Gospel of John

I asked the question when Jesus came, when Jesus came, Martha went to meet him, how far does her faith go? And we started in on that last week a little bit about, do you understand what my question is and how far did her faith go? In other words, what did she perceive that the Lord Jesus could or would do? yeah for sure she was she thought that he if he'd have been there he would have healed her but now that he's dead died she... let me find the verse here so I'm... twenty... Actually, we'll start in 2021.

Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother would not have died. But then she says, but I know even now what thou will ask of God, God will give it to you. And Jesus said unto her, My brother shall rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day. And then Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world.

Courtney thinks that she understood that he had resurrected power and that's what he would do. And he bases it on verse 22, I know that even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you. And that she's thinking, well, if you've got the power to raise him, you could do it.

I don't think she does. She has that understanding. I think what she has is the fact that she has not lost faith in him and who he is. And the fact that even now I still believe you even though my brother died. That's what I think it means. Because when you look at the next few verses, he tells her he's the resurrection and the life and she doesn't understand what he's talking about. And he tells her in 25 that I am. I am that I am.

And we're going to get down a little farther here when he goes to raise him and she, one of the questions I asked, she says well you can't roll the stone back because he stinks. Well if she was so convinced that he would raise her from the dead, why would he try to prevent them from rolling the stone back? I don't think she understands resurrection, I don't think any of them do. See mine is, I don't know if she really thinks, it's the even now part that I based No, I think the even now refers to the fact that even though my brother died, even now I still have faith in you and believe who you are.

She says whatever you do. Sure. So I think she's saying you can do whatever. You're the son of God, you can do whatever. You can bring him back and heal him. I think it's encompassing all of that. I don't think it's just that her faith went to healing, because it doesn't make sense. Even now, you can heal him? Well, even now, I believe that whatever you ask the Father, He'll do it. I haven't lost my faith in you, even though you didn't show up and my brother died. Right, but I think the incumbent in that is that you can make him rise again, you can do whatever, because then he goes to the resurrection.

And she's thinking just life, you know, bring him back to life. And then he goes on to further. So that's why I think it bolsters his mind. He says, yeah, the resurrection. Yeah, you just want him back to life. I am much more than that. See, and that's where I think he is responding to that. She just wants him back to life.

He goes on to explain. Which is in fact what he does. Well, I know, but he explains more about resurrection power. So I think his response is to what she's saying. She just wants him alive. But there's much more involved with him. And that's why I think his response is in response to what she's asking.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think even the Jews today, there is no resurrection. That's why they have such a terrible lamenting when someone dies over there. They think he's gone. Yeah, a lot of them do. And he is... There's some that don't, but the majority of Jews don't think that there's a resurrection today. The Jewish religion didn't have a resurrection. Judaism had no resurrection. Well, the Pharisees believed in resurrection. The Sadducees didn't.

So let's just keep going here and I'm going to prove Courtney wrong. Does Martha chide Jesus for not showing up early? Absolutely she does. There's no question in their mind that he can heal. You know, her quotation there is an expression of need and sorrow. Yeah, yeah, huge need. Absolutely, that's what it is. And recognizing that Jesus had within him the power to prevent such sorrow and need if he had gotten there on time. Yeah, yeah. See, but that bolsters mine, though, because the battle goes on. Yeah, if you'd been here, you could have healed him. But even now, you can do something about it. Whatever you ask, you can raise him. You can bring him back to life. You're supposing. I'm reading what it says, and you're interjecting. I am not. I'm reading what it says.

In verse 22, what does she mean? And verse 22 is, But I know that even now, whatever you will ask of God, He will give it to you. Interesting, in my notes, what I wrote down is that even now you could comfort me. Even now, with my brother being gone, you can comfort me. And I think it's also, to repeat myself, I think it's also an expression of even now, I haven't lost faith in you. You didn't show. My brother died. I haven't lost my faith. You are who you say you are. You're the Messiah, the Son of God. Both sides have been presented. We're moving on.

In rising again and appearing before God, an answer to death having come in by sin, and an answer to death, I didn't understand the question, is rising again and appearing before God an answer to death having come in by sin. In other words, Lazarus is going to be risen here and he's going to stand before God if that was the way things were going to be.

Is that an answer to sin? Yes, it sure is. Death came in by sin and death is now being defeated, overcome, done away with, left behind. Alright, let me lay this on you. Someone's got to answer for man and his sin. And death through judgment of sin. Christ had often delivered man from his suffering in the flesh.

And a man was going to rise again, but these things are of no value in the presence of death. And here's why I say that. When Lazarus is raised from the dead, he's going to die again. So Jesus has the power to raise a man or bring a man back to which life? He being the resurrection and the life brings in a whole new, what we now call the new creation in which there is no death.

But just being risen, in the end, when all men are resurrected, most of them are going to be resurrected for judgment. They're still going to be spiritually dead. They'll be separated from God. So resurrection, just the fact that there's resurrection, doesn't solve the problem of death. He hasn't been to the cross yet. That's right. Christ has to go answer to God for the sin issue. Has to go into death, has to be buried, and has to be resurrected into newness of life in which no death exists.

So what's the difference between verse 23 and 24? 23 says, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha said to him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Is there a difference? Martha, think about it. If it's just a strictly Jewish Pharisee viewpoint, Martha understands that, yeah, we're all going to be resurrected in the last day. She understands that. But is that what Jesus is telling her? No. I don't think so. I think he's telling her something new is going to happen. So I think that's the subtle difference. And probably as we go into Lesson 20, we'll maybe even expand itself even more. So jumping ahead to Lesson 20. We start in Lesson 20 with verse 26.

Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And she said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who shall come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come and calls for you. As soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came unto him.

Now, in verse 26, the Lord Jesus, in 25 and 26, in 26 in particular, he says, Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die, Do you believe this? So my question was, what does eternal life deliver a believer from? Kind of a hard question. Life, coming via the resurrection of Christ and that new life, delivers the believer from what? Death. And all that death implies. And what else does it leave behind? The cool thing about a resurrection is that it leaves things behind. They get to walk away and they don't follow you. So what do you get to walk away from?

Sin. What else? Physical life. The two big things are sin and death. You get to leave those behind. Christ took human life. He died for our sins. He bore our punishment. The other thing he did is he handled all the power of the enemy so the enemy has no power over you anymore because you're resurrected unless you let him. You left behind all the effects that sin has on mortal man and you left behind the judgment of God. A great story that I heard about this one time that really made it clear to me this was years ago when I first understood identification truths And it was a story about a priest in Europe during the Second World War.

And the Nazis had him. And they were beating him to death. That's what they were doing. And this Gestapo guy said to him, don't you realize that I have the power of life and death over you? And his answer was, what you don't understand is that I'm already dead. Now there's a guy that understood it. The response that every believer should have to the world, to Satan, to sin, to law, is what? I'm dead. I'm dead to all of that.

And resurrection light proves that you are. So when you come up from the dead, as Christ will, it is in the power of resurrected life. William Kelly said it's in the superiority of life in Christ. over all impediments to be displayed at his coming. Believers now who walk by faith live like this. I shouldn't say that. Should live like this, because that's the principle. Romans 6, 11 says, reckon yourself indeed dead unto sin. Sin isn't dead. I'm dead to it. And I'm alive unto God.

So when an unbeliever dies, In his death, he does not cease to exist as to the life of the fallen man within. How does the death and resurrection of Christ change all of this? Understand the question? If my buddy across the street is not a believer, dies, what happens to him in the spiritual realm? First thing that happens is a soul and a spirit leave his body, right? So we say, well, he's dead. Body's dead.

So, what's his relationship to the sin nature? Still has it. Still attached to it. Still controls him. The big fallacy is that here's man and here's the sin nature and the sin nature runs him around like a dog on the leaves convincing him that he's free.

Is that the height of irony? So, he leaves his body. He's physically dead. He's always been, since conception, dead to God. Always. Right? And the sin nature goes with him. What happens to your sin nature when you physically die? You're looking at me. The government gets it. It stays here. In the physical body? It stays with the body.

You've been separated from it from the minute that you have believed in the person and work of Christ. To be absent from the body for a believer is to be where? Present with the Lord. Do you think your sin nature has any right to go there? No. So, you and I, as of the moment we believe, we're separated from the sin nature. When we get to check out of the planet, the sin nature doesn't go with us. And the problem with my buddy across the street is that God did not forgive the sin nature. Did he? What did he do to it? Condemned it. So if you're attached to it, when you leave this planet, you're going to go where it goes. Condemnation. So your death with Christ has left all that behind.

Question three, what does he who believes in me shall never die, what does that mean? Which death? spiritual death yeah doesn't mean you won't physically die although isn't that interesting when you read Paul's epistles how does he describe a believer's death what word does he use? Sleep! I'm absolutely convinced that the two greatest days in a human being's life are the day that they're saved and the day they get to leave.

Do we belong here? We are no good to the earth at all. None. We're not suited out for it because we're these resurrected heavenly men. The natural man has no business going to heaven because he isn't suited out for that. So it's a great day. That's why memorial service and funerals ought to be celebrations because old Joe got to go home finally. If a man is quickened to resurrected life, he will never be separated from life himself. Does that make sense? Because we are quickened in resurrection life, we will never be separated from life himself. Death cannot exist in Christ's presence. Death is the end of the natural life to the natural man. Resurrection is the end of death in the believer.

In verse 28, and when she had said this, do you think Martha understands what Jesus has just told her? The Lord's inquiry, do you believe this? She can only give the vague reply, yea, Lord, I believe, I have believed and do believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God that should come into the world.

That isn't what he said. What he said was, I am the resurrection and the life. And he said, do you believe this? And she said, well, you know, this is like talking to my son. He said, well dad, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. And my question always back to him is, well do you believe what I just said to you? Because he answered a different question.

See, that's what she's done. I'd be a lawyer. She said, yeah. Well, I hope not. But that's why you brought me in there again. Hey Mike, did we know that she answered a different question? How did we know that she didn't see this as the answer to that question? Say that again, George? How do we know that she didn't see this as the answer to that question? I mean, Jesus is claiming to have power over life and death. He's claiming to be able to do all this stuff. And she says, yeah, I believe a lot of stuff. And the reason that I know that it's true is because I know who you are. Well, the statement he said to her is that he personally was the resurrection. Absolutely. And he said, and he personally is the life. And when you see the word life with a definite article in front of it, it means life that's unique to God only.

And then he says, and he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. What the heck does he mean by that? Does he think it's physical? Yeah, I think he's saying I'm the resurrection and I'm the life. And whoever believes in me, even if he dies physically, will live physically. That's why he says he's the resurrection. There's got to be some sort of physical life there. And then he says, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

And then he says, you believe this? It's spiritual. And what's her answer? She says, well, Lord, I have believed. And I do believe that you are the Christ. What's the Christ? The Messiah of Israel. I read where somebody just equated that statement with what John the Baptist taught. Oh, interesting. Tenney, maybe? Was Merle Tenney the one that said that? Edmund Bloom or Merle Tenney, I don't remember. And then she says, I believe too that you are the Son of God and that you should come into the world. I'm not sure that's the same thing as, I'm the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me shall never die.

And then she goes and gets her sister thinking that probably her sister may understand better what's going on. And I don't know if I'm reading in or if it's supposition, but I'm the same way. Right away she bails because I asked the question in the next, what was the extent of Mary's, Martha's, and St. Jude's understanding? And why did she say, well, okay, here's what I believe, and then she goes to talk to Mary. I don't think she believed that he had the power over life and death. I don't think she believed that. And she refers to him as he who taught. when you look at that in the Greek. It says master in the King James when you look at it in the Greek and it says he who taught.

Yeah. Here's another interesting thing. If you come to me and you start to expound a spiritual truth to me that's really beyond my understanding, I get nervous about that. Don't you? I mean if you're sitting in an environment, George and I are having a conversation and he starts talking to me about astrophysics, I'm in the kitchen in about two minutes. Or starts talking to me about a spiritual concept that's beyond my understanding. I get nervous and I'm going to leave as soon as I can.

I think that's what Martha's done here, because I think she thinks that Mary has a more intimacy with Christ because of the way she approaches her. We'll look at the verse in a second. I really think that's what's going on here. She said, well, here's what I believe. I don't really understand, but I'm going to go talk to Mary about it. Maybe she can talk to you about it and come back and explain it to me.

John doesn't use this phrase lightly. In 2031 he uses pretty much the same wording to make a pretty significant point. These things are written so that you may believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life through his name. That's the only other place in John's Gospel where he's phrasing it. Well, the Lord Jesus, when asked what eternal life was in 17, he says, eternal life is to believe on me and the one who sent me. That's what life is. So the Christian, or these aren't Christians yet, maybe to make it succinct, do you think that the disciples had eternal life now?

At this point? Yeah. What do you think? I don't know. Do you think Martha had it? I think so. I do too. Because of what she just said here. So what's the difference between Martha and me? Is there a difference between Martha and me? Is there a difference between John the Baptist and me? What's the difference? Dispensation. But what makes me unique to her? That's it. I'm in Christ. She isn't. She's got life. But you know I love this because I'm a realtor. Location is everything to me. you know? Where I am is really important. She has life as a member of the remnant of Israel but she's not in Christ because no one is in Christ until Pentecost. Nobody. The body of Christ doesn't begin until then.

See? Does that mean everybody up to that time, boy, they're in big trouble? No. How about when Jesus says to the disciples, receive ye the Holy Spirit? before Pentecost. Are they in Christ? No. They have the Holy Spirit, but that doesn't put them in Christ. See that? So to be a member of the body of Christ is a whole different thing. To be in Christ means you're in the life now. You haven't just received it, you're in it. Does that make sense? So, back to your question.

It's important in John's teaching, I think, because that's the emphasis that he says. He's writing these things that you might believe. He's laying out, he's serving the food for you to eat it. And that's his whole agenda. Same thing in his epistles. Same thing that Paul does in Acts. Same thing.

It's written so that you might believe. In believing you might have life. And I don't have any trouble with that. What we're debating here, I think, is the understanding or the ability of people like Martha and Mary to understand exactly who Christ is. Messiah? Okay, not a problem. Son of God? Yeah, but how much of that do they understand? Son of God.

I think the focus is Messiah. more than anything else. That's where the focus is. That this man, Jesus, is the Messiah. And how do they know he's the Messiah? How do they know? By what he does. Even Nicodemus says, man, the stuff you do is amazing. You have to be from God. That's what he says.

So, as soon as she heard this in 29, she rose quickly and came in. Now, Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. And the Jews, then, who were with her, in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out and followed her, saying, she goes unto the grave to weep there. Then, when Mary was come where Jesus was, she saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying, Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother would not have died.

Okay, now, question. To what extent of Mary and Martha's and some of the Jews' understanding of Jesus' power? Here it is again. Her understanding is, if you'd have been here, he wouldn't have died. See? And to be honest with you, Mary is the one that has greater intimacy with Christ than Martha does. Because in a few verses here, she's going to be the one that anoints him for death. I'm going to ask the question, how does she know that? So, Martha, Mary, and the Jews had all seen the miracles, had seen the healings, and that's really what they're referring to.

But here, here's what happened. Here, a life had actually passed away. It actually happened. So what are they doing? Are they rejoicing? No, they're grieving. They think if he had been there, his love and his power could have been counted upon. They don't see, I don't think they see resurrection life and the power that goes with resurrection life, because if they did, that would have been their focus. And both of these ladies, their focus is, well, boy, if you had been here, things would have been different. So, 33, 4, and 5.

And therefore, when Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, who came with her, he groaned in spirit and was troubled. And he said, Where have you laid him? And they said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Why did he do that? Why did he cry or weep? I mean, Jesus already saw the end of the movie. He knew what was going to happen. Why is he crying? Well, I think he is relating as a man to knowing what death means and the sorrow it brings. I think you're tracking right.

Nobody understands death like Christ. Nobody understands it. and the agony and the pain that it costs God. From God's side of the spectrum, death is way more painful than it is from our side, even though we suffer it. He understood it better than any of them did, and he understood that he could feel the weight like nobody else could.

Let's see, a couple of quotes from Kelly. Verse 35 and 36 let us know how deep were the emotions of our blessed Lord at this moment. His tender sympathy appears rather in his weeping after asking where they had laid Lazarus and the invitation to come and see. But we may note that in our Lord's case, profound as it was, his grief It was his servant, he troubled himself, he grieved, he did not gain the mastery or as our affections are apt to do with us.

In other words, he's not subject to strictly emotion, he understands what death is. Every feeling in Christ was perfect in kind and measure as well as season. His groaning, his trouble, his weeping what were they not in God's sight how precious they should be to us point being this you'll notice that verse 35 says he wept and 33 there's a difference here when Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping who came with her, he groaned in spirit and was troubled. What is that? He groaned in spirit and he was troubled. And then two verses later it says he wept. What is he groaning about or what is he troubled about?

Is it just the thing death itself? Yeah, I think so. I think that How do I say this? Because he understands what's going on better, it's not only an emotional, soul-ish thing, but it's a spiritual thing to him. Death is a spiritual thing. Does that make sense? Some of this is because he realizes in a way that I don't think we do yet, just how much this is not supposed to be the way that it is. Yeah. We were not created to be. No, we weren't. We were created to die. And you know, it's interesting, George. We are so self-absorbed about who we are and what our deal is. We seldom think about what Adam's fault, what it cost God. Because he didn't set it up that way. Why did he create man in his own image and likeness? Why did he do that? He wanted to have fellowship with him. He wanted to love man and have a creature love him back.

So Adam says, never mind, and sins. It grieved God way more than it grieved Adam. It grieved him so much that what did it cost God to reconcile the situation? It cost him the most precious thing he had, his son. That's what it cost him. So, I don't think John sees it, and so he puts it in here, but I think we seldom think about that God grieves over sin. you know. One writer said he's angry at the tyranny of Satan who brought Claro and Death to people. Angry at Satan?

Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't thought about that. My question in seven was, in essence, this. A couple of things I picked up, also spoken of any agitation of the mind as grief but to be greatly moved or agitated. He senses in his spirit death and also knew what the Father, because of sin and death, was going to require him to do. It means the strong and it means the strong, and it may be indigent, affection the Lord experienced at the power of death over not the Jews only, but Mary, wielded as it still was by the enemy." Same idea. In other words, here he is, wife, in the middle of an environment where death is the predominant theme, and why is there death? Because of Adam's sin. But who has the power of death? Satan does.

I'll read another quote from Kelly. I understand Kelly, but sometimes when you read it, it's hard to understand. Never was it mere power, nor was it only sympathy, but the entrance of a spirit into every case he cured, the bringing of the weight on his heart before God of all that oppressed sin-stricken man. Here it was, the still greater revenge of death in the family that he loved. What's interesting is people die and his life standing there hasn't been to the cross yet but it's still the operational system is sin and death and he's in the middle of it.

See that? Verse 39 Jesus said take away the stone Martha the sister of him that was dead said unto him Lord by this time he stinks or in the King James Stinketh, I like that word better, for he has been dead four days. My question was, what does this tell us about Martha's temperament? If listened to, could it interfere with the demonstration of God's power? Answer, absolutely. And the reason I ask this question is, Martha is ever the practical one.

She sees only problems. Do you notice how immediately the material needs would halt the demonstration of God's power? If Jesus listened to her, what wouldn't have happened? So, again, if she's such a strong believer, the point that I'm after here was not necessarily that, but is this.

There are two viewpoints in every given situation. There's the natural man's viewpoint, and then there's the spiritual viewpoint. And so many times, as believers, we try to bring in the practical, natural solution to a spiritual problem. And Thursday night, that's what we've been studying in Colossians. The first two chapters of Colossians points out the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ like nowhere else in the Word of God. And the warning is, don't bring philosophy and religion into the glory of Christ.

And so I keep asking people on Thursday night, is Jesus enough? Is the life of Christ enough for you to depend on Him? Or do you view it as though, well, boy, if I go for Christ, my family's going to starve, the dog isn't going to get fed, gas prices are going to nine bucks. All of those kind of little things that we feel like we are responsible for because we have good sense? Or can we live in such a way that we function by faith only with Christ as our object? Doesn't your natural mind tell you that if I'm beholding the glory of the Lord, some of these responsibilities that I'm supposed to live up to are going to get left behind? Don't you think that? I do sometimes. If that's the case, then you're a Martha. I'm a Martha. Pick a subject. Save the planet. Send my kid to college. Whatever seems to be really good in the earth, I gotta do. Because it's the right thing to do.

According to who? The word of God? or the practical application of the value system of the world. Which is it? The Lord Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead and Martha says, ever the practical one, oh wait a minute, don't roll that stone back, he smells. Oh okay Martha, no problem, we won't do it. See that? Do you see?

I mean I think that really points up the contrast in the decisions sometimes we make are things we think we need to do that are really important other than beholding the glory of the Lord because we think, well I haven't got time for that right now. I gotta go do something else. To oppose the Lord's Word and not to remove the stone, the Lord that all might be clear. She, because his words disappointed her haste, if indeed she had expected anything." Has the father and the son been in constant communication during this whole episode? And if you say yes, I'm going to say, show me where. Where's 42? 42?

How about way before this? How about what? How about way before this? If you go back up to verse 4, when Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified by it. I ask this question because I want us to understand that there's never a time that the Lord Jesus is not in communication with his Father about everything in his life.

Because he's going to tell these disciples in the near future, I never do anything of myself. I only do what I see my Father doing. And then when we get to 17, he's going to do a really cool thing. He's going to ask the Father to create for every believer the same intimacy and relationship and contact that he has. So here's the Lord Jesus walking around on the planet, and he is 24-7 in contact with the Father about every issue, all the time, because he never did anything on his own. Never.

And then he says, in the future here, he's going to say, oh yeah, I want them to function just like I function. You think that's practical? Do you think that's the way a believer should walk? Absolutely, we should walk that way. Every minute of every day of every second, we should be in contact with, both ways, with the Father, directing our path all the time. Walk in the Spirit, What do you think that is? Fifteen minutes on Sunday? You know?

Beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus, we come from heaven, and our whole frame of reference and perspective to what the circumstances of our life is, is different. And so we react different to things. no matter how practical. The thing in Colossians is it's not trying to keep the really evil philosophical things out of Christianity, it's trying to keep the really good philosophical things out of Christianity. Nobody's going to adopt sin, but you won't reject the good ideas either. It's the tree of the knowledge of bad, bad, bad, bad. No, it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We're always trying to borrow some of that good to bring into life. and it doesn't belong there, because we've been crucified to all that the world is and was. But if you don't know anything of resurrected life, how do you make a decision? Spiritual. You can't. Am I making sense?

So, why did Jesus use Lazarus' name when he called him? So they wouldn't all rise up. That's exactly right. Yeah, because if he'd have said, come forth, everybody in that graveyard would have stood up. So specifically, Lazarus, come forth. So. Forty one father, I thank thee. 42 said, I know that thou hearest me always, but because of the people's standbys, and Lazarus come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound with a cloth. Jesus said unto him, Loose him, and let him go. Now, interesting in 45. Then many of the Jews who came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. Why did they believe?

That's quite a miracle. Hard not to. What's that? Yeah, pretty hard not to. But what does it tell you about the Jews? They saw it, so they believed it. I guess that's true of us too, huh? Do we have to see it in order to believe it? Nope. What do you think? Faith. Their faith is based on visual observation of miracles and events, right? The Jews demand a sign. So we're Greeks and we like wisdom. So what's the difference? What's the difference in our faith and the Jews' faith at this point?

We believe even though we haven't seen it. And what do we believe? We believe that Jesus is the Christ. Well, we believe He's the Christ, but where do we get the source of our information? in the Word of God. Because God said it, that's enough. We don't need to have our emotions verify it. We don't need to have our vision verify it. We observe the Word of God and that's enough. Now, lots of Christianity today is based on Judaism.

I've got to see it. I've got to feel it. I've got to walk around it seven times. I've got to do whatever. God is going to open doors and shut them? Really? There's only one thing required of me, is to believe what God has revealed. That's it. And he doesn't have to. He may, but he doesn't have to verify it by a fireworks display. So their faith is based on observable experiences and not just on the word of God.

So, 12, how did the display of God's power in Jerusalem in front of the Jewish leaders affect them, them being the Jewish leaders? And so I'm now at 46, but some of them went their way to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done, and then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees of counsel and said, what do we do?

For this man does many miracles. If we let him alone, All men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation. So what does this display of power and resurrection, those who don't believe him, what's their reaction to it? Kill Lazarus and kill him. So, and notice who it is in front of. Who are the ones that are the most vehement about this? What group? The Jewish leaders. They're the ones, and who controls them? Caiaphas. No, who controls Caiaphas? Satan.

Sure. So, do you think that resurrection life is offensive to Satan? I would think so. So, if you go over, you don't have to turn it, 2 Thessalonians 2, 10-12, and with all this deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. These Jewish leaders, and the people that don't believe, this just isn't a casual, oh, this isn't Mars Hill where they're weighing things in balance. The Lord Jesus Christ raises Lazarus from the dead, and it has an immediate, profound, and aggressive effect on those who don't believe. And they plot to kill him right away. They have to get rid of him. And the thing that I love in verse 48, it's at the end of the verse, the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. Both what? Both the nation, what's their place?

The temple. They were referring to the temple. There's a definite article before place, the place. The place, the temple. And you know what? Almost prophetic. because that's what's going to happen. I have one question to go and then we'll work on it. We'll do 21 next week.

Oh, by the way, Happy Father's Day to all you guys that are fathers. Happy Father's Day to you. Let's close in prayer. Dear Father, Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus and his resurrected life and that by your spirit has placed us in Christ. Father, that we may grow in the knowledge and grace of him and focus our attention, our love on things above and not on things of the earth. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.