It's amazing to contemplate all
of the things that the Lord in His good providence
brings together, including the scriptures that we read and the
fact that the Lord responds to the cry and the call of His people. And He does it in such a way
that it reveals His absolute sovereignty and His glory in
all things. And Lisa's heading off to see
her son Hume for a few weeks tomorrow, and she's responding
to a call. Her baby needs to see her. Melts the heart, doesn't it?
Melts the heart of a mother to have a child say that he needs
to see her. Okay, and I pray that as we read
this account and look at the various elements of it, we will
be reminded again and again and again that this is not just the
story of the church, but the story of each and every individual
member of the church, and it is our cry, isn't it? It's our
cry, Lord, Lord, come. Lord, the one that you love is
sick. It's interesting in the context
of John's Gospel, isn't it, the rejection of the religious world
causes the cause of the Lord to leave, to leave that area,
to leave Jerusalem, to leave Judea and to go down to Bethany
some distance away, but the need of his bride. And I put that
in inverted commas because he creates the cause and he creates
the need and he creates everything in all of these things. Our God
is absolutely sovereign. But the need of his bride causes
him to come and come and respond to her call. And I want us to
have a look at the way these women, and they are all the women
in Scripture that are saved women, are pictures of the church in
the pictures of her cry to him. And so this is how the church
approaches the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what they say. First
one, now, certain man was sick, named Lazarus, and that's the
word sick. means, as it does in verse 3, it means that he's
actually dying. Now things have got way beyond
the point of just him being sick. This is an emphatic word that
speaks of being very, very sick and dying. Bethany was of the
town of Mary and her sister Martha, and it was Mary that anointed,
which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet
with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore,
Therefore, because of that situation, therefore his sisters sent unto
him." Isn't it extraordinary that the
Lord causes our need and in our need causes us to call? And so there are four things
I wanted to look at briefly this morning. Where do you go when
you're sick? And sickness is a sign of sin, isn't it? It's
the evidence, it's the physical evidence of this fallen world
that we live in. Sickness. And we must say right
at the very beginning is the sickness that is here revealed
in the scriptures is never a sign of God's displeasure. We must
state that with such emphasis these days because it is denied
by so many people and it's often denied by us. Sickness is never
a sign of God's displeasure. God loved Lazarus. God loved
Lazarus and he loved his sister. It's never a sign of God's displeasure
nor his judgment. wellness a sign of God's blessing,
nor is prosperity and wellness in this world ever a sign of
God's blessing. We must keep stating that because
so much in this religious world is telling us the opposite again
and again. But I want us to look at this
prayer. They sent unto him, didn't they,
how often they would have knelt beside Lazarus's bed and prayed
and prayed and prayed. But here we have it written down
for us. And they sent a messenger all the way to the Lord. And
they say to him in verse three of John 11, Lord behold, He whom thou lovest is sick. So in this very short prayer
we have, where to go if you're sick? Where do you go all the
time? Where do you go if you're ever
in need? Where do you go? We go to Him. What do you say when
you come to Him? How does the Church of God, how
does the Bride of Christ approach the Lord Jesus Christ? And it's
simple in two words, isn't it? Lord. She's acknowledging who
He is. He's Lord of absolutely everything. And she's saying, Lord, behold. Lord, look. Was the Lord looking
prior to all of this? Absolutely, he was looking. He
never takes his eyes off his bride and he never takes his
eyes of love off them. And what are the grounds upon
which we come to him? Listen to what she says. Lord,
behold. He whom thou loves infinitely,
eternally, completely, and loves effectually, is sick. And what's
the result of their cry, and their need, and His response? Verse 4 is a remarkable verse
of scripture, isn't it? When Jesus heard that, He said,
this sickness is not unto death. This sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. What a prayer. What a prayer
and what a response. And what response and what remarkable
words, as I said earlier, what remarkable words that have been
recorded for us by God the Holy Spirit and preserved that we
might Read again. He says in verse 25, listen to
the response of the Lord as a result of all of this. This is glorious,
isn't it? If this is not glorious for you,
I have fear. He says, I am the resurrection
and the life. Lazarus' life is in my hands.
Lazarus had life because of me. Lazarus has physical life because
of me. Lazarus has spiritual life because of me. Lazarus loves
me because of my life, in his life. And he that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that? God is glorified in the faith
that he brings to his people. God is glorified in how he carries
his people through these extraordinary trials. We have spoken often
of how much we have witnessed in these last months and of how God is glorified in the
faith that he brings to his people in the midst of trials, where
they just look to him, and they keep looking to him, and they
look to him as Lord. in a situation, and we don't
realise it until the Lord creates a need, that no earthly need
can help us. We're all in a situation where
we're desperately in need of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
all in a situation and in situations with everyone around us where
life is at stake, life eternal is at stake, and eternity is
before everyone that we meet and everyone that we love. We're
all speeding, we're all speeding at breakneck speed towards our
appointed end. And we all must go through Lazarus's
journey. Lazarus went through death twice. We call this a resurrection,
people call it a resurrection, but it's an extraordinary sort
of resurrection because he had to die again, Lazarus. This is
a picture of how the Lord Jesus Christ saves dead sinners. This
is a picture of how the Lord Jesus Christ comes to people
who are trapped in darkness, in their own death, and as Martha
said of Lazarus, there stinketh. How dead is dead, as dead as
Lazarus. How dead, how dead are sinners. As dead as Lazarus was in that
tomb. Bound, rotting, dead for four
days. These are the people that the
Lord Jesus Christ comes and brings life to. This is what this picture
is about, isn't it? It's about him being glorified
in the salvation of his people. It's about him being glorified
in the keeping of his people. Why death? There's only one answer
to death, isn't there? There's only one reason for death.
The wages of sin is death. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. One of the glorious aspects of
the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ makes his people to know
that they are sinners. Sinners, indeed. Sinners in reality. Sinners by practice. Sinners by desire, sadly. And God, our
Saviour, came to save sinners. He came into this world to save
sinners. Lazarus-like sinners. When we were without strength. The religious world tell people
they have a little strength. Romans 5 says when we were without
strength. When we actually hated God. When we were ungodly. And that word ungodly means someone
who is not a worshipper of God. And when we were yet sinners,
Christ came into this world. These parables, these glorious
stories, the pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to someone
who is absolutely helpless, someone who is a God-hating, powerless,
unworshipping sinner, a yet sinner. But listen to what
he says. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to
these people. He was delivered for our offences
and was raised again for our justification, therefore being
justified. Having been justified by God
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have, by faith, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And listen to the result of it. Listen to the glory of God in
the salvation. It says, by Him also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Faith makes God's people just
to stand. and not just stand and rejoice
in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we glory in
tribulations and also knowing the tribulation work of patience
and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed
because, because the love of God are brought in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. If you were there in that little
house in Bethany and you saw all of the circumstances of what
was going on and Lazarus becoming sicker and sicker and sicker
and his two sisters who loved him trying harder and harder
and harder and more exasperated and more, would you have called
it love? Would you have had cause to doubt
the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for these people? When you knew
that he stayed away two days and he was four days coming,
four days after Lazarus had buried? So often, my brothers and sisters,
we look through the eyes of flesh rather than the eyes of faith.
God is good all the time. good to all of his people all
of the time. God's love is infinite. God's
love is eternal. God's love is effectual. And
that's what they say to him. That's the message they send.
They don't talk about Lazarus' love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
They don't talk about anything that they bring. They come to
him and say, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. He whom thou lovest. All of those
loved by God see themselves sick, see themselves as unable to do
anything for themselves, see themselves as sinners, quite
simply as sinners. The most dangerous diseases in
the world are those diseases people aren't completely aware
of, aren't they? We had a friend, a doctor in
town, he had a son who was a champion cyclist and he was so good at
road racing and cycling that he was sort of on the edge of
being in the European Tour, the Tour de France type, so he was
serious. He was riding his bike in Canberra
some years ago and dropped dead. He was dead before he hit the
ground. And he was a young fellow in his late 20s, I think, at
that stage. He had a heart condition. For
20-odd years, he had a heart condition that could have killed
him in a heartbeat. To know that you're sick, to
know that you're in need, is a blessing from God Almighty. So when God's people are calling
on the Lord, they're calling in a state of need, aren't they? They're calling for the Lord
to look upon them. So I want us to look at their
request. And it's not There are two just simple words, but they
are just extraordinarily important words, aren't they? When you
call on the name of the Lord, you're calling on His character,
you're calling on who He is, as He really is. What's salvation? It's calling on the name of the
Lord, on the character of God Almighty. Lord, Lord, She's calling him Lord. That's
the first thing that someone in need does in the presence
of God, is you have to acknowledge that he's Lord Almighty. He is
the Creator. He is the Sustainer. He is the
Sovereign Ruler of all. He rules nature. He rules men,
he rules demons, he rules sickness, he rules death, and he rules
over salvation. And he not just sits on a throne,
but he's working all things together for the good of those who he
loves. Listen to what Martha says in
response to him being Lord. In verse 27 of John 11, she says, Again, he says, do you believe
this? And she replies to him saying,
yea, Lord, I believe. And this is what it is to acknowledge
that the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord. I believe that thou art
the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. What is it for the Lord Jesus
Christ to be Lord? What is it for Him to be Lord?
It's to be Him described as He does throughout John's Gospel
as God Almighty. He is the great I Am in human
flesh. In Him dwells the fullness of
deity. He is God Almighty. These people
in Jerusalem had no idea that He's God Almighty, and neither
does the religious world of today. I happened to be having coffee
with, I felt, with Tavis Lady yesterday down at the coffee
shop, and there was a guy there who's a representative of one
of the largest mission organisations in the world. Thousands and thousands
of millions of dollars and thousands of people being sent out. Listen
to what they say. Listen to what they say. They
talk about all humanity. See, many people call the Lord
Jesus Christ Lord. The people in Matthew 7 who get
sent to hell and are told that he never knew them, they call
him Lord, didn't they? And they make it emphatic. They say, Lord,
Lord. And then they say, haven't we done many wonderful works?
And we've done them in your name. multiple deeds, and deeds of
great glory in the sight of men. And the Lord Jesus sent them
away saying, I never knew you. Listen to what these people say
about the Lord. I want us to call on his name.
I want us to know him, to love him as he is, to rejoice in who
he is, to come to this God as saviour. But listen to what they
say. All humanity is designed for relationship with Him. All
humanity is the objects of His redeeming love. the objects of his redeeming
love. When it comes to the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, whenever I go and look at statements of
faith, I want to look at one thing. If you're going to talk about
him as Lord, you tell me what happened on the cross. Tell me
what he did for sinners. Tell me what he did. Tell me
what he did about my salvation. Listen to what they say. Christ's
sacrificial death in which he bore the punishment due sinners,
and he's meaning all humanity, is the only and all-sufficient
way for God's provision of salvation for all people of every culture and age, expressing
His love and satisfying His justice. The only possible way that that
honours the God of the Scriptures is that all humanity is saved.
If God's justice is satisfied and the Lord Jesus Christ has
died for the sins of all humanity, then all humanity is saved. And
so having been saved by your activity of doing all of your
things, which you can imagine what they are, the Holy Spirit
comes and transforms these people who have been saved by their
activity by a God that loves everyone and died for everyone.
He transforms those people to be increasingly like Christ. Brothers and sisters, you are
complete in Him. Perfectly complete in Him. You are as holy now as you will
ever be. You are as loved by God now as
you ever It is sadly a blasphemy. God's children call him Lord. They call him Lord with understanding. They call him Lord understanding
what they mean. Listen to what 1 Corinthians
12. It's so significant that we understand who we're talking
about, who we're talking to and who these this picture of the
church coming into the presence of God is saying, isn't it? He
says in verse 3 of 1 Corinthians, therefore I give you to understand,
1 Corinthians 12.3, I give you to understand, this is understanding,
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy
Ghost. What is it to be accursed? is to suffer the wrath of God
with no satisfaction. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
a curse for us, brothers and sisters. He bore the penalty
of all of the wrath of God upon all of the sins of all of his
people. And what was the result of all of that? He was satisfied. It is finished. God the Father is satisfied. God the Father is satisfied. Perfectly satisfied. No one,
speaking by the Spirit of God, caused Jesus accursed. To say
that he tried and failed, to say that he shed his blood for
someone and they'll end up going to hell because they haven't
done what he requires of them to do to make his work effectual
in their lives, is to call him a curse, to say that his work
is not sufficient. It's to deny his union with his
people, it's to deny the holiness of God in the salvation of sinners. So they came to him and they
said, Lord. They called him Lord. And when
Mary and Martha are calling him Lord, they are acknowledging
that he is God Almighty. They're acknowledging that in
him is the resurrection and the life. They're acknowledging all
of what he says about. They're not denying who he says
he is. They've been a witness, haven't
they? In Jerusalem, they're just three kilometers from Jerusalem.
They've been a witness to all of those conversations. If they
weren't personally witnesses, they heard all those conversations.
They were there in the conversations of John 5 and John 7 and John
8 and 9. They would have heard about the
blind man. They probably had the blind man in their house.
They saw him as Lord. And when they come to Him, that's
why when we come to Him, brothers and sisters, we come acknowledged
that He is God Almighty and that our lives and the lives of everyone
else in this world are in His hands. But we come to Him as
His children. Love compels the child of God
to come into His arms and our need heightens our dependence
and we come and we say, Lord, behold, Lord, I know you see
all, I know you rule all. Lord, I know that you as Lord,
you've ordained and you've enacted exactly what is going on here.
You are sovereign God, behold, you behold. There's a note of
urgency, there's a note of earnestness, there's a note of sincerity.
It is a sad thing, isn't it, that the sincerity and the depth
and the anguish of our hearts in the midst of trials causes
us to call out in ways that we've never called out normally. If the Lord would allow us to
call out that way, we have so many people in need. I just love how in the scriptures
the people of God just lay out their circumstances before him.
They're not telling him what to do. They're not going to him
on the basis of what they do. They're just going to him on
the basis of who he is and his love, and they're just saying,
Behold. Why ask him to behold when he
sees everything all the time? It's a good thing to ask God
for things that he's going to do, isn't it? It's a good thing to
ask God. It's a good thing for us to be reminded that we can
just ask him for what he's promised. He's promised to never, ever
leave us, never, ever forsake us. He's loved Lazarus, and he's
loved Mary, and he's loved Martha. He's loved them eternally. He's
loved them unchangeably. He's loved them effectually.
He's loved them graciously, and he loved them savingly. I just
do love that verse in John 13, isn't it? His own, which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. He loved them completely. He loved them purposefully. He loved them to the end, having
loved His own. That's the ground of our cry,
isn't it? God's love. God's love is the
source. If you trace all of salvation
back to an original source, you'll see that God loves. And Deuteronomy
7.7 is just glorious. He loves because He loves. It's
sovereign love, isn't it? And the source of His love is
in Himself. It's in Him. The reason for His
love is in Himself. The action is in Him. He loves
His people with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving
kindness He draws them to Himself. Lord, I come as a mercy beggar
to you as Lord God Almighty. I come with my only plea, who
you are and who we are, loved of you. Turn with me to 1 John and let's
read something. How do we know that he was loved?
How does they know that they were loved of God? What is the
evidence of the love of God in the hearts of his people? 1 John
4 is just glorious, isn't it? 1 John 4.7 Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God. The origin of love is in God.
And everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God, he that
loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. God's love doesn't just sit there
as some wishful thinking, isn't it? In this, verse 9, in this
was manifest the love of God toward us. There are a people
in this world, there is a bride that is loved. Toward us, there
is an us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the
world that we might live through him. Herein is love. What a glorious description.
This is love. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God. but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's how you identify the Christ. If that mission organisation
could read 1 John 4 and be taught of God the Holy Spirit, what
it actually meant, they would burn their statement of faith
and retrain all of their missionaries to go out and tell the truth.
The propitiation for our sins. Was he a successful propitiatory
sacrifice? Did he bear the wrath of God
perfectly and infinitely? Is there now no sin in his people? Is there, are they so holy that
a holy God can come and indwell them with no diminishing of the
glory of his character in absolute holiness, in absolute sovereignty,
in absolute truth, in absolute faithfulness? all of His name
declared, all of His character declared in the salvation of
His people. That's our Lord, brothers and
sisters, and whether people believe it or not, whether the religious
world declares it or not, that's the Lord, that is the Lord, that
is the Christ. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected in us. Isn't that remarkable? I thought his love was perfect
already. His love is perfected in us. Hereby we know that we
dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify,
this is our confession, that the Father sent the Son to be
the Saviour of the world. And we know what that word world
means, doesn't it? It's all of His people throughout
this world, throughout time, not just the Jews, but all of
the Gentiles, all of the faith children of Abraham, all of the
eternal children of God. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. and he in God. I don't know, when you read John's
writings you can't help but think that the words that the Lord
prayed in John 17 were just indelibly printed on his heart. We started
by quoting Song of Solomon, let him kiss me with the kisses of
his mouth. These are kisses that have power and emotion, He says, he's praying for us
in John 17, 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou
gavest me them that they may be one even as we are one." Listen
to this. These are words that God wrote. These are the words that are
inscribed by the blood of the Lord for us. This is the night
before he died. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou It's a glorious, glorious union,
isn't it? Why did He respond to their call? The result of mercy beggars coming
to them. This sickness is not under death.
It's impossible for the children of God to die. They'll get rid
of this body. Lazarus was already dead when
the Lord said that. This sickness is not under death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
thereby. As I said at the beginning, we
are here in May 14, 2022 and we are reading the history of
this, aren't we? This family, this family that
we seem to know more about this family than almost any other
family in the New Testament. You think of that. I can't think
of another family that's as prominent in the New Testament as this
family. The Lord Jesus Christ is not recorded. in his earthly
ministry is ever spending a night in Jerusalem. Each night he went
out. He either went to the Garden
of Gethsemane, and it's a remarkable journey that he took, isn't it?
He left that temple complex and he went down and he went across
that brook Kidron, which bore all of the emblems of sin and
sacrifice for sin. It was a brook that ran with
blood during the festival time and he drank, according to Psalm
100, and he drank from that brook. He drank. It was in that cup. All of the sins of all of his
people were in that cup, and he drank of that brook. And he
either went to the Garden of Gethsemane and spent the night
in the Garden of Gethsemane, or he walked south for another
couple of kilometers and went to Bethany. He always went they come to him as Lord God
Almighty. And they have this, don't they?
They have this promise that all of this, everything that happens
in our lives, brothers and sisters, is for the glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. God's glory and the
Son's glory are all exactly the same, brothers and sisters. And
God's greatest glory is our greatest God's greatest glory is our source
of greatest good, isn't it? God's greatest glory is our greatest
need and our greatest good. Where sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. Our God brings glory to himself
out of these things. But I want us to think about
that journey the Lord took. And he crossed that brook, every
time he crossed that brook, he was thinking about the cup that
he was going to take in Gethsemane, which was just to cross the brook.
And he took that cup from his father's hands, and that cup
was in his hands, and that cup can never be in our hands. And
the Lord Jesus Christ drank that cup, and it was made sin for
us. And on that cross, he bore that
sin, and the wrath of God fell upon him, and it fell upon all
of us in him. until God says, I'm satisfied. There are no sins in God's children. There are no sins. They are perfect. In closing, I want us to remember,
what's the end result of all this? What's the glory of what
Lazarus and all of the children of God will experience his resurrection? We were circumcised with him,
we were buried with him, we lived with him. All of our Saviour's
activities in this world were an us. We were buried with him
and we were raised with him and now we're seated with him in
heavenly places. Where did he rise gloriously
triumphant from this earth? Turn with me to the end of Luke's
Gospel, Luke 24, verse 50. And he led them out as far as to Bethany. This place of Lazarus' resurrection
is a picture of that glorious resurrection. All of God's children
come into this world bound and dead and lifeless before God. And God gives them spiritual
life and he calls the dead to life. And Lazarus is a glorious
picture of our salvation. He led them out as far as to
Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed them. We know what the blessing is,
don't we? We know what the blessing is. going the wrong way. It's number
six, isn't it? He says, this is the blessing.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The great high priest is
blessing his people. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. Isn't that
glorious? The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee. If you see his countenance, if
he's lifted it up before you, he'll give you peace. And then
he says this glorious thing, and they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will bless them. He blessed them and was parted
from them and carried up into heaven. What happens when the
glory of God is revealed in the salvation of sinners? They worshipped
him and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually
in the temple praising and blessing God. Glorious Bethany. wonderful sickness, glorious
Saviour. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would come again and again to us and calls us
to come to you and to, in the midst of our trials, Heavenly
Father, speak those glorious words. I am the resurrection
and the life. Whosoever lives and believes
in me shall never die. Oh, Heavenly Father, give us
the faith to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God,
that should come into this world and that having faith we'll have
life through Him. We praise You, Heavenly Father,
for Your goodness in coming. We praise You that You are touched
with the feelings of our infirmities and You succour Your people. You run to the cry of Your children
in this Heavenly Father, we cry, Lord, behold. Lord, behold. We thank you, our Father, for
your glorious word, a new glorious word made flesh. May he be glorified
by the faith that you work in the hearts of your people here
and throughout this world. For Jesus' sake and for his name
we pray, our Father. Amen.