It's always a privilege to bring comfort to our Lord's people with His gospel of grace, and I just want to speak from my heart that I don't take it for granted that I'm part of a local church that really loves the Lord and loves the fellowship of each other. God has granted me the privilege of going to other places and seeing things, but home is home, and the love that is ever present in this place because of the solid preaching and teaching of the gospel is something that helps me preach. And I'm thankful for you, are your words of encouragement, your love. I appreciate it so much, and I definitely do not take that for granted. So our task this morning is to look at John, chapter 11, the gospel of according to John, chapter 11, we will be looking at verses 38 through 44, John, chapter 11, verses 38 through 44. Before we read this text, let us go to our God in prayer. Do you heavenly Father, we come to you this morning and we are just so amazed and so in awe of who you are? Lord, we praise you and we thank you, we read your scriptures, we sing these songs, we read these creeds. And they all amount to a testimony of your grace with us. Father, so thankful for this local assembly that you have built and are sanctifying God. Thank you for every single person who is a member of it and the visitors and everything else, the ministers and the officers and the deacons and the church choir and the musical minister, Father God, we are all yours. And we thank you because you have blessed us with the gospel of your son. Father, it is in these times personally where you remind me of how deeply desperate I am for your mercy. It is in these times where your grace is the only thing that sustains and empowers me and I pray that at this moment, Father, that you would speak to your people, that every word that would come out of my mouth, let it not be mine, but let it be a blessing to your people because these are your people, Father. No one knows them better than you. We ask that you would speak and that every other voice would submit to your sovereignty. We love you, God. You give us a verse and say, Jesus name we pray. Amen. John chapter 11 verses 38 through 44 and this is God's holy word. Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor for he has been dead for four days. Jesus said to her, didn't I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God. So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. When he had heard these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out. His hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. May God bless the reading and hearing of his holy word. This is a most precious text from a most precious book of the Bible, one of my favorite books, The Gospel of John. And before we get into the context, I want to share with you this morning that our aim this morning is just to magnify the worth and weight of the glory of Jesus Christ. That our church here present this morning would be so amazed of the person that we behold and the person that we deemed so dear as our Savior that we would be forever changed. And that sort of motivation is not entrusted to us by God, by His law. We cannot obey God by looking solely to His law. We need motivation and we find that motivation and all that we need in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because principles and laws as great as they are without substance, without seasoning, they are hurtful rather than helpful. Principles without substance are hurtful rather than helpful. So we go on and we look to this text. And what a great thing, substance and seasoning is, by the way, I love food. Food is amazing. Being of and rooted in Cuban and Hispanic culture, we take the light in food, in quality and quantity. And my grandmother makes the greatest black beans and rice I've ever tasted in my life. And when Pastor Jones was speaking of his mother in this specific dish that she made, that he would go to other places and it wouldn't be the same. I was ready to go up to the altar because I feel the same way everywhere I go. So black beans that my grandmother makes, they are set apart. I think they are an extension and a sign and seal of God's covenant of grace. They are a blessing. I keep my compliments reformed as well. And what sets these black beans apart is the seasoning. There is a seasoning that I don't know what she just adds there that it's just like the flavor. I never knew that black beans could chase us good. Why? I say this is because we have been given and entrusted with the same blessing in our gospel of grace. The reason why the gospel is not foolishness. And it is a blessing is because it is seasoned with the Almighty, amazing grace of our God. So let's look at our text this morning. The text was found in John's gospel. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's the way that he called himself. In chapter 13, in chapter 19 verses 26 and 27 we see that John, the brother of James is a very close friend of Jesus because he is the one whom Jesus entrusts his mother to while he was being crucified. You don't tell anyone to look after your mother if you are not special. And John was special to Jesus. Yet in his mind as he was writing this and through the Holy Spirit's blessing in aid, he was writing this specific context. The Greeks in this time with their views of philosophy and other things, they tried to seek to find the measure of all things. What is that which glues the whole earth and the universe together? They called this the Logos. What is it that makes earth what made earth what what empowers it to exist? Many of them said it was fire because fire is something that they didn't have control over and it burned it was high. It was powerful. Some said it was water. Some said it was light. And John under the direction in the guidance of the Holy Spirit says no, it is not fire. It is not water. It is not light that is the Logos. What keeps the universe together, it is he, Jesus Christ. It took a lot of guts to say that. And his aim is found in chapter 20, verse 31. We would go there. The purpose of this book is found here. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. We would seem to think that the purpose of this book was to highlight the miracles in the signs that Jesus performed, but not entirely. John says, but these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. What do I mention this because John is about to tell us the story. He's somewhat of a reporter seeing and witnessing everything that Jesus did and said and performed. And he's standing with us saying there was a point in time where I thought this guy was a little nuts. He was a little crazy. A bunch of miracles and signs and things. There was a point in time where I may have been a skeptic. But this Jesus in conclusion, something about him, something else. So we turn to our text in chapter 11. Lazarus was a Bethany as he tells us in in verse 1. He was a friend of Jesus and of Mary and Martha, who were also friends of Jesus. And he was very ill. Then his illness proceeded then to his passing. And then when he finally passed away in that time, he was notified by Martha and Mary even before his passing so that he would find to seek to heal him. Because remember Jesus is out there. He's healing people doing many signs. So if you need someone to heal you or to perform something great. Jesus is your guide. Jesus is your guide. He could do these things. He could make people who are blind and see. He could make people who can't walk, walk and perform these things. And finally, Mary and Martha were just desperate to need some help. Now the point of this, one of the points of this narrative is that Jesus didn't make an appointment with them. He didn't seek to appoint a meeting with them. He came to interrupt them. He didn't come at their time. He came at his own time. He came to bestow his authority and his sovereignty over life and bestowing, you will see great things that it will be in my time. And this didn't go too well with them as we will see. And in this time as they're deciding to go, we see one of the features that most puzzles me of this narrative. Verse 11, after saying these things, he said, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I go and awaken him. This wasn't he he wasn't free styling. He was he had this plan. This wasn't improvised. He came with a purpose. He had his mind made up. And he mentioned the word fallen asleep. And his disciples in there you can count John as well said, Lord, if he had fallen asleep, he will recover. They thought that Jesus was saying that he was actually sleeping and that they're like, oh, yeah, I mean, if he's sleeping, then I don't think it's a big deal. Like if you go to him, like for sure, he's your boy, he's your friend. I'm sure he's going to wake up. They were clueless. This gives more validity to what John is writing here and reporting is true. Because he's also clueless. He doesn't know what's going on. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he had fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus is spoken of his death, but they thought that he actually meant taking rest in sleep. Verse 13, verse 14, then Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So he was on his way. So he gets there, right? And he is being received by Martha. And then once Martha sees him in verse 21, Martha is not happy. She's mad. Things aren't going her way. And when things aren't going the way that some women expect some. Let me add that word quickly. They tend to be maybe a little bit outspoken about what's going on. And this exactly what happened. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Jesus, if you were here, this would have never happened. Why did you take so long? Why did you delay? I mean, I'm telling you, that scene right there must have been real bad. There's nothing like a problem happening. You finally finding someone that could solve the problem. And then that person that you called that will finally solve the problem can't finally solve the problem. Is there a late? He's late. And Jesus said to her in verse 23, your brother will rise again. Now Martha is in astute theologian in Pharisees. So she's trying to, she's trying to show her show Jesus that she knows what Jesus is talking about. I know what you're saying, right? You're talking about all that theology stuff that you will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. That's what you were saying. I've read some stuff, Jesus. Yes, I've heard so many things of this resurrection on the last day. Again, this is why Jesus doesn't seek to make an appointment. He seeks to interrupt them because this is an atone of interruption. This is when the story is not about Lazarus anymore. It's about him. He interrupts them and says, I am the resurrection and the life, verse 25, whoever believes in me, though he died, yet he shall live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you, Martha, believe this? After a statement like that, Martha proceeded to say, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming back. So, as the things that are unfolding and certain things that are going, Mary chooses again, she hears that Jesus is here again. And she also says the same thing, that Martha says, and then Jesus is preparing for battle to face a mortal enemy that mortal enemy is death. He went, verse 35. He went because of many things. He went for maybe their unbelief. He was God. He is God. He's the God of the universe. He was there when there was nothing and he made everything happen. And there in the radius of his glory and in the radiance of his worth, he stands before people that doubt his power and unbelief. So, many people tell me, you know, Alex, you know, if you are, I would believe in that Jesus if I would see him, look, there's people that saw him in the scriptures and doubted. I'm so glad that John doesn't omit those details. And also, he was mad that they did not see the weight and gravity of the issue. Lazarus died. Death is an enemy. Death has a sting. Forget looking to me as a solution or anything else. The truth is that he has died. Can't you guys take it in for a moment and then the Jews that were around him, some Martha and Mary's friends said, see how he loved him. The way to change the topic, what a way to deviate from the importance of what's going on. He loved him. Yes, he did. But he also hated to see their reaction this way. A lot of funerals in this day communicate to unbelievers. There are a lot of funerals that are done in this day that communicate this truth to unbelievers that that is not a problem. The funerals look more like graduations than places of mourning. I believe that there is a time and place to mourn. There is a time and place to see and to feel and to witness the weight and gravity of death. That's why death continues to exist. That's why death is a problem. Because those whom die every day die because of Adam's unfaithfulness to God's covenant of works. Death is a problem. We don't see that today. They didn't see that yesterday. They were starting to doubt. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? So we had a problem. We found the person that could find a solution to the problem. He arrives late and now he's nervous and crying. He's choking the 4th quarter. It's 3 seconds plus someone needs a shot. And the guy who goes out to take the shot is crying. They don't know what's going on. In verse 38, then Jesus deeply moved again. And this is not like a sentimental baby cry. This is an angry cry. In the Greek deeply moved there. He is angry. He is crying and he's angry. You know what that means? Get out of the way. And he says with great authority that he alone has Martha. Take away the stone. Martha again, allowing herself to explain to Jesus the gravity of what's going on here. Letting her opinions be known. Said, Lord, but by this time there will be an order. It's going to smell really bad. For he's been dead for four days. He was late, but not only one day late, 30 minutes late, four days late. And Jesus can only imagine the look that he has on his face. Says, did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God, he's in the zone now. It's time to do work. So they took away the stone. You imagine how fast that was? He had to look at them with a face that motivated the just real. All right, man, look at the way this guy's looking at me. Let me just roll this stone before this guy just. I don't know, it's just like makes us disappear. And then what poses me also, it amazes me is that he did not perform this miracle alone. This was a miracle where the three persons of the Trinity were engaged because the father will did to happen before the foundations of the world that Lazarus would be risen from the dead. And the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, aids Jesus in every single thing that he does. So that's why he says, and in the way that he prays, he knows it's going to happen already. He trusts his father so much that he says, father, I thank you because I know it's about to go on. The fellowship that me you have before the foundations of the world allows me to see that you will not fail me in this moment. And thank you for granting me the privilege of being in your presence. And he said, I knew that you always hear me and letting everybody know, always, it's been a while since the foundations of the world, a while that you've been hearing me. But I said on the account of my people standing around that they may believe that you set me that prayer was for God and his father and that prayer was for the people. He's letting everybody know something is about to go down. Get ready, watch this. And he says, when he had heard, had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. He's letting people know that he owns everything. He's letting people know that this universe is his and all his creation is submitted to his sovereignty and his authority. For no one in this time, for 2,000 years ago, could even bear the even such that death can be defeated, that there will be a solution, a probable solution to death. But here comes the God of this universe comes down from heaven and he has an answer and has a solution. The same authority and the same sovereignty and the same weight of glory that Jesus used to say, let there be light, let the oceans part, let there be days and nights, let the days be divided, let there be mountains and let there be seas and let there be leaves. He says, Lazarus, raise. Come out, I heard a sermon one time on this passage and I was angry because the pastor of this non-tiny church, let's say non-tiny because it was big. A lot of people in the room said that Lazarus had free will to respond to Jesus' call, that I mean, that's just he's gifted for being able to note that I disagree. Lazarus didn't have free will to come back. He was dead. If Lazarus had free will, Adam had free will to for his existence. Adam didn't know he was going to exist. Then God, out of his sovereignty and out of his authority, he blew out dust and Adam appeared. Don't tell me that someone who was dead, who didn't know he was going to come back. He was dead and the power to respond and had the choice to not submit to the authority, sovereignty and pre-eminence of Jesus. He's creator of verse 44. The man who died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his faith wrapped with the cloth. He came out after four days of decay, of him smelling bad, his flesh rotting and disappearing as we speak, maybe being eaten by insects and all types of things. Automatically, when Jesus said, come out, flesh grew, the mind came back, his blood started pumping again and he was raised from the dead. There's only one person that could do that church and that is the one who created him. The greatest miracle that we have been given is the person in work of Christ. We don't need more signs, we don't need more miracles if they come, let them come, but let them be under his direction and under his authority. Let them be spontaneous. Why don't we always try to force the hand of God to perform miracles that we would like to see? Let Jesus let the creator of the universe act on his own accord as he's been doing since the foundation of the world and let a service be a feast of delighting and receiving and enjoying his benefits and his gifts. He is the miracle. I don't know if you've caught that yet. He is the miracle. Without him, this doesn't happen for six, seven, eight weeks, years of rotting flesh. Without him, this doesn't happen. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Oh my God, he gracious to us and allow us to see and witness and revel in delight in the power of Jesus Christ. No church, that the same power that rose Lazarus from the dead is in you today. The same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave is with you today. You don't need anything else. You don't need any other means. He is the means. You don't need any other entertainment. He is our amazement. And we can only be amused by him. If you're amused by something else and not him, you have a problem. Maybe you should go somewhere else, a circus perhaps, but not here. In here, this is a kingdom ruled in a dominion authorized only by God, the creator. So let us revel, let us delight, let us have joy in our creator and our maker who has granted us this privilege of being called sons of his that we are coerced together with him and that with Jesus, we have it all. We are blessed. We are blessed. We don't need anything else. He is not only a source of our blessings. He is our only blessing. He is everything that God has promised us to be in him. And with him, we have everything without him. We have nothing to see that this morning. He alone is our resurrection. That he alone gives us life. We shall be able to be obedient children of God. Thank you.