Message Notes

Miracles

April 8, 2022

We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. —Tim Keller

John 11:1-6 (NIV)
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

John 11:5-6 (NASB95)
5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.)
6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.

A divine delay is not a denial.

How do we reconcile a troubled soul?

1. Learn to pray honest prayers.

John 11:17-21 (NASB95)
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away;
19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them about their brother.
20 So then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

2. Believe in Him again.

John 11:22-29 (ESV)
22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise from the dead.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29 And when she heard this, she got up quickly and came to Him.

John 11:33-35 (NKJV)
33 Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
34 and He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.

3. Nothing is over until Jesus says it’s over.

John 11:38-44 (NIV)
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

John 11:25-26 (NASB20)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”