Hope Found, Given & Restored In Christ (John 11)

Praying for a good connection as I see the the clouds rolling in here in Managua, Nicaragua But I want to thank you for the opportunity the invite to open the scriptures together and it's amazing as the names are read out from different places how we can gather together in this virtual way around the word of God with the purpose of Being drawn closer to him now before we open the scriptures together. Let's pray and then we're going to open in john chapter 11 Father we want to give thanks this afternoon for the lord jesus We think of the passage we are going to Consider this afternoon Where he would speak to Martha and tell her these words. I am the resurrection and the life Father we are thankful that we have come to a point in our lives Where we were drawn close to the one who is the resurrection and the life We're thankful that we have been born again Given a life in him an everlasting life And we're thankful for the knowledge that we have of him Father we pray that at this time certainly the needs Of each one connected is very distinct And we would pray that your word would be a tremendous blessing In our hearts and souls today As we would consider this passage We're thankful for the foundation the hope The life that we have in the lord And we pray that it wouldn't just be for this time But as that we would move on in the weeks ahead Many of us facing uncertain circumstances as the world around us changes We're so thankful That we have a god who does not change Allow this to be A hope and a peace in our hearts And so we pray for help this afternoon as we open your word And we pray that christ would be glorified Among all that is said We pray in the name of the lord.

Jesus Amen I'd like to read then in john chapter 11 It's a long chapter. So We won't read the whole chapter together, but we will go back Into john chapter 11 as we follow along the story of the resurrection of lazarus and as uh As I contemplated and meditated and dwelt on this passage this past week and a half or more Enjoying different lessons and different aspects of the life of christ My prayer today is that it would be an encouragement to you as well I think of all the um The miracles that the lord did this is the climax of the miracles. It's the last of his public miracles that he would display and It is one of utmost importance that would even change the scope of the people around You'll find at the end of the chapter.

It's because of this miracle and those that believe that they wanted to Kill him To bind him to capture him and so There's lessons even in the sorrows Of these two sisters and those around But there's a great hope that we find now I have strayed from my title Because it was a week before I had to submit my title. So you'll forgive me. I'm not bound to just the title of my message uh, but I uh But we we more or less are going to stay within that but let's read together.

John chapter 11 Now a certain man was sick named lazarus of bethany the town of mary and her sister martha It was that mary which anointed the lord with ointment And wiped his feet with her hair Whose brother lazarus was sick Therefore his sister sent unto him saying lord Behold he whom thou lovest is sick When jesus heard that he said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of god That the son of god might be glorified thereby Now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus When he had heard therefore that he was sick He abode two days still in the same place where he was Then after that saith he to his disciples let us go into it into judea again His disciples say unto him master the jews of late sought to stone thee and goeth out thither again Jesus answered are there not 12 hours in the day If any man walk in the day he stumbleth Stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth because there is no light in him These things said he And after that he saith unto them our friend lazarus sleepeth But I go that I may awake him out of sleep Then said his disciples lord if he sleep He shall do well Albeit, jesus spake of his death But they sought that he had but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep Then said jesus unto them plainly lazarus Is dead I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe Nevertheless, let us go unto him And we'll just stop right there and look at those passages right now before we continue on Maybe just a few verses just um A few extra verses now turn turn turn down just for context as he heads back Martha of course meets the lord and she says these words verse 21 Then said martha unto jesus lord If thou hadst been here My brother had not died But I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of god god Will give it to thee turn down farther if you have your bible open to verse number 32 Then when mary was come where jesus was And saw him She fell down at his feet Saying unto him lord If thou hadst been here my brother Had not died Death is a An awful thing The separation of a loved one is very painful In the last few months here in nicaragua even among of the believers Some of their extended family members have died It was just this last week that a brother In an assembly not far from us where we used to work called alvai de la laguna His oldest brother Was helping a friend push a car that was had Had died on the side of the road that broken down on the side of the road It was late at night He was pushing from behind and as he pushed the car Another car came over the ridge over the hill And struck him dead The car didn't stop kept on going to try and flee the scene And our poor brother in elvai Wilmer Was distraught Death had touched his family Sadly stephen Left no assurance or to our knowledge a time in his life when he trusted in christ We preached the gospel that night via facebook live The message the link was shared with him and through whatsapp an app very common here in nicaragua At least we knew he had clicked on it, but we know nothing else For that instance There's not a lot of hope That it can be given For a person who passes away with christ and we know this and so with the tears and The pain that a local brother here was feeling this past week It's hard to console It's hard to know what to say But even for believers sometimes in difficult times in our lives Sometimes we don't know how to what to say or how to act We have this story in john chapter 11 It's a story where christ's purpose Is to reveal something of himself Verse number four is key to this passage It is for the glory of god That the son of god might be glorified thereby and so in the midst of And we can just imagine it and as i've gone through this story this past week to think of this scene Where mary and martha and the love they had for their brother and and even the love that christ had for him and yet Unexpected Unexplicably this death comes into their lives and and and they have sorrow and are broken-hearted This could be for the glory of god This could be that christ would be glorified this scenario You know the first thing I wanted to point out one of my keys that I wanted to point out this afternoon with you was the fragility of our hope Now our hope is sure now. We spoke yes last week our brother. David peter spent spoke on hope I didn't know he was going to speak on hope when I submitted what I had on my heart And so I didn't know that our brother peter someone was going to speak on hope and he gave this A definition of hope that hope is not a feeling or a wish but it's a certainty given by An unshakable or the unshakable promises of god That is hope Something that is secure Something that is firm Dallas willard gives this definition of hope that hope is The joyous anticipation of good That is not yet here Or is unseen So we have hope in our lives in regards to the future It's unshakable The promises of god are sure and we can rest in that and we can have joy in that And we have that knowledge and when our faith is moved in this way We have a peace and a hope that comes that isn't movable movable Because going to the definition that was given last week.

It's not this feeling that fluffy feeling that goes away It's not just the wish that we hope will stay or maybe we will grasp but it's that certainty What a wonderful thing, but you know what I find Sometimes even in my own life Where I have placed my hope Is fragile is fragile One of the things that i've been contemplating about john chapter 11 Mary and martha sent to the lord jesus with the full expectation That he would move And he would come to them in their moment of need The way they had thought it out We find two ladies That had spent time with the lord Luke chapter 10 the times they dwelt the lord in their home You can read about mary sitting at the feet of the lord martha serving the richness of Under hearing his teaching and being in that scenario. They had they were friends not only friends they knew of his love And because of his love They had an expectation They had an expectation Their love was to be met with the lord acting The way they thought he should act That's really what we find in chapter 11 they sent to him The one whom thou lovest is sick And so they had the expectation the one who can heal is going to come and heal And yet days passed and death came And a burial was had And the lord wasn't there The lord wasn't there and their hopes Had been dashed Why? Because the expectation of their hope The expectation that was given lord you love him So you will come I find that in the words of both martha and mary these two sisters As they approached the lord jesus both at different different times both for these conversations First martha approaches the lord And as she approaches him, she says this lord If thou had been here verse 21 my brother had not died If only you would have come If only you would have been present Sanctified imagination perhaps but it's almost like You can imagine that these two were thinking why did you not come? you could have We sent for you The opportunity was there. So why? You know sometimes as believers I think that if we're to be honest we can find ourselves in in those circumstances as well We know the love of god John 3 16 For god so loved the world and we rejoice In the greatness that the love of god the eternal love of god Was shown to us that he would send his son on our behalf Romans chapter 8 The unmovable the unshakable love That we can enjoy And yet haven't we never found ourselves in circumstances That we don't quite understand We never find ourselves like martha and mary Wondering why Would it be that of all the people connected this afternoon? That there's not somebody going through some circumstance or some trial.

That is is really Unknown the why The uncertainty that perhaps you are facing the tragedy that perhaps you have felt perhaps the Unjustice that maybe you feel is is come across your life I was a fairly new believer I had spent a little bit of time in nicaragua and Upon returning home from one of my visits to nicaragua My second visit to nicaragua My parents came My father and my stepmother and One of my older brothers and my two younger sisters came and met me at the airport They picked me up Drove home. I sat in the back of the vehicle with my older brother We talked we had plans to get together He didn't live at home he had he had his own place that he was Renting and working and so we were going to try and get together and I went camping with Some of the believers the next day upon getting home. We went camping for a few days We returned home from our camping trip We got to the house of one of the brothers That had taken us camping And I knew something was just off And as I looked down the alleyway there was that sense of eeriness silence Where the people in the house didn't quite know what to say And as I looked down the alleyway moments later, I could see my family walking down As my dad came close to me he embraced me with a hug And he began to cry And he had to share with me the news that my brother had passed away The same brother that had come to the airport To pick me up went out of his way To come in and drive in And to pick me up it was the last conversation that we had I did not understand Why God allowed that to happen If I was going to be brutally honest with you In the week of his passing I was angry I was angry with god I was angry that he would allow another tragedy to come into my family.

It didn't seem right. It shouldn't have happened to us I'd lost my mother when I was 13 years old And now I lose an older brother and it just didn't seem fair And I struggled in my heart Because I had an expectation Of the way that maybe life was supposed to roll out and it certainly wasn't rolling out the way that I wanted it to And perhaps there is several connected and maybe those same feelings or Same thoughts have crossed your mind The why's and we're going to go a little bit deeper into some of those things, but One of the things that we see here with mary and martha One of the things that unbeknownst to them that they couldn't grasp at that time, but they were going to grasp Was the lord allowed this to happen for his glory And they were going to experience that And they were going to find peace in that And they were going to find hope in that They were going to find hope in that And although the circumstances of life sometimes do not roll out the way That we plan them to It is an opportunity that christ would be glorified We will see a little bit later on But also a way that we do not lose hope and the one who is unshakable unmovable and whose promises Are certain for us and that is a wonderful thing It was something that mary and martha at that time could not see but they were going to witness for themselves the fragility of our hopes sometimes perhaps placed in things or in promises that really we grasp at Or maybe we construe the way we want something to roll out and when it doesn't happen that way It's like our hopes are being dashed And that is why even in this john chapter 11 It's ultimately the lord jesus who is going to be glorified and as the centerpiece the answer The one who can give them hope the second thing I find as martha Approaches the lord and says oh if you would have been here, let's turn back to john chapter 11 And we will read the words from verse 22 To 26 But I know she says that even now whatsoever thou will ask of god God will give it thee Jesus said unto her thy brother shall rise again Thy brother shall rise again martha saith unto him. I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day Jesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life He that believeth in me Though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever believeth Or whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believest thou this Verse 27 she saith unto him.

Yay lord. I believe that thou art the christ the son of god which should come into The world and when she had said when she had so said she went her way and called mary her sister Secretly saying the master has come and calleth for thee I am the resurrection of the life. We could spend the whole afternoon Just speaking about that wonderful.

I am I am the resurrection what she couldn't grasp all of the significance of that She thought of course lord Lazarus is dead. I do believe You are the resurrection of life. He will rise again that future day is coming She had her theology down.

She knew this is going to happen. But what about now? What about now? Sometimes in the midst of even the sorrows and the hurt and the pain You see these sisters mary and martha they were feeling a pain A hurt And it was it was a peace and a calm perhaps to know that Lazarus lazarus would be raised again in a future day. What but what about today? That doesn't remove the hurt of today it doesn't take away from the circumstances of today It doesn't take away that lazarus is four days in the grave lord And so hope for tomorrow is a blessed thing, but what about today I am the resurrection of the life Is one of the key truth the life in the gospel of john Life in christ not just for a future day But good enough for today Today surety today a wonderful thing Something that martha and mary hadn't just yet grasped the one in their midst See if you go into the gospel of john in chapter one We read the first several verses up to verse number four in the beginning was the word And the word was with god and the word was god The same was in the beginning with god All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life Was the light of men There's too many chapters to go through you can find chapter five and six the source of life the the perseverance of life, um Um W. E. Vine speaks about the first three chapters how we have the expectation of life and we have the source and the The of life and and and you get to chapter 10 and verse number 10.

I'm just going to quickly go through these here. So So we can appreciate them. We have the words of the lord.

Jesus in john chapter 10 the thief cometh not But for to steal and to kill And to destroy I am come That they might have life And they might have light have it more abundantly or have it abundantly in richness and in depth abundantly When we speak about the lord jesus We're not speaking about just this physical life We're not speaking about the hope of a physical life it transcends that But it's the fullness of life the eternal life The one who is the author the source of life that very one is the one who wants to give life in him meaning meaning meaning for today so when we remove ourselves from christ when we put our hopes into other things and we Remove ourselves away from christ even the meaning of life sometimes diminishes a little I was reading a quote this week from a man that he's Long passed into eternity What was a man who had fame and money was a philosopher Leo Tolstoy was an author He said these words in his 50s. He came to a moment of crisis. It wasn't a midlife crisis I don't really know what that is.

But um, you know, uh, 36 years old Haven't reached this type of crisis and yet he finds himself in crisis Not a midlife crisis He had reached the epitomes He'd reached the highs of life And he begins to analyze I will read it for you contemplate the words the depth the reality That this man writes as I would say the world around us is searching for meaning and in fact most philosophers and most thinkers As they dive into what is the meaning of life without god They find that there is no meaning And freedom is only achieved because there's no meaning Is that hope As I read this past week of different thinkers and authors and philosophers The can't even come up with the words the lack Of anything meaningful the despair Leo Tolstoy writes today or tomorrow sickness and death will come They had come already to those I love or to me Nothing will remain but stench and worms Sooner or later my affairs whatever they may be Will be forgotten And I shall not exist Then why go on making any effort? How can man fail to see this? And how go on living? That is what is surprising One can only live while one is intoxicated with life As soon as one is sober It is impossible Not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud That is precisely what it is. There is nothing either amusing or witty about it. It is simply cruel and stupid My question This is him speaking Was the simplest of questions Lying in the soul of every man From the foolish child to the wisest elder It was a question without an answer to which one cannot live as I had found by experience it was What will come? Of what I am doing today Or shall do tomorrow What will come of my whole life? Differently expressed the question is why should I live? Why wish for anything or do anything? It can also be expressed us Is there any meaning in my life? That the inevitable death awaiting Me does not destroy The words of a man who has come to understand That there is no meaning to life in everything everything That he has grasped for and attained a life without meaning We can fall into that trap I can fall into that trap As I add in tangibles to my life that that have no meaning As I add in securities and and different things into my life that maybe give me a security and yet when those things are Stripped away and it can be anything it can be family.

It can be Employment it can be my identity as as a full-time missionary Servant of God in Nicaragua and I can add in all of these things And if you were to strip them away would my life have meaning? If I have placed a value on those things I will feel its loss And I will feel that hurt And sometimes that's not wrong but at the core I've appreciated this week again. I am the resurrection and the life the source the author the giver The one we need to grasp a hold of and cling to And as we add in the other things sometimes We forget that in the center of it all Is one who stood up to Martha to say Martha Martha I am the resurrection and the life He may be dead He will live And if you believe in me Paraphrasing if you believe in me Although you are alive You will never die What hope is that for us today? What truth that we need to get back that is where? Hope is found and hope is given it's given in who? Oh that we would be drawn closer to christ One of the things that has happened with this pandemic that is Um hit many areas and I know that many are connected and are infected in different ways But as as many people were quarantined and things were stripped away I Many of the things i've talked to a few believers that said, you know what I am more satisfied now without the busyness of our schedules that we were running from here to there to take this Son to this practice and go here with them and we would have this activity and that activity and it was all taken away And as things were honed in What becomes important Becomes more evident And perhaps you've reflected in the past few months as well in your life And as things have maybe changed There could be a wish. Oh, I just hope things go back to normal Or could it be? I hope i'm drawn closer to him Through all of this.

I hope that I find that he is more to me now Than he was two months ago With everything in life. He is the giver We find hope in him Lastly I want to just think About the hope that was restored In the lives of mary and martha No, christ made this claim. I am the resurrection and the life It was a truth That they had not yet grasped and he goes and draws closer to the tomb In john chapter 11, we find the lord.

Jesus As after he speaks with mary Turn with me if you have your bible open to verse 33 When jesus therefore saw her weeping And the jews also weeping which came with her He groaned in the spirit And was troubled And he said where have you laid him? And they said unto him lord come and see Jesus wept Then said the jews behold How he loved him And some of them said could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind as caught have caused That even this man should not have died Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it Jesus said take ye away the stone Martha the sister of him that was dead said unto him lord by this time he stinketh three have been dead four days Jesus said unto her Jesus saith unto her Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of god Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid and jesus lifted up her eyes and said father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I knew that thou Hearest me always but because of the people which stand By I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me And when he had thus had spoken he cried with a loud voice lazareth come forth He that was dead Left that tomb There's a few things that I appreciate about the lord here The key to this chapter was that these events In his love for them events that they would not understand him waiting death coming ultimately for his glory ultimately for his glory And now we find as he stands by a tomb That if hope is to be the realization in its fullness of who he is In giving lazarus life it would take faith and obedience on their part He ever thought what it would have been like to open that tomb four days after death Lord he stinketh He's rotting There is nothing in me that would want to open that tomb It would take a step of faith And obedience out of his word Roll the stone away But before that For the glory And for his glory I appreciate this That they were just not pawns to him The circumstances that he allowed them to go through Was not just as a chess master playing a game of chess What do I mean by that? He felt He felt their pain He groaned A deep groaning a deep agony a deep feeling He felt alongside of them That is important to us For peace and hope to come It won't be achieved without faith But even as we pass through hard moments We can be thankful That it is not a god who is far off Just moving us around like pawns But he draws close To even our infirmities and our weaknesses and our feelings Isaiah 53 The one who was bound The one who would die Was the one who draw drew alongside And took upon himself Not only our pain and sorrow Not only our sins But our infirmities And our sorrows as well What a savior we have That they would see and it was manifest to all around How he loved him How he loved him And so we need to be reminded of that even in sometimes the darkest hours That is the one That still loves us Was close to us and feels It's the reason why in the book of revelation We can read about the tears of the saints That they are guard they are guarded They're taken up Because even our pains mean something to him faith and obedience Restores the hope And they were able to see that day The one who had the power over death and lazarus Was raised Again Lazarus was raised again. He's the one who can restore our hope Do not lose faith Sometimes we don't get the answers Sometimes we don't get the answers We need to move in faith I remember as I mentioned the death of my older brother I remember sitting at a desk one night Not understanding what and the wise angry Laying before the lord Lord How could this happen? And I needed to make a choice.

It was very real It was real to me that day a choice I needed to make I can live angry And I can live with the why Letting that consume me Letting that affect my heart Letting that take me down Or I can move in faith And trust that there is one above my understanding One who allows the things to happen and stand in faith in him I'm thankful That I made that choice that day Because it restored hope in my own life It restored hope in their lives martha and mary As they not not just seen the act. It wasn't the act. It just wasn't the act It was the source of the act It was him And I'll finish with this that event The resurrection and the life him being the giver of hope Him being the key of life If you turn to chapter 12 Affected mary in such a way That him being central and key She had grasped He is the resurrection and the life He is the hope Of it all how did that affect her? It allowed her to take What was the cost of a year's wage worth of ointment And break it Over his feet and with her hair Expose herself and with her hair wipe his feet Anointing him.

What was she doing? What was she doing? Christ had become her all Christ was her all He was the resurrection And the life it was good for today It was good for today And that act alone Willing to give up Of a cost think about that to us We can apply that when christ is our hope that key That which is of value we give to him Think about how she appropriately honored the lord because he was center in her life Think about how she was able to take that act in remembrance In in in the fact that she knew in an act of faith somehow he is going to die It was for his burial and she honorably Showed her appreciation to the lord because he was key and that act had eternal significance And it was long lasting why? Because he had become her hope So for you and I today as I close when christ becomes That center for us. I am the resurrection and the life We will give up what is costly We will honorably honorably Be able to worship And be able to show appreciation for him And what we do for him Will have lasting significance And so may christ be the center of it all Let's remove Remove the things that sometimes come in Sometimes the things that we've placed our hopes in And get back to christ. Let us pray father We're thankful that christ is life eternal This Is eternal life That ye may know him Father we think about the book of john In chapter 20 In verses 30 and 31 we can find about what was written was written for a purpose That we would be drawn closer to the very giver of life And father may this be the key to our lives To refocus to analyze to remove To place our full hope in him.

He does not fail even in the midst of deep sorrows even in the midst of uncertainties Father we are thankful for him bless Your people we pray in the name of the lord jesus. Amen