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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're in day four of our
look together through John chapter 11. We've been looking at how Jesus worked in
the life of Lazarus, the miracle that he worked, and the difference that that
can make in our lives.

As we're walking through John chapter 11, we've seen together that Jesus waited.
That's how this miracle began. And then we've seen that he went.

He went and he invited faith. And then we saw the fact that Jesus wept. He
entered into life with the people that he created.

Jesus waited, Jesus went, Jesus wept. And then in verses 38 to 44, Jesus worked.
He did the work that he had been looking forward to all along, that he'd known
he was going to do all along.

Listen to what happens. Verse 38, Jesus once more deeply moved, came to the
tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man,
by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days. And then
Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of
God?

So they took away the stone. And then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank
you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for
the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead
man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth across
his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go.

Now, this is no less than exactly what you would expect from Jesus. He is the
resurrection and the life. So he brings about a resurrection and a life.

Now, admittedly, it is different than Jesus' resurrection. When Jesus was
resurrected, they had to roll away the stone to see that he wasn't there. In
this case, they roll away the stone and he comes out.

When Jesus was resurrected, he was given a resurrected body that would last
forever. When Lazarus is resurrected, it's just for a brief time. He's going to
die again at some point, but he's given more months or years here by Jesus.

He is raised from the dead for an extended time on this earth. No less than you
would expect from the Son of God, Jesus Christ in human flesh. You look at this
and you think, what does that have to do with me?

I could never be a part of something like that. Is it just something for me to
read that happened so many years ago? Well, don't miss the point here that this
miracle is the result of a simple prayer.

And this miracle is a result of what Jesus can do. You're not the resurrection
and life. I'm not the resurrection and life.

Jesus is. And I can point people to the Jesus who can, who can work miracles.
This truth is that God's love adds up to new life.

And notice that deeply moved in verse 38, Jesus comes to this tomb and he says,
you hear this conversation going back and forth again, like so many times in
this chapter, he says, take away the stone. But Martha says, there's a bad odor.
If you grew up with the King James Version of the Bible, this is one of your
great memories from Sunday school.

This verse, it says, but Lord, he stinketh. You just can't forget that verse in
your mind. In New International Version, by this time there's a bad odor.

He's been there for four days, four days. By the way, that is important. We
didn't pick up on that earlier.

And so let me just remind you that four days, that was the point at which
everybody would realize he really is dead. He was in the tomb one day, maybe he
just sort of swooned and they didn't realize he was still alive. There was even
a sort of a popular myth in that day that a person's spirit stayed with him in
the tomb for three days, but on the fourth day left.

That was just a myth, but Jesus knew the myth that people believed. And so he
waited four days so that there would be no question, no question about the fact
that he was resurrected from the dead. He says, I want you to take away the
stone.

In fact, he says, it's interesting. I want you to do this if you believe. Them
moving the stone, we're going to come back to this in a moment.

Them moving the stone was a sign of their belief in Jesus. So they took away the
stone. Jesus praised this prayer.

It's a prayer of faith. He's saying, I don't even need to pray this prayer, but
I want people to know God that I'm depending on you to do this. And I want them
to know that I was sent by you.

And then he shouts out, Lazarus, come out. Lazarus, that name that means God is
my help. God was his only help in this instance.

Only God could do what happened that day. And so God is my help. Lazarus comes
out of that tomb.

Now there've been a lot of statements about this thing that Jesus shouted out,
Lazarus, come out. Why did he need to call Lazarus by name? Some of us said, if
he hadn't said Lazarus by name, everybody in the graveyard would have come out
because Jesus's power is so great.

But to me, it's more that this is personal. This is a personal miracle. He calls
to his friend who's in the tomb and he says, come out.

Lazarus, come out. And Lazarus came out of that tomb. And they took off the
grave clothes and they let him go.

This incredible miracle. You know what it's about? It's about how to bring the
dead, what is dead, back to life.

There are principles in these verses about something that has died in your life.
If you think this is just a story of something that happened 2,000 years ago and
it has nothing to do with your life except to say, well, that was a cool thing
that happened. You're missing the way that Jesus works in our lives.

We've seen it again and again in the book of John. How do you bring what is dead
back to life? Is there something that's died in your life?

Maybe your passion for Jesus, for ministry. Maybe there's a relationship that's
died. Maybe there's a vision for serving others.

A dream that God has given you. It's dead. It's dead and it's been in the tomb
for four days and as far as you're concerned, there is no hope any longer.

And yet somewhere in you, there's this thought that God wants that thing to be
alive. He wants that passion for him to be alive. He wants that relationship,
that marriage to be alive.

He wants that vision for serving others to be alive. So even though it's dead
and it's been in the tomb in your life for four days, four months, four years,
40 years, even though you have no hope, how do you bring what is dead back to
life? Well, look at the five things that happened here.

First, Jesus was deeply moved and he came to the tomb. First, you know that
Jesus deeply cares. He cares about what seems to have died in your life and then
he tells him second to move away the stone.

The second thing he does is give him something to do by faith and then third,
Jesus prays. He prays with faith for faith and then four, he calls out his
powerful voice that makes a difference and then five, he tells him to take off
the grave clothes and let him go. What does that mean to us?

What does that mean to you? What do you do about something that seems to have
died or has died in your life? Do these five things.

Just think of that thing right now that you say, "That relationship with my son,
my daughter, that's died. " What do you do? First of all, you know that Jesus
cares.

He sees what you're going through. He is deeply moved by the hurts that we have
in our lives. So begin there, know that he cares about what you're going through
right now.

And then number two, and this may be the most important point, you do the first
thing that Jesus asks you to do. You notice how Jesus asked them to move away
the stone. Now, he could have done that miraculously, but he asked them to do it
as a sign of their belief.

We've seen that again and again and again. He puts mud on a man's eyes and he
says, "I want you to go down to the pool and wash. " It's a sign of his faith.

I want you to move away the stone from the tomb, a sign of their faith. What is
the first thing that Jesus asks you to do? As you think about something that's
died in your life, what's the first thing he's asking you to do?

As it comes to mind, you do that. Now, it may seem as unreasonable as moving a
stone away from a tomb where the man inside is dead. It may seem even unpleasant
to you like it seemed to Martha.

He's been in there for four days. Why would we want to do that, Jesus? You do
the first thing that Jesus asks you to do.

And then number three, you hear Jesus praying with faith for faith, and so you
follow his example. You pray with faith. You say, "God, I know you can do
anything.

" You pray with faith and you say, "God, I know that you sent Jesus into this
world. " And so you ask, "God, even with this thing "that seems seemingly dead
to me, "I know that you can do things that I cannot do. " And so in this moment,
I bring it to you.

And I take my hands off of it, and I ask you to do what I cannot do. And then
number four, you hear the powerful voice of Jesus. In the graveyard that day, it
was the voice that said, "Lazarus, come out.

" What I invite you to do is read through God's word, talk to God's people,
listen to messages. As you listen, as you read, as you hear, listen for the
powerful voice of Jesus. The voice that says, "There is hope.

" The voice that says, "Here's what you need to do next. " The voice that says,
"Make this sacrifice. " The voice that says, "I'm going to do a new work in your
life.

" Hear his voice, because it will give you a confidence in your faith that was
not there before. Hear the powerful voice of Jesus. And then, don't miss this.

As Jesus begins to work the miracle, Lazarus came out. There's one final thing
that happened, and a lot of people miss this. They see God do great things in
their life, but then it doesn't seem to last.

They see something come back to life, but then it seems to die again right away.
What happened? They didn't do the fifth thing.

The fifth thing is you respond in practical ways to what Jesus has done. In this
case, he came out, in that day, when you died, you were wrapped with strips of
linen. And so he came out wrapped around the feet, and down all the way down to
his ankles with these strips of linen.

Now, I don't know if God got him miraculously to the front of the tomb, or if he
had to sort of to waddle in a funny way, because his feet were all wrapped, but
Jesus saw this, and he said, "Hey, let's get those linens off of him "so that he
can walk again. " When God brings a dead marriage back to life, that doesn't
mean you don't go to counseling. You don't do something practical.

That doesn't mean you don't work through your problems. When God brings a dead
passion for Christ, for ministry back to life, that doesn't mean you don't go
back and work through what caused it to die in the first place. You don't get
some accountability in your life that helps to not die again.

You do the practical things. You respond in practical ways to this miracle that
Jesus has worked. So many people miss this.

And so God does miracles in their lives, but they don't enjoy the results of
those miracles because they don't respond. This is an incredible picture here.
Take off the grave clothes.

What a picture of our Christian life. He's given you new life. Maybe you got
some of the dead sins, the dead habits, the dead stuff from the past still
wrapped around your feet and ankles, and they're keeping you from doing what God
wants you to do.

Take off the grave clothes 'cause that's all they are now. They're dead stuff.
God's got the new life.

We pray together today and talk to the Lord. I want to talk about bringing what is
dead back to life. And as you talk to him personally, just say to him, Jesus, I
just pray through these five things we just talked about.

Lord, I know that you care. And Jesus, I pray that you would help me to see what
to do next. If he's already put it in your mind, say, I'll do it, Lord.

Give me the strength to do it. If it's not in your mind as yet, say, Lord, help
me to know what it is 'cause I'm not sure. Give me direction, give me guidance
through your word and my Christian friends.

Lord, I pray that you would put new faith into my life, not about what I can do,
but about what you can do. I take my hands off of this. I see it as in your
hands and I listen.

I'm listening for the powerful voice of Jesus. And as you work this miracle of
bringing what is dead back to life in my life, I commit in advance to respond in
practical ways to what you do, Jesus, to be faithful with what you've done. I
pray this prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

Join us tomorrow. We're going to take a look together at the immediate response to
this miracle in verses 45 to 57.