John chapter 11, the title of
my message, An Urgent Plea and a Spiritual Answer. An urgent
plea and a spiritual answer. The scripture says, now there
was a certain man, was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the
town of Mary and her sister Martha. This man Lazarus, who was sick,
was none other than a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
man was known personally entertained the Lord Jesus Christ personally
in his home. This man was one who was loved
of Jesus Christ. Loved of him. The testimony of
John was this. In verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha
and her sister and Lazarus. He was a man loved of Christ,
and yet this man whom Christ loved was sick. He was sick. This sickness was
no common cold, no small matter. It was a very urgent matter. It was a very concerning matter. So concerned were his sisters
concerning his sickness that they sent a messenger to Jesus
Christ who was a long distance away. A long distance away. They sent him to him. He was
very sick. And they were in great distress,
and so what did they do? They sent a messenger, they sent
a letter to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they said, Lord, Lord, he
whom you love is sick. Now what were they doing? They
were obviously trying to use his affection for their brother
as a motivation for him to come and heal him. They used His love thinking it
would stir up His heart, knowing how greatly He displayed His
love for Him while He was in their home. And yet, what does
Jesus answer? He answers their plea in a way
that they didn't expect, that none of us would have expected. Jesus gives this answer to their
plea. He says to them, this sickness
is not unto death, And rather than going to Him, He still abides two days in the
same place where He was. Verse 6, When He heard thereof,
He said that He was sick, He abode two days still in the same
place. And He sends this message to
them. He sends a word back to them.
He doesn't leave them without a word. He does send them a word. He says his word is this, this
sickness is not unto death. You imagine how they took this
word? At first, I imagine they took it with joy. Well, Jesus
said that this sickness is not unto death. That's good. That's
a good word. I like that. It gives me some
comfort. It gives me some hope. Lazarus
is gonna get better. But the experience and the word
seem to be getting farther and farther apart. Lazarus is not
getting better. He's getting worse. And he dies. Jesus said, this sickness is
not unto death, but in reality, he died. Now then, how do you
think they felt? Confused? They expected that if he wasn't
getting any better, they surely think that Jesus was gonna show
up. I imagine that they were out on the porch waiting. Now
he said it's not unto death, he's getting worse, so obviously
he's going to come. And he doesn't come. He doesn't
come. And Lazarus died. How then was
Jesus' word true? Jesus said the sickness was not
unto death, but Lazarus died. Jesus said the sickness was for
the glory of God, and that the Son of God should be glorified.
Now then, how is that going to happen? How is God going to be
glorified seeing that this man whom He loved, He did not come
and heal? This word that Christ gave to
Mary and Martha, it was heard by His disciples, and yet they
could not see how this would happen. Now, go in your text,
and I want you to read with me the responses of Martha when
He does come. Now, He abides two days in the
same place. Lazarus dies. And as he's journeying
back, it takes him four days more to get there. Six days he
did not come. Six days. And now he comes to
them, and look at verse 21. Look what Martha said when she
met him. Verse 21. If I can get in the right chapter,
I'll be doing better. There it is. Verse 21. And Martha said
unto Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not
died. What is she doing? It's your fault. You said he wouldn't die. And if you'd have been here,
he wouldn't have died. Look at verse 32. Look what Mary
says. Lord, if thou had been here,
my brother had not died. Do you not suppose they were
collaborating on this? Do you not suppose they were
thinking about this? They said the exact same thing. Look at what the Jews said in
verse 37. And some of them said, could
not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused
that even this man should not have died? They were blaming him. Martha says this, she says, if
my brother, he had been here, my brother hadn't died, but I
know this, that whatsoever thou will ask of God, he will give
it to thee. In other words, Martha was saying, Lord, I know your
Lord. I know you have all power. She didn't deny his power. Why
were you unwilling? Why would you not be willing
to save my brother? She questioned his love. Mary made the same thing, and
so did the Jews. Believer, what are we to learn
from this? What are we to learn? What is the Holy Spirit teaching
us? What has he said before us? Let me first of all ask this.
Do you have a need? So I tell you what, if you're
not hurting now, you will. If you don't have a need now, you
will. And listen, Mary and Martha did exactly the right thing.
They sent unto the Lord. And when you have a need, you
should send unto the Lord. You should plead His love. You
should plead His mercy. You should ask for His grace
to come and heal. When you're sick and when you're
suffering, you should ask these things. Our Master says to come. Our Master says to pray, to request,
to make your requests known unto God. And I'll tell you how many times
have you made your request and he immediately answered. Like
Peter, seeking, Lord save me! And immediately he does. Like
Jehoshaphat surrounded by those warriors, help! And all of a
sudden they just turn around and go away. That's gracious. I love those. Those are great. Those deliverances are wonderful
and I love those. But that's not always the case,
is it? Sometimes we cry and the Lord delays in coming. He delays. And so what do we do when he
delays? You keep on crying. That's what you do. You keep
on asking. Knock and keep on knocking. Ask
and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Remember
the parable of the unjust judge, how that he said the widow woman,
he said, I'm not going to answer her because I'm just, but I'm
going to answer her because she's just not going to stop. And he
said, that's how you should be to God. You should not stop until
he answers. Remember that our God is full
of compassion. You're not, but he is. I'm not,
but he is. He's full of mercy, plenteous
of mercy and truth. And listen, Jesus did answer
them. Didn't He? He said, this sickness
is not unto death. And even as God may not come
and deliver our physical need at the moment, I tell you this,
He always sends His Word. He always gives you His Word. Romans 8, 28. Is that not a word? All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Are you called according to His
purpose? Are you one of His chosen, redeemed, called sinners, saved
by grace, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, love Him? Then
all things work together for your good. The word of God assures
us, believer, that our God is in the heavens and hath done
whatsoever he please. In other words, your God's in
charge. You got that? There's a word for you. You're
in trouble? That's a word. That's a word
you should grab onto and not let go. No matter your trial or trouble,
thy God loves thee with an eternal love. Remember that in every
one of your trials, no matter your sickness, your sorrow, your
pain, your hurt, remember this, your sickness is not unto death. Now, does this promise mean that
all of our troubles will automatically cease? Does this mean that our physical
illnesses will be healed? Does this mean that our sorrows
will immediately turn to sunshine? No. That's not what it means.
It didn't mean it for Mary and Martha, and it doesn't mean it
for you. That's not what he's saying. Now this, I know this. Whatever
trouble you have, I know He can deliver you. See, there's no
absence of power. I know that. You know that. Martha
knew that. There was no absence of power. Yet sometimes when we cry and
our God delays in coming and hides his face from us, what
are you to do still? Are you to rely upon what you
see? are you to trust in His Word. You should trust His Word no
matter what He wills to do. You can trust His Word. His promise
is, I hear you and I'll give you an answer.
All things are for your good, that's my answer. That's my answer. And yet sometimes our experience
seems to be contrary to His problems. Is that not so? Are your experiences
often contrary to the promises of God? You bet they are. You bet they are. This is why
we must believe His Word in spite of what we see and feel and experience. Believer, cry unto thy God, and
if He delays, if He delays in coming, And even
when all seems to be lost, your Lord will make good on His promise. All things are for your good
and all things, listen, redound to the glory of God. You can
take that to the bank. That is a good word. It's solid. Proverbs tells us,
Trust in the Lord. With what? All your heart. And lean somewhat on your understanding. Is that what it says? Trust the Lord and what you see.
Trust the Lord and what you experience. No, no. Lean not at all on your
own understanding of things. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he will direct your paths. They did not understand Jesus'
words even because they did not see they were spiritual words. He was speaking in spiritual
language. He was not talking physically
or carnally. He was speaking to them words
of comfort in the midst of their trouble. In the midst of death,
He was speaking words of comfort. And even so right now, in the
midst of your trouble, in the midst of your death, these words
are for you. This sickness is not unto death. These are spiritual words. Over in John 6, before this,
our Lord Jesus was speaking to these people and he made this
statement. Whosoever eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood shall not hunger or thirst. Now
what did they think about that? They said, that's sick. What
are we, cannibals? They meant it literally. They
took it literally. And Jesus said to them, these
words that I've spoken to you, they are spirit and they are
life. These words are spiritual words. And so when Jesus said, this
was not unto death, he's not saying that Lazarus wasn't going
to die. What he was saying was, this
is the gospel. I'm doing this for a reason.
There's a purpose behind this. This sickness is not unto death. So when Jesus said this sickness
is not unto death, he was saying Lazarus is not that he wouldn't
die physically. But listen, that Lazarus illness
was of no consequence to his immortal soul. Isn't that a comfort? Isn't that
the greatest comfort to Lazarus? When he left that, when his body
died, nothing happened to him. Nothing bad happened to him.
Everything good happened to him. He entered into glory. He was
ushered into the presence of God, rejoicing and praising God. He wasn't sad. He wasn't hurt. That was not unto a death. It
had no power over him to take his spiritual life. Oh, believer
in Christ, listen, we're all gonna die. And you just mark
it down. That's so. Unless the Lord Jesus
Christ comes back first, we all are going to fall off in the
grave. Every one of us. Sooner or later. Whatever the
appointed time is. We'll follow the Lord in death.
And even though we die in this body, we surely will not die. Doesn't the Lord Jesus Christ
tell us that we shall never perish? Yeah, Lord, but he's dead. No,
he's not. Matter of fact, when the Lord
mentions Lazarus' death, you know what he said? He's asleep.
He said he's sleeping. Nothing bad happened to Lazarus.
Even though we die in the body, surely we do not die spiritually.
Our souls, our new natures may be absent from the body, but
they are present with the Lord. Revelation 20 in verse 6 says,
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,
over which the second death hath no power. See, Lazarus, he took
part in the first death, Adam. But he also took part in the
first resurrection, which is spiritual resurrection. And you
know what happens to us who take part in the first resurrection?
The second death hath no power over us. That grave had no power
over Lazarus. He was in a great place. He was
in a joyful place. Even though his sisters were
mourning, he was not mourning. He was rejoicing. Now consider
the promise of Jesus' delay, the purpose of Jesus' delay in
our text, was to glorify God by using the death of Lazarus
in order to give us a picture. Everything Jesus does is on purpose,
friends. He doesn't do any of this like
we do. Our purpose doesn't really mean
much. And you may purpose to do something, but truly, if it
comes to pass, we don't know. And if it does, it's usually
never the way we think it would be. But when Jesus does something,
he does it on purpose. He stayed in that place for two
days on purpose. Why? So Lazarus would die. He knew he would die. and he was going to use this
death to glorify, to give us a picture of his gospel. See
then that Lazarus is a picture. His death, his resurrection are
a picture to us of God's glory, God's salvation. Now, in our text, Notice this,
that Lazarus, before he died, was loved of Jesus. Consider then, believer, the
spiritual picture of this, that before our spiritual death, God
loved us. He loved us. Jeremiah said, God said, I have
loved thee with an eternal love. He has loved us and he has known
us by name. Notice there's a certain man
named Lazarus. This was a particular man, wasn't
it? You know what? God loves particular
people. People he sets his love on are
particular, they're peculiar. He has loved us who believe on
His Son. He has loved us from eternity,
even before our spiritual demise. But when sin came, for by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men for all have sinned. When Adam sinned, we all died. We all died. All of us were born and dead
in sins and trespasses, completely depraved in heart, soul, mind,
and corrupt with sin. You read it later, but Isaiah
64. Listen, Isaiah 64. I've read this a hundred times,
but I've seen this very clearly that he is not just describing
one aspect of man in Isaiah 64 verse 6, he's describing the
whole man. Listen, he said that we are as
an unclean thing. You know what that is in the
law? It means a dead man. Leviticus, it talks about the
touching of an unclean thing. That's a person who is a corpse.
It's an unclean thing. We are all dead in trespasses
and sin as an unclean thing. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. That's our works. That's the
production of this old man. All he can do is sin. He said,
we do fade as the leaf. What is that? But the outward
man, we're all fading as the leaf and as the grass with it,
the flower fadeth. We're all dying. And then he
said, our iniquities like the wind have carried us away. What
is natural man ruled by? He's ruled by his passion and
his lust and his sin. He's describing the whole character
as corrupt. We are all his filthy rags, all
our righteousness. Now consider how that Jesus displayed,
delayed in coming to Lazarus and he did not come to him till
after he died. Oh man, what a wonderful picture
this is. When did God come to Adam? Wasn't it after he died? Now the sinful flesh begins to
cry out against God like Mary and Martha, Lord, if you'd been
there, sin never come into this world. If you'd have been there
before Adam sinned, if you'd have been there when he was sinning
and you stopped him, you could have stopped him. Why didn't
you stop him? If you'd have been there, Adam
had not sinned and we had not died. But listen, was Jesus there
when Lazarus died? You bet he was. He knew the moment
Lazarus died. You know why? Because he killed
him. Now I want you to get that ingrained
because that's just so. Anybody who dies, listen, God
does it. God takes that life. Deuteronomy 32 verse 36, I am
the Lord, I kill. And I make a life. So who actually
took Lazarus' life? It was God. Who took Adam's life? When he ate, who took his spiritual
life? It was God. So was he not there? You bet he was. He was there
when Adam sinned. His judgment fell on him. Now
why then did God allow sin? I tell you the only answer that
God gives, for his own glory. That's why. I don't have any
other answer. And if you try to come up with
any other answer, all you're doing is shaking your fist in
the face of God. All you're doing is replying
against God. Believers see the truth that this sickness though,
though God allowed sin into the world, though God allowed Adam
to die, allowed us to die. I want you to see this, that
this sickness is not unto death. This sickness is not unto death.
This spiritual death that has happened to all men is not unto
eternal death. For those that were loved of
Christ, He allowed them to die so that
He might show Himself to be the resurrection and the
life. That's why He did it. That's
why He allowed us to die. So that He might glorify Himself. The Father chose a people He
would save. He loved them. He gave them to
the Son. The Son came in the flesh and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He bought them by paying
for their sins. And the Holy Spirit of promise
comes to every one of them. And what does He do? He raises
them from the dead. And He keeps us until the inheritance
until we receive the full possession of his promises. Now why? Why does he do all of this? In Ephesians 1, what is the end
of every section of that first chapter? He elects us for what? According to the praise of the
glory of His grace. He redeems us by Christ according
to the purpose of His own will. He redeems us, He quickens us
for the praise of His own glory. That's what He does everything
for. For His own glory. Now behold, you dead sinners,
the hope and salvation of man in verse 23 of our text. Look
at this. There it is. He loved Lazarus. He allowed Lazarus to die so
that he might show the picture of our sin nature. And listen
to the promise here that he gives. Thy brother shall rise again. Now Martha tried to twist this
into practical understanding. So she said, yes, Lord, I know
that everybody's gonna rise again in the resurrection. See, she
still tried to make it carnal. It was a spiritual word he was
giving her. And yet she was still twisting
it to say, oh yeah, well, I can understand resurrection in the
end. He said, no, I'm gonna do it now. I'm gonna do it today. Jesus meant now. In this present
hour, he was come to literally raise Lazarus from the dead,
and he did so when he called him forth from the grave. But
consider this spiritually. Is this not the gospel message
to us who are already saved by the grace of God? Listen, this
is a good confidence for us. Listen, thy brother shall live. Every one of your brethren that
God chose, that Christ redeemed. Listen, they will rise from the
dead. He will raise them from the dead. Isn't that what he promised in
John 6? He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. All
that the Father hath given me I should lose. Nothing. Nothing. Are you discouraged because the
gospel doesn't seem to be going out as much as you want it to?
It's going out exactly as much as God wants it to. And you can trust this, even
though you can't see it. Trust it. God will save his people
from their sins. You can put it down. It's so. Don't trust what you're looking
at. Trust His Word. Thy brother shall rise again. Believer, do you weep for the
dead? Do you long for those who you know to be spiritually quickened?
If they are thy brother, they shall rise again. He will quicken
them from the dead. He will save them by His power.
Thy brother shall rise again. And listen, not man or devil
or circumstance or providence of God will stay Jesus Christ
from raising His people from the dead. Nothing will. Upon this rock Christ said, I
will build my church and the gates. I like that. The gates. What are gates meant to do? They're
meant to keep people out, aren't they? Isn't that what Satan tries
to do? Keep Christ out of the heart
of men? You know what the kingdom of
God will do? It will tear down the bars, it will come in, it
will save His people. That's what He'll do. And not
one thing can stop Him. Nothing will stop Him from saving
His people. Notice Jesus' claim, I am the
resurrection, verse 25, and the life. He that believeth on me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. Who's responsible for salvation?
You? Me? We put it on ourselves a
lot, don't we? We think, man, if I just say
the right word in the right place at the right time, that's what...
No. None of this is your responsibility.
Salvation belongs unto God, and He will save His people. Behold, the elect are dead in
sins, lost and depraved, bound in the tomb. Who alone can give
them life? Only Jesus Christ can give it.
He that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
This is the message to the dead. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But see, this life and faith
are never the work of the dead. But for us who believe on Jesus
Christ, we see this, that life and faith must come from Him. Now look at what happened when
Jesus Christ comes to the tomb He commands those men to roll
away the stone. Now, do you suppose he needed
them to roll away the stone? Was it that he was lacking any
power? No. He did it because he wanted to. He told them to. Do you realize
that this is what I do as a preacher of the gospel, is all I'm doing
is rolling away the stone. And you know what that does? It just allows the stench to
come out. When I preach the gospel, that's
all that happens, really. I am a saver of death unto death
to sinners. I expose you for what you are.
Lord, he stinketh. He's been in the grave for four
days. He's dead, dead. But yet that's what we do. We
expose sin. But who gives life? I can just
tell you the word of God, I can't put it in your heart. Only if
Jesus Christ speaks, there's life. That's the only thing,
give this gospel I'm preaching to you any power, is if he talks
to you. If he calls you. And you know
what he said? He said, Lazarus! In particular,
imagine if he just said, come forth. You know what would happen?
Every grave would have come, every person would have risen.
He has the power to raise everyone. But you know what? He doesn't.
He only raises them He loves. And when He calls them, is it
a question? Is He asking them? When He called
you, did He ask you? Lazarus, if you would, pretty
please, would you come up and just show them I've got power?
Lazarus you and I can work something out if you would just take the
first step. I'll take the rest. Oh No Jesus
Christ said Lazarus get out and you know what Lazarus did he
got out. Oh now i'm thinking lazarus laying
there in that in that to missus is as soon as his eyes came open
he said there is looking back off in his face he's in the two
and he hears the voice of the son of god you-know-what i don't
doubt there's anything more in this life that he wanted them
to get out do you happen wake up in the middle of the two and
you would want you would tell me you would want to get out
you bet you would that's what happened when we were found in
our sins Boy, when Christ called us to life, the first thing we
wanted to do was come to Him. But who gave the life? Christ. Who gave the faith? Christ. And
what did we do? We came. It's that simple. When
Christ calls you, you come. And notice this, it's a miracle
in coming because His hands and His feet were both bound. I thought
that was interesting. Kind of floated out. He couldn't
walk. Isn't faith a miracle? Just as much as life is, faith
is. It's a miracle. And we believe. This is how God gives life. by
command. He calls us by his free grace. And notice what he says to those
that rolled away the stone. He said this, loose him and let
him go. The same people that exposed
the stench now are commanded because he has life to loose
him and let him go. What is this? But comfort ye, comfort ye my
people. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem
and you tell them it's all done. You tell my people they're free. Don't you bind them with cords
of the law. Don't you whip them with cords
of the law. You loose them and you let them
go. Most people say, well, if you
don't do that, then the people just go where they want to. You
bet they will. They'll go exactly where they
want to go. You know where God's people will go? They'll go to
Christ! And they won't depart from Him. You know, next time
we read of Lazarus, you know where he's at? He's eating the
Passover with Christ. What does everyone that is loosed
and let go do? We feed with Christ. That's what
we do. You don't have to beat me to
be with Christ. You don't have to bind me to
be with Christ. He set me free so I can be with
Him. And everyone that God quickens, notice this. The Jews wanted to kill Christ. He just raised a man from the
dead and all they could think about was killing him. Look at
me. I'm a man that he raised from
the dead and all they can think of is to kill the gospel that
I love. And you know what they also wanted
to do? They wanted to kill Lazarus. Everyone that is quickened by
the gospel of Jesus Christ, my friends, you are full, you are
surrounded by enemies who desire nothing but your death. And you know Lazarus, he didn't
even say anything. I have no recorded words from
Lazarus. Didn't need any, did he? He himself
was a walking testimony of Christ's power. So am I. So are you. So what do we learn? In trouble,
cry out to God. When he delays, cry out to God.
Believe his word no matter what. Because his word says, your sickness
and trouble is not unto death. Matter of fact, he raised you
from the dead. And you know what? You will never
perish. Ever. Never. Never. I love him because he first loved me. and purchase my salvation rich
and free. May God bless this to you. Come
and prepare the Lord's table for us.