I so want to be able to do that. There's a line in the third stanza
of that hymn. If in any time of trouble, ye
would be a comforter to me. Tell me the old story. That is
our comfort. Christ is our comfort. The Lord
told the prophet Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem
and tell them that their warfare is accomplished. Their iniquity
has been purged, it's been put away. What hope and what comfort
we have in that old, old story that never changes. Every time
we go to scripture, we're brought back to the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I was talking to a pastor friend
this week and someone had written him a letter and asked him a
bunch of theological questions. And he was making an attempt
to respond to all the questions. And as we talked, we were able
to come to an agreement that those questions are really not
relevant. The only question that's relevant
is who is the Lord Jesus Christ and what did he accomplish on
Calvary's cross? I said, stick to that. And he
said, good, good advice. So I hope that the Lord will
remind us again tonight of who he is and what he's done and
that we'll leave this place with his comfort If you'll open your
Bibles with me to John chapter 11, we've been here for several
weeks now. I don't know when we started
the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, but what a blessing
it's been. And now we're at the last two
verses of this story. And I've titled this message,
The Real Power of Sin. The Real Power of Sin. And it's
not until we understand the real power of sin that we can come
to believe in the only power that overcomes sin. And what so oftentimes we think
of as being sin is nothing more than a symptom What the unbeliever
thinks of sin is nothing more than the manifestation of a much
more serious problem. What is the real problem? What
is the real power of sin? And we have in these last two
verses of the story of Lazarus, I think some understanding as
to what that is. Verse 45, then many of the Jews
which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed
on him. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. We see the power of sin manifested
in this world all about us. John said, all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life. Lust of the flesh is man's craving
for pleasure. The lust of the eyes is man's
craving for popularity. He wants to be seen well in the
eyes of others and lust after the praise of man. And the pride
of life is man's desire to be in control, to be in control. When it goes all the way back
to the garden, when Satan attempted Eve, she saw that the fruit was
pleasant to the taste, pleasing to the eye, and able to make
one wise. So, the temptations of Satan
haven't changed. We see it carried out in this
world. The desire for sin will never be
satisfied. Men will lie, they will steal,
they will kill. all for the allure of sin. We see these things in ourselves. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
we know that the law is spiritual. Now the law is a reflection of
sinlessness. That's what the law is. The law
reflects the perfection of God, particularly the perfect obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul said, we know the law
is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. When I would do good, evil is
ever present with me. And you know the rest of that.
Romans chapter 7 and how Paul concludes it by saying, oh wretched
man that I am, this sin nature never leaves me, I've got this
body of death that I'm carrying about, who shall deliver me?
And then he concludes with that glorious victory. You see, he
was expressing the real power of sin. that sin was a heart
problem, sin was an issue of not just outward manifestations
of it as the world would see but the real problem of it in
the heart and in the flesh of man and not until the power is
too great for us. You see, if it's just a matter
of behavior, if it's just a matter of habit Men can change their
behavior. Men can stop doing things. And
men can start doing things. Men turn over new leaves. And
religion is very effective in that regard. But that doesn't solve the problem. Doesn't solve the problem. Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God. Through Christ Jesus, I am free. He bore all my sins in his body
upon that tree and he put them away. For the believer, we see the
power of sin in our lives in that we are always in need of
the Lord to Cause us, Lord, lead us not. He told us when we pray, pray
like this, Lord, lead us not into temptation. Lord, I see
the temptations there. I see all the corruption that's,
not all of it, thank the Lord, but we see enough of it to know
that we're gonna have to have Him. Lord, lead us not into temptation,
but deliver me. Deliver me from the evil one. How oftentimes in the Bible,
the Lord likens this sin problem to leprosy. And the sores and
the grotesque manifestations of leprosy, that's, I mean, you
might could treat those, I guess, but leprosy is a problem of the
blood. It goes much deeper than just
the skin. And until you're able to treat
the cause of leprosy, it's always going to be there. And that's
what the gospel does. The gospel reaches to the cause
of our problem. The real problem of sin is death,
spiritual death. Our nature when we come into
this world is dead. We see in these two verses that
some believed, many believed, but others went their own ways. Isn't that interesting? They didn't go their own way,
they went their own ways. Man will not bow to one way. He wants options, he wants to
be able to choose. Man in his pride thinks that
he can decide for himself what way he wants to go. And everybody has their own way.
These people left and they went their own ways. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father
but by me. The real power of sin is our inability to bow and
to believe because of our spiritual dead condition. We've got to
be made alive. And therein is the, well, Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, the sting of death. What is it that causes death?
What is the thing that stung us to death? Sin, the sting of
death is sin. And the strength of sin is the
law. The law doesn't cure the sin
problem. The law only aggravates the sin
problem. and for us to think that we can
go to the law in order to solve our problem is only a testimony
of the fact that we don't really understand the real power of
sin. The power of sin is death and
sin can't be cured by the law because when the law looks at
us, the law only reinforces the sentence of death. The law executes
judgment against us. So the strength of sin is the
law. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to
God. We have a savior who satisfied
all the demands of God's law. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. The real power of sin
is separation from God and the only power that there is to solve
that problem is the one who himself is omnipotent, all-powerful. We see in this experience that that the end of the story, all
the things that we've looked at in John chapter 11, the end of the story is that
some believed. Many of the Jews which came to
Mary believed. Others went their ways. The power of sin was broken for
some and for others, They went to the Pharisees. They were spies. They had been sent to that place
when they heard the Lord was there, I'm sure, by the Pharisees.
And now they were running back with a report. And in spite of
the fact that they had just watched a man raised from the dead, they
didn't believe. They didn't believe. Now there's
the power of sin. There's the power of sin. Had any man recorded this story, surely they would have concluded
it with Mary and Martha embracing Lazarus and weeping and shouting
for joy and then asking Lazarus what he had experienced and hearing
from Lazarus A man who had come back from the grave, his feelings
and his... None of that. None of that. This wasn't written by a man,
this was written by the Holy Spirit. You know, those things
are irrelevant. You know, men would have written
a book about, you know, people have... near-death experiences and they
think they've gone to heaven and they come back with a message
from God. That's pretty common. Lazarus was dead four days and
there's not a single word recorded as to what he experienced, what
he felt, what Mary felt, what Martha felt Why was that? I don't think Lazarus was the
center of attention when he came out of that grave. I don't think for Mary or for
Martha or for Lazarus or for the people that were there. Oh,
they saw him, they saw this dead man rise and they, but he won
the center of attention, particularly among the believers. They were
awed, awestruck, if you will. They had their mouths shut. What could you say? What could
you say? The Son of God had just spoken.
Lazarus come forth and a dead man came out of the grave. They're
not thinking about the miracle that had taken place or they're
thinking about the miracle, the one who had performed the miracle. Colossians chapter 2, Paul warns
the church about those who would intrude into those things which
they have not seen vainly puffed up in their own pride. And we
see that with men when it comes to religious things. They talk
about angels and they talk about heaven, they talk about this
and that. they intrude into things which they have not seen. The
scriptures weren't written to, you know, just entertain us or
to satisfy our curiosity or to give
us something, you know, that was You know, that was fantastic
to think about and talk about. Scripture's written to reveal
the truth of who Christ is and what he had done. The Lord tells
us the secret things belong to the Lord our God. Whatever it
was Lazarus experienced, God didn't tell us about it.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God. We ought not to
intrude into those things that are beyond our understanding. But those things which have been
revealed have been given to us and to our children. And so we
stick with that which the Lord has revealed to us. or not to pry beyond the veil
to try to discover things that the Lord has not revealed. That shows us something of the
power of sin because man is always enticed by that which is of the
flesh. and that would be very fleshly,
wouldn't it? Man is always enticed with that
which would draw their attention to something that was fleshly. That which is of the flesh is
flesh, the flesh profiteth nothing. But that which is of the spirit,
the spirit giveth life. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. So the evidence of the
real power of sin is man's need and desire to just be satisfied
with fleshly things and outward manifestations and here the Lord
is revealing to us what the real power of sin is and what he's
done to break that power in giving us faith to believe on him, to
trust him for his word, the Lord. Remember when Lazarus went to
hell and he, I'm not sorry, the rich man, I'm sorry, rich man
and Lazarus and when Lazarus was, the different Lazarus of
course, when the rich man was in hell, he cried out to Abraham
to have Lazarus come and dip the tip of his finger in water
to cool him from the torment and Abraham responded by saying,
there's a great gulf fix between us, there's nothing that can
change this now. Whatever direction the tree falls,
there it lies. And so, the rich man asked Abraham,
send someone to warn my son, my brothers, I have five brothers,
warn them of this horrible place. And what did Abraham say? They
have Moses and the prophets. If they don't believe them, neither
will they believe though one rise from the dead. The real power of sin is unbelief
and our separation from God because of our unbelief and And our comfort, brethren, our
comfort is that the Lord would give us ears to hear, that he
would cause us to believe what he has said and what he's revealed. Faith, faith, just believing
God, that's what faith is. That's the substance of things
hoped for. That's the evidence of things
not seen. Faith is just believing God.
And when we hear God's word, we say, amen. We say, don't give
me ways, give me one way. Tell me what God says. If you're
going to be any comfort to me in my time of trouble, tell me
thus saith the Lord. Because I'm not interested in
opinions and I'm not interested in different ways. I wanna be
shut up to one way. And I don't want any wiggle room.
I don't want any side doors because if you give me a side door, I'm
going to take it. You got to shut me up to Christ.
There's the power of sin. The power of sin is that we will
not be shut up to Christ. That we'll not believe, that
we'll be like these who went back to the Pharisees and reported
in spite of the fact that they had seen such a fantastic miracle. And the power that overpowers
the power of sin is the grace of God, the one who himself possesses
all power. Notice in our text, here's another
evidence of... of the power of sin, many of
the Jews which came, I looked up that word many. And the first
time that there's reference to many in the Bible is in Genesis
chapter 17, when God gave Abraham a promise and he told Abraham
that he was going to be the father of many nations, many nations. And Abraham believed God and
it was accounted to him for righteousness. He trusted the Lord to fulfill
that promise. And yet as time went on, he began
to wonder if there was something he was supposed to do to help
God out. And you remember Hagar and Ishmael and all that mess.
And finally at a hundred years old, Isaac is born. And then some 60 years later,
Abraham's still alive and Abraham gets to see his two grandsons,
Jacob and Esau. Never saw anything else. Never saw the nations that he
was gonna be the father of. Never experienced in his life
the fulfillment of that promise, but he believed God. And here
we are, here we are, Abraham is called the father of the faithful.
And, you know, we don't see much outward evidences in our life,
in our, you know, I've been, well today actually
had a couple people and then the other day another man who were very religious and maybe,
you know, perhaps part of it is that they knew I was a preacher
but I don't think that was all of it. I think they talked that
way among themselves as well. but they couldn't quit talking
about all the things that they were doing for God and how their
life felt so meaningful and how they felt so much purpose and
God was using them here and using them there and they were teaching
this and doing that and all these other things and I just listened.
And I'm thinking the whole time, you know, I don't know if my
life's counting for anything. I just don't know. You know,
there's times when I think that the Lord might be doing something
only to be greatly disappointed to find the person that I thought
the Lord was dealing with just to leave. And then another time,
and I think, you know, God's, that person's showing no interest
at all in the Lord's doings. The Lord's not going to show
us. He's not going to allow us to glory in anything that we're
doing and take pride in it as if, well, look, we're having
a, our lives account for something. We're going to have to walk by
faith, not by sight. and it is required of a steward that he
be found faithful. Abraham never saw the fulfillment
of the promises that God made. You know, religion is kind of
like worldly wealth. Those who flaunt their riches
are wannabes. And the person who really has
a lot doesn't have to flaunt it because he doesn't have to
have the affirmation and the impression. He doesn't have to
impress other people what he's got. He's got it. We don't go around telling people
what we're doing and what God's doing and how many people have
been saved and all these wonderful things. We don't know what's
happening. And we fear that more than anything,
I don't know, I'm speaking for myself. I feel sometimes, you
know, Lord, maybe nothing's happening, but I don't know what else to
do just to remain faithful and trust God for the results. Trust
God for the results. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
5. You know, I've read a little
bit about some of the revivals that have taken place in this
country and in other parts of the world and the Reformation
and some of that and most of that My assessment of a lot of what
religious people look back on and call revivals, just like
the revivals that they have today, they're nothing but unhinged,
emotional outbursts, and people think, well, God's involved in
that. I don't know. My point is that it seems like
that the power of sin causes men to feel a need for some outward
evidences of their labors. They feel like, you know, they've
got to... They've got to have the affirmation of others and
they've got to have some proof that their lives are counting
for something and doing something meaningful. What do we look to? We're like Abraham. Abraham never
saw the fulfillment of God's promises and we may never see
the fulfillment of many people coming to Christ. We'd love for
that to happen. We may never see it. So what are we looking
to? Revelation chapter 5. Look with
me at verse 9. And they sang a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. There
was a book that John saw, and no man was worthy to open the
book. And the angel told John, weep not, for the lion of the
tribe of Judah hath prevailed. I believe that at the resurrection
of Lazarus, every eye was on the Lord Jesus Christ. How could a man? And here's where
our eyes are. Here's where our eyes are. Verse 10, thou hast made us unto
our God, kings and priests. You see that? Unto God, we're kings. In other
words, we're part of his royal family. And we're priests. We're able to come before the
throne of grace. We don't need another man other
than our high priest. and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and we shall reign. We're not reigning right now.
Not much reigning. Hey, yo, the world's not impressed
with us. And particularly the religious
world is not impressed with us. These people I was talking to
that want to know, well, how many, how many folks are you
got coming? And what, you know, what, what are you doing? And
I just changed subjects. You know, here's where we're
looking. Here's where we're looking. We
shall reign. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and
the elders and the number of them. was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessings. And every creature
which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and
such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying,
blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him. that sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the
four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Here's our
glory, let him the glory, glory in the Lord. We're not looking
for something. Evidence of this is the power
of sin in the natural man. He needs something to affirm
him. But we look through the eye of
faith to that day, though in our generation, as in every generation,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is but a small remnant.
It's a small remnant. We have this assurance that in
glory, all the people of God, thousands of times, thousands
times, tens of thousands, raising their voices together, praising
and honoring Him for His glory. Now, the power of sin is the
natural man's inability to do that. The breaking of that power of
sin is your desire for that end. How many times we read in the
Bible to wait, that's what we're doing. That's what we're doing
right now, we're waiting on the Lord. And they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk
and not faint. That's God's promise. We're waiting
on Him. We see in our own lives, don't
we? We see in our own minds and in
our own hearts some need for evidences of success and And
we're being reminded right now, that's just, you just remain
faithful. That's the evidence. That's the
evidence. Go back with me to our text. I want you to notice a couple
of things by way of encouragement. These Jews, the Bible says in
verse 45, and many of the Jews which came to Mary, these Jews came from Bethany,
not because they were coming to look for a miracle, not because
they were looking for Christ, not because they expected even salvation. They came to
support Mary, but they found themselves in the right place
at the right time. You know, sometimes our children
perhaps don't have an interest in coming to church, but whatever
reason they have for being here, the hope is that if they're here,
Like Cornelius, remember what Cornelius said? We're all here,
H-E-R-E, to hear, H-E-A-R. Whatsoever the Lord has commanded
you to tell us. These people came to support
Mary and because they were in the presence of the Lord and
heard the Lord and saw what he did, many of them believed. Many of them believed. how oftentimes the Lord uses
the means of his people witnessing in order to bring someone under
the sound of the gospel. He used John the Baptist to point
to Christ. He used Andrew to go to get his
brother. Nathanael, he used you know over
and over it again God he the woman at the well she ran back
down into Sychar and what did she say come meet a man who told
me all things that I ever did is not this the Christ and they
came and they listened and they said we believe not because of
your testimony but because we've heard him ourselves let us Be
faithful to pray for and encourage others to come, even if they
don't come for the right reason. Perhaps the Lord would be pleased
to speak to them. The last thing I want us to see,
and we've sort of touched on it already, in verse 46, some
of them went their ways Each of them went their own way, whatever
they thought was right. There was a way that seems right
unto man, but in the end, that way leads to death. There's only
one way to life. Christ is that way. But what
I see here is that nothing apart from the word
of God will give faith. Pharaoh saw all the miracles
of God, his heart was hardened. The children of Israel for 40
years in the wilderness, the vast majority of them were unbelievers. And yet every day they ate the
manna that came from heaven and drank the water that came from
the rock. They saw the pillar of fire by night and smoke by
day. They ate of the quail. They saw
the mountain quake, they observed, they walked through
the Red Sea, they observed all of these outward evidences and
yet they remained in unbelief. The power of sin. is not going
to be broken by a miracle. These people saw Lazarus come
from the dead. There was no question about what
had happened. They went back and reported it. Of course, the Jews got together
and said, what are we going to do? We can't let this man continue. They knew that the miracle had
been performed and they still didn't believe. They have Moses and the prophets. If they don't believe him, they
don't believe them, they don't believe the word of God, they'll
not believe though one be raised from the dead. But you believe,
don't you, brother? You believe. Not because you
see outward evidences, not because you've got great proof of your
life being so so successful and so whatever men look for in order
to get proof of their salvation. The only proof you have is the
proof that Abraham had. You've got a word from God. We
just read what we're going to experience one day very soon
and we're watching and waiting and believing God and that That is the power, that's
the power that sin held us from our inability to do, and that's
the power of God to deliver us, deliver us from our sin. Our heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Forgive us for our unbelief and
cause us, Lord, cause us to rest and to wait on Thee. We ask it
in Christ's name. Amen. Brother Tom. 37, let's stand together.