 Sermon title this morning is believe to life and resurrection, believe to life and resurrection. Now as we're working through, verse by verse, through the gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us through his word and through his works. We have his words recorded in the gospel and we see his works recorded in the gospel. With his word, he is proclaimed as the Christ, the Son of God, the promised Messiah, who has been sent by the Father into the world to save his people from their sins. With his works, he testifies of this fact and he affirms his word with his power, healing the sick, feeding the multitudes, casting out demons, and even raising the dead. These are undeniable truths that form the basis of our faith that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, that he was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died for our sins on a cross, and that he rose again on the third day, and that he has both the power over death and the authority over death to save sinners and to grant eternal life. But so many have made the tragic error of merely reading these truths, like a good collection of related facts. Like some might read the facts in a good history book, or like some might read a good fiction. There's a loose interest in what's going on. They may even believe what they read, but the information never makes it the 18 inches from their head to their heart, and there's no life transformation. Our faith is not to stop there. This book is not merely a collection of facts meant to inform our faith. The Christ of this book is the author and finisher of faith. Now put yourself, as we work through this chapter, put yourself in the experience of Martha, of Mary, of Lazarus, of the Lord's disciples, and as the Lord moves them along in their faith, allow yourself to be moved along with them. Now for these in the first century, death was a profound reality, just as it is for us today. Their lives were saturated by sickness, saturated by disease and death. As many as 40 percent of children died before ever reaching puberty. The centuries of labor and research and technological advances have passed since then, and death remains something today for you and I that we cannot control. The Bible says that through fear of death, people live in bondage. Solomon said, no one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. No one until the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth is, you and I are going to die. We're going to die. And here on the pages of John's Gospel is one who has the power over death to raise you from death to life everlasting. Jesus says in chapter 11 verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And he asks Martha, just like he asked you and I through his word today, do you believe this? Now some people sit back and they listen to the Gospel and they're like, yeah, I believe it. What time is it? What time is the buffet start? Where are we at? What are we doing? But from John chapter 11 verses 17 through 37, I want you to see two different responses to this basic question. And the intent of this chapter is that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you would have life in his name. First we'll see the response of Martha in verses 20 through 27. Next we'll see the response of Mary in the mourners in verses 28 through 37. And just as the Lord faithfully and lovingly and graciously moves them along in their faith, we need to pray now. You need to pray as we work through the text that he would do the same for you, that he would move your faith along, that he would grow you through his words, through his work in his word, that he would grow your faith. It's just a short time from now with Lazarus sitting at the table that Mary with a genuine faith made precious will anoint the Lord before his death and wipe his feet with her hair. How many of you would identify with this prayer this morning? God, your bounteous goodness has helped me believe, but my faith is weak and wavering. It's often light is dim, it's steps tottering, it's increased slow, it's backsliding frequent. It should scale the heavens, but it lies often groveling in the dust. Lord, fan this divine spark into glowing flame. When faith sleeps, my heart becomes an unclean thing, the fount of every loathsome desire, the cage of uncleaned lusts all fluttering to escape, the noxious tree of deadly fruit, the open wayside of earthly tears. Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength until all heaven fills my soul and all impurity is cast out. How many of you would say amen to that prayer this morning? Lord, strengthen our faith, cast your anchor upward and trust in him, believe to life and resurrection. As we began our study of this account in verses one through sixteen last week, we saw the three purposes for this trial and the ensuing miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ raising Lazarus from the dead. The first purpose is that God's glory would be revealed. We see that in verse four. The second purpose is that the Son of God would be glorified through it. We also saw that in verse four. And lastly, so that you may believe in Christ to the glory of God. We saw that expressed in verse fifteen. Now that begs the question for us as we begin this section in verses seventeen through thirty seven today. To believe in what about Christ exactly? What are we to believe? Jesus says to Martha and to us in verse twenty five. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. Do you want to know that when you die, you will have a resurrection and not just resurrection, resurrection to life. There will be those that will be raised to life. Others that will be raised to shame and everlasting contempt. The Lord Jesus Christ says, he who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. We are to take the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and in his works, see the glory of God revealed so that we may believe to eternal life and believe to the resurrection of the righteous. If you remember from our story, the Lord's been preaching in Bethany or Bethabara beyond the Jordan. He's in an area northeast of Jerusalem about a four day walk away. Mary, Martha and Lazarus are now in Bethany. They're near Jerusalem and Lazarus is deathly ill. So Mary and Martha's in a messenger and they asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come and to come quickly. Verse five says that Jesus loved Martha and her sister in Lazarus. And so because of his love for them, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. After these two days, the Lord says in verse seven that it's time to go. What prompted then his decision to leave? We find out in verse 14 that the Lord now knows in his omniscience that Lazarus has died. So now upon hearing of Lazarus' death, he and his disciples make the four day journey south to Bethany and we pick up the story in verse 17. In verse 17, when Jesus came, he found that he, Lazarus, had already been in the tomb four days. We understand from the text, we understand from the timeline that Lazarus was only sick when the message came to the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw that in verse three. Even if Jesus had left immediately, Lazarus would still have died and would have been in the tomb two days by the time the Lord got to Bethany. But rather than go immediately, Jesus waited two more days and he left when he knew that Lazarus had died. Now remember from the Talmud, there was a superstition about the soul of a deceased person, about that soul hovering around the body for three days after death, wanting to re-enter it. It was only on the fourth day when the soul apparently sees the decay that the soul finally gives up and departs for good. Now the motivation from verse five here is that the Lord Jesus Christ loves Martha and Mary and Lazarus. He loved them. He loves his disciples. He has a love for the lost people that will hear his words, see his work and will believe. He loved them. So for their ultimate good, for the good of his disciples, for the good of some lost Jews who would soon believe, he waited for that fourth day. He didn't want an unfounded superstition to rob them of seeing the glory of God and what he was about to do, and he didn't want their faith to be undermined. He wanted their faith to be bolstered. There would be no shadow of doubt cast on this miracle. Only God could raise Lazarus from the dead. Now you can imagine. Imagine if he left immediately. If he got word from the messenger, left immediately, and he goes to Bethany, and he hangs out in Bethany with the mourners, with Mary and Martha, and waits for two days there to raise Lazarus, right? The confusion, the difficulty with that account would extend even to this day. There'd be people talking about it. Now the Lord here waits two days before leaving, and the timing of his arrival in Bethany is perfect. It's perfect. He arrives on the outskirts of Bethany at the perfect time to find out in verse 17 that now Lazarus has been dead already and in the tomb for four days, and the family we find here is in deep mourning. Now as we come to verse 18, we're reminded that Bethany, this little town was near Jerusalem about two miles away. Just over the Brook Kidron to the east of the city, right around the Mount of Olives, was the town of Bethany. That helps us, that geography, helps us to understand the danger that the Lord and His disciples were in. The Jews in Jerusalem were seeking to kill the Lord Jesus Christ, and so naturally the disciples expressed shock when they heard that they were headed back there, and at least Thomas believed that they may die there themselves with Him. But the geography in verse 18 also helps to explain how in verse 19 that many of the Jews, and there's that term again, this not only now referencing those in opposition against Christ, but those of Jewish descent that have come out of the city of Jerusalem to join Martha and Mary in Bethany. In verse 19, many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Now the text again implies that many of the Jews who came were from Jerusalem. Many of them, like many Jews from Jerusalem, would certainly have been hostile toward the Lord. They were certainly there out of love for this family, but also out of responsibility. They would have been there to bury Lazarus, and as it says in verse 19, they were there to comfort them concerning their brother. As part of the burial process, part of the funeral, there was a 30-day mourning ritual that took place, and these people from Jerusalem certainly in love for Mary and Martha and love for Lazarus would have come out to Bethany to participate in funeral rites or in mourning rites with them. Many would have stayed with the family the entire first week, and this morning would have gone on for 30 days in total. So this is the setting in which the Lord raises Lazarus from the dead. The setting is perfect. The setting is perfect. The timing is perfect. There is a multitude of eyewitnesses. Even enemies of the Lord were gathered together there. Lazarus is certifiably dead. He's been in the tomb for four days. He stinketh. Martha and Mary and the Lord's disciples all standing by, a multitude of eyewitnesses, perfect timing, all ordained by God to reveal his glory. Do you see? The amazing historical work that the Lord Jesus Christ is about to perform is undeniable. This is an historical account. This is history, and it is undeniable. There are multiple eyewitnesses. Lazarus is certifiably dead, and the Lord Jesus Christ raises him from the dead. When Lazarus is raised from the dead, Lazarus believes it, doesn't he? Why Whitney, right? Martha and Mary unwaveringly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith of his disciples gets a shot of jet fuel. They believe. But listen, even his enemies believe that Jesus Christ has truly raised a dead man from the dead. A notable miracle has taken place. It is evident to everyone they cannot deny it. So what do those hard-hearted rebels from Jerusalem do? Do they look at his work as affirming his words, and then do they respond in saving faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and worship him for who he is and what he's done? No. Some of them do. Look at verse 45. Verse 45 says that many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things that Jesus did believed in him. However, amazingly, others do not. Look at chapter 12 and drop down to verse 9. Now a great many of the Jews knew that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, was there. And they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death also. Can you believe it? Because on account of him, many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. How blind do you have to be? Here's a man raised from the dead. So rather than acknowledging a miracle from God and that being an attestation of the Lord's words and the Lord's claims, rather than that, they want to kill Lazarus, too. It gives proof to the Lord's words in the account of a different Lazarus and the rich man from Luke chapter 16, right? Abraham said to the rich man in Luke 16, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. Is that the case? Verse 31. But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. These Jews, in opposition of the Lord Jesus Christ, had not heard Moses and the prophets. They certainly weren't going to be persuaded, even though Lazarus was raised from the dead, seated at the table before them. Hard-hearted, blind Pharisees. As we come to verse 20, as we come to verse 20, we want to walk alongside the Lord as he visits with two women after the funeral of their beloved brother. These women both profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are grief-stricken. And Jesus walks with them, so to speak, through the valley of the shadow of death, in order to reveal his glory, to reveal the glory of God, that the Son might be glorified through it, and so that they might believe. He wants to ultimately hear, do them good. Martha, we'll see in verses 20 through 27. We'll see the example of Mary in verses 28 through 37. We'll see one very difficult situation, two very different portraits of faith, one very profound truth for us to lay hold of if we want our faith to grow and mature. As we look at these portraits, as we look at their examples from the pages of Scripture, here's what we know so far from this text, and what we must keep in mind as we work through the text together. One, Jesus here is motivated by his love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He's motivated by love for them. Secondly, the Lord intends here through his words and through his works to reveal his glory and the glory of God the Father, all for the purpose that they, Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus, and his disciples would respond with genuine saving faith in him. They would respond with lives lived in faith in the Son of God who died and gave himself for them. Faithful obedience, fervent faith. Think through this. This is how faith operates. This is how faith works. Jesus motivated by his love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. The Lord intends through his words and through his works to reveal his glory and to reveal the glory of God the Father so that they would respond in genuine saving faith in him. This is the way that God grows our faith. The Lord grows our faith through a self revelation, through a revelation of himself, so that as we see his glory, our faith grows. We respond in faith, we grow in faith, and we come to a greater understanding and knowledge of him and greater fervency and greater obedience to him. We grow in our faith through a revelation of the glory of God. Now, think about it now. We all live in the valley of the shadow of death. You're going to die. Every one of us, we're all born condemned under the curse of the law in Adam, and we are going to die. But God, but God, motivated by the great love with which he loves us, the Lord intends, he plans, he purposes through his words and through his work and never apart from his words, never apart from his work, right? He intends, he purposes through his words, through his work to reveal his glory and to reveal the glory of God the Father so that in your life you would respond with genuine saving, fervent, healthy, vibrant, living, active faith in him. Jesus says that he who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. That's the reward of our faith, the reward of the Lord's work, the reward of the Lord's suffering, though we die, we shall live. Now, let's see this first. I want you to see this in the example of Martha, beginning in verse 20. Look at verse 20 with me. Bible says, now, Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now, if you remember from Luke 10, in Luke 10, when the Lord first went to Mary and Martha's house in Bethany, Martha was busy. The Lord says they're distracted with much serving, and Mary was seated at the feet of Jesus learning. So Martha goes to Jesus and says, Lord, what's going on here? Tell Mary, my sister, to help me. And Jesus there in Luke 10 commends Mary, commends her for sitting at his feet and learning. And here we see those same personality traits in action again, beginning in verse 20. Martha taking action, and Mary is sitting in the house receiving mourners. In Luke chapter 10, the Lord commends Mary, but here it's Martha that's about to be blessed for her action. So from verse 20, what's the lesson from this? The lesson from this is this. There's a time to sit and learn, and there's a time to take action. Don't be caught doing the one when you should be doing the other, right? There's a time to sit, there's a time to take action. Don't be caught doing the one when you should be doing the other. Now, in verse 21, we see Martha's early faith expressed. Look at her faith, verse 21. Now, Martha said to Jesus, Lord, notice she calls him Lord. If you had been here, my brother would not have died. Considering the context, considering the tone, these aren't words of rebuke. This is not a scolding that Martha gives to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that she just calls Lord. D. A. Carson makes the point that these aren't words of rebuke or words of scolding, but simply words of faith and an expression of grief. Now, it's no doubt if you can imagine the setting, right? No doubt that in the days leading up to the Lord's arrival in Bethany, that Mary and Martha grieving over the death of their brother, weeping with one another, weeping over his body, that time and time again, they said to themselves, said to each other that if the Lord Jesus was here, he'd have been able to heal him. If the Lord was here, he could have healed him. This is an expression of faith. And so when Lazarus finally dies and for the first time now, Martha sees Jesus coming. She rushes out to him. She rushes out to him, and these thoughts, these words are on her heart. What if you had been here? I know my brother would have lived. Not words of scolding, not a word of rebuke, but words of faith, words of grief. They may be presumptuous words. She doesn't realize that the Lord's intention is not to heal her brother. The Lord's intention, the Lord's purpose is to raise her brother. But although they may be presumptuous, they reflect what's on Martha's heart and they are words of affirmation, words of faith. This is further affirmed by her statement of faith in verse 22. But even now, I know, Martha says, that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Do you see that? And even in Martha's grief, even in her sorrow, Martha hasn't lost hope or faith in the Lord. And she acknowledges in verse 22 his unique and his special connection to the Father. He knows, she knows that he's been sent by the Father into the world, that he speaks what the Father gives him to speak, and he does the work that the Father gives him to do. And Martha has realized this. Martha knows this. This is an expression of faith. Next, I want you to see this. Motivated by a love for Martha, the Lord intends here to reveal his glory and to reveal the glory of God the Father. He's going to do that through his words first and later through his works so that in this little section of scripture, Martha can grow in her faith. So that Martha, in coming to an understanding of his words, coming to receive the words of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith here, can respond with greater faith, can be comforted, can be consoled, can be encouraged, certainly. But so that she can respond in greater faith with a more mature faith so that she can follow the Lord Jesus Christ more faithfully. This is going to be backed up powerfully by his work soon enough. Right now, he's going to use his words with Martha. Here's the glory of God to Martha and to us. Look at verse 23. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Now listen, that's a profound theological truth. Her brother will rise again. Carson calls this a masterpiece of designed ambiguity. It's planned ambiguity on the part of the Lord here. It's purposefully vague because the Lord is going to reveal this more fully through more words and works as time goes by here. Your brother will rise again. In verse 24, Martha said to him again an expression of faith. I know that he's going to rise again in the resurrection at the last day. So Martha had some eschatology in place here. She has some theological understanding. Now put it together. Motivated by love for Martha, seen here in his desire to console and comfort and encourage Martha with this truth, Jesus reveals the glory of God in the resurrection through the truth of God's word. Your brother will rise again. Now how does Martha respond? Martha responds here with faith and trust in the Lord. She says to the Lord, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Now here she's thinking purely eschatologically, thinking of end times, thinking of the last day. And she knew this from her Old Testament. There will be an end times resurrection. Daniel chapter 12 verse 2 says that the saints will rise to everlasting life and others will rise to everlasting shame and contempt. They knew their Old Testament. Now certainly she had heard the Lord Jesus Christ preaching this. The Lord said in John chapter 5 verse 28, the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation, taught in the Old Testament, taught in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and taught here to Martha personally. Now again, bear in mind the Lord motivated here by his love for Martha. Is he content that Martha should just continue here at her current level of faith? No, he's not content with that. Is it enough that Martha simply believes that this is the case? Does the Lord acknowledge that it's enough and he just goes no farther with it and Martha is left with this simple understanding of the resurrection? No. No, now think about this. The Lord intends to reveal more of his glory to Martha and that motivated by love for Martha and that ultimately for her good. Through his words and ultimately through his work, he's going to cultivate in her a much greater depth of faith and trust, a living, vibrant, hopeful faith. Now he gives to her in verse 25 both the object and the content of her faith. Look at verse 25. Both the object and the content of her faith. Jesus said to her, I, I am, ego, a me, the resurrection and the life. But this is another example in the Gospel of John of the tetragrammaton or the name of God that Jesus now takes for himself. This is a claim to his deity. And what aspect of deity is the Lord claiming for himself? He says in verse 25, I, I am the resurrection and the life. Now first I am the resurrection. Those who die physically will rise again. Next he says, I am the life. Those who die spiritually can live eternally in him. In him was a life. John says in the life was the light of men that not only will they rise and not only will they live, but the Lord says, I, I am both the promise and the provider of resurrection and life, both the promise and the agent of resurrection, both the promise and the agent of eternal life. And not merely that I will be to Martha in the last day, but I am present tense. These are the ways that we are to understand these truths. This is both the object, the Lord Jesus Christ in his glory and the content. He is the resurrection and the life. This is the basis of our faith. Everyone who believes in me, present tense, the Lord says. Everyone who places faith in me now, the Lord says, though he may die physically, he shall live eternally. Look at verse 26. And whoever lives by faith and believes in me, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die spiritually. He'll never die. So now listen, motivated by great love for Martha, the Lord further reveals his glory to her through his words. He is the resurrection and the life. Later it's going to be through his powerful work. The intention of that is so that through his words, through his work, that Martha would grow in her faith so that she would know and believe that he is both the promise and the provider of life in the face of death, so that she would live her life in light of that faith, in light of that increased understanding, that more mature faith. How many of you have been to a funeral before? I'm sure many of us have, right? You look into an open casket or you look into an open grave. Many look into an open casket or look into an open grave and see that as the end. Lord Jesus Christ, because of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself resurrection and life, that open casket, that grave is not the end. It's merely a transition. It's a doorway. It's a momentary passing because he is resurrection and he is life. He is to us both the promise and the provider, both the promise and the agent of our own resurrection and our own everlasting life. Do you see? He conveys this to Martha out of great love for her in an effort to reveal his glory to her so that she would live in light of that truth. You and I need to move on to that same understanding and live in light of that truth just like she did. The Lord follows that information of verse 26, that profound statement. He follows that with a demand for faith. He demands a faith from Martha in him according to the truth that he reveals. He asks her, do you believe this? And in asking Martha, he asks you and I the same question this morning. Do you believe present tense? Do you present tense believe this? The Lord is asking for a present response of faith to this revelation of himself. That's interesting here. And I want to try to make this point. You got to put your thinking caps on. It's interesting here, but for you folks that study Greek, Martha responds here in the perfect tense. He asked the question in the present tense. Do you believe Martha responds in verse, verse 27 responds in the perfect tense? I think that's significant. Do you believe present tense current ongoing? But in verse 27, Martha said to him, yes, Lord, I believe not present tense, but perfect tense. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world. Now what does that mean? Like many of us here, like many of you in this room, you and I, we claim to have believed some things in the past. Martha here using the perfect tense is claiming to believe things in the past that are now ongoing convictions for her in the present. The Lord is asking for present tense faith and she says, these things I have believed and I've believed them. They continue to have an impact in my life. They continue to have significance. They're an ongoing conviction, if you will. Her past belief is a present conviction in her life. That's conveyed here. That's what's conveyed by the perfect tense. So now what has she believed? Look at verse 27. She's believed what many at that time had already believed. What many today believe about the Lord Jesus Christ. She's believed traditional messianic titles, right? She's believed basic facts about the Lord Jesus Christ, messianic facts about who Jesus Christ is and what he's come to do. She says, you are the Christ. You are the Son of God who is to come into the world. These are things that Martha has believed about the Lord Jesus Christ and that belief just continues to the current day. These titles are statements of fact. Many around her believe the same thing and it's important to believe those things about Jesus, isn't it? Now think about this, put yourself in the same boat today. Many of you have believed, you've believed that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. You believe that he lived a perfect sinless life. You believe that in living a perfect sinless life that he went to the cross and died as a perfect sacrifice in substitution in our place, in the place of sinners so that he could justify ungodly sinners with a holy God. You've believed these facts. Like Martha, many would attest to believe in the same thing in the perfect tense. I believe these things in the past and I believe them now. Jesus is God. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus is born of a virgin. Jesus died for sinners. But is that where the author and finisher of our faith intends to leave you? Think about this for a moment. What is he doing here with Mary and Martha and Lazarus? What is he doing with you? What's the status or the condition of your faith? Are you growing and making progress and living in a fervent, vibrant, healthy, progressing, maturing faith? Or are you simply sitting back with some intellectual ascent to a certain set of facts and not making progress and living for the Lord? Now think about this. Does the Lord intend to leave you there with just intellectual ascent to a set of facts? Is that all there is to faith? No. No. Listen. The more that we increase in our knowledge of him through his words and through his work in our heart, through his works, the more that we increase in the knowledge of him and specifically in our knowledge of him through his word and the more that we experience him and experience his work in our lives as we apply the truth of God to our lives, the more his glory is revealed to us and the deeper and more profoundly we know him and the more that our faith grows and matures and blossoms as a result. It blossoms into a vibrant and fervent and growing and maturing and healthy and sustaining and persevering faith. Now believing those titles, believing those facts are essential. They're essential to being a Christian. You must believe them. But motivated by a love for his own, here motivated by a love for Martha, motivated if you're in Christ, if you've died with him, right? If you've died in Christ and motivated by his love for you, the Lord reveals more and more of his glory through his word, reveals more and more of his glory through his work in our lives. And we as we see that glory revealed, the genuine Christian responds with deeper and deeper faith in the Son of God who died and gave himself for us. That faith being expressed by deeper and deeper and more profound and more steady and more steadfast obedience to his word, faithfulness to him, trusting him in all circumstances. Do you see? Our faith is grown. Our faith is matured. Not only based in past facts, but a growing and maturing and understanding revealing more about those facts and in a blazing light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, those facts, if you will, come to life in the life of a believer, and they provide the impetus or the fuel for our faith, the fuel for our living for him. Makes sense? Makes sense? That's what's going on here in John chapter 11. Well, let's think about the example of Martha here for a moment. She expresses faith in the Lord. He's the Christ. He's the Son of God coming to the world. He could have healed Lazarus if he had been here. She believed in him. She trusted him. That's why she sent for him to come in the first place. But the Lord, motivated by great love for Martha, desires to reveal more of himself to Martha through his words, through his works. And so the circumstance of her brother's death then becomes the path, if you will. It's been ordained by God with a purpose. That purpose to further reveal his glory to her in her circumstances so that she would grow in her faith, move beyond the basics, and believe experientially that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He's saying, Martha, listen, I'll not leave Lazarus to rot in corruption. I am the resurrection. I'll not leave you to perish in hell. I am the life. I'm the source of eternal life. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you, and no one will ever snatch you out of my hand. And there is neither resurrection nor life apart from him. This is how faith operates in the life of a Christian. This is what is to happen as you know him more through his word. As you experience him more through his work in your heart, that work of grace in your heart that only the Lord Jesus Christ can do through his indwelling spirit, through the application of his word, through the application of his truth, as you learn of him, increase in your knowledge of him through his word, and as you experience that work of grace in your heart, more of his glory is revealed and our faith is strengthened, our faith makes progress. You live more faithfully for him. Let me ask you the question. Thinking through these things, is your faith meant by God, who is both the author and finisher of faith? Is your faith meant to be a static and idle thing? So listen, when you see someone who year after year after year makes no progress in faith, what are you to assume? What do we to think about that? If there's not increasing faithfulness and increasing love for the Lord, increasing affections for the Lord, right, and increasing maturity to your faith, increasing progress, if that doesn't exist, you've got to ask yourself some serious questions. Is the Lord at work in my heart? Your faith is intended by God to grow, to be matured, to be perfected as he reveals his glory to you through his word. That's not going to be done apart from revelation. It's going to be done through revelation. So there are many who will think to themselves, you know what, I have a great faith and they're nowhere connected to his word. Listen, faith does not exist aside from his word. It separated from his word. Faith is grown through his word, through the application of his word, through revelation, revelation of his word, revelation of his work. And so motivated by love for his own, God's intention is that your faith would grow, that your faith would develop, that it would be healthy and vital and thriving and active, whereby you press forward to greater love, greater fervency, greater faithfulness, greater obedience to the one who died and gave himself for you, so that as you see more of his glory revealed to you in your own life, you live for him. You've experienced this, right? You know, I've talked to several of you that have gone through very, very difficult, very hard, hard circumstances, right? And because you have submerged yourself in the truth of God's word to seek to know him there, because he has revealed himself to you on the pages of Scripture, when you go through that difficult time, there's great faith and there's great comfort and there's great encouragement. And even through the difficulty, right, you've seen people that have responded like this. Even through great difficulty, there's faithfulness and there's love and there's devotion to the Lord. There's a clinging to these truths that become our very life. They are food for our soul. They are necessary nourishment to get us through difficult times. Are you seeing people that have responded that way? Now why is that? Because they have seen the risen Lord revealed in his glory through his word. And having that glory revealed to them now in greater faith, in greater trust, in greater encouragement, in greater steadfast faithfulness to the Lord, they endure the trial, they endure the difficulty. And their faith now tested by fire becomes even more precious to them. I've thought many times, as I've, you know, sat across from a person or a couple going through a difficult trial and we're trying to apply the word of God to their circumstances, like here's what the Bible says. Here's what the Bible teaches, you know, and we can take these truths from the Bible and we can apply them and say, look at what the Lord here promises. Look at what the Lord will do. Just be faithful to him. Love the Lord. Look at these promises of God, right? But I've thought to myself many times that person going through that trial, going through that trial, now applying this glorious revelation of God from his word to their circumstances, because they've experienced the grace of God in their lives through his word and the work that the Lord does through that circumstance, they'll know that text better than I ever will. If I don't go through that myself, you know what I mean by that? There's a certain truce that the Lord communicates and it's done through his word and also through his work. And as you experience the Lord Jesus Christ, that work of grace in your heart, but applied through the revelation of himself to you on the pages of Scripture, you just grow in your faith. You come to know him more, increasing in his knowledge, increasing in your knowledge of the word of God, increasing in your knowledge of Christ. It just bolsters your faith, prepares you for trials down the road, doesn't it? How many of you have gone through difficulty, gone through trials like that? At difficult times and the Lord himself is faithful, right? You find that the word of God is a sure guide and you just grow in your love for the Lord, you're growing in your devotion to him. So when that next trial comes down the pike, you know, a year, two years, five years later, whatever that difficulty is, don't you just, don't you face that with a little more skipping your step, right? You face that with a little more maturity. You face that with a little more dependence upon God, just older and wiser in the faith because of what you've been through. That's the Lord, Jesus Christ, revealing himself and his glory to you through his word in your trial, in your circumstance, in your difficulty. It's not meant to be a static or idle thing, our faith. It's intended by God to grow. James chapter two verse 22 says, faith works together then with our works and by works faith is made perfect. The Christian responds to that with faithfulness of the Lord, obedience, steadfast perseverance in pursuing holiness. If you say that you're a Christian, if you say that you're a Christian, if you've turned from your sin to wholeheartedly follow the Lord Jesus Christ, then your faith, your faith is not merely in a set of facts. Your faith is in a revealed person. Your faith is in a revealed, not merely facts about that person. The Lord Jesus Christ is a person. Your faith is in him and in love and in mercy and in grace to you. The Lord Jesus Christ reveals his glory to you through his words, through his work in your life so that you may respond with greater trust and love and commitment and devotion to him so that you may live more faithfully and fervently for him who died and gave himself for you. So when you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, as he has revealed himself to you through his word, through his work in your heart, when you come to know to your core experientially that he is your very resurrection and your very life, it is then because he has perfected your faith or matured your faith that you will fear no evil. Death will not have the last word. You know that he is with you. You know that his rod and his staff, they comfort you. The experience of a living and active faith tried by fire produces devotion to the Lord, perseverance, holy character, hope, affections for the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about the effects now of the Lord's words here on Martha and then add to that the Lord's confirming work when he raises Lazarus from the dead. Can you imagine? Here, a conversation with the Lord revealing his glory to her through his words and then attesting, affirming that with this glorious work of raising Lazarus from the dead. Now listen, you and I have that same revelation given to us on the pages of Scripture. Do you believe this? On the pages of Scripture, we see the Lord revealed to us in his words, I am the Christ, the Son of God. And then if you believe in me, you'll have life in my name. And then the Lord affirms that with eyewitness accounts of Lazarus, a dead man being raised to life. And the Lord Jesus Christ comes to you and he says, listen, I am your resurrection and I am your life. Do you believe this? Now if you believe this, then what is your faith going to look like? If you believe it, what is that going to look like in your life? What do you think it looked like in Martha's life? In Mary's life, when you're facing a layoff at work, when you're facing temptation to sin, when you're facing the fear of man in evangelism, seek the revelation of the glory of God in his word. Pray that the Lord would do a work in your heart as you commit yourself to him and obey him, live for him, availing yourself of the means of grace and trust him for who he is and what he's done. The Lord will mature your faith. He'll use that obedience. He'll use that faithfulness. He'll use your faith to grow your faith. You should be making progress in your faith. Consider your faith now. Are you making progress? Is it weak? Is it strong? Is it non-existent? Consider the outcome of your faith. It may mean that you're not obeying his word. It may mean that you're not in his word. You will not have mature faith apart from the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in his word. It only comes through the agency of his word. The Spirit of God applying that word in your heart and in your life. All said, if you have a weak or non-existent faith, it may mean that he's not doing a work of grace in your heart at all. The answer to those conditions is to repent, to turn, to Christ who has revealed himself in his word. We see a lack of faith in the example of Mary. We see a lack of faith in the example of Mary. Look at verse 28. We see the Lord revealing himself to Martha and his intention for doing so. We're going to see Martha's faith bolstered. But in verse 28, we see a lack of faith in the example of Mary. Verse 28 says this. When she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister saying, the teacher has come and is calling for you. Martha's faith isn't there yet. Still calling the Lord the teacher. If the Lord reveals himself as the resurrection in the life and then raises a man dead for four days, raises him to life again, you're going to exclaim like Thomas, my Lord and my God. Here, still the teacher. And she'd hoped in this that Mary might have a secret or a private meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ herself. And so as soon as Mary heard that in verse 29, she arose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. And the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her, no chance of privacy here. When they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, they followed her saying, she is going to the tomb to weep there. Oftentimes these mourners that came out were supporting the family. They were fulfilling a responsibility to mourn with the family, but also included among that group would have been professional mourners also. People who were basically hired to weep and to wail out loud wherever Mary and Martha went. And so here in verse 31, they followed her. She was going to get no privacy with the Lord. These weepers, these whalers followed her in verse 31 and verse 32. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet. It's an emotional response here, different than Martha's a little bit here, saying to him in verse 32, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now notice here, this is the same expression of faith that Martha gave. It's different a little bit in tone, isn't it? Her falling at his feet and her amongst herself mourning, but amongst mourners, weeping and wailing. But there's a trust here in these words that's been established. I believe the Lord, I trust the Lord. Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. I believe that you could have risen him from the dead, but possibly here, a little more of a tone of scolding associated with this or of despair associated with this. Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. Verse 33. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit. That means within himself. He groaned within himself and he was troubled. Now a lot hinges here on our understanding of the word groaned from verse 33. That word in the Greek is not a word that means he was merely grieved in his heart or that he was sad or that he showed sympathy for Mary. This word for groaned, it literally refers to the snorting of horses. It's only used a few times in the New Testament and every time it's applied to a person, it means anger. It means righteous indignation or outrage. Now put this together. When he saw her weeping and when he saw the Jews who came with her weeping, he was righteously indignant in his spirit within himself. Within himself, he was outraged and he was troubled and he was angry. The Lord was righteously angry. Now what was he angry about? Now many have come up with suggestions for this. He wasn't angry because he was cornered into doing a miracle. Now I'm going to have to raise him from the dead. No. He planned to do that already. That was his plan all along. One thing that he certainly would have been righteously indignant about is the death and sorrow caused by this sin-diseased and sin-corrupted world. This is an effect of sin. It's an effect of the fall, death and sorrow. But listen, the Lord here in context is angry, is righteously indignant, is outraged at their unbelief. At the unbelief they were expressing in their weeping and wailing. They were grieving like pagans who have no hope. Verse 33, listen Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13, he says, but I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep or concerning those who have died lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. In other words, don't sorrow like that. Don't sorrow like the Gentiles or the heathen who have no hope. For, Paul says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, if we believe that he is our resurrection and that he is our life, even so, Paul says, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. We're not to mourn as those who have no hope. We're not to weep and to wail in despair as if the Lord is not the resurrection of life. Listen, this expression of Mary and the mourners, here is a denial of the resurrection. If you know that Lord Jesus Christ is to you resurrection and life, why would you mourn with no hope? Why would you despair simply not part and parcel with a Christian response to grief? If you think about it, their weeping, their despair here is a denial of the resurrection in the same way. Listen, that our complaining is a denial of God's sovereignty, or our complaining is a denial of the Lord's goodness or the Lord's grace or the Lord's compassion or the Lord's providence, right? The Lord's plans, the Lord's decrees, or your thanklessness is a denial of God's provision. There's just many ways that we can deny truths that have been revealed to us by our response, by our works, so to speak. So he's righteously angry here at Mary's weak faith. He's righteously angry at these mourners. They're acting like pagans. So in verse 34, he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. In verse 35, Jesus wept. That's the shortest verse in the Bible, but very profound. If you think about it in context, there's a combination here in the Lord of both righteous indignation and grief. There's a combination of righteous anger and sorrow and grief. He's grief-stricken, and Jesus wept in verse 35. If you think about it, if you look at Matthew chapter 23, right, the Lord Jesus Christ pronounces woes, woe to you Pharisees, woe to you scribes, woe to you lords. He pronounces this judgment on these wicked hypocrites, but at the end of the chapter, he's weeping in grief over the city of Jerusalem that he longed to gather to him as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but they would not, and he's weeping in grief over the city. It just, it puts that in perspective, right? We need to have that same tension. We need to understand the same tension. One commentator said this, that grief and compassion without outrage reduced to mere sentiment, while outrage without grief hardens into self-righteous arrogance and harassability. Listen to that again. That grief and compassion without outrage is merely reduced to sentiment while outrage without grief hardens into self-righteous arrogance and harassability. The Lord here in his perfections as God the Son wept, righteously angry over the unbelief, the lack of faith, and the despair, and the light of this glorious truth that he's revealed, and yet at the same time weeping over it, grieved by it. It's that fact that the world is both the object of his grief and also the object of his love and his compassion, the object of his enmity and the object of his compassion. He's going to deal with that enmity and righteousness one day. In verse 36, then the Jews said, see how he loved him. They mistook his grief. Do you see? They misunderstood. They thought his emotions, his emotional response was altogether like theirs. That he, like them, was despairing over the loss of Lazarus here. They misinterpreted his tears. Many, many, many misinterpret the Lord in that way today. It's a common way to misinterpret the Lord. They don't see the Lord Jesus Christ as ever being righteously angry. Certainly not with them. You know, he's not that mad. I'm not that bad. They misinterpret. This is not even close. He's not anywhere even in the ballpark with how they are responding. He's responding in an entirely different way here. In verse 37, some of them betraying just absurd unbelief. Some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? They were confused, but their confusion betrayed unbelief. Notice from verse 37. And again, we're looking at weakness of faith from the example of Mary in the mourners beginning in verse 28 down to verse 37. We saw the example of Martha, but now look, this weakness of faith, this unbelief portrayed here. Their so-called faith in verse 37, their so-called faith, believing that the Lord Jesus Christ raised the man born blind or gave him sight, right? In John chapter 9, their so-called faith does not rest on who Jesus is. Do you see that? But on previous displays of his power, verse 37, some of them said, could not this man who did this miracle in John 9 giving this blind man his sight, could not this man also have kept Lazarus from dying? It doesn't rest on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is resurrection in life, but it rests on the fact that he did a miracle before he could do it again. Weak faith like this always requires new signs, always requires new evidence, always requires new miracles, right? That's what fuels most charismatic churches today. Weak faith always looking for the next high the Lord has revealed himself in his Word. If you're here today and you profess the name of Christ, you say, listen, I'm a Christian, I've sold out for him. I am turning from my life of sin. He is my resurrection. He is my life. I'm turning to him to trust him alone to save me and to entrust myself to him in all that I am and all that I do. And I'm committed to following him and serving him until the day he takes me home. If that's you today, if you've made that profession of faith in Christ, and what is the outcome of your faith? The Lord intends to reveal more and more of his glory to you. That's going to be done through his words. Are you in his Word? Are you reading his Word? Are you seeking him out in his Word? He's going to do that in applying his Word. He's going to work in your heart. He's going to work in your mind. He's going to renew your mind by his Spirit through his Word. He's going to sanctify you by his truth. His Word is truth and you're going to grow as you see more of his glory, reveal to you from the pages of Scripture and apply to your heart and life. You're going to grow and progress in your faith. Now that presupposes and that demands that with the revelation that you've been given, you obey him, that you live for him in greater faith, in greater obedience, in greater devotion, that as he reveals himself to you, you live in the light of that revealed truth. If he is your resurrection, then how should you live? If he is your sole hope of eternal life, then how should you live? Where you neglect that or to the degree that you neglect that will be to the degree that your faith will be stunted, will be to the degree that your faith will be weak. And if you go into trial with weak faith, if you go into difficulty with weak faith, if you attempt to obey with weak faith, if you attempt to overcome sin with weak faith, it's just a recipe for defeat and disaster and eventual apostasy and death. Do you see? So if you're here today and you claim to be a Christian, then press on.