This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're taking a look
together at John chapter 11 this week, this incredible chapter about the raising
of Lazarus from the dead. As we walk through this week, we're going to look at
the incredible ways that Jesus works in our lives.

In the first point, we looked at the fact that Jesus waited. And that was part
of the way that he loved. But he not only waited, there are some simple things
that Jesus did through this chapter that show how he loves us and also how he
works in miraculous ways in our lives.

First he waited and then he went. After he waited, he went to be with the people
that he was going to minister to. Look at what happened.

Let me read for you verses 7 to 16. Then he said to his disciples, this was
after the two days of waiting, "Let us go back to Judea. " "But Rabbi," they
said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you're going back
there?

" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by
day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by
night that he stumbles, for he has no light.

" After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has
fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up. " His disciples replied,
"Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better. " Jesus had been speaking of his death,
but his disciples thought that he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad that
I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him. " And then
Thomas, called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us go also, that
we may die with him. " This is a fascinating discussion with Jesus and the
disciples.

You see how it goes. Jesus says, "Let's go. " And then in verse 8, the disciples
say, "Lord, where we're going, they're trying to kill you.

This may not be a good idea. " And then in verse 9, Jesus says, "Well, he says
this thing about walking in the daylight. What is that all about?

" It's really the second time we've seen Jesus talking about this. Back in
chapter 9, we saw him talking about walking in the daylight also. In verse 9, he
says, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight?

A man who walks by day will not stumble. " What is he talking about? Well, he's
really talking about two things.

He's talking about timing here. He's saying there's twelve hours of daylight,
and only twelve hours. There is time enough, Jesus is saying, to do God's will.

But there is not time enough to waste. So we need to do it now. Jesus knew that
there was a timing as he headed towards this glorification on the cross.

So he says, "It's time. It's time to go now. " He wasn't talking about timing,
but he was also talking about staying in God's will.

You see these phrases he uses about, "Without the light, you'll stumble. " He's
saying that the greatest danger in life is not walking into a situation that
might seem threatening. That might seem to be the greatest danger, but Jesus is
saying the greatest danger in life is not walking in the light that God has
given you.

If you walk away from that light, even if it seems like a safer place, it is
not. It is not. Jesus is saying here, "You may suffer in the light, but it is
far better than stumbling in the dark.

" Because that not only hurts you physically, that hurts your soul. Jesus is
saying it's better to suffer in the light than stumble in the dark. That's what
all this talk about light and darkness is here.

They're going through this conversation. The disciples say they're trying to
kill you. Jesus says, "Well, it's time to go now.

" And then he says to them, "He's fallen asleep. " The disciples pick up on that
and say, "Why should we go then? He's just asleep.

Because they still don't want to go. " So then Jesus makes it very plain to
them. Lazarus is dead.

I'm glad I wasn't there, because this is going to be for the sake of your faith,
so let's go. Well, they're convinced. They need to go now.

And then Thomas, this famous quote from Thomas is in verse 16. Thomas says,
"Let's also go with him, that we may die with him. " Isn't that full of faith?

Ateneus said, "His faith was courageous, but it was not triumphant. " Someone
else has said, "Thomas did not have expectant faith there. He had loyal despair.

" And that's the truth. I'm impressed that Thomas was willing to die with Jesus,
but there's no hope in his statement. And when it comes to giving your life,
even sacrificing your life in anything for Christ, there's always hope there.

Don't miss the hope. Jesus, at the end of this conversation with his disciples,
goes. He went to be with his friends.

Even though it was an unsafe situation and he knew it, love paid the price
instead of playing it safe. He went into danger. His disciples knew it.

He knew it, but he went. He knew, and we see in the Bible that what happens on
this day when he raises Lazarus from the dead, it's going to be the straw that
breaks the camel's back when it comes to the Jews hating him and sending him to
the cross. So he went.

That's what love does. That's the lesson here for us. Love goes.

If it's your husband, your wife, your children or friend, people in the world,
it pays the price. And so Jesus paid the price. He went and look at what
happened when he arrived, verses 17 to 27.

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four
days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to
Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard
that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed home.

"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have
died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. " Jesus said
to her, "your brother will rise again.

" Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day. " Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes
in me will live even though he dies.

And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? "
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
who has come into the world.

" An incredible statement of faith. Jesus arrives, he went, and immediately he
meets with Martha, one of the two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha goes out to
him and she says, "If you'd just been here, I know you would have healed him.

" Jesus says, "He's going to rise on the last day. " Well, he says he's going to
rise, Martha takes it to mean the last day. She says, "I know that's going to
happen.

" You see, the Jews had a strong belief in the resurrection on the last day.
They were looking forward to that. They believed in an afterlife.

But Jesus says, "No, there's more here than that. I am the resurrection. I am
the life.

" And then he looks at her and he says, "Do you believe this? " You see, one of
the reasons that Jesus waited is he wanted to have this moment with Martha,
where he could look at her face to face, eye to eye, and say, "In the midst of
this challenge of life, not some thought off to the side of life, some theory,
some philosophy, but now that you're facing the fact that you've lost your
brother, do you believe that I'm the one who can give him life? " And she said,
"Yes, I believe.

" You see, Martha went out to Jesus looking for assurance, and Jesus gave her
that assurance when he said, "Do you believe? " Assurance comes from faith. You
might be looking for comfort to help to give you assurance.

And we need comfort when we're going through tough times, but the deepest
assurance comes from faith. So Jesus challenges her faith. Maybe you've had
somebody close to you die, maybe even recently, and you can understand this
need.

Maybe it's been a brother or a sister. You can understand this need of looking
for assurance. What you believe now needs to meet reality.

Is he really in heaven? Is she really in heaven? This miracle that Jesus worked
for Lazarus is also the miracle he wants to work in your life, the miracle of
resurrection and life and of assurance.

Jesus shows here he has the power to give life. He has the power to keep his
promises. And when Martha meets with him, he does the same thing for her that he
wants to do in my life, in your life, and he wants to do in your life today.

Jesus invites faith into her life. Jesus went, and he went, to invite faith.
That's why he comes into my life, into your life, to invite faith.

And Martha expresses faith. She goes out and she says, "If you'd been here, he
wouldn't have died. " She expresses faith in what Jesus could do.

She says, "I know he's going to arise on the last day. " She expresses faith in
what Jesus says, in God's word. And then when she says, "I believe that you are
the resurrection and life," that's the highest belief of all.

She says, "I don't only believe in what you can do. I don't only believe in what
God says. I believe in who you are.

" And I say to Jesus Christ, "I need your comfort. " The greatest comfort comes
not from what he can do, not even from what he says. The greatest comfort comes
from who he is, because what he says and what he can do grow out of who he is.

That's the source of it. You see, I don't just trust in what Jesus can do. I
don't just even trust in what Jesus said.

I trust in who he is, at the very core of who he is. Jesus comes to invite faith
in my life, into your life. And as we pray today, take a few minutes to listen
to that invitation.

Jesus inviting faith in your life, faith in what he can do, trust in what he
says, faith in who he is. And just say, "Jesus, you see what I'm going through
right now. You see that I need your comfort because of this family situation,
because of this place I need hope, because of this job situation, because of
what's going on with my kids, because of this relationship struggle.

You see, God, that I need hope, I need comfort. " And so I start with faith. I
hear your words.

Do you believe? And Jesus, I say to you today, "I do believe in you. I believe
in who you are.

You are the resurrection and the life. There's all kinds of places I can look in
life to find life, but you're the only one who's the resurrection and the life.
" And so today, this moment, I choose to look to you.

I make that choice, Jesus, because of your love for me. I make it in your name.
Amen.

Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to look at one of the most powerful and
expressions in all the New Testament, I believe, of the love of Jesus, an
expression that's found in two simple words.