Good morning. If you would open your Bibles
to the book of Acts, Acts chapter four. Acts chapter four. This morning I want to start
my message with something that I think all of us completely
understand, all of us know to be truth, yet at the same time
something that we just don't particularly put right out there
for all of us to think about. Something that's extremely important
that we understand and I'll say why after we're done. All of
us live in this world. We all live in the world. At
some time, our days will end, and we will no longer live in
this world. When that day comes, when we
leave this world, we will enter into either heaven or hell. There are just two other places.
That's all there are. And this is not just to show
where they are or anything. This is just to explain there
are three places. We are in the world for a short
time. This life is as a vapor. It's very short. And then for
all of eternity, we will be in one of the other two places.
Those two places will be eternal in a sense that we can't even
understand. I heard our brother say how time goes by so fast.
This life is just so short when compared to eternity. If we looked
at eternity, our lives would not even show up. It would be
so small that no matter how big of a graph we use to show eternity,
we wouldn't even actually be able to see the speck that was
our life. When we talk about those two
places, heaven and hell, we try to understand through the words
we've seen in this scripture of the difference between the
two of them. We see that it's said that one is good and one
is bad, but we can't comprehend that. We have a difficulty understanding
the meaning of good and bad. Oftentimes what we think is good
is what we like or what we want, not what is actually good. And
oftentimes we think what is bad is funny if it's not dealing
with us. But to maybe say a little bit
of this, God in heaven is love. That in hell means evil. They couldn't be more different,
these two places. They're opposites. One is light
and one is dark. And when it comes to those two
places, we don't make a choice. We don't have the ability to
make the choice of where we will go when this life ends. When
we leave this world, we don't get to choose which place we
go. And many people argue about that. That's not fair. How come
I don't get to choose where I go? Well, if we were able to choose,
we would choose hell. It fits right in line with everything
we do and say and the way we act. So the fact that we don't
choose which one we go to is just another blessing. Not only do we not get to choose
it, we couldn't get to heaven. We can't get there. Let me emphasize
this. In the scriptures, all men are
described as dead in trespasses and sin. How can a dead person
do anything? Dead people not only can't make
choices, they couldn't act on it, they can't even imply anything. A person buried in the ground
has no ability, no power, and we don't even consider that.
Yet we think us dead in our trespasses and sin are able to make a choice
and that we would make the right choice. I say all of these things
to hopefully maybe put a little urgency in us. Maybe give us
some desperation for the situation that we're in. My message this
morning is discussing salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we hear that over and over again. And what a blessing it
is to hear that over and over again. But we have a tendency
not to have the urgency with it. We don't think when we talk
about salvation as if I don't have salvation, I'm going to
be eternally damned. We think of eternal salvation
from what we read in the message we hear along the lines of that's
such good news. And it is good news. But it's
so much more than that. We have a problem, we can't fix
it, the Lord has to do it. We have a little baby, a newborn
baby in this congregation. And in the scriptures, sometimes
the sheep are called newborn babes or little children. And
thinking about that and how wonderful that little girl is, the predominant
characteristic of a newborn baby is their helplessness. and then
being completely dependent upon their parents. And then this
morning, listening to our brother preach in Lamentations 3, it
made me think this. When we put our children in the
car to take a long trip, we dress them in the correct clothes,
we put them where we want to put them, we bind them into a
car seat, and we take them where we're going to take them. As a newborn babe, that child
has no control over anything. They don't make any decisions.
They don't get any part of this. They don't even know what's going
on. And as our brother was reading Lamentations 3 and Jeremiah saying
all these things that the Lord was doing to him, that he was
bound by chains. that he was hedging him about.
His pathways were crooked. He wouldn't listen to his cries.
It made me think that's exactly what we do to our children. We
bind them in the car. We restrict them. We make them
go where we want to go. They cry out. We don't listen
to what they say. Yet the entire time, all we're
doing is trying to do what is best for them. All we want is, let me change
that, the Lord Jesus Christ deals with us in the way that he dealt
with Jeremiah in that chapter. And we hate it. I don't want
to be bound. I don't want to be told where
to go. I don't want to be able to not be heard. I don't want
any of these things. But all of them are done out
of love to us because that's what we have to have. If we want
to be saved, if we are going to be saved, the Lord has to
do every single part of it. It should be obvious to us all
that we can't do any of these things. This morning, I'm going
to look at four things that we need to happen to be saved. We
must be changed. We must be made whole. We must
have a new heart and we must be born again. We could use all
of these changes in the flesh, but we must have them all spiritually
to enter into heaven. In Luke 9, it says, for whosoever
will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his
life for my sake, the same shall save it. We just have to stop
trying to save ourselves. The world's biggest problem is
they not only try to save themselves, they think they can save themselves.
And I'm not being cynical to that because that's who I am.
I still do those things. We have to look to the Lord for
all of these things. No matter what anyone in this
world tells you, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only person who
can do any of these things. Look here in Acts chapter four
at verse eight. Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all
and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the
stone which was set at Naudivu, builders, which has become the
head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved." Neither is there salvation
in any other. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Not only is
there not anyone else able, no one else is willing. He is the
only one who can save us. And in our Lord's kindness and
love, he has not only in his word told us what we need for
salvation, he has not only told us he is able to save us, he
has not only told us he has done it for his sheep, his elect,
but he also gives us earthly examples of each of these things.
If our Lord had simply told us in this book what we needed to
do to be saved, he would be just. It would be us who would fail
in trying to save ourselves. If he told us what needed to
be done and he told us that he was able to do it, it would show
his omnipotence and his power and his ability. But our Lord
is gracious. Our Lord is loving to his sheep.
And he told us that he has saved his people. And that's such good
news. But I love that he gives us so
many earthly examples of what he's done that our feeble minds
and our feeble thoughts can see these and better understand his
power and what he's done for us. For an example of that, when
I say the name Lazarus, universally I know everyone in here thinks
the exact same thing, that the Lord Jesus Christ raised Lazarus
from the dead. What a miracle. None of us think
that before that the Lord Jesus Christ saved Lazarus' soul. And
he gives us these earthly examples so that we can wrap our little
minds around what great things he has done for us. And so for
those four things I spoke of earlier, we'll look at them quickly
with just an earthly example or two of what he's done for
us and how that applies to what he's done for us spiritually.
The first of which is we must change. We cannot stand before
a holy God as we are. I've already said we can't do
anything. So if we must change, we must
be changed. Someone must change us. Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. we must be changed. In Philippians
3 it says, for our conversation is in heaven. For whence also
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself. He has to make us like him. Here
in 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 50. Verse 50 says, Now I say, brethren,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, For the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed." The first verse there says, flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Who we are, as we are in
this flesh and our sin, we cannot face God. We cannot be in the
presence of Him. So it says in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed. Look at verse 53,
for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal
must put on immortality. Our sin must put on perfection. And our death must put on life. And that's who our Lord is. Verse
54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is thy staying?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is in the law. But thanks be to God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. These
verses tell us our sin and our death, that's what we deserve,
that's who we are. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
his perfection and his life make us incorruptible and immortal.
And in verse 57, The Lord always puts these things in there for
us to remind us, this is not our doing. We didn't do this. Verse 57, but thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did
it all and gave us the victory, just handed it to us. He changes us to be like him. Turn to John chapter two. John chapter two. So we must change. The older I think a person gets,
I think we start to realize how little our ability to change
ourselves. There's even a phrase that's
common to be said of you just can't change who a person is.
Deep down they are who they are. And that's who we are. We can't
change ourselves. The Lord gives us a miracle,
an illustration here in John 3, that shows us his ability
to change something. Look in John 2, verses 1. And the third day there was a
marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there,
and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him,
They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His
mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after
the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three
firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the
waterpots with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And
he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor
of the feast, and they bear it. When the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it
was, but the servants which drew the water knew. The governor
of the feast called the bridegroom and said unto him, every man
at the beginning does set forth good wine. And when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou has kept the
good wine until now. There are many examples in the
scripture of our Lord making a change, but I wanted to use
this one because I love seeing things in the scripture. When
the Lord does a miracle, he doesn't use anything. He doesn't use
anyone unless he wants to use that for a picture. In this example,
he didn't add anything. He didn't take anything away.
He didn't do anything to change what was in there other than
speak the change. When we change things, the only
way we can do it is by those means. We must add something. We must take something out. We
must perform something. Our Lord's change is just his
word and what he has done. We are changed to be like him
because of what he did for us. We can only be like our Lord
because he lived perfectly. He did exactly what we couldn't
do. He chose us and then he became
a man and lived perfect that he might be our righteousness
before a holy God. Secondly, we must be changed
and we must be made whole. Turn to Mark chapter two. We
must be made whole. When it comes to salvation, there
is nothing partial about it. To be saved means that a person
has been saved from what they were in trouble with. You can't
find a person who is being attacked by an animal and go over and
pull the animal off of them and say, I saved you, and then let
go of the animal again. You can't save someone unless
the entire act has been done, and then there is nothing else
that has to be done at any point in the future. There's also nothing
we can do to get partial credit in salvation. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Savior. He gets all the glory for it.
Look in Mark 2, verse 16. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples,
how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
When Jesus heard it, he said unto them, they that are whole
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The Lord
Jesus Christ says the whole don't need saving. It's just the sinners
that need it. If you look on the same page
Mark 3 verse 1, and he entered again into the synagogue and
there was a man there which had a withered hand and they watched
him whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day and they might
accuse him. Isn't that a great picture of
how sinful we are that this man had a withered hand that he could
not use. And all the men in there looked
at the Lord and looked at this man and thought, I hope he heals
him so that we can get him in trouble. Or I hope he doesn't
heal him so he doesn't break the Sabbath. Verse three, and
he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, stand forth
or arise. And he saith unto him, is it
lawful to do good on the Sabbath days or to do evil, to save life
or to kill? but they held their peace. He
knew what they were thinking and asked them the question that
they couldn't answer. Verse five, and when he had looked round
about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their
hearts, he saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand, and
he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, whole as the
other. This man was standing before
all of these religious people, and it seems that he had been
before them many times before. None of them could do anything.
There was nobody in the synagogue. There was nobody that had any
ability to help this man in any way, shape or form. Yet our Lord
Jesus Christ, with just a word, just says, stretch forth your
hand and he makes it whole. Turn over to John chapter five. John chapter five. Remember,
we must be made whole. John five, verse five. And a
certain man was there with had an infirmity 30 and eight years. And when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto
him, wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him,
sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool. But while I am coming, another
steppeth down before me." This man with an infirmity of 38 years
had been lying by this pool that the Lord had blessed this pool
that an angel would touch it and the first person in would
be healed of whatever they had. And I don't know if he'd been
there for 38 years, but you think about how many people had been
healed in front of this man. all the things that he had watched
and seen and thought to himself, there is no way I can heal myself. I'm sure a lot of people who
stepped in that water thought they had done a work to save
themselves. They had put themselves in the
pool, but the Lord shows us this man who could not save himself. And so what did the Lord do?
Verse eight, Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and
walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was
the Sabbath. Look at verse 10, continue. The
Jews therefore said unto him, that was cured, it is the Sabbath
day, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. To this man
answered them, the man who had the infirmity for 38 years, he
said, he hath made me whole, the same said unto me, take up
thy bed and walk. Once the Lord makes us whole,
we will do exactly what he tells us to do. This man did not care
that he was breaking the Sabbath. This man didn't care what anyone
else told him. He said, the one who made me
whole, he told me to do this. So I'm going to do it. The Lord
Jesus Christ makes us whole and makes us listen to his word and
makes us follow him. Let me read this in Matthew 15.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her," this is the one with
the issue of blood, the end of that story, "'O woman, great
is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt.' And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. And
Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the Sea of Galilee,
and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great
multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame,
blind, dumb, maimed, and many others. and cast them down at
Jesus' feet and he healed them. These people brought everyone
they could find and they knew that had any problem whatsoever. Every single problem was represented
here. those who were lame and could
not walk to him, those that were blind and could not see him,
those that were dumb and could not holler out, those that were
maimed and were not whole, and many others, and they cast them
at Jesus' feet. In verse 31, insomuch that the
multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed
to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see, and they
glorified the God of Israel. Our sin and our nature make it
to where we can't reach for him. We can't come to the Lord. We
can't see him. We can't speak to him. We can't
do any of that. But when he makes us whole, he
makes us to reach out to him. He makes us to run to him. He
makes us to see him for who he is. And he makes us to sing and
glorify his greatness. The pattern that we keep seeing
over and over again is that we have a problem. We can't fix
it. And he's got to do it for us.
Next is we need a new heart. Turn with me to Acts 9. We need
a new heart. Acts chapter 9. As we get older in this life,
a common problem persists for so many people. They need a new
heart, physically. And our medicine has done an
amazing job at improvements and ways to make our hearts last
longer, to improve the way they work. But when it comes to a
new heart, spiritually and for salvation, we don't need an improvement. We don't need a rework. We don't
need a stint. We don't need something to keep
us alive a little longer. There's not just a little part
missing. When the potter, when the pottery comes out of the
fire, the potter determines if the piece of pottery is good
or if it is bad. If they determined that the piece
of pottery is unworthy or bad, the potter does not then try
to rework the clay. It's too late for that. He takes
the old pottery that is unworthy and he casts it aside, not caring
where it goes, what happens to it, it is useless. Instead, he
takes out a new piece of clay and forms a better, a perfect
pot. In Ezekiel 11, 19, it says, I
will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within
you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and
will give them a heart of flesh. What we have inside us is not
only worthless, but it's corrupt. We can't just put a new heart
in because our old heart will just corrupt anything in it.
We have to, the Lord has to take our heart and remove it and give
us a new heart. We have to be changed. We must
be made whole. And that starts with the work
our Lord does in us. In Proverbs 20, it says, No one
can say that. In Acts 9, starting with verse
1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Saul, to be Paul
the Apostle, went to the synagogue saying, I want letters that I
can round up any of these people who believe on the Lord. In verse
three, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there
shined right about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the
earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And Paul said, who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. And the men which were journeying
with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. This, what the
Lord did for Saul here is exactly what we must have to be done.
We are fighting tooth and nail against our Lord and he must
just smite us, knock us into the dust and give us a new heart. Why in the world would Paul have
changed from what he said to what he became at the end of
this? Because the Lord did it to him. There's no explanation
for why someone would fall off a horse and couldn't see, and
everything about them changed apart from what the Lord did
in him. And if we look further down in verse 19, And when Paul
had received meat, he was strengthened. Then he saw certain days with
the disciples which were at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ
in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that
heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed
them which called on this name in Jerusalem? and came hither for that intent
that he might bring them bound unto the chief priest? They said,
is this not the guy who was doing the exact opposite just days
ago? This is what the Lord must do
for us, turn us completely around, take out who we are and put us
a new heart in. Verse 22, but Saul increased
the Moor in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ. Once he gives us a new heart,
we no longer desire to get to heaven. When I started this,
I talked about how the difference when we leave this world between
heaven and hell in those two places. And I know that there
is a huge majority of people that if you said you can go to
one of those two places, they would say heaven. Well, There
was a time where I think all of us said the same thing. But
once the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a new heart, the reason we
don't have this discussion very often in here is because our
goal is not to get to heaven. When the Lord gives us a new
heart, we want to be with Christ. That's what we want. So many
people in religion think that heaven and hell are two places,
but the difference is that Christ is everything, he's paradise
being with him. We want to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And finally, we must be changed,
we must have a new heart, we must be made whole, and we must
be born again. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. 1
Peter 1. The scripture that was read in
John 3 earlier has so many things in it that go along with this
message. It says, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. Those who come before the Lord Jesus Christ, come before
God, a holy God, in their flesh, in their sin, in their works,
will be cast out. but those that are of the spirit
that are in the Lord Jesus Christ will be accepted in him. 1 Peter
1, verse 18, for as much as ye know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers. but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times to you. It was done before
the foundation of the world, but it's just being manifest
to you in the last times. Verse 21, who by him do believe
in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing you, have purified
your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren. See that ye love one another
with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof fadeth, falleth away. But the word of
the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Turn with me to John 11, and
it's our last place to go. Being born again is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. John chapter 11. I referenced this story earlier
and we'll just go through it, highlights a few of the verses.
Verse 1, chapter 11, Mary and her sister Martha. It
was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped
his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore
his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. And when Jesus heard that, he
said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. The Lord told
his disciples, This sickness is not unto death, but for the
glory of God. that the Son of God might be
glorified thereby. When I gave the illustration
earlier of a small child in a car seat and being bound and being
strapped in and not being able to get their way, and despite
them crying out, they still have to go where they need to go.
When we often complain when the Lord is dealing with us, When
the Lord is dealing with us and teaching us things and showing
us who he is, we get so frustrated by that. And it's so embarrassing
because if you ask me, the only thing I want for my children
is that the Lord would deal with them. Yet I fuss and complain
when the Lord deals with me. Yet in this verse, he says to
his disciples, this trial Lazarus is going through, this sickness
he has that is going to kill him. It is for the glory of God
that the Son of God might be glorified. That's an amazing
thing to hear, that anything that the Lord does for his sheep
or to his sheep is for his glory. Continue here, look at verse
five. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When
he heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still
in the same place where he was. Then after that, saith he his
two disciples, let us go into Judea again. And we go down to
verse 12. Then said his disciples, Lord,
or look at verse 11. These things said he, and after
that he said unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that
I may awake him out of his sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord,
if he sleep, he should do well. That's good for him to sleep.
How be it Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that
he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto
them plainly, Lazarus is dead. You don't understand what is
going on here. I'm trying to teach you, but Lazarus is dead.
And I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent
that ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
him. The Lord says, I'm glad that this has happened because
you will be able to see the glory of God and his power. In verse
19, and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort
them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still at
the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But
I know that even now whatsoever thou will ask of God, God will
give it to thee. Jesus said unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. Martha said unto her, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
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? She said
unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. Despite the Lord
doing all these things for us in this flesh, we still just
can't see what's going on. Martha just didn't know. She
just didn't see what was going on. Her and Mary didn't see it.
Look at verse 32. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying unto
him, Lord, if thou hadst been there, my brother had not died.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping
which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled
and said, where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord,
come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews,
behold how he loved him. 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? Jesus therefore again,
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and
a stone lay upon it. And Jesus said, take ye away
the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto
him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. This miracle of Lazarus being
raised from the dead is one of if not the miracle that is so
often proclaimed as such a great thing or how in the world could
he can raise people from the dead. Yet through the whole event
there are so many people involved in this story that are children
of the Lord. There are so many sheep through
all this and what does every single one of them do throughout
the entire thing. They keep trying to get off path.
They keep trying to have things done their own way. And the Lord
just constantly has to hedge us about, as in limitations. It feels like my path is blocked
off. It feels like the path that I'm
going on is so windy, but it's the right path. And he continues
to take us on that. Jesus said unto her, said I not
unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the
glory of God. Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the
people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that
thou hast sent me. How thankful are we that the
Lord Jesus Christ makes it so plain to us and constantly says
things to us and shows us what he's doing for us. It's the only
way he gives us belief to believe in him. We otherwise wouldn't
know. In the last couple verses, verse 43, And when he thus had
spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came
to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on
him. The Lord Jesus Christ raised
Lazarus from the dead and many believed on him through it. We
have a problem. We can't save ourselves. The
Lord has to do it for us. Our salvation 100 percent completely
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be changed. We must be
made whole. We must be given a new heart
and we must be raised born again. Let us all ask of the Lord. Lord,
change me to be like you. Make me to be complete or whole
in you. Lord, please in your love give
me a new heart. And Lord, raise me from the dead
that I might be born of your spirit and found in you when
the day comes where we have to stand before God. May the Lord
do that for us.