You Will Never Die
John 11:1-7 NIV
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you LOVE is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus LOVED Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
John 11:11-15 NIV
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Lessons from a Funeral
- Jesus Loves Us, Even When He Doesn’t Come When We Expect
John 11:5–6 NIV
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days...
OUN = Greek // means “SO” or “THEREFORE”
“I love you, THEREFORE, I’m going to let your brother die.”
John 11:15 NIV
“Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may BELIEVE.”
John 11:25-26 NIV
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who BELIEVES in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by BELIEVING in me will never die. Do you BELIEVE this?”
John 11:42 NIV
“I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may BELIEVE that you sent me.”
John 11:45 NIV
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, BELIEVED in him.
Isaiah 55:9 NLT
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
They wanted Jesus to prevent a FUNERAL; Jesus wanted to reveal RESURRECTION.
They wanted Jesus to make Lazarus BETTER; Jesus wanted to show them they would NEVER DIE.
Lessons from a Funeral
- Jesus Loves Us, Even When He Doesn’t Come When We Expect
- Jesus Weeps with Us, Even When He Knows How the Story Ends
John 11:35 NIV
Jesus wept.
Knowing the FUTURE doesn't prevent Jesus from entering our pain in the PRESENT.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 NIV
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
Jesus is not only POWERFUL enough to change your situation; He is COMPASSIONATE enough to sit with you in it.
John 11:33 NIV
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
EMBRIMAOMAI = Greek // literally means to snort like an angry horse, or roar, expressing deep emotion or righteous anger.
John 11:39 NIV
“Take away the stone.”
Revelation 20:14 NIV
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
Lessons from a Funeral
- Jesus Loves Us, Even When He Doesn’t Come When We Expect
- Jesus Weeps with Us, Even When He Knows How the Story Ends
- Jesus Goes into His Tomb So We Can Come Out of Ours
John 11:47–53 NIV
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
John 11:4 ESV
This illness does not lead to death.
Our story will one day have a THROUGH death moment, but b/c of Jesus it will never have a TO death moment.
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
You Will Never Die | The Book of John
Johnson Bowie
September 5-6, 2026
“You will never die.”
Maybe you made a decision to follow Jesus today, or maybe you’re curious what life with Him is all about. Wherever you are on your journey, we invite you to share with us so we can help you discover your next step.
