If you would like to turn with
me to John 11. John chapter 11. I have something
very specific, very specific that I would like for us to look
at. I believe and I pray I have a true message from our Lord.
I believe I do. And I pray that this message
will reach those of us who have heard his voice before. And I pray this message will
reach a sinner or sinners who have never heard his voice before.
If our Lord is willing, I pray he will speak to us. I'm going
to take a few minutes to set up everything and then we'll
get to the heart of the message. This chapter begins with the
story of Lazarus, a man whom the Lord loved, who became sick
and died. And after laying in the grave
for four days, the Lord raised him from the dead. Our Lord cried,
Lazarus, come forth. Verse 44 says, 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. Now that's wonderful. That is wonderful. That is a
picture of salvation. That's what it is. That is a
perfect, perfect picture of salvation. That's what every story in the
scripture is. Every story from children. We learn these stories in the
Old Testament. We learn all these stories in
the Bible. And then our hope and prayer
is that God will one day come to us and speak to us and reveal
to us the meaning of every story. Every single story is an illustration
of the truth. It's an illustration of the reality
of how God saves sinners. Every story. This actual story
of Lazarus It's a spiritual picture of how God, the Lord God, comes
to a man who is dead in and dead because of his sin. And without any effort on the
dead man's part, I want us to really see that, without any
effort at all on the dead man's part, God gives life to that
man. God does. God calls that man
to Himself. And He sets that man free from
everything that has bound him to the grave. That's how salvation
takes place. That's what happens in salvation.
God does the work. God comes to a man. God calls the man. That's the whole point of the
story. That's what everything is pointing
us to. How God saves sinners. It's a work that God does without
any effort on the part of the sinner. We clearly see that by
the condition that Lazarus is in. What was his condition? He was dead. He was dead. He was dead in this great event
of him being raised from the grave. What could Lazarus have
possibly done to help out in that event? What could he have
possibly done? What could Lazarus have possibly
contributed? What effort could he have possibly
made? He was dead. He was dead. He was so dead, he stank. He stank. Our Lord, in such wisdom,
left him alone, left him there for four days to the point that
no one could say, well, maybe he was just sleeping. Maybe he
was in a coma and he came out of it. He stank. He was dead. He was a repulsive sight. He
was a repulsive smell. They did not want our Lord to
open that grave. He was dead. He could not cry
out. He could not cry out. He could
not move a muscle of any way, of any kind. He couldn't move
one muscle. He could not make a decision. Our Lord didn't say, Lazarus,
make a decision. He couldn't do anything. He could
not do anything. He was dead. He was dead. That is man's condition in his
flesh before God. That's man's condition. Man is
dead. Man is dead. When I say man,
I'm talking about man, woman, boy, girl. I'm talking about
you. I'm talking about me. Man, all
of us, all of us in our flesh, in this world, as God sees us
when he looks at us right now, God is looking at us right now,
right now. God's looking at us right now.
He's looking at our mind. He's looking at our thoughts,
looking at our heart, looking at our actions. He's looking
at us right now. And as he sees us, as he looks
at us right now, we are all in the flesh of our humanity, dead
before him. You know what he sees as he looks
at us right now? In our flesh, in our humanity, death. Dead. That's what He sees when
He looks at us because that's what we are. We're dead before
Him. Let's see that in the Word. Turn
with me over to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 verse 1 says, and
you hath he quickened who were dead, dead in trespasses and
sins. That's how mankind starts out.
That's how we all come forth. from our mother's womb. That's
how we all come forth, spiritually dead, spiritually dead. We were
all born spiritually dead. Verse two says, wherein in time
past, you walked according to the course of this world. There
is a physical animated life that all of us are born into. There
is a physical life that all men and women are born into. But
there is no spiritual life before God. None. None. There is no spiritual life before
God and this is the reason why. Psalm 51 verse 5 says, we are
all conceived in sin. We're conceived in sin. The moment
that Adam and Eve sinned against God, the moment that they sinned
and became sinners, From that moment on, sinners have produced
sinners. Adam was a sinner. Eve was a
sinner. They had Cain. Cain was a sinner. And so on
and so forth. A horse produces a horse. A bird
produces a bird. A sinner produces a sinner. It's
always been that way. Many people believe that we start
out sinless. Many people believe that. They
believe we come into the world sinless and they believe the
whole goal of life is to stay that way. You start out sinless
and you do everything you can to try to stay that way. That's
not so. Psalm 58 verse three says, we
come forth from our mother's womb, speaking lies. That's how we come forth. Do
you believe there's ever been one parent on planet Earth, one
parent that has ever set their child down and said, now, honey,
I'm going to take this moment to teach you how to lie. I know
you've been perfect up to this point, but it's time that you
know how to lie. Absolutely not. That comes natural
to a child. A child naturally knows exactly
how to lie. Why is that? The child was conceived
in sin. It's what we all are. It is the
result of our sin. Lies, sin against God in every
way, shape and form. What does sin bring? What is
the end result of sin? The wages of sin, death, spiritual
death. The wages of sin is death. Romans 5, verse 12, it says,
by one man, sin entered the world and death by sin. That's the
whole reason death came, it's because of sin. In Adam, all
die, the scripture says. And it's because all have been
infected with sin. Ephesians 2 verse 4, it says,
but God. That's the wonderful news of
the gospel. but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sin." Dead in sins. He quickened us together with
Christ. This right here is salvation. God the Father sent Christ to
us. just like Christ came and quickened,
just like He came and gave life to Lazarus. This story of Lazarus
is such a perfect picture. Our Lord came, the Lord Jesus
Christ comes to all of His people. You think about that story and
you think, how wonderful, how amazing. I wonder what that must
have been like for Him. He was dead and made to be alive. Well, all of God's people will
experience that. All of God's people will go from
dead, spiritual death, nothing, to spiritual life, spiritual
understanding. Our Lord comes to all of His
people and quickens them to spiritual life. Verse 5 says, By grace
you are saved. That means by the work of Christ,
by the gift of Christ coming in freely, bringing salvation. Grace means free gift, freely
bestowed kindness. By grace, you are saved. Verse six says, and hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Jesus Christ. He has raised us up and made
us sit. And that's wonderful news. He
did that to us. He did that for us. And he did
it in full. When he raises a center up, that
center is raised up. And when he makes a center sit,
that center is seated. When he said, Lazarus, come forth. he that was dead came forth. That's what happened. Verse five
says, even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us
together with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. What is the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus?
He's about to tell us. Verse 8 says, For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. It's the gift of God. Do you
think that Lazarus could say, that anything that happened to
him, anything in that whole event that happened to him, any part
of it was of his doing. Do you think Lazarus would have
said that? Absolutely not. There was no doubt in his mind. There was no doubt in everybody's
mind. Every person who was standing
there watching that, there was no doubt. It was the gift of
God. It was of the Lord, totally.
Verse 9 says, "...not of works, lest any man should boast." A
man who wants to boast about everything he's going to do for
God, that's a man who is evidencing his spiritual deadness. What
can a dead man do? What can a dead man do? A man who has been made spiritually
alive He will see that. He'll know that. He'll know that
so. He'll know it so. So verse eight says, by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship. That's what Lazarus was. He was
Christ's workmanship. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Everything that God does has
been before ordained. Everything. Known unto God were
all His works from the beginning. Everything that He has ever done
and will ever do, He knew every bit of it from the beginning.
Everything was purposed before the foundation of the world.
The most glorious work of all being this right here, verse
11. Wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles in
the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
redeemed from sin, drawn close to God by the blood of Christ. That's exactly what our Lord
pictured with Lazarus. He was redeemed from death and
he was drawn nigh to God. Our Lord said, Lazarus come. What wonderful words, what beautiful
words, Lazarus come and he came. Verse 13 says, But now in Christ
Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
Why was Lazarus allowed to come out of that grave? Why was he
allowed to come out of that grave? He was a sinner. What are the
wages of sin? Death. That's what he was owed. That's what he deserved. Why
was he allowed to come out? This is the reason why. It's
because Christ went in, in his place. Christ went in in his
stead, in his place. It's because Christ made himself
to be Lazarus's substitute. Lazarus was made alive because
Christ died in his place, died for him. The wages of sin is
death. Sin is what bound Lazarus to
the grave. That's what put him in the grave.
That's what kept him in the grave. But Lazarus was set free from
the bondage of sin because Christ made himself to be sin for Lazarus
in his place. The Lord cried concerning Lazarus. He cried, lose him and let him
go. And it's all because he cried to his father, bind me and send
me to the grave. That's the entire reason. Verse
16, it says, that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. He reconciled us to
God in one body, His body, by the cross, completely slaying
the sin, the enmity, the enemy, the rebellion, completely slayed
it all. Verse 17, and He came and preached
peace to you. which were far off and to them
that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." That's the quickening
of spiritual life through the gift of the sacrifice of Christ. Now, here is the heart of the
message. Here is the heart of the message.
With all of that being set up and all of that being understood,
here's the heart of the message. I pray that if we've ever seen
and heard this, we might hear it again right now. I pray if
there is a sinner that has never heard this, he might hear it
right now. She might hear it right now.
Go with me back to John 11. John 11, verse 43. This is our Lord speaking. When
he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. Now this is the message. This
right here is the message. Lazarus, come forth. Come forth. This is the message
to me. This is the message to you. This
is the message to all of God's people. The message is sinner. Sinner, dead, decayed, stinking,
vile, sinner. Come forth. Come forth. Oh, the glorious message of God
to his people. Our Lord uses his word. to call his people. He does not
use men. He does not use might. He does
not use power, meaning man's might and man's power. He does
not use a man's voice. He does not use a man's intellect.
He does not use a man's wisdom. He uses his word and he uses
his own spirit. And God himself, Christ himself,
comes to his people and he says, come forth, sinner. Come forth, hear the word of
the Lord. If the Lord is speaking through
his word, hear the word of the Lord. Here and your soul shall
live. If God's Spirit has given you
and given me, given us, if He has given us ears to hear the
Master's voice, do you hear the Master's voice calling dead sinners
to life? If He's given ears to hear the
Master's voice, if God's Spirit has given you faith in Him, If
He's caused you to believe with all your heart that you are dead
before God, do you believe that in your flesh, if He does not
come to you and call you, you will remain there dead in your
flesh, spiritually dead? Do you believe that? If He has caused you to believe
that all power over all flesh to give life to as many as the
Father has given Him is in His hands, It's in His command. If the Spirit has spoken this
peace to your heart, if the Spirit has come and whispered to your
heart, this is life eternal, that you might know Him, that
you might have Him. He that hath the Son hath life.
If the Spirit has taken the things of Christ and revealed them unto
you, called you to them. If the Spirit
has called you to them, then come forth. Come forth. And I'm glad I'm speaking through
a camera right now. Don't move a muscle. You couldn't
come to me or come to where I'm preaching if you wanted to. Don't
move a muscle. Come forth. Come forth. Let's read John 5 verse 25 together. John 5 verse 25, it says, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is. I pray it now is. When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. If you hear His voice, say, Dead
sinner. If you hear it, dead sinner. Oh, you dry, dead bones. If God's
spirit has convinced you, that's what I am. I'm a dead, dry bone.
I'm a sinner. If you hear sinner, come to me. If you are a dead man who hears
the voice of the Son of God, go to Him. Go to Him. Don't come to me. Go to Him.
In your heart, go to Him. Go to Him. Go running to Him. Right here in John 5, verse 40,
it says, You will not come to me. Not in yourself. You're dead. John 6 verse 44
says, you cannot come. Not of yourself, you're dead. But it says, if the Father draws
you to Christ, you'll come. If God draws you, if the Father
draws you to Christ, you'll come. John 6 verse 37 says, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out." If the Spirit of God has quickened
you to Christ and shown you the object of Christ, the object
of Christ, not the law, not my works, not anything else, Christ,
come to Him. Come to Him. Come just like Lazarus
did. Come just like Lazarus did. Come crying, I can't see anything. My head is bound. I'm completely
bound. I can't see anything of my own. I can't hear anything of my own. I can't know anything of my own. I can't say anything of my own. Come to Him with your hands bound,
saying, I can't do anything of my own. Come to Him with your
feet bound, saying, I can't even come to you except you draw me.
My feet are bound. If you don't draw me, I can't
even come to you. Come, crying, I'm a helpless,
ruined, miserable sinner. That's what I am. But I've heard your voice. I've
heard your voice say, Come. So I'm coming. Out of my bondage,
sorrow, and night, into thy freedom, gladness, and light. Out of my
sickness into thy health, out of my want and into your wealth,
out of my sin and into thyself, Lord Jesus, I come to thee. Out
of my shameful failure and loss, into the glorious gain of thy
cross. Out of the depths of ruin untold,
into the peace of thy sheltering fold. Ever thy glorious faith
to behold. Lord Jesus, I come to thee. Come
to Christ just like that. Just like that. And this is what
you will hear when you get to him. You come to Christ just
like that. And this is what you'll hear
when you get to him. You'll hear these words. Loose him and let
him go. He said, I'm come that they might
have life. that they might have it more
abundantly. Every soul that the Father draws to Christ will have
it. Every soul will have it. If the
Lord has quickened you, if the Lord has drawn you, if the Lord
has spoken peace to you, come to Him. Come to Him. This is my prayer. My prayer
is that God will give us a heart right now to say, Lord Jesus,
I come to Thee. I come to you. I come to you. You're my life. You're my all. You're everything I have. Come
to me and draw me closer to you. If you do that, Lord, I come,
I kneel. I come to you. I pray the Lord will make it
so.