I Don’t Believe It’s Over: Faith on the Verge of a Miracle

John 11 opens with a situation that looks terminal. Lazarus is sick, Mary and Martha send for Jesus, and the One who loves them does not come right away. The text lets the pain sit there long enough to make the question real: What happens when somebody has prayed, believed, and watched things get worse instead of better?

Jesus says that Lazarus’s sickness is for the glory of God. Jesus does not move late because He does not care. Jesus moves in harmony with the Father’s will, and the delay is a greater glory. A quick healing could have been called a coincidence, but a man dead four days leaves no room for anybody to explain God away.

God’s glory does not mean that human pain is ignored. God knows the need, feels the sorrow, and sees the tears. But God is doing more than meeting one immediate need. God is growing faith, revealing Himself, and bringing His people to a deeper confidence in Him. Mary and Martha had faith that Jesus could heal, but Lazarus’s death buried that faith under a stone. Jesus came not only to raise Lazarus, but to resurrect faith that had been switched off.

The stone over Lazarus’s tomb becomes the picture of every place where somebody has decided, “It’s over.” A marriage may be on the rocks. A child may look like a flatline. A body may be sick. Finances may be deep in a hole. A ministry may have taken a hard hit. A person may be dressed up on the outside while lying on a stretcher down inside. The devil wants desperation, hopelessness, anger, and resignation to roll the stone over the door.

The image of emergency workers refusing to quit on a flatline calls faith to keep working. Holy Ghost paddles are prayer, praise, and stubborn trust in God. Conversion means that God can change things from sickness to health, sorrow to joy, anxiety to peace, lost to found, and bound to free. Faith does not give the devil the pleasure of calling it done before God has spoken.

Jesus tells Martha, “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.” Martha sees the stink, the four days, and the mess. Jesus is not afraid of the stink. Jesus calls Lazarus forth, and then commands, “Loose him, and let him go.” The living testimony of a daughter’s healing after doctors could not explain an MRI points back to the same truth: God is still a miracle worker. Jesus alone gets the last word, and it is not over until the Lord says it is over.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The delay is a greater glory Jesus delayed His arrival, not because Lazarus was outside His care, but because God’s purpose was bigger than an immediate fix. The delay exposed the limits of human hope and made room for God’s glory to be seen clearly. Faith must learn that God’s timing is not proof of God’s absence. [37:47]
• 2. God resurrects buried faith Mary and Martha believed Jesus could heal, but death caused their faith to shut down. Jesus spoke to their belief before He called Lazarus out of the grave. Dead situations often reveal places where faith has been buried, and Christ is able to call that faith back to life. [43:49]
• 3. Do not call it done The flatline may look final, but emergency workers keep working because a conversion can still happen. Prayer should not quit simply because visible evidence looks bad. Faith keeps the paddles in hand and refuses to give hopelessness the final word. [47:36]
• 4. Jesus is not afraid of stink Martha saw four days, decay, and a situation nobody wanted to open back up. Jesus saw a place where the glory of God could be revealed. Nothing has gotten too dead, too messy, or too far gone for Christ to enter. [51:47]
• 5. God still works miracles The testimony of an unexplained healing does not deny the value of doctors, but it declares that God remains above every limitation. A miracle becomes its own witness, just as Lazarus sitting alive at the table pointed everybody to Jesus. Christ can still speak life where death seemed settled.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [31:17] - Anyhow Praise
• [31:53] - Scripture Reading: John 11
• [35:08] - I Don't Believe That It's Over
• [36:14] - When Jesus Seems Delayed
• [37:47] - The Delay Is a Greater Glory
• [39:53] - Resurrection of Faith
• [44:14] - The Stone Says It Is Over
• [46:53] - Holy Ghost Paddles and Conversion
• [49:11] - Do Not Give Up Now
• [51:27] - Jesus Is Not Afraid of the Stink
• [52:50] - Lazarus, Come Forth
• [54:52] - A Testimony of Miracle Healing
• [60:53] - Invitation and Closing

Bible Reading

John 11:1-44
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, 'Lord, he whom you love is ill.' But when Jesus heard it he said, 'This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judea again.'... Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, 'Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.' When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.' The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.” [32:15]

John 11:40
“Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” [34:23]

1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [45:22]

Observation questions

1. What details in John 11 show that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, even though He remained where He was for two more days? [37:26]
2. What reasons does Jesus give for Lazarus’s sickness and for what the disciples and others would see through it?
3. When Jesus tells the people to remove the stone, what concern does Martha raise, and how does Jesus answer her? [51:27]
4. After Lazarus comes out of the tomb, what does Jesus command the people to do for him, and what does that show about Lazarus’s condition? [53:01]

Interpretation questions

1. How can Jesus’ delay in coming to Lazarus be understood as love and obedience to the Father rather than neglect of His friends? [37:38]
2. Jesus points Martha toward belief before Lazarus is raised. Why might Jesus be working to restore Mary and Martha’s faith as well as to raise their brother? [43:47]
3. Martha focused on the four days and the smell coming from the tomb. What kinds of facts or past experiences can make a person feel that a situation is beyond hope, even while Jesus is present? [52:05]
4. In this passage, God’s glory is revealed through a miracle, but God is still worthy of glory whether He acts in the timing people want or not. How does that truth shape a believer’s response in disappointment? [43:04]

Application questions

1. Is there an area of life where you have quietly rolled a stone over the door and decided, “It is over”? It may involve a relationship, health, finances, a child, a dream, or your walk with God. What has made it feel final? [44:14]
2. When prayer seems unanswered and the situation gets worse, what is your usual response—prayer, praise, anger, withdrawal, or giving up? What would it look like to keep trusting God without pretending the pain is not real? [36:11]
3. The “holy ghost paddles” picture calls believers not to quit when the evidence looks like a flatline. What is one specific prayer, act of encouragement, or faithful step you can continue this week instead of calling it done? [47:29]
4. Is there a “stink” in your life—a messy failure, a painful history, a broken relationship, or a long-standing struggle—that you would rather leave closed up? What would it mean to invite Jesus into that place? [52:14]
5. If sin or failure has caused you to believe you are disqualified or too far gone, how does God’s promise of forgiveness in 1 John 1:9 speak to that lie? What honest confession or step toward restoration may be needed? [45:19]
6. Jesus told others, “Loose him, and let him go.” Where might you need the support of other believers as God brings freedom and healing—through prayer, accountability, practical help, or encouragement? [53:07]