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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. is that of somebody sleeping. And so they thought Jesus was at first just talking about he fell asleep, he took a nap, he's sick, and he's kind of in a long sleep, so he'll wake up. But Jesus was speaking euphemistically, so he just made it really plain so they wouldn't, you know, miss him.
They're fishermen. So he goes, he's dead. Oh, okay, now they got it. Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. That's an interesting thing for Jesus to say. He's dead, and I'm glad that I was not there. You wouldn't picture Jesus or think of Jesus saying he's dead, and I am glad that I was not there.
But he's glad that he was not there for your sake, he said, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him. Then Thomas, who is called the twin, who's he the twin of? Me, you, you've been just like him before, so have I. We've reflected much of what he thinks in our own thoughts at times. Thomas, who is called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. I've often called Thomas the Eeyore of the disciples.
If this were Winnie the Pooh, he's Eeyore. He always sees the dark side of things. You know, they want to kill you up there.
Let's go, and we'll die with them. Oh, thanks, Tom. You know, Thomas, doubting Thomas, we always call him doubting Thomas, and we refer to people who doubt as doubting Thomases because Thomas is like the patron saint of all skeptics.
He saw the dark side of things. If Thomas would have had personalized license plates on his chariot, they would be Missouri plates, the show me state. He was the show me disciple. Yeah, I don't believe it. Show me. When Jesus rose from the dead, Peter and John said, he's alive. He's risen. I'm not going to believe it.
I've got to put my fingers, my hands, I've got to touch those wounds. I have to see this for myself. Yeah, but Peter and John saw it.
Yeah, but I know those guys. I need to see it for myself. Now, he does see the dark side. He is the doubter.
He is the skeptic, but at the same time, I just got to be honest with you. I like him. What I like about him is he's loyal, number one. If indeed they thought they were going to die, he's loyal enough to say, well, let's go die with them. That's loyalty.
He said, if I'm feeling a little sick, I'm going to stay behind. So he's loyal. He's courageous to say this. And he's also honest.
What I love about Thomas more than any other attribute is he was honest. If he didn't get something, he wouldn't just try to act really spiritual. Oh, that's cool.
He would just say, I don't get it. So in John chapter 14, that very famous passage, let not your hearts be troubled, Jesus said. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you to myself.
That where I am, there you may be also. And where I'm going, you know. And the way you know, Thomas said, I don't know where you're going.
I don't know how to get there. Don't you love that? I'm sure the other disciples are kind of just like Jesus talk and they're nodding their heads going, yeah, that's good.
That's really good. Thomas goes, I don't get it. And I'm sure the other disciples thought, we don't get it either, but we don't want to say we don't get it. At least we're going to act spiritual and go, yeah, man, amen. And I'm so glad that Thomas said that.
Don't know where you're going, don't know how to get there. I'm glad he said that. You know why? Because after that, Jesus answered it with one of the greatest proclamations ever that may not have been in the scripture unless he said that. Because right after that, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Thomas, thank you for bringing up that objection so Jesus could say that.
So don't know about y'all, but I like them. Let's go that we may die with him. So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been dead in the tomb or already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary was sitting in the house. So Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Can you hear the disappointment in her words? If you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Now I have to say, there's a statement of faith there. The statement of faith is, had you been present, you would have healed him. That's faith. You would have healed him. So it's a statement in the ability of Jesus to perform miracles.
At the same time, it's a limiting statement. If you would have been here, in other words, you could have done something four days ago. Window of opportunity is gone.
You can't do anything now. He's dead. So there's a statement of faith, but there's also a statement of limitation in what Jesus is able to do. Now when a person dies, during a period of grief, at a time of loss, the people left behind go through a gamut of emotion. If you've taken counseling courses in grief, this is grief 101. Years ago, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, her seminal work on grief and grieving, she noted and others have noted that a person during a time of loss goes through five distinct stages of grief. First one being denial. You hear something bad happen.
Your loved one died. You go, no. Must be a mistake. Not true. I think you didn't get your facts right.
Go check again. Must be somebody else. Denial. That's the first initial reaction. The second one is anger. People get angry at doctors for not saving their loved one. Angry at a nurse for not being there. They're angry at themselves. Why did I do this?
I could have prevented this. Anger at God. Third stage, bargaining. Lord, please, please, please, please. I'll do anything. Please don't let this happen.
Don't let this be true. You start going through a bargaining stage. Then the next stage is depression. The person, after it all sets in, they just sink to such a low. So dark.
They can't see any light at the other end of that tunnel. It's just so bad, so bleak. The fifth stage, says Ross and others, is acceptance. You finally come to terms with it. You deal with it.
It's still painful, but you come to accept it, talk about it, work your way through it. When a person is going through grief at whatever stage, what they say and how they act is completely unpredictable. Unless you are an unshockable person and you've had experience in this, you could actually be detrimental as somebody would just lash out and go, Why would God do that?
I don't love God. Or whatever they would say. They could say certain things based out of anger. And you might go, I can't believe you said that. And you could actually start rebuking them. Wrong, bad form. Go somewhere else. Have a Hershey bar or something. But don't be here. You're not helpful. So she says, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you.
I think she's kind of going between, This is how I really feel. Oh, wait a minute. This is probably what I should say. Oh, wait a minute.
I'm really angry. Oh, but praise God. And notice verse 23. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Jesus doesn't rebuke her. He gives a short, positive, little statement.
Just a little. Your brother will rise again. He could have rebuked her, but again, he wouldn't because he knew what was going on inside of her. He could have said, I can't believe you would say that. You know, I was going to raise your brother from the dead, but I don't think I'm going to do that now.
None of that. Just this little positive affirmation. Your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. She knew Daniel 12. She knew her scripture.
She knew enough of her Hebrew theology to say, I believe in the resurrection. Yeah, in the sweet by and by. One day I get on that. I get on that. Can I just state for the record? If one day you hear that I am dying or even that I've died, don't you dare pray me back.
Because I'll come to get you if you do. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, generous friends like you keep this ministry going strong, sharing verse by verse teaching from scripture with people all around the world. And as we prepare to close out another year of ministry, we need your help to meet a one hundred twenty thousand dollar need by December 31st so that in the new year, more people can connect with the God who loves them and wants to be known by them. Your tax deductible gift today will have an eternal impact, transforming lives, as together we share the unchanging truth of God's word in an ever changing world. You'll help ensure Connect with Skip Heitzig can continue expanding to reach new audiences through new radio stations in major cities and with the translation of Pastor Skip's messages into Spanish.
To give your year end gift to help meet the one hundred twenty thousand dollar need, go to connectwithskip.com slash give or call 800-922-1888 and make an investment that will have eternal returns. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Now, we're going to go through this story and we're going to probably well, you are going to finish it next time, but let's say I was to die tonight. And for four days, I'm dead.
And you have a prayer meeting and you pray me back. Now, for four days, I've just been in heaven. I'm going, wow, wow. I'm just that's probably my most used words for the first four days.
Wow, I'm seeing everything. This is awesome. And then God would say, yeah, but we have a little problem. There's a group down there that's been praying that you'd come back. Well, you told them no, right? No, I'm going to answer this one. You're going back. No, no. Yes, you're leaving heaven and you're going back to New Mexico.
You get my drift, right? I'm coming after you, man. That's why I always thought reincarnation. It's such a drag. So many people believe in reincarnation.
What a horrible theological stance to take. I don't want there's a lot of stuff I don't want to go through again. Fifth grade rejected by Patty Quinn. I don't want to go through that again. High school English don't want to do that again.
Braces. No, thank you. OK, I digress. Back to the story. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again at the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said to her, here it is.
Here it is. This is the nugget. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. It's the fifth I am statement of Jesus in the gospel of John.
Powerful statement proclaiming his deity. I am the resurrection and the life. Interesting because resurrection is an event.
But here Jesus takes it from the event status and assigns it to the person status. Instead of saying resurrection is an incident that happens to people, resurrection is a person that happens to people. I am the resurrection and the life.
Wherever I am, I bring life. So whether it's at Lazarus death or your death, he is the resurrection and the life. And notice, whoever believes in me, though he die, he will live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. One day when you hear the news report that Skip Heitzig died, don't believe it.
Not true. He's taken a little nap. He'll awaken on resurrection day. He's very alive in the presence of God. Don't say he died.
Here's the accurate statement. He moved. He moved. It's inaccurate to say somebody died. Jesus said you'll never die if you believe in me.
I love Christian funerals because I get to say that at a funeral. This person isn't dead. He just moved. He got a transfer. He got a promotion. He left the tenement. Don't bring him back to New Mexico. He's in heaven.
He's alive. And then Jesus asks a question to her. Do you believe this?
Isn't that good? Now this is the truth. This is the statement. I am the resurrection and life and whoever believes in me will never die. I know that to be true because Jesus is Jesus and He made a truth statement. But after the truth statement, He brings a question.
Do you believe this? Whenever I do a funeral and I often preach on this text, I ask this question and I deliberately look into the audience. Now when I look into the audience like I'm looking at you right now, I see very different faces at a funeral.
But when I share the gospel, I say, do you believe this? And I can see in their eyes if they do. Their eyes answer me back if they do. Their eyes, though all tearful, all sad, some of them, their eyes are like glazed over.
All this truth is just like it's out there just kind of hovering around. But they don't get it. They don't see it.
They have no belief system that's of any real value. So it's just like other people, you look in their eyes, you know, they're filled with sorrow. But it's not like a sorrow without hope. They have hope built into that sorrow. And they are saying, I believe this.
I believe this. I believe it makes all the difference at a funeral, at a death. You can really tell who a person is whenever there's a death. Have a person stare into the face of death and you'll get a real read on what that person believes in. They can say hallelujah all their lives at death.
That will be the litmus test. Do you believe this? Jesus asked. She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Son of God who is to come into the world. When she said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, The teacher has come and is calling for you.
As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. The Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, She's going to the tomb to weep there. Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet. We always see her at the feet of Jesus. Saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now, what they said sounds the same, but there's a difference.
Can you detect the difference? Martha went out being the one who stood up to serve in Luke 10, comes out, and I can't prove it, but just because Mary fell down at the feet, she just, Martha stood there. I'm picturing she stood like this, or maybe like this, like in the pictures. I don't know. Anyway, just kind of stood there.
If you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Mary says the same thing, but she's down at the feet of Jesus. That's where she always is. She's worshiping.
Now, listen to this. When life was calm, when life was good, when there's a dinner party and Jesus is there, Mary's at the feet of Jesus. When life is calm, but when life is a calamity, she's also at the feet of Jesus.
Broken hearted, yes. Same questions, yes, but in worship. How you face death will be determined by what posture and position you take before Jesus. Will you worship him and praise him, even though you don't understand this, even though this is a heartbreak, even though you lost someone, and this is pulling your heart out, but I'm at your feet where I belong. And I worship you.
That's the safest place. It's the place of comfort that I know. Or will you stand and accuse him if you'd have been here? It's true, but there's worship here. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. There's several things about this story that are odd. This is one of them. It says he groaned in the spirit.
Okay, so listen to this. This word in the Greek language, this word groaned is only found a couple of times in the Greek New Testament. The literal meaning of the word means the snorting of a horse. It is a word used in other places, I mentioned just a couple of times, for a scolding or a strong, stern rebuke.
But literally means the snorting of a horse. It's funny, when I first married Lenya and she got frustrated, she would use the word that I only saw written out in cartoon captions, the word G-R-R-R-R-R-R, grr. She'd go grr. And I remember going, did you just say the word grr like a cartoon word? And I've seen people who get angry and go grr.
So that's the idea. Jesus stood there and he was grr. It's a word that denotes a response of anger. He's angry at something. Jesus is troubled in spirit, and he groaned, grr.
Why? We beg to know why. We wonder why. Why is he troubled? What is he angry at? He's angry at death, I believe. He's looking at and he's involved in this experience, this human experience, come from heaven to the earth.
He's watching what never should have been part of experience in life. This was not part of the plan. Death was never in the design of God. It was always life, life, life, life. What happened in the garden brought death.
That is not God's design. He is angry at death caused by sin that brings this kind of deep loss. He's angry at what he sees. You know, death makes us angry. Makes us spooked out if you're a kid, makes us angry as an adult. No, this shouldn't have happened.
Man, I got ripped off. I'm disappointed by it. Jesus agrees with you. He enters into your experience.
Our problem is we are powerless to do anything about it. He will do something about that. But his first is an emotional response where he grieves. He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? And he said to him, Lord, come and see.
Jesus wept. Shortest verse in the Bible. Charles Spurgeon said it's a verse that you can't just read.
You have to feel. He preached two sermons on this verse. He says there's more in this verse than could ever be contained in two sermons.
He could have preached more, but he preached two sermons on Jesus wept. Two distinct messages. What is there?
What is the meaning of this? That's what we're going to take up next time. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, if you've been blessed by this ministry and want to bless others with the kind of teaching you've heard today, please consider a generous year-end gift to help meet our financial goal by December 31st. Through your support, you'll help encourage and equip more people with solid biblical teaching that takes them verse by verse through Scripture and connects them with Jesus. To give a tax-deductible year-end gift today, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash give. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
