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Paul Mahan

He That Was Dead Came Forth

John 11:44
Paul Mahan January, 15 2023 Audio
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The sermon "He That Was Dead Came Forth," based on John 11:44, addresses the Reformed doctrine of total depravity and the sovereign grace of God in salvation. The preacher, Paul Mahan, emphasizes that humanity is spiritually dead in sin, akin to Lazarus's physical death, and cannot respond to God without His calling. Key Scripture references include Ephesians 2:1, Romans 8:28, and Ezekiel 36:26, which highlight God's sovereign initiative in salvation and the necessity of His intervention to bring the spiritually dead to life. Mahan argues that true comfort in grief can only be found in understanding God's sovereign plan and grace, asserting that God works all things for His glory and the benefit of His chosen people. The significance of this message lies in the assurance it provides to believers that their hope is rooted in Christ's sovereign power to resurrect both physically and spiritually.

Key Quotes

“If the Lord doesn't speak, if the Lord doesn't call somebody out of death to life, they are not going to live.”

“Salvation is of the Lord.”

“There is no comfort anywhere else with anyone else in anything else. None.”

“He's the God of all comfort. How do you get comfort in that? Knowing He did it.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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John 11, John chapter 11 is a
long chapter. Much space, much is written on
the story of one dead man being raised. The reason being is it's
such a picture of salvation, a whole chapter, a picture of
mankind. He's dead. He's dead. Martyrs used to say,
Graveyard dead. What's that mean? It means dead. Man's dead in trespass of sin.
He is. And it's such a picture of salvation
of the Lord. If the Lord doesn't speak,
if the Lord doesn't call somebody out of death to life, they are
not going to live. They're not going to hear His
voice. Salvation is of the Lord. This man was dead. Lazarus was
dead. Does anyone in here know anybody
that's dead in trespass and sin? You can't get through to them,
can you? They are not going to come and
hear this gospel. They don't want anything to do
with God. They don't believe. They can't believe. They won't
come. They will not come. They cannot
come. They're dead, aren't they? You
speak to them all you will and they won't hear you. Why? They're going to have to hear
from Christ. He's going to have to call them
from death to life. He's going to have to call them
in. That's a fact. It's a fact. And Adam, all what? Die. And Christ made life. Let me give some more comfort
to the sick and the sorrowing. We've been looking at how he
whom the Lord loves is sick and sorrowing, how our Lord Jesus
Christ wept. We've got a dear, dear sister
down in Alabama, known her all my life. She, me. The Lord saved her and she knows
and loves the Lord. Her husband has severe Parkinson's
disease and he also has Alzheimer's. He's in his 70s. He's in his last days and she's
sad. A husband of 50 or 60 years. Most of the time he doesn't know
her. It's just sad, isn't it? Man is born of woman a few days
and what? Full of trouble. Full of trouble. Sin entered
this world and death by sin. Death passed upon all men for
all of sin. The only hope, the only comfort is in Christ. The only hope and
the only comfort is in a God whose Sovereign over all of this,
a God who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. People quote Romans 8, 28 at funerals. They quote that
concerning everybody that dies. It's not true concerning everybody
that dies. They're talking about God's people, Romans 8, those
who are adopted. of God. Whom He foreknew, He
did predestinate. Whom He predestinated, He called.
Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified. That is, gave them this faith
in Christ, the glory of God. It says, and we know, that's
what Romans 8, 20, it says, we know, God's people know, that
all things work together for good to them that love God, who
are called according to His Purpose. Everything is on purpose. God
does it all and it's all on purpose. Nothing by accident, nothing
by chance, nothing outside of God's absolute sovereign control. There is no comfort anywhere
else with anyone else in anything else. None. There's no answers. Our Lord said in verse 4, when
they sent word to him, he whom thou lovest is sick. Why was
Lazarus sick? Because Jesus Christ made him
sick. That's why. And he said, this sickness is
not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might
be glorified. We already looked at this. We
need to keep looking at this. for our comfort. It's not death for God's people,
it's glory. Who did He say this to? Who did
He say that to? His disciples. He said it to
His disciples. And they believed Him. He said
it to send word to Martha and Mary, didn't He? Tell them, this
is not death, it's glory. It's going to end. It's going
to end in glory. You sad right now? Oh, it's going
to be glorious. Not death. It's glory. Our Lord made Lazarus sick and
our Lord killed him. You believe that? That's what
he said. See now? See now? I, even I am
he. I kill. I make a lot. I wound. I heal. I, the Lord, do all these things.
All things work together. Why? Because it's perfect. And
it's all good. Better than that, it's going
to be glory. Glory. And our Lord waited for
Lazarus to die. You remember, we looked at it.
Our Lord waited for Lazarus to die. He's waiting in His good
time, His purpose, and He's the one that sent the sickness that
killed Lazarus. The sickness, the disease didn't
kill Lazarus. Jesus Christ did. Like one of our sisters says,
you may die with a disease, COVID or pneumonia or cancer or whatever,
you don't die from it. That didn't kill you. God did. Do you believe that? You don't have any hope now,
if you don't believe that. You're going to trust in doctors,
you're going to trust in medicine, you're going to trust in everybody,
anything but Him, but Christ, if you don't believe that. You're
going to depend on everything and anyone but Him. But our Lord said, it's not death,
even if you do die. It's not death, it's glory. Look at Lamentations 3 with me.
Lamentations 3. The Lord sent this sickness,
and with the sickness, it was great grief and sorrow. Lazarus
was sick, deathly sick. Lamentations right after Jeremiah.
Lamentations 3. It caused Lazarus' family, great
grief, and we've all been through it, haven't we? Every one of
us. Somebody we love, and it's what I told our sister, it's
harder on those who love the person, harder on them than it
is on the sick. God gives that sick person great
grace, but those all around him watching them suffer, and it
gives them great grief and sorrow. And I'm here to tell you, that
is what our Lord wept over. not bringing Him back. He came
and killed Him on purpose. Why? To bring Him back for His
glory. But He wept over the ravages
of sin and the sorrow of His people. They were weeping, so
He wept. They were sorrowing. He was sorrowful. They had grief. He was a man
of sorrows acquainted with grief. All points touch to the field
of our infirmities. Lamentations 3, look at this,
if you've never seen it before. Verse 32, though he caused grief. Are you looking at it? Lamentations
3, verse 32. Who caused grief? The Lord did. Oh, Lord, God didn't
want that to happen. That's what these false prophets
said. Bad things happen. God didn't want that to happen.
Then what kind of God is he if you let it happen? I don't need that kind of God.
He can't help me. He caused the grief. Yet, verse
32, will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercy.
He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men
to crush them. What that means is from the heart.
That is, he doesn't take great pleasure in afflicting people
and sending grief and sorrow. It's all on purpose. It's all
according to his wise purpose and will. It's all on purpose. He does what he does because
it has to be done. It has a certain end. He causes grief. Go back to John
11. So this family was grieving, greatly grieving. We've done
it. We've all done it. When he was sick, the sisters
called on the Lord. When the Lord came, they came
to him. That's who they turned to. See,
here's the glory of God in giving this faith in Him in spite of
sickness and because of sickness and death. These sisters knew that, they
knew He's the Lord. And He's the only one that could
raise their brother. They knew that. And when the
Lord, they called on Him, And when the Lord came where they
were, He didn't come to their house, remember? He didn't come
to their house. He was outside of the town. And
that's on purpose. They went to come to Him. And
they did. Look down at verse 31. which were with Mary in the house
and comforted her, when they saw Mary, she rose up hastily. Martha had just come and says,
the Master's come, he's calling for you. And she got up and quickly left,
and the Jews said, she's going to the grave, verse 31. She's
going to the grave to weep there. No, she's not. Where's she going? Going to worship Jesus Christ.
She's going to go where Christ is and fall down at His feet
and call on His name and worship Him. See, this sickness is not unto
death, but it's for glory. It's the glory of God to cause
someone in the midst of great grief and sorrow to come and
worship the Lord and fall at His feet Not grieve uncontrollably. Sorrow is other's sorrow. I counted nine men and women
in this congregation whom the Lord has taken a child. Nine. One person He's taken two children. Six widows in His church. The Lord took their husbands.
The Lord took their husbands. Six. Six. Every single one of them has
witnessed a wonderful testimony. I've seen it. Every single one
of them came to the house of God in the midst of their great
grief and sorrow and worshipped the Lord who did this. Now, buddy,
that gives God glory. They all did. They all glorified
the Lord. And they all found comfort, didn't
you? Didn't you, sister? There is
no comfort anywhere else, is there? Is there, Brother John,
Earlene? There's no comfort anywhere, Nancy. Nowhere! He's the God
of all comfort. How do you get comfort in that?
Knowing He did it. He's too good to do evil. He's
too wise to do wrong. He knows what He's doing. Shall
not the judge of the earth do what? Say it. Everything is right
because He did it. He did it. Martha and Mary didn't go to
the grave. They came to Christ. And He comforted
them. He spoke to them. Each one of
them. He said, your brother shall rise
again. Shall I know it in the resurrection?
He said, I am the resurrection. Don't you know she's getting
comfort by this time? He's talking to her, speaking
to her. He's the God of all comfort. There is no comfort anywhere
else. None! Faith is such a gift. We're going
to look Wednesday night at faith, tribulation, work with patience. Patience, experience and experience. See, Martha and Mary had hope
even though their brother was dead. They had hope. Don't you love what Martha said?
Verse 22, I know even now whatever you ask God will give it to you.
He's dead. I know if you just, you just,
I know. You just speak right now. He'll
live. Like old Abraham took his son
up on that mountain. He's going to kill his son. God
told him to. He believed that God was able to raise him from
the dead. He believed surely God would
because he promised him. Oh my, look at Romans 8. Romans
8. And we ought to look at this
again Wednesday night. We ought to
look at Romans 8 every Wednesday night. Every Sunday, Romans 8,
is to God's people, begins with no condemnation of them that
are in Christ Jesus. Now, it goes on to talk about
the Spirit of God dwelling in us and giving us this spirit
of adoption. We cry out, Abba, Father. Look
at verse 23. It says, verse 23, we ourselves
have the first fruit of the Spirit and we groan within ourselves. They were groaning, they were
weeping, weren't they? We weep, we sorrow, we really
do, don't we? But, not as those who had no hope. I preached the funeral of a man
from this congregation with great confidence that he knew the Lord.
Most of his family, all of his family are unbelievers. They
had several children. None of them knew the Lord, still
don't. Most of them, they're all living. I had hope for them. If they wanted to say something,
they wanted to get up in this pool pit and say something. I said,
no, I won't do that. I won't preach this man's funeral. And
the gravesite, and finally they wouldn't take no for an answer
and I left the gravesite. I said, okay. After that, I said,
okay. And it was a fiasco. Because people like to sorrow
and they like everybody to know how much they're sorrowing. They do. Oh, look how much, oh,
look how much. Daddy's gone. That doesn't glorify
God. And I've seen, I've witnessed
those of you who lose children, if not many of you, if not all
of you, didn't shed a tear publicly. Boy, we weep in private, don't
we? But that glorifies God. How'd she get that strength to
endure that? She didn't have it. God gave
it to her. Peace that passeth understanding.
I don't understand how she's enduring that. I do. I do. Verse 24, we're saved by
hope. Hope, and I've got to go on because
that's Wednesday's message. But here's hope for the day.
Go back to John 11. John 11, go back there. And our
Lord said, look at verse 25. He said, I'm the resurrection
and 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, Martha?
She said, yea, Lord, I do. I think she's smiling now. She
was weeping. I think she's smiling. Yea, Lord,
yes, I do believe. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of God, which shall come into this world. You can't say that
without smiling. Without joy, can you? I believe. Brother, I believe. Do you believe?
There was a time I didn't believe. I do now with all my heart. I
really do. And now this whole story comes
to this. This whole story happens to show
the greatest glory of God The glory of God's sovereign
purpose, power, love, mercy and grace. The glory of God's Son.
He said that. This is the glory of God and
the glory of God's Son. In what? In saving dead sinners. That's what this whole story
is all about. That's why so much space is given to this story.
And you hath he quickened who were what? Dead. Who did it? He did it. Why? For His glory. His whole story is a picture
of God's greatest glory in raising dead sinners. When Moses said
to the Lord, after he'd already seen the dead Red Sea part of
it, he said, Show me thy glory! God said, Okay. I'm going to
make all my goodness pass. That's the Gospel. God who's
so good, his tender mercies are over all his works. God makes
the rain fall on the unjust as well as the judge. God who feeds
and waters and provides for every single human being. And they
cuss him. They complain. They never thank
him. They never give him a thought. Oh, how good God is to rebels. You wouldn't do it. You wouldn't
put up with a dog that just did nothing but bite you, growl at
you, bark at you, wouldn't come to you. You wouldn't do it. I
wouldn't do it either. But God is rich in mercy. See, man doesn't want God. Man
says no God. Man doesn't believe God. Man
doesn't thank God. Man doesn't need God. Man doesn't
call on God. He's dead to God. He wants God
dead. When God came, he killed him! When the Son of God came, man
says, kill him! Who did that? Who killed him? God did. God did. They killed him
with wicked hands, but they did what God purposed before to be
done. Why? To keep from killing some of
them. How good is God? How good is God? So I'm going
to make my goodness manifest for you. He said, I will be merciful. I'm going to show mercy. Mercy means not getting what
you deserve. And I will be gracious. I'm going to give them, I'm going
to withhold from them what they deserve. I'm going to give them
what they don't deserve. I'm going to take the blame for
everything they did. I'm going to give them the credit
for everything I did. That's amazing, isn't it? That's amazing. Behold the goodness
of God. Verse 38 tells us that Lazarus
was in a cave, a grave. Our Lord came to the grave. It
was a cave with stone lay upon it. Every word is significant.
He was in the grave and it was a cave. What's a cave? It's in
the earth then. The cave is in the earth. You
know, we're of the earth, earthy. We're creatures of this earth.
We're made of dirt. You know where we're going? Back
to dirt. The only thing we'll own in this
world is six feet under the ground. He's of the earth earthy. No matter what we accumulate,
no matter what we do, it's going to turn to dirt. Dirt. He was in a cave. It was dark.
He was in darkness, wasn't he? Stone over the door. He was in
darkness. There was no light. Man is Blind. Man is in darkness. This world
is dark. That grave was empty. There was nothing in there but
death. That's this world. Empty. Vanity of vanities. That grave was his captivity. Lazarus could not get out of
this grave if he wanted to. He didn't want to. He's dead. It was his captivity. He's not
coming out unless somebody calls him. What was in that grave? Death. What's in this world?
Death. There was a stone over that grave. A large stone. That stone kept
him in the grave. That stone kept him in the dark.
Turn to Ezekiel 36 real quickly. I've got, I've only been preaching
25 minutes. Okay. Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 36. I meant to tell you to hold it,
Ezekiel, but that stone rolled over that door, kept him in that
grave, kept him in the dark, kept him dead. No oxygen, no
life, no light, no life, no nothing. He's dead. He can't live in that
grave. He's dead. He wasn't in a coma. He's dead. He's in a grave for four days. No doubt about it. He's dead.
That stone kept him from hearing the Master's voice. That stone
kept him from coming to Christ. He cannot hear. He cannot come. He will not. He's in the dark.
He's dead. What is this stone? Look at Ezekiel
36, look at verse 22. The Lord said, Thus saith the
Lord, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but
for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the heathen, wherever
you went. I will sanctify my great name,
which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned
in the midst of them. A heathen shall know that I am
the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in
you. I'm going to get glory in you.
Sayeth the Lord before their eyes, I will take you, verse
24, from among the heathen, gather you out of all countries, will
bring you into your own land. Does that sound like God's doing
it all? Does that sound like he said, if you'll take the first
step out, take the rest? No. Verse 25, then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From all your
filthiness, from your idols will I cleanse you. Verse 26, a new
heart also will I give you. A new spirit will I put within
you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh. A stony heart. That's what keeps
people from coming to Christ. That's what keep people from
hearing his voice. That's what keep people in the
dark. That's what man is dead. His heart is a heart of stone. But God said, I'm going to give
him a new heart. Heart of flesh, tender, easily
broken, touched, a new heart. Our Lord said in our text, John
11, verse 39, take away the stone. Take away the stone. Who did
He say this to? Martha, Mary? They can't take
away that big stone. Who did He say this to? The Jews? No, He's not dealing with the
Jews. That's His disciples, John. Simon Peter, a big old husky
fella, James, John, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, all these men that were
with him everywhere, he said to them, take away that stone. Are you listening to me? God
hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. God hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to remove
a stony heart. Nothing else will. There's no
other way. He's not going to do it if you're
sitting on the mountainside. He's going to do it if you're
sitting in a pew, you're hearing the gospel preached by one of
his sent men. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? This is the means that God uses. He sends a preacher
and says, take away the stone. And I heard my preacher preach
on this. What stone? Well, the stone of
Phariseeism, the stone of legalism, the stone of free willism. Take
away that stone. Remove that. Tell them it's not
by might, not by power, but by my Spirit. Tell them it's not
your work, not by works of righteousness which you have done. Take away
that stony heart of free willism. It's not your will, it's God's
will. Not your decision. It was God's
decision. It's not your choice. It's God's
choice. It's not your glory. That's for
sure. It's God's glory. Move that stone away. Take away that stone of Pentecostalism. Emotion. If you'll just get the
Spirit. If you'll just roll around. If
you'll just start talking in tongues. If you'll just feel
the Spirit. It's all false. It's all false. Where's the gospel in all that?
Where's the truth in all that? Where's blood and righteousness
in all that? Huh? Where's the Word of God in all
that? It's feelings. That's emotion. That's flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.
But that which is spirit is spirit. What spirit? Truth. What's truth? Christ. Preach to them, preacher. Tell them, get rid of all that
stuff, that you need one thing, Christ. You need one thing. You need to hear the voice of
the Son of God. Take away that stone. Preach Christ. Be stone. Look at verse 39. Martha, the
sister of him, was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time
he stinketh. He's been dead four days. Yes,
he does. That's why you should take away
the stone. That's why preachers are to preach
what? Preachers are to tell people,
you stink. Take away the covering. Take
away the facade. Take it away. We need to get
a good grip of ourselves. We need to see man for what he
is. Stinking! Right? That's what preaching
does. Take away all this facade of
religion, all this flesh. Oh, she sure loves Jesus. She
doesn't even know Jesus Christ, but she wouldn't act like that. She'd be weeping and wailing
over her sin. She'd be asking for mercy and
grace over her sin for rejecting God, not all this emotionalism. Take that away. Show them it's
all stinking flesh in God's eyes, in God's nose. That only one
thing is a sweet-smelling savor to God. It's the blood of Jesus
Christ. Like the father said to his son,
give me that savory meat that I love. Don't come to me without
it. Are you with me? I think you
are. Yes, we need to take away the
stones so we can see just how filthy man is. Just how stinking
he is. Lord, he's been dead four days.
He's beyond hope. He's really dead. You know, dead's
dead, no matter if you've been dead four days or 40 years. You know, we're born in sin.
We're born dead. Born in this world dead in sin.
If you live long enough, you'll get real stinking dead. Four
days, 40 years, it doesn't matter. Dead's dead. Same hope. One hope. Do you know anybody
who's been dead a long time? And you think, boy, ain't no
hope for them. Oh, Lord, don't take away that
stone. He's too dead. He's stinking. He's too stinking.
Don't take away that stone. Is the Lord's arm short? Is anybody
too far gone? He's too old now. He's too steeped
in sin. You'll never get through to Him.
Oh, really? Our Lord said in verse 40, Didn't
I say unto you, if you would believe, you'd see the glory
of God? I wish I could really believe
the Lord, don't you? Don't you really believe and
not, you know, just be so distraught and depressed and, oh, there's
no hope for her. Yes, there is. But she's too
far gone. No, she's not. She'll never come. How do you know that? I wish I believed the Lord, don't
you? Can you think of anything more glorious than to somebody you know is
dead in sin to walk through that door and sit in that pew and
rejoice in the gospel of Christ and get in that Baptist church?
Somebody you know has been dead a long time. Can you think of
anything that would be more glorious than that? He does it all the time. He's
still doing it. Praise be His name. Well, they
took away the stone. And our Lord lifted up His eyes,
verse 41, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. You know, he thanked God before
he raised Him. Can we thank the Lord before
He saves our loved one? Whether He does or not, can we
thank Him? Don't we have much to thank the Lord for? Should
He save our lost loved one? No. Whether He does or doesn't, we
need to go and find Him. We need to thank Him. If God
doesn't do another blessed thing for us, we need to thank Him.
We've already received so much mercy, so much grace. If He never
does another blessed thing for us, we need to thank Him. Right? Our Lord did. Like that woman
whose daughter was vexed with the devil, and she came, help
me Lord, and He wouldn't answer her, and He wouldn't speak to
her, and she just worshipped Him. She just worshipped Him. Lord, if you do, fine. If you
don't, blessed be the name of the Lord. He's so good. And he said
in verse 42, I know, speaking to the Father, I knew that thou
hearest me always, that because of the people which stand by,
I sent it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. Brethren,
we believe, don't we? Salvation is of the Lord. We
do, we believe in the salvation of the Lord. Can these bones
live? What do you say? Can you answer that question?
Can these bones live? What do you say? Now notice. Preach. What? Can these bones
live? That they might know, who might
know? My people, my disciples, that you've sent me. Sent me
to call the dead to life, from darkness to light. Sent me to
put away sin. by my sacrifice. They know, God's
people know, that Christ is the sent one, that Christ is our
only hope, that Christ is the Savior, that Christ is the Messiah,
that Christ is the King, that Christ is God, that Christ is
the Prophet, Priest, and King, that Christ is the Covenant Head,
that Christ is the, all and in all, that Christ, they all know
All their hope, all their salvation, all anybody's salvation is Jesus
Christ. They all know that. They know. I'm the one sin. And when he
cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth! Somebody said if he hadn't called
his name, everybody in the grave would have come out. This redemption is particular.
Salvation is my sovereign election. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. I call them by name. He said,
I've got their names engraved on the palms of my hands. He
went to Calvary for every single one that he chose before the
foundation of the world. You like that? That's the truth. I like it. And he called Lazarus by name,
and he that was dead came forth. That's me. Look! Look who's coming in here. Look
who's sitting there. Look who's singing these hymns. Would you look? Would you look
at that? He's alive. He came. Where'd he come? Fourth. Out of darkness. The Lord called
him from death to life. The Lord called him out of darkness,
out of that cave, out of captivity. The Lord calls us out of the
world where we go. Where did he go? To Christ. He
came to Christ. Our Lord said the hour is coming
and now is. The dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. What's life? Christ. Christ our Lord. And look at this, and I close.
He came forth. He that was dead came forth bound
hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face was bound about
with a napkin. And our Lord said unto them,
Loose him. Let him go. Lazarus came forth. He came forth. But he had grave clothes on.
You know, when you first hear the gospel, you've got all these grave clothes
on. You've got a napkin around your face. You've got a veil
over your face until the Lord calls you out of the grave. The grave clothes are ignorance.
Man is just ignorant of God. Man is ignorant of God, ignorant
of man, ignorant of salvation. He's ignorant. Grave clothes of superstition.
People think, well, listen, I'll do this, I'll do that. It's just
superstition. That's not the Word of God. Tradition. That
won't save you. You're not saved by your vain
tradition received from the elders. How are you saved? One way. Precious
blood. The grave clothes of religion.
From the garden, man was putting on something to cover him. Putting
on fig leaves, that's shriveled up and die. Putting on clothes,
all kind of grave. What are grave clothes for? to
cover your nakedness, to try to make somebody dead look alive.
Isn't that grave clothes? Have you ever heard that? You
come by and see a fellow in a coffin, they say he's never looked better. They made him look alive. He's
dead! These clothes, grave clothes of religion, It's just a covering. It's façade. It's clothing. It
won't cover sin. In fact, Isaiah said, our righteousness,
our covering that we make is filthy rags. And he had a napkin on his head. That's just covering. 2 Corinthians
3 says there's a veil over the face of everybody that's reading
the Bible. So there's a veil over everybody's
face in reading God's Word. He said that veil has only taken
away hell and Christ. You see Christ. Our Lord said to this fella,
loose him. Take all those grapevines off
of him. Take off that veil off of his face. Who did Lazarus
see, John Davis? Who did Lazarus see? Who did
he see? Man? The disciples? He saw Jesus
Christ. He heard Christ's voice. He saw
Christ's face. He saw Christ's glory. He looked
into the face of the Son of Righteousness. He's alive. Where did he go? He said, let
him go. He loosed him. Where did he go? Where did he go? Turn the page
and I quit. Chapter 12. Where did he go?
Lazarus. Verse 1. Six days before the
Passover came, he came to Bethany where Lazarus was. It should
have been day at whom he raised from the dead. They made him
a supper. Martha served. Lazarus sitting right there at
the table where Christ was. Where did he go? Wherever Christ
was. He followed Christ. Wherever
Christ was, from here on, you're going to see Lazarus. Lazarus. Why? Because you had feet quickened
who were dead and trespassed in sin. It's by grace you're
saved.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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