Do You Believe

In John 11, the story of Lazarus reveals a deeper question beneath the miracle: do you truly believe Jesus—even in the waiting? This message explores how faith grows through delay, disappointment, and a personal encounter with Christ.

Transcript

Chapter 11 is where we'll be today. John, chapter 11. It's interesting to me we're going to read today about the story of Lazarus. And it is interesting that the Gospel of John is the only gospel where we find the story of Lazarus. Isn't that interesting?

I mean, you would think of all the gospels, this, you know, Jesus was raising somebody from the dead, that that would be in every gospel, but it's only in John. And they think the reason is that John was written much later, approximately 10 years later than the other gospels, the Synoptic Gospels. It could be that Lazarus was still living. And if they were to write about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, it put even more of a target on him because he was already targeted, wanting to take him out. So it could be that that was the reason he was only entered later in the Gospel of John.

But if you found John, chapter 11, if you'll stand. Pastor Marshall mentioned that these John accounts are a little bit longer. And here we are again. It's a little bit longer, but you get this special dialogue. So let's read John 11.

1. It says now a certain man was ill. Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus.

Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. Rather, it is for God's glory. So the Son of God may be glorified through it. Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

And after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. And the disciples said to him, rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again? And Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world.

But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them. After saying this, he told them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him. The disciples said to him, lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right. Don't you love the disciples? They're going to teach Jesus, if he's just asleep, he's going to be okay.

Jesus, verse 13. Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them Plainly, Jesus, thank you for telling us plainly. Lazarus is dead. For your sake, I am glad I was not there so that you may believe.

But let us go to him. Old Thomas. Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb. Four days. Say, four days. Now. Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away.

And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary. To console them about their brother. And when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. While Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.

And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the son of God, the one coming into the world. And when she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, the teacher is here and is calling for you.

And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village. But was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her. Saw Mary get up quickly and go out.

And they followed her. Because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him. She knelt at his feet and said to him, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping.

And the Jews who came with her also weeping. And he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, lord, come and see. Jesus began to weep.

So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man. Have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

And Jesus said, take away the stone. And Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, lord, already there is a stench. Because he has been dead four days. And Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God. So they took away the stone and Jesus looked upward and said, father, I thank you for having heard me.

I know that you always hear me. But if I had said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me. And when he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth. And his face was wrapped in a cloth.

And Jesus said to them, unbind him and, and let him go. And many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. Jesus, thank you for your word. It is alive and it is active. Father, I pray that you would bring life to where there is death.

Today we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. And you may be seated. It's a long passage, but it's a good one, isn't it? It's a long one, but it's a good one.

If you will recall the theme of the Gospel of John, I have gotten to share that at least three times that I know of. One during Advent, one with the lady at the well. And now again, John 20, verse 31. It's a verse that we could commit to memory. John writes, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have eternal life in his name.

Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe he is the Son of God? John says it is only by believing that you have life. When I looked at this passage, yes, I am intrigued by Lazarus. He Yes, I'm intrigued by this face to face dialogue with Martha and Jesus.

But what stuck out to me this time was that word eight times believe, eight times believe over and over. He wants us to see this word belief. Why do you think the word belief, why would believing be so vital to Jesus? Jesus knows who he is. He's all knowing, he knows all.

Why is it so important to Jesus that we believe? Well, if you know the nature of God, he is other oriented. He gives himself away. So for us this idea of believing, it's not for God's benefit, it's for our benefit that we will would believe. And he marries the word believe with life.

It's only by believing that we experience the life of Jesus and he gives his life to us. You see it in Genesis when he does what he breathes life. And by believing we get the life of Jesus within us. You see, eternal life starts now. Not just what happens after death to this world, but no we get to experience the life of Jesus now.

And it's ongoing. Isn't that beautiful? Eight times in this passage. So Emily started doing a little study.

I love the word of God. And as I saw, okay, eight times just in this passage, John is telling us the very theme of the Gospel is to believe and have life. So I did a little word study. The word believe is written in the gospel of John 93 times. 93 times.

I did a little study about why he was using the word believe and what was happening. It's interesting because over and over, he. He would do a miracle. And then it says, and the people believed. They saw him do this, and the people believed.

The idea of the miracle is not a bad thing. However, when you see it written over and over again, you also see the heart of Jesus, where at times he says they believed, but he knew their heart. He knew that they really wanted another miracle. They had received the bread and they were hungry, so they followed him because they wanted more. They were actually chasing after the miracle instead of the miracle worker.

And if we're not careful, we'll get so hungry and desire the acts of God that we miss the nature of who he is. 93 times. Remember, Thomas said, I'll only believe if I see and I touch. And Jesus said, blessed are those who don't see and yet believe. I hear Jesus saying, harvest point.

Will you believe me? Do you believe me? In the early 90s, there was a book that came out by old Gary Chapman, a Baptist minister. Some of y' all may have read the book. It was on the five Love Language.

Y' all remember that book, the Love Languages. How some is touch or time or words of affirmation or gifts. You could even get the book about your children's love languages. You read about it. It's so interesting.

It's a beautiful idea of knowing how someone receives love. And I heard recently on a podcast, and I love this, it said, I think God's love language is true trust.

Will you believe me? Will you believe me? Will you believe me, period? Will you believe me when I don't come? When you expect me to?

Will you believe me when the healing doesn't come? Will you believe me when you can't see that I'm moving? Waymaker, Will you believe me, period? From this passage, we find some ways that Martha chose to believe.

If you want your growth to grow in your faith or grow in your belief, one way is friendship with Jesus. Friendship with Jesus relationship is important in this passage. It tells us that Martha, Mary and Lazarus. They were what? They were friends with Jesus.

They were friends with Jesus. They would invite Jesus over, and Martha would do roasts and potatoes, and she would invite him into her home, and he was welcome there. Him and the disciples could come over if he needed to get away. He would just go to Martha's house. He was welcome.

And guess what? She was welcome in his presence. They were friends. The passage says that actually they loved each other. They loved each other.

And so when Lazarus became ill, what did the sisters do? They said, oh, well, we'll just send a little message to Jesus and he'll come and heal, right? He loves us. It's interesting in the passage, it doesn't say that they sent a message saying, Lazarus is ill. Could you please come and heal him? No, they just sent him a message that Lazarus is ill.

Enough said, right? I've seen God heal. I know he can do it.

And actually, he had healed people without even going. He could heal from a distance. And so these sisters said, oh, Lazarus is ill, but no need to worry. Well, just tell Jesus. So we're going to send a message and that the one you love.

Did you see that in the scripture? The one you love is ill. They had an expectation that the healer would come. They had an expectation, I've seen you do it for others, and you love us. So if I just send the message, he's going to come.

They fully expected a healing. They had faith that he could do it. Jesus hears the news and he tells the disciples the ending of the story. He tells them, this illness does not end in death. Rather, it is for God's glory.

Interesting. For God's glory. It says, so the Son of God may be glorified through it. Can I tell you, brothers and sisters, that you may be going through a situation or where the Son of God may be getting glory as you go through it. Maybe not a situation that you would have prayed for.

You could have already gone through some things where you look back and you said, oh, God got the glory for that. This was a situation where God was going to get the glory. But Martha and Mary didn't know. They just expected. We tell Jesus and he'll come.

John says, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, John could have wrote, even though Jesus loved them. No, no, no. He individually wants us to see. He's emphasizing here. He loved them individually.

He loved Martha, he loved Mary, he loved Lazarus. And he remained where he was two more days, intentionally waiting on purpose. Jesus did not go. He got the message and he stayed put. The healing did not come.

Jesus delayed coming. Friends, God's delay doesn't mean deny. God's delay doesn't mean you're declined. Sometimes God is delayed on purpose. It wasn't a no.

It was a not yet. It wasn't a no. It was a not yet. You've got to look at this passage in verse 6. Look at the wording.

So he says, he loved Martha, he loved Mary, he loved Lazarus. So he waited two more days. It was because he loved him, he waited. What? It doesn't say, but your passage may say.

Therefore he waited. The passage I read says accordingly, he. He loved them, and so accordingly he waited.

Sometimes God doesn't come when we expect him to, but he loves us. And it's for us. There is a bigger victory to be seen. Mary and Martha didn't know it in the moment. They couldn't understand why he didn't come.

But there was a bigger victory that was coming. And he waited. He tells the disciples that Lazarus is asleep. That's how he refers to it. He says, I'm going to go wake him up.

And then he says, I'm going to tell you plainly, I'm glad for your benefit I wasn't there. Why? He tells the disciples, so you may believe what the disciples believed. This is your. This is your posse.

These are your besties. They believe in you, Jesus. And he says no. So they will believe. Now, did they know who Jesus was?

Absolutely. Had they seen Jesus do miracles? Absolutely. But what did they need to know? He wanted them to see and to witness that he had victory over death itself.

Victory over death itself. You see, the cross was before Jesus. He wanted the disciples to see that even death is no enemy that is too strong for me. I have victory over death itself. He says, this is for your benefit.

I'm glad that I'm not going right away because I want to teach you something. Is God teaching you something in the waiting? Is God teaching you something? You see, it's one thing to believe Jesus can heal you, but it's quite another thing to believe he can restore life to what is dead. Those are two different issues.

Does anybody hear me preaching? It is one thing to know Jesus can bring healing. It is another thing to experience life to something that was dead. To go from dead to life. So you.

They arrive and it says, lazarus has been dead. How many? He's been in the tomb how many days? Four days. Now this is interesting because if you do a study, you'll find that the Jews had a superstition wasn't true.

But there was a superstition that when a body died that the spirit would linger for three days and may come back to the person. But after the three days, that's it. Can't come back. So Jesus waits four days. I don't want you to get it twisted, and I don't want you to get it confused and just think of the superstition.

No, I'm going to wait until, you know, there is no other way but the name of Jesus that could bring life to this. So he waits the four days. Now, Bethany was clean.

I love John. I love John. He tells you. He says, Bethany was close to Jerusalem, like two miles. So lots of people have come to grieve with the sisters because it was a good location.

So lots of people have come to console them. Now imagine if you were Mary and Martha.

You fully expected Jesus to come. You fully expected Jesus to come and bring healing. And you wait. Now you're taking care of your brother. You've got the washcloth on his head.

You're fixing him the chicken noodle soup, but you're expecting. I'm just looking out the window. He'll come anytime. He'll come anytime. People are bringing food.

Some KFC has been dropped off. You're waiting. And then he dies. He dies. And all these people are gathering, people that are thinking, oh, didn't Jesus love them?

Wait a second. This Jesus who's brought healing to other people, wasn't this a Jesus that was just here a few weeks ago? And they were playing games together? Like, isn't this the people that Jesus loves? Why didn't he come for you?

They put him in the tomb. They have the funeral, and guess who didn't come? Jesus. All the people are there and watching, and your heart is breaking and you are grieving for your brother, and you are disappointed and you are confused, and quite frankly, you're angry.

I've seen you do it for others. Jesus, why did you not come?

He's been in the tomb four days, and they get word. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. What would you do in that moment? You've still got a house full of people.

Everyone's visiting, all the food's there. Your heart is breaking and you hear that now, Jesus is coming.

Well, let's see what Martha does. Martha's response is to go to Jesus. And I tell you, if you want your faith and your belief to grow, you need friendship with Jesus. You have to have relationship, but you also need to go to Jesus directly. Go to Jesus directly.

You see, belief Grows in his presence. She goes to him. She doesn't even wait until he gets to the house. Don't you love that she meets him at the city, at the road, at the gate. She goes straight to Jesus.

She goes to him and no, that was her default. Don't you love Martha? We learn at a different passage. She was having one of her dinner parties and remember she got a little upset with her sister who was not helping with the preparations. And you remember what she did?

She went straight to Jesus. Then would you tell her to get in the kitchen and help me? I love that because all of us can relate. You know how sometimes you're just making eye contact with somebody, like, I need you to help me. And you don't want to just make, you know, just say she just goes to Jesus.

Tell her to help me. I love it. She goes straight to Jesus every time. Martha goes to him quickly and she goes to him honestly.

We can learn from Martha when we have that situation, to go to him quickly. With our pain, yes. With our frustration, yes. With our doubt. Yes.

With our anger. Yes. Jesus is big enough for our anger and for our doubt. You can take it all to him. She goes to him all honestly.

Will you go to him honestly? You know, Jesus already knows what we're feeling. But because he's our Father, he wants to hear it from us. He wants us to share with him what we're feeling. She goes straight to him.

She carries it to him and watch Jesus response to her. Martha approaches him before he ever gets to her house. And Martha is welcome in his presence. He doesn't talk down to her. He actually has a theological conversation with her right there on the road.

He loves her. The first thing she says to him is, lord, if you had been here, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She starts with Lord. Lord. She knows who he is.

Lord. If you had been here, she had all the faith. She believed he could bring the healing. If you had been here, it would have been different. But I can almost hear her say, you know what?

The hope of healing is over. He's been dead four days. So that's past. But had you been here, I know he would have been healed. I have faith in he would have been healed had you been here.

But listen to her next line. She says, but even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him. But even now she still has faith. No, I don't think she had any idea that Jesus was about to bring him back from the dead. Like I Don't know that that was even on her agenda.

But. But she says, even now, even in my pain, even in my disappointment, even in my questions, even in my frustration and even in my grief, even now I know that you were able. Does anybody have an even now faith? Even now, even though I didn't see you do it then, even now I believe Jesus. I believe.

And Jesus tells her her brother will rise again. And she thinks he means at the last, when everyone is raised. And he tells her the words I am one of the seven I am statements. He says to Martha, right there in the city on the dusty road. I am the resurrection and the life.

He's saying, you're looking at him, you're looking at him. I am the resurrection and the life. Even though he dies, he believed in me, he will live.

You believe in me, you never die. Eternal life. He's saying, lazarus believed in me and though he dies, he will live. And the same for you. And then he asked her directly, and I believe he is asking us today and harvest point in 2026.

He looks at her in the face, a woman whose heart is broken, a woman who has some frustration and questions. And he looks at her and he says, do you believe? It is a face to face intimate encounter with Jesus. And he asks us personally, but do you believe?

Not. Does your mama believe?

Not. Does your grandpa believe? Do you believe, brother in the tomb for four days. Expectation, hope, despair, disappointment. Do you believe?

And her response is, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. To linger in the yes Lord moment, she says, yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world. I love it. The present, present tense, the one coming.

I believe Jesus. I believe.

In that next portion, if you want your faith to grow, you need friendship with Jesus. You also need to go to him directly. But it's a life that's meant to be shared. Belief grows when you share them. Friends, don't miss this beautiful portion of the passage.

After she has this even now faith moment with Jesus, it says she goes back to her. Who? Her sister. Her sister says she goes to her sister quietly. Why?

Because all the people have gathered and she wants her sister to have a face to face, one on one encounter with Jesus like she did. So she doesn't want to draw all the crowd to Jesus, she just wants her sister to go. You know, oftentimes we hear about the significance of marriage. Yes, great. We need to.

The significance of our children parent relationship. Yes. Oftentimes we don't focus on sibling relationships enough. And Jesus wants us to see the picture of this sibling relationship. It is an important relationship.

So Martha goes to Mary, the one who didn't come when she heard Jesus was there. Isn't that interesting? Maybe Mary is so overwhelmed with grief she couldn't move. Maybe she was so distracted by the pain, she didn't hear that Jesus was coming. For whatever reason, Mary stayed where she was in the house.

And Martha goes to her. You know what she says? She says, the teacher is here and he is calling for you. The Teacher is here, and he is calling for you. What more beautiful thing could she have said to her sister but that the Lord is here and he's calling for you.

Very personal friends, it may be that we have a sibling relationship, and the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart. He doesn't ask us to fix all the relationship issues. He's not asking us to solve the dilemma. But. But sometimes he does ask us to go to our sibling and say, the teacher is calling for you.

We just direct them to the one, the Teacher. The Teacher is calling for you. He brings resurrection life into our relationships, even our sibling relationships. And so Mary goes to Jesus. And Mary kneels at his feet, which is a beautiful posture that.

That we often see Mary in, right? That's where she was at the dinner party when sister got a little upset. We'll see in the very next chapter where she pours out the perfume at his feet.

She goes to Jesus, who, interesting enough, Jesus hasn't moved from that. From that position at the city gate. There he was, right where had left him. And Mary goes and she kneels at his feet. And she says the exact same thing her sister had said.

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died in my mind's eye. Mary and Martha had said that a few times over the last four days. If he had been here. If he had been here, she tells Jesus, if you had been here. Then Mary begins to weep.

She's weeping at his feet. And then you see the picture of Jesus. And what does he do? He cries.

Jesus knew he was about to heal and bring Lazarus back to life. And yet in the moment of Mary's pain, he cries with her the compassion of the Lord. He sees us when we cry, and he cares. He cares. And then they go to the tomb.

And this is where Jesus says, move the stone away. Roll the stone away. And old Martha, here she is. She goes right on back to Jesus. Here we go.

She goes straight back to Jesus. Jesus. It would be a bad smell. It's been four days. Like she's gonna bring it up one more time.

I love it. I love Martha. Practically speaking. My brother's been dead four days. Four days, Jesus.

And this is the only time we see Jesus kind of. Not that he's angry, but he says, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? Have you ever had those moments with Jesus where he just reminds you, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see. Hang on to what he has told you, friend. So he's standing at the tomb and he says, move what is blocking?

It's so interesting because Jesus has all power. He can definitely move the stone. But he asked us to participate. He asked us to move what is hindering. He says, I can bring Lazarus back to life, but I want to use you to move what is blocking?

What have you put in the way of Jesus bringing life? What are you holding on to that is blocking? And Jesus says, move the stone away. Oh Jesus. It's gonna smell.

Oh Jesus. No, move the stone away. And I can just see Martha give the little nod to the guys like, okay. And they moved the stone away. And Jesus prays out loud that they may believe God, I know you hear me, but I'm saying this so they may believe Lazarus come out.

And the passage, excuse me, the passage ends with saying, many of the Jews, they did what they believed, they saw and they believed. You see, because Jesus waited. It gave opportunity for more people to come and gather. Because Jesus waited, more people saw the miracle because he loved them. He waited.

Not just loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus, but he loved every one of those Jews who had gathered. He wanted them to see it. He wanted them to believe. He wants us to believe him. His love language is trust.

Will you believe? They saw and they believed. Lazarus raised from the dead. The delay was in fact divine. The delay didn't mean denied, delay did not mean declined.

But the delay was divine. It was on purpose. Friends, today, as we have gathered as a church family, some of you say, yes, I believe. I know that he is able. And some of us need to say, but help my unbelief, I know that you can, but I've been waiting for so long, I didn't see the healing.

And Jesus is still working and Jesus is still able. If you want your faith to grow, friends, we need to have a friendship with Jesus. We need a relationship with Jesus. Not a relationship just based on our parents faith or our pastor's faith, but a personal relationship with Jesus. A friendship with Jesus.

If you want your Faith to grow. We need to go to him directly. Personal encounter, face to face. Jesus and Martha, right there, when he says, do you believe? It's personal.

We have to choose. We can go to him quickly. We can go to him honestly. He wants to hear it from you. And if we want our faith to grow, we share it.

We go back to our sister and say, the, the Teacher's calling for you. It's not just for me. He's calling for you. He wants you.

We can share him. So today, friends, his message to us eight times in this passage, believe, believe, believe. Do you believe me? Will you stand with me?

Jesus, we hear you today. You have spoken clearly. You want us to believe. And Jesus, that's a personal response, every one of us that you are calling to deeper faith. Jesus, throughout this room, there are people going through hard situations.

There are people that are praying for lost loved ones. There are people that are praying for healing. There are people that need a miracle in their marriage. There are people that are praying for direction, for school and career and future choices. Father, there are really big issues.

And we hear you saying, do you believe? Do you believe me? Even when there's a delay, even when we don't see it, even when we don't hear it, even when we don't see you moving, do you believe? And Father, we want to respond by saying, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, we believe.

We believe you are the Son of God. We believe you are the Messiah. May we have an even now faith. Father, we love you. We trust you.

If your love language is believe, we believe. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.