- Now here's something
we've all wondered about. I've wondered about it. So I'm not pointing
my finger at you. This is universal. This isn't a Christian
thing or a religious thing. This is just a human thing. We've wondered and you may have asked the question
differently than this but we all ask some
version of this question, why would a good God allow
bad things to happen? Why would a good God allow
bad things to happen? This is a universal
question and for some of you this question or when
you began to wrestle with this question
it marked the end or the beginning of the
end of faith for you. That this question
or some version of it may have have undermined
faith completely. In fact, your faith
may be right now gradually dying a
slow death around something that's
happened in the world, or something that's happened
to somebody you love, or just something that's
happened in general and you just can't reconcile
good God and bad things. And so consequently you're
watching your faith slowly die or maybe the faith of
someone that you love, or it maybe it died
a long time ago because of some version
of this question. But the interesting
thing about this question is when we ask it, and
we've all asked it, I've asked it. When we ask this question, let's just be honest, when
we think about the bad things in the world isn't it
true that we're focused on the bad out there
and not the bad in here? So let me ask kind of
a follow-up question. Have you, don't raise your hand, have you ever done anything bad? Yeah and really don't raise
your hand on this one, have you ever wanted to do
something really, really, really bad but you
knew you'd get caught and the only reason you
didn't express your badness and your evil is because you
did not want to go to prison but if you thought you
could get by with it you might have done it anyway? Again don't raise
your hand, right. And I'm guilty of that as well. But it's so interesting
that when people begin to wrestle with the
existence of a good God as it relates to evil it's
always the evil out there. It's never the evil in here. In other words, I
have never anybody make this case, maybe you have. How could a good Good
allow me to happen? (audience laughs) And here's another
version of it, if God was good,
he would have done something about me by now. Now somehow when we
start internalizing bad, and then we go like this,
well wait no, no, no. I'm not talking about my
version of bad or the evil I might do I'm talking
about the big, bad things. But once you begin to look
at the big, big bad things as opposed to the little
bad things in your heart or the things that you've done you have changed the subject
and you've changed the question and suddenly you're in
the world of how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if
woodchuck could chuck wood? And this way of thinking,
and I don't wanna, we can cover all
the bases today, but I just wanna
just drop this in 'cause it points to
where we're going today. This way of thinking
ultimately leads to what's called an
unfalsifiable premise which actually makes the
argument meaningless. Because if you chase it
down to its logical extreme and I understand it's so
emotional we never get to the logical extreme
because it's just an emotional question,
but when you get to the end of the question
here's what you end up with, I don't believe God
exists, because I exist. The only way, that's
why it's unfalsifiable. The only way you could
convince me there is a good God is for me to no
longer exist but then I wouldn't be around
for God to convince me. Did you follow that? Yeah, but again
it's so emotional I don't think me saying
that makes it go away. But I think if John were
here, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John who wrote
the fourth Gospel, John who followed Jesus around, John who saw
everything Jesus did and heard everything
Jesus taught, I think if John were to
show up and would have heard what I just said or would hear
the conservations you have about how do we reconcile good
God and evil in the world, I think John would
say wait, wait, wait. Hang on, hang on, hang on
because I, John, he would say, I saw something that might
help you with that dilemma. I saw God in a body
co-exist with evil men. Evil men and I when I
say evil I mean evil like you can barely
even imagine evil. And the God that I saw
in a body did not prove that he was God by
eliminating all evil. He did something else. The God in a body that I
saw did not eliminate evil. He actually, and he didn't
even eliminate the evil in me. He loved me. And then he went to work
eliminating the evil in me. John, who spent time with Jesus, would say, I know it's
a big emotional thing. I know it's a big
emotional question. I'm not sure I can
sort it out for you, all I can tell you is this. I saw God, and I saw evil. I saw a good God and I saw evil and they can coexist but it's nothing like
you might imagine. We're in part six of
a series, Bystander, where we're tracking along
with the gospel writer John and his journey with Jesus. The subtitle is John and
the Rabbi From Nazareth. And John in his gospel doesn't
simply tell us what happens. John says, here's what
happens, but I have an agenda. I want you to arrive
at the same conclusion about Jesus that I did. I want you to arrive
at the same conclusion about Jesus that I
did and the only way to help you arrive
at that conclusion is to tell you what I saw. But I can't tell you
everything I saw, there's too much to write down. I can't tell you
everything Jesus said, there would be too
much to write down. So John organizes his account of the life of Jesus
around what he calls signs. We would call them miracles. John says, no, they're
not just miracles. A miracle is a
stand alone event. A sign is an unusual event
that points to something. And John is so clear
throughout his gospels. He says, I'm not trying
to point your direction. I don't want you to
fasten your affection and direction on the miracle, I want to make sure
that you look toward what the miracle and
the sign pointed to and that was Jesus. Because Jesus's miracles were
not random acts of kindness. They were specific events
in order to substantiate what he said about himself. So today, we come to
in our order the sixth, some people call
this the seventh, but the sixth sign in
the story of Jesus. Now, real quick catching
you up if you haven't been in part of this series. Throughout Jesus's ministry
and this is what makes reading the gospels a
little bit confusing, throughout Jesus's
ministry, he's constantly making the trip
from Jerusalem north to the region of Galilee. Jerusalem is in Judea. Northern Judea is Galilee. He's from Galilee
and he's constantly going back from Jerusalem
in Judea to Galilee, back and forth, back and forth. His friendly people, his family, the folks who
embraced him earliest were in Galilee. But whenever he
came to Jerusalem, and to the temple in particular, there was always conflict. And where we left off last time, Jesus is in the
vicinity of Jerusalem. He goes to the temple, which
always made his disciples, or his apostles, so nervous, and while he's
there, once again, he gets into an argument
or a conversation with the temple leaders and
they ask him the question they'd been dying to ask him, and they say to Jesus,
Jesus, how long, how long will you
keep us in suspense? Are you, or are you
not the Messiah? Are you claiming to be the
Messiah or are you not? Just tell us plainly. And Jesus responds like this,
he said, "I did tell you, but you don't believe me." And I haven't just told you, I haven't just preached it, I've done more than that. The works I do, the things I do, the miracles I perform. The things that are
unexplainable that I do in my Father's name
testify about me. In other words, I
didn't just tell you, I've shown you. I didn't just tell you. I showed you. I've given you evidence. You just won't embrace it. And they wouldn't embrace it, because as we said last week, they, maybe like some of us, were willfully blind. They would not look
at what could be seen. They would not try to discover what could be discovered. And Jesus preached
and he taught openly. And he performed his
signs and miracles openly. And they just couldn't
bring themselves to arrive at the conclusion
he wanted them to arrive at. So, Jesus decides
at this point in the series of and the
life of his ministry and in his life, at this point, at this point Jesus
decides to go all in. He decides to go all out. Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes just a little
bit of a distance away to where people would
know where he is and knew what he was, and they would know
what he was up to. And Jesus performs a sign, in fact as we're gonna discover and this is what makes
this story so disturbing. Jesus actually
manufactures a sign in that community so
that no one would have any doubt he is who
he claimed to be. And the sign was so indisputable
that it forced the hand of those that were willfully
blind and just could not embrace or accept
the fact that Jesus was who Jesus claimed to be. Here's what happened. Now a man named
Lazarus was sick. And he was from Bethany, about a day and
a half days walk. About a day and a half
away from Jerusalem if you were walking. In the village of Mary
and her sister, Martha, who were friends of Jesus. So the sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus and they said, "Lord," The messenger said, "Lord,
the one you love is sick." So they send the messenger and Jesus is about
one day's walk away. He's about a day away. They send the messenger. The messenger shows up. He finds Jesus and the disciples and the messenger says,
"Mary and Martha sent me, they told me to give
you this message. The one that you love is sick." Imagine being so close to Jesus that someone doesn't
even have to tell you, tell him your name, they
would just say to Jesus, the one you love is sick, and they would know that
Jesus would know immediately who you were talking about. That's amazing. So the messenger say, the
one that you love is sick. When Jesus heard this, and
if you grew up in church, you've heard this
story, it's so unusual. When Jesus heard
this, Jesus said, "This sickness,"
that Lazarus has, "Will not end in death." But the fact of the matter was, by the time the
messenger got to Jesus and the disciples,
Lazarus was already dead. He died while the
messenger was on the way. Jesus continues, "No," he
says to the men around him, "No, it is for God's glory." To which, if you
didn't know the story and you hearing it or reading it for the first time, you would say, wait,
wait, wait, what? Sickness for God's glory? So Jesus believed
that bad things could happen to good people and it does, not
only does it not disprove God, but
somehow it underscores the existence of God? Sickness for the glory of God. As John would say, yes, but
we're just getting started. Jesus finishes the
statement this way, "so that", because
there's a purpose, "so that God's son," Jesus, "may be glorified through it." In other words, this is amazing, this sickness, this
evil, and this particular sickness and evil and
I think that's why Jesus manufactured
this particular sign, it was a sickness or
a disease or an evil or a bad thing found in nature. It wasn't simply the bad
behavior of another person. Now he's delved into
the issue of nature. And why do all the things
in nature work against us and why are there so
many natural disasters and how could we possibly
believe in a good God, when nature seems to
be our enemy at times? This sickness, this evil
as it relates to Lazarus, was actually left
unattended on purpose because Jesus had
a purpose in it. And in this story,
Jesus, for his disciples and for many of us,
for many of you, creates a brand new category. Sickness for the glory of God. Now, that is so uncomfortable. That is so not intuitive. That John knows his readers and the people who are
following along this story are gonna immediately
think, what? And so he jumps into this story and he makes an
editorial comment so that we won't
just close the book and go, that's ridiculous. Now Jesus, John
tells us, now Jesus actually loved Martha and
her sister and Lazarus. And why does he tell us this? Because it doesn't
look like he does. He said, now don't,
don't check out too soon. Jesus actually
loves these people. But wait a minute,
Lazarus is sick and somehow it's
for the glory of God and this isn't making sense and John's like, look, I know, I know, it was confusing
to us too, believe me. Just hang with me. Jesus actually
loved these people and John tells us that because
it didn't look like it. And sometimes in your life it doesn't look like
it either, does it? This is why I believe Jesus
manufactured this sign. It wasn't simply,
as we're gonna see, for the benefit of the people
sitting around that circle. It was for you. And it was for you. And it was for you. And it was for you. And it was for me. So, John says, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick
he stayed where he was two more days. Which is astounding to
the people around him. Because Jesus has
healed total strangers. Why would he not
get up and rush off to heal his friend, Lazarus? And the answer was, he
was up to something. He was staging a sign
with a purpose in mind. And then he said,
so two days go by. The messenger goes
back to Bethany, Jesus and the guys
are just hanging out doing whatever they're
doing and suddenly, unexpectedly he
stands up and he says, okay, to his disciples, "Let
us go back now to Judea." And let's go specifically
back toward Bethany. Now immediately
his guys confused because the last time
they were in that area it didn't go so well,
in fact, as he's about to say, the last time
they were in that area when they were at the temple
during that conversation I mentioned earlier,
they picked up stones to stone Jesus. And the problem with
being around someone who's being stoned is people
aren't always accurate. So you do not want
to be around someone who's being stoned. You step back. And so they realized if
his life is in danger, their life is in danger. And they kind of tip
their hat to this in this next statement. John's there and
he's part of 'em. They said, but, but,
but Rabbi, they said. In case you have, we know
you're Jesus and all, but in case you've
lost some memory, but Rabbi they said,
"A short while ago the Jews there
tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?" The real issue is, and you
want us to go with you? Could you possibly either not go or could you go without us? So there's all this tension. And then Jesus does
his Jesus thing. Where he seemingly
changes the subject. This is why I believe these
are actual narratives. These are actual conversations. These are the part that nobody would write into the script because they're so off script. These were the moments
that the disciples were so confused. And often times we're
as confused as well. But this is the brilliance,
this is the beauty, this is Jesus bringing
heaven to earth in a moment of crisis. And Jesus turns to
them as they're trying to talk him out of
going and he says, "Are there not twelve
hours of daylight?" What? Yeah, are there not,
wait we were just talk- Are there not 12
hours of daylight? Anyone he says, c'mon guys. You know this. Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person tries
to walk around at night, it's when a person
walks at night that they stumble for
they have no light. (laughs) And they're
like, thank you for that. That's not any new information. What does that have
to do with anything? And as this narrative unfolds and as this manufactured
sign unfolds in history, the point of what Jesus
says here becomes clear. The 12 hours he
was talking about were twelve hours
of opportunity. Here's what he's
saying to his guys. Gentlemen, you need to follow
the light of the world. You need to follow
the light of the world while the light of the
world is in the world. He said a similar thing
last week when we talked about healing of the blind,
and this is his message. You guys, you have a
unique opportunity. You are in the physical presence of the light of the world. And if you are in
the physical presence of the light of the world, you follow the
light of the world while the light of the
world is in the world, because the light of the world is leaving the world and
when light of the world leaves the world it
will become oh so dark. Gentlemen, he was saying, you
will never see more clearly than you see right now. And if you stay
here out of fear, you'll miss the
opportunity of a lifetime. If you stay here out of fear, you'll miss an opportunity
to see the light of the world bringing
light to a situation that will change
the way people think about life and death forever. And he would say to them, and he would say to all of us, If you refuse to follow
the light of the world, you'll stumble
around in darkness. You'll stumble around in a
world that has no meaning and has no purpose
and has no result that you look forward to. But you'll stumble
around in darkness trying to make
sense out of a world that really doesn't make sense. You'll stumble
around in darkness trying to make sense
out of good and evil. You'll stumble around
in the darkness trying to figure out, how do I even know what evil is? I'm comparing it to a God that I don't even believe in. That apart from
the author of life, this is his point, apart
from the author of life, you'll never understand life. You will eventually
find yourself backed into a corner of despair. Where as Richard Dawkins
I think accurately says, "Where there is, at bottom,
where there is at bottom, no design, no purpose,
no evil, no good, nothing but blind,
pitiless indifference." And Jesus was saying
to his apostles, and Jesus says to us, follow me. Follow me. I am the light of the world
who came into the world to bring light to your world and apart from
the author of life it will all seem meaningless and you will stumble
around in the darkness, trying to piece together things that you'll never
piece together. After he had said,
hey, you wanna go? After he had said this to them, he went on to tell them plainly, okay guys, I know. "Our friend Lazarus
has fallen asleep." But, I'm going to Judea and I'm going through
Bethany to wake him up. So who's in guys? Who wants to go with me? Well, they don't wanna go. So they start giving
Jesus medical advice. If you've ever given
God medical advice when you're praying. You let God know
about what the doctors could do and the surgeons and God's going, I got this. So they begin to,
they're just like us, they begin to give
Jesus medical advice. Lord, they say, 'cause
they don't wanna go. Lord, if he's asleep, you just said he's asleep and you're going to wake him up. You shouldn't wake him up. Okay, see Jesus,
when people are sick and they fall asleep,
they're getting better. Their fever's broken so, shh. Let's not wake him up. Lord, if he sleeps,
he'll get better. In other words,
we don't wanna go. Well, thank you for that Andrew. I hadn't thought of that. We'll just stay here
and make S'mores and just let him get
better on his own, right? (audience laughs) But Jesus, John tells us, because he's writing
this after the fact, Jesus had been speaking to them. Jesus had been speaking to
them about Lazarus' death, but his disciples thought
he meant natural sleep. So then he told him plainly, okay guys, Lazarus is dead. To which they thought,
wait a minute. You just told us two days ago this sickness will
not end in death and now you're
telling us, he's dead. But, if you haven't
been listening, listen to this. What comes next? What comes next to this
story is so horrible for Mary and Martha and Lazarus. What comes next in the
story is terrible for them, but it is wonderful for you. It is wonderful for
the future generations that would hear this story. He continues, he says, "and for your sake," I
mean, this is horrible, this is so harsh, nobody would put these
words in Jesus's mouth. And for your sake, talking
about the disciples, but I think he's talking
about for your sake and my sake as well.
"And for your sake, I am glad I was not there." I am glad I was not there to keep my friend from going through
the agony of dying and his sister's
watching him die. I'm glad I was not- Who would say this? Who would put these
words in Jesus's mouth? I'm glad I was not there, he said to his
disciples for your sake. And for your sake. And for the sake of every parent who's ever buried a child. And for the sake
of every husband who's ever buried a wife. And for the sake of every child who's buried a
parent way too early. For the sake of every friend who's buried a friend, or a friend who's buried
the child of a friend. For all of us. Jesus manufactures a sign. He says, so that, on
the other side of this. So that on the other
side of this moment where Jesus is actually, this is why it's so disturbing, where Jesus is actually
creating a brand new category. This was new to
them, for many of us, it's new to us because this was brand
new to the world. Again, the light of the world had come to shed light on one of the dilemmas mankind had wrestled with for
thousands of years. How do I reconcile
the idea of a good God and an evil world? How do I reconcile
the idea of a good God and world that
doesn't cooperate. And Jesus said, I'm
glad I was not there. So that, you may believe. But let us go to him. And then, one of the
more humorous parts of the New Testament. Basically, 'cause they
don't wanna go, right? So Thomas speaks
up and he says this to the rest of the disciples, okay, "Let us also go,
that we may die with him." (audience laughs) Translated, Lazarus is dead. Jesus is gonna die and we're gonna all
go be dead together. So let's just all go die. This is not going to go well. We know it's not going
to go well, right? Meanwhile, back in Bethany, you know what that
conversation's like, right? Back in Bethany,
it's where's Jesus? I mean, Jesus didn't
get here in time to save Lazarus. But we're gonna leave
laid out here, ya know. We're gonna wait
two or three days because that's
kinda what they did. But finally, that third
day is coming to an end and they've gotta
put him in a tomb. And Jesus misses the embalming. And Jesus misses the entombment. And Jesus misses
basically the funeral. John says, I was there. It was so embarrassing but by this point we
really didn't wanna go. We weren't sure
what to fear most. The embarrassment of
seeing Mary and Martha, or the fear of losing our lives. He says, but on our arrival
here's what happened. On our arrival, Jesus
found that Lazarus had already been in
the tomb for four days. And when Martha,
Lazarus's sister, when Martha heard
that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. "Lord," she said. And she says what we say. Again, this is so honest. And if you've ever said
something like this to God or you've ever expressed
something like this in your prayer,
it's appropriate. And if you've ever
been afraid to you should know in this moment you get permission to. Because people who
are close to Jesus express exactly what we
feel in moments like this. And she said, "Jesus,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died." This is partially your fault. God, you could have. But you didn't. Isn't it good to know, there's nothing wrong
with your faith. When something
doesn't go your way. Bad things happen to good, friend of Jesus,
people all the time. In this case Jesus
actually manufactured a sign for your
sake and for mine. But she's like us
in this way as well, she's trying to cling to
whatever faith she has. It's like, Jesus, you
should have been here. I shouldn't be angry
with you, you're Jesus. I believe you've
been sent from God, but you could have stopped
this from happening. I'm so conflicted. I'm so upset. But, but, I have
shreds of faith in you, but I know that even
now, even though you are so late, I
know that even now God will give you
whatever you ask. And Jesus smiles
and he says to her, "Your brother will rise again." Well now she assumes that he's going
into preacher mode. Where you know,
somebody walks up and gives you a verse in a time of crisis and you're
like, you know what? Later, that's not
what I need right now. Somebody says, hey, you
need to listen this sermon. Okay, I don't want a sermon. Somebody says, well, you
know the bible teaches- Hey, hey, hey. I'm in crisis mode. I've lost somebody I love. I don't want a bible. I don't want a sermon. I don't want theology. And so she thinks
that Jesus is trying to go into some sort of theol- give some sort of
theological spin on this crisis to
make her feel better. Martha said, "I know,
I know, I know, I know. I know my theology. You know, I've been
to synagogue, okay. I know he'll rise again
in the resurrection on the last day." But I'm not concerned
about the last day. I wanted you to get here so we didn't have to
wait for a last day. And what comes next
is so breathtaking. We miss it because
we're not there. And we miss it
because very few of us have ever felt the emotion
and the frustration perhaps that Mary and
Martha felt in this moment. Jesus looks at her and says, "Look at me. I'm not here to
give you a sermon. I'm not here to
talk about theology. And I'm not ever here to
correct your theology. And I'm not asking
you to put your trust in what you've
always been taught about death and the afterlife." He looks at her and he says, "Look at me. I am the resurrection
and the life." Phew. This is a new
category, Jesus says. You are looking at
the resurrection and life personified. I am the living
embodiment of everything you've hoped for. What you think about me is the most important
thought you'll ever have. I am the resurrection
and the life. The light has come
into the world. Pay attention,
because when I leave, it will be dark. But don't ya know, I will leave a testimony and a record of the fact that the light of the
world touched down and the light of the
world brings hope in hopeless situations. I am the resurrection and life. I'm telling ya, nobody would put those
words in Jesus's mouth and John is there
taking it all in. And Peter's there
taking it all in. Who would say that? And then he says to her, the one, of any
generation at any time, the one who believes in me, and the little Greek phrase, the one who places
their trust in me. Not simply believes
that, you see the signs, you believe that, but ultimately you
place your trust in. The one who places
their trust in me, will live even though they die. And, little bit of
a tongue twister, and whoever lives by believing
in me will never die. There's no way she could
have taken all of this in. There's no way that most
of us can take all this in. Just as he said Lazarus
wouldn't die, but he died. Jesus says, you'll
die, but you won't. Because Jesus could not
have been any more clear in this moment. That death is simply a door. That death is
simply a transition. And then he looks at her
and I think he smiled. And he sees the pain and
he sees the confusion and he sees where theology
meets the real world and he sees that
this is a person, they've had relationships. He's eaten in their home. She and her sister and Lazarus had supported him financially. And he looks at her and
says, "Do you believe this?" Do you believe this? And this was so hard
for her to believe. It's so hard for me
to believe sometimes. C'mon, it's so hard for
you believe sometimes. Mary felt the same way. And so, she musters
up as much faith as she can find in the moment. (takes deep breath and exhales) She says, "Yes, Lord." Yes, Lord, I believe. I don't understand and I don't know how
all this comes together and I don't know
why you were late, but I've seen too much. I don't understand everything, but I realize I don't have
to understand everything to believe something. And then she just
goes to her default. The one thing she's certain of. I'm not sure what's
gonna happen. I'm not sure how
it's gonna happen, but I'm convinced of this. I believe that you
are the Messiah, the Son of God, who has
come into the world. Jesus, I believe somehow, in some mystical, marvelous way, you are the light of the world that's come into the world. But that's all I
know in this moment. Martha goes back to her house and tells Mary that Jesus
is on the edge of town. She goes out and
meets with Jesus. They have a similar
conversation. And the text says and John gives us
all this detail 'cause this is slow motion. John says that when
he saw her weeping, when he saw both
of them weeping, and the Jews who had
come along with her. 'Cause they went with
her out to see Jesus. He was deeply moved in
spirit and troubled. And he asked, "Where
have you laid him?" And they said, "Come and see." And Jesus went. And then this extraordinarily
tender moment. Maybe this was the reason Jesus manufactured this sign. And this extraordinary moment, Jesus arrives outside the tomb knowing what he's going to do. And he pauses and he enters in to the emotion of the moment. Divine empathy. And Peter was there. And I think maybe
why Peter wrote what he did later. Many years later, Peter
would write two letters to the church. And in one of those letters, Peter would say
this to Christians, he'd say, look, it's okay
to cast your cares upon him because you can
know with confidence He cares for you. You can cast your cares, you can cast your
unanswered prayers, you can cast all
your disappointments, all your unresolved
hopes and fears on him, because you can know
with confidence, He cares for you. To which we would say, Peter, how do we know he cares for us? To which Peter
might say, that day, standing outside the tomb, not knowing what
was going to happen, but then seeing what
he ultimately did, I'm telling you, in that moment, Jesus entered in to
the pain and the tears and the fear and all
of the human emotion there was in that moment. I'm telling you. You may not see it and you may not feel
it, but I saw it. He cares for you. Because I saw him care
for Mary and Martha. I saw him care for a community. I saw him not rush
to the resolution, but he entered in with mankind. You can cast your
cares upon him. I saw it, Peter would say. You can know with confidence, He cares for you. And that's why what
John records next is not a trivial detail. I'm so grateful that whoever chopped
the New Testament up in chapters and verses, so it's convenient for us
to find our way through, when they got to
this next statement, they gave these
two words it's own, their own verse number. Because John says
what happened next is that Jesus paused. Knowing what was
about to happen, and Jesus wept. And the Jews who had
come from Jerusalem to comfort Mary and Martha said, "See, you see,"
it was so evident, "Do you see how he loved him!" Do you see how he loved him? But some of them said,
"Yeah, he may love him, but could not he
who opened the eyes of a blind man have kept
this man from dying?" I mean, there it is again. There we are again in the story. Why didn't he do
something about this? If he could have, right? If he could have, he would have, but since he didn't, he can't! But as it turns
out, he could have. He just didn't. And I'm convinced he
didn't for your sake and for mine. He chose instead, and if you haven't
been paying attention please don't miss this. This is just the
brilliance of Jesus in this painful, painful moment. In this moment, in
this moment, Jesus, Jesus condenses, Jesus
condenses all of eternity into the span of a
single afternoon. Jesus takes all of eternity and he condenses it to the span of this single afternoon. The pain, the disappointment, the fear, the anger,
the unanswered prayer, the faith anyway,
the tears of God and then finally,
the resolution. Your entire life experience as you wrestle with
the goodness of God and the pain in the
world, all condensed, for all mankind,
for every generation that would follow, Jesus
condenses the entire experience to a few hours in one afternoon. So that future generations
could live with hope. John continues, Jesus
once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. And then he shocked everybody. "Take away the stone," he said. The mourners fell silent. Mary and Martha gasped. "But, Lord," said Martha "by this..." How do I say this? By this time, because
see, you're late. You're so late. By this time there
will be a bad odor for he's been dead
for four days. And Jesus said,
"Did I not tell you if you believe you will see the glory of God?" Can I pause here and say
something to all of us? On behalf of Jesus. Did he not tell us, in this moment,
that if you believe that you will see
the glory of God? You say, I want to see it now. That's the point of this story. All of eternity. Your entire life. My entire life condensed to
this span of an afternoon. I need to see it now. And Jesus says to you
and he says to me, did I not tell you? Did I not demonstrate for you? That if you believe,
if you trust in me, you will see the glory of God. So Mary and Martha give
the men their permission to move the stone. And everybody, I guarantee you, this isn't in the text, everybody took a step back. They removed the stone. And then Jesus looked
up and he prays. This is my favorite
prayer of Jesus of the New Testament. Let me tell ya what he says
before I read it to you. Basically, in this
prayer, Jesus says, dear heavenly father, you
and I know what's going on. And you and I are so
connected at the hip. In fact, we are
indistinguishable. It is so important
for me that his group and future generations
know just how connected we are. "Father," he said, "I thank
you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but said this," I'm
praying this out loud, "for the benefit of the
people standing here," and the benefit of
future generations, "that they may believe
that you sent me." You see, the most
important question to wrestle to the ground is not the question
of good and evil and God and evil. The most important question for any of us to
wrestle to the ground is who is Jesus? Because if Jesus is who
Jesus claimed he was, then all of those
things get reconciled and explained in Jesus. And when he had
finished this prayer, when He had said this, he
called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" And John who dictates this to us as an old man
remembering this moment, and then he thinks to himself, and we couldn't
believe what we saw. The dead man, I'm telling
ya, he says, I was there. The dead man came out, his hands and feet were wrapped with strips of
linen, so it was him, this wasn't a trick. And a cloth was still
around his face. And nobody moved. In fact, everybody
took another step back. And Jesus said, come on,
take off the grave clothes and let him go. And everybody finally
woke up and came to their senses and
they rushed Lazarus. And they freed him from
the bonds of death. And he was alive. And then a statement that
John didn't need to make, but he did anyway. He said, therefore,
this is kind of a duh. This is kinda a you
could have guessed this was coming. Therefore many of the Jews
who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus
did, believed in him. I bet they did. Don't you? And get this, many
who would come, and here's John's formula, Here's what John wants
you to take away, here is the gospel. Many who saw, believed. Many who saw, believed. Before they saw it, they
just couldn't believe it. And this is John's
message, he says look, I don't want you to
simply believe in Jesus because of belief. I'm not asking you to
have faith in faith. I'm not asking you to follow
Jesus because of faith. I just want you to
know what I saw. Because if you saw what I saw, if you hear the
story of what I saw and if you trust me as somebody who's giving a
testimony that's true, then perhaps you'll arrive at the same conclusions I did. Not simply about what Jesus did, but about who Jesus was. Skeptics, skeptics,
most skeptics agree, skeptics who don't believe
Jesus was anybody special. Skeptics agree that Christianity could not have
grown to the numbers it had grown by
the third century if there had not
been an explosion of activity and an explosion
of followers early on as in toward the
end of Jesus's life. And why would so many
Judeans embrace Jesus ultimately as their
savior and as Messiah? Because of faith? No. Because of what they saw. Which leads us to
John's little formula. That if you don't take
anything else away from the Gospel of
John, it's simply this. That seeing led to believing
which led to trusting. That it was seeing
that led to believing. That led to trusting. It was seeing that
led to believing that is who he claims
to be that led them to ultimately place
their trust in him. And John's agenda isn't simply that you would know the story. John's agenda isn't
simply that you would know what he said he saw, and it's not simply that you would believe
that it happened. It would be that ultimately that you would place
your personal faith in Jesus and who
he claimed to be because of what he
did on planet earth. The light had come
into the world for the benefit of the world. The light had come, this was such indisputable
evidence it turns out. That those who were
willfully blind, decided they finally
had to step in and do something. So much so that they
called a meeting back in Jerusalem. So many people left Bethany and they flooded
through the gates and they said, there is
an indisputable raising from the dead. There is no way to
get around this. This wasn't done in the
corners of the empire or the corners of the nation. This was done in a community where people had
gathered for a funeral for a famous person and now there was no
getting around it. Jesus had done
something extraordinary and his enemies
gathered and decided this has to end and
this has to end now. And not only did they decide to have Jesus
arrested and executed, they decided to have
Lazarus executed as well. Here's what they said
in their meeting. Someone later
leaked this to John. They said, if we let him go on, what an arrogant thing to say, if we let him go on like this, I'm sure John chuckled as he
dictated or wrote this down. As if they let him do anything. Jesus said, nobody
takes my life from me. I lay it down, I take it up. Nobody lets me,
nobody allows me. All authority is in me. All of the sacrifice I made, I made on purpose with a
purpose with you in mind. But in their meeting, as they tried grapple with
the undeniable reality of what had happened just
two miles from Jerusalem, if we let him go on like this, everybody will believe in him. They had no idea, did they? Two thousand years later, over a third of the world's
population believes in him. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away our
temple and our nation. Right? There's so much for us to lose. They had no idea. All that there was to gain. Because God, don't
miss this part, had come to dwell
alongside evil. And God had come to dwell
alongside evil men and women. And the light so bright and for some they
were attracted. And for others,
they were repulsed. Later, John would
say it this way, the light has come
into the world, but some people they
just loved the darkness instead of light because
their deeds were evil. But God didn't
eliminate the evil. John says, no, the story
didn't go like that. He actually placed
it on the shoulders of His son, so that
you would not perish, but have eternal life. Even though, you're evil. For God so loved
this evil world. For God so loved the evil
people in this world, that he sent His perfect son, the light of the world, so that by placing
your faith in him, we would not be lost to God, but could have the
very life Jesus came to promise and to give. John would say,
I'm nobody special. I'm just a bystander. And why God allowed
me to live in the days when the light of the world was in the world to
brighten up the world, I do not know. But I know you have
to hear my story, because if you'd
seen what I saw, you'd believe what I believe. If you'd heard what I heard, you would believe
what I believe. If you had seen what I had seen, you would draw hopefully
the same conclusion I drew, that Jesus was in
fact, God in a body, the light of the
world in the world for God's purposes
for all mankind. And eventually, he
would get his story out and he would remind
us toward the end, I didn't simply write this so that you would know
what would happen, and so that you'd
know what happened. My agenda was clear,
these things are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Messiah, if you're Jewish and you've
been waiting for a Messiah, and if you're not Jewish, that you would know he was in a unique way the Son of God and that by believing you
may have life in his name. If you had seen what I'd seen, you would believe
what I believe. And once you decided to
believe what I believe, you would place
your faith in him and have life in his name. That's the invitation
of the gospel. And I think John would
say, it's so good, it's so powerful. For us it was so real. After reading my account, I hope that you would
want it to be true even before you're
convinced that it's true. And I hope that you won't miss the final episode of
bystander next week. Because next week
we're gonna conclude with the final part of the story in the Gospel of John
and the story of Easter all rolled into one. For those of you
who are on the verge of losing faith because of
difficulty in your life, I just wanna say to you, don't give up. Don't give up, don't give up. YOu're not the first,
you won't be the last. And the light of the world came into the world and
manufactured a sign just for you.
