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Living Hope Fellowship Church .... Sermons From the Pastor

JESUS WEPT

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

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JESUS WEPT

Preface

(joy / crying / no faith / Lazarus)

          John 11:35 says, “Jesus wept.”         Jesus was not crying because Lazarus died.  He let him die on purpose, waiting days before He came to his house.  Jesus wept over the lack of faith in the people that He could raise Lazarus from the dead. 

In John 11:25 Jesus said, “. . . I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”  Jesus is the final authority, not death. 

The devil will tell you, Your situation is hopeless; there is no way around it.  Don’t you see there is nothing left?  It is already signed, sealed, and delivered.  I’ve got you now.  Just believe God anyway.

          Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  If you walk by faith, you please God, and He will meet the need.  Jesus is the answer!

JESUS WEPT

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          When Israel came out of captivity, and they were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, the devil’s crowd tried their best to discourage them.  However, Nehemiah 8:10 says, “. . . for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

          The supernatural move of God in the joy of the Lord is power that will come upon you to where you can literally laugh at the devil!  When you get the joy of the Lord, there is not a devil in hell that can prosper against you, if you believe God.

          Gethsemane is a decision making place, knowing that the cross follows.  Some of us are going through that now.  With the cross comes great sorrow and mourning, withdrawal, and even YOUR death, but if you hold fast, after crucifixion, there comes resurrection!  If you are willing to be crucified with Christ (see Galatians 2:20) behold, you shall be resurrected with Christ by the power of God. 

          You have to learn to fight.  If you don’t fight, just sit back . . . because you are going nowhere!  Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,” so you can assume that you are going to fight!  You have to fight to get faith and to hold on to it.  You have to fight so somebody else can get faith and believe God with you. 

          1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:”

          Don’t be concerned with the fiery trials that come against you.  There are others in this world who are trusting Jesus for the same victory that you are (see 1 Peter 5:8-9).  God is looking for people who will get up one time more than Satan can knock them down. 

It frustrates the devil to knock you flat on your face, and suddenly you get right back up.  You are a flesh and blood mortal human being, easily defeated.  However, when you walk in the power of God, and the devil knocks you down, yet you get up again, you shake the devil up.  Great victory is coming if you trust God. 

          John 11:35 says, “Jesus wept.”  This is the shortest verse in the Bible.  People try to tell you that Jesus Christ does not cry, but the devil is a liar.  He cried then, and He cries now.  Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

          Romans 8:34 says, “. . . It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”  He can reach over and touch the Almighty Father by the hand and say, Father, feel what they are going through.  Don’t think you are on an island; you are not alone.  You can make it if you hang on to Jesus. 

          Jesus wept.  Some of us need to bawl and squall a little bit.  We have been too tight and too tough too long.  Make an altar somewhere and cry your heart out; seek God and get clean again.

          Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cried.  Men have taught that you should not cry.  Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet.  When he said things, they came to pass, because God talked out of him. 

          I am not talking about taking a melancholy devil, getting in a dark corner and crying poor me, pity me.  I’m talking about getting real and right with God.  Tell God if you are hurting and you are discouraged.  Tell Him, if you feel like you could pull your hair out, and you are ready to just chuck it all. 

          The man that Jesus was weeping over was DEAD and stinking in his grave!  You can’t get any more hopeless than that.  However, Jesus wept over the lack of faith in the people that He could raise the dead. 

Lazarus, a dearly beloved friend of Jesus, had died four days previously.  Martha and Mary had sent word to Him that he was sick and wanted Jesus to come and pray for him. Jesus waited on coming, and Lazarus died.  All hope was gone, so they went ahead and buried him.  The day may come that we get a little leery about putting them in the ground too soon! 

Most Christians don’t think God will raise the dead anymore, but He can take a situation that is totally hopeless and fix it.  I remember as a child sitting in church asking, Mama, how come God doesn’t do what He used to do with Noah, and Abraham, and some of the prophets, and like what Jesus did?  She shook her head and said she didn’t know why, but the preacher said God didn’t do it anymore.  Preachers are responsible for every word they speak, just like the rest of us are.  That preacher was wrong.  Jesus CAN bring you out of a hopeless situation.

Jesus wept, but not because it was hopeless.  He was grieved with their unbelief.  John 11:25 says, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”  Jesus is the final authority, not death.  

God wants to fill you up with joy, power, and the Holy Ghost.  If you will yield your heart and life over to God, He will pour you out a blessing you cannot contain.  It starts with the joy.  When you come to God, you have to feel some kind of happiness. You may bawl a while, but pretty soon you will feel a weight lift off.  Joy will replace it if you don’t stop too soon.  You will be happy and not even know what you are laughing at. 

The funeral was over when Jesus arrived.  (See John, Chapter 11.)  Jesus waited so the situation would get totally hopeless, without any chance of someone saying that Lazarus really didn’t die.  Jesus made sure there would be no devil inspired excuses.  When they got there, he’d been dead four days.  Jesus makes sure you and those around you watching won’t be able to explain away what He is about to do in your life. 

Lazarus’ sister said if they opened the tomb, Lazarus would be stinking.  Jesus started crying, and the church folks said something like, Look how He loved him; he is sorrowing too.  NO.  Jesus started crying because they still didn’t believe Him.  He had done many miracles, and He even told them who He was.  YET they didn’t think He could quite handle this situation. 

God blesses and heals you, and the devil comes to you in your latest situation, telling you this one Jesus can’t handle.  He will say, This one is a little too far gone.  God is not listening to you anymore.  Your bills are past due, and the creditor is fixing to come.  The devil says, I told you Jesus couldn’t get you the bucks.  You shouldn’t have paid your tithes so you would have had the money to pay the bills.  God gets the FIRST tenth of your increase.  The devil says, It is hopeless; there is no way around it.  You may as well hang it up.  Jesus has already tarried too long.  Don’t you see there is nothing left?  It is already signed, sealed, and delivered.  I’ve got you now. 

Then you need to say, Hallelujah, and believe God to meet the need, whatever it is.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  If you walk by faith, you please God, and He will meet the need. 

Jesus wept because of their unbelief.  They wouldn’t believe God for a miracle.  Mary fell at His feet and held on to His ankles like He had forsaken her somehow.  However, John 11:25 says, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” 

Even though you are sick and feeling lousy, Jesus is your answer.  If you are afflicted in your body or tormented in your mind, Jesus is your answer.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  If you accept Him and live for Him, He will be your healer.  He can raise you from the dead if he chooses.  Too many of God’s people walk in fear, scared to death of dying!  They have no faith. 

The blood banks are corrupted with aids; you can’t trust them.  However, we need not be afraid of getting in the waiting room - at the altar of God.  You can get a blood transfusion from Calvary!  You can get anointing and healing balm from the One who died on Calvary for you.  Jesus wants to meet your needs, and He weeps today because His people don’t believe Him. 

We need the Holy Ghost to keep the devil from following us around.  I’ve seen church members with buzzards flying above their heads.  Imagine them saying, That one is dead . . . No, he is still moving.  He will fall over in a minute.  They are so cold in their soul that there is not enough fire to keep the buzzards off.  They need the joy of the Lord.  Jesus said the truth will set us free. 

John 11:40 says, “Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”  Can’t you hear her say, Lord, don’t take the stone away from that grave!  Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, was standing there!  He made the cave the dead man was in, the rocks over it, the sky, and all things.  Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

If we believe and trust God, nothing shall be impossible to us according to the Word of God.  Many have lost their faith in God.  Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.”  Verse 7 says, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.”

Jesus told them to roll the stone away.  Folks, we need the stone of unbelief rolled away from the deadness of our hearts.  Make an opening for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to point His finger and say, “Come forth!”  Even now by the power of faith you can feel it shaking.  The stone is rolling, and faith is coming in, but the mind has trouble handling this faith stuff! 

Faith comes out of the heart.  Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”    Faith has to get in your heart.  

Jesus said to roll the stone away, but she said it was going to stink.  She didn’t want to smell it.  That is a problem - a lot of people are afraid when it gets rolled off of them it is going to smell.  Maybe it already smells.  You need to get delivered from that thing, and get some faith and life in your body and soul again.  We don’t want to see the thing come out because somebody is liable to know we are up there praying through.  However, some people will pray through, if you will!  If you feel the conviction of God, you had better act on it.  Roll that stone away and let it stink, because Jesus is fixing to say, COME OUT alive.

Jesus is a Deliverer.  He is ready to take away your sins and your unbelief, and He is ready to meet your needs.  When He takes something out, He (always if you ask him) fills it back up with something from Him.  At one time I was full of the devil, but when Jesus came in I got radical.  What the devil had, now JESUS HAS.

Lazarus came forth - literally.  It really happened.  It is a spiritual and a historical event, and the Master has not changed.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”  He will do today what He did with Lazarus then.  You aren’t nearly as dead and stinky as he was.  There are a few buzzards circling, but you are still breathing.  

What do you have to lose except sin and unbelief?  The wages of sin is death.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life. 

Once I heard the Spirit of the Lord speak to me, “Make me your pleasure.”  I thought that was a strange thing, so I tried the spirits.  Then I knew it was God.  When you get discouraged and think the Lord has let you down, you go out and take up your hobby or another diversion for a little while - so you can do some real thinking.  It is pleasurable, it is a sideline, and you say you just do it until you clear up your mind.  However, it really never clears up until you get to praying! 

God dealt with me to make HIM my pleasure.  When you are down, you need to get a hold of HIM.  When you need to cry, you need to cry out to HIM.  When you need somebody to talk to so you can clear your mind, talk to HIM. 

Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Joel 2:32 says, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered. . . .”

If the devil is hammering you, call upon the name of the Lord.  God is our source and our life.  He will take over your life if you will let Him.  Suddenly, HE is your pleasure and the joy of the Lord becomes your strength.  When you are troubled by the devil, suddenly God comes on you and you can walk in God’s strength. 

Because Jesus hung on the cross, we can live forever.  He took the stripes so that we can be healed.  He cast out devils, and we can be delivered in His name.  Because He took sorrow and pain, we can “Rejoice evermore” (see 1 Thessalonians 5:16). 

Let’s not cause Jesus to weep with our unbelief.  John 20:27 says, “. . . be not faithless, but believing.”

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail 

livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.

© Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.