The Testing of Faith Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Testing of Faith Part 1. He will be in John 11:1-3.

There is a false teaching permeating in evangelical Christianity that if you get sick or something happens to you, there must be something wrong with your faith. But friends, I want to remind you that we are all flawed beings.

Welcome to the Hope Worth Having program. We’re delighted that you’re with us today. This is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church. And we are delighted that this week we can share God’s word with you.

And we’re going to be in John Chapter 11, verses 1 through 13. And I want to begin a series on the testing of faith. So I hope you’ll grab your Bible, get a pen and a piece of paper. And let’s start learning together as we study in John Chapter 11.

If you have your Bible this morning, join me in the Gospel of John. And John Chapter 11, verse 1 through 16 is our text this morning. We have officially made it halfway through the Gospel of John. And that’s quite an accomplishment for our church family.

And so we’re journeying through the Gospel of John, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, just learning as we are watching, experiencing the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. When we come to John Chapter 11, there is a momentous event that takes place in this chapter.

So momentous, not even one sermon could cover all that God would want us to learn in this chapter. But many of you are familiar because you are students of the Bible. And you know that this is when…

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. In the first part of this chapter, I want to talk to you about the testing of your faith. Ravi Zacharias in his book entitled, Jesus Among Other Gods, he writes these words and I quote, faith is confidence in the person of Jesus Christ and in his power.

So that even when his power does not serve my end, my confidence in him remains because of who he is, end of quote. When I read that, I thought how true that is in our life. Even when you come to the great faith chapter of Hebrews chapter 11, And after you spend time reading of the great exploits of God’s people who showed great faith, at the end of the chapter we find that the writer does not even mention their names,

but he gives honor to those who have gone on before us, and they had great faith too, but things did not turn out like they had hoped. Things did not come to the end as they wanted it to be. Even though they faced such trying circumstances and persecutions, and the trials that were before them seemed overwhelming, their faith was true, and that in the midst of the testing of their faith, they did not retreat from loving God.

They did not retreat from believing in God, but they still had faith. I think something that we have to learn this morning is that so many times we define faith as we believe this and it happened. But I say to you that faith is we believe this and it didn’t happen, but I still believe in Christ.

I still believe in God. During our trials we often ask, if God loves me so much, why is this happening? And that is the story that we find in our text this morning. It is the trial and the testing of Mary and Martha’s faith, and even Lazarus, the disciples of Jesus, and they learn an invaluable lesson this morning.

That there are many things in this world that are mysterious but yet they are under the control of God and that God is always working about things in our life to bring about His glory and our good. The first thing I’d like to submit for you to consider this morning is that sometimes it seems that the love of Christ makes little difference in my life.

A lot of people feel that way and I want you to look at chapter 11 verse 1 and notice what the text says, now a certain man was sick, his name Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha, and it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore, his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 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 thereby.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, and when he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Every time I read those six verses, I’m just overwhelmed with the focus being on the love that Jesus has for this family, and how close and dear they were to him, and that this was not just an acquaintance relationship, but rather this was an intense friendship that Jesus had,

and that this family became almost like a family that if Jesus was out ministering, they always opened their home to him, and they were always ready for him, and they had great conversations with him.

This was a family that dearly loved Jesus, and Jesus dearly loved them, and that’s why I say to you that sometimes it seems that our love for God makes little difference in our life. We’re under the persuasion that somehow that if I love God enough, that I will get the outcomes in my life that I want, that if I love God enough, that I’ll always see things unfold exactly as they should be, or what I desire in my heart,

but the truth is, that’s not always true. Verse 3 introduces us to a difficult concept to understand, that the relationship between the love of Christ and the sufferings of His people, and sometimes those who love Him the most suffer the most.

And we see this unfold throughout scriptures. I don’t want you out of fear saying, I don’t want to love God too much because I’m afraid too many trials are going to come into my life. That’s not my point, but I’m certain that we must run away from the myth that if I love God enough, my life will be easy.

I say just the opposite. The more you love Him, the more intense the spiritual battle is. If Jesus loved Lazarus, why? Was he sick? Look at verse three. Therefore, his sisters sent unto him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

There is a false teaching permeating in evangelical Christianity. Unfortunately, it’s taught in some churches and that if you get sick or something happens to you, there must be something wrong with your faith.

There must be something that God is upset with in your life. But friends, I wanna remind you that we are all flawed beings and we are sinful people. We come into this world sinful. And yes, that affects our desires.

It affects our actions, our attitudes, our thoughts, and every aspect of our life, but it also affects our body. These bodies do not last forever. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as you get older, you have more aches and pains.

I take more leave in my life at 49 than I ever did at 29. When I was a young man in Bible college, my professor would complain about his aches in his body. And I used to think, what’s wrong with this guy?

He’s got all kinds of problems. He’s always telling us his physical problems. And I’m 49 and I’m thinking, man, I understand. You see, I understand. Because as we get older, our bodies don’t function like they do, they used to, and therefore, we have flawed bodies and sickness comes into our life, but because sickness comes into our life, does not mean that God does not love you.

Please note that this morning, look at verse four. When Jesus heard that he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for… for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. I want you to remember that even in our sickness, even in our sufferings, even in our struggles, God has a purpose, God has a plan, and ultimately it is about His glory.

We’re not told much about Lazarus except for the intense love that Jesus had for him, but the chapter’s really not about Lazarus, it’s about the glory of God, and the glory of God being manifested. Our prayer should be, Lord, I pray that even in my sickness, even in my struggle, that you would be glorified in my life.

Some of you are walking through some deep valleys, and you are having some trying times. Our prayer by faith has to be, Lord, be glorified. Lord, be glorified. I don’t understand it all. There are mysteries in life, but God’s love has not waned in your life, and God’s glory is to be manifested in your life.

I want you to look at verse 40 in chapter 11. Just jump down. Just jump down to verse 40, because I want you to see this. Jesus said unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.

That’s what faith is, is that we want to see the glory of God in all that we face in life. John, in his gospel, he stresses that this family is truly loved of God. And it was not a relationship of convenience, but it really was an intense relationship.

And even though he loved this family so much, they suffered. And it did not change how much Jesus loved Lazarus. Another question we have is, why did Jesus wait? Look at verse 5 and 6. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, and we had heard thereof that he was sick.

He abode two days still in the same place where he was. When I was a young pastor, I know you guys probably think I’m still young, right? I like that. I appreciate that. But when I was younger, as soon as I heard somebody was sick in the ER, I would go flying down to the hospital.

One day a doctor… the doctor told me, he said, pastor, we appreciate you, but we’d like you to wait. Thank you for being here, but would you wait? If you just let us get our stuff done, and then you could come in and minister to the family.

And I learned, as a young pastor, you need to wait. Let the doctors do their job. Let the nurses do their job. Let them get the patients stabilized. Let them get the treatment that they need. Because if they don’t, if everybody keeps rushing in and interfering, then there ain’t gonna be anybody to pray for, right?

So I learned to wait. I learned to wait. Jesus waited. He heard the news that his friend Lazarus, who he loved, he knew that he was very sick. And yet the Bible says it was two days. So it’s a day’s journey for the messenger to get to Jesus.

It’s two days Jesus waits, and it takes Jesus a day to get there. It’s really. Four days of waiting. Why does Jesus make them wait? Look at verse 17 of chapter 11. Then when he came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

Last night, Terry and I got to see, go to Sight and Sound and see Jesus. And what a great show. You need to see it if you haven’t. It’s worth the investment. Take your old family. But they put this whole John 11.

So I was getting sermon prep right there at Sight and Sound. I was loving it. Adding to my message. But what I thought was interesting is this angle that they gave about how that the family was really resistant to Jesus rolling away the stone because it had been four days and they were worried that Lazarus, not only the smell would be overwhelming, but that it would be embarrassing for people to see Lazarus as his body was decaying.

Jesus waited. He waited. Waited. But I wanna remind you something. Jesus didn’t wanna heal a sick man. He wanted to raise a dead man. And that even in our sickness, God has a plan and I know that we cry out to God and we say, Lord, do you hear me?

Do you notice me? Hello, God. I’m hurting down here. I’m alone. I’m struggling. My emotions are all over and we wonder, where is God? I assure you that God is there. He is there. So sometimes it seems like the love of Christ makes little difference in our life.

Sometimes it seems like the Word of Christ is not true in our life. Verse 4 of chapter 11, Jesus said to His disciples, the sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

When I was a pastor, again, I’m sorry to tell you all these stories, but as I go through the passage, I think of things. I remember a young mother had lost her baby in our community in Indiana. The funeral director called me and said, Pastor, would you…

to come down and help her. I came down and I tried to share. She looked at me and she said, don’t give me that God stuff. I wasn’t mad or angry because I understand and that’s the way we feel sometimes, right?

Is that we begin to question and doubt even God’s word and we wrestle with that in our hearts. Is it true? This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, is that true? You can only imagine what the sisters are thinking, what the family is thinking, as they are puzzled by Jesus’ statement to them because they’d never seen a resurrection.

They’d never experienced a resurrection and yet Jesus is telling them that this is not a sickness unto death, but the reality is that Lazarus is dead. The reality is that Jesus said it’s for the glory of God, but their hearts are hurting and they don’t see any glory.

They don’t see any good. All they see is hurt and grief and struggle. The next thing I want you to consider is that sometimes it seems that the way Christ does things does not make sense to us. I just want to read and I want you to follow along with me in verse five and I want you to see the commands that Jesus gives and what he instructs them to do and how unusual it is.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus and when he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same. place where he was. Then after that he said to his disciples, Let us go into Judea.

His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? So he’s waited. Seems like he should run and rush. His life and the disciples’ lives are in jeopardy.

Should he even go back? Verse 9, Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles because there is no light in him.

These things said he, and after that he said unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. But I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep.

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. Wow. To the intent you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then said Thomas which is called Didymus unto his fellow’s disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.

The disciples don’t even get it. They think they’re going in and they’re gonna have to do everything they can to try to save Jesus. There’s gonna be a great conflict. Jesus is thinking about how he is going to help this family that he loves so much for their faith to grow and he is wanting God to be glorified and he’s gonna do something miraculous that verifies that everything he said is true and the claims that he makes about being God are true.

But nothing makes sense. And at the heart of it is that your ways are not God’s ways. And my thoughts are not God’s thoughts and he works in mysterious ways that are beyond our ability to fully understand.

Anybody who tells you that they know why somebody’s suffering or they understand suffering in the sense that they can explain it is just lying to you. As the truth is, the reality of it all is hard to wrap our minds around it.

So, I want to leave you with three things for us to build our faith on. I want to remind you that in the midst of mysteries, we are called to trust Jesus. That faith is not trusting God because I get what I want.

That faith is, though He slayed me, I still trust Him. We know that Christ is worthy of our trust. We know that in our minds, but in our hearts, in our emotions, we don’t always feel it. But the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 37 .5, to commit your way unto the Lord.

Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. Doesn’t mean that it’s going to be as you want it. doesn’t mean that everything’s gonna, life’s gonna be what you want it to be. You know, we have our dreams, we have our goals, we write them out, and things that we wanna pursue, but life happens.

Have you noticed that? Life happens. There aren’t always good answers. But in those mysteries, would you remember these three things? That the love of Christ makes all the difference in your life. You may not feel loved by God today because of your hurt, but I want you to know that God does love you.

And I get it that the timetable’s not what you want, but out of great love, he is up to something that is special, it is unique, and it is specific to what God is doing in your life that you might bring glory to him.

Christ always will come at the right time. Jesus did not, I say to you again, he did not want to heal a sick man. He wanted to raise a dead man. And in the end, his love for us makes all the difference, and do not let your circumstances and your emotions cloud God’s love for you.

I stand here declaring it to you again and reminding you that you are loved of Christ, and if you doubt it, look to the cross, the ultimate display of God’s love for us, and that Jesus gave his life for us.

God did not abandon us in our sinfulness. He did not abandon us in our selfishness. He did not abandon us in our sufferings. Christ suffered for us. But the cross not only teaches me that Christ suffered for us, that we might have eternal life, Christ suffers with us.

Christ suffers with us. He suffers with us. He knows better than any person what it is to suffer. The emotions, the feelings. He walks with you. And I want you to be encouraged this morning to know that if you are grieving today, if you are lonely today, if someone has walked out of your life, and abandoned you, though their love for you may have ceased, his love has not.

It is immense and it is intense. And he is watching over you. The second thing I want you to remember this morning is that the word of Christ proves itself to be true. In time, it will prove itself to be true, completely true, completely true in your life.

Whatever appears to you in the moment of grief and sorrow and sickness, whatever those emotions are, remember that the mind can be deceptive. The heart can be deceptive. If people say to me, Mike, I’m gonna follow my heart, I say please do not, don’t do that, the heart is deceitful.

The heart is deceitful. Here’s what I wanna tell you. Don’t believe everything you think. Don’t believe every emotion that runs through your heart. Don’t believe it. You get back to the Bible and let the word of God adjust and align your thinking.

Because here’s the truth, God’s word will always be true. It will always be true. In the end, the death of Lazarus, the delay of Jesus, the danger that Jesus was in with his disciples that they faced in Judea, it all served a higher purpose.

It was part of the plan of God. And God used the waiting to prepare his people for a moment. miracle. There’s no doubt in life as we go through our journey of faith that there are times that we are asking questions and wondering if God loves us why is He allowing so much trial in my life and why am I having to deal with these problems.

Certainly Mary and Martha understood that the problems of life in the midst of their grief could only be solved by a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and I want you to understand today that the hope that we have is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus because He lives we will live and all those who love God will live and it is that blessing and that hope that we hang on to that continues to inspire us to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders and I want to remind you that in Christ there is hope worth having.