Jesus Wept

Tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is the shepherd kept there watching over silent flock by night and behold throughout the heaven with a shone a holy light go tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere don't tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is home the shepherd fear and tremble when low love the earth rang out the angel chorus that hailed our savior go tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born down in a lowly manger the humble Christ was born and God said our salvation that blessed Christmas moon go tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere go tell it on the mountain Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ is born that Jesus Christ is born oblique midwinter all creation grow in darkness frozen like a stone light is breaking in a stable for a throne and he shall rain forever more, forever more and he shall rain forever more, forever more until I shout it the king of king shall rain forever more, forever more item I would travel far and if I worship I would do my part before as I will give to him my heart and he shall rain forever more, forever more and he shall rain forever more, forever more baby born sacrifice christ the messiah to our into our fears savior of the world of the promise of eternal years Christ of messiah he shall rain forever more, forever more he shall rain forever more, forever more he shall rain forever more, forever more until I shall keep shall rain forever more, forever more he shall you love incarnate love divine star and angels gave this sign bow to babe on bend in me the savior of humanity unto us a child is born he shall reign forever more now come and see what God has done nowhere nowhere the story of amazing love the light of the world given for nowhere son of God and son of man there before the world begin want to suffer born to save born to raise us from the grave christ the everlasting love he shall rain forever nowhere now come and see what God has done nowhere nowhere story of amazing love the light of the world given for us nowhere always come holy round your mother and child holy sleep in heavenly sleep in heavenly peace holy night Son of God love your life raise from the holy face with the dawn of we Jesus Lord at that time Jesus Lord at Father, we thank you for this time that you have given us Lord, we thank you for the many blessings and promises that you have provided us and Lord, we thank you for everything that you do. Lord this season we thank you for Jesus Christ, our messiah, the Lord of Lord and king of kings. Now we thank you for his stripes that have healed us, his wounds that have set us free. Father, I pray as we go into the service tonight that you will turn our hearts and our mind to you. Lord, let us focus on your message today, learn of you and glorify you.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Okay, real quick, some announcements. Next week there will be no morning service for the Millford church, so I'll try and remind everyone again just so that no one forgets. But no morning service next week, but we will be meeting in Cedar City for our Christmas Eve candlelight service and for those who live in Milford or Cedar, you are invited to join us all together at the hotel conference center for the service and for those who meet us online via Zoom, Facebook or YouTube. Just a reminder, service will be at 06:00 next week, not 630. This way we can fit in the entire service for Christmas Eve.

With that said, let's go ahead and do our advent ceremony for this week and then I'll see you back here in a minute. To get into our service last Sunday, we lit three candles in our advent wreath, the candle of peace, the candle of healing and forgiveness, and the candle of victory over death. We light them again as we remember that the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem will come again to fulfill God's promises of peace. He forgives our sins and gives us eternal life.

The fourth and final candle of advent is the candle of the eternal king. The people hoped for a holy and righteous leader, a descendant of King David, to rule over them and deliver them as God had promised.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of host will perform this Isaiah nine, six through seven.

Our candle today is pink, not red. The fulfillment of God's promise is at hand. Our darkness is turning to joy. We light this fourth candle to remember that the baby born in Bethlehem is also the promised king of all eternity. The angel Gabriel told Mary, the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

His kingdom will never end.

Nay. Thank you God for your faithfulness to promises that you made long ago. We ask that as we wait for all your promises to come true and for Christ to come again, that you would remain present with us. Help us today and every day to worship you, to hear your word and to do your will by obeying our heavenly king. We ask this in the name of the one who was born in Bethlehem and who reigns forever and ever.

Amen.

Amen. This week we're going to continue our study in the book of John. We'll be in chapter eleven this week. This is chapter, is the final chapter of the ceremony cycle. So we saw the cana cycle when Jesus began his ministry in Cana of Galilee.

And the cana cycle had ended when he healed that man who was named from birth. And then we opened up the.

Sorry, I got distracted by something from upstairs. We opened up the ceremony cycle that we are now in. And we have come full circle. So when the ceremony cycle opened up, it opened up both with a miracle but with Passover, all the way back in John, chapter five. Today in chapter eleven, we will end the cycle, come in full circle, almost back to Passover again.

This miracle that Jesus performs here will be the final miracle that Jesus performs in the book before the resurrection of himself. This miracle that we will see tonight is the turning point of the entire gospel. This miracle is what is frequently seen in the other three gospels as the point of no return, along with the cleansing of the temple. This miracle is the miracle that Jesus will use to answer once and for all before his death, who he is. Last week I also promised you that we would see the shortest verse of the Bible this week.

It'll be verse 35 for anyone who is eager to see that before we get there. And it is Jesus wept. Let's dig in and we'll get there in a minute. And the title of this message is Jesus wept. Because it is a very profound thing that we'll learn when we get there.

But let's begin here with verses one through four. Now, a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. Mary is the one who anointed the Lord of perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. And it was her brother, Lazarus who was sick. So the sister sent a message to him.

Lord, the one you love is sick. When Jesus heard it, he said, this sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God, so that the son of God may be glorified through it. All right, so this here sets the stage for the entire chapter. There is a man, Lazarus, who is a friend, a really close and good friend of Jesus. It is important for us to make mention here that this Lazarus is not the same Lazarus referred to in Luke 16, the one in hell.

This Lazarus is the brother of Mary Magdalene, the sister of Martha. But we are reminded who this Mary is. She's the one who anointed the Lord of perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. This is going to be critical to understanding what we read later on. We need to remember who Mary is and what her character is.

Mary has a very humble character. And Mary, she likes to live on her knees in front of the feet of Jesus. This is going to be important to remember when we get later on into the chapter. So the sisters send a message to Jesus. And the message is this, the one you love is sick.

The one you love is sick.

Love. I stick on that word because Jesus loved Lazarus. And we're going to see a very emotional scene as we continue to read. Jesus loves Lazarus. But I also want to point out that Jesus loves each of us as well.

In fact, the whole gospel of Christ is a gospel of love. And this is something important to remember in particular with this chapter as we read verse 35, that Jesus wept. Right? The gospel of Jesus is a gospel of love. So Jesus hears this and he tells us that the sickness will not end in death.

So we need to remember that no matter what we read between here and the end of the chapter, no matter what we see or hear or the other people are doing, this sickness will not end in death for Lazarus, instead, what is going on is for the glory of God. Do you remember when we talked about the blind man who Jesus healed? And the disciples asked him, they said, lord, who sinned, he or his parents, that he would be born blind. And Jesus said, neither, but he was born blind for the glory of God. There are some situations in life, and not all, but some.

And we should look for that where the situation in and of itself is there so that God's glory may be manifest. And the sickness of Lazarus is one such case where the glory of God will be manifest, and specifically that Jesus Christ would be glorified through it.

The miracles we've seen as of now, we've seen Jesus turn water into wine. We've seen Jesus give. Just in the book of John, we've seen that Jesus had casted out demons. He had healed people. He had given name man the ability to walk, blind men the ability to see.

The question at this point, while throughout the gospel these miracles have done two things, they have either caused people to believe in him or caused people to turn against him. And the only question that has remained at the point of this chapter with everything that Jesus has done, is how far does his power extend? How far he can give sight to the blind, cause name man to walk. He can cause water to become wine. So how far does his power extend?

Read with me verses five through 16. Now, Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after that, he said to the disciples, let's go to Judea again, Rabbi. The disciples told him, just now, the Jews tried to stone you, and you're going there again.

Aren't there 12 hours in a day? Jesus answered, if anyone walks during the day, he doesn't stumble because he sees the light of the world. But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble because the light is not in him. He said this, and he told them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up. Then the disciples said to him, lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.

Jesus, however, was speaking about his death. But they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. I'm glad for you that I wasn't there, so that you may believe. But let's go to him.

Then Thomas, called twin, said to his fellow disciples, let's go too, so that we may die with him. What a funny, interesting remark there. Let's go too, that we may die with him. Okay. So in verse five, we are told again that Jesus loved Martha, her sister in Nazareth.

I think this is an important thing for us to understand and have reiterated in light of the fact that Jesus knew he was sick. And yet remained for a few days he did love them. Jesus did not remain separated from Nazareth and Mary and Martha out of a lack of love. But it was out of a abundance of love that he had remained. And this is a lesson for each of us as we go through life.

There are times in what feels like to us our deepest hour of need, our most hopeless and despairing situations, that we need God here right now. And it appears as if he's nowhere to be found. And then we will want, as Mary and Martha do later on in the chapter, will want to proclaim God, if only you were here. And it is often out of an abundance of God's love and wisdom. That he does not manifest himself to us when or in the way we want him to.

So he is sick. He is dying. And Jesus tarries for two more days where he was out of a abundance of love. And then he says to them, let's go. Let's go to Judea now.

The disciples briefly try and convince him away from going to Judea by saying, the jews are trying to kill you. They tried to stone you just now and you're going to go back. I want to go out of order a little bit. He tells them that our friend Nazareth has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up right now. The disciples, they hear asleep and think that he has taken a nap, that his illness has caused him to get tired.

He's laid down for bed. And Jesus is using the term asleep here to refer to death. This is a unique concept to Judaism and Christianity, that death could be equated to sleeping. And why is that in the world? To those who have no hope for what is to come, death is but permanent.

Death is the end. We call it in the medical field, termination for a reason. It's the end. But to those who have hope, to those who believe in Jesus, who have hope of a resurrection, our death is not permanent. It's not the end.

It's not termination. But it is a rest. It is asleep until God raises us out of the grave. It is asleep. It's a rest.

So Jesus refers to him. He has to tell them, claiming that he is dead.

Let's back up here to how he initially responds when they try to persuade him from going back to Judea. He says this. Are there 12 hours in a day? If anyone walks through in the day, he doesn't stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks through in the night, he does stumble because the light is not in him.

What does this mean? He's using earthly analogies, earthly things. During the day, when the sun is up, we can move about freely. We won't stumble. We won't be ambushed.

We can get where we're going safely. But when you walk at night, you do stumble. You are ambushed. You could be snuck up upon because there's no light. You can't see.

But they're talking about his death. Why is he talking about light? Well, two reasons. One, Jesus knows that in roughly a week from now, he is going to die. He's going to permit himself to die.

Are there not 12 hours in the day? Is there not a set limit of time in which Jesus will be in the world? And in that time, does he not need to accomplish what God has sent him out to do? And before it is his time, when he is walking in the light of God, walking in the mission of God and acting as the messenger of God. Would jesus not be safe?

But there will come a time when Jesus will no longer be here on the earth.

So he has work to do, and he needs to do it now. But I want to apply this to us as well. Jesus says, and we read this a couple weeks ago, he says, I am the light of the world. In the very beginning of John, in John, chapter one, it says that when it tells us that Jesus is the creator, that he created all things, it says in verse five that in him was light, and the light was manifest in the darkness. And the darkness did not understand it.

Right. The world is darkness. The world is darkness. It's a dark place. It's filled with sin and corruption and decay.

And if we are to walk in the world, we need to walk in the light of Jesus. If we walk in the light of Jesus, he will keep us from stumbling. But if we walk outside of Jesus, we will stumble. We will fall, because the light is not in us. And this goes back to John, chapter three, where Jesus says that those who do not believe in him do not believe in him because they love darkness rather than light.

So Jesus is the light of the world. And if we walk within him, we shall not stumble because we can see the light of the world.

He ends this discourse here. In verse 15, he says, I am glad for you. Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I wasn't there. So that you may believe.

But let's go to him. Why is Jesus glad? This is something that before a proper study, before a proper breakdown of the text here of the chapter, I have wondered, why was Jesus glad? That seems like an awkward thing to say. Lazarus has died, and I'm glad I wasn't there.

What? Well, let's look at the miracles that he has performed already. With each of the miracles that he has performed, they have been able to fall into one of two categories. The people who would agree that the miracle happened could call it a magic trick. Could call Jesus a magician.

Turning water into wine could be said to be a magic trick. It will cause those who believe in the supernatural to believe. And those who do not believe in the supernatural to look for another explanation. How about the healing of the blind man? Right.

There are those who believed. But the Pharisees, the jewish leaders, they did not just find a way to explain it away.

They outright disbelieved the healing altogether. Remember, they kicked the previously blind man out of the synagogue. They kicked him up. Because they refused to accept that he was either blind and healed. Or that he was blind at all.

They rejected the fact that a miracle had been performed at all. So what better way to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. That a miracle has been performed. Than for the man to be dead for four days at the time of the miracle?

We'll see that in a minute. So for the sake of the disciples. That they may believe Jesus has allowed the man to die. And to be dead for four days. Let's read on verses 17 through 27.

When Jesus arrived. He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb. Four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, less than 2 miles away. Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary.

To comfort them about their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming. She went to meet him. But Mary remained seated in the house.

Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here. My brother wouldn't have died. Yet even now, I know that whatever you ask from God. God will give you. Your brother will rise again.

Jesus told her. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection. At the last day, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? Yes, Lord. She told him, I believe you are the messiah. The son of God who comes into the world.

Okay, so Lazarus has been, at this point. Has been buried in the tomb for four days. Right? It says in verse 17. That Lazarus had been in the tomb four days.

And Bethany is near Jerusalem. So as Jesus is on his path toward Judea. Martha hears that he's on his way. And she goes out to meet him. As he gets close, Mary remains seated at the house.

Look what Martha says. Martha begins here. She says, lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died. My brother would not have died. Martha is at a point in her life, a tragedy, a tragic thing.

Where she had sent for Jesus to come. Knowing that Jesus could prevent the inevitable. Knowing that Jesus could save her brother. And he didn't come. He's four days late.

And so she begins. God, if you had been here, if you had shown up, my brother would be alive.

The timing of God is not our timing. It's not. There are so many things that I have desired God to do right now. That he has waited three, four, six months or even longer. Because it's in his wisdom and his love for me.

That he will often make me wait on him.

Romans 828, one of my favorite Bible verses. It reminds us that we know God works all things together for the better of them who love him and are called according to his purposes. There is no situation in which we could proclaim to God that if you were here, this wouldn't have happened, because God is working it out in his infinite wisdom and love. Yeah. Even now, Martha says in verse 22, I know that whatever you ask, God will give you.

So Martha at least has the confidence. She says, I still know, but she doesn't believe.

She doesn't mean what she says. She says, I know whatever you ask, God will give, but she limits that. She does not believe that God could raise him from the dead right now. She believes that God will raise him from the dead in the resurrection, but not right now. What she really means is, even though you didn't come and raise him, I still believe.

I still know that if you were here and asked God, he would have been fine. She limits the scope of the power of Jesus.

Look what jesus says. She says, I know what you ask from God, God will give you. So he says, your brother will rise again. And she says, I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day. She doesn't believe that he's going to rise right now.

She doesn't believe that. And jesus tells us something profound. He says, I am the resurrection of life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, right? So he is the resurrection.

He doesn't just have the power of resurrection, but he is the resurrection.

Jesus is, to put it simply, life. Who created the heavens and the earth? Jesus did. And if we go back to the creation of man, God took the dust of the earth and he formed it into a body. And it says that he breathed into him the breath of life, right?

Life is literally the breath of God. Jesus is life. And apart from Jesus, apart from God, there is no so he is the resurrection, and he gives us a promise of life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. There have been many people who died before the time of Jesus, who long awaited his coming.

And there have been many since the time of Jesus till now who have died looking back to what he did along, awaiting a second coming. And there is a promise to all of them and to all of us who will believe that even if we shall die, even if that death is before his return, we will live, because he's the resurrection. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. What does he mean by that? We actually have to establish what he means, because somebody could read this and attempt to say that it's a lie.

Someone could read it and attempt to use it to tell us that the bible we believe in is false, because it's obviously not true. How many thousands of christians have died, and yet Jesus just said, if you believe in me, you will never die. So what does he mean? He means that you will never die the spiritual death. You will never die the eternal death.

These bodies have got to go. They're corrupt. And let's be honest, my lower back hurts right now. My ears ring. I have lost 70% of my hearing.

I've broken this tooth. My jaw hurts. I don't want this body forever. I don't. So I'm happy that this body has got to go.

But you will never die that eternal death. You will be resurrected. You will be given an incorruptible body, a body with no pain, no disease, no sorrow. And you will live forever.

Let's read verses 28 through 37.

Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. Where have you put him? He asked, lord, they told him, come and see. Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, couldn't he who opened the blind man's eyes, also have kept this man from dying?

So Mary returns, or Martha returns to Mary and informs her, Jesus is calling for you. He wants you. And she gets up and goes out to meet him. Now, there are Jews who are with her in the house, and they assume she's going to the tomb to cry there and get up and follow her. So in case you're wondering why they're in the house with her crying and why they're following her around, it's jewish custom.

In jewish custom, it was actually common to hire people to do that, to hire people to mourn with you, to follow you. Professional mourners. But it was custom that you would not mourn alone. And that during your time of mourning, that there would be people with you. They would follow you, and they would mourn and carry your grief.

It was something that they did together. So supposing that she was going to cry, to weep at the tomb, they follow her, and they follow her to Jesus.

Look what happens as soon as Mary comes to Jesus. She sees him and she falls at his feet. She falls to her knees, and the very first thing she says is identical to what Martha had said. Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Identical.

But then that's the end of her discourse. Jesus and Martha, they talk. They go back and forth.

She's a talker. But Mary is on her knees. Now, many western churches, I'm talking american churches, they portray Mary falling at his knees and weeping as someone who is only a beggar. And this is a western view. We need to consider the entire character of Mary, who she is, what she's like.

Mary lives on her knees at the feet of Jesus. It was at the feet of Jesus that Mary wept as she realized she was a sinner in the presence of the lamb of God and wiped his feet with her hair and tears. It is the very nature of Mary to be humble before God. And here she is humble before him, as she is filled with sorrow and despair. What we see is not a beggar, but what we see are two women who deal with their grief in different ways.

But let's look at what Jesus sees. Verse 33. Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, and he was deeply moved in a spirit and troubled. Well, how do you interpret that? Deeply moved in a spirit and troubled.

The English puts it so nicely. Right. So, shall I say, sugar coated? Right. The way we read this, if we were to read this with the English translation and understand it with english words, what we can say is that he had compassion, right?

He was deeply hurt at the loss of his friend. He saw his other friend crying. He saw the mourners. And all of a sudden, he had this deep feeling inside at the loss of his friend, and so he was moved. That's what the english version portrays, is that this deep movement in a spirit and his troubled spirit is compassion and pain.

But that is not what it means at all. The english version, and I've looked at most english versions to see how they put it. Most english translations interpret this almost in the same way, and they get it wrong. If we look at the word troubled here and go all the way back to the original meanings, it is disgusted or angered. Jesus became angry when he saw them crying and weeping.

Angry.

Why?

Why is Jesus seemingly becoming bitter? This is his friend. She's mourning. She's emotional.

And to demonstrate that this word means anger, I want to look at mark, chapter 14. I'm going to just read verses three through four. Three and four. While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reaching for a meal, a woman came holding a alabaster flask, a very costly perfumed oil of genuine gnard. After breaking the alabaster flask, she poured it out on his head, on Jesus'head.

And some were expressing indignation to one another. Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? So what's happening here is this unnamed person comes and pours this very expensive oil on the head of Jesus, and it says, they expressed indignation over it. And then look at the next verse. It says, for this perfume oil could have been sold for more than 300 da Narian given to the poor.

And they scolded her. They scolded her. The same word used for scold here for scolded is the same word we see for troubled, for deeply moved and troubled in verse 33 of John eleven. So this word means to be angry, to be disturbed, to scold. So if Jesus is angry, we have to now ask why he is angry.

What is he angry at? Well, there are two options here. There are really only two things he could be angry at. So what are they? The first, he could be angry that his friend had died.

Right? Lazarus is dead. Death is the enemy of Jesus. Sin is the enemy of Jesus. So he could be angry at the state of sin and how it causes death and the death of a loved one.

But let me ask a question. If at the beginning of the chapter, Jesus had promised and foretold that Lazarus'sickness would not end with death, why would he be angry at the death? That makes no sense. None at all. Jesus already knows what's going to happen.

But instead, the second option, and this is as we read contextually, as we break it down and interpret this, is more likely, is he is angry that all of these people are before him, and none of them recognize him as the solution to their problem. He's the healer, the great healer. He has healed blindness. He has healed leprosy. He has healed broken legs.

He has healed the lame. He has cast out demons. He has done so much. He has demonstrated that the power of God is with him. He has demonstrated that he is life itself.

And here are all these people around him who do not recognize him as an option, who do not recognize him for who he is and his ability to rectify the problem. And he has become angry.

Mourning is not unnatural. When we lose somebody who is loved, to us, it is only natural and appropriate to mourn. We should mourn. But there is a mourning that is natural of the emotion and the expressed feeling of that loss. And then there is the morning of utter and hopeless despair.

Right. Two separate mournings. Mourning of the expression is different from the morning of, I'm hopeless. There's no hope left. I'm despair, there's nothing that remains.

And that is what Mary and Martha and these Jews are doing. They're mourning as if there is zero hope left when the hope is before them.

So Jesus says, where have you put him? And they told him, come and see. He arrives to the tomb. And verse 35 says, jesus wept. Jesus wept.

The shortest verse in the Bible. And a very powerful verse at that. When I first became a pastor several years ago, my mentor gave me a challenge. And his challenge was to preach a 45 minutes sermon on this one verse. Jesus wept.

And it appears, as I have learned, to be a challenge of many pastors to preach a sermon on this one verse. I have denied that challenge. I refused it. Because you cannot preach a sermon on the two words Jesus wept. And now it's easy to take these two words and to turn them into many things.

We can turn them into. He wept because of sin. He wept because he loved Lazarus so much. And he died. Even though he knew he was going to raise him.

He wept at his loss. Or he wept because of the emotion of the others weeping and his compassion. We can turn it into many things. But the fact remains, in order to understand why Jesus weeps, we must understand the entire situation. Look what the Jews are saying.

They say, look at how much he loved him. They interpret the weeping of Jesus as an expression of his love. And then they say, couldn't he have kept him from dying? In fact, they go as far as saying, couldn't he who opened the blind man's eyes have kept him from dying? So the Jews, at this point in time, they see the situation as hopeless.

The man's been dead for four days. At four days, the body of a deceased person is already decaying. In fact, by four days, long before four days, a deceased body who is not treated in a morgue, their stomach will balloon up and bloat. And fill fluids before bacteria starts to break down the flesh. So at this point in time, Nazareth is not dead.

He is dead, dead, dead. Right. His body has released all the fluids. It's swelled up. He's decaying, he's rotting, he's smelly.

So to the eyes of the Jews, there's nothing that Jesus can do.

And he weeps. He weeps because the people come to him with utter despair, with grief, with no hope, in fact. To put this into comfort into some more context, look what Paul writes to us in one Thessalonians 413. Paul says, we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, concerning those who have died, so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope. So there is grieving, but then there's grieving as those without hope.

And Paul tells us that we are not to grieve as the unbelievers, as those who have no hope. And here is why. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, thus also God will bring those who have fallen asleep died through Jesus together with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain unto the Lord's coming, will not possibly precede those who have fallen asleep.

So Jesus here, he weeps because of the sense of hopelessness in the people, that they do not have faith in him. He weeps that they have missed the point, that he is the light of the world, that he came unto his own and that his own received him not, that he taught them the things of God, the wisdom of God, and that they have missed the point. And that causes him to have such a strong sense of emotion that it expresses itself in weeping.

Let's look at the next section here. Verses 38, 27. Wow. Let's see if I can work with my mouth here.

38 through 44. Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave. A stone was lying against it. Remove the stone.

Jesus said, martha, the dead man'sister told him, Lord, there is already a stench, because he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me.

Because the crowd standing here, I said this so that they may believe you sent me. After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out, bound hand and foot with men. And strips and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, unwrap him and let him go.

Simply put, Jesus spoke and it was done. Jesus said, lazarus, come out here. And the spirit was quickened back into his body. His body healed back into life, and he comes out bound hand and foot. This is the one time that I imagine cartoons being right.

You know, in cartoons where there's mummies all wrapped in toilet paper, and when they get released and they hop around until they're unraveled, he was like a mummy. He was wrapped in linen cloth, head to toe, and he had to be unwrapped, unloosed in order to go free. And let's look at the end of the chapter here. I'm just going to read to the end, and then I have only a couple of comments before we close. So verse 45 to the end.

Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So some people real quick believed, and some people play tattletail. So the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and were saying, what are we going to do? Since this man is doing many signs, if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and the nation.

As I have said many times throughout the book of John, it's not that the Jews think that he's a violator of the law, that he's a blasphemer. It's that the Jews like the power that they have, the leaders of the Jews, and they feel that he threatens the power. And they outright say it in verse 48, right? Everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place in our nation. If we let him keep going, they'll stop believing in us.

We'll no longer be rulers. We'll no longer have power. We have to stop this. Verse 49. One of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all.

You're not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people, rather the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God. So Caiaphas says right here, hey, this is actually to your benefit. Kill the man. One man to save the nation.

The man, I don't think Caiaphas truly understood what he was saying. Jesus did die to our benefit. And to the benefit of the Jews and the benefit of everyone else. It was to our benefit that he died. That's not why he said it, though.

But it was greatly to our benefit that Jesus had died. For his death has ransomed our lives. So from that day on, they plotted to kill him. Therefore, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. But departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness.

To a town called Ephraim. And he stayed there with the disciples. Well, I'll finish here real quick. Now. The jewish Passover was near.

And many went up to Jerusalem from the country. To purify themselves. Before the Passover, they were looking for Jesus. And asking one another as they stood in the temple. What do you think?

He won't come to the festival, will he? The chief priests and Pharisees had given orders. That if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him. From this point until he's arrested, near the end of John. Jesus will no longer argue with the Pharisees.

He will no longer even be among the Jews as a whole. He will no longer be really out with the people. We'll see him a little bit as he rides in on Palm Sunday. But the vast majority of our reading. From this point till the crucification.

He will be with his disciples. And his disciples only. We are at this point when we pick up. If you look at verse one of chapter twelve. It says six days before Passover.

So from this point forward. Everything that we read. Will take place within one week of when Jesus is murdered. So let's just keep that in control, in mind as we read. And I'll inform you as the timeline changes.

With that said, I've got, as we go, to close in prayer here in a minute, immediately after closing prayer, we will partake of communion. So if you would like to participate in the Lord's supper with us. I ask you to please remain with us for a moment longer after the closing prayer. As one other thing. To any of you who have heard this message today.

And you are hopeless. You do feel that you have despair. That there is no hope in life or in the end or in death. I just want to say to you one more time. What Jesus said in verse 25.

He says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. And I want to extend that same promise to you. If you would believe in him, trust in him, you would live.

If you would be willing to admit that you are a sinner and could not save yourself, be willing to believe that Jesus is God, the Christ Messiah, Lord of lords, king of kings, who came into earth and died for you and rose again and confess him as your lord, God and savior, you would be saved. As the scriptures say, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved. And if you believe these things today, if you're ready to believe them and confess Jesus as your lord, I invite you to follow along with me at the beginning of our opening prayer. Let's pray. Father, I admit that I am a sinner.

And, Lord, I know that I cannot save myself. Lord, I know that my ways are wrong and wicked and corrupt, and that I am hopeless in my own power. But I believe that Jesus Christ, the God man, God literally in the flesh, came here and lived for me and died for me. And I trust you. I trust you, Jesus, in your work, in your death, and I trust you with my life.

I believe in your words, and I will hold on to them. And I confess you, Lord Jesus, as my God, my king. My lord, I acknowledge who you are before you today and before men and ask you into my heart for this gift to receive you, Lord Jesus. Father, I pray that you would this Christmas season allow people to know that you are the resurrection and life, and that in you is life everlasting. There is peace and joy.

Father, I pray that you'll use us to share your love and your gift with other people as we celebrate your coming. For this purpose. I pray, Lord, that you would be glorified in Jesus name. Amen.