Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John chapter 11. John 11. I would like to look this morning
at verses 17 to the first half, I guess you'd say, of the 25th. And then Lord willing, we'll
take up next time in that latter part. But our Lord had been summoned
by Martha and Mary concerning their brother Lazarus. Lazarus
was sick. And what they did, they laid
the situation at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't ask anything in particular. He whom thou lovest is sick. And the Scriptures reveal that
our Lord wisely and sovereignly waited two days And then he told
his disciples that it was time to go. And now we find the Lord
coming to the place, that town, where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
lived. And the scripture says in verse
17, Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the
grave four days already. Now, our Lord allowed, ordained,
Lazarus to die that he might visibly demonstrate in type. In reality, he was going to raise
this man. He's going to raise him. You
know that. But the Lord wisely was preaching,
teaching by miracles, establishing according to God's way who He
is, the Lord of glory. Many times our Lord healed the
sick. But in this situation, Lazarus
was going to die. that our Lord might set forth
his power, his distinguishing power in the raising of his people
from spiritual death in regeneration and the surety of their resurrection
in the day of the Lord. He told his disciples that this
death was for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be
glorified thereby. Verse 18 says, Now Bethany was
nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off. Now, we need to
remember that the Spirit of God never puts anything in God's
Word just for no reason. The Scripture sets forth that
where they were, Bethany, was about 2 miles away from Jerusalem. That's what the margin says,
15 furlongs off. About 2 miles from the headquarters. It was within walking distance
from the temple. This house, greatly blessed of
God, Almighty God was going to perform a miracle, an amazing
miracle, two miles away from where the Jews found all of their
hope in the keeping of the law. And he was going to give this
miracle at this close proximity for the reason that I believe
is set forth in that scripture. Now, Bethany was now into Jerusalem
about 15 furlongs off. Two miles. Two miles. We might find ourselves driving
miles and miles and miles. Not very many of you here. Some
of you, but not many, are just two miles away. You come, you
drive different distances, but you're here. By the grace of
God, you're here. But I want you to turn with me,
holding your place right there in John, and turn with me to
Matthew 11. While you're turning there, let
me just remind all of us of the miracle of our Lord's grace,
that there is a place. And I say this, Lord help me
to say this correctly. Lord help me to remember that
it is by your grace that you have allowed the gospel to be
here. I bring this up often. Because it's on my heart often.
It is by a miracle of God's grace that this church, this assembly,
this candlestick of light has been here almost 60 years. If I'm not mistaken, 1954, 1955,
somewhere in that area, we're approaching 60 years that the
gospel has been permitted by Almighty God to be preached in
this little place right here. God has kept it, sustained it,
provided for it. Here's a place where the gospel
is. And here was Bethany, a place
where the Lord was going to allow the exhibition of the miracle
of His power and grace and mercy to this family, to this man. Let me tell you how wonderful
it is that Almighty God has raised up a place here. Let me tell
you how wonderful it is. There are some folks sitting
here today that know God. That Almighty God is called out
of darkness. where the Lord had a people,
put people in this area. Some have gone on now gloriously
to be in the presence of our blessed Lord. And I think and
I rejoice, I think about those that have died in the faith.
And now in the bosom of Abraham, seeing and knowing things that
you and I only know in part, Things that we see through a
glass darkly. What a miracle. Let me tell you
the wonder of seeing and beholding the miracle of God's grace. God
has a people. But listen, concerning the greatest
blessing that God Almighty would ever send to a place, the establishing
of the gospel. The greatest judgment in this
world to those that believe not, who will not hear, who will not
come, who will not listen to the message of truth. Listen
to me. This is going to be the greatest
curse that they've ever had, is being in a place where the
gospel was preached and they would not hear. I'm telling you,
this gospel is the greatest blessing to those that God shows mercy
to. And it is the greatest curse
this side of hell for those that had this place to come to and
wouldn't do it. Matthew 11, verse 20, Then began
he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were
done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done
in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell, for if
the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, It would have remained until this day, but I say unto
you that it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. Let me just say concerning those
cities that he named, and let me just say this way. Woe unto
thee, Fairmont. Woe unto thee, Katy. Woe unto
thee, Idame. Woe unto thee, Whitehall. Woe
unto thee, Mannington. Woe unto thee. Woe is unto me, the Apostle Paul
says, if I preach not the gospel. Do you know what he said? If
I preach not the gospel of God's grace, that means I don't know
it. Because a man that knows it,
preaches it. Those that say, I know this is
right, but I just can't preach this where I am. They don't know
it. Woe unto me, Paul says. Paul
said, if I preach not the gospel, I will be found in hell. I will
be found in hell. Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel. And woe unto those that will
not hear. The scripture sets forth back
in John 11. Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem
about fifteen furlongs off. And many, verse 19, of the Jews
came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Many of them. Two miles off,
And many came. Now there's two great points
here. Number one, behold the mercy
of God to wait. Lazarus was sick. The Lord waited. Lazarus was
going to die. And in Lazarus dying, Many now
came to comfort Martha and Mary. While Lazarus was sick, obviously
there wasn't many coming. But now he's died. And many have
come, the Scripture says, to comfort them concerning their
brother. But look at the mercy of God. In this man dying, the Lord taking
his life, life and death in the hand of Almighty God, look at
the mercy of God. Look at verse 45 in this chapter
right here, chapter 11. Look at verse 45. Then many of
the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus
did, believed on Him. It was by the mercy of God that
God Almighty allowed Lazarus to die. because he was going
to call many out of darkness, using the means of that man's
death to call his people unto himself. Almighty God had mercy
on those that he had everlastingly loved. But let me tell you something
else. By allowing Lazarus to die and
many coming, Though many came to comfort, often you'll find
that there is no comfort except from those that know Him. Many
of them came and the Lord left them without excuse for their
rebellion. Look at verse 46. went their ways to the Pharisees
and told them what things Jesus had done. Almighty God is wise in all of
His ways. Here is the Lord. Someone would
say, why would the Lord allow somebody to die if the Lord loved
him? And He did. Why would He allow
Lazarus to die? The Lord knew what He was going
to do. The Lord knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead,
but look at what He accomplished in allowing this man to die. Then Martha, verse 20, as soon
as she had heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But
Mary sat still in the house. There is an amazing Scripture
there. The wording of the Scripture here indicates that both the
women heard that the Lord approached. at the same time. Martha, as
soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him.
But Mary sat still in the house. It doesn't indicate that Mary
didn't hear. But she sat still in the house. Lord, help me to be careful not
to judge the actions of others. Based on what I think they ought
to do, I'm thinking, well, now why didn't she run out there?
What was wrong with Mary? Why did she not move? The Lord
had not summoned her yet. He's going to in just a second.
She sat still. As soon, the Scripture says,
verse 28, as soon as she heard Martha say,
the Master calls from you. Then she came. Look at verse
21. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Now here is exhibited not only
what was surely on the minds of these two women, because They
are going to say the same thing. If you look at verse 32, it says,
When Mary was come where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down
at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here,
my brother had not died. But what is most exhibited is
the frailty of our flesh and the lack of faith. Our Lord not
being there had absolutely nothing to do. with whether or not he
had the ability to raise Lazarus from the dead. Turn back, you've
read this, but let's look at it again. When Jesus was entered into Capernaum,
there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him and saying, Lord,
my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I will
come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am
not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak
the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man
under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this man,
Go, and he goeth unto another, come, and he cometh unto my servant.
Do this, and he doeth it." When Jesus heard it, he marveled. You know, I marvel seeing that
the Lord marveled. Jesus heard it, he marveled,
and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have
not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." You know, as
I just commented on, the Lord marveled. The thing that we do
is when we see the Scriptures and we see what Almighty God
sets forth by His Holy Spirit concerning the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Someone could take that word right there and say,
well, you know, that just shows something about our Lord that
maybe He wasn't completely aware of. And you know that's not so.
Here's the omniscient God. He knew all things. When He asked
Philip, there were 5,000 men, women and children. He asked
Philip, when shall we find bread to feed this many? Ask a question. Where are we going to find bread?
And the Scripture says, this He did to prove Him. For He Himself
knew what He would do. We look at Scripture, and we're
going to find Scripture that sets forth the glory of our Lord
and His deity. And we'll find Scripture that
sets forth the glory of our Lord in His humanity. And we do not
question We do not question God's Word, God's thoughts. The Scripture
says, when he heard that centurion say, Lord, I'm a man of authority. The slight picture like you are.
I say to this one, go. He goes. I say to this one, come.
He comes. I say to this one, do. He does. He said, if you'll
just speak. Oh, I think what grace. that God Almighty would give
a man faith to believe that. Lord, help me to believe just
this way. Lord, though I don't visibly
see You, though I can't figure, I don't know what's going on,
Lord, You do. Lord, You speak. And the Scripture
says, when Jesus heard it, He marveled. He said unto him that
followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith."
No, not in Israel. This is one of the two that I
know of in Scripture where the Lord spoke concerning great faith. This centurion, a Roman soldier
and a Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile that referred to herself as a
dog. The Lord said, I have not seen
so great faith. Those two. Martha came to our
Lord, and she spoke to Him, and she said, Lord, if Thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died. I know this. I know that our Lord is omnipotent. He is omnipresent. Distance is
nothing to Him who is everywhere, who inhabiteth all things, by
whom all things consist. Lord, if you'd have been here, did He not say to His disciples,
Lo, I am with you all the way, even until the end of the age
of the world? I know this. I know that He's
here. I'm convinced of that. I'm absolutely
convinced. Two or three gathered together
in His name, in His character, in His honor, in His glory. Lord, I know You're here. I know You're here. I know You're
here and I know You're here. Lord, help us. Lord, even now,
as our hearts cry out unto You, Lord, teach us. Help us. You care. He careth for thee. Lord, you who hears my voice
right now and knows the words before I've even spoken them.
Lord, bless these words to our heart. Lord, she said, if you
had been here. But let me ask you this. Are
we not like this? How often we forget. But I know,
she said, verse 22, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask
of God, God will give it thee. Now here again, the frailty of
our flesh is beheld. I told you as we were going through
these prophets on Wednesday night, each of these prophets, Here
I am in struggling, and I'll be the first to admit it, struggling,
trying to take a whole book. I mean, often we'll take, you
know, here we've taken a few verses. Here, sometimes Book
of Proverbs, we'll take one verse. A message. Here I am trying to
deal with a whole book of a prophet in one service. But the thing
that continuously comes back to me is this. Here's the message. God's people. in themselves,
just like anybody else, cut out of the same lump, come from the
same slew of despond, dug out of the same ditch, same fallen
nature. But those that Almighty God has
everlastingly loved, He has purposed, I am not going to let you perish.
The way they acted back, we read those prophets and how they acted. Disrespectful, disrespectful,
disrespectful. Lord, that's me. There's that
old nature, that's me. But God Almighty is merciful.
I will have mercy. I will have. According to my
covenant, grace. Everlasting covenant of grace.
You're not going to perish. I will be your God. An enlightened
knowledge to you. And you're going to know that
you're my people. Lord have mercy. Help us. Thank you for not imputing
iniquity to us. But let me tell you what this
woman just said. They look good. Look good on the outside. I know
that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give
it thee." The word that she used, ask, the word that she used was
a word that meant a supplicatory, I'm just giving you the definition,
petition. A supplicatory petition. Now there is a word, ask, that
means a familiar asking, an asking from a son to his father. A word that is familiar, familiar
communication. You remember that prodigal son? When that prodigal came back,
came to himself, picture of regeneration. coming back, came to himself,
gave him a heart. And when that boy came to his
dad, and he said, Father, I'm not worthy to be called your
son. I'm telling you, make me as one
of your servants. There was a difference in that
boy talking to his dad. and one of those servants coming
and talking to their master. This word, ask, that she used,
was the word as a mere servant talking to one that was his authority. The word that she used was from
a creature A created one to the Creator. When we speak in ourselves, we
are a creature, a fallen creature. When He speaks, it is God Almighty
speaking to God Almighty in His two different words. I know that
even now, thanks be unto God, that when we speak unto Him,
Lord, we approach You for Christ's sake. Lord, we approach You in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit that prayeth for us,
we don't know what to say. I don't know what to ask. When she spoke to him, she used
a word that actually drug him down. Actually, that was the
word that would drag him down to the level of a mere man. We don't know what to ask for.
But oh, the mercy of God. I mean, just if left to herself
in that statement, if that statement alone was what Almighty God judged
her by, Almighty God justly could have put her in hell for that
one question. Disrespect. Dishonor. Dishonor. I'm telling you, man
that looks to himself and thinks that he's done something by his
will or by his nature or by his works or something, and thinks
that he can stand before God Almighty, And that Almighty God
will accept him on the merit of his fallen nature's request. He is a just God. Holy, holy. And He will by no means clear
the guilty. God Almighty in being, in character. You and I try to approach Him
in ourselves. I'm telling you, we don't even
know the lines. We don't even know the rules.
We don't even know what we're doing. Lord, have mercy. And let me show you the mercy
of God. The Lord did not reprimand her. He looked upon her and himself
and said in verse 23, Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise
again. I don't know if she even knew
what she did. I don't know. Maybe she did. I know the Lord
did. The first words of our Lord,
He tenderly and mercifully gave Martha some hope. I know He didn't
tell her exactly what He was going to do, but He did say this,
Thy brother is going to rise again. Then Martha said in verse
24, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of
the last day. Here again, she didn't even know what she was
saying. Martha, as we, understood not
the nearness of her help, of Lazarus' help. She heard his
answer. And she heard it as if it would
be one of us speaking to one of us. You come tell me something,
Mitch, and I'm going to try to say something that's going to
try to give you some help." Well, Lord, I'll be praying for you,
Mitch. The Lord knows. But I pray the Lord give you
some comfort. I don't know what to say to you.
I'm trying. When he answered her, that's
how she heard it. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. And Mary saith unto him, I know
that he's going to rise again in the resurrection of the last
day. Martha believed in the resurrection. She knew that there was going
to be a general. That's what she said. She knew
that there was going to be a general resurrection on the last day. But our Lord was speaking of
His present blessing. He said to her, and I'll just
read that first part of the 25th verse, Jesus said unto her, I
am the resurrection and the life. Now in that marvelous statement
that He just made, more is revealed than you and I this side of glory
will ever understand. I am the resurrection and the
life. Our Lord revealed to her because
He said, I am. Now there you know. He set forth
who He is. Who shall I say sent me? I tell
you who you say. You say that I am has sent me. I am that I am. Our Lord reveals
that He is the present resurrection and the present life of His people. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. Now we do, and I do understand
this, I understand and I agree and I know as we all look through
a glass darkly, I know that there is a sense in which the resurrection
is a time, it's an event. I understand that. It's going
to actually take place. I understand that. But here our
Lord is setting forth, I'm the source of it. I'm the merit of
it. We think of this resurrection,
and we do look forward to something. We're thinking there's going
to be a time. Obviously, it's not right now,
but there's going to come a time when the trump of God is going
to sound and the dead in Christ is going to be raised. I know
that's what you just read, Jeff. I know that. I know that. That which was sown in corruption
is going to be raised in incorruption. I know that. And that's what
Martha knew. But the Lord was speaking right
now. Right now. The raising of Lazarus as a type
of the new birth set forth that which is the first resurrection
and that resurrection that we shall see. I am the resurrection and the life
right now. I tell you this, there is that
first resurrection, that's that resurrection in regenerating
grace and power, the resurrection of being born again. Christ is
the resurrection and the life of His people right now as they
are called out of darkness. Ezekiel, can these bones live?
Lord, you know. What did He tell you to do to
them? He said, you prophesy to them. You preach to Him. And I will cause. I will cause
life to be. I will cause sin used to be there. I will put flesh on. You preach
to Him. But I tell you, not only do I
know that He is the resurrection and the life right now, let me
tell you something. You that have known Him for some
time Regenerating grace. He's the resurrection and the
life to you right now. You know, we think back as being
regenerated, and that's something in the past. You know what? As I've said before, that's water
under the bridge, and I say that as respectfully as I know how,
because it's over. But right now, what think ye
of Christ? I can't go back and reclaim 25
years ago, Carl. I just can't. Did I know Him
then? Did I believe then? What did I understand? What did
I know? Let me ask you this. Are you
going to change it? Is it going to change? You can
sit here and mull over that all you want to, and it's not going
to make one bit of difference what think ye of Christ right
now. I am the resurrection. I need to be lifted up right
now. I need Him who is my life right
now. I need for the Lord of glory
to wash my feet as He washed the disciples' feet. And Peter
told Him, he said, You'll never wash my feet. The Lord said,
if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with Me. And Peter
said, well, not only my feet, but my head and my hands. He said, no, you're clean, ever
wet. Save your feet. Our daily walk that needs cleansing
right now. I need Him to lift me up right
now. As I walk in this world, I know
this. He is my resurrection and my
life right now. I know, Martha said, that my
brother is going to rise again in the last day. He said, Martha,
I am the resurrection and the life. There's not a believer
in this room this morning that doesn't need Him right now. We
look forward to the resurrection of our Lord. I look forward to
that with anxiousness and wonder Sadly to say, the Lord helped
me with doubts at times. But I know this, when my heart,
my conscience condemns me, He's greater than my conscience. I
know that He's the power, He's the reason, He's the merit, and
He's the announcer of the resurrection. who are the resurrection and
the life of your people. Lord, lift me up this morning
in Christ. Teach me again concerning Him.
Lord, help me. I believe You. Oh, help my unbelief. Let me not look to one of these
days. Lord, thank You of Christ right
now who is the resurrection and the life. Lord, bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.