Lazarus Proves Life…Judas Proves Death

Lazarus Proves Life…Judas Proves Death                                               Kelly Durant    3-3-16

John 11:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

2. Have you ever passed out? Have you ever blacked out and later they tell you all the things that happened to you? It is kind of scary knowing you were not in control, right? But sometimes people still have a consciousness and they saw their body while they roamed around watching what was happening. It is something unexplained like the articles about people who have died and then come back to life. Are you aware that your brain will die only after 3 to 7 minutes without oxygen since the cells of the body need the blood flow? We really are delicate creatures and God is keeping us alive for His purpose!

Today anyone can find thousands of stories and books about people who have died and come back to life. (Here is only one link…http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/29/us/to-heaven-and-back/) I find each story very fascinating! The factor though is most of them were dead several hours and then came back, but according to science this is impossible and is a modern day miracle that anyone could ever revive! And today it is unheard of for a person to be dead several days and then come back to life.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after 4 days and that obviously was an amazing and frightening miracle! Imagine seeing a corpse walking like dead zombie coming out of the grave and taking off the wrappings on his body that for sure stunk horribly. And then after a few suspenseful minutes after Lazarus unwraps his body everyone starts to see the person they knew and he is well and in his right mind! After that miracle many believed on Jesus! John 11: 45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. (But also note the non-believing Jews wanted to kill Jesus?!)

3. Have you noticed that Jesus did this miracle of raising up the dead a few days before He was to be crucified, buried in a similar manner as Lazarus, be resurrected? Jesus wanted to show that His power of giving life to the dead could extend to anyone. He also did this miracle out of love for Lazarus and his family! And imagine this, Jesus felt Mary and Martha’s pain so much over this loss that it is here we find the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35 “Jesus wept”. Reviving a dead person is something shocking and no one had ever witnessed this before and you would think all the townspeople would have wanted to honor and protect Jesus so He could heal and resurrect thousands more! But it was not that way, later in Chapter 12 it tells us that the Jews were trying to find Lazarus so they could kill him! Imagine the gall to want to kill a man who came out of the grave! They wanted Jesus dead too!

So with miracles some believed He was the Son of God, yet others only got irate and felt threatened. Imagine those being so full of Satan that they refused to recognize Jesus’ miracles! Plotting to kill Lazarus in order to stop other Jews from believing on Him to me seems beyond cruel and audacious. But the same reactions concerning miracles continue today; those that believe simply believe by faith alone despite not reconciling the facts that a miracle is simply from God! And Jesus also said in John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Most of us have not seen a direct miracle yet we believe. But those who reject Jesus and miracles get full of Satan and get murderously angry against those who believe!

John 9:9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

4. So Jesus showed off to the world that He had the power to resurrect the dead! How great that was, so everyone wanted to celebrate with Lazarus! Once together at the dinner party, Mary decides she’s wants to be special with Jesus and washes his feet with and expensive perfume and with her tears.

That act of love in itself requires a whole another in depth study and a message for another day! How many of you have heard sermons on the washing of Jesus feet? What love, compassion, appreciation, passion and inspiration! Mary felt the need to show love in an outstanding way, to give back; she wanted to give up all her savings and life for Jesus! This is the epitome of love and generosity! Everyone could smell the sweetness of the perfume and witness her great love!

But always when something wonderful takes place, there will always be those who think they know more than others to counter it. How many times must all of us experience the opinion of the naysayers? Hearing the opinion of those who do little, but they are always ready to criticize the good of others gets old fast. Invalid opinions are the plague in the news today! One of Satan’s tactics is to downplay the facts and the evidence of the good in a person and attack with a counter alternative so that the evil one can appear better than the truly good one! (This is self-declared goodness, not a goodness by merit). Satan has always been playing politics confusing who is better than who!

5. So Jesus, like many of us who love Him, never get a break from hearing those who want to criticize and downplay the good getting done. Jesus raised Lazarus and then the news is the priests wanted to kill Him and Lazarus! The priests wanting to kill?! Jesus must have just arrived at this wonderful supper to be with Lazarus and family, and coming in the door everyone’s feet needed to get washed and Mary chose to wash His feet with a perfume and to dry his feet with her hair, radical and shocking, right? So now the next criticism now comes out of the mouth of one of His own supposed followers, Judas. Everyone should have said, “Wow, look how she loves Him!” but instead, as usual, the critical comments overtook the stage ignoring the passionate good happening.

What did Judas say? Vs. 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Let’s analyze this a minute. Judas is seeing something worth the salary of 300 days of work being applied to Jesus feet. What we know today is that Judas did not value Jesus feet or anything Jesus taught for that manner! He was the weak link through whom Jesus was betrayed. Jesus had done miracles to feed the poor in the past and everyone knew Jesus was in control of all situations. Jesus in the past had already showed that He cared for the poor feeding them, but in this case He knew that she was preparing His body with this special perfume as if He were already a dead corpse! It was for His burial and I doubt anyone at that moment perceived it as such, maybe not even she knew it. (Amazing all the pieces that factor into Jesus life!)

Jesus did not need a coach, someone thinking they knew better than Him telling Him what he should or should not allow. It is the same in the church, some leaders are anointed and take wise decisions but just because it was not the decision some less involved person wanted, then all hell breaks loose with criticisms and, “He should be doing it differently” and “This is so wrong” spreading around.

6. So let’s compare the righteousness of Jesus with the self-righteousness of Judas and then think about how we too might be affected by the same Judaistic arguments today. Just think how unfair it is; many people sacrifice their selves and give up much if not all as Jesus did, yet there are those on the sidelines who are not giving up much of anything criticizing them and how things are done.

The pretext here was that Jesus did not care enough for the poor to give the money to Judas to administrate it so he could distribute it to the poor. So the first thing we notice is that Judas, the bag holder, had a self-interest, he wanted to give it to the poor. Why, we need to ask? Did Judas really love the poor that much? Or maybe we should ask what was going to be his cut of the deal? The scripture tells the truth on character and it is for us to learn by.

Vs. 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

7. In the world today there are many who pretend they will care for the poor better than others, but could they be full of Satan as Judas was? Their solution is that they want to take away from the rich, and the church, and even the from the middle class to redistribute to “the poor”. The problem is all of them are like Judas, after forcing others to hand the goods over, they do not give it all to the poor as they said they would, but rather they keep half or more for their selves! All the communist dictators who torture, steal, and commit mass murder always live a life of luxury and so do the thug leaders of their party. They control all the land, factories, military, and money and they only let their pawn countrymen live off the crumbs of the spoils. Judas was the perfect example of the first religiously hypocritical militant socialist.

Look at modern day communism as in Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, and any place where socialism/communism has been implemented; what happens when proud men without respect for God are in control? There is created a repressive, oppressive, corrupt Kingdom of Satan! Jesus prayed for God’s Kingdom to come, and we can see why He prayed that with all with all the murderous injustices man does. Jesus warned in John 10: 10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Here in the U.S. you may still have a little freedom of expression of faith and a little retention of wealth, but this is not so in 4/5ths to 5/5ths of the world today run by Satan!  Satan is always trying to convince others that He does not exist but He is the one who inspired Judas to betray Jesus and vocalize how He was more compassionate than Christ wanting to help the poor! It was all a lie! All self-righteous Jesus hating ‘accusers of the saints’ live to tell lies to others and they are totally deceived thinking that they are more compassionate, fair, and just than God’s people! Never believe them and expose their evil deeds! And remember, Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. The facts prove evil men with or without religion always use their power to abuse and destroy but to live in the fear of God, to live loving Jesus brings life, freedom, and blessings!

8. Have you ever know people who joke about their self, like the amazing concert pianist who says to you, well you know I can’t really play so good? Jesus reveals this sense of humor with Mary when He says Vs. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.” Jesus was not going to be there anymore? Say what? That was only true in part, as later He came back proving differently.

First point, for the words in the first half of the verse, Jesus is revealing to Judas and to everyone, that no matter how much you might give to the poor, the poor will always continue to exist, and why? Because the money box controllers will always hoard more than their share and let the poor suffer. Because the poor are often comfortably stuck in a poor cultural lifestyle! Also, the radical rebellious zealots against the establishment like Judas always try to manipulate your emotions saying, “Look! The Romans steal so much in taxes from you! You need to let me be in charge!” But the reality is zealots as the replacements, as the next controllers of the coffers, usually come in and steal all of what is left that the previous ones did not steal! I have personally seen this cycle over and over in the governments in South America. It is here as well, and worldwide!

History reveals that a true Kingdom of God system has never been established on earth (except amongst Christian communities as in Acts 2:44-45) so the conclusion is that the more poverty, the more oppression, and the more Satanic is the system is governing. Check the corruption scale worldwide, poverty and corruption goes hand in hand! A true sharing of the wealth will only happen in heaven!

9. So after Jesus resurrected, how is it Jesus says this before ascending into the heavens? Matt 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. This contradicts what he said to Mary that “Me you do not have always”. The obvious to me is that He was doing a word play with her. What He said at the time of the supper was a reality, that that particular body of His was not going to be around anymore, but His person, His presence, and His Spirit is now for always with her, and everyone who loves Him!

So what is the challenge today? To believe on Jesus power to give eternal life! To face the reality that you are going to die one day like everyone! You will not get the chance to come back as Lazarus did, but you will come back in a more glorious body on the last day of earth! John 6:40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” So the beauty of dying is that if you are friends with Jesus, Jesus will resurrect you from the grave no matter how many days or years dead you are!

Another reality in life while proclaiming this faith of Jesus and of the resurrection is it is going to bring on anger and persecution from the demon controlled people nearby! Many Satanic people today are just as vicious, just as murderous, as the Jewish priests were in Jesus day towards Christ believers! And they attack you for doing good in Jesus name! You have to always be ready for attacks from the self-righteous pretenders to defend the faith and what is rightly God’s. Are you praying and reading each day?!

10. And a final word of warning is that as a true Christian you need to be prepared to defend yourself from attacks from the people of the world or that come from within the fellowship as Jesus had to deal with. Many Christian churches today are sadly caving to the evil criticisms of Judas(s) invaders attacking how things are managed and even attacking the established Christian doctrines. Observe how many church denominations are getting divided and destroyed recently! Judases attack the Christian foundations or the way things are managed from within, and then they attack how the money is spent wanting control of that, and all because they have a pretentious pride that they could do things better.

Jesus raises the dead and he holds the keys to eternal life! Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. (Jesus has this power) Watch out for people who criticize good leaders just as Judas criticized Jesus. Judas represents death, and he even killed himself! Judas like all zealots are out for their own worthless agendas (the zealots wanted the power over Rome) and we need the Holy Spirit to discern the characteristics and motives of those who seek their own gain instead of contributing to Jesus cause and contributing to the church which serves others in love for the salvation of souls unto life eternal.

I am not sharing this message because division is happening here in our Corps church, I am just warning everyone that division and harsh attacking words in general are dividing the people in society, and Christians amongst themselves, and we should be aware and forewarned of the enemy’s tactics. Always fight against the discouraging divisiveness people bring, it is like death, the death example of Judas!  

Come and pray and ask for Jesus to give you eternal life if you have never done it before! Don’t you want to come out of the grave like Lazarus? Come and pray and ask Jesus to give you the passionate generous love that Mary had for Jesus! Are you full of an intense love that just gives up all for Jesus? Come and confess it if you think you have ever been a mouthpiece of criticism against a good leader. Much was taught and needs to be learned from these days just right before He gives His life on the cross, but ‘remember’, then He came back to life with the power of resurrection and eternal life to grant it to anyone who seeks Him and He is with us always! Even to the end of the world!