TEXT: John 11:33-38
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 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?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
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Today, I am continuing the daily Just Jesus Evangelistic Campaign sermon series, which is aimed at sharing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with unbelievers and reminding Christians, in this important election year, to keep the main thing the main thing — and that is reaching unbelievers with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and praying for their salvation, for the problem in America is not only disobedient presidents, politicians, and people, but disobedient pastors, preachers, and parishioners who have refused to obey the Lord’s Great Commission which is to, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” and who have refused to obey God’s repeated commands to “pray without ceasing” for unbelievers, believers, and political leaders. Yes, you should pray for the right candidate to win; yes, you should vote for the candidate that the Lord gives you peace about voting for. But, don’t get caught up in it like the world does. Nothing much is going to change until people get saved and get their hearts right with the Lord.
This campaign is inspired by the following three verses: 1 Corinthians 2:2 which says, “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Acts 5:42 which says, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” And 2 Timothy 2:4 which says, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
This series is not for Christians necessarily. However, I do hope you are one of those saints who still loves to hear the “Old, old story of Jesus and His love” — As another hymn says, “For those who know it best Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.” This series is primarily for unbelievers, so they can hear and understand the Gospel and be saved from sin and the punishment of sin which is hell. This is message number 165.
Clovis G. Chappell said, “How glorious it is that, when we resist God’s purpose and all but wreck ourselves, He will make us again. Truly, we would be a hopeless race but for the fact that we have a mighty God who is able to remake us even when we have rebelled against Him and have thwarted His blessed plans for us.”
As Jesus was quietly weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, we are informed that the Jews marveled at His love for His friend. They declared, “Behold how he loved him!” Yet, there were some among the crowd that saw fit to question Jesus’ abilities. We cannot hear their tone of voice, and the text does not tell us what they meant by this question, but here is what they said: “Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?”
This question might have been uttered in mockery. Surely, there were some of those Jews present who had opposed Jesus in Jerusalem. They were not there to sincerely mourn, they were there to observe Jesus and report back to the religious establishment in Jerusalem. They would have wanted to use this incident as a way to get people to doubt that Jesus was who He said He was.
But others who were present may have meant this inquiry as a statement of wonder. They are sincere in their sorrow and sympathy, expressing sadness at the thought that, at this point, even Jesus could do nothing for Lazarus. They, like Mary and Martha, thought that if Jesus had simply been there during Lazarus’ illness, Lazarus would not have died.
The question that must be going through the minds of these mourners is whether Jesus COULD NOT heal Lazarus or whether Jesus CHOSE NOT to heal Lazarus. Of course, we know that the answer is the latter. Jesus could have healed Lazarus, but He chose not to because He was working out God’s plan. God wanted Lazarus to be raised from the dead, which would be infinitely more compelling than a miraculous recovery of his health. A man raised from the dead was something these people had never seen before. Paul said, “The Jews seek after a sign…” Jesus was giving them a sign. It is as if He was saying, ‘Here’s a man I raised from the dead. Do you believe me now?’
We all have faced such circumstances in our lives where we wonder why God did not work something out a certain way. We know that He COULD have, but for some reason, He didn’t. The encouragement we receive from Lazarus’ story is that we need to be patient and have faith in God. God may have a bigger plan in store.
Recently, I was talking to a mechanic who is also a pastor. He told me of one customer, a single mother, who had a car that broke down. She was living on a tight budget and desperately needed her vehicle to take her kids to school and to get to work. She could not miss a day of work and still make ends meet. On top of that, she had no idea how she would pay for the repairs on her car. One morning, she got her kids to school and then took her car to the shop. The plan was for her to drop off her car and have her sister to come by and pick her up from the shop and take her to her job.
Well, after this single mother dropped off her vehicle, her sister didn’t show up. So, she was sitting in the mechanic’s waiting room getting upset over the lost hours at work and the cut that her paycheck would take. Meanwhile, another customer came into the shop, and after he got his business taken care of, he told the shop owner out of the blue that he would pay for the repairs on the woman’s car.
When the woman heard this good news, she broke down and cried. She asked God to forgive her because while she had been fuming over her sister not being on time to pick her up, God had been working things out so that her car repairs, which she did not have the money to cover, would be paid for without any extra cost to her.
That is how God works sometimes. He may not do what you want Him to do simply because He is planning something that is much better than you could ever think to ask for.
Salvation is that way for us. The human race has tried and failed in its attempts to reconnect with God. We have tried to keep the law; we have tried religious rituals and observances; we have tried meditation and other spiritual-sounding practices; we have tried to do good works; we have even tried sacrifices of animals and some have tried sacrifices of people. But none of that is satisfactory to God. So, God did the unimaginable — He took it upon Himself to come down — to send Himself in human form as Jesus Christ so that He could pay a price that we could not pay. That is how salvation become possible. Now, all we have to do is place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Are you ready to believe in Him right now?
John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and I want to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Him as my Savior and follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please e-mail me at dw3@gospellightsociety.com and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.
God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.
He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.
He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.
BCNN1 WP 