Introduction: A construction worker worked on a high-rise building project, which required him and others to work after dark. He was busy on the edge of one of the walls which was many stories high, when he suddenly lost his balance and fell. As he fell over the edge, he managed to grab the edge of the wall with his fingertips. Desperately he hung on hoping that somebody would discover his perilous situation. He was in total darkness, barely hanging on to the wall, and crying for help, but no one could hear him due to the noise and machinery at the construction site. Very soon his arms begin to grow weak and his fingers began to relax. He tried very hard to force them the hold on but eventually and slowly his grip began to slip. He tried praying, but no miracle occurred. At last his fingers slipped from the wall and with a cry of horror he fell! He fell exactly 3 in. to a scaffold that had been there all the time, but he had not seen it because of the darkness.

Ever face a crisis? Ever feel that you are all alone, desperately doing all you can to save yourself, crying out for help but feeling unheard, until finally you lose all your own strength and let go?

It’s easy to give in to fear in times of crisis when we struggle because we don’t see that we are in God’s hands. And we don’t see because we surround ourselves in darkness, not literal darkness but the darkness of unbelief. (Larry Sarver)

Explanation: Crisis. Did you know that the Chinese write differently than we do? It seems they don’t have an alphabet. Rather than letters they use symbols to form words. The symbol for crises is the combination of the symbols for ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Crisis: A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point. A point in a story or drama when a conflict reaches its highest tension and must be resolved. (dictionary.com)

Have you ever noticed that some people seem to come out of a crisis stronger than they went into it while others…not so much?

Why is that? Why do some people handle a crisis better than others? I have found that what you believe to be true and what you are willing to do about it will make or break you in a crisis.
•    Lose your job. First believe that God will provide and take care of you. Second, start sending your resume or knocking on business doors. Or
•    Believe that you are doomed to be homeless and sit at home doing nothing but wallowing in your misery.

See the difference?

Perhaps one of the greatest and most frequent crisis we will ever face is a crisis of belief. When in a crisis situation…when the rubber meets the road…when all else has failed…when there seems to be no hope…
•    Do we really believe what God has said?
•    Do we really believe the promises of God?
•    Do we really believe God wants the best for us?
•    Do we really believe God is always with us?
•    Do we really believe…?
•    And are we willing to act on what we believe?

That’s where Martha and Mary are in our text today. They are facing a very real crisis of belief.
•    Do they really believe Jesus is who he says he is?
•    Do they really believe what he says?
•    Are they willing to do as he says?

Transition: We need to know how they did in their crisis of belief, because it will help us when it’s our turn. Turn in your bibles to John 11:38 (pg 821 in the bibles under the chair in front of you) where we will find that death is not the end but there is crisis of life.

John 11:38-40    The Crisis: Lazarus dead 4 days
Read: John 11:38-40

Tombs in Jesus’ day were usually caves with a large boulder rolled in front to seal the tomb. Jesus asked Marty and Martha to have the stone removed.

Martha reminded Jesus that by now Lazarus would smell really bad because of the extreme heat and the fact that he had been dead 4 days.
Jesus reminded Martha of his promise to her… ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’

Here’s Martha and Mary’s crisis of belief. Let’s look at the dynamics of the crisis.
Mary and Martha make excuses
•    He’s been dead… 4 days, he’ll stink.
•    Besides Jewish custom says that after three days the soul has no hope of returning to the body.
•    It’s too late.
Jesus makes promises
•    Believe what I say and you will see the glory of God.
•    You hold on to fiction, I will give you fact…I am the resurrection and the life, those who died and believed in me will live.
•    It is never too late.

While the exact circumstances of this crisis differs from what we usually go though, it comes down to the same thing.

We make excuses
•    It’s too hard,
•    I don’t see how this will help,
•    I don’t know how I will pay my bills, my mother could die.
We make excuses. Jesus makes promises.
•    I will never leave you nor forsake you,
•    Nothing will ever separate you form my love
•    I have cattle on a thousand hills and my storehouses are full
•    I am greater than anything that you can face…even death.
Jesus  makes promises.

Understand something, Martha and Mary had to give their permission for the stone to be moved. That’s the bottom line.
•    They had to ether believe what Jesus said and then act upon it by giving permission for the stone to be moved. That would give Jesus the opportunity to raise
     Lazarus from the dead or
•    They would not believe what Jesus said and leave the stone where it was. That means Lazarus would remain dead.

A crisis of belief. And the hardest part is never God’s..it’s ours..do we really believe? Are we wiling to act?

Transition: Let’s see what the sisters decided.

John 11:41-42    The Prayer: God hears
Read: John 11:41-42

Martha and Mary faced their crisis of belief…with faith. They had faith in God, they had faith in Jesus’ words and promises to them…and then they acted upon that faith. Remember, James tells us that ‘Faith w/o works is dead’ He meant that faith, unless acted upon is dead, meaningless faith.

Mary and Martha probably didn’t understand what Jesus was going to do, but they trusted him, they had faith in him. So they did what he asked of them. O that we would do the same.

Then Jesus thanked the Father for what he was about to do. And his prayer was public. Not so people could think what a great man of prayer he was, but so that God would be given the glory for what was about to happen…and so that people would believe in God when they see God at work.

We can learn from this too. When God has done a great thing in our life, we need to publicly give him thanks. Not to make us look like super Christians but to make God look like a great God. So that the faith of others might increased, so that some might even come to faith.

Transition: Well, no one was expecting what was going to happen next.

John 11:43-44    The Gift: Life from death
Read: John 11:43-44

Jesus said three words…Lazarus come forth. Augustine once said that if Jesus had not said Lazarus’ name, everyone who had ever died would have been raised for the dead. That’s the power of God’s Word.

Lazarus came out of the tomb like a mummy all wrapped with strips of linen cloth.

Can you imagine how the people who witnessed this must have felt?
•    What just happened? Is that who I think it is? How can this be?

Can you imagine how Martha and Mary must have felt?
•    Tears now mixed with shouts of joy. Mourning has turned into dancing. The funeral has become a party.

Wait, can you imagine how Lazarus must have felt?
•    When he heard Lazarus come forth, his heart began to beat, the blood began rushing thru his veins, his eyelids twitch, his fingers tingle and air finds its way into
      his lungs, muscles stretch and he gets up and walks… for the first time in 4 days!

Oh, how I would have loved to have been there to see Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead…raise anyone from the dead. But then again I was, when Jesus called me by name and I placed my faith in him.

Do you realize the same voice that called Lazarus out from the tomb of death, still calls people out from the tomb of sin? Has he called your name?

Transition: From the crisis of death comes life…how did the people respond to what they saw?

John 11:45-48    The Response: Faith and Fear
Read: John 11:45-48

God changes lives thru crises. Sometimes it’s the life of the one going thru the crisis, sometimes it’s the lives of those around one in the crisis. Often it’s both.
•    The Jews…some of them at least, placed their faith in Jesus.
•    While others didn’t and ran to tell on Jesus.

How is it that people seeing the same thing can have two distinctly opposite responses…faith and disbelief? I don’t know, but I believe it has something to do with our sinful natures and God’s grace.

Transition: Speaking of grace, lets see how God can use anyone to do his will for his glory. I think you might be surprised.

John 11:49-53    The Prophesy: One dies for all
Read: John 11:49-53

Caiaphas was an unknowing prophet when he said ‘You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people then the whole nation perish.’ Caiaphas didn’t know it but that was exactly what Jesus would do. Give his life for the people so they wouldn’t have to suffer death, eternal separation from God.

It just goes to show you God can and does use anyone he chooses to do his will for his glory.

Transition: With the heat turned up, what does Jesus do?

John 11:54 The Adjustment: Private ministry
Read: John 11:54

Jesus knowing his time to die is soon…but not yet, spends time with his disciples out of town, out of the sight of the religious leaders…until it was the right time.

Transition: With Jesus out of town, what’s going on in town?

John 11:55-57    The Plot: Kill Jesus   
Read: John 11:55-57

The time to celebrate the Passover was drawing near. This was one of the national holidays that all males were required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate. The buzz in town was ‘Is Jesus coming, knowing that the religious leaders plan to kill him?’

Of course, Jesus already knows what he will do.

Conclusion
I said earlier that there is a crisis in life. There was for Martha and Mary, there was for Lazarus…and there is for you too. The crisis is…you have to die in order to truly live. Death is necessary for life. It was necessary for Lazarus to die so that true faith can be developed in Martha, Mary, Lazarus and many who witnessed Jesus’ miracle.

One of the greatest hindrances to spiritual birth and continued growth is that people refuse to admit they are dead.  And often when they face a crisis of belief, rather than believe God can resurrect them from the circumstances, they refuse to acknowledge they are dead and try to work it out themselves.

A crisis
•    can turn the lost into found,
•    it can melt the heart of one hardened by sin and unbelief,
•     it can make the bitter loving and the hurting, comforted

When we die, to ourselves and live to God by believing in what he has said.

But remember an important truth from this text. It’s not enough to just believe. By definition a crisis needs action to be resolved. You must act upon your belief. Trust God in the midst of a crisis and then do as he says.

You must die…to truly live. That’s the crisis of life because death is not the end.