If you take your Bibles, turn
back with me to John Chapter 11. John Chapter 11. The title of this message, The Love
of Christ and the Trouble of the Saints. The Love of Christ
and the Troubles of the Saints. Now, in this passage of Scripture,
we have our Lord Jesus Christ, As he most often does, he is
going to take a very physical thing, the resurrection of this
man Lazarus, and he is going to use it to put forth and teach
us spiritual truths concerning himself and his salvation. We can take any miracle that
the Lord has done, the healing of blind Bartimaeus, healing
of Jairus' daughter, the resurrection of that young maiden, or the
woman with the issue of blood, any miracle we could take. And
the Lord Jesus is not intending to show off His power, but rather
to preach the gospel to us. This is no different here. The
Lord Jesus was preaching the Word. He was preaching the Word,
and this message came to Him in verse 3. It says, Therefore
his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. This man Lazarus. This man Lazarus,
whom Jesus loved, was sick. And this was the message sent
by his sisters to him. And the first lesson I believe
the Holy Spirit is teaching this is the love of Christ. There
is no doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ loved this man, Lazarus. It says that, the sisters reiterate
that in verse 3, but John reiterates it in verse 5. Now Jesus loved
Martha and Mary and Lazarus. He said, hey, look, this is what
they said, but this was true. He loved these Brethren, he loved
Lazarus. He was a dear friend of his.
Now, Lazarus was not loved because of his morality or because of
his person, but rather because he was one of God's elect. He
was one of God's elect, one that was saved by the grace of God
through faith in Jesus Christ. And so then, this truth about
Lazarus, I want you who are believers, you who are the elect of God,
the redeemed of God, those who are called of the Spirit of God,
this also is said of you and me, that we are loved by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the world and its religious
generation has used that so much that it becomes Wearisome to
us They run around tell everybody smile Jesus loves you Jesus loves
you and this is the enemy all he's doing is wearing us out
with that and we become weary of Hearing it, but we know this
that Jesus does not love everyone We know that because in Romans
chapter 9 it tells us plainly Jacob have I loved but Esau have
I hated and We know this, that He only loves His elect. That God only loves those to
whom He gave to Christ. Only those that Christ died for
are loved of God. And only those who are called
to the Spirit can claim this love. And so you tonight, I want
you to know this. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. This is something
that we as believers in Christ will never be able to plumb the
depths of his love. Listen. You can easily plumb
the depths of my love for him. My love for him is very shallow.
My love for him is always fluctuating. Is that true of you, your love
for Christ? How much tonight at this very
moment do you love him? How much do we love him? Our
love is shallow. Our love is empty at times. I
long to love him more. I long to grow in love. But listen,
I can never come to the end of his love for me. Never. The depths of the riches and
the glory of Christ you can't fathom the depths of his love
There are times in our lives where we feel less spiritual,
isn't that true? Maybe tonight you don't feel
so spiritual We don't feel his love We feel as though God's
love is great for others and You know, I'm like Asaph. Oh
Asaph, he said this. He said, I know God's good to
Israel. But as for me, as for me, my
faith had almost nigh well slipped. At times we don't feel his love.
Sometimes our sins overwhelm us and we are overtaken by a
fall. Sometimes we are so cold and indifferent in our love for
him that we think for sure that His love is the same for us. But dear believer in Christ,
let us never base the love of God upon our love for Him. Never base God's love on your
works or religious deeds or feelings, but rather base it only upon
the Word of God. What does God say about his love
for you? God's word tells us plainly that
the grounds of his love for us is based solely on his grace,
on his mercy. In Jeremiah chapter 31, the scripture
says the Lord hath appeared of old unto me. That's good. I'm glad he didn't say the Lord
appeared to me today. Because then what about all those
days before? He said, no, Lord, appeared to
me of old. And listen, this is what God
said. Yes. I like that he begins that begins
the conversation with the word. Yes. You ever ask anybody a question? They just begin with. Yes. Yes. Yes, I have loved. Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. You see God's love for
his people is eternal. It's immutable. It's effectual. God's love is eternally for his
children. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. So then the cause of God's love
can only be found in himself. There is no reason that God should
love us. altogether born in sin. By nature,
we were rebels in heart, haters of God. And yet, what does the
scripture say? While we were yet sinners, Christ
died. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died. Dear believer, let us take comfort
in this fact that God loves us not in ourselves, but he loves
us in Christ. He loves us because he has put
us in union with his son. There's the grounds for his love
for us. So let us take comfort in this
fact that God loves us not in ourselves, but in Christ. Remember
that scripture. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he has
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, for this purpose
that we should be holy without blame before him. Listen to his
motive. In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children. You see, Christ predestinated
us not under the adoption of slaves, but children. In love predestinated us to be
his children. Listen, and he predestinated
the means by which we should be his children by Jesus Christ. Listen unto himself. I was going through some pictures
the other day and I saw my picture of my daughter with her arms
out running to me. You know, there was nothing more
wonderful when they when you draw your children to yourself.
You bring them in. That's what he's doing. God says
there's nothing greater than for me to bring you to myself. according to the good pleasure
of His will. That's why He did it. Why does
He love you? You look in the mirror and find
any reason God should love you. What about your works? Can you
look at your works and find any reason for God to love you? There's
nothing. There's nothing. But I don't
base His love upon my doing. I based my his love for me upon
what he said, his word. He said, I chose you. I loved you. I saved you. I called you and I'm going to
bring you to me. This is his love for us. Therefore, believer, let us rest
in the love of God, not in our feelings. What Luther say? Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceptive. The only
thing worth believing is the word of God. That's it. And God
says this, I love you. Don't you know this is a love
story? It's God's love towards his people,
towards his elect. And so then, if you have fallen
into sin, as believers often do, and your love is waxed cold
because of sin, then turn and look to the cross. You want evidence
that God loves you? You want evidence? Where are
you going to find any evidence that God loves you? I told you,
you can't find it in yourself. Where are you going to find it?
Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the cross and see what
great gift God has bestowed upon us. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, Isaiah said. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Christ, to put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, what is he going to do? He shall see
his sin. What was he thinking about upon
that tree? What was he dying for? He was
dying for his people. In love, he gave himself. He gave himself for us. He shall
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Believer, listen,
God is satisfied with you. You know why? He's satisfied
with your substitute. He's satisfied with Christ. He
shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied by the
knowledge of my righteous servant shall justify many for he shall
bear their iniquities. So when our love is low. And
our times are dark. What are we to do? To understand
God's love for us. I like that hymn. When Satan
tempts and doubts and fears assail, look to the Lamb of God. You
in His strength shall over all prevail. Look to the Lamb of
God. Are you weary? Does the way seem long? Look
to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill
your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. So the
first lesson of this As this man was loved, so are you loved. So are you loved. The second
point is this. Those who are loved by Christ
will experience trouble. And you learn this from Lazarus.
He was loved. Mary and Martha were loved. This family was loved of Christ. And yet they suffered. They suffered. The scripture says that there
was a man named Lazarus and they said The one whom you, verse
three, his sister's sin says, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. And we, as sinful creatures,
often we base our love on what others can do for us. And it's
true of anything. I mean, even consider our love
for Christ. Our love for Christ surely is
based upon what he can do for us. We need Him. We long for Him to save us. But consider God's love. What do you have that should
move God to love you? Nothing. God's love is free. God's love is full and free grace. That's His love. And therefore,
all He does is for the benefit of those He loves. Now, I love my children dearly. But if they ask of me things
that I know will hurt them, I will not give it. How much more, God? He said,
you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.
How much more does your Father know how to give the Spirit to
them that ask Him? And so, the Lord Jesus Christ
loves His children with a greater love than we can know, yet at
times, listen, at times, He decrees that His children should go through
many trials, many troubles and sicknesses and pains. And all of these things that
happen to the believer, those who are loved by Christ, these
dark providences, they appear evil. Now, when I withhold things
from my children, I promise you it appears evil to them. I'm
just a mean old man. How could I withhold these things
from them? And so oftentimes our father
allows things to happen to our to us and it appears to be evil. But listen, how do we know it's
not? How do we know our sicknesses and our griefs and our sorrows
are not evil? We know this because the Word
of God testifies to us of these things. You see how important
the Word of God is daily for us? That we should apply ourselves
to this Word because in this Word is the answer we seek. Listen,
we know, Paul said, Romans 8, 28, we know. This is not something
we are guessing. We know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. Go over to Jeremiah 32. I'll
look at a couple of places in Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah 32 and look at verse
40. God says here, I will make an
everlasting covenant with them. We know that this is the covenant
of grace. This is the covenant of salvation. This is our election. This is our redemption by Jesus
Christ. This everlasting covenant. God
says I'm going to make with you a covenant of salvation. God
determined from eternity to save us. And listen what he's going
to do in the meantime. In between, in eternity he chose
us, Christ died for us. But what about this whole span
that we live in? God says I'm going to take care
of that too. Look what he says. I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. That I will not turn away from them to do them what? Good. Let me ask you. When has God ever turned away
from you to do you good? The text says He never has. He said, I will not turn away
from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart for me you see what's happening with
us God uses these trials and tribulations to put his reverence
in our hearts and that we do not depart from him and we will
not depart from him that we what are these trials do they diminish
your faith or they increase it our trials are intended to increase
our faith look at Jeremiah chapter 29 look over a couple pages there
Jeremiah 29 and verse 11. God says this, for I know my
thoughts that I think toward you. How often do we tell God
what he's thinking? Like we know what he's thinking. Something evil is happening to
us and we're trying to figure out what he's thinking. God said,
listen, don't tell me what I'm thinking. I know what I'm thinking.
I know what I'm doing. I know my thoughts towards you.
What are they? Thoughts of what? Peace and not of evil. Thoughts of peace and not to
give you an expected end. Listen, I don't know what's going
to happen to us next. have no clue what God is going
to do next. I'm not given that, am I? You're not given that.
We don't know exactly what trial is waiting us as soon as we leave
this place. We don't know the trials, if
our trials are going to increase or if they're going to decrease.
We have no clue. But listen, what we do have is
this, unexpected end. I know this, I know the end. What is the end? Peace. I know
this, that one day God is going to wipe away all our tears. I can expect that. When you leave
this world, what do you think you should expect? You should
expect to be accepted. You should expect to be free
from sin. You should expect that God should
give you exactly what He promised to give you, eternal life, paradise. Joy, eternal joy, love, peace. You have an expected end. Now
in the middle, I don't know. I don't know what to expect.
I know to expect suffering and trouble. But in the midst of
this, I know this, that God loves his people, no matter what happens
in this life. Remember in Ecclesiastes chapter
9, The wise man wrote, he said,
you know, I've tried all of this. And he said, I found this out
to be true. You cannot tell the love or hatred of God by what's
happening. You just can't do it. You look at a man like Lazarus
and he's sick. And you look at a man named Caiaphas,
the high priest, and he's well. Well, who does God love? Well, you can't tell by their
outward circumstances. And so it is with us when we
are in sickness and trouble, we know this is designed of God
for our good, for our good. Look what Christ said. When he
heard this, go back to your text. When he heard that Lazarus was
sick, you know what he said? He said this in verse four, when
he heard that he was sick, he said, this sickness is not unto
death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be
glorified thereby. You see, he has a purpose in
everything that he does for his saints, every trial, every sickness,
every grief. What is his purpose? That God
be glorified. That his son be glorified. And so we see the first lesson
is that God loves his children. The second lesson is that God
intends good no matter what happens for his saints. His thoughts
toward us are peace and good. The third lesson is this about
delayed deliverance. Notice this, as soon as the Lord
heard of Lazarus' sickness, he did not run to his aid, but rather,
verse 6, He abode, therefore, when he heard, therefore, that
he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place. Our Lord, hearing of his sickness,
did not immediately go to Lazarus. How often do we require God's
help? When we are sick, I want him
now. I want him now. I'll tell you this, when I'm
sick, I'm probably the least spiritual person in the world
when I'm sick. This flesh does not stop crying for attention
when you're sick. And so we want him to come now. And I'll tell you this, more
often than not, he does come. He has delivered us. There are
many times in scripture where God delivered men right away,
you know, blind Bartimaeus. He healed him right then. That
woman with the issue of blood, she she just came up and touched
him. She she even asked. She just touched him and was
healed immediately. But you remember that what happened
to Jarius. When his daughter was was was dying and it was
urgent that he get Christ to her. Remember that as he was
going, he said, OK, I'm going and they're going to heal his
daughter. And all of a sudden, that woman come up and touched
him and he stopped in the middle of the crowd. Remember, he just
stopped. He said, who touched me? And
he's looking around for this woman. And only when she couldn't
be here anymore. And then he says, The scripture
says that she told all her story. So he Jerry is his daughter's
dying. It's emergency. He needs to get
there. And and here's Jesus just listening
to this woman talk about 12 years of suffering. See that delayed. Deliverance. And remember, they
came to him and said, don't don't bother him anymore, she's dead. All hope was lost. And what did
Jesus say? He turned to her and said, just
leave. And he went and healed her daughter. Sometimes the Lord
delays. But know this. He who loves you
and determines your good, when he delays in coming to you, I
want you to understand this. He never leaves you. He's never left you. In Mark chapter six, the Lord
sends his disciples across the sea. And he says, I'm going to
go into a mountain and pray. Jesus Christ was in the mountain.
His disciples were on the sea. And it just so happened a storm
came. What a stroke of bad luck. That
storm just came out of nowhere. No, we know this, that the Lord
who loved them, who wanted their good also designed the storm
that they were in. And the scripture says this in
Mark 6, 48, it says he saw them toiling in rowing. Friends, are you toiling? Sometimes I feel like a hamster
in a wheel. I'm just spinning and spinning
and going nowhere. That's what these disciples were
doing. They were rowing and rowing and going nowhere. But you know
what the comforting thing was? Christ who designed the storm,
Christ who told them to go across the sea was also watching them. He had his eye on them. He saw them. And then the scripture
says he came unto them. Believer in Christ, know this,
that God is always, though He delays in delivering us, He always
is aware of our trouble. Look at verse 11 in your text. The Lord Jesus Christ, He's delayed
a couple of days, and then He says something to His disciples.
He says, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, and I go to wake him. Well, they
think He's talking about natural sleep, The Lord Jesus Christ
then tells them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Lazarus is dead. You see, our Lord knew when his
friend died. When his friend died. How often do we feel as though
the Lord does not know what's happening to us? Our Lord knew exactly what's
happening to Lazarus, and he knows exactly what's happening
to us. Who do you suppose killed Lazarus?
Who do you suppose took his life? It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was talking to Audrey this last week in her little so-called
Bible class at school, and she made that statement that God
kills everyone that dies. And they laughed at her. They
mocked her. And then she she quoted the scripture
she's heard many times. I am the Lord. And there is none
else. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. You know
what that did to her whole class? Shut them up. Why? Because that's
exactly what God does. If anybody dies, it's God. God
takes the life. God does it. So when Lazarus
died, who took it? Christ did, his friend, the one
that loved him, the one that intended his good, yet delayed,
and know this, it was the will of Christ that he should die.
Now why? Verse 15, I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there. To the intent, now he's going
to tell us again the purpose, to this intent that you may believe. The whole purpose of Jesus Christ
is this, that his people should continually believe him. All that he does is so that your
faith should remain, that those who do not believe should believe,
and those that do believe should continue to believe. And so as
he knows where we are and what's taking place, The scripture tells
us we should be comforted in this, he said in Hebrews 13 five.
Let your conversation be without covetousness. And be content
with such things as you have. Let your conversation be without
coverage. Are you sick? And should we envy
the healthy? Are we poor? Should we then envy
the rich? The scripture says, be content
with such things as you have. Now, what's the reason for our
contentment? Here it is. For he hath said,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And so then, believer,
in our troubles, like Lazarus, he was, though Christ was absent
bodily, he was there with his child. He was there with Lazarus. and so we should be content with
this. I thought of that illustration of the Hebrew children. They defied a king. You imagine the faith it took
to defy a king. And we don't know anything about
a despot, but this man, he was ready to kill anyone that defied
him. And these three children stood
up and defied him, and they said, He said, If you don't do what
I say, I'm going to throw you in the fire. And they said, Look.
We don't know if God's going to deliver us from that fire.
We don't have any clue. They didn't have a promise God
going to deliver them. They said, Look, we don't know if he's going
to deliver us from this fire. But either way, if he does or
he doesn't today will be delivered from you. He got mad and threw
him in there. You remember the Lord did, and
he was pleased to be with him in that fire. And that shows
us this, that Christ is a very present help in trouble, in trouble. I know this, that God is always
going to use our trials for his glory, for his glory. Just like
he's using Lazarus here, the death of his friend. For our
benefit. Do you see this? The death of
Lazarus was for our benefit. What do we see in this? He loves
us, He intends for our good, and
even when He delays, He's with us. We see these things, but
the thing that's going to comfort us most is this, the gospel that
is preached by this event. The gospel then that is preached,
and this is the last point here, the gospel that is preached.
God is going to use this event of his beloved friend, this death
of his beloved friend, in order to preach the gospel. Now in
verse 21, Martha, when she hears the Lord coming, she goes out
to meet him. And she says this, Lord, if you
had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Now, I think this
seems like a double edged compliment. I don't I don't know whether
it's a whether it's a slight or a compliment or that she's
upset or that she's acknowledging his ability to heal. Seems like
she's doing both. How often have we done that?
Lord, if you'd done this, it wouldn't be like this. If you
had just done this, then this. But we can recognize her grief. She believed in his ability to
heal, but she was confused as to why he did not come. Are you
confused when God does not come and deliver you? When God takes those that we love dearly
from us? Lord, if you could just speak
the word and you did, That's been here, my brother,
not died. But know this, I know that even now whatsoever thou
shall ask God, he will give it thee. And Jesus said to her,
Thy brother shall rise again. Our brother shall rise again. And Martha said, Yes, he's going
to rise in the last day, the resurrection last day. But Jesus here gives a wonderful
teaching. And look at this in verse 25.
This is the teaching of the whole is the whole point. This is why
he did everything so that we should learn this. Listen, Jesus
said this. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live and whoso liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. You see, Christ is going to reveal
several things about himself by the death of this man, Lazarus.
First of all, He reveals His deity. He said, I am. I am. I am the resurrection. What Christ
is doing here is confirming His deity. This is the same thing
that He did in John chapter 8 and verse 58, when He told those
Pharisees, before Abraham was, I am. And what they do, they
understood exactly what he was saying. I am God. He was confessing himself to
be God. And that's what he is doing here.
And so then, friend, in the midst of our trouble, we should know
this, that are the one who loves us, the one who determines to
do us good, the one who is always with us is God. That's good news. This one who loves us said this
all power is given unto me. Now listen. That means exactly
what it says. All power. You realize to breathe, it requires
power. Who has that power? You? Or God? Christ does. All power is given unto me in
heaven. Sometimes when we get into troubles
and trials, we say with our lips that all power belongs to him,
but we really don't believe it. We try to get ourselves out of
trouble. We try to get ourselves out of the difficulties. We rely on the arm of flesh instead
of Christ. But he who is God manifest in
the flesh has all power to deliver us out of all our trials. Secondly,
he says this, I am the resurrection. This is is is intent here. Martha says, I believe he's going
to raise in the resurrection as though the resurrection is
just an event. The resurrection is a person,
friends. Jesus Christ is confessing, I have power to give life. I am the resurrection. If any
man is to have life, I am the one that's going to give. What
is confessing here? I am the resurrection. Now, then
this is true of us. This is something that is very
personal to you who are believers. This is very personal because
we were dead. We were born dead in sins. We had no ability to come to
God, just like Lazarus. He was dead. He had no power
to come to Christ. But why was Christ there? Christ came to Lazarus to give
him life. This is our confession. We were
dead in trespasses and sins, unregenerate. Therefore, he must
have come to us. We were without righteousness,
we have sinned and dead. So the purpose of his friend's
death was to picture our nature. We are dead with no hope. Therefore,
something must happen outside of ourselves to give us life.
Christ must have come to us. Listen, if a man is without life,
what he needs is Christ to come to him. He needs Christ, who
is the resurrection to come to him. And give him life. I pray that He will. Matter of
fact, this is what He said He's going to do. He said, the hour
is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God and they that hear shall live. He is the resurrection and the
life. I know this, He is my resurrection. I know this, I live because He
gave me life. Is Jesus Christ your resurrection
and life? What does it say to those who
are raised from the dead? Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, over which the second death hath
no power. And then the picture comes when
Christ actually raises him. Look at verse 43. He comes to
the place where Lazarus was. He tells him to remove the stone.
And you remember what Martha said? She said, Lord, he stinks. What another picture of us, isn't
it? Our righteousness! It stinks! But He said, move
the stone anyway. And they did. And He cried with
a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! Now is this a question or a command? When He who is resurrection and
the life commands life, is it a command or is it a request? Did he say, Lazarus, come forth? As though he's begging? No, he
commands. And what happened? He says, and
he that was dead came forth. He that was dead came forth. Jesus said, I am the resurrection
and life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. What is the evidence of one raised
from the dead spiritually? It is faith. He that believeth
in me. What was he? He was dead, and
yet he lives. He lives. Jesus said, Come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. That sounds like a wonderful thing to those who are heavy
laden. Those who need rest. I know this, there were many
times I heard that. But it was not until I heard
his command. When he said coming to me, he
was not asking. He was commanding. And I like
this. Lazarus came forth. Listen, this
bound hand and foot with grave clothes now had to get out. You're seeing a mummy. And all
bound up. That's exactly how Lazarus was.
He was bound. His feet were bound. His hands
were bound, and yet at the command of Christ, He came forth. We're just saying that though,
bound with 10,000 ties, let me hear thy call. I shall rise and
break through all. He came out bound. This is the power of Jesus Christ.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And listen to this promise. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. You see how Christ could be so
calm when his friend was dead? You know why? He wasn't dead. When Lazarus' body died, Lazarus
himself was not dead. Jesus Christ is telling you that
live you that I've given life to and continually believe on
me. You will never die. When you stop breathing. You're not dead. Your body is. Your body must go to the ground
because it cannot be received into glory. This corruptible
must put on incorruption. It cannot go there. So it must
go into the ground and die. But you, my friend, do not die. Do you believe this? Do you believe
this? Lazarus, he's a picture of this. And notice this, the grave close.
He said, loosen and let him go. This is what he does to everyone
who believes he loses us and lets us go. What do we what binds
us? It was the law that bound us. It was our sin that bound
us. Those were our grave clothes.
And yet, what does Christ say? Loosen and let him go. Oh, free
from the law. Oh, happy condition. Jesus has
bled and there is remission cursed by the law and bruised by the
fall Christ hath redeemed us once for all go to Hebrews chapter
10 and read this with me again Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 9
it says lo I come and to do thy will O God this is Christ speaking
I come to save my people I come to save my people. According
to your will. He take it away the first that
he may establish the second by the which will by the will of
God we are what sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ
once for all. See the idea of us sanctifying
ourselves by our actions is is foolish. And like I said, you
can, in a sense, set yourself apart by your actions, no doubt.
But the Pharisees did that too. So what makes it different? Did
you really sanctify yourself by your actions? No, we don't.
We're sanctified by two things, the will of God and the death
of Christ. You're sanctified, you're holy.
We're not sanctified by our obedience to the law. This is exactly what
he's saying by the tithe. Loosen and let him go. He's free
from the law. In every part, every pre-standard
daily ministering, oftentimes the same sacrifices that can
never take away sin. But this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sins, what'd he do? He sat down. It's done. It's finished. sat down on the
right hand of God, henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by his one offering he had
perfected forever, who? Who did he perfect forever? Them
that are sanctified. Those sanctified by the will
of God, by the death of Christ, those are the ones that are perfected
forever this is how Paul could say this in Romans chapter 10
Romans chapter 10 verse 4 Christ is the end of the law for righteous
to everyone that believe so what can we learn again from
this man Lazarus what he was loved so are you you believe
your love This man Lazarus had troubles. Everyone loved of God
is going to experience trouble, but this is our comfort. That he who loves us is God. He who loves us controls all
things. And even when he delays, he is
never leaving us. He'll never leave us or forsake
us. And so then in the midst of our troubles, what's the comfort?
What's the purpose of all your troubles? point you to the gospel
of Jesus Christ. This is the only sure thing in
this life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So when we're in trouble, when we suffer, the purpose of
the gospel is to comfort us, to strengthen us in our trouble,
knowing this, that we shall be delivered from our trouble, just
as our brother Lazarus. We all shall be delivered. I
pray that God blesses to your hearts. Let's stand, be dismissed
in prayer. Father, I pray you'd bless dismisses
with your blessing. It should bless your word to
your people. Father, I pray you forgive us our sins and lead
us. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.