Alright, go back to John 11 with me. Read the first three verses with me. John 11. A certain man was sick. He mentions his sickness five times in six verses. A certain man named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary, her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair. His brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, his sisters sent word unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

Urgent, an urgent plea called to the Lord from one they loved was sick. Our Lord said down in verse 15 to his disciples, I'm glad for your sake I was not there to the intent you may believe. Well, I'm glad, for your sake, that you are here to the intent that you may believe. What is it that we need to believe? It's that all whom the Lord loves get sick, but it's not unto death. It's for the glory of God.

He said, and I'll go ahead and read it to you, the end, declare the end before the beginning. Look at verse 25 and verse 26. I love this, don't you? I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Dead in sin or in the grave, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. You believe that? He said, Lazarus, sleepeth. But Lazarus died, no, Lazarus sleepeth, he giveth his beloved sleep, as in rest from all pain, suffering, sickness, sin, this world, it's over.

I hope very soon to preach a message entitled, The Believer's Last Day is His Best. I heard or read a message by Thomas Brooks on that years ago, great blessing. So I'm glad you're here to the intent that you may believe more fully.

Sickness and death are inevitable for all human beings. It's the result of sin. Sickness and death is judgment. It's a curse upon mankind for sin, for rebellion, for rejection of God. That's what this book teaches, doesn't it? But not for the child of God. Those whom God loves, it's not judgment, it's mercy. It's not a curse, it's a blessing. Christ was made a curse for us, you see. It's not God's anger, it's His love. For everyone else, it's His anger, it's His wrath, it's His judgment, it's the curse, it's death. But not for God's people, not at all. It's not His anger, it's His love.

For whom the Lord loveth, They get sick, all of them, without exception. And it's for the glory of God. Verse four, this sickness is not unto death, and this can be said about all of God's people, their sicknesses, whatever it may be. It's for the glory of God. That the Son of God might be glorified. We want to glorify God, don't we? We don't want to get sick, but we're going to. And those we love, those whom the Lord loves, For the glory of God.

Now to understand sickness and the glory of God and the glory of Christ, we must understand the cause. The reason for sickness. Turn with me to Genesis 2. Genesis 2. Sin is the sickness under death. The reason for physical sickness. Sin. You know this, don't you? The world doesn't believe that. They really don't. It's the cause of all physical sickness and physical death and spiritual death. Genesis chapter 2, in Adam all, what, die, because they're all sick with sin. Genesis 2 verse 16, the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And the margin says dying, thou shalt die. Man died spiritually in the garden. You know these things, don't you? He died spiritually in the garden. He had no life of God in him. The soul that's in it shall surely die. He had no life of God in him. He can't come to God. He can't believe God. He doesn't know God. He runs from God. He hides from God. That's what Adam did after he died right there in the garden.

So what's his hope? He can't do it. He's dead. He's dead in trespassings and getting way ahead of himself. But no, I'm not. This is my first point. But so it's very plain, isn't it? That the Lord must give life. And that's what Christ said, I've come that they might have life. By laying down his life, by being made sin free. Lazarus could not have lived if the Lord had asked him to come forth. If it was up to Lazarus, he couldn't live. But the Lord had to call him from death unto life. So it is with all people that in Adam all die.

And this sickness, Isaiah 1, turn over there. I'm not Brother David. David Edmondson and I were speaking, and David said to me, we need to preach more to the lost than we do. We need to not take for granted that everybody understands these things that we've known for years, right? I don't know who's listening to this on Mixler or who in here that doesn't know these things, but look at Isaiah 1. You need to know these things, you need to know where they are. Our Lord said in verse 3, the ox knows his owner, the ass his master's crib. Verse 2, the people rebelled against me. Israel doesn't know, my people don't consider, a sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, evildoers, children that are corruptors, they've forsaken the Lord, provoke the Holy One, anger, they're way backward, verse 5. Why should you be stricken anymore? Will you revolt? You'll revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. See that? The whole heart is faint. Read on. From the sole of the foot to the head, there's no soundness. Sick. Wounds, bruises, putrefying sores have not been clothed or bound up neither mollified with ointment. Do you see that? What God says about man.

You know, if you're severely sick, if you have a serious sickness, it affects all parts of your body, your mind, your mind, your body, your soul. And it affects you, so it is with sin. The head, the thoughts, the heart. Our Lord says, only evil continually, desperately wicked. The hands, all that man does. The feet, wherever he goes, swift to mischief. The eyes, full of lust. The mouth, cursing and bitterness. This is what the Scripture says, doesn't it? You know these things.

This is the sickness that the Lord causes all his people to first understand. They must first realize. their sickness. And it causes all His loved ones to feel it, to know it, to understand and cry out like Mary and Martha, Lord, I'm sick. Be whom Thou lovest is sick. You must understand the cause before you understand the cure. Right? In Adam all died. And we don't just We inherit His sin. We were born in sin, dead in sin. But we come forth from the womb ourselves sinning. All have sinned. We sin. Adam's not... We don't blame him for our sin. We have sinned. Right? In Adam all die. In Christ, all made alive. All those in Christ I'm going to live. They do live and never die. Do you believe that? How do you get in Christ? How did you get in your mother's belly? Did you have anything to do with it? You say, no, that's ridiculous. It's even more ridiculous to say you put yourself in the kingdom of God. Put yourself in Christ.

What does 1 Corinthians 1.30 say? Of Him. Of God. Are you what? In Christ. who of God is made unto all the things we do. In Christ, the Lord has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. And we should be holy without blame before Him in love, in Christ. All right, and Scripture says this, and I've got to deal with this because this is the reason for sickness. This is the reason for death. We've got to understand the cause for sickness.

Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7 with me. Deuteronomy 7. And the scripture says in Matthew 8 that Christ himself bore or took our infirmities and sickness. He bore our sins, our sin and sins in his body on the tree. Christ was made sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The reason God's people will never die because of sin is because Christ died. Christ himself did not physically become sick, but he took this thing called sin which is our sickness and would render us dead spiritually. It did. But He died, taking our sin in His body on the tree.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7. This tells us the results of disobedience. Deuteronomy 7 verse 12. Wherefore, it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep them, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant, the mercy which ye swear unto thy fathers, he will love thee, bless thee, multiply thee, bless the fruit of thy womb, the fruit of thy land, the corn, the wine, the oil, the increase of thy kind, the flock, the sheep, the land, they swear unto your fathers. Look at verse 18. Thou shalt not be afraid of them. Let's see. Verse... He'll deliver thee. Thou shalt not be afraid of death.

Turn to Deuteronomy 28. I'm sorry. Deuteronomy 28. This is it. Deuteronomy 28. So if you keep God's law perfectly, you're going to prosper. Everything's going to be fine. Deuteronomy 28. Verse 15. Look at it. Deuteronomy 28, 15. It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all his commandments, I command thee, these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

Verse 21. The Lord shall make pestilence cleave unto thee. Verse 22. I smite thee with consumption, and fever, and inflammation, and burning, and sword, and blasting, Verse 27, the Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, with Imrod, the scab, the itch. You cannot be healed. Madness and blindness.

Verse 58. Look at 58. Look at this. He will not observe to do all the words of this book. Thou mayest fear the Lord and glorify His name. Fearful of the Lord thy God, the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, the plagues of thy seed. Plagues of long, continuous, sore sickness, diseases, verse 60 of Egypt. Every sickness, verse 61, in every plague. You see that?

What does sickness result in? Sin and rebellion against God. We know that, don't we? We know that. False religion and false preachers preach a health and wealth gospel, don't they? They do. They say if you live right, you'll never get sick. That's right. Who can? Who has? Huh? No, it has nothing to do with good. No, not one. For these sicknesses are gone. If you live right, you'll never get sick and you'll get rich. That's what they say.

You know, the Lord sends strong delusions. Strong delusions. You live wrong, they say, you'll get sick. Well, they're right about that. The child of God gets sick. Right? Why? We're sinners. Like Job's friends, they thought, Job's friends thought, well, Job's doing something wrong. That's why the Lord sent this sickness. He's doing something wrong. When are we not doing something wrong? When are we not, is there a day goes by we don't do something or think something or say something wrong? Yes, we get sick. But it's not punishment for wrongdoing. It may be chasing it, but it's not punishment. It's for the glory of God, for God's people. It is punishment for the unbelievers. And if God doesn't heal them of this sin sickness, they're going to die because of it.

But all whom God loves...

Now, you get sick. Isaiah 57. Look at this. This was by the Cody Groovers. We've preached his funeral here. You remember this? All that God loves get sick. Why? They're sinners. But they're righteous. How can that be? You know, don't you? in Christ. But look at verse 1, the righteous perishes. They die. Verse 2, they enter into peace. They rest in their bed. They get sick and they die. But they're righteous. They're righteous. They don't perish eternally. Our Lord said they shall never perish, didn't He? Oh, you're confusing me. No, we're born confused. No, no, no. I'm trying to clear up our confusion that the sickness of God's people is not punishment for sin, Christ bore that punishment. But it's for the glory of God and it doesn't, it's not death, it's never death for God's people. All mankind gets sick, but God does not love everyone, but all of God's people get sick though he loves them. loves, get sick according to his will, his purpose, for his glory and his honor.

Now turn back to John 11. Now look at this. John 11 in our text, verse 3. His sisters sent word unto him, we cannot escape sickness. We just can't. It's what's going to happen to us sooner or later. And they sent word to him, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick as if they couldn't understand why he was sick. Well, now you understand, don't you? We're going to get sick. We are. And our Lord said this, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And they knew it. And it says so here. And all whom God loves get sick. God sends this sickness. God sends it. How do you know that God loves you? How do we know He loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus? He came to them. He called them, didn't He? He came to their house, where they were, and revealed Himself to them.

Do you remember when I remember preaching a message in Luke 10. It was that the Lord came to Martha's house and Martha was serving and Mary was sitting at His feet. Where was Lazarus? Do you remember that? He wasn't there. Where was he? Well, he may have been like me, the prodigal son, out on the street somewhere. He wasn't there.

The Lord came to Martha's house And Mary's house, where two or three are gathered, they remind the myth, because he loved them, and spoke to them, and revealed himself to them, and he preached there in that house, and Mary's sitting at his feet. Right here she's at his feet. She falls at his feet when he comes.

The next chapter is when she anoints his head with oil, with spikener, and his feet, and wiped it with the hair of her head, and humility, and shame because of her sin, like that other Mary. She does the same thing that other Mary, the harlot. She feels her sin, her sickness, and she comes and falls at His feet.

All whom the Lord loves, He convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment, and they fall at His feet. And He comes where they are, and He preaches to them, reveals Himself to them. Reveals His love, reveals His mercy, reveals His grace, reveals why He came. Raised them from the dead. Christ came to their house. Christ spoke. He preached to them. He abode with them.

Look at chapter 12. That's what I just quoted. Chapter 12, verse 2, "...and made Him a supper." We hold the Lord's Supper here every now and then, don't we? You look forward to that, every one of you. When we have it. We don't have it too often, but when we do, You always tell me, this is a very special occasion. Not to the world. The Catholics, all these people that do it out of habit, out of duty, every Sunday morning, so to speak. It doesn't mean a thing to them. It does to God's people.

Our Lord was there, and boy, they made Him a supper, and it was just in remembrance and honor of Him. That's how you know the Lord loved them. They loved him. Why? Because he first loved them. You know that, don't you?

Lazarus, look at verse 3, Mary took a pound of ointment, a spikener, very costly, and anointed his feet. Verse 2, Lazarus was right there at the table with them. So, the Lord loved them. Mary's at his feet, they're all at his feet.

The first mention, everyone whom the Lord loves gets sick. The first mention, interestingly, of sickness was they told Joseph, behold your father. They told Joseph, your father, Jacob, is sick. And Joseph rushed to his father's side. His dear old dad got sick. And he died. But that's the first mention. And that's good, because all the sons of Jacob are going to get sick. They're going to die. Not from that sickness. The Lord is going to take them. They might die with it. As Teresa first said to Edmondson, said, we don't die from these things, we die with them.

The Lord kills. The Lord makes it alive. The reason being, you know that because one person gets cancer, another person gets cancer, and this person doesn't die with cancer, and this person does die with cancer. So the cancer didn't kill them, the Lord did that. And I absolutely hate and despise and detest, God hates it more, when people say things like this, He beat cancer. That's blasphemy. Give everybody but God the glory.

So that's the first mention of sickness. Job. I remember bringing up Job to a Pentecostal fellow one time on the railroad, this fellow. They claim, you know, if you live right, you won't get sick and so on and so forth. And I brought up Job and he said, let's not talk about Job. What do you mean, let's not talk about Job? That's the oldest book in the Bible. It's the first book. And it begins right away with the Lord taking everything away from Job. The Lord did. And then the Lord's hand touched Job and smote him. The Lord smote him. You say, Satan did. No, Satan couldn't touch him. And the Lord said, you caused my hand. I did this, the Lord said. Satan is an instrument.

Smote him with boils. Have you ever had a boil? One? It's awful. Awful. From the sole of His feet. He had them on the bottom of His feet. All over His body to the top of His head. There was not a part of His flesh that wasn't in pain. Fiery. Couldn't even touch Himself. Scraping. Can you imagine? What a picture that is of sin, our Lord being made sin or leprosy. Job. The Lord did that. Why would the Lord cause a man to suffer like that? And religion says the Lord didn't have anything to do with that. The Lord doesn't want His people to suffer like that. Oh yes, He does. And we're going to see why.

Elisha. Elijah. didn't die, the only man that didn't, Enoch, two men. Elisha just, a chariot came to get him, went off into glory. But Elisha was his understudy, his, you know, the preacher the Lord raised up. God gave him a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He was, he was more used than Elijah was. Elisha got sick and died. Why couldn't he heal his own sickness? Why did he get sick? The Lord did. The Lord did.

Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings in Scripture. The Lord said so. There was none before him and none after him. He got sick and died. He got sick one time. And the Lord healed him through Isaiah, but he got sick and died again. Hezekiah, Asa, another king, a good king. The Lord said so. He did that which was right in his eye. He became diseased in his feet. And he died. And that scripture says that he sought physicians and didn't seek the Lord. And he died.

In the New Testament, Lazarus. Paul, the apostle, used more than any other apostle, maybe as much or more than all of them put together, the greatest of the apostles. Paul, all his life, suffered with bad eyes. He had bad eyesight. Part of the reason so many people were around him and traveled with him because he couldn't see. You think about that. Have you ever had an eye problem? He suffered. And they didn't have the things we have now. The eyesight. And Paul asked the Lord to remove it. And they knew it.

Timothy. Remember when Paul said, take a little wine for your stomach's sake and your often infirmities. He was sick all the time. Some people are, aren't they? Sickly people. It's not because they're weaker than you. It's not because you eat the right things. That's just as much blasphemy as saying you beat cancer. You know that? Well, if they'd just eat this, right, or if they wouldn't, if they'd get more exercise. I hate that. God hates it more.

Timothy was often sick. Often sick. Epaphroditus was the pastor at Philippi. And he was so sick, he almost died. And Paul begged the Lord to spare him. And the whole church was praying for him. And it says that God did have mercy on him and spared him. Paprodites. On and on it goes.

David Brainerd, missionary in this country to the Native American Indians. Jonathan Edward, he was Jonathan Edward, well, Jonathan Edward said of him, Oh, the gospel that produces a man like David Brainerd is the gospel of God. He died at 29 years old. Robert Murray McShane, 29 years old. Greatly used of God. And on and on it goes. Charles Spurgeon was sick for 38 years. Called him the Prince of Preachery. Sick for 38 years. And on and on it goes.

All whom the Lord loves get sick. The Lord sends it. They may even die of it. But it's not under spiritual death. It's not under eternal death. And it's always for the glory of God. Always. And it's the means of giving them sleep. Sleep. Rest. Eternal rest. No, never to be sick again. Alright?

Now look at verse 25 and 26. It said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? It's not unto death, but it's for the glory of God.

The Lord says, I kill. This sickness that the Lord sends is under the glory of God by us. It's for us to give glory to God in our sickness. Because we give more glory to God when we're suffering than when we're prospering. We do. It's greater glory, it's a greater testimony to faith, to God's grace, and who God is when we are suffering than when everything is going well.

Because everybody in the world, religion, you know, where everything's going well, the Lord's blessing me, the Lord's blessing me. Well, Job lost everything and lost all his health and scraping all the boils off of him, he said, the Lord, blessed be the name of the Lord, the Lord's blessed me. What do you mean, Job? You know what he means. The Lord gave, the Lord gave this. The Lord took it away. He did, he took it away. The Lord gave all his children his house, his home, and the Lord took it all away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job blessed God, didn't he? Job praised God. Job glorified God more in his sickness than he did in his prosperity.

Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians. I'll turn for you. Listen to this. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 12. He said this, For this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that he might depart from me. And he said, you know what he said? My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, in your weakness. So Paul says, so most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He said, I take pleasure in infirmity. in reproaches, in necessity, in persecution, in distresses. For Christ said, because when I'm weak, He's strong. I'm strong in Him.

What do you mean, Paul? Well, David said this. David said this. It's good for me that I've been afflicted. Then I might learn thy statutes. Isn't it? The Lord in His mercy has afflicted me. I'll tell you why in a minute. But our Lord is a supreme example of affliction, isn't He? He was sweating blood in the garden at the thought of being made sin on the cross. And I believe He said, I'm going to die right here in the garden if you don't take this cup from Me. But He said this, nevertheless. Boy, this glorifies God, doesn't it? Not my will. But thy will. If it's your will that I suffer, glory be to God. Not my will.

And this Job made the statement, perhaps one of the greatest statements of faith and testimony of faith in all the Bible, though he slay me. I will trust Him. Now that's faith. It's easy to say you believe God when everything's going fine. When your body's well, when your family's all around you, there's no trials and troubles, and religion thinks, well, I must be living right. Don't they? What about when everything's going wrong? When you're sick and afflicted? Can you then say, I trust the Lord, that the Lord has blessed me?

Oh, the Lord loves to get sick. Yes, He makes them sick. And we're getting what we deserve because of sin. But it's a light affliction because the Lord has not dealt with us according to our sin. He dealt with Christ according to our sin. Christ died. And this is for the praise of the glory of His truth, of His Word, of His promises. Sin, sickness, tribulation. He said you must, through much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He didn't promise health and wealth. He promised the opposite of it. Blessed are the poor, the sick. You must, through much tribulation, you must. God promised it in His Word. It's going to come to pass. You must expect it and glorify Him in it. and even thank Him for it.

All whom the Lord loves get sick. I remember years ago, Brother Mack Torrance came to me in the study and everything was fine. Everything in his life was fine. No troubles. No personal sickness. No family troubles. No troubles whatsoever. And he said, I'm worried. He said, I don't have any problems. That's what he said. He said, I'm troubled. I just don't have any trouble. I've got it all. I've got no troubles whatsoever. He said, I'm worried. Can I be a child of God? Then it all happened at one time. Yes, it did. So don't worry. It's coming. The Lord loves you. It's coming. Don't ask for it. But it is. It's coming. It already has for many of us. And we'll continue to the day we die. It's to the praise of the glory of His truth, His promise. He's promised it. And it's the glory of His love, whom the Lord loves. He chastens. And, you know, it's not punishment. Sickness, affliction, trouble, trials are not punishment. But they can oftentimes be chastening. Right? Chasing him. Whom the Lord loves, he chases. He said, if you'd be without it, you're a bastard. You're not a legitimate child. You weren't born of God. That's what Mack was saying. I'm not having any troubles. I'm afraid I'm not a child of God. Well, he had troubles. He got troubles. And he died in sickness. But he didn't die. It's the glory of his love. Whom he loves, he chases.

Why? Because we forget God. We all do. Just like the people of this world. He's not going to let us forget Him, is He? We forget God. We forget Him. We fall into sin. We all do. All God's people. We become worldly at times. We all do. What's God do? He chastens us. He lays us low. He stops us. He stops us. If we're not calling on Him when we're well, if we're not honoring Him when we're well, then He'll make you sick. And you will call on Him then. If we're not coming when we're on our feet, He'll lay us on our back. Yes, He will. We're going to praise Him. We're going to glorify Him. Yes, we are. In glory of His love. And then there's the glory of His presence.

Listen to David. David said, My loins are filled with a loathsome disease. He went on and on to say, Don't rebuke me, Lord, in a hot displeasure. There's no soundness in my flesh because of my sin, my iniquity. Over my head, my loins are filled with a loathsome disease. He said in chapter 41, a couple of chapters later, He said, Lord, be merciful unto me. Heal my soul. I've sinned against Thee. It says the Lord will strengthen that man upon his bed. He'll make his bed in sickness. He'll comfort him. As I quoted David.

And when is the Lord closer? He never leaves His people. But because of sin, and rebellion and forgetting God, sometimes we'll feel dead and lost. And He chastens us and comes back to us and reconfirms His love to us. And He never left us, but we're going to feel like He has. But in sickness and trouble, David said, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I've kept Your Word. When do you read God's Word more? When does God's Word mean more to you? When does God speak to you more than when you're laid low? It's a shame that it has to be that way, but it is. When you're in trouble. When you're in trouble.

David said this, he said, Now, Lord, I know that you in faithfulness have afflicted me. David drew nigh an affliction to God, and God drew nigh unto Him. It's to the praise of the glory of His grace. God said, My grace is sufficient. It is, isn't it? It really is. Some have gone through deep waters, deep sorrows, terrible sickness, terrible sickness. And no matter how severe, how long, How tough the trial. God's grace is sufficient, isn't it? He said, I will not give you more than you're able to bear, didn't he? Is it true? Is it true? Yes, it is, because God is true. I told you my father-in-law one time said, I don't think I can take any more. He did. He did. Because God's grace is sufficient. God is true.

There's a great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11 to show us that no matter what God's people go through, no matter what He brings them through, they testify of Him, of His glory and His grace. And they give Him more glory in those things than without them. And that's why. Our Lord said this sickness is not unto death, not unto death, but will glorify the Lord. We bring God glory in our sickness. But He's going to bring us to glory through sickness and death. It will all be the praise of His glory, of His grace. A believer's last day is indeed his best. Ecclesiastes 7 said it's better than birth. I wish we believed that. We wouldn't dread it so much. Believer's sickness is the means which God might give to bring them to pass from death unto life. From death unto life. John 11. It's to bring us to glory where we'll thank Him forevermore for sending us all these troubles. Stop us. Lay us low, make us think on Him, think on our everlasting inheritance, our true portion, that this is not our lot in life.

And look at verse 11. John 11 says, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, I go and I wake him out of sleep. His disciples said, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. That's true. Our Lord was saying he's asleep. He giveth his beloved sleep, rest. But the Lord spoke of death, and they thought he'd spoken of taking rest and sleep. And then he said, Lazarus is dead. Now listen, I love this. I'm glad for your sake I was not there. I'm glad he died, the intent you may believe. Nevertheless, let's go on there. And then Thomas said this. I love this. Thomas, I hope you can say this. I hope we can all say this. Now what did Lazarus die of? What sickness was it? Well, it died in a few days. It was bad. Was it contagious? Well, Thomas said, I don't care. What'd Thomas say? Let's go die with him. Let's go die with Him. What do you say? Why? Because it's glory. We leave this land of sickness and sin and filth and wretchedness and violence and pain and suffering and sorrow and trouble and tribulation and trial and darkness and go to the land of glory. And I can't rightly speak of it because it's joy unspeakable. Paul said, I heard not what he saw, what he heard. I can't even put it into words, he said. So he said, I have a desire to depart and be with the Lord. You just don't understand, he said. I was there. It's far better.

This sickness is unto glory. Glory. Why would we dread it and want to stave it off. There's pain and suffering and sorrow, but a light affliction, the Scripture says, that worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of what? Glory. It's over. It's over. You want to be healed here? And live a little longer? Or do you want to go to be with the Lord in glory? It's far better, isn't it? Oh, this sickness.

Our Lord wept at Lazarus' grave, and somebody said this, and I think he has a point here. He wept because he had to bring Lazarus back. Had to bring him back. Oh, boy. The sickness is not of the dead. Believers don't ever die. They live. And it's for the glory of God. And whatever it is the Lord sends to take us, we're going to be thanking Him for all eternity. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Alright, stand with me.