no more uh uh Lazarus and then notice verse 15. and I am glad huh that's an interesting Twist on the story isn't it I I am glad it could sound ghoulish almost if we didn't know Jesus and his purpose and his intention if we hadn't heard him Express what he does in verse 4 we didn't understand that verse 5 love governs his dealings with this particular family so when Jesus says and I am glad notice what he says for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe nevertheless let us go to him again if he was present he may have healed that if he was present closer to his actual death there would have been that potential for confusion that maybe he was just mostly dead and Jesus is a witch doctor Jesus is simply a magician which by the way is how the talmud treats Jesus Christ they don't confess Jesus as the Messiah of God they don't confess Jesus as the Son of God they don't rehearse God from God light from light true God from true God as far as the talmud is concerned Jesus was a fake and a sham and a deluder and if anything he had magical powers and so they didn't Jesus doesn't want that to be the case I I am glad for your sakes he said and then notice the target I am glad for your sakes that you may believe isn't that interesting Jesus is glad for your sakes that you may believe there's a type of preaching out there we call it in terms of theological identification hyper Calvinism hyper Calvinism turns the gladness of Jesus right up on its head look at what the text says what makes Jesus glad ask yourself today if you're an unbeliever what would make Jesus glad I know we don't usually think like this and we don't usually ask these sorts of questions but when you have a a a a a a a ball lobbed over the plate like that you you take a swing at it and when Jesus expresses what makes him glad and the gladness that Jesus expresses is on or at the level of your faith in him does that seem like he's telling you to stay far away don't ever come to me don't ever approach me don't ever believe on me never listen to these offers of mercy and Grace that come repetitively in the scripture I mean go from Genesis to Revelation what do you find a god running from his creation no a god running to his creation when Adam and Eve sin they run into the garden into the midst of the trees to hide themselves who comes to thatch them God when the man of Babel built that Temple or build that Tower to raise up into the heavens and God confounds their lips how does God respond to that he calls Abram out of her of the Chaldeans and says I'm going to make a great name out of you in your seat all the nations of the earth will be blessed in the fullness of the time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law and anything in the Bible converges upon you today to believe in him what makes Jesus glad he's not glad that Lazarus is dead he's not glad that Martha and Mary are sad his gladness is not in the the circumstances revolving around the tragedy in this family his gladness is in the Blessed effect it's in the ref the fruit he knows what he's going to do he knows that he's going to call this stinking man out of the grave and he knows that many are going to believe in him and Jesus says that makes me glad if in your head God is this distant being upon whom no man can approach that's not the god of the Bible the god of the Bible is the god of Luke 15 who when the prodigal was a long way off the father runs to him the father falls on him the father kisses him the father brings him back to the house puts a ring on his finger and then orders the slaying of the fatted calf the father says my son that was dead is now alive my son was lost it is now found if you've got this concept in your head that God sent Jesus into this world to save just a tiny handful of people and they all happen to be connected to the same church that's not scripture from every tribe every tongue every people and every nation when you ask the question why is Jesus glad in John chapter 11 that you may believe I'm glad that I was not there for your sakes
