 This video is part of a study series titled Biblical Salvation Settled Wantsome for All. Please see the playlist link in the video description. Hello and welcome back. So in this video of the series we'll be looking at John chapter 11. This will probably be a shorter study than some of the chapters I've covered in John just because John 11 is a very very different from previous chapters in the study. So we'll be looking more closely at Jesus personal relationships The dialogue is more pleasant because Jesus is speaking with faithful believers who think very highly of him in this chapter rather than unsaved Jews who rejected him. So they'll be a bit more positive in this chapter But there's not as much that we need to unpack although that being said We'll tap into more details about the resurrection So I've not included the first seven verses just because for salvation and doctrine There's nothing that we really need to get from those. So starting at verse 8 So his disciples said on to him master the Jews of late sought to stone you and do you go there again? Jesus answered are there not 12 hours in the day if any man walk in the day He stumbles not because he sees the light of this world But if a man walk in the night he stumbles because there is no light in him These things said he and after that he said on to them our friend Lazarus sleeps But I go that I may awake him out of his sleep Then said his disciples lord if he sleep he shall do well How be it Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of resting sleep Then said Jesus on to them plainly Lazarus is dead And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent you may believe nevertheless. Let us go into him Then said thomas which is called didimus on to his fellow disciples Let us also go that we may die with him so Initially when When when Jesus answers them his response seems rather strange Given the question that the disciples actually asked him so Jesus doesn't seem to address The answer directly rather he turns it into this this miniature parable here So so what's the remainder of the chapter will explain why Jesus says this but what but what's going on here is that Jesus is withholding From preventing Lazarus from dying so Jesus could have obviously stopped Lazarus from dying But Jesus Willfully allows Lazarus to die in this story So that he can display greater work in in resurrecting him for the for the purpose that people and especially the disciples and Martha and so on will will believe In him as he as he suggests in verse 15 So, you know, it's to the intent that that you may believe that that's the goal of what Jesus is doing here so Here we we see Jesus using sleep as a euphemism for Being dead, although I'll be it soon to be reawakened and the bible does this elsewhere. So for example, let's take a look at 1st Thessalonians 4 so in 1st Thessalonians 4 Paul uses similar language he talks about the Dead in Christ as you can see on the screen there in verses 13 to 18 Describing them as being asleep quote unquote now you can argue that the bible uses this metaphor for for two reasons because Rather like sleep those who are dead in christ They're not in a permanent state of death. They will awaken from their sleep. So just like Lazarus wakes From from this in John chapter 11 So also during their sleep they they are in a state of rest You know just like when you go to sleep you're resting and and we see glimpses of this rest in Luke 16 as well. So let's take a brief look at Luke 16 So i'm not going to read it out just because it's not part of of John 11 But you've got these verses here 19 to 26 and we see Two men here. So we see one is Lazarus, but it's not the same Lazarus from John chapter 11 It's just very Uncoincidentally also happens to be called Lazarus Who made it into heaven as he's in Abraham's bosom that's that's in heaven And this is contrasted with the rich man who who lifted his up his eyes in hell. Okay, so this Lazarus in in this story Made it to heaven and he was being comforted. So he's he's resting in Abraham's bosom. This is This is rest what's going on here essentially So he was in a place of comfort as this This goes on to say so Like Abraham said, you know Lazarus received evil things, but but he he is comforted now. Okay And you know the disciples said in in verse 12 of John 11 Lord if he sleeps he shall do well even though perhaps they they misunderstood the application of what exactly Jesus is talking about So going back to John 11 then So when when Thomas said Let us go also that we may die with him. It's not entirely clear Why Thomas said this so, you know, perhaps he misunderstood why Jesus was going to take them to Lazarus or or exactly what Jesus meant by this And likewise, we don't know this but it's possible that maybe Thomas was trying to look like He knew what Jesus was talking about him in front of the other disciples Or they were all trying to look like they knew what Jesus meant You know when when they didn't really know what we've all been, you know, guilty of that at some point in our lives You know, we don't want to be seen like we don't know what's going on Um Moving on then into the next verses so verse 17 then Then when Jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave four days already Now Bethany was near on to Jerusalem about 15 fur longs off And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother Then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming went and met him But Mary sat still in the house Then said Martha on to Jesus Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died But I know that even now whatsoever you will ask of God will give it you Jesus said on to her your brother shall rise again Martha said on to him. I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day Jesus said on to her I am the resurrection and the life he that believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said on to him. Yes, lord I believe that you are the Christ the son of God which should come into the world. So Here we notice Martha Believes the resurrection as we see there in verse 24 This is being perhaps being before being aware that Christ must rise again As we see from elsewhere in the bible, there was conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees about this particular issue and now although Lazarus's death and sleep was unremarkable in of itself And his resurrection was not the glorified resurrection that we look forward to The happenings that are going on here do give us a pattern as to what our Waiting for the resurrection looks like. Okay So the Lazarus in Luke 16 and his rich man counterpart it experienced consciousness Pretty much immediately after their earthly death at least if you if you take a more literal view of Luke 16 Whereas the Lazarus in John 11 and Paul's writings in 1 Thessalonians 4 suggests that there is a sleep Okay before the the resurrection or the rising Now we will look at a little bit about the soul sleep doctrine that's out there I'll leave that towards the end. I won't address it now But this issue of sleep it would require rather a complex explanation and perhaps a bit of a deep study that would digress a bit too far from John 11, so i'm not really going to study it in great detail here, but but here's a summary for you so from our earthly perspective those who have died physically are asleep as far as we can perceive The resurrection is as a bodily rising again in the future from now on the earth So the the spirits of the departed that they're they're resting In heaven, you know if they are saved at least So while they're only dead in earthly terms that they're not truly dead because even before the resurrection or even before the death of the flesh One's eternal life has already begun the moment a person gets saved So you you get saved you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ your flesh is still dying But but you have been saved your eternal life begins now And this is consistent with what Jesus said in verse 26. He that believes in me shall never die Well, it obviously isn't referring to flesh there. Okay, otherwise you'd have that that would be a crazy statement essentially Uh, and we also see we see them why we need to distinguish Between the flesh and the spirit although a bit like John 3 with the issue of being born again It's not something that John's gospel really delves into a lot of detail We tend to get more about this from Romans and Galatians, but um Jesus said believers shall never die and yet we are all the king in in this flesh So so we must understand that our flesh Will die, but but we ourselves and our born again spirit Um will not you know again We can't go into that too deeply here because there's not enough information from John's gospel on the subject But but fundamentally that's what we must understand our flesh dies Our born against spirit is what is passed on onto life and shall never die So You know a lot of people with a work salvation they point to all these passages about You know living in the flesh and and so on and so forth, but but the flesh is dead That's what you've got to understand about that Now what exactly when when Jesus says I am the resurrection It's not just I give resurrection, but but I am the resurrection and I am the life Um, what exactly does that mean? Well, perhaps to you that's a bit of a daft question It seems rather obvious, but we'll explain it anyway. So Um, after all obviously Lazarus is going to be resurrected We look forward to a future resurrection. So so what does Jesus mean by saying he is the resurrection? Well, the answer lies in understanding How regeneration works, so um, you take these passages like John 1 14 John 3 16 acts 13 33 It refers to Jesus as the only begotten and and the father has has begotten the son there. So Uh, previously in John's gospel, we haven't See we we have seen explained. Sorry that that Jesus is the only begotten The word begotten normally means brought into existence like a parent begats a child But but the bible also teaches that Jesus is eternal So he's not begotten in this same manner obviously He is from everlasting to everlasting But he is he is god manifest in the flesh as we see in 1st Timothy 3 15 So in this manner, this is the manner in which he's begotten he's Made, you know into the world in in the manner of flesh And of course, you know after his death, he was raised to life again in the flesh. Okay So from in the eternal perspective everything that he accomplished in those three days Talking about Jesus was already foreordained before all the foundation of the world. So In heavenly realms, it already happened. But from our earthly perspective, he's manifesting these particular time so Acts 13 33 and also one John sorry John 114 explain that while it is Jesus who is the Only begotten one and it is the father that begat him in these contexts And so that's why Jesus is described as his only begotten son. Okay But then when you look at these verses here, so like 1st Corinthians 415 1 Peter 3 3 1 John 5 1 it refers actually to us as believers As being begotten as begotten of him or begotten by the resurrection of Christ or begotten through the gospel So, you know, we are begotten as well. So if we're begotten, how can Jesus be the only begotten son? Well, this is kind of explained these verses so so notice that in 1 John 5 He that is born of God begotten Not only loves he that begat God, but also loves him, you know, anybody, whoever he is that is begotten of him So Jesus is begotten of the father, but also the brethren. Okay So But ultimately what happens is so while Christ is begotten of the father In the world because Christ is from everlasting We are begotten of Christ in eternity because we are not from everlasting But we are passed on to everlasting life. So, you know, because Christ as Christ defeated death demonstrated by his resurrection So shall we buy our faith in him and what he accomplished? Okay, so fundamentally that that's what What he means there to the eye and the resurrection he says Now look at this here. Look at the simplicity Of Martha's response to Jesus now now bearing in mind This is about eternal life here. Who so ever but lives and believes in me shall never die. So, you know, this this is an eternal life Statement here that Jesus is making And Martha's response response is very simple And I I like the fact that her response is simple. It's very direct. It's not overly emotional or Sensationalized now you might be wondering So what, you know, what what point am I trying to make by by pointing that out? Well We've seen previously in this study that that Jesus you know in our series We've looked at how Jesus defined salvation as An entrance or it's an instantaneous event. It's not some Lifelong drawn out journey that may or may not come to fruition. So just in case you've Forgot on those verses here are some reminders. So Like in John 10 9 he describes it as I am the door and if any man entering So it's simply walking through an entrance You've got John 5 24 it says is passed from death on to life. It's not is passing or will pass or may pass Is passed it's already happened Um, you've got uh versus like John 3 3 where it says uh born again now people I've heard so many people take born again and make that this Lifelong journey, but when you were born as a baby, it was a one time event Okay, it doesn't make sense to take that statement and make that a lifelong journey born It is something that happened to you once so likewise being born in the spirit Birth it happened once okay Now a very misabused passage is Matthew 7 13 and 14 where They talk about walking down this narrow way that you know leads on to life And you could stray from the path and this that and the other But the thing is though as we've looked at before when we've looked at this Jesus said few there be that find it He didn't say few there be that make it to the end or few there be that can fight through all the snakes thorns and thistles It's few there be that find it because once you've found the gate and you found the way Well, you found it simple as that You have John 4 13 and 14 where Jesus describes it as a Drink of water. So, you know you take a drink and you shall never thirst So, you know drink water. It's something that's very brief. It's not a lifelong thing to drink one glass of water Uh, you've got John 6. This is perhaps a less clear example, but you know Jesus being the bread of life Uh, and you know you shall never hunger So, uh, you know bread again, you have a piece of bread. It doesn't take your whole life to eat that piece of bread That's one piece of bread And uh, you come to Jesus you shall never hunger and never thirst So the these are kind of verses that you know make it look fairly instantaneous pretty much immediate now People who proclaim a works-based salvation and they define salvation as like a path They they often sensationalize What happens when somebody ought to believe the gospel? So you see hear them say, you know statements like this like if you have truly accepted the gospel You will pour out in tears and fall on your knees as you recognize the gravity of all of your sins and You know, they always point to that it's not enough to believe the devils also believe and tremble So you better know you know be getting down to work and You can't just believe stuff about Christ You have to prove it with all these works of obedience and repentance means you completely transform your life Abandoning your old ways and surrendering your life to Jesus. You know, it's always dramatic and sensationalized and drawn out You know, this is all the kind of stuff that they say, you know, it's not just enough to believe We've got all this dramatic emotion and you know stuff that's got to be happening But you just go back to a response like this Martha's response is powerful Just because of how simple and unsensational is it's not like Lord, I get on my knees And I'm so sorry for everything that I've done and I will completely turn my life around from here It's just you live you believe in me. You shall never die. Do you believe this? I believe that you are the Christ the Son of God Which should come into the world very very simple Brief response. We don't need all of these tears and life transformation and you know turning our life around Just a very very simple statement to a very very simple commandment You know very very simple and and that's why I love that. You know, it's just so straightforward Now, you know, yes, there were other things about Martha that show she was You know, she loved Jesus very dearly. Yes and amen, but With the topic of eternal life We have a simple statement. Okay. This doesn't need to be overly emotional or Drawn out and you can accept that when you actually believe that salvation is an entrance Okay, it's much harder to justify that when it becomes this lifelong journey Um, so moving on then so later in the story Mary Wept over Lazarus and and Jews came to comfort her while she was weeping and then Verse 35 one of those very very short but profound verses in the bible Jesus wept And then verse 36 and the Jew said behold how he loved him And some of them said could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind Have caused that even this man should not have died so they're they're doubting Jesus there it seems Jesus therefore again groaning in himself comes to the grave. It was a cave and the stone lay upon it Jesus said take you away the stone Martha the sister of him that was dead said unto him Lord by this time he stinks that he has been dead for days Jesus said unto her did I not say unto you that if you would believe you should see the glory of God Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said Father I thank you that you have heard me and I knew that you hear me always But because of the people which stand by I said it That they may believe that you have sent me and when he had thus spoken He cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth And he that was dead came forth and bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with the napkin Jesus said unto him loose him and let him go So now we essentially see why Jesus earlier in the chapter withheld from Saving Lazarus from being dead in the first place, you know, this was all planned that the the glory of God should Be displayed there. You know not to just show off or give a show But you know so that the people observing would would believe in him that that was the goal It's it's all to believe on Christ because you know anybody can just come along and say hey look at me I'm Jesus. I'm the one Well, Jesus actually proved it with his works and we've seen that in previous chapters that we looked at like The previous chapter John chapter 10 Now earlier in the chapter Martha's belief was looking rather more confident But it's looking a little bit less confident now But it's important to consider that just because somebody has a weak faith or a limited understanding They are still saved if they believe the gospel. Okay, so, you know, we'll see this played out more in John 14 to 16 where where Jesus needs to edify the faith of the disciples because while the disciples are believers and they Trust Christ part of them Judas obviously That there are some things in John 14 and 15 that they're not quite grasping and Jesus still says to you know Do you not believe these things? Do you not understand these things already? So, you know, he needs to build them up in those chapters and that's something that we'll explore Very soon in this series when we get to those chapters now Following on then so from verse 45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary had seen the things which Jesus did And believed on him But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done So the Jews were obviously as they very often were very Polarized you've got those who saw the miracles and believed in him Then there's those who saw the miracles and they went to the Pharisees to try and get Jesus in some kind of trouble You know instead of just quietly going home and forgetting about it, you know, they seem to go all the way the opposite way So what happens then later in this story the chief priests and the Pharisees they counsel together You know, what what do we do with this man does does many miracles And if we leave him alone all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away our place in nation And then Syaphus the high priest, he said to these chief priests and Pharisees, you know nothing at all Uh, you don't consider what is expedient for us that one man should die for the people So that the whole nation perishes not and this he didn't speak of himself But the high priest of that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation And not for that nation only but that she should gather the the children of God that was scattered abroad into one And then from that day they took counsel together to to put him to death and then the remaining Sorry remaining verses are just Pharisees and the chief priests seeking to kill Jesus so uh The rest of the story here it it seems almost kind of Strange really that the Pharisees and chief priests They actually Acknowledged Jesus's ability to do miracles. They they didn't accuse him of faking it They actually acknowledged that he could do them and a very similar thing happened when they Uh blasphemed the holy ghost the the unforgivable sin They attributed something that the holy ghost did to satan, but they couldn't refute the actual miracle though But you know, that's that's neither here nor there though Just a side comment. So um Syaphus Syaphus, sorry. I can't pronounce that his prophesying is is interesting here because He knew that Jesus had to Die for the nation Quote quote But his saying here would indicate that he thought this referred to the physical nation of israel Rather than the spiritual Nation of actual believers. So it seems as if he's prophesying half right half wrong there Perhaps you might disagree with the way i'm reading there, but that's fine But you know in any case they they desire to have Jesus to be put to death But it but it wasn't for for righteous motives and it just seems bizarre to us that you would see all those miracles and yet They they still want to have Jesus put to death essentially But but their rejection of Jesus Really it reflects a pattern that we've seen Elsewhere in the bible that that people Know of god but glorify him not as god So for example, you have the reprobate mind in romans one And even the people professing to be god's own people are themselves actually some of the most difficult people to reach with the gospel or the truth and Uh, I found when out evangelizing it's all winning that it you know, it's amazed amazed me how many Christian are actually very difficult to deal with christians are some of the most difficult people To deal with because an atheist might just politely say no, thanks Or you know, they might even stick a finger up a year, but they just won't talk to you necessarily Christians They're just a really funny bunch to deal with and very difficult because you would expect that they actually want to listen It's amazing How many christians when you ask them do you know for sure you would go to heaven? I hope so. I'm not really quite sure. Well, can we show you? Uh, I need to feed the baby You know, it's amazing how many of them need to feed the baby when they're not quite sure how they'd make it to heaven It never stops. Um, you know be musing me to be honest so, um One last point. I know this has been very brief This has been quite a short study video because there's not a lot to pluck out from this chapter So we're coming towards the end really but one last point to be considered It's just to revisit Lazarus's sleep period when his body was clinically dead now. You might be wondering during that time Um, was Lazarus conscious at all during this period? Did he have an out-of-body experience or did he have a vision of heaven or hell? People will wonder that about Lazarus and it is it's a question worth asking because There are many testimonies out there of people who have claimed to have a profound out-of-body experience During temporary periods where they were clinically dead, but they they came back to life again many of them experienced Visions of heaven or hell or some sort of light versus darkness themed kind of a Vision you can get quite a few of those on youtube if you're interested in though and then um There's various sects like the jove's witnesses. There's other dead adventists the christ Delphians. They they believe in a soul sleep doctrine where a person is not conscious while waiting for their resurrection So when you point to them a passage like luke 16 They would dismiss it as just being a parable or only symbolic rather than a proof of conscious awareness after death So the problem is that this is a matter where the bible just doesn't entertain our curiosity It doesn't explain it. It does explain obviously that Lazarus raised him the dead He sat at a meal with jesus and the jews wanted to inquire of him some for better some for worse And that that's at the beginning of chapter 12 But we we have absolutely no dialogue from Lazarus in john 11 or 12 We don't have any dialogue any quotes from Lazarus Describing his experience. So the bible is just silent on the matter. We don't know what his personal experience was Now Paul does talk very briefly about knowing a man in a manner that he may have may have been an out of body experience That's in second Corinthians 12 But Paul wasn't fully sure about that now. This was a nameless person Paul could have even been talking about himself It might even be possible that he even met Lazarus but chose not to reveal his identity for whatever reason Or it was simply nobody else and it's it's not even relevant to this matter at all Um, now there are testimonies out there of um out of body experiences and visions of heaven and hell Um, a lot of those well known on youtube. You've probably seen some of them They are interesting to listen to um, but they ought to be treated with the utmost caution I'm I'm generally suspicious of them to be honest because Many of these experiences involve aspects that actually defy Biblical truth. So you'll have people say I had visions of demons and satan were Torturing people in hell and scratching them or whatever, you know, satan was in charge of hell and ruling and reigning the place But but this is unbiblical hell actually punishes fallen angels as much as it does man There's no evidence that satan is in charge of hell and one day actually he will be punished in hell himself So it's also it's the presence of the lord that causes such torment So, you know, this idea that demons and satan are just running hell and god's just letting them, you know Torture these people that that's just not a biblical concept. That that's not how hell works at all Um, some of these experiences are often light versus darkness themed and they do enlighten The individuals. Sorry. There's an ambulance going by Those experiences do often enlighten those individuals on principles of good versus evil But they're not necessarily Biblically themed. Um, they may only point to god in a very generic sense Rather than the god of the bible specifically and I remember watching a guy who Said he became a deist because he'd Studied these out-of-body experiences, but a lot of these visions weren't really biblically themed. They were just Oh, you know, we know that there's good and we know that there's evil and there's some kind of a choice And so, you know, we believed god in a very deist sense of the word Um cat kerr also you've probably heard of this person. She's very well known Um in christian christendom for sharing all of her visions of hell in quite vivid detail But aside from these visions, she's she's said some very eccentric and frankly utterly ridiculous things And and has been proven to falsely prophesy on multiple occasions Um, if you follow some of the ludicrous stuff that she said and how she's been proven wrong prophesying about trump winning the election Again, what is perhaps one of the things that springs to mind and you know banging the stick and all of that commotion But when we read the bible, you know in that second carinthians passage paul said it was not even lawful to utter his these visions of heaven So, you know cat kerr's visions are not really to be trusted. So Generally, you know, i'm very uh suspicious of these out-of-body out-of-body experiences. They're very interesting, but Don't let those things tell you what is right and wrong about about the bible. They'll be very careful with those if you're going to use those to Justify what you believe from the bible. Okay Now regarding the soul sleep doctrine, uh, so you know what the joe's witnesses and so forth believe that when you die you're unconscious until the resurrection What what you have to do is you have to dismiss luke 16 as only being a parable or only symbolic Rather than a more literal view But this does present its own set of problems. So It first of all, it's the only parable where a person is actually named because it's a certain man named lazarus Well, normally parables are just a certain man with no name given. Okay Um, you then have to answer the question of what the parable in luke 16 actually even represents because it's very dramatic And it's very unnecessarily sensational And hyperbolic if it only represents unconsciousness. So what does it even represent? um And really luke 16 is not the only part of the bible that suggests a consciousness in heaven prior to the resurrection Um, there are passages in revelation although these are, you know, arguably symbolic But but where believers have a conscious presence Before the resurrection around the throne of god I'm not going to cover those here But but you know, you you can see those out there when it deals with the 144 000 and the great multitude And also as well going back to what we have studied in john 11, um, jesus said he who believes in me shall never die Okay, so we obviously can't apply that to our flesh because the flesh is dying anyway Unless you know believers are all supposed to be raptured and nobody's ever supposed to die in the flesh I'm sure there's some kook out there who believes that somewhere but we can only really apply it to our soul So the problem with the soul sleep doctrine arguably is that you're having to imply them that a person must be dead Until the resurrection but that that would defy what jesus actually said in this chapter Now there's more that could be said on on this topic, but it would digress from John 11 it can only really be covered when we get to appropriate passages. So that's That's all i'm really going to say on that here. So I know I know that this has been a very short study that kind of concludes john 11 Um, it's just one of those chapters where things take a bit of a different turn There's not as much salvation doctrine that we need to pluck out of here People don't usually use this passage to teach any weird ideas that i'm aware of at least not in the topic of eternal life So that's all that i'm really going to say on john 11. Look out for a study on John 12 soon and there'll be a bit more that we can pluck from that chapter