About This Message
Pastor Roy Jones continued Walking Through John into chapter 11 on Sunday morning — the fourth-Sunday service, with dinner following worship and the last dinner Sunday of the year ahead. Before the Word, the church prayed: for the teams and the players to be kept covered, for schools and teachers and our babies after a school shooting earlier in the week, and for the election season — be led by the Spirit of God in how you vote. Then Pastor Jones sounded his warning out of Matthew 7: it would be a sad thing to live your whole life, serve in the church, and never truly know Jesus — because the goal is heaven, and you get ready for heaven right here. He read John 11:17–45 from the New King James Version: Lazarus four days in the tomb, two sisters with the same sentence on their lips — "Lord, if You had been here" — and a Savior who showed up late on purpose. His topic: bow down and worship life, and not death. Focus on life, and stop focusing on death.
The Word — John 11
17So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.
19And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11:17–21 (NKJV)
22But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
John 11:22–27 (NKJV)
32Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
34And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”
John 11:32–37 (NKJV)
38Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
John 11:38–40 (NKJV)
41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”
44And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
45Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.
John 11:41–45 (NKJV)
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
Matthew 7:21–22 (NKJV)
9Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9–11 (NKJV)
10The 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.
John 10:10 (NKJV)
17I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the LORD.
Psalm 118:17 (NKJV)
4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
36For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Mark 8:36 (NKJV)
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
8Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8 (NKJV)
The Message in a Sentence
Everything around Lazarus operated in death — the sisters, the mourners, the conversation, even the tomb — and Jesus refused to join it. He came to Bethany four days late on purpose: past the tradition, past the point of decay, so no one could give the glory to anything but God. Standing before a sealed tomb He declared, "I am the resurrection and the life," prayed out loud so the bystanders would believe, and called a dead man by name — and what had been dead four days walked out still wearing graveclothes, and Jesus said, "Loose him, and let him go." Pastor Jones's charge lands on us: too many believers are still living at the cemetery, gripped by dead things that rob their joy, steal their peace, and keep them up at night. Bow down and worship life, not death. Refuse the cemetery. And when Jesus shows up in your situation, believe — and you will see the glory of God.
The Arc of the Message
Opening — The Goal Is Heaven
Gratitude first, then prayer — teams covered, schools and babies covered, the vote covered — and then the warning: many will stand before God having served in the church and never known Him (Matthew 7:21–22). What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? When life on earth is over, everything becomes eternal — so the goal of everyone under the sound of his voice is heaven, and you get ready for it now.
Development — Four Days Late, On Purpose
Jesus arrives after the burial — after the three days the tradition allowed for hope, on the fourth day, past the stench — because this death is for the glory of God, the same way the blind man's blindness was. Then the seed: buried in dark, cold earth, pressed on every side — not dead, planted. Its shell breaks, and it pushes through cracks in the concrete toward the light, because if it can reach the light, it can live. Death, meanwhile, only has one message — "it's over" — over marriages, dreams, and spiritual growth; and spiritual death creeps in as grudges held so long you've forgotten why, stagnation, drought, frustration, paralysis. But when Jesus shows up — in the storm, at the funeral procession, in the sickroom — everything shifts.
Landing — Believe, and See the Glory of God
At the name of Jesus every knee bows — so He doesn't shout "come forth" to everything dead; He calls Lazarus by name, and the man dead four days walks out. "Loose him, and let him go." Pastor Jones's own testimony stands in it: in 2006 they said he would die — the Lord said he shall not die, but live. The question Jesus left with Martha is the one He leaves with the church: do you believe this?
Key Points
In His Own Words
Illustrations From the Message
The Seed — Planted, Not Buried
Pastor Jones pictured a seed buried in the ground — in dark earth, cold earth, all alone. To the seed, being buried feels like the end. But the seed's nature is not to give up. To those watching, the seed is dead; to the seed, it has only been planted. Under the pressure of the ground pressing against it, the outer shell breaks apart — and that's when it starts to grow. Some seeds are planted under concrete, and the ground is hard. But a determined seed finds a crack, pushes its way through, and reaches for the sunlight — because if it can reach the light, it will live. "Sometimes you gotta know," he said, "God is planting you — positioning you and preparing you for the next thing in your life."
When Jesus Shows Up
Pastor Jones stacked the witnesses. Jesus asleep below deck while a storm beat against the ship and the disciples feared for their lives — until He stepped up and said, "Peace, be still," and the storm had to shift. A widow's son being carried out of Nain in a funeral procession — until Jesus touched the coffin, and He didn't show up for a funeral; He showed up for a resurrection. Peter's mother-in-law sick unto death, the doctors out of answers — until Jesus showed up, and the sickness had to leave her life. His point: nobody can take the life of a child of God. Jesus said no man takes His life — He lays it down, and He has the power to take it up again. When Jesus shows up in your situation, everything must shift.
SOIL — Go Deeper This Week
S — Scripture: Read John 11:25–26 slowly, out loud. What does Jesus claim about Himself — and what question does He put to Martha, and to you: "Do you believe this?"
O — Observation: Martha (v. 21) and Mary (v. 32) say the exact same words to Jesus: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." What does each sister do next — and what does Jesus do with each of them?
I — Interpretation: Why does Jesus wait until the fourth day — past the three-day tradition, past the point where Martha says "there is a stench" (v. 39)? What does the delay accomplish that an early arrival could not?
L — Life application: Name one dead thing you have been focusing on — a loss, a grudge, a dead season. Every morning this week, speak John 11:40 over it out loud: "If I believe, I will see the glory of God."
Dig a Little Deeper
1. Pastor Jones said everything around Lazarus "operated in death" — the sisters, the mourners, the whole conversation. Where has a death-focus been operating in your house — your sleep, your peace, your joy?
2. "Lord, if You had been here…" (vv. 21, 32). Where are you still charging God with being late — and what would it look like to believe Him beyond the fourth day, past the point where it stinks?
3. Jesus had to call Lazarus by name — if He had only shouted "come forth," everything dead would have gotten up. What is He calling by name in you — and what graveclothes are you still wearing that need to be loosed?
This Week's Challenge
Every morning this week, before your phone: name one dead thing out loud — the grudge, the loss, the dead season — refuse it ("I refuse death over this"), and speak John 11:40 over it: "If I believe, I will see the glory of God." Seven mornings, out loud, before anything else gets your focus.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You that You always hear us — and that Your Son is the resurrection and the life. Forgive us for the years we spent staring at dead things: the losses we kept mourning, the grudges we held so long we forgot why, the seasons we buried while You were still planting. Roll back the stone in us. Call us by name. Loose us from the graveclothes we walked out still wearing, and teach our mouths to speak life instead of death. We refuse the cemetery. We believe — and we will see Your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.