Turn in your Bibles to John 11,
if you will, a passage that is very, very familiar to all of
you. Your pastor has spoken from this
passage many, many times. And I would like to speak today
on the subject, When Jesus Comes. John 11, Now Lazarus, a certain
man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and
her sister Martha. And it was that same Mary which
had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair,
whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. Imagine
that, sickness for the glory of God. and that the Son of God
might be glorified thereby." Now, Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. So you would think that when
he heard that he was sick, he would run to where Lazarus was
immediately. I do want to call your attention
to the fact that there is not one passage of Scripture in the
New Testament that ever even suggests, much less state, that
the Lord Jesus Christ ever ran anywhere. Never in a hurry. He may not call. He may not come
when you call him, but he's always on time. Always on time. So when he heard that he was
sick, in verse 6, instead of running where he was, it says
he stayed two days still in the same place where he was. And
then he said, after that to his disciples, let us go into Judea
again. In order to conserve a little
time, I'll not read the rest of the passage because we will
be considering these verses as we go along. The hymn writer
has written, when Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken. When Jesus comes, the tears are
washed away. He takes the gloom and fills
the heart with gladness. All is changed when Jesus comes
to say." What we have here as we enter into John 11 is the
scene of a funeral, a sad situation. What a dreadful drama is here
being acted out in the air of a funeral. Lazarus the friend
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will notice something
here in case I forget to come back. In verse 3, when they sent
word to the Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to note that they
did not say, Lord, behold, he who loved you is sick. They said,
he whom thou lovest is sick. They do not emphasize Lazarus'
love for the Lord, but they emphasize the Lord's love for Lazarus. We love him, but we love him
because he first loved us. We call on him, but we call on
him because he first calls us. We seek him, but we seek him
because he first seeks us. I don't know how it is in Michigan,
but down in Tennessee, I have never seen a group of sheep get
together and look for a lost shepherd. I don't know how it
is up here. It might be different here. But
it is the shepherd that looks for the sheep. It's the sheep
who are lost. Just a few days before, Lazarus
was full of life. Just a few short hours ago, he
was laughing, and he was making merry with his family and with
his two sisters, Martha and Mary. And then he became ill, and we
don't know what caused his illness. The scriptures only say that
he was sick. But whatever happened to him
now, his voice is still. And his once bright, sparkling
eyes are closed. And his hands are motionless. And his chest is still. Lazarus is dead. And word spreads
quickly throughout the village. Lazarus is dead. Lazarus is dead,
the brother of God. Martha and Mary is dead. And apparently he had many friends
because soon a large crowd of mourners gathered at his home
to mourn with his sisters and to offer their sympathy and to
offer their condolences and to weep with them. Lazarus is dead,
death. What a terrible word is this
word, death. Paul called it the last great
enemy of men. What is death? Death is an appointment. Hebrews 9, 27, it is appointed
unto men once to die. What is death? Death is the decay
of the body. It's the reason my hair is turning
gray. It's the reason we develop arthritis.
It's the reason we get presbyopia, which means your eyes don't secrete
that fluid that you need. And then the abrasiveness of
your eyes cause you to develop calluses and so on on your eyes. All of that's caused from death
working in you. What is death? It is the result
of sin. God said to Adam, in the days
you eat of that tree, thou shalt surely die. And it took sin hundreds
of years, but it lasts It got him. He died. What is death?
Death comes from a word, the etymological background. If you
look at the background of a word, see what language it came from,
why it's used as it is, you'll find that the word death means
to separate. When a person dies, they are
separated from the tabernacle that they have lived in, their
bodies. Death separates you from this world. It separates you
from friends. It separates you from all you've
ever known. It separates you from life itself. Death is inevitable. It is the great enemy. It cannot
be detoured. It cannot be put off. It cannot
be frustrated in its claims upon all flesh. There are two places
I know of where the ground's level. One is at the foot of
the cross. Doesn't matter if you're Mr.
High and Mighty or if you never were anybody, the ground's level
at the foot of the cross. And the other place is in the
graveyard. Some people might be buried in
large buildings or lifted up a little bit, but they're equal
at death. It is the great equalizer. All share in death. All stand
on common ground, whether you're a king or whether you're a pauper.
I was with my dad when he died. I was with my mother when he
died, and it The two greatest things that I've ever witnessed
in my life is the birth of a newborn child and the death of a soul. It is sovereign. Death comes in. It can't put
it off. It comes into its awful rage.
It storms into a household to claim its victim, and slowly
it saps the life away, and it's like a leech which will not be
satisfied until all of the blood is drained. Death is a universal
enemy. Everybody of every race, of every
creed, of every color, partake of it. It is the number one,
psychologists tell us, that it is the number one dreaded experience. It is the most feared of all
of experiences known to man, the fear of death. And death
never existed until Adam listened to him who was the enemy of God,
Lucifer. As I've already mentioned, the
Lord plainly instructed Adam, of all the trees of the garden
thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and Thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Literally, dying. Thou shalt die the death. That
is, you will enter into a state called death. And you will always
be dying. You will always be dying. You
will always be dying. You will die physically. All
of your faculties will cease to live. Every cell in your body
will submit to death. Your heart will stop. Your brain
will not function. Your mind will not be able to
work anymore. And of course, you will die spiritually. The mind will be darkened in
its understanding. The eyes will be spiritually
blind. The mouth full of cursing and
blasphemy, the tongue used to curse rather than to bless. The
belly becomes our God. The feet are swift to shed blood. The hands are used for violence.
The ears, which were made to hear God's word, are used to
hear evil. All of these things are symptoms
of death. There's physical death. There's
spiritual death. And there's what the scripture
calls second death. God said, I will separate myself
from you. What's the basic meaning of death?
To separate. I will separate myself from you. I will separate you from me.
You will be left to yourself. You see, before Adam sinned,
he was filled with God. He was filled with the Spirit
of the Lord. His mind, his heart, he was filled with God. But when
he sinned, the Lord withdrew and left him to himself. And
if the Lord, which is life, withdraws you, you're left in a state of
death. You're left without life. You're
left without instruction. You're left without hope. You'll
face life. You'll face every trial. You'll
face every trouble. And you'll face eternity twice
dead. You'll be left to superstition.
You'll be left to ignorance. You'll be left to vain religion.
You will not be able to understand life. You won't know what it's
all about. You'll wake up every morning
and say, what is this about? Why am I here? Where am I going?
What am I here for? What am I going to do? And you
won't know when you're laying on your deathbed. You'll say,
it's been like a dream. What's it all about? You'll be
left to yourself. You'll not be able to find the
Lord, he says, if you enter into death. And what begins here? will continue into eternity.
It will continue throughout your short life, until the end of
your physical existence, and then into eternity. And as the
ages roll, and as the centuries pass, and as the universe wears
itself out from time, still you will be dying, dying, dying. When the stars go out, you'll
be dying. When the planets Fade away, you'll
be dying when this world is but a memory. Oh, my soul, you'll
be dying. Still, you'll be dying. Eternal
death will be written on your brow. Cursed shalt thou be from
life forever and ever. Thou shalt surely die. All of that's included in that
phrase to Adam. Since Adam, death has reigned. Because Adam believed the lie
rather than his God. He partook of the fruit. He disobeyed
the Lord, and he died. And from that moment, all men
and all women have died. No one has ever escaped this
dreadful thing called death. And this is why, ladies and gentlemen,
Lazarus has died. This is why he has died. Oh,
it may have been a sickness. It might have been a germ. It
might have been bacteria. He might have had a viral infection.
But he died because he was a sinner. This is why everyone is so sad.
This is why the situation is so hopeless. This is why Martha
and Mary and the friends are weeping and mourning. Death has
come to their household. Death has laid hold of their
beloved brother. Death has claimed. But oh, look
at this. Look at verse 17. Then when Jesus came. Then when Jesus came. When Jesus
came, He found that He had been dead four days already. Four days already. Remember a
little earlier, verse 6? When he heard that Lazarus was
sick, he stayed where he was two days in the same place. I
mentioned this to you last year, and I'm going to repeat it again
this year. The Jewish people had a superstition that when
a person died, the spirit stayed around the body for at least
three days, seeking to reenter. And so when the Lord got there,
how many days had he been dead. He'd been dead four days. There's
no way in the world there's any kind of a trick here. No kind
of a magician here. No kind of secret pack or something
going on here. No such. He is dead. I mean,
you know, like Lynn said a moment ago, half dead. Now, you're either
alive or you're dead. There's no such thing as being
half alive and half dead. He is dead. Jesus The name that
claims, that charms our fears, that calms our fears and bids
our sorrows cease. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's something about that
name. When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken. When Jesus comes,
the tears are washed away. He takes the gloom. He melts
away the sadness. All is changed when Jesus comes
to say. Lazarus is sick, somebody said
to Martha Mary. Sin for the master. Sin for the
master. Verse 3. His sisters sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. We
think that it's pretty tough for anybody to be sick. Some
people will not believe that those whom the Lord loves may
be sick. Those whom the Lord loves can
still go through temptation and trouble and trial. Those whom
the Lord loves. It is no indication that the
Lord has abandoned you because you go through trouble and trial.
No, it may be an indication. It may be an indication that
he loves you. I remember years and years ago,
there was an old black woman. I grew up down in southwest Georgia. And some of you know that we've
We've done a little singing here sometimes, the song that Milton
loves so much, you know. My God called me this morning
early. My God called me this morning
a little while before day. My God called me this morning
early. My God called me this morning
a little while before day. And stopped, and I stared at
myself, But I saw no one, then way up in glory, glory, saw God's
darlin' son. Then moved one step on to glory,
and I moved another step on to glory. And I rose up and shouted,
shouted, great God almighty. Well, my God called me this morning,
a little while before day. Well, we'll do that one another
time. But listen, way down in South Georgia, there was a little
woman who was in the hospital. And she was nothing but bones.
But she knew the Lord. And when the nurses would come
by, she would say, the Lord sure do must love me to do me like
this. That's what she'd say. The Lord
sure do must love me to do me like this. And they would say,
well, Aunt Minnie, what are you telling these nurses when they
come in? Well, she says, when they come in, I'll shoot a little
Jesus at them. Well, that was her way of saying,
I witness to this. I tell them about the Lord. But
she said, the Lord sure do must love me to do me like this. She
did not see that as an abandonment of her by the Lord, but as a
sign of His love that He would sustain her in this and use her
in her sickness to glorify Him. Listen, is it going to bring
more glory to the Lord if He gets there while Lazarus is sick?
or is it going to bring more glory to the Lord if he's been
dead four days? You see? So he stayed where he
was. They said Lazarus is sick, verse
3. And I can see the fellow, the
saint, he came up all out of breath. Lord, Lord, they said,
go ahead and tell you that Lazarus is sick. Come quickly. Come quickly. It says that in verse 3. And
then it says in verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister
and Lazarus. There can be no doubt that the
Lord loved Lazarus. It tells us that in verse 3.
He whom thou lovest is sick. And in verse 5, directly, that
the Lord loves. Now you notice again, Notice
again what I've already mentioned to you in verse 3. Why is the
word behold there? Therefore his sister said unto
him, saying, Lord, behold. Because it is thought to be such
an unusual thing that a child of the king could go through
this kind of trial. It's there because the messenger
himself doesn't believe. that somebody that the Lord loves
could go through some trial. And I point out to you again
and again, it does not mention Lazarus's love for the Lord.
It says the Lord's love for Lazarus is the thing that is important. Let me show you something. Turn
to John's Gospel, Chapter 2. I want you to understand something,
that I want you to love the Lord. I want you to confess the Lord. I want you to praise the Lord.
But in the last analysis, It's his love for you that matters.
No matter how much we love him, we don't love him like we ought
to. We don't love him like we want to. And we don't love him
like we're going to when we're perfected. And we don't have
these bodies. And we don't have sin. And we
don't have these encumbrances. In John's Gospel, chapter 2,
verse 23, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast
day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles, when
she did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them. Now tell me
this. Your committal of yourself to
Christ is important. But it's his committal to you
that's vital. It's his committal to you. In
that great day, he will say, of many souls, they will say,
Lord, we preached in your name. We stood up in Michigan and we
preached in these conferences in your name. We did many wonderful
works in your name." And then he will say, I never knew you.
It will not be their profession. It will be his profession that
will matter. It will not be their commitment. It will be his commitment.
It will not be their love. It will be his love. Always remember,
dear friends, in the last analysis, this will help you. Because you'll
always be doubting your love. You'll always be saying, do I
really love the Lord? Have I really believed the gospel?
Do I believe enough? Have I done enough? And the answer
will always be no. But you're not saved by your
doing. You're saved by his doing. Right? I believe in the gospel
of works. I believe you're saved by works.
It's just not yours. It's his. Saved by his works. Now, watch it now. The messenger
returned to Lazarus, and he told Martha and Mary, I've told the
Lord Jesus, the master knows of your brother's sickness, and
I'm sure he will be here very soon. But on the very day that
message was delivered, Lazarus died. And Martha and Mary are
crushed, and they go in the morning, and they have the funeral. And
Lazarus is buried. One day passes, Jesus does not
come. Two days pass, Jesus does not
come. I said, on the very day they
sent for the Lord, Lazarus died. And you'd think surely he'd get
there that afternoon. You'd think surely he would get
there the next morning. Surely he'll get there in a couple
of days. No, sir. Four days later, I said, you
never see Jesus running. And what does it say in verse
17? When Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave
four days already. Our mourners were still at Lazarus'
home. Look at verse 19. Many of the
Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their
brother. Those are mourners that are at
the house of Lazarus. They're still there helping Martha
and Mary. Out of respect, Martha and Mary,
of course, were grief-stricken. And you know all of these little
stories, I'm assuming you do, where someone told Martha, Jesus
is at the other end of town. See, the Lord Jesus never actually
got to Lazarus' home. He was at the other end of town.
And somebody told Martha, and she leaves. Verse 19. Many of the Jews came to Martha
and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. And Martha, as
soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary stayed still in the
house. He's at the other end of town. And she runs down there to meet
him and has a little conversation with him. Lord, verse 21, if
you had been here, my brother had not died. And she told the
truth. You'll never find a record in
the New Testament where anyone ever died in the presence of
Jesus Christ. Nobody ever died in the presence
of Christ. He is life, and you cannot die
in His presence. If you had been here, my brother
would not have died. But I know that even now, whatever
you ask, God will give it thee. And he says, your brother will
rise again, verse 23. And she said, I know he'll rise
again in the resurrection at the last day. And Jesus said
in verse 25, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection. He that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Well, then, of course, Mary comes out. And he has almost the same
conversation with Mary. Now, I want to point out two
or three things, and then I'm going to close this message.
First of all, I want to point out three facts about Jesus's
coming from verse 17. I don't know what translation
you have, but this is the way my translation reads in verse
17. Then, when Jesus came. Now, when, the English word when
is a word of time. It's a word of time. He comes
when it pleases Him. He comes in his own time. He comes to fulfill his own purpose. Their purpose was to get him
there to prevent Lazarus from dying. But his purpose was something
else. His purpose involves the greater
good. When is a word indicative of
sovereignty. Paul said, when it please God.
When it please God. He revealed his son in me. in the fullness of time God sent
forth His Son according to His good pleasure. He works all things
after the counsel of His own will, Ephesians 111. God Almighty,
the God of the Bible, is not in a hurry. He's never in a hurry. And then next, when, is a word
that shows the overwhelming Sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ over
all the events. If a dead man or a woman is going
to live, Jesus must come. Now let's put it like this. Let's
let Lazarus represent somebody that's dead. He is a dead man,
but Ephesians 2 and verse 1 says, Paul wrote to the Ephesians,
Even you hath he quickened or made alive who were dead, and
trespasses and sins. Number one, if a dead person
is going to live, the Lord Jesus Christ must come to them. Is that right? There's no sense
in you saying, Lazarus, if you'd like to get out of there, wink
your eye, wiggle your toe, let us know something's going on
here, Lazarus, because after all, Lazarus, we don't want to
violate your will. We wouldn't want to do that.
Well, Lazarus doesn't have a will. He's dead. He's dead. They can stand there and shout
all day long. They can stand there all day
long and say, Lazarus just believed. He's dead. He's absolutely dead. He has absolutely no power whatsoever
to bring himself to life. Jesus Christ must come to the
dead sinner. He must come to the dead center.
When the Lord Jesus Christ gets there, the second thing He does,
He says, Where have you laid Him? Let's just get down to the
end of this chapter over here. Verse 33, When Jesus saw Mary
weeping, and the Jews also weeping that came with her, He groaned
in the spirit, he was troubled, and he said, verse 34, where
have you laid? And then you have the shortest
verse in the Bible, verse 35, Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Why do you suppose he wept? Lots
of discussion about why Jesus wept. I think he wept because
of their unbelief. I think he wept because he knew
exactly what he was going to do, and they couldn't see it.
I really do. And I'll tell you why I think
that. In just a moment, notice it says in verse 37 that some
of them said, well, now could not this man, which opened the
eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not
have died? Couldn't he have prevented him from dying? Well, yes, he
could have. Yes, he could have. But he has some greater purpose
in mind. Jesus groaning in himself. Verse
38. That's a Greek term that means
he was deeply moved inside. Groaning in himself. An inward
groan for which there is no real translation or interpretation. He came to the grave and it was
a cave and a stone was laid upon it. Here's the first thing now.
First thing is he'd come to where Lazarus is, said, where have
you laid him? Second thing is, he said, I want you to remove
all the obstacles between me and the dead person. Look at
it. He said, take away the stone,
verse 39. Now Jesus Christ himself could
have removed that stone, but he threw that responsibility
in their laps. He said, you take away the stone.
We need to be about the business in preaching the gospel and in
worshiping the Lord and witnessing of removing all the obstacles
that we can between the Lord Jesus Christ and the dead sinner. Get all of those things out of
the way. Get these traditional things out of the way. Get these
things that really don't matter, get them out of the way. Take
away the stone. Take away the stone. Take away
the stone of superstition. Take away the stone of religion.
Take away the stone of human works. All of these things, take
away. Martha said, Lord, verse 39,
by this time he's stinking. He's been dead four days. If
he was stinking after four days, what do you think man smells
like in the nostrils of God been dead 4,000 or 5,000 years? What kind of odor comes up from
a world of dead? All the earth is is a big human
graveyard. That's all it is. It's a big
floating cemetery in space. The only place you find life
in this earth is when you find Christ. If you find Christ, you
find life. I want you to notice that the
Lord Jesus always comes to those whom He loves. It said He loved
Lazarus in verse 3. And in verse 5 and in verse 36,
the Jews said, in verse 36, Behold how he loved them. After Jesus
wept, the Jews themselves were moved by the weeping of our Lord. And they said, Behold how this
Jesus loved this Lazarus. He always comes to those whom
He loves. And then when He comes, He comes
with a word of hope. He's already given Martha and
Mary hope. Back in verses 23 through 26,
he said, your brother will rise again. I'm the resurrection.
They that believe in me will never die, and so on. He comes
with a word of hope. And why does he come? Well, he
comes for God's glory. And everything he does, from
the delaying, everything he says is for those who stand there
who do not believe. Look at verse 39. Jesus said,
take away the stone. They said, by this time he's
stinking. He's been dead four days. Jesus said, verse 40, did
I not say unto you, if you would believe, you would see the glory
of God? They took away the stone from
the place where the dead was laid. Watch this now. And Jesus
lifted up his eyes and he said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me. And I knew that you hear me.
I know you hear me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me." He's doing all of this as a testimony and a witness to
those who are there who are filled with unbelief. What does he do? He comes where you are. He says,
remove all the obstacles. Then he calls you. Then he calls you. He said with
a loud voice in verse 43. Lazarus, come forth. Somebody said if he hadn't called
Lazarus, everybody in the graveyard would have gotten out. But he
calls his own sheep by name. Is that not what the scripture
says? John chapter 10. I know my sheep. They know me.
I call them by name, and they will follow me. And he calls
Lazarus. Now listen, here's a man in here
who's dead. He's blind. He's deaf. His heart,
not only does he not have a heart of understanding, he doesn't
have a heart that's even beating. What means does the Lord Jesus
Christ use to bring life to a dead person? Here's what he uses. He uses the Word. He uses the Word. Lazarus, he
calls him, come forth. Now listen, when he gave that
command, with the command they want the power of God that put
life into the dead man, giving him the ability to respond. I tell people all the time, don't
fuss and fight with folks. over these doctrines of election
and predestination and all that. I believe those things. I preached
them. I wouldn't fight. I'd tell you where the fighting
ground is. The fighting ground is in ability. Turn to John's
Gospel, Chapter 6. You know there's a difference,
and maybe I ought to bring a study, not in a conference like this,
but I ought to bring a study on the difference in free will
and free moral agency. Only one person in the universe
has free will, and that's God Almighty. But you are a free
moral agent. You are able to freely act within
the confines of your own nature. You're limited by your nature,
but you are able to freely will anything within the limitation,
the confines of your nature. If you want a will to run the
100-yard dash in eight Seconds flat, go ahead. But let's say
you do it. You say, I got a free will, all
right. Why don't you just will not to eat until July the 15th? Starting today, I don't want
you to eat a thing, don't drink any water until July the 15th.
You're going to find out your belly is stronger than your will.
Your stomach will tell your will what to do. The will is a slave. It's a slave to our passions.
It's a slave to this flesh. The only person who can set the
will free is the same person that resurrects the dead. In
John chapter 6, this is what our Lord Jesus Christ says. John
chapter 6 verse 44. No man can come to me. except the father which hath
sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the father comes unto me." Now, let's
analyze that. I know I've told you this before,
but repetition is the art of learning. Verse 44, no man can
come to me. What is the difference between
can and may? Or can is a word of ability. May is a word of
permission. I want you to notice that he
does not say, no man may come to me. Everyone has permission
to come to Christ. All men everywhere have permission
to come to Christ. The problem is not permission.
The problem is ability. That's why he says no man can.
When I was in grammar school in southwest Georgia, I would
raise my hand. Yes, Bill, can I go to the restroom? And the teacher would say, you
can. And I would start to get up.
And she'd say, but you may not. Have a seat. But she was teaching me the difference
between a word of ability and a word of permission. It says
here, no man can. No man by nature has the ability
because he's dead in trespasses and sins, to come to Christ.
Except, there's an exception, the Father which hath sent me,
Hel Kuo. That's the word translated draw. Hel Kuo. It is a word that means
an irresistible drawing. As I pointed out to you, when
Peter pulled out his sword, when they came out to arrest our Lord
Jesus Christ, And Peter laid hold on his sword to draw it
out. It's the same word. How much
resistance did that sword put up to Peter? Can't you see the
sword screaming and hollering? I don't want to come out. I don't
want to come out. When Peter laid his hand on the
sword, it comes out irresistibly. When they took the net and threw
it into the sea to draw in the fish, it's the same word. And
here he says, it is the Father who draws men to Christ. Now watch this. Verse 45, it
is written in the prophets, they shall be all taught of God. Who's they? Every person that
the Father draws, the Father teaches. That's exactly what
this is teaching. All of the scriptures tell us
that God teaches every sinner that he saves. And when he teaches
you, he's drawing you. And then it says that every man
that hath heard and learned of the Father, that's a little awkward
in the King James. It means everybody that has heard
from and been taught by the Father comes unto me. If the Lord teaches
you, you come to Christ. He draws you to Christ. Back
to John 11, and I close. How did Jesus come? Well, we know that the dead can't
go to Christ. He must go to them. We know that
He came all this way, and He went to all this trouble for
one person. We know He asked about one person.
That was Lazarus. We know He came to the one in
the worst state. If you take all the people here
in John 11, the one that's in the worst state is the one he
came to. That's Lazarus. He comes to the
one he loves. He comes to the one who is in
the worst state. He comes to the one who is helpless to help
himself. He came to one in the most aggravated
circumstances, dead four days. He calls one person. He calls
him by name. He uses the word to call it.
And when he calls it, that is what we call the effectual
call. I can call you today to Christ,
and I do call you to Christ. But you will only be moved to
come to Christ if it's made effectual. And it can only be made effectual
if the Father, the Spirit, the Son enter into it and give it
power. If he calls you, you will come. Then he says in verse 44, loose
him and let him go. He came out of
that grave bound hand and foot with grave clothes. His face
was bound with a napkin so he couldn't see very clearly. We've
got to remove these impediments so people can clearly see. I
bet I know where he went when he got out of that grave. What
do you think he did when he came out of the grave? He said, what
time did Detroit Lions play this afternoon? I got a game to see,
man. What do you think he did when
he came out of that grave? He ran over there to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he fell at his feet. And
he put his arms around the Lord's legs. And he praised him. And
he gave him the glory. And he said, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord. That's what he did. Why are we
so caught up with everything else? There'll be a lot of people
to stay home tonight and watch the basketball game. Watch a
bunch of dead men run on a dead court and get a dead trophy when
you can hear about the Lord of Life that resurrected people
from the dead. I'm telling you, that's the truth. The last time
I was here, y'all had another mayor. And I used your old mayor
as an illustration last year. You'll have to get last year's
message to hear that. But notice in verse 44, he says, loosen
and let him go. When he came out, he still had
the smell of death on him. You know, when the Lord brings
us to himself, we still smell like we're dead a lot of times.
We still have some of these napkins in the way. We have to clear
those things, get them out so we can clearly see. We're still
bound by these grave clothes. And all of our lives, we're taking
off these grave clothes and getting rid of these napkins so we can
clearly see Him and worship Him, whom to see is life eternal.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have given a very feeble effort today
to try to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
must speak to you. And I tell you, life is so uncertain.
I'm going to tell you one story, and I'm going to let you go.
Years ago, I know Brother Clark has mentioned to you probably
about Ralph Barnard. Ralph Barnard was an old preacher
that never wanted to pastor a church. He'd hold these meetings, two-
and three-week meetings. And if Brother Barnard found
out anything was wrong in the church, he'd bring it out. He'd bring it out. One time he
was preaching in a meeting, and there were six deacons that ran
the whole church. And these deacons had a ritual,
a ritual they would do no matter who was preaching. Barnard didn't
know about it. He was up in the pulpit ready to preach. And he
wore his glasses. He wore those halftone glasses,
you know, down on his nose like that. And he was getting ready
to preach, and all of a sudden, about halfway back, the door
opens, and these six deacons come walking out of the line.
Disturbed the whole worship service. Came down the aisle. Brother
Barnard said, well, here they come. Six blind men ain't had
a prayer answered in 14 years. After the meeting, one of the
men met him and said, Brother Barnard didn't like what you
said in there. And Ralph said, well, if you'll apologize, I'll
forget you. Ralph was preaching a meeting,
and he was finishing a message. And he said that at the end of
the service, he said the church was packed. And at the end of
the service, he said a little girl came running down the aisle
with just tears running down her face. And she was about five
years old. And she said, Brother Barnard,
Brother Barnard, I want my daddy to be saved. Brother Barnard,
I want my daddy to be saved. Brother Barnard. And he said,
I was just taken aback. I started crying myself. He said,
I picked her up and said, sweetheart, what is it? I want my daddy to
be saved. In just a few minutes, the little
girl's mother came up. He says, is this your little
girl? Yes. He said, what's she talking about?
Well, he said, her daddy. He hates the gospel. He won't
come to worship. He doesn't want us to come. And
he said, do you have a radio? And she said, I do. He said,
tomorrow I'm going to be on the radio about supper time. He said, if you can, while you're
preparing supper, will you turn on the radio? She said, I'll
do it. Brother Barney was preaching
on a text from the book of Proverbs. that is often reproved. If he
hardens his neck, he shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without
remedy." And he was preaching on the subject, the God of the
Bible kills people. He said, you get in the way of
God Almighty, and he'll kill you. If you get in the way of
his purpose, he'll move you out of the way, or he'll run over
you. And he was preaching along on the radio, and he said, all
of a sudden, he said, there's a man out there listening to
me today. And he said, last night, mister, at the end of the message,
we heard the voice of God in a five-year-old little girl who
came down saying, Brother Barnett, I want my daddy to be saved.
He said, we heard the voice of God, mister. And he began to
talk to that man. And that man was sitting there
eating supper. And he suddenly realized this
preacher was talking to him. And he got up. And he took that
radio and pulled the plug out. And he threw that radio through
the window. And he stormed out of the house.
And he went down the street. And he went into a local bar
where he always goes in. And in 30 minutes, the man put
a bullet right through the middle of his two eyes. And he went
out into eternity to meet the God he didn't want to have anything
to do with. I'll tell you, ladies and gentlemen,
the greatest privilege you'll ever have is to hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him while you can. Call
on upon him while he's near. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. I'll tell you, we've had I don't
know, we've had six or seven, eight funerals here in the last
several weeks, frankly. I don't want that to happen to
you. Call on the Lord. May the Lord add his blessings
to his work.