Alright, this evening we're in
John 11 and this is my subject. I want to see if I can answer
the question, why did Lazarus get sick and die? Why did Lazarus get sick and
die? That he got sick, well, it's
obvious in the Scriptures because verse number 3 of John 11 Mary
and Martha, his sisters, sent word. They said, Lord. That's
a good way to approach him. Lord. Master. Ruler. Sovereign ruler. They said, he whom thou lovest
is sick. They didn't say the one who loves
you, though I'm sure Lazarus did love him. I'm sure that Mary
loved him, and I'm sure that Martha loved him. But that's
not a love that's worth talking about. It's like ours isn't. That's what John said over in
his first epistle. He said, herein is love. Not that we love God, but we
do, don't we? Don't we love God? We love Him
because He first loved us. But He said, herein is love.
Not that we love God, but that God loved us. And gave His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. So, this is the right way
to go to the Lord Jesus Christ to make requests of Him. He was sick. He loved the Lord,
but he got sick. His sisters loved the Lord, but
he still got sick. Deathly sick. Our Lord Jesus
would often visit them in Bethany. He felt evidently a goodly measure
of joy and comfort in their company and in their fellowship. They
would just welcome him in. And he was loved there. But still,
Lazarus got sick. You see, sickness is not an indication
of God's anger or God's wrath. Sickness is not an indication
that God's mad at you. Not at all. This is where Job's
friends made their mistake. They said, boy, you must have
done something really bad for all of these things to happen
to you. Don't ever set yourself up as
a judge. You see somebody who's afflicted,
somebody who has surgery, got to have surgery, somebody who
has serious illnesses, some serious illness, in your mind, don't
ever say, well, I wonder what they did to deserve that. Here's a man who loved Christ
Jesus. And more than that, this is a
man that Christ Jesus loved. But he got sick. We often ask God concerning the
sick, just as I did a few minutes ago, Lord, if it be Your will,
heal the sick. And we ask that He will. We pray that He will. And you
know, sometimes He does. And that's wonderful. But lots
of times, He doesn't. He doesn't. If everybody we prayed
for, if they were to recover from their sickness, nobody would
ever die. You see, this man, Lord, He whom
thou lovest is sick. He got sick and moreover, He
died. He died. Well, how could this
happen? He's an object of divine love. He's one of the Lord's little
ones. This is a man that Christ stood
for Him in the covenant of grace before the world began. He's
an object of God's sovereign mercy. The Lord Jesus entered
into this world to save this man and all of his elect by his
death upon the cross of Calvary. There's no question of what the
Lord loves him. The Lord effectually brought
Lazarus to a knowledge of himself and yet he died. He got sick
and he died. And here's the question. Why
did he get sick? Why did he die? I think there
are four reasons there in the verses that I read to you a little
earlier. Verses 4, 15, 45, and 53. These verses will answer the
question. Why did Lazarus get sick and
die? And without any further introduction,
let's just get right into it. Verse 4. Here's the first reason. Verse 4. The Lord Jesus Whenever
these messengers, whoever the messengers were that came to
Him with the message from Mary and Martha, Behold, he whom thou
lovest is sick. When the Lord Jesus heard what
they had to say, He said to the messengers and He said to His
disciples, There's sickness. There's sickness. It's not unto
death. This is not going to be the end
of Lazarus. But this is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." We know this. Everything God does is for His
glory. It's for His glory. And when
you get sick, when you have to go to the hospital, when you
have to face surgery, when you have to face some kind of disease,
the doctor comes in and says, you know, we got the test results
back and, you know, you got cancer, you got a heart disease, or you
got this problem, you got that problem. Remember this, you who
are the people of God, you are the children of God. Here's the
very first reason for your sickness. And even if you die, it's the
first reason for that as well. It's for God's glory. It's for
God's glory. Everything God does is always
with the view to His glory. And I know most people in religion
haven't learned that. But we'll go a long ways toward
understanding the Word of God when we come to grips with this
absolute fact, everything God does is for His glory. The Lord Jesus says to the messengers
and He says to His disciples, And these are the men, we've
been talking about these men, we will be for another couple
of Sundays in our Bible classes on Sunday morning. These are
the men our Lord chose among the salvation. He called them
to be disciples and now He's called them as we study there
in Matthew chapter 10, He's called them to be apostles. These men
are going to be sent out to preach the Gospel. They have much to
learn. And they sit at the Lord's feet.
He says, I'm going to send you forth to preach the gospel. And
these men are there. And He says to them, this death,
this sickness is not unto death. It's for God's glory. They needed
to hear that because that's the message they need to preach,
you see. After our Lord's ascension, He
sends him forth. He says, go ye into all the world
and preach the Gospel. And that which they need to understand
is everything that they do, everything that they say, everything is
for God's glory. And God's going to get the glory
through the preaching of the gospel. And God's going to get
the glory through the sickness of Lazarus. He's going to get
the glory through your sickness. It's for God's glory. And when
you die, child of God, it's for His glory. It's for the glory
of His grace that lifted you up and made you to be a child
of God. It's for His glory. Here's Lazarus,
loved of the Lord. He's a child of God. God is glorified
in this. And that poor Lazarus, I don't
know what's the matter with him, but he's got an awful sickness.
And he's not going to get up off his sick bed. This is a sickness
that will ultimately take his life, though he will be raised
again. Which is why the Lord says, it's
not unto death. But our Lord Jesus would have
everybody know, this is for the glory of God. All that God does
is for His glory. Everything in creation, that's
for His glory. What does it say over and over
in Psalm 19? Psalm 19 verse 1. The heavens,
the heavens, what do they declare? His glory. His glory. What about the work of providence? Directing all things. Ruling
everything. That's for His glory. What about salvation? That's
for His glory. For His glory. It's for the glory
of God. You see, God is the one who chose
Lazarus unto salvation. God's the one who saved him by
His grace. God's the one who justified him.
And whatever happens to Lazarus, he's going to be just fine. Whether
he's on his sickbed, whether he's on his deathbed, or whether
he's in the tomb. He's going to be just fine. Because
everything God does regarding this man is for God's glory and
you know what? It is also for Lazarus' good. Because we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. So this is not going to work
out bad for Lazarus. It's going to work out good for
Lazarus, but here's the first thing. It's for the Lord's glory. It's for the Lord's glory. Look again at verse 4. When Jesus heard, when He heard
what they had to say, He said, this sickness is not unto death,
Now be real careful when you read this verse. Because if you're
not careful, you might read it this way. This sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God, and the Son of God will
be glorified thereby. This is not two different things,
the glory of God and the glory of Jesus Christ. These are inseparable. And I want you to see that. You've
got to pay special attention to that. The glory of God and
the glory of the Son of God are forever joined together. In other words, if you really
glorify the Father, you're glorifying the Son. And if you really glorify
the Son, you'll be glorifying the Father because God has so
arranged it that His glory and the glory of His only begotten
Son are inseparable. Inseparable. The Lord Jesus has
already spoken about the Father glorifying and honoring Him. Go back to chapter 8. of John. Go back to chapter 8. He's already
spoken about the Father glorifying and honoring Him, and He's spoken
about the Son of God glorifying and honoring the Father. John
8. Look at verse 47. Let's just begin here. He that
is of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said
to him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast
a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a
devil, but if I honor my father, if I glorify my father, but I honor my, not if, Jesus
answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father, or I glorify
my father, and you dishonor, or you don't glorify me. That can't happen. In other words, if God is honored,
if the father is honored, the son of God's gonna be honored.
But he says, I honor the Father, but you dishonor me. And yet,
you know what they thought they did? They thought they were honoring
God. They thought they always honored God, but that can't be.
You cannot honor God and dishonor the Lord Jesus. You cannot glorify
God on the one hand and then not glorify the Son of God on
the other hand. The glory of God and the glory
of Christ Jesus are inseparable. That's what he's saying. They're
inseparable. Read on. Verse 50. I seek not
mine own glory, Why would He say that? He's the
Son of Man. He's the willing servant of Jehovah. He came to do the Father's will. He said, not my will, but Thy
will be done. Now we know that His will and
the Father's will are one. But He has willingly stepped
down from glory He has robed His deity in humanity and He
is Jehovah's perfect servant. He's come to serve the cause
of God and do the work that God gave Him to do in the covenant
of grace, which is the salvation of His elect by His bloody death
upon the cross of Calvary. He's the servant of God. So He
says, I don't seek my own glory, but watch this. There is one
that seeketh and judgeth. He says, there is one who does
seek my glory. All of God's people, of course,
we seek His glory. You want His glory. I know you
do. But that's not who's being spoken of in the context. There is one that seeketh and
judgeth. That's the Father. The Father
is seeking the glory of Christ Jesus. He's seeking the glory
of His Son. The glory of His Son. Okay, verse
51. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Well, then said
the Jews unto him, Now we know thou hast a devil. Abraham is
dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying,
he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead? Whom makest
thou thyself? Jesus answered, if I honor, if
I glorify myself, my honor, my glory is nothing. It's my father. It's my father
that honoreth me. It's my father who glorifies
me, of whom ye say that he's your God. Yet ye have not known him, but
I know him. And if I should say I know him
not, I shall be a liar like unto you. But I know him, and I keep
his say. I honor my Father, and you dishonor
me. I glorify my Father, but you
don't glorify my Father. The Father seeks the glory of
Christ Jesus. Now, I want you to take a little
closer look At these words, honor, like up in verse 49, and dishonor. And in verse 54, honor and honoreth. That's certainly another word
of synonym for glory or glorify or glorified, but it does have
a different meaning. And that can best be seen by
looking at another passage of Scripture. I want you to hold
your place in John chapter 8 because I want to come back to it. But
I want you to go, if you would, over to Matthew chapter 27. Look in Matthew chapter 27. Let's do a little word study. Let's
study the Word on her. Honor, which you can look it
up in a thesaurus. A synonym for honor is glory. One that honoreth another is
one who glorifies another. Here's the setting. Judas, he betrayed the Lord Jesus. It was his idea, and he said
how much you want. He said, I'll take 30 pieces
of silver. We know from the Book of Exodus,
that's the price of a slave. You hired a slave. You hired
another man's slave, and he got killed in the service that you
gave him to do, digging a ditch or whatever. And he died. Well, you'd have to give that
guy 30 pieces of silver. That's the price of a slave,
a common slave. That's how much the Lord Jesus
meant to Judas. Price for common slave. And we know that in verse 3,
then Judas, which had betrayed Him, Matthew 27.3, when he saw that
he was condemned, he repented himself. He didn't repent to
God. He sure felt sorry by his conscience is bothered within,
but there is no godly repentance. This is not an evangelical repentance. He brought again the 30 pieces
of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned
in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is
that to us? So what see thou to that? Well, he cast down the pieces
of silver in the temple. He departed and went and hanged
himself. And the chief priest took the
silver pieces and said, well, it's not lawful for to put them
into the treasury because it's the price of blood. So they took
counsel and put their heads together and said, well, we'll buy a piece
of ground. We'll buy a potter's field to
bury the strangers in, the poor folks, and so forth. Wherefore,
that field was called the field of blood. unto this day. Now,
verse nine, then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah
the prophet, saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver,
that is the price of him that was valued, whom they of the
children of Israel did value. The words in verse number, Nine,
value and valued are just a different way of translating honor and
honoreth. You see, when you honor somebody,
you consider them to be of great value to you. To be of great
value. Another word would be very precious. The Lord Jesus, He wasn't precious
to Judas. He was of no real value to Judas. Judas said, I'll take 30 pieces
of silver. That's all I'm charging you.
Well, this is dirt cheap. That's the price of a common
slave. He didn't value the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this. He wasn't alone
in the way he felt either. Because the last statement of
verse 9 says, Whom they of the children of Israel did value.
Once again, the word is honor. In other words, you want to know
how much the people of Israel as a whole, you want to know
how much they valued Jesus of Nazareth? They valued Him to
the same extent as Judas did. He was no more to them than He
was to Judas. They didn't honor Him. He was
of no value to them. Is it not written in Isaiah chapter
53, we saw no beauty in Him? They saw nothing in Him of any
value, of any virtue? And this is what the Scripture
is saying here when it says the price of Him that was valued,
whom the children of Israel did value. In other words, that which
the honor, if you'd call it honor, really the dishonor that Judas
had for Jesus of Nazareth as he valued Him, that's the way
the children of Israel valued Him as a whole. He was nothing
to them. He was nobody to them. He was no better than an ordinary
common slave. Let me give you one other reference
on this. Look at Matthew chapter 15. Look at Matthew 15 and verse
8. And here's what I want you to
remember, the word honor means to value. To value. To place a value upon. Look at Matthew 15 verse 8. This people draweth nigh unto
me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips. Oh, if you
listen to what they, the words that come out of their mouth,
I'm of great value to them. You know how they spoke of Him?
Master? Rabbi? Great teacher? Physician? He said, oh, you honor
me, you value me, but only with your lips. Only with your lips. Because
he says in at the last of verse eight, but their heart is far
from me. So hypocritical. Now, go back
to John 8. Go back to John chapter 8. So
this is what is being stated here in John chapter 8. Since
we now know the deeper meaning of the words honor and honoreth,
it means to value. Look again at verse 49. Jesus
answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my Father. I value
my Father above all others. I value Him above all others. And you don't value Me. You don't consider Me to be of
any worth. Of any worth. Look down further what He says
in verse 54 again. Verse 54, Jesus answered, If I honor, if
I value myself, if I set myself forth as valuable as a man, and
He's speaking as a man, as the perfect man, Christ Jesus, He
says, My honor is nothing. It is my Father that values me. He has declared my value. And
the Father over and over again declared the value of the Lord
Jesus. Let me give you another ref. Go back to John 5. And this sheds
some light on John chapter 5. And we don't need to get into
the context again. You know about this man who's
been lame 38 years and our Lord, He healed him. He was the only
man there that day that the Lord healed. And then the Lord appeared
to him later and revealed Himself to him. The Jews were angered
because the Lord healed him. And because He healed him on
the Sabbath day, Now look at verse 17, Jesus answered
them and said, my father worketh, hitherto and I work. Therefore,
the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself
equal with God. And then our Lord Jesus begins
to speak about himself. And he says this, drop down to
verse 22. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son. What does that mean now? That
all men should place a high value on the Son of God. All men should
consider me to be absolutely precious. And you know what? The people of God, we do consider
Him to be precious. 1 Peter chapter 2 says that. To those who believe He is precious. He is of great, great value. None so valuable as our Lord
Jesus. He is the pearl of great price. That all men should honor the
Son. That all men should value the
Son. Do you value the Son of God? That all men should value or
honor the Son even as they value and honor the Father. Now watch
this. He's speaking. Now remember who
He's speaking to. Anytime you study in the passage
of Scripture, you've got to consider who the audience is. Well, who's
the audience here? These are Pharisees who are ready
to kill Him. And He says this, He that honoreth
not the Son, He who doesn't value the Son of God, honoreth not,
does not value the Father who sent him. And you see, these
people said, we love God, we honor God, we value God, but
you, we have no use for you. And our Lord Jesus says, listen,
if you don't value me, you don't value the Father, because my
value and his value are inseparable. My glory and His glory cannot
be separated. And that is exactly what's being
said over here in John chapter 11 and verse 4. This sickness
is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of
God might be glorified thereby. When God is glorified, Christ
Jesus is glorified. When God is valued above all
others, Christ Jesus is valued above all others. And I want you to see this, and
my time for tonight is gone, so we'll have to finish this
next Wednesday night. But I want you to see this, the
glory of God, the glory of the Son of God, and the glory of
God, they cannot be separated. And I have one more reference
for you to go to, Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. You're
very familiar with this passage of Scripture. I suspect some
of you already know where I'm going in this. Philippians chapter
2. Look at verse 5. Let this mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him." God's glorified him. God's magnifying. He's exalting Him. He's given
Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus,
every knee should bow. Of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That Jesus Christ is Lord. That's
His glory. To the glory of God the Father.
You can't separate their glories. And if you don't honor the Lord
Jesus Christ as He set forth in the Word of God, say what
you will, you're not honoring God. If you don't glorify the
Son of God, if you don't value Him, whatever profession you might
have about loving God, You don't value God either. You see what
this does? This just sends a dagger to the
heart of those who deny the deity of the Lord Jesus. Who say, we
love God! Well, do you believe that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Son of God, the everlasting God, the everlasting
Father? As it says in Isaiah chapter
9 verse 6, well, no, we don't believe that. Well, you don't
honor the Son, therefore you don't honor the Father either.
You don't value the Father, so you don't honor the Son. You
don't glorify the Father, you don't glorify the Son because
their glory goes together. And here's the first reason Lazarus
got sick and died. for the glory of God, that the
Son of God might be glorified. That we value Him above all others,
don't we? We value the Father as we value
the Son. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift.