I want so much as I endeavor
to preach the gospel to you, to preach to you personally, each of you. With the God, you
would hear the message preached as though I just knocked on the
door and we sat down in the living room and I pulled up a chair
next to you and talking to you about things you need to hear.
There are a good many people We believe the scriptures teach
something called covenant family theology. That is that men and
women raise their children in the church of God and God's covenant
is for family and all that nonsense. The scriptures teach nothing
of the kind. You cannot believe God for your son or daughter,
for your husband or wife, or for someone else. You can't even
cause. another to believe for himself.
Occasionally in the scriptures you see a few in a family who
are born of God, who worship the Lord Jesus, redeemed by his
blood, saved by his grace. More often you see an individual
out of a family, maybe a couple of individuals in the family.
But there is One family in scripture, and I can really think of only
this one family, all of whom we know in the family were born
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, saved by God's free
grace, loved of God. Reckon what it would be like
to live in a family loved of God, the whole family. To live in a family all of which
walked with God, believed God, worshipped God, and were loved
of God. I want to talk to you tonight,
if God will enable me, about a family loved of God, and you'll
find their story in the 11th chapter of John's Gospel. This passage of scripture is
most commonly known because it records for us the resurrection
of Lazarus. But there's much more in the
passage than that great, great, great display of God's grace
and power in Christ Jesus in the resurrection of the dead.
This is a picture of a family Loved of God and there are many
lessons for us to learn from the chapter that is before us
I can't begin to give all of it, but I want to call your attention
to just a few plain things revealed in this portion of scripture
the first lesson is found in the first four verses it's a
lesson we need to learn a Lesson we need to lay to heart A lesson
of which we need to frequently remind ourselves. And the lesson
is this. True believers, true believers
suffer sickness and disease in this world just like all other
people. True believers, suffer the same
sickness, the same disease that other people in this world suffer.
Verse 1. Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment. I believe
the same one your pastor just read about in Luke chapter 7.
That Mary. that Mary out of whom the Lord
had cast seven devils, that Mary, Lazarus' sister, 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, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now watch what it tells
us about the sickness of his friend Lazarus. This sickness
is not unto death. Rather, this sickness is for
the glory of God. It is for the glory of God that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Obviously, then, sickness
is no indication at all of God's displeasure or of a lack of faith
on our part as God's people. The fact is, sickness is sent
to us by our Heavenly Father for our benefit, so that that
which is aggravating to our bodies, he makes good for our souls.
Sickness tends, for the believer, it tends to draw our affections
away from the world to Christ. sickness sends us to our knees
and to our bibles and to our Savior and Anything that accomplishes
that is good for me Anything that sends me to my knees to
God's Word I to my savior and turns my attention away from
all the allurements and cares of this world is good. Sickness
reminds us that life in this world at its longest is just
a vapor, soon gone. Sickness forces us to look to
the grave and look past the grave to the judgment, and past the
judgment to eternity. Whenever sickness comes, be it
nothing but a cold or something as serious as heart disease or
cancer, let us be patient before the Lord, ever mindful of the
fact that sickness is the fruit of sin. Sickness is the forerunner
of death. Sickness and health life and
death alike are in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ Sickness
and death life and health alike are in the hands of our Redeemer
and for believers Sickness is never unto death Sickness is never unto death
The Puritan Richard Baxter, when he was dying, had a friend visit
him one morning, and Baxter only had just a little while longer. He died that very day, if I remember
correctly. His friend asked him, we ask
dumb things a lot of times. I was at the doctor's office
the other day for a visit. One of our men said, he said,
if it wasn't for doctor's visits, we wouldn't have any social life
at all. But I was at the doctor's office and walked in, saw somebody
I'd recognized, I'd seen her before, but I didn't know who
it was. And I said, how are you? And she started to ask me, I
said, that's kind of a dumb question, wasn't it? If we were very well,
we wouldn't be here. But we just ask dumb questions. Well, this fellow asked Baxter
a dumb question. He walked in, the man had been
suffering for a long time, and he said to him, Pastor, how are
you today? And Baxter managed to get enough
strength to lean up on one elbow and he said, almost well. Almost well. Sickness for the
believer is never unto death. Our Savior said that concerning
Lazarus. But he died physically. We'll look at that a little bit
more in a moment. He didn't die. The Savior said he didn't die.
His body died, but he entered into life. And our sicknesses,
whatever they are, whatever they are, if we're gods, our sicknesses,
whatever they are, whatever they are, are for the glory of God.
Whatever they are. All right, here's the second
lesson. True faith, saving faith, submits to the will of God. True faith submits to the will
of God. Now understand what I'm saying.
I do not suggest that faith submitting to the will of God doesn't feel
pain, doesn't feel sickness, doesn't feel sorrow, doesn't
hurt, doesn't weep, I'm not saying any of that. I don't think that
I'm not suggesting that the scriptures don't teach that but true faith
submits to God's will When Lazarus fell sick his sisters Martha
and Mary sent word to the Lord Jesus their master Their most
tender most caring most affectionate friend their master And this
is what they said, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. I find so much in that statement
that's instructed to my soul. Martha and Mary did not ask the
Lord Jesus to come to Bethany, though obviously they wanted
him to. They didn't ask the Savior to heal their brother. though
clearly that was what they desired that the Lord Jesus do. They
simply left the matter in his hands while weeping for Lazarus. While weeping not because they
feared where Lazarus had gone or what had happened to Lazarus,
not because they were afraid Lazarus didn't know God. Weeping
because their brother was sick. Weeping because somebody they
loved was suffering. Weeping because they anticipated
leaving him. That's all right, that's all
right. But they were confident that the master would do what
was best. So they put it in his hands. They put it in his hands. Like
he alive old, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. how wise we would be to follow
their example. Our best, ablest, wisest, most
considerate helper is God our Savior. He's our best friend,
especially in time of need. And the best thing you and I
can do in time of trouble is take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Fall on your knees like Job of
old at worship. Like Hezekiah, spread your cause
before the Lord. Just spread it before the Lord
and leave it in his hands. In the hurry and excitement of
trouble, in the annoyance and pain of sickness, always remember
that none can help like him who took our infirmities and bear
our sicknesses. What a statement. Isn't that
remarkable? He took our infirmities and bear
our sicknesses. None is so kind, so gracious,
so caring as our Redeemer, who is in all things touched with
the feeling of our infirmity. Faith submits to Him. Faith submits
to the will of God. And yet, we must never imagine
that perfect faith will be found in any sinner in this world. I won't take you through this
chapter to show you examples of it, but these women, Martha
and Mary, who were true believers, were at best sinners saved by
God's grace. Martha was a faithful, faithful
servant. But both she and Mary seemed
to misjudge the master's delay in coming to Bethany. Martha
seemed to be a little pushy, a little domineering, a little
talk too much. Those things are all ugly in
women. They are all ugly in women. A domineering woman is an ugly
woman. I don't care who she is. I don't care how pretty her face
is. A domineering woman is an ugly woman. A yakking, talking
woman, an ugly woman. Martha seemed to be too much
that way. Mary, on the other hand, seemed to be content to
neglect normal, day-by-day responsibilities of life and leave them to the
hands of others. And though she sat at the master's
feet and heard his word, she neglected things she shouldn't
have neglected. In other words, Martha and Mary
were kind of like you and me. Not much. Not much. Saved by God's grace, but sinners
still. And even as the Lord was about
to raise Lazarus from the dead, and he commanded them to take
away the stone from his tomb, Martha argued with him. She said, Lord, don't you know
he's been dead for four days? By this time, he stinks. As if,
Lord, you must have forgotten. Lazarus died four days ago. You
must have forgotten. Don't you know what a dead body
smells like after four days in a dark tomb? He's stinking already. True faith, bowing to God's will,
is never perfect faith. And it's never perfect bowing. The fact is the strongest believer's
faith is very fragile and apt to break in times of great trial
or small. It doesn't take much to break
it for a while. But thank God, he will not leave
us to ourselves. And he will graciously, sweetly,
irresistibly, to force us to willingly bow to him, whatever
it takes. Still, there's another thing
revealed in this chapter about faith. Our Lord tells us plainly,
look at verse 40, that if we would believe, we would see the
glory of God. Jesus said unto her, said I not
unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see The
glory of God. What a statement. If you would
just believe it. If you would just believe it.
If you just trust me, you would see the glory of God. I know I'm taking the task for
it, but that's all right. I don't mind being taken the
task by fellows who don't know what they're talking about. But
I like to take statements like that and run just as far as I
can run with them. I like to stretch them just as
far as I can stretch them. If thou wouldest believe, thou
shouldest see the glory of God. You look at the stars, if you
can see them tonight, and if you can't, look at the clouds.
Look at the trees blowing in the wind. Look at the sun and
the moon. Look at God's creation. Listen to the growing of God's
creation as the trees bend to the wind or bow under the ice
and see the glory of God. Watch God in his providence and
see the glory of God displayed everywhere in every event of
providence, in everything he does. If you would believe, you
would see the glory of God. particularly in the gospel of
God's free grace. There is the revelation of the
glory of God, how that God, without compromising his law, his justice,
his holiness, his righteousness, and his truth, can receive sinners
and freely forgive them of all their sins and reward them with
perfect righteousness, justly so, through the merits of the
crucified Redeemer. If you would believe, He would
see the glory of God in the saving of his people. All right, here's
a third lesson. Look at verse 5. The Lord Jesus,
our God and Savior, loves his elect, and he loves them all
alike. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. Here are three sinners. chosen
of God Selected from a reprobate race
of people Saved by God's grace all alike the objects of God's
redeeming love Through the precious blood of Christ Jesus saved by
his blood the objects of God's everlasting love in Christ But
they weren't at all alike. They weren't at all alike. I've
already pointed out the differences between Martha and Mary. Lazarus,
you're not told anything about him. I don't know a thing about
Lazarus, do you? All I know about Lazarus is that
he died. and the Lord raised him from
the dead, and in the next chapter he's sitting in communion with
the master, and folks decided to kill him because of him. People
believed on the Lord Jesus. I don't know of anything he ever
said. I don't know of anything he ever did. I don't know of
anything that was ever attributed to Lazarus. We just know he was
loved of the Lord Jesus. He loved Martha and Mary and
Lazarus alike for the same reason. to the same degree. Now hear
me, my brother, my sister. You who are gods are loved of
God with an everlasting love freely. Freely. Without cause or condition. Freely. Loved of God. Perfectly fully loved of God
Loved of God even as he loves his son Our Savior says for the
same reason he loves his son father I would that the world
may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me Why? Does God the triune God love
the Lord Jesus? a man Obviously he loves him
in his eternal deity in his eternal Godhead as God the Son But our
Savior in John chapter 10 says therefore doth my father love
me Therefore doth my father love me, because I laid down my life
for the sheep. By dying as our substitute in
the accomplishment of redemption, the Lord Jesus performed the
crowning act of perfect, complete obedience to God in all things. And the father loved him because
he earned it. He earned it. He earned it. And the Lord Jesus said, I want
the whole world to know you've loved my people because I earned
it. Earned it by perfect obedience. You love them. Sometimes I'm hesitant to say
things I know are so, because I know something that's going
to get a hold of it and say, Fortner, you said this and that. Well, that's
all right. Go ahead and choke on it if you want to. But Father,
I want the world to know you love Don Fortner because he completely
deserves your love. You have no reason not to love
him. You have no reason not to love
him. He's earned it by my obedience,
by his union with me. He's earned it by my life and
by my death. John said, perfect love casteth
out all fear, for there is no fear in love. What on earth was
he talking about? Well, if you love God perfectly,
you won't have any fear. You won't be afraid of anything.
Or if you, now we know you can't perfectly love him, so if you
love him better than Larry Chris does, maybe a little better than
Don Fortner does, Maybe a little bit better than John Coleman
does, then you have no fear. What stupidity. What self-righteous
arrogance. Of course it doesn't mean that.
What's he talking about? The knowledge of God's perfect
love for me forbids that I should fear anything. perfect love casteth
out all fear. God's perfect love for you means
God will never charge you with anything and God will never hurt
you by anything and God will allow no one to hurt you for
any reason not even a dog shall move his tongue against you but
when he does he will do you good. We must never undervalue God's
people. They're different from us in
many ways. All of us are different. But flowers in a garden are all
different. And the thing that makes their
contribution to the garden is their difference from one another.
And in the Church of God, God's people are all different. We
all do things differently. We all feel things differently. We have differing degrees of
grace in this experience. Differing degrees of faith. Differing
degrees of growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Differing degrees of maturity and childhood. But the least, the weakest, the
most feeble of the Lord's disciples are no less the objects of his
love than the greatest and strongest of them. This same line of thought
is found in verse 30, look at it. Now Jesus was not yet coming
to the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The
Jews, when they were with her in the house and comforted her,
when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out,
followed her, saying, she goeth unto the grave to weep there.
Then when Mary was come to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell
down at his feet saying to him, If thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, now watch
this, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, where
have you laid him? Then they said unto him, Lord,
come and see. Jesus wept. What a statement. Why? Why? Didn't he know Lazarus was
all right? Sure he did. Didn't he know what
he was about to do for Lazarus? Of course he did. Didn't he know
that Lazarus was redeemed, loved of God, saved from everlasting
and saved to everlasting? Of course he did. Why did he
weep? Because Mary was weeping. That's
all. Because Mary was weeping. He's
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. I haven't begun to enter into
that like I know I ought to. He who is God in my flesh, in
part became what I am, took on himself my nature, that he might
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, so that whatever
it is that touches me, touches him. Whatever it is that affects
me, affects him. Whatever it is that moves me,
moves him. Only it affects him. It touches
him. It moves him to me, to sucker
them that are tempted. That word sucker, I've said this
to you, I'm sure many times before, but it'll wear repetition That's
a good old English word we don't use much. Some of the old southern
ladies used to use it. They'd say, sucker him. Sucker
the baby. What's the difference between
that and hell? Well, if your little boy falls down and scratches
his knee, I'll pick him up and wipe it off and I've helped him.
As long as he's not too bad injured, that's the end of it. But if
your little boy falls down and scratches his knee, you run out
there and pick him up and wipe him off and hug him and kiss
him and you can almost feel his pain because that's your little
boy. He who learned obedience by the
things that he suffered sets in heaven the omnipotent God
in human flesh, touched with the feeling of our infirmities
so that he is able to succor, to help with compassion, to help
with tenderness them that are tempted. The Lord Jesus wept. That's a good thing. That's a
good thing. I read some years ago about an
old man. Had a little boy living next
door to him. I guess sort of like Dennis the Menace. And this old man
had lost his son, only had one. His wife had died. He spent a
lot of time just hurting, just hurting. And little boy's mama
told him, said, now, don't go over there about the neighbor.
He's having a hard time. And one day, she saw her little
boy coming across the fence from the neighbor's house. And she
pulled him up close to a kind of firm line. She said, Johnny,
I told you to leave him alone. What were you doing over there?
He said, Mama, I was just helping him cry. That's a pretty good thing to
do. That's a pretty good thing to do. Help your neighbor. Most of the time when people
are hurting, they don't need any more comments from you. That's just that. They don't
need any more, I know what you're going through. You don't. They
don't need any more, well, I've been where you are. You haven't,
not as you've been there. They don't need anymore reproof or
correction. They don't need anymore, now
be strong. They don't need that. What do they need? They need
a shoulder to weep on. That's all. That's all. Our Lord Jesus wept because Martha
and Mary wept. What a blessedness it is to make folks happy by bearing
their burden, to make them a little lighter by carrying their load,
to make their life a little easier simply by communicating your
care and your love. God, give us grace so to care
for one another. Our Savior groaned because Martha
and Mary groaned. He wept because they wept. He
was touched and moved by that which touched and moved these
two women he dearly loved. Spirit of God, give me grace
to groan with those who groan and to weep with those who weep. and to be moved by that which
touches your people in this world. Here's the fourth lesson. God's time is always the right
time. Look at verse 5. Now Jesus loved
Martha and her sister Lazarus when he had therefore heard that
Lazarus was sick. he abode two days still in the
same place where he was. Wow, what a strange statement. He stayed right where he was.
Verse 11, these things said he after that he saith unto them,
our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him
out of sleep. Then his disciples said, Lord,
if he sleep, he shall do well. Albeit Jesus spake of his death,
but they thought that he had spoken taking rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad. I'm glad for your sakes that
I was not there. To the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus unto his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die
with him. Then when Jesus came, he found
that he had lain in the grave four days already. Listen to me, children of God.
Are you listening? Our Lord knows when best to intervene
in every circumstance. He knows where best to intervene. And he knows how best to intervene. When he heard that Lazarus was
sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. He knew Lazarus
was dying. He knew Martha and Mary were
by his bed holding his hand, weeping. And yet he stayed right
where he was for the sake of his church, for the good of his
friends, for the salvation of his elect, for the glory of God. He stayed where it was until
he knew that it was time for him to appear and act. He always
intervenes at precisely the right time. It was in the fullness
of time that he came here to redeem his church by the sacrifice
of himself. In all the affairs of our lives,
we need to realize that God's time is the best time for everything. J.C. Ryle made this observation. Nothing so helps us to bear patiently
the trials of life as an abiding conviction of the perfect wisdom
by which everything around us is managed. Everything that happens to us
is well done, done in the best manner possible. by the right
instrument and at the right time. We are naturally terribly impatient. We want things done right now,
if not yesterday. Right now. When Miriam was sick,
Moses said, Lord, heal her now! What stupidity on his part. What stupidity on our part to
act like that. We ought to wait. Our times are
in his hands. It is our greatest wisdom to
do, to wait for God to do what he will when he will. When we're sick, he knows the
best time to heal in the best way. When we're in trouble, he
knows the best time to deliver in the best way. When we need
help, he knows the best time to help and the best way. It's
the fifth lesson. Verse 11. Because Christ is the
resurrection and the life, we live in him. And living in him,
God's elect shall never die. These things said he, and after
that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. I go
that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord,
if he sleep, he shall do well, albeit Jesus spake of his death. But they thought that he had
spoken of taking rest in sleep. Then said Jesus plainly, Lazarus
is dead. Verse 25, Jesus saith unto Martha,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Lazarus is not dead. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Without
question, these physical bodies must die. These bodies of clay
must return to the dust. You who are without Christ must
die the second death. of separation from God forever
in hell, but believers do not die. Ever. Ever. We were raised with Christ from
the dead representatively and sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high with him in heavenly places. Ephesians
2 says so. We were raised in union with
Christ when he was raised from the dead. We were raised from
the dead in the new birth. raised from spiritual death to
spiritual life by the resurrection power of the Son of God. The
scriptures are as clear as they can be. The first resurrection
is the new birth and we shall soon be raised from the dead
These bodies, sown in corruption, shall be raised in incorruption.
These mortal bodies, sown in mortality, shall be raised in
immortality. These carnal bodies, sown in
the earth, carnal bodies, shall be raised spiritual bodies. Explain that. I don't have a
clue what I just said. I just know so. Raised up spiritual
bodies. He that believeth on me, Though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. This is what that means. God's
elect are immune to death. God's elect are immune to death. When I close these eyes for the
last time, And these lungs have exhaled the last bit of air from
my body. Then and not till then, I will
begin to live in liberty with my most earnest prayers answered.
My highest, noblest ambitions and desires realized. My trials, temptations, sorrows,
and sins forever ending. That's called life, not death. A couple of weeks ago, Shelby
and I were at the house just after lunch. I think I told Bobby
this last night. I work at home every Saturday. Shelby works
with me Monday through Friday from the time we get to the office
till way past most people's bedtime. So on Saturdays, I stay at home
and work so she can do some work around the house. After lunch,
She was talking about a song that Judy Esther sang. I just
made a recording or something. And we said something about Judy
Esther. She died, what's it been, 13
years ago, 14 years ago? And dear, dear friend, she didn't
die. See there, I said it did. She
went to glory. And when we got done talking,
I did something. I did the strangest thing. I
picked up my phone and started to call her husband, Bobby. I
buried him last year. But I picked up my phone and
started to call him, just as if he was right next door and
I had talked to him in a week or two. And after I was a little
bit embarrassed by my forgetfulness, I was tickled to death. I forgot.
Because that's just the way you ought to think about him. He's
not dead. He's more alive than he's ever
been. Understand that? God's people don't die. They just drop this robe of flesh. Here's the sixth thing, I'll
be very brief with these next two lessons, but learn them, learn
them well. Verses 39 through 44, we learn
the salvation of sinners. The salvation of sinners, the
salvation of sinners is accomplished only by the life-giving resurrection
power of the Son of God. The salvation of sinners is accomplished
only by the life-giving resurrection power of the Son of God. Nothing else will give a sinner
faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Churches, preachers,
and evangelists, sadly for centuries, have played
horrible games with the souls of men, manipulating them into
religion, into a religious profession, with songs and invitation systems,
and tear jerking stories, and plans of salvation, and tracts,
and soul winning classes, and all the BS of religion. Shouldn't
talk like that. If I had my way, I'd have said
it more plainly than that. The religion of this world is
not worth the muck you wipe off your feet after being in a barnyard. You want to make numbers and
get folks to make decisions and we'll compromise the gospel and
compromise the glory of God to get it done. Not me. What do you do? I preach the
gospel and wait. Just preach the gospel and wait.
Folks, Brother Don, I need to talk to you. Get along with God,
that's who you need to talk to. That's who you need to talk to.
I can't do anything for you. I've told you everything I know
to do. Look what it says here in verse 39. Jesus said, take
ye away from the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for
he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the
glory of God? Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the
people who stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou
hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
it, and let him go. Here our Lord Jesus performed
his greatest miracle before the eyes of a crowd of people by
which he demonstrated clearly two things. That he is the Christ
of whom the law and prophets spoke. And that this one who
is the Christ is God with power to give life to the dead. But it does so in a remarkable
way. He who is the sovereign God gives life to whom he will
with the exercise of mere sovereignty. He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and whom he will, he hearteneth. That's scripture. We recognize it, we bow to it,
and we rejoice in it. But this one who is our God,
who saves sinners by his sovereign power, by his omnipotent grace,
never bypasses the use of means. He never bypasses the use of
means. God ordained by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. And he doesn't save
people any other way. God ordained by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And it doesn't save
people any other way. Well, what if there's not any
preacher around? That's not a problem to God. He can move Philip from
this place to that and flip a finger. Ethiopian eunuch come back from
Jerusalem and Philip over there walking beside him. How he got
there I don't have any idea except God put him there. And he heard
the eunuch reading Isaiah 53. He'd been up to Jerusalem and
he came away just as empty as he went up there. He'd been to
a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in Jerusalem. And they'd gone
through all the catechism and the law. And he came away reading
Isaiah 53. And he'd written out loud. And
Philip said, do you understand what you're reading? He said,
how can I? except some man showed me. Phillips
said, scoot over boy, I'll show you down here. And he showed
him. And he showed him. There was
a chieftain, a barbarian heathen, on the isle of Malta, Mabita,
in the south of Italy, just off the coast of Italy. And they
had never heard of anything. They worshipped who knows what.
And Paul was shipwrecked there. And everybody else around there
helping, Paul was helping him get a fire, build a fire. And
he took some wood and put it on fire. When he did, a sniper
grabbed him. And the chief of those foolish
barbarians said, he must be a devil. He'll die. Didn't bother Paul
big. He shook it off. Went and got
some more wood. And nothing happened to him. They said, he's a god.
And Paul said, Get up off your feet. Let me tell you who God
is. And God saved him by his grace.
The Lord Jesus said to those who stood by, take ye away the
stone. What a strange command. Why would
he do that? He's fixing to raise the dead.
You reckon he'd roll rock away? You reckon he could dissolve
the rock? Of course he could. But those men were blessed of
God to be honored of God to roll back the stone. Man, I'd like
to put my shoulders to that rock. Oh, how blessed we are of God
to have this treasure in earthen vessels. carrying the treasure
of the gospel into a world of darkness by which God saves his
elect by the power of his sovereign free grace unto the glory of
his great name. And then he called Lazarus out
of the grave by an omnipotent call that only God can give the
dead live. and he that was dead came forth. I don't know why the scriptures
specifically tell us that Lazarus came forth bound in grave clothes. But it tells us for a reason.
Perhaps because men and women saved by God's grace are set
free by his grace and yet they carry around a lot of grave clothes.
and he commanded those who stood by Lucifer and let him go. I'll tell you how religion operates.
I don't care whether you're talking about papacy or Mormonism, Islam
or fundamentalism, Baptist or Methodist, Pentecostal, free,
whatever. I'll tell you how religion operates.
Religion likes to control you. has to give you laws and rules
and regulations. Now, if you want to really serve
God, this is what you've got to do. This is what you've got
to be. And if you don't measure up,
fellas preach free grace, but if you miss two or three Sundays
and they'll take out the whip of the law and get you back in
line. Religion likes to control. The gospel sets sinners free. Brother Maurice Montgomery He
and I were preaching together one time years and years and
years ago, and some folks got real upset with him and me both,
and we were preaching believers' freedom from the law, and some
fella came up and said to him, said, how do you tell God's people
how to live if you don't tell them to keep the commandments?
And Maul Reese said, I say to them, if you love Christ, do
what you want to. Scared that fella to death. How
many of you can see him shake? Maurice said it again, if you
love Christ, do what you want to. See that lady sitting there? That one right there. Come June
1st, she would have been putting up with me for 50 years as my
wife. Imagine her smoke. Let me tell
you how I suggest for her to live. If you love me, honey,
do whatever you want to, it's all right. It's all right. Well, you mean she wants to sleep
with the fella next door? Stupid. Insane. Why don't somebody come lock
that fella away where he belongs? But if she wants to rob a bank,
is that all? Stupid. But if she wants to murder your
daughter, is that all right? Stupid. If you love me, do whatever
you want to. It'll be all right. It'll be
all right. If you love Christ, free to walk with him in the
sweet fellowship of the spirit, in the love of the gospel by
his mighty grace. One more thing. We don't have
to look at it. Verses 49 and 52. All of this
would be meaningless except for what's written there. The Jews
were scared to death. The whole world's gonna go after
him. And Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied by the Spirit of God.
Now, he didn't know God from a billy goat. He didn't know
God from a billy goat. He was just a high priest that
year. And that put him in a place where everybody heard his voice.
But he prophesied by the Spirit of God. The book says so. He
made a prophecy. He said, fellas, you don't know
what you're thinking about, don't know what you're talking about.
He said, it's expedient for us. that one man should die for the
nation, and that the nation perish not. And this he spoke, because
Christ died not for that nation only, but for God's elect scattered
among the nations. In other words, Caiaphas said,
this is necessary. Somebody's got to die to satisfy the justice of God.
And this man, the God who raised Lazarus from the dead must die. But when he dies, those for whom he dies perish
not. It's called substitution. If
that's your atonement, limited atonement, omnipotent atonement,
if that's your redemption, It's the work of Christ by which all
the blessings of grace in the preceding 38 verses, I'm sorry,
preceding 44 verses come to you and me through the merits of
his precious blood by the hand of him who died in our stead
and rose again.