I please God to bless our souls
this morning as we consider his word and as it turns to the Gospel
of John chapter 11 and reading verses 25 and 26. The Gospel
of John chapter 11 reading verses 25 and 26. Jesus said unto her 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 believest thou this it is really very wonderful to
read the Word of God and to be able to observe the many situations
which developed to prove certain points and to illustrate the
work of God and to prove that the things of God are true. And we have in this account that
we read this morning about Lazarus dying and then being raised from
the dead. And we know very clearly that
Jesus could have been there when Lazarus was taken ill and could
have cured him then, so that he in fact did not die. But the truth is that this occurred
Lazarus, we might say, was allowed to die so that the truth of God
could be wonderfully set forth and revealed and proved to be
a blessing not only to those who were there at the time but
also to us today as we now walk upon the earth and indeed to
the Church of God down through the ages. And so the principle
truth that the Lord brings forth in this account is the resurrection. And how needful that is for us
to realise that there is to be a resurrection. And what that
directs us to, is to understand that not only will there be a
resurrection, but there is a life to come. And not only just, as
we might say, a life to come, but an eternal life to come. A life that will never cease. A life that goes on internally. And it is so important for every
one of us to realise that we do possess a soul that never
dies. And because of that, how important
are the things of God. And how necessary it is that
we give due attention to the things of God and to the truth
of God. And we don't push them away from
us. Or perhaps we might think, well,
we'll put them on the back burner and leave them there for a while.
And perhaps when we get a bit older or perhaps got a bit more
time, we'll consider these things in more detail. But of course,
that's a very foolish consideration. because we don't know how long
we will have to live upon this earth. And the most important
aspect for each one of us is to recognise whether we are ready
for the day of our death. Our life on this earth is really
a preparation for our eternal life, if we are indeed amongst
the family of God. And it is that way wherein the
Lord is doing that for us which will bring us down to that day
of our death to be ready then to depart this life and to go
and to be with Christ which is far better. Now, people today,
of course, for the most part, ridicule that position. Disbelieve that there is any
such thing as a soul and disbelieve in any event that we possess
a never dying soul. But the word of God is very clear
and directs us again and again to the eternal things which are
to come. And if they were not true then
surely they would not have been recorded. But we are thankful
to know that We have the Bible which records these things for
us to instruct us about them. And so how very important it
is for us. And we cannot stress enough the
importance of considering the state of our souls. How we battle against the devil. who wants us to only consider
the things of our natural life, does not want us to think about
the things of God, and definitely does not want us to concentrate
on the things of God. He doesn't want us to ever consider
there is any possibility of you or me sinking into the abyss
of eternal punishment in hell. He wants that thought to be kept
far from us, and should we think about it, or ever consider it,
then he attempts to direct our attention to change and to say,
well, there's no point in you thinking about morbid things
like that, you've got your life to enjoy, and therefore concentrate
upon your life and put those things off and in fact of course
they're not true anyway and you can ignore them. Well the truth
is that we cannot ignore them and we should not ignore them
because they are true and they will come to pass. And we do
possess an ever dying soul. And we must spend eternity either
in heaven or in hell. And there is no grey area. There is no alternative. And
these truths are facts. And they are not something we
can discard and think they are irrelevant. They are very relevant
to every one of us. It matters not how young or how
old we are. They are equally relevant because
The day hastens on when you and I must come and stand before
the judge of all the earth. And then we shall not be in a
position to say, well, of course, I didn't take it seriously. I
wish I had. It will be then too late. What
a blessing it is then if we favour to know the work of the Spirit
of God in our hearts. And that spirit of God which
makes us spiritually alive, to realise the need we have of being
spiritually alive, to then look forward, to anticipate that day
of glory when we shall be found with the Saviour without any
veil between. And so the Lord Jesus in this
The account here sets these things very clearly before us. We know that Lazarus died and
we know that Martha went out to find the Lord and to speak
to him and she heard what the Lord said to her. And we know
that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And yet, we must acknowledge
that the Lord had a perfect right to deal with each one and to
speak to each one very clearly. And he came and he said plainly,
Lazarus is dead. And then he said, and I'm glad
for your sakes that I was not there to the intent you may believe. That was the great point you
see. The Lord was glad he wasn't there
because he was going to bring out of this situation wonderful
blessing. Now we need to remember therefore
in our lives that it may be that things do not always go in accordance
to plan. things don't always work out
in the way that we thought they would. But may we realize that
the Lord ordains things in our lives for our spiritual good
and sometimes not only for ourselves but for others also. The Lord's
ways are higher than our ways and so are his thoughts and we
should not therefore put the Lord on the same level as we
are. Because our minds are very finite. That means we are very limited
in our appreciation of things. We cannot understand infinite
things. We can only understand finite
things. And we have a God who is infinite
in wisdom and infinite in knowledge. And the Lord knows the end from
the beginning. And so may we realise Now what
the Lord does is for our good and for his honour and for his
glory. So we read that as soon as Martha
heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. Mary sat
still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Now
we must recognise that here Martha is making a statement but we
also see that Martha's faith was really limited because quite
clearly the Lord Jesus could have cured Lazarus from wherever
he was. We know that there were those
examples in the Lord's life when he spoke the word and people
were healed who weren't before him, they were somewhere away.
So here we have Martha understanding that if the Lord had to be there,
well, the Lord does not have to be there. The Lord can do
anything from anywhere and in any place. And so the Lord says,
Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever
thou would ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus said unto
her, my brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. And now the Lord Jesus homes
in on this wonderful situation and declaration. He said, I am
the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And so here is a very important
statement made to Martha. I am the resurrection and the
life. The Lord goes on and he speaks
and he says, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die." Then he asked this question to her. Believest thou this? What a question that is for us
today, is it not? Whether we believe this which
Jesus has stated. It's very easy to just assume
that we believe certain things. Especially as we may have been
brought up in Christian circles and we may have heard these things
from a very early age. And the tendency is to just believe
such truths in our mind. But this will not be satisfactory. We will need to know these truths
in our heart. We will need to be able to answer
this in a very positive way. Believest thou this? What are we to believe? That
the Lord is the resurrection and the life. The Apostle Paul
when he wrote to the Romans, he outlined something of these
truths. And he said, and what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we
preach. Now he says, that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. That's a very simple statement,
isn't it? But it's a very relevant and a very important statement
that you and I need then to believe in our heart, that is in our
innermost being. That means that our soul truly
believes these truths. It's in our heart. And also then,
there is to be a confession of these truths with our mouth. These two go together. And the Lord says, if these are
there, then Thou shalt be saved. And the clear position is, if
they are not there, if they do not occur, then we are not saved. The Apostle goes on to say, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now how encouraging
that should be. To think that if we believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall not be ashamed. Yes, we don't
want to be ashamed, I'm sure. I hope we don't want to be ashamed.
But here we have this statement. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. For there is no difference between
a Jew and a Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. Again, we come back to the
truth of conversion. And it means that there's been
a prayer, a cry, a call unto God for all that call upon Him. How relevant it is in our life
to know that you and I have seriously, conscientiously prayed to God. We've called upon the name of
the Lord. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved." Again, a very simple
statement, isn't it? Again, so relevant to us today. To be able to recognise that
we have called upon the name of the Lord. And why? Because of his grace. Because
of his mercy. Because of his favour. because
of his blessing. Today, may we be able to look
into our hearts, to observe that we have called upon the name
of the Lord. He carries on and says, how then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? That
makes sense, doesn't it? There's no point in Praying to
somebody that we don't believe in is a waste of time, isn't
it? Just vain words. How shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? So in essence, if you and I have
truly called upon the name of the Lord, it is because we have
believed in the Lord. And how should they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? Again, a common common sense
view, isn't it? How can we believe on somebody
that we've not heard about? Well, bless God, if we've heard
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And how should they hear without
a preacher? Well, the ordained way of blessing
is through the preaching of the Gospel. It's classified as the
foolishness of preaching. Again, the natural mind will
think, well, what's the point of people preaching and what's
the point of people going to hear the preaching? Well, God
has ordained that that is the right way, the way of blessing. That's why we preach the Gospel. That's why We labour week by
week, preaching the Gospel. Why? Because of our concern for
the salvation of souls. We don't do it for our natural
health. We do it because of our concern
for the life of God in the soul and to be a willing servant before
the Lord. That's why the Gospel is preached. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? It's only those who God has ordained
to preach the Word of God who will have any effect upon the
hearts of the hearers. And oh bless God then, if he's
called us to preach the Gospel and we are sent by him, and let
us not forget It is God who sends men to preach, it's not people.
Sometimes we foolishly think churches send people out and
they don't at all. God sends people to preach and the Church
of God only confirms the work of the Lord in this matter. How
shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how
beautiful are the feet of them which preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things." Now, does your heart
rejoice when you hear the Gospel preached? Does it enter into
your heart? Do you bless God for the glorious
plan of salvation? Are you thankful to hear it set
before you? Are you able to understand it and you appreciate it? You
bless God for it and you're able to say, Oh, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. It's good
news from a far country. I love to hear it. I rejoice
in it. I rejoice to hear what Christ
has done. Rejoice to hear in his finished
work and rejoice to believe I have a hope in his mercy. And he says,
now this is sad, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For
Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? You know, many people
have sat in chapel all their life and never believed the truth
of God. The preaching has gone over their
head. It's never entered into their heart. And so we find this truth sadly
true. They have not all obeyed the
gospel. Isaiah says, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then the apostle just confirms
the situation. He says, then, faith God-given faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, have they not heard?
Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth, and their
words unto the ends of the world. But I say, did not Israel know?
First Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy. By them there
are no people. It's a good thing, isn't it?
The Lord promotes that in our heart, that we're jealous. That
we haven't received a blessing. We're jealous about those who
have. I think the Lord provokes us
to jealousy. By them there are no people.
and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Isaiah is very
bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was
manifest unto them that asked not for me. But to Israel he
saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient
and gainsaying people." Now, it would be a wonderful blessing
if there is that concern in our heart to know that we are one
of those who believe. Because it won't be that you'll
just settle back and say, well, if the Lord's going to call me,
I shall be called and I needn't worry about it and in fact it
will come to pass. Well in one sense of course that's
true. But if the work of God, if the work of the Spirit of
God is in your heart, You will be concerned to know now that
you are amongst the Church of God. You will desire to know
that you do believe and that you have received the Word of
God as it's proclaimed. And it will cause you great concern
to know that you are amongst those who are a true believer. And you won't want to be satisfied
with being categorised as an unbeliever, because you will
realise what the end will be if you remain in that position,
and therefore there will be a cry from your heart that you may
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So then, it comes back to this
question that the Lord Jesus asks, Believest thou this? It's a most important question. Remember the question was relative
to his statement, I am the resurrection and the life. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the life, is our life in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus says, in John
14 verse 6, I am the way, the truth and the life. Very simple, a very wonderful
statement. The Lord Jesus therefore sets
before us the way, the right way. He is the way, He sets before
us the way. And not only is he the way, but
he also is the truth. There is no doubt what the Lord
Jesus says is truth. There is no variation. He is the truth. And then he
is the life. He is the one who gives life. He is the one who gives life
to you and to me. and how important that we are
blessed to know that we have life. Because if you and I have
life, it is an eternal life. And it means then that when we
are resurrected, if we should die, unless we are on the earth
and the Lord returns, but if we should die to know that we
will be Our body will be resurrected to be reunited with our soul
and we in that resurrected state shall live forevermore. Just think of that statement.
Forevermore. In glory with the Saviour. With the Church of God. a number that no man can number.
Enjoying the presence of God for all eternity. Now we need just to come back
to that track for a moment. If we have no true belief in
our heart, if we have no true life in our soul, then you see
we will not want to go to heaven. Heaven will not be a place that
attracts you. You won't want to go there. Because
you'll just want the things of this world. You won't want them
to cease. You won't want to leave the compass
of your present life. You won't want to leave your
hobbies. You won't want to leave your sports. You won't want to
leave the things that you enjoy in this life. You'll be holding
on to them. And I'll tell you something else.
When people speak about the things of God, you won't want to listen. You won't want to hear about
them. You'll want to speak about the things of this life, the
things of this world, the things of God, won't be attractive to
you. You won't want to speak about
them. Why? Because there is no life in you. See that's the truth. Another evidence of spiritual
life is as we read on Friday in the third chapter of the first
epistle of John. The statement is, we know that
we are passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. That means that you and I love
the people of God. Again, that's a test, is it not,
for the reality of the life of God in our souls, whether we
love the people of God. And if you and I love the people
of God, What would we want? We want to be in their company.
You'll want to be with the people of God. You won't want to be
with the people of the world. You'll find you don't have any
union. You don't have any communion
with them. You'll find there's a separation. You'll find there's
a difference which the Lord has put in your heart. And you'll
find there's an attraction to the people of God. And why? because in measure you will see
Christ in them. Christ in them, the hope of glory. Christ formed in them. Christ
as their life. And you will then see the echo
in your heart and the evidence of spiritual life. And so, as
the Lord says, Thou this. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Of course he's speaking here
of Lazarus' natural death. Although he was dead, yet he
would live eternally and he would live forever. And it is a very
searching and solemn consideration to realize that when we are born
into this world, we have a never-dying soul which shall never die. And you and I, therefore, have
an eternity before us. Never think there's any way around
that. Our soul lives forever. And how important then that we
are blessed with this grace of God to believe what the Lord
Jesus Christ has spoken. To believe what he has spoken. You know, it's not optional.
It's not optional. The Word of God, the truth of
God, the Word of God is to be believed. And we should not be found sitting
on the fence and thinking, well, which way should I jump? Am I
going to believe or am I going to not believe? We need to pray. Lord, give us a believing heart
indeed to believe the truth of God and therefore to have the
assurance that it is well with our soul. How necessary that
is, to know that it is well with our soul. You may be concerned about things
in your life. You young people, you are taking
exams, and probably you are worried about how well you have done,
and whether you are going to get good results from those exams. And you may wonder, Will they
be good or will they be bad? Will they be well? Well, it's
right to be concerned about these things. But it's far more important
to be concerned about your soul, whether you've passed that examination. Here's an examination question
for you this morning. Jesus asks it. Believest thou
this?" It's an examination question. Can you answer it? How are you
going to answer it? Are you going to say, yes, I
believe, and to then realise that the examination has been
passed, and it's the greatest exam you can ever take, and the
most blessed exam to pass? to know that the Lord has saved
your soul? Or do you have to say this morning,
no, I don't believe, I haven't passed that exam. Well, the wonderful favour is,
you are still on praying ground. Still on praying ground, as it
were, you better take the exam again and be asked the question,
But don't forget, the question has to be answered in a right
way before we die. We don't know how long we have
to live on this earth. I mentioned this morning in my
prayer, most of you probably don't realise that Sam and Diane
Mackay have come into the home, into the flatlets, and Diane's
brother, only 61, a very healthy man, He's done many things. He recently returned from Romania,
where he'd been helping hands-on to build some buildings for the
orphans there. He came back and he suddenly
had a heart attack or a stroke, I'm not sure which, so he's now
unconscious and appears to have no ability and appears to have
no hope. You see, you and I can appear
to be very healthy in our life. We don't know when suddenly we
may be shut down. And so then it would be too late
to answer a question like this. Believest thou this? The word of God tells us, today
we will hear his word, harden not our heart. How often people
have hardened their heart. and turn against the things of
God, because the devil has got them onto his ground, and he's
keeping them there. My friends, perhaps the devil
has got you onto his ground, but may he not keep you there.
May you truly be concerned to hear a question like this, and
to know and to be able to confirm that you know the Lord is the
resurrection and the life. that your hope today is built
upon Christ's finished work. And what a great and glorious
work that is. And again, I believe if the Spirit
of God is worked in our heart, we will always be glad to hear
about the work of the Saviour. What He's done. What He's accomplished. And what the cost was. The Lord
Jesus came into this world to save his people from their sins. And in order to accomplish that,
he was called upon to resign his life as a sacrifice to atone
for our sins. And in order for that to be fulfilled,
he had to die that awful death of crucifixion and he had to
shed his most precious blood in order that he might atone
for our sin. And bless God, he finished that
work the Father gave him to do. He did not fail. He finished
it, and He rose again. The first fruits of the resurrection. He rose the dead. My friends,
today, our hope must be upon what Christ has done. Our hope
on the resurrected Saviour. to believe that now, today, He
is seated on the Father's right hand on the throne of God in
heaven, there, interceding for us, for you and me, in our prayers.
And one day, He will return. One day He will come again, and be united to His Church, forever
and ever. So shall we be caught up with
the Church of God to be forever with the Lord, that great and
glorious Saviour who suffered and died that we might receive
spiritual life. Now, my friends, this is the
Gospel. We read this account this morning
of Lazarus. We read what The Lord Jesus Christ
said, how he was, Lazarus, bound up, dead. And the Lord cried
and said, Lazarus, come forth. Now in essence, that is spoken
to every believer. The Lord Jesus comes and says,
come forth to spiritual life, what a blessing it is when we
are brought into spiritual life. What is that? It's union with
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ means something
to us. And indeed, may it be, and may
our prayer be, that He may be to us, the chiefest among ten
thousand, and the altogether lovely, so that we laugh to hear
about the Saviour. We rejoice to hear His name. that we are able to say how sweet
the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. That's the secret. In a
believer's ear. And may it be so. And may we
be able to therefore answer the question this morning. Believest
thou this? To say, my hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Amen.