At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
8 sermons cite this verse
… a miracle. He shows up to a funeral and he gets ready to disrupt a funeral. So let's look at the scene in verse one. It says, now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. This Martha, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. So we have a really, really sick man, and we have two desperate sisters who are in need of the Lord to do work. And I think that a lot of us are here, many of us walked in today, where we need God to show up in some way in our lives to do work. And whether in this story, you are sick like Lazarus. You are grieving or you are desperate. We are all in need of a Savior. And I love that reminder in Philippians that he's not just the one that starts it, but he's the one that finishes the work. Amen. If you're taking notes today, I want to talk for the next 30 minutes about the work in the weight. The work in the weight. Let's pray one more time together. Thank you, Lord, for your work that you've started in us, that you are the one that initiates, you are the one that began it. God, we just pray today that we would hear your word, …
And so the two sisters sent a message to their Lord, the friend of Lazarus. And they said, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. Conspicuous by its absence is the lack of invitation. Please come. It's like the nurse at an elementary school calling a mother, telling the mother that the child is sick at school. The nurse doesn't ask, will you please come? She just assumes the mother will come and asks, what time will you be here? It's with that same tone that they sent the message. It wasn't an unrealistic or demanding presumption. It was as you would expect. Lord, Lazarus is sick, nigh unto death. The one whom you love. Jesus did not go immediately. As a matter of fact, he purposely delayed going. Verse 4. When he heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death. Now, he did not mean by that that the man will not die. He meant death is not the ultimate in this sickness. The ultimate plan is not death. …
… even if it costs me controversy. You could tell a lot by a Savior who stays in John chapter 11 brings us to the pinnacle of this message, the faith to stay, because the Bible says in John chapter 11, verse 1, now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 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. So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. And 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. Now Jesus loved Martha. He loved her sister, and he loved Lazarus. So, when he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. You could tell a lot about the Savior from where he goes. You could tell a lot about the Savior from what he says, but you can tell even more about the Savior from where he stays. Now we are confused, and we are forgiven for being confused, because why would verse 6 say he loved them and they needed him, so he stayed two more days? …
… Chapter 11, verses 1 through 45. Now, a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with the perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair. It was her brother, Lazarus, who was ill. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, Master, the one you love is ill. When Jesus heard this, he said, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to his disciples, Let us go back to Judea. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. …
… but we want more of God, not less of God. Amen. So we're ending this series. John chapter 11 says this. It says, now a man named Lazarus was sick and he was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. Now we've been talking about Bethany, trying to make our lives a Bethany, trying to make our church a Bethany. Remember, it was in Bethany that Jesus did his best work. It was in Bethany that Jesus felt welcomed and honored. It was in Bethany that Jesus was not prohibited or disrespected. He was welcome. Come on, anybody want your life to be a Bethany in 2026? So there was a man named Lazarus. He was from Bethany in the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God so that God's son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, Mary and Lazarus. He loved them. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. Everybody say two more days. He stayed there for two more days. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. But rabbi, they said a short while …
… 11 together, beginning in verse one. We'll take a few verses at a time. We'll kind of work our way through. It says, now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, there was a lot of Mary, so to clarify, 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. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. Now I'm going to try my very best not to stop at every message that could be preached in John chapter 11, but I do not want you to miss these seven words. You have to have a theological grid that is big enough to fit these seven words. If you understand these seven words in this few verses, then you will prevent yourself from a lot of unnecessary pain and misunderstanding in your future. Here they are. Lord, the one you love is sick. There's a theology in that. It is not you are loved by God or you are sick. …
… Lazarus verse 1 a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany the town of Mary and her sister Martha verse 6 so when he, meaning Jesus heard he was sick he stayed two more days I have that underlined in my Bible when he heard he was sick he stayed two extra days Jesus is never removed by the urgent I can tell you out of my own life there are times where I get moved by the urgent right out of the will of God because we think urgent is always God and when Jesus heard Lazarus was sick he decided to wait a couple more days because by waiting there would be greater glory for God the Father and that was why he was on the earth Thank you. Some of you, he's waiting two more days. and this is the day. This is the day of the breakthrough. He's been waiting, and today is your breakthrough. All right? Jump down to verse 15. Jesus speaks to his disciples. …
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. Now when Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that He was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. And then after this, He said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to Him, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. …