It's a horticulture imagery. It has to do with gardening and pruning. She says what protocol waste it appears to be to see scattered on the floor. The bright green leaves and the bare stem bleeding in a hundred places from the sharp knife. I went through this yesterday. I was pruning a big head in my front yard. If you didn't know how pruning worked, you would have been really confused to see live and healthy branches just on my grass. What are you doing? Amy Carmichael says this, "But with a tried and trusted husbandman, there is not a random stroke in it all. Nothing cut away with nothing cut away which it would not have been a loss to keep and a game to lose." The brothers and sisters, I say we need to be able to say with Job, though he slay me, I hope in him. Though he slay me, I ultimately hope and trust and rejoice in him. This is the severe providence of God. Consider point number two and more briefly the warm friendship of Christ. Number seven. Then after this, he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. Are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him." There's many things I can underscore from verses seven through sixteen. Much would be to restate what I've already said and what we've already seen. I want to highlight here under this heading three things we learn about our Savior. Three things that we learn about Jesus first consider the leadership of Christ, the leadership of Christ. Notice the mysterious way in which Jesus leads his disciples. Now that matters because I don't think or I believe the normative mode of Christ's leadership is clarity. Life in Christ is full of light. It's not abstract, it's not ambiguous. No, we were blind and now we see. We walked in darkness, now we walk in light. The abiding motif and metaphor for what it means to be a Christian is to see. So I don't want you to think that Christianity is hazy or that following Jesus is really, really confusing. No, on the whole and on the norm, it actually is very, very clear. It's not easy to follow Jesus, but he helps us see and he brings clarity to our lives. When we follow Jesus, we have purpose. When we follow Jesus, we have direction. When we follow Jesus, we know where we're going to follow Jesus is to see and yet we do not always understand what he's doing. The disciples and our text brothers and sisters, they had every warrant to be confused by the plan to return to Jerusalem and even after the Lord's explanation, it likely still left them in the dark. To them, return to Jerusalem meant swift and certain death. Surely they were troubled and vexed and so are all of us at some point in our lives. Like this often comes at some point in the Christian's life. How troubled Abraham must have been at the command to kill the child of promise. Lord, what are you doing? Oh, wait a decade for this child. And now you want me to say him? How abandoned Joseph must have felt wasting away in the Egyptian prison. How bewildered and crushed Abigail and Elizabeth were year after year without any fruit from their wounds. And yet they were exactly where the Lord had led them. So Christian, I say again, not an inch of your life transpires at random. Rather, every detail is by divine appointment. So the question for every follower of Christ is how will you respond to the good shepherds leading even when it's unclear to you? We see the leadership of Christ. Consider, secondly, the friendship of Christ. This is a big one. The friendship of Jesus, Jesus loved his friend Lazarus. Look at verse three. So the sister sent to him saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." Verse five, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Verse 35, shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." Verse 38, "Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the doom. What deeply moved him?" It was his love and friendship to Lazarus. And rather than know, there was something special about his relationship with Lazarus. As we know, there was something special about his relationship with John. He was that disciple whom the Lord loved to be a Christian itself is to be a friend of Jesus. Do you think of Jesus as your friend? I'm not trying to be tried or sentimental. But do you have a friendship with Christ? Do you have a relationship with Christ? Do you spend time with Christ? Do you spend time with your friends? Do you have a friendship with Jesus? Do you understand the centrality of friendship with Christ in the Bible? This is not the only time that Jesus makes reference to his friends. John 15, "Greater love has no manness that someone laid down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, but the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I've heard from my father, I have made known to you the centrality of friendship with Christ must never be lost on us." Jesus says in verse 11, "After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." Jesse Raul commenting on this text, he says, "Every true Christian has a friend in heaven of Almighty power and boundless love. He is thought of, cared for, protected for, provided for, defended by God's eternal Son. He has an unfailing protector who never slumberes or sleeps and watches continually over his interests. The world may despise him, but he has no cause to be ashamed. Father and mother even may cast a mount, but Christ, having once taken him up, will never let him go." He is the friend of Christ, even after he is dead. Now listen to this, this is so important for some of you who struggle with friendships in this life. I know it's like to be lonely and want more friends, want deeper relationships. Listen what Raul says, "The friendships of this world are often fair-weather friendships and fail us like summer-dried fountains when our need is the greatest. Maybe that's you today. Your need could not be greater and you just want a friend." So Raul says, "The friendship of the Son of God is stronger than death." and goes beyond the grave. The friend of sinners is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He's a greater friend, brothers and sisters than you can possibly imagine. It's not a small thing that Jesus calls himself a friend. Someone, someone has said, "Friends are that those people who are the family you choose." I love my family, so I would choose them, I think they're great. But friends are those people you choose to be around. It's not be lost on us, but Jesus calls His followers His friends. It's not a cliche, it's true, Jesus doesn't just love us, He likes us. He wants to spend time with us. We're dear to Him, we're His beloved sheep, we belong to His fold. And I say there's never a dull day when Jesus is your friend. Jesus, my friend, makes me lie down in green pastures. Jesus, my friend, leads me besides still waters. Jesus, my friend, restores my soul. Jesus, my friend, leads me down past of righteousness. Jesus, my friend, is my strength and weakness, my help and sorrow, and the refuge of my dying soul. He is a friend who draws near to us in need. Thirdly and lastly, we see the purpose of Christ. Look at verse 12. The disciples said to Him, "Lord, if He has fallen asleep, He will recover." Now Jesus has spoken of His death, but they thought that He meant taking rest and sleep. So Jesus told the plainly Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, show that you may believe, but let us go to Him. Verse 16, "So Thomas called the twin, said to his disciples, 'Let us also go that we may die with him.'" I want to address the purpose in a moment, but I need to just say something about Thomas. Thomas says something very interesting. He says, "Let us also go with him that we may die with him." And the meaning of his words often splits scholars. And brother, I just think there's something we should learn here. I think there's no getting around that Thomas's statement here is a statement of faith. Like he's prepared to die with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But somewhere in the past, somehow he got this name doubting Thomas from the end of John's Gospel. And we just need to paint the rest of his life by that one moment of not trusting in the sight of Christ. I think that's actually not honoring our Father and Mother. And I actually think that's a slander of this disciple. He actually shows some leadership and courage here in telling His brothers and Christ, "Hey, we're going to go with him, even if that means certain death." Despite some misunderstanding about Christ's mission, Thomas at this point is prepared to follow His Lord wherever He leads. Christ's purpose in Him was being formed, and what was that purpose? What we see in verse 15, He says, "For your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe." Friends, John 11 is a call to eternal life for it reveals the foundation Christian hope of the resurrection. Jesus in Martha will encourage one another with this hope. Jesus will raise Lazarus to foreshadow His own resurrection. And in our text, He makes a veiled reference to Lazarus only being asleep. And all of this is so that people would believe in Him. All of this is so that they would trust in Him. All of this is so that they would turn in faith to Jesus Christ that they were recognized. But He is the Son of God. And that by believing in Him, they would have life and life eternal. Life abunded. Verse 45 says, "Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary, and had seen what He did, they believed in Him." We're not all of them. Verse 46 says, "Some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done." So rather than like many passages in the Gospel of John, we see two paths. Two ways to live. Two responses that you can have to Jesus Christ. There's only two. There's no neutrality. You either reject Him. Which for some of you might look like casual indifference. Christianity is great for thee, just not for me. I'm happy. Jesus is so important to you, but I don't want to give in my life. Maybe that's what rejection looks like to you. You need to know that's rejection. Or there's path number two, which is believing in Him. What does faith mean? Faith means that you don't only agree with the facts of the Gospel that Jesus is the perfect son of God who lived the perfect life who died on a Roman cross and was raised for your justification. He's not only believing that Jesus died in people's places, but that He died in your place. And that sort of faith, that sort of belief, that sort of trust in Jesus Christ, it necessitates a life that turns towards Him. You're going east and now you're turning west. You're repenting. You're turning away from your sins. Have you repented of your sins? Have you turned away from your sins? That means not making a peace treaty with your sin. That means not being resigned to your sin. That means not making excuses for your sin, but taking your sins to the foot of the feet of Jesus Christ at the cross. So I surrender them to you and being fast bound to the Lord Jesus Christ and a whole soul of trust in Him. Where are you in the narrative of John 11? I can tell you all of us outside of Christ were the man dying in Bethany. If you're outside of Christ right now, you don't know Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. I can tell you who you are in the narrative of John. You're sick and dying Lazarus. There's a crucial difference though between Lazarus and you. Lazarus had a friend. Just knew Jesus. And Jesus supports the good of his friends. Who are the friends of Jesus? They're Christians. They're believers. Psalm 25 says the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him, do you fear God? Friends repented their sins. They trust Him Jesus and they love Him and they follow Him with their whole being. Let's pray. Father we know that your son has spoken these things so that we would believe so we asked that you would strengthen our faith this day. That each of us would have a greater resolve to follow your beloved son. But each of us would have greater knowledge of the richness of your mercy in Christ, of the heart of Christ towards his people, towards his friends. And Lord may each of us, as we long to in this life with our earthly friends, grow in our communion with our heavenly friends, who even now is at your right hand, and are seated in our behalf, who sympathizes with our weaknesses. Lord help us to glory in Him our Redeemer. We pray in Jesus' name and unto him.