It's a bleak and dreary day. I imagine gray skies overhead. A crowd has gathered in the small town to comfort friends in their loss. Over the horizon a man appears. Several more heads pop up over the horizon and the figures draw closer and closer. The crowd loses interest and goes back to comforting those who have lost a brother. The men are in sight now and one lady rushes out to meet them. "Jesus," she cries, "You are too late. Lazarus is already dead."

That's how the story of Lazarus begins. We all know how Jesus wept but let's look at that graveside scene once more.

Read John 11:38-44

In this single scene we find every man and woman that has ever lived. In just 4 people or groups we are all pictured.

The first one to look at is Lazarus. He was beyond hope. He was dead but more importantly he had been dead for four days. Jews believed after 3 days there was no hope. They thought the spirit hung around for 3 days so people could come back for 3 days. Everyone would have given up by this point. Even his Sister said, "It's too late Lord he stinks by now. He is dead and rotting why bother checking on him." But we are never too far gone for Jesus.

When we tell ourselves "I can never change," or "That will never happen," we presume too much and believe too little. In Jesus Christ God renders all of our final conclusions premature and all of our talk of determinism as simply bad faith. In Christ, God opens closed doors, brings resurrection, reveals possibilities, reclaims the lost, liberates the cursed and possessed, and changes the unchangeable. (Don Shelby, Illustrations Unlimited #4 p.50) It is never too late.

Lastly with Lazarus we see that with new life comes persecution. Sure he was alive but he was still engulfed by his grave clothes. And then there were the so-called mourning friends who began to plot against him. Lazarus represents new Christians. New Christians will face hard times. Satan will hit you and try to steal your joy since he can't have your soul. The last thing he wants is an excited person wanting to tell the whole world. "The highest joy to the Christian almost always comes through suffering. No flower can bloom in paradise which is not transplanted from Gethsemane." (Ian MacLaren, Illustrations Unlimited. # 26, p.18). Now the Bible doesn't say what happened to Lazarus, whether the plotting Jews were ever succeesful or not, but if they did kill him I can just imagine him kind of laughing at them. He knew there was something better waiting on him; he had tasted it. It reminds me of the lady who asked to be buried with her fork because even though the meal was over, dessert is coming.

Next we have the mourners that obeyed Jesus' commands - the followers. They represent those of us who have been christians for a while. First we see that we must have a burden for others. The living must have a burden; these people were wailing over the loss of another. We need that kind of burden to see a lost world that is dying without christ.

From the followers we also learn that we must work to reach others. Jesus could have rolled the stone away but he asked the followers to do it. As followers we must be willing to remove the stones and obstacles that seprate others from Jesus. We need to put forth an effort to ensure that Jesus' reaches them.

Not only do we have to be burdened for others and willing to work to reach them but we must also be willing to work to teach and aid others. Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound and needed someone to help him. New Christians need assistance from others. We need to share and teach them. There ar a lot of mummies in churches today. Lots of people are raised to walk in newness of life but they are still tied up by consequences and bound by sin. They need to be set free. A new believer only knows that he is saved and how he got that way. The un-churched don’t know all there is to the Christian walk. It is the job of other Christians to get them there. We are called in the Great commission not to make converts but make disciples - students. we can't make students without being teachers.

An American Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the changeling eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly. Years passed. And the changeling eagle grew very old. One day, he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. "What a beautiful bird!" said the changeling eagle to his neighbor. "What is it?" "That's an eagle--the chief of the birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him." So the changeling eagle never gave it another thought. And it died thinking it was a prairie chicken. (Ted Engstrom, The Pursuit of Excellence, Illustrations Unlimited #3, p.344)

We need courageous eagles willing to teach us so we don’t all act like chickens. Picture this scene: A terrible multi-car accident has just occurred on the expressway. The paramedics arrive at the scene and bolt out of the ambulance. A medic arrives at the scene of a horrible car crash. As the medic races to an injured person lying on the ground he exclaims, "Oh wow! There’s a guy who just flew through a windshield. He’s in pretty bad shape!" Then the medic pulls out a gun and "BANG!" shoots the wounded man. That's not waht the medic is supposed to do - that's not what he was trained to do. But that is exactly what happens among christians everyday. Someone struggles with sin and we gossip about them! BANG! A soul saved in a revival or during door to door visitation never comes to church and we figure wel they probably were never really saved. BANG! Time and time again we, Christians shoot our injured.

New Christians need help to develop a Christian life. Not only teach them but support them.

Tears glistened in the eyes of the Salvation Army officer Shaw as he looked at the three men before him. Shaw was a medical missionary who had just arrived in India, and the Army was taking over this particular leper colony. These three men had manacles and fetters binding their hands and feet, cutting their diseased flesh. Captain Shaw turned to the guard and said, 'Please unfasten the chains.'
'It isn't safe,' the guard replied, 'these men are dangerous criminals as well as lepers!'
'I'll be responsible. They're suffering enough,' Captain Shaw said, as he put out his hand and took the keys, then knelt and tenderly removed the shackles and treated their bleeding ankles and wrists.
About two weeks later Captain Shaw had his first misgivings about freeing these criminals; he had to make an overnight trip and dreaded leaving his wife and child alone. His wife insisted that she wasn't afraid with God being there. The next morning when she went to the front door, she was startled to see the three criminals lying on her steps. One explained, 'We know the doctor go. We stay here all night so no harm come to you.' That's how these dangerous men responded to an act of love. Christ came to set fettered people free. (Illustrations Unlimited #21 p. 118)

If you remove their bindings, they just may be the one to look over you one day. "Small boys learn to be large men in the presence of large men who care about small boys." Thos small boys then becoe large men themselves

Next in the crowd of people at the graveside scene, we see the world. Notice first that, it doesn’t really care. Some of the people who were there comforting the family and mourning over the loss of Lazarus began to plot againnst him as soon as he returned to life. Perhaps they figured bad things happen to bad people so if you die you have it coming. The cynic says: "Don't bother telling people your troubles. Half of them don't care, and the other half figure you probably had it coming." (Illustrations Unlimited #20 p.16) But Lazarus didn't deserve death; he died so that Christ could be revealed. He died for a greater good. Look at Romans 8:28,29.

Next notice that the world is blinded by pride. In 11:47 we see that the people had seen Jesus work many signs. The priests and Pharisees recognized Jesus' power but failed to submit to it. Pride keeps the world from submitting to another's lordship - to Jesus' lordship. Maybe it is because they can't admit their own inferiority. It's hard to admit we can't do anything to earn our way. So many religions in this world teach that the way to heaven can be earned through good deeds and living a proper, just, and moral life. But we must admit our inferiority and swallow our pride.

Then there's Jesus. There's no one like Jesus – he was uniquely God and man. The sisters knew if only he had been there their brother would not have died. No one saves like Jesus – no one saves at all but Jesus. ow foolish it would have been for one of the stone movers to boast that he freed Lazarus from the grave. It's not I saved so and so but that I brought so and so to the Lord so the Lord could save them.

Notice too that Jesus has compassion. He wept. He knows our pain and suffering. He knows our temptations and struggles. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus is the high priest who knows what we go through and is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus had compassion. But even though he cried I'm thankful he also cried out. Lazarus come forth.

Lazarus come forth. Because He has the power. I've heard it said that if Jesus had just said, "Come forth" that all the graves might have bust open and the rapture taken place much earlier. In 11:25 Jesus claimed, "I am the resurrection and the life." Here, he proved that claim.

There is no clearer statement in Scripture of the significance of Jesus for us individually.
He didn't come for the masses but for individuals
He is the resurrection and the life. His is the power; he is the source. Those who believe in him may die physically, but they will live eternally. This is his promise to us if we will trust in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.
This truth points us toward the ultimate significance of the miracle. Jesus' claim to be the resurrection and the life was proven by the restoration of Lazarus. Jesus' deeds always backed up his words.
Today we can contemplate this miracle, finding in it a foreshadowing of what lies ahead. One day Christ will return and shout to our dead, "Come forth." Then we will arise, and together with the believers alive in that day rise up to meet the Lord in the air (I Thess 4:16, 17).
Truly Jesus is the resurrection and the life." (Quoted from Every Miracle in the Bible by Larry Richards ISBN 0-7852-4531-6)

In closing, where are you? None of us are Jesus so we're ach in one of the other categories. Today, you may find yourself in one of three groups. Maybe you are in the world. You have not surrendered your own power and submitted to the highest power. Maybe you have but like Lazarus you are still struggling in bonds as a new believer. Or lastly, maybe you are a maturing Christian follower. Maybe you are helping and training others. Or maybe you're not showing the brotherly love. Do you have a burden for new Christians and for the world? If not what is wrong? What have you placed before Christ in your life.

No matter the situation I pray you will surrender to him today and know that he is the life.