Turn with me, if you would, in
your Bibles to the 11th chapter of John. John 11. Our Lord, with perfect wisdom,
divine guidance, had waited two days after He heard that Lazarus
was sick, and then told His disciples that they must go to Judea. And his disciples questioned
his word, and I'm sure they were very sincere, but ignorant. They reminded him that the Jews
had recently tried to stone him. And our Lord told them, He said,
I've got a certain amount of time to fulfill. God's will. God's work. That's what he was telling them.
Talking about walking in the day. Now, Lazarus had already
died. And the Lord knew it. And his
death, according to our Lord's Word, was for God's glory. The Lord might be honored in
his resurrection that it would perfectly set forth Two things. The first resurrection and regeneration. That's what this perfectly set
forth. Our Lord comes and He calls Lazarus. Lazarus hears and comes out of
the grave. A perfect picture of resurrection
unto life. The new birth. But secondly,
concerning the surety of that resurrection in that day, when
He returns for the second time. That's a marvelous thing, considering
resurrection. Remember, not a new creation. This body is going to change. It's going to be changed. But
this body is coming out of the ground. Well, our Lord is going
now to the place where He's going to call Lazarus from the grave. And I want us to consider this
coming up. I've taken our time on this particular
passage. This is a very, very needful
passage to be taken slowly and considered and not try to skim
over it. We're going to continue by the
grace of God to preach until the Lord He either calls us home
or ends it, but we're going to just take and look at God's Word. Now, let's look at verse 11.
These things, said he, that is those things concerning Lazarus'
sickness and the Lord's glory. He must go back to Judea. that there couldn't be any stumbling
as long as he was walking in the day, walking in the countenance
of God's direction. And he told them that Lazarus
was now dead, and he referred to Lazarus' death as sleep. Now, let's read that. These things,
verse 11, said he, and after that he had saith, after that
he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus, sleepeth, but I go that
I may awake him out of sleep." Now, this thing of sleep, referring
to a believer, obviously, according to the words
of our Lord, physical death for a believer is referred to as
sleep. Sleep. Sleep is not harmful. Sleep is needful. I need, you
need to sleep. And though we look at this thing
of death as a You can sense a fearful thing.
It's unsure. But think of the words of our
Lord in the comfort that He gives to His people. Our friend. Now there's a title. What a title. Our friend. Lazarus sleepeth. David said in anticipation. of that, yea though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, a shadow that doesn't harm. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep absolutely is for our good. We need some rest. Some rest. And death, physical
death, when they Put us in that ground. When this soul leaves
this body and goes into the very presence of Almighty God, this
body is going to be laid in the ground, it's going to return
to the dust, but it's not going to be gone forever. God Almighty
is going to call it back. And we're resting right now,
resting in this thing called death. But you think of the miracle
of God's grace. This is the way that God is going
to usher us right into His presence. Death. We're going to have to
die. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. And we're
going to have to die. And this death is truly the portal. There's the door through which,
humanly speaking, Listen to these words, Revelation 14, verse 13,
"...blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Yea, saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors."
You know, during that time that this physical body sleeps in
the grave, until we rise again in the resurrection, clothed,
in the glorious body that He's going to give us, the Scripture
is saying, though the world knows nothing of this, the Scripture
is saying that we're sleeping. We're sleeping. Resting. Resting. That's a great mystery. But it's so. Right now, those
who have departed out of this congregation, Believers. They're resting. Their body is
resting. That body is resting. And right
now, we're going through some toil. This body gets tired and
it aches. We feel the effects of sin. And the Scripture says concerning
this body that's going to be changed, it's resting. Resting. Well, our soul is going to be
in the very presence of God. Now, immediately, absent from
this body, when this soul departs this body, I know it goes into
the presence of God. I know it does. Absent from the
body, present with the Lord. I know that. I was thinking on
that as I was preparing this message. And the only indication
that I have concerning the attitude of what is going
on in heaven with departed saints, and I pray, I've tried to look
at this, I've tried to read this, write, I've tried to look at
it prayerfully, and I pray, that I am seeing this correctly. And
here again, as I said the other day, if I err, Lord forgive me,
and I pray that the Lord show me that which is right. I would desire to know that which
is right. But if I am not wrong in this
case, I think that the Scripture bears out something that is happening
right now with the departed saints concerning God's elect on earth
and their regeneration and the calling out of darkness. I want
you to keep your hands right there, mark your place. And John,
turn with me to Luke 15. Luke 15. While you're turning
there, let me remind you of something that the Scripture sets forth.
You just hold your finger right there in Luke 15. And let me
turn over to Revelation 4 and read you something that I
know is so. Let's see, the Scripture sets
forth chapter 5, Revelation 5. Let
me read this to you. Concerning the departed saints. It says, and they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof, for Thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to
God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation. Now, every time I read that,
here's what I know. These people right here, these
departed saints, it's the four and twenty elders, and that's
the whole church of God. And in that day, the Scripture
says that they'll cast their crowns before Him, even in that
little song that we just sang, even in the words. If you go
back and look at that song we sang about second or third, It
is right there. It says, we'll cast our crowns
before Him. It was this Scripture that I
had in mind when I was reading those words. We'll cast our crowns
before Him. They sung a new song, and they
said, Thou hast redeemed us. Well now, to say that in heaven,
there has to be a remembrance. To remember that the Lord redeemed
them from something. And then they said they've redeemed
us out of every people and kindred and tribe and tongue. They know
that God had an elect. They know that. And they're in
heaven when they know that. Now here's what I'm saying. While
this body is resting in the ground, and that soul is departed and
is in the presence in the bosom of Abraham, the presence of Almighty
God, I believe that this Scripture bears out that there is something
that is known while in heaven concerning things that are going
on in earth. Luke 15, verse 7, I say unto you, the Lord had
given a parable concerning, there was a lost sheep, And he left
the ninety and nine in verse 4, and went after it and found
it, laid it on his shoulders, cometh home. He calls together
his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for
I have found my sheep, which was lost. Now listen to verse
7. I'm saying to you that likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth more. And over ninety and nine, just
persons which need no repentance. But now look again at verse 10.
After he gave another parable, a woman had lost a piece of money
and she found it. Verse 10 says, likewise, I say
unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repented. Now here's my point. I don't
know. I can't speak with exact and
perfect knowledge. But I know this. But somehow,
according to God's Word, God's Scriptures, there's some things
that the departed saints know and remember and are aware of. Here is this man, Lazarus. This is our friend. And he's
sleeping. And the Lord says, I go because
no one else could, that I may awake him out of sleep. Verse 12 and 13, then said his
disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. How be it Jesus
spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of
taking of rest and sleep. Possibly they were still considering
the fact that the Lord's life was recently threatened. That's what they said. Lord,
if he's asleep, do you really think there's a
need for us to go? I mean, actually, I truly believe they had his
best at heart, trying to shield him, keep him from harm. But oh, how puny are our thoughts
concerning him who rules and reigns in the army of heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth. He's God. We trust Him. We believe Him.
If He leads us into this path, or this path, or this is our
lot, this is our lot, Lord, help me not to question You, not to
doubt You. Look at verse 14. Then said Jesus
unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. You know, only the omniscient
God could know that. As a servant of God, he humbled
himself, but he never relinquished. He never ceased to be the Almighty. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word,
God Himself, was made flesh. Hold it. Lazarus is dead. He ordered it. Life and death
is in His hand. Life and death is in his hands.
And when he said to Lazarus, your soul comes to me now. Lazarus
died. Verse 15, and he said, I am glad
for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
him. Glad. I'm glad for your sake,
that I was not there. Glad for your sake, because in
His presence, it's never recorded that anybody ever died in the
presence of our Lord. Never. I'm glad for your sake,
because Lazarus was going to be the means to glorify the Lord. He was sick and the Lord raised
him from sickness. That's a miracle. The Lord did
that. But to raise this man from the
dead. He is the Prince of Life. You know, I remember when the
Scripture says that they came to take him in the garden. And
it was Peter. He took out a sword to defend
the Lord. And took that sword, and I'll
guarantee you Peter was not aiming for that servant's ear. He was going to open his head
up. He was going to defend the Lord.
And Almighty God did not allow it. Two thieves. on the cross. Neither one of them could die
until the Lord was departed. Almighty God had set forth. He
said, I'm glad for your sake that I was not there. Lazarus
had to die. And God Almighty was going to
be glorified, glad for yourself, for your sake. If Martha and
Mary had had their wish, oh, what a blessing. would have been
denied. What a blessing! The disciples
would have missed that which absolutely must be witnessed. I'm glad for your sake that I
wasn't there to the intent that you may believe. He had their
best at heart. This was for their good. His
glory and their good. Glad for your sakes that you
might witness the glory of Almighty God in the resurrection. And I'll tell you this, I'm glad
for our sakes that we can read about it. Read the record of
this mighty act of God Almighty in the display of His power.
God Almighty spoke to that man right there and raised him from
the dead. Even death itself bows to Him. All things, heaven and
earth, nothing, nothing has any power over Him. I know this. No matter the trial that we go
through, I'm telling you, I think about that leper that came to
the Lord. He said, If you will, you can
make me clean." And the Lord said, I will. I know this. That gives me some comfort. To
know this, that Almighty God, if He's prone to, if He's pleased
to, He can do whatever He wants with me. If I know that He's
ordered all of my steps according to His good pleasure, good promise,
And then give me a heart to bow to that, to accept it. That settles my heart. This last verse, then said Thomas,
which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, let us
also go that we may die with him. You know, aren't we prone to
see the dark side? Really, aren't we prone to see
the dark side? Here's Thomas, here's what he
says. Well, Lazarus is dead. The Lord's going to die. Well, we might as well go die
with Him. Looks like it's all over. How quickly we're discouraged. We would rather go with Him and
die with him, though, than not go with him." Oh, he doubted. He had no doubt. He doubted. But the Lord kept him. Kept him
by grace. Kept him by power. Now here's
the Lord that had just told him, He's going to raise Lazarus from
the dead. And Thomas said, I guess we'll
just go and die too. How prone we are to not hear. Now listen, the Lord just taught
us some wonderful things concerning death. That it's a rest for the
people of God. It's a rest. It's a sleep. He's
taught us, He said, I'm going to go I'm going to speak to Lazarus. I'm going to raise him from the
dead. He's promised us that He's coming
back. He promised us, He said, I'm not going to leave. I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you. He said, where I
am, my will is that you be there also. Oh, how we ought to live in anxious
anticipation. Getting up every morning thinking,
today could be the day. This could be it. This could
be it. This is how we ought to live.
I don't have time for all the things, mess and stuff today.
To be perfectly frank with you, today could be the day my Lord
is coming back. I might see Him before this day
is out. I might see Him. I might not
take... Get ready to go eat some dinner
in just a minute. I might not even see dinner.
before I see Him. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief, for Christ's
sake.