So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
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… 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, but we would receive your word and we would apply your word. Let it change us from the inside out in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I am a, let's, how do we put this? I'm a firstborn daughter. …
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. …
… 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? Imagine the confusion of John and Andrew. Didn't you hear Jesus? He's sick. Why are we staying when he's sick? Perhaps Jesus pulled John aside, because John is the one he loved the most. …
… 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. He said this, and then he told them, Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I'm going to wake him. So the disciples said to him, Master, if he's asleep, he'll be saved. But Jesus was talking about his death. …
… 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 ago, the Jews, they try to stone you. And yet you are going back. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours by daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble for they see this world's light. …
… 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. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. To be sick is not to not be loved by God. And you see it in Lazarus. They sent word. They knew Lazarus was loved. They knew they were loved and they sent word to the one that they loved and the one that they knew loved them. …
… 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. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. …
… of John, where it begins telling us that Lazarus had become ill, and so his sister sent a message to Jesus, imploring Him to come and help, saying, Behold, the one you love is sick. And when Jesus heard that, His response was this, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now that, of course, would be a very encouraging response when Jesus declared that the illness of Lazarus was not unto death, but the purpose of it was to glorify God. Now we're told in verse 5 that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so that when He heard that He was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was, which is a jolting statement here in the text, because you would think that when Jesus gets this request in the news of the severity of the illness of Lazarus, and right after John tells us how much he loved Lazarus, you would have expected, as the sisters of Lazarus certainly did, that Jesus would come immediately. But instead, He stayed two more days where He was. And then after that He said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. And the disciples He said, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going to go back there? …