John Chapter 11:7-16

There's the concept that Christianity should be safe. Christianity should be comfortable. I don't see that in the Bible.

As a matter of fact, I see some of the opposite. I see that at times, Christianity, far from being safe, will put you in danger. I see at times that instead of being comfortable in Christianity, you will be discomforted because of your belief. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. In a world of so many creature comforts, sometimes it's hard to believe that God's more interested in our spiritual growth than our physical comfort. Today, Pastor David explains why this is so important to understand as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 11.

So now, here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, For the Glory of God. Hey, Lord, that's the place the Jews, they wanted to stone you, and you're wanting to go back to that place. It's also kind of interesting because they say, and are you going there again? They didn't say, and we're going there again. They said, you're going back? Well, wait here.

You just come back and get us one. But you know, it's interesting because they're sitting there and thinking, you know, Jesus, you may have forgotten this, but this is still kind of fresh in our minds that these guys wanted to stone you. And something, if we go back there, something really bad could happen, like, you know, they might, you know, miss you and hit one of us or something.

So, you know, we probably shouldn't do this. And they're reminded, the Lord, about the details, aren't they? Oh, Lord, you forgot. Did you forget this?

See, and this is unique. We see this in Jesus. We also see this in Paul. You remember Paul went to Philippi, and they beat him up, and they stoned him, and they left him for dead. And then, you know, he goes out and does some other things, and then he gets ready. He goes back to Philippi.

How would you have liked to have been a helper in the ministry with Paul? When Paul said, all right, we're going back to Philippi. I'm really excited. Philippi, isn't that where they stoned you and left you for dead? Yeah, yeah, I'm excited.

I'm stoked going to Philippi. And you're going, okay, it's a good time for me to turn in my notice, Paul. I'm stepping down from the ministry. And Jesus is revealing something here to us.

We have a front row seat to this. Jesus is more concerned about ministry than He's concerned about His own well-being, because there's times when ministry takes risks. There's times when ministry takes risks. And Jesus was less concerned about His own well-being. I've taken risks here, and sometimes the Lord has really blessed my steps of faith, and sometimes it's just fallen apart horribly.

And that's okay. That's okay, because ministry takes risks. I would rather take risk in ministry than to play it safe.

You know why? Because I'm a follower of Jesus. I don't see Jesus playing it safe. I don't see Jesus lingering back and going, well, you know what? You're right. They did stone me there.

They didn't stone you guys. Why don't you all run along and minister to Martha and Mary? No, as a spiritual leader, He put Himself right in the middle of the risk, and they followed Him. And this is a principle we need to understand. Now, I want to lay that backdrop before we read verse 9, because there's some commentaries that I read that completely missed the point of verse 9, I felt like. Verse 9, Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. So Jesus is saying, you know what?

There's 12 hours in the day. I'm going to be about the work of the kingdom. I'm going to be ministering while I'm here. And I actually read some commentaries that said, Jesus, what He's really saying here is that it was safe.

It was going to be okay. I don't see that in those verses. As a matter of fact, if we're familiar with what happens later on in the chapter, the Jewish leaders actually begin to seek the execution of Jesus because of what happens. This is where I depart from, I don't know what you would, maybe you'd call it traditional Christianity or something. I don't mean to scare you. I'm orthodox. I'm very conservative in my theological beliefs. But there's the concept that Christianity should be safe. Christianity should be comfortable.

I don't see that in the Bible. As a matter of fact, I see some of the opposite. I see that at times, Christianity, far from being safe, will put you in danger. I see at times that instead of being comfortable in Christianity, you will be discomforted because of your belief.

I think we need to understand that. Because I've heard people say, and you've probably heard this, the safest place in the world is to be in the perfect will of God. You ever heard that one? I've heard that talk from the pulpits a lot.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Makes you feel safe and comfortable, doesn't it? The only problem with that is you begin to look at the Bible and it doesn't line up, guys. I mean, if the safest place is to be in the perfect will of God, did Paul know?

Because either Paul was way out of the will of God in not being safe, or Paul, perhaps, I throw out to you this morning, that Paul was in the perfect will of God, but it was not a safe place. I mean, I don't know how you define safe, but when we go through getting beat up and left for dead and shipwrecked and snake bit and ultimately executed, that doesn't really define safe to me. See, this is the thing, and we have to understand this, is that oftentimes, and I know this is going to rock some of your boats and praise God for the rocking up boats, amen, safe in Christianity at times won't go together.

They won't go together. But you know what? At the end of this life, however long the Lord gives me, at the end of this life, I don't want to look back on my life and go, well, I didn't do this, I didn't do that, and I didn't do this, that, and the other, but you know what? I played it safe.

I lived a safe life. You don't hear Jesus congratulating anybody that comes into His presence and says, oh, well done, now, safe servant. It's not in there.

It's not in there. Guys, we got to get that out of our heads. This morning, there's people that are dying for their faith somewhere in the world. In the last century, more people died for their faith than any century in history, including the times when the Romans were killed by the thousands, more in the last 100 years. God is far more interested in your spiritual growth than your temporary comfort. Now, don't take what I'm saying and say, well, God doesn't care about my comfort at all.

That's not what I said. God wants to comfort you, but at times, He doesn't want you comfortable. The Word of God afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted.

That's what it does, and at times, we need to move out of our comfort zone. God wants to send us on this incredible adventure where you will end up bringing maximum glory to His name. That has to be the goal, not your maximum comfort, not your maximum comfort. The life lesson here is God is more interested in your spiritual growth than your physical comfort, and again, I'm not saying that God doesn't care about your comfort.

I'm not saying that at all. God is concerned with your comfort. He's more concerned with your spiritual growth.

He's more concerned with you bringing glory to His name, so we need to understand these things because part of what we're supposed to be doing is impacting this world in which we live in an eternal way, an eternal way, and if we get in our mind, well, you know, as long as I'm comfortable, man, you're missing the point. If it's all about our comfort, let's call all the missionaries back home. If it's all about our comfort, well, let's not start any more churches because let me guarantee you, it was not a comfortable situation exactly when we started this fellowship. Leave your comfort and embrace the adventure that God has for you because it's gonna be an amazing thing, and this is what happens here. We give people an opportunity in this fellowship and this church to impact others for eternity.

What an amazing thing. See, as people, like on the worship team, as they play music and they lead you to worship, and maybe you've had a hard week, hard day, hard life, you come in here and you worship God, it makes a difference, or perhaps you invite somebody to the service, you invite a friend or family member, and then you have the joy of watching them come forward to receive the Lord as their Savior. You've eternally impacted a life, or perhaps there's a financial commitment and you support the church financially.

We use those resources to do what? To impact lives, and that's what we have to decide is important. Our comfort, our impact on our lives for eternity. Daniel chapter 12 verse 3 says, those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. That's an awesome verse, isn't it?

And we've got that opportunity to do that here. We want to give you the opportunity and serve in the Lord here to do just that, to impact lives for eternity. Verse 11, these things he said, and after that he said to them, our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him. At death, there's a distinctive difference between somebody that's a follower of Jesus Christ and somebody that's not a follower of Jesus Christ. And there's a concept in here, it's not soul sleep. Soul sleep is an unbiblical thing, if you ever hear that tossed around. But there's the concept that our body goes to sleep and our soul and our spirit go to be with the Lord. And then at some point, Jesus calls our body and we get our glorified bodies and it's an awesome thing. But he uses sleep here that's describing the death of Lazarus. Verse 12, then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. I'm getting the feeling they don't want to go.

What do you guys think? Now, they don't really understand what Jesus is saying. They say, well, he'll be okay. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A. Brown. Hey, Bob, I want to take a minute to pray for some of our listeners in these cities in Hawaii.

Kihei, Lanai City, Lihue, and also Ammon, Asitin, Boise, and Burley, Idaho. God, we thank you that we get to pray for these listeners today. We pray that they will be encouraged and remember how much you love them. Lord, if some of them are sick, we pray that you please heal them from the top of their head to the bottom of their toes. And Lord, we pray that you would equip them and empower them to share their testimony of your goodness to other people. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 13. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And Jesus, it's kind of interesting if you go back and you look at from verse 1, you can see that, you know, Jesus is trying to use analogies and he's trying to use pictures and he's trying to use concepts and the guys just aren't getting it. So he finally has to break it down and say, okay, look, God, Lazarus is dead.

Okay, this is where I'm going with this whole thing. The disciples thought Lazarus was sleeping. The disciples, don't miss this.

And we talk about this often but for a reason. The disciples were missing the point. They don't understand. They don't know what Jesus is doing. They're not sure.

As a matter of fact, they're trying to talk him out of doing something that he's supposed to be doing. Do you see that? Why is that important? Well, just make us feel a little better about us. No, it's important because we often think of the disciples as some kind of super humans. They weren't super human. They were humans. They did supernatural things. But they were human, just like you, just like me.

Now it's an amazing concept to consider. But what happens is if we think of them as super humans, if we think of them as Saint John and Saint Luke and Saint Mark and well, Luke wasn't a disciple. But when we think of them in those terms, we think, oh, they did something we're not able to do. And we walk away with an inaccurate picture.

So they're missing it. But it's okay because Jesus is writing them. In verse 15, Jesus says, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him. Now, this is interesting.

Notice something. You had to hear everything Jesus had to say here. See, because if they'd have walked away and cut him off, they would have got, Lazarus is dead. Now I'm glad.

And then they'd have walked off and they'd have walked off with a totally inappropriate picture of what Jesus was saying to them. And it's interesting. In Scripture, you got to be careful about that. You understand? There's commas in there. They were placed there after the fact. Sometimes they're in good places.

Sometimes they're not good places. But understand the spacing of the Word of God. And there's one place that says, for I would not have you ignorant, brethren, about such and such and so and so. And if you just move the pause, it turns out totally different, doesn't it? I would not have you ignorant, brethren.

So you got to be careful where those pauses are. And you got to wait to hear all of what the Lord says here. Because in this verse, he's saying, you know what?

I'm glad that I wasn't there that you may believe. Verse 16, then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Some of the commentators, they were trying to paint this as a noble statement.

Come on, man. You really got to stretch that to make that a noble statement. I mean, Thomas, they said, you know what? You might die if you go back. And Jesus says, well, we're going back.

And Thomas, well, great. Let's all go die. I mean, that's what he was saying. I mean, you know, this is the Bible. Remove the religious glasses and look at the disciples for who they are. Because they were humans called to a supernatural purpose. Guess what you are?

You're a human called to a supernatural purpose. And this is a beautiful thing. We have Thomas, who sadly, we've given him a horrible nickname, haven't we? Doubting Thomas.

How would you like to carry that one around? Doubting Thomas. But you know what? You know what we don't see here? We don't see Jesus turning to Thomas and going, well, Thomas, if you feel that way, why don't you just stay here? Why don't we see that? We don't see Thomas going, you know what, Jesus?

I'm concerned about all of our welfare and our well-being. So you know what? You go. I'm not going with you. Thomas, I think, here expressed, and certainly in other places, he expressed doubt. He expressed concern. But you know what he didn't do?

He didn't act on that. He acted on his faith. See, somehow we've gotten the twisted notion that faith is never doubting. Faith is never questioning.

Where did we get that? Now, faith is acting in spite of those doubts, in spite of unbelief sometimes. Because let's be honest. Let's be honest in here. We can't be real in here. We can't be real anywhere. All of us sometimes have doubts. All of us sometimes suffer under the tyranny of unbelief. But don't act on that, friend. Don't act on your unbelief. Don't act on your doubt.

Act on your faith. Because here, Thomas, Thomas wasn't sure things were going to go well in Bethany, but he went anyway. Because he allowed his courage and his faith to override his doubt. And Thomas were told historically, not in the Bible, were told that Thomas went to India after the crucifixion of the Lord and went and started the church in India and was martyred there with a spear. That was his symbol. Doubting Thomas gave his life for telling others about Jesus.

See, and this is the thing. He lived his life so that it would affect others for eternity. This is the last life lesson.

Live your life so it will affect others for eternity. And perhaps you're sitting there and you're going, what a weird verse to use for that life lesson. No, I think it's a great verse. The reason is, again, sometimes we will feel these things. Sometimes you'll feel doubt. Sometimes you will feel uncertain. Sometimes you might not feel like coming to church on Sunday morning.

Not y'all, the people that aren't here. No, you're going to feel those things. The question is, do you act on those feelings or do you act on your faith? See, some of you have probably been under the mistaken illusion that to be a Christian is to never have a doubt and never have a thought of unbelief.

Let me see you set free this morning. That's not what being a Christian is. Because if most of us, if you remember, even when you were getting saved, even when you were accepting salvation and forgiveness from the Lord, there was part of you that was going, oh, man, I hope this works.

I hope that some of you are hoping that somehow I haven't done so much that this is not going to work for me. Even in one of our holiest moments, there was some doubt. There was some uncertainty.

And what we do is we've made it such a horrible thing to confess these things to one another. I love what the man said in the book of Mark when his son is being ministered to and he says, Lord, I believe. Help my doubt. Well, wait a minute. He said he believed, but he said, help my doubt? How can that be? Because sometimes doubt will come. But here's what you can't do. You can't act on your doubt. You can't act on your uncertainty. You act on your faith. And some of you may have felt in the past, well, I'm just not sure about this. I'm not sure about that.

I just don't know what to do. And it's understandable to have doubt. It's understandable sometimes to suffer from unbelief. But where we get into trouble is when you start acting on our doubt and we start living out a life of unbelief.

That's where we get in trouble. And sometimes when we might have doubts or unbelief, the best thing is to do nothing, to sit still and to wait on the Lord, to wait on the Lord. Because the temptation is, when you get in a situation like that, to do something.

And a lot of times doing something ends up to be the wrong thing. And I think we've painted this in such absolutes that we may follow in Jesus almost unattainable for some people. What is following Jesus? Well, I believe in Him in all times, no matter what. I think Thomas doubted, but Thomas followed Him. I think many of us, all of us have doubted.

It's not the question. The question is, are you following Him? Are you living a life of faith? Are you willing to step out on that faith, act on that faith?

Perhaps you're here this morning and this sounds different than what you've heard before. Talking about following Jesus and talking about not being perfect because you thought being a Christian was being perfect and never having any doubts. That doesn't describe a Christian.

A Christian is somebody that actually messes up still, but they're forgiven and they've changed the direction from their way to God's way and they're following the Lord. The forgiveness of sin does not come because of your goodness. It comes because of His goodness. You can't be good enough to come to God.

None of us are that good. And if you've been waiting to become good enough so you can come to God, that will never happen. But the reality is He will accept you this morning, right where you are. But some of you may have already accepted the Lord and you've been dealing with this thing of believe in your circumstances. It's time you believe your faith. It's time that you act out on that faith because you can make a difference.

I know that people say that and that's almost trite to say, but that's the reality. You can impact other people, not just tomorrow, not just next week, but for eternity. You look around the room and there's people here that are affecting one another for eternity. And it's a beautiful thing because they're stepping out in faith. They're not stepping and depending and moving on their doubt. I'm going to be brave enough and bold enough to say, I think everybody in this room wants to impact other people for eternity.

I think everybody in this room wants to spend an eternity with God in heaven. The only thing that's keeping you from that is that step of faith I just talked about. Acting on your faith and not on your doubt is what we all have to do to approach God.

And the Lord wants to use you to glorify His name, to make a difference. And yes, you know what? If you do this, you're going to make mistakes. And that's okay. It's been said, the only person who doesn't make mistakes is the person who doesn't do anything. You know what?

I disagree with that. The person that does nothing makes the biggest mistake of all. And some of you may have been challenged by the Lord and even by the Holy Spirit this morning to take steps of faith, to live a life that's going to impact other people for eternity. And I invite you to step out on that. Whatever that means to you, because I can't make a blanket statement and say, well, you know, this is what God's laying on your heart. This is what God is laying on my heart. God has to speak to you about that. But I know that God desires to use us to impact the nations for His name.

And He used people like the disciples who were not perfect to do just that, to take the world and to change it. So I want to invite you on this grand adventure of faith, because God's got a plan and it's a good one, but it's going to take you stepping out on faith. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12-515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.