I'm here to tell you, I'm not
much of a singer, but I know good singing when I hear it.
That was good singing. That blessed me. I heard children's
voices. You have beautiful voices. Don't
ever lose that. Sing to the Lord. Our children, when they're raised under the sound of the
gospel, it's something to watch them. They sing these songs.
They say their memory verses. They have no idea those words
are in their mouth, and maybe someday. Well, if you would,
open your Bibles to John chapter 11. The title of the message
is The Irresistible Call of Grace. We'll see two examples this morning. of our Lord calling His own to
Himself. And both times, when the Lord
Jesus Christ calls, He is elect here. And they hear that irresistible
call of grace and come to Him. Now we're going to begin reading
John 11, verse 28. And this is just after our Lord
has finished this conversation, this famous conversation with
Martha where He told her, Martha, I'm the resurrection and the
life. And when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary
her sister secretly, saying, the master has come and calleth
for thee. As soon as she heard that, she
arose quickly and came unto him. Wouldn't you love to be Mary?
The master's come and calls for you. Well, you know the Lord
does that for all of his people. The master comes and calls for
you. Now this is the first time in
our text our Lord calls one of his people. We learn about three
things of the irresistible call of grace from this time where
our Lord called Mary. Now this is the first thing we
learn about the irresistible call of grace is that the Lord
calls sinners to come unto him. Now Mary hadn't come to the Lord
as of yet, come to see Him in this time where He visited with
Him. If you look back in verse 20, this is when our Lord was
coming into town. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But Mary sat still in
the house. And there she sat. And she just
stayed right there, never coming to the Lord, until the Lord called
her. Maybe, I don't know why Mary
didn't come to the Lord, why she didn't come with Martha at
this time, I don't know. Maybe she was sitting at home,
pouting, because the Lord didn't heal her brother. And before
we're too hard on our sister, have you done the same thing
ever? Pouted because the Lord didn't give you what you prayed
for? Maybe that's what she's doing. That's a picture of a
sinner, certainly, isn't it? That's a sinful reaction. Could
be Mary didn't feel worthy to come to the Lord because she
doubted him. She doubted his love for her.
She doubted his power. That's certainly a picture of
a sinner. Maybe Mary didn't hear that the Lord was there. Maybe
they couldn't find Mary. She separated herself from everybody
else. She's over here pouting. I don't know. She didn't hear
that the Lord was there. That's a picture of a sinner.
We don't know the Lord's here until he calls us. But when the
Lord called that sinner, Mary came to him. When the master
calls, nothing will stop his people from coming to him. Mary
didn't let politeness stop her. Her house is full of people.
They come to mourn with her. They're probably like us. They
brought food to her and things, and they're with her mourning.
She didn't let politeness stop her. She didn't stop to apologize. She didn't stop to explain. She
went to the Lord. She didn't let the pressures
of social conventions stop her. Well, you know it's not right
that I leave. This just wouldn't look right if I leave right now.
No. She came to Christ when Christ called her. And our message to
sinners is come to Christ. You come to Christ. Come to Christ. Come to Him. Come to Him. I can
tell you that until I'm blue in the face. You stay here long
enough, your pastor's going to tell you that umpteen times.
Come to Christ. You know when you will? When
Christ calls you. When you quit hearing the voice
of the preacher and you hear the voice of the master, you'll
come when he calls you. Verse 30, now Jesus was not yet
coming to the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
You know the Lord's not hard to find. He's right where he
said he'd be. And whenever you come to Christ,
you know what you're gonna find out? You were the one that was
lost all along. He wasn't lost. I was visiting
with Brother Greg Amquist a couple years ago and somebody had given
him this book about finding Jesus or something. Greg said, I didn't
know he was lost. He's not. We're the ones that's lost. He's
right where he said he'd be. Well, where did he say he'd be?
He says in his word. If you want to know the Lord,
I'll tell you an awful good thing to do. Find out what he said. Read his word. That's where you
find him. You'll find the Lord in his gospel.
The gospel declares who he is, what he did, why did he do it,
where is he now. You find him in his gospel. You'll
find the Lord where his people meet. You find out where it is
that God's people meet together to worship him. You'll find him
there. He said, where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst of them. If you want to find
the Lord, you find out where his people meet together to worship
him. You'll find him. Just like he
was exactly where Martha told Mary she'd find him. Right there
he was in verse 31. The Jews then, which were with
her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that
she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She
goeth unto the grave to weep there. Now these friends of Mary's,
they didn't hear the Lord's call, did they? Because the Lord didn't
call them. He called Mary. And this is the
second thing we learn about the irresistible call of grace. It's
a sovereign call. The Lord calls whom he will,
and he always calls his people. He calls them by name, one at
a time, on purpose, and they come. Verse 32, then when Mary
was come where Jesus was, she saw him, and she fell down at
his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother
had not died. Now that's what Martha said.
First thing when she saw the Lord, she said, Lord, if you'd
been here, verse 21, my brother had not died. They both said
the same thing. They must have been talking about
this. While the time Lazarus was sick and when he died, they
had been talking about this. If the Lord had come, when we
sent that word to him, he whom thou lovest is sick. If he'd
come, our brother wouldn't have died. Now that's faith. They believed the Lord healed
their brother. Ah, but it's weak faith, isn't it? I know that's
weak faith, because I can identify with that kind of faith. Oh,
it's weak faith. Questioning the Lord's love for
them. Questioning the Lord's power. I don't know if it occurred
to them the Lord could raise their brother. Oh, He can heal
him. Could He raise him from the dead? Maybe they question
His power. You see, there's different personalities
in believers. They both thought the same thing,
but they had different personalities. Mary believes the same thing
her sister does, but her personality is different. And this is the
third thing we see about the irresistible call of grace. It's
a humbling call. It's always to the feet of Christ. Mary goes right where we always
see Mary, to the feet of the Savior, the feet of Christ. That's a place of safety, isn't
it? Right at His feet, where He can keep us safe. The feet
of Christ is a place of instruction. If we would be taught of the
Lord, it'd be a good thing to be at His feet. That's a place
of instruction. And the feet of Christ is a place
of submission. I submit to His will. Like that leper, Lord, I don't
know if You'll heal me, but if You will, You can make me whole,
and I'm going to stay here at your feet. One way or another,
I'm going to stay at your feet. It's a place of submission to
His will. Even though Mary's faith is weak, she worships Christ. And this is what God's grace
reveals to our soul. We're nothing, and He's all. That's what grace reveals to
the soul. And just like Mary is often at
the feet of Christ, His people will come to His feet, the place
of humility, the place of worship, the place of instruction, when
we hear the irresistible call of grace. And look at our Lord's
reaction in verse 33. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned
in the Spirit and was troubled. Now this groan, it means more
than just a groan, you know, like we do. It means a deep feeling
of sorrow. Our Lord was deeply troubled
by the unbelief and sorrow that he saw around him. And this phrase
was troubled. It doesn't just mean he felt
troubled. It means he troubled himself. He troubled himself. Now that's very important. There's
such a blessing here. Our Lord caused himself to be
touched with the feeling of infirmity that was around him. He caused
himself to be touched with this sin and this sorrow of those
around him. My friends, this is our Savior.
He caused himself to be troubled with our sin and our sorrows
and our grief. He causes himself to be troubled
by our sin so that he can save us from our sin. He causes himself
to be troubled with the feeling of our sorrow so that he can
comfort us. He causes himself to be touched
with our weakness so that he can strengthen us. In verse 34,
our Lord said, where have you laid him? And they said unto
him, Lord, come and see. Now our Lord knew exactly where
Lazarus was. He knows everything. He knows
where his people are. But he asked this question so
people would know this is not some sort of an elaborate hoax
set up between our Lord and Lazarus. You know, Lazarus pretends to
be sick and he pretends to die. They put him in the tomb. He
just hides out there, you know, until the Lord comes and pretends
to raise him. Now our Lord asked, where have
you laid him? So people would know this is not something we've
cooked up, you know, prior to this. In verse 35, Jesus wept. Now, I think there are several
reasons why our Lord wept there at the tomb. Our Lord was weeping
because he saw the lack of faith, the weak faith that was around
him, or complete lack of faith in some cases. He's weeping because
he feels the pain of his people. Martha and Mary are brokenhearted,
brokenhearted. and he felt their pain. He wept
with them. Our Lord's weeping because he
knows something the rest of us don't know. He knows he's going
to bring Lazarus back from the dead. He knows what that means. Where was Lazarus? I don't know
exactly. I've got some ideas I don't know
for sure, but I do know this. Lazarus is going to be brought
back to this world of sin, this world of weak faith, this world
of sorrow. We all say this about our loved
ones who've died in the faith. We all say this. I miss them,
but I wouldn't bring them back if I could. And that's true. My father died 10 years ago. And in those 10 years, I've fairly
frequently thought I'd like to talk to Dad about this. I'd like
to see what he's got to say about this situation. But I mean this
when I tell you this. I wouldn't bring him back if
I could. He'd be so mad at me if I did. He wouldn't talk to
me anyway. I wouldn't bring him back. And
I just, this is my curiosity, the way my mind works. I wonder
about the conversations that went on between Lazarus and Martha
and Mary after he came back from, you know, I don't know. But our
Lord wept because he's going to bring him back to this world
of sin and sorrow. And Lazarus is going to have
to die again. Now you'd think once is enough, wouldn't you?
Lazarus is going to have to die again. And our Lord wept. And
all this is the result of sin. Three times in scripture it's
recorded the Lord Jesus wept. And every time he wept, it's
over sin. Look in Luke chapter 19. Here
the tomb of Lazarus, our Lord weeps because sin has caused
death. Sin is causing this sorrow. Sin
is causing weakness of faith and a lack of faith. He's weeping
over the result of sin. Here in Luke 19 verse 41. And when he was come near, he
beheld the city and he wept over it. saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes, now
they are under judicial blindness. For the day shall come upon thee
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, encompass
thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay
thee even with the ground. They're going to level this place
and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of
thy visitation." Our Lord's weeping over the effect of sin. Sin caused
Israel to reject our Lord. He came into His own, His own
received Him not. That sin caused unbelief, and
eventually it brought upon them damnation. Eventually, up to
this point in human history, it's left that nation Israel
under judicial blindness. They cannot see, because God's
put them under judicial blindness, and our Lord wept over that.
That's no light matter. Here's another place in Hebrews
chapter 5. Our Lord wept, and it was as the result of sin. How often have we wept over sin?
I mean, wept over it. Our Lord wept over sin. Look
here in Hebrews 5, verse 7. Who in the days of His flesh,
when He had offered up prayers and supplication with strong
crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death,
and was heard, and that he feared. This is talking about our Lord
in the garden. He wept over being made sin. He sweat as it were great drops
of blood. His body revolted against the
thought of being made sin, and he wept over it. And I point
all that out to make this point. So we'll see that the Lord is
not indifferent to our sins. He's not indifferent to the sin
and the sorrow and the pain of his people. This is why he issues
the irresistible call of grace, to deliver his people from that.
Now, verse 36, back in our text, John chapter 11. Then said the
Jews, behold how he loved them. 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? Certainly he could
have. But our Lord delayed on purpose,
according to His purpose, and He didn't heal Lazarus so that
people would believe on Him. Our Lord delayed so He would
do something even greater than healing Lazarus. He delayed so
that people would see His glory and His power in raising Lazarus
from the dead. Now, they didn't understand that. How often does our Lord do things
we don't understand? I can't tell you how use I've
gotten to this phrase. I don't know. Why is the Lord
doing this? I don't know. I don't have any
idea. I suspect you're in the same
boat as me. We'll never forget this. God
is God. He giveth not account of any
of his matters. And if God did give account of
what he's doing, We couldn't understand it anyway. God's God. He doesn't owe us an explanation.
But just because we don't understand what God's doing never means
God's doing something wrong, ever. The scope of His work is
far greater than we can comprehend. It might not look good in this
little pinhole of the tapestry of time, you know, that's me,
just this little pinhole. It might not look good around
me, but you look at the grand scheme of things, and it's wonderful. It's beautiful. It's glorious. He's working out His will and
His purpose, and we're to rest in it. Just rest in it. We're
going to get in trouble when we question it. Well, verse 38,
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. Now here our Lord's still groaning
at the unbelief that's around him. He knows this. After people see this miracle
firsthand, they're going to see him call Lazarus from the dead. They're going to see Lazarus
come out of the grave, and they still won't believe on him. And
our Lord groans at the unbelief that's around him. Some are going
to believe, but many will not. But still, our Lord told somebody,
take away the stone. And they did. Now let me ask
you this question. Did they help our Lord raise
Lazarus? Did our Lord need them to do something so that he could
raise Lazarus from the dead? Absolutely not. Our Lord's going
to raise Lazarus by himself, by his power, for his glory.
But doesn't our Lord use means? Absolutely he does. This is the
same thing is true with preaching. Tony, we can't save anybody.
I mean, we can't save anybody. We preach, but we can't save
anybody. We can't make anybody hear. It's
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth. It's of God
that showeth mercy. But we can do and we must do
what God's commanded us to do. We must preach the gospel. We
have to preach the gospel. And God's going to enable his
servants to preach his gospel, because it's pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So God's going
to send out his servants and enable them to preach. Now, we
can't save anybody. We can't make them believe. We
can't make them see. But we must do what we've been
commanded to do, and that's preach. Everybody here is not a preacher,
but we can support the gospel. We can witness, because this
is the means that the Lord uses to save his people. Somebody
told you about Christ, didn't they? Well, we ought to do the
same for others. And the taking away of this stone
is a picture of preaching. Look here again at verse 39.
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. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the
glory of God. Now Martha wanted to protect
her brother's dignity, and she wanted to protect her own dignity,
the dignity of her family. If they take that stone away,
there's going to be no denying what Lazarus is by nature. Everybody's
going to smell it. Everybody's gonna see what Lazarus
is by nature, and it's not a pretty sight. It's not a pretty smell. Lazarus has been dead four days,
and he stank. You and I have been dead for
6,000 years. 6,000 years ago, we died in Adam,
and our situation's not bad. Our situation's hopeless, and
Christ is our only hope. We can't make those dead bones
live, but we can do what God commanded and cry to them, dead
bones, live. Get up. Stand up and exceeding
great army. We can do what the Lord's commanded
and take away the stone. We can preach the gospel and
take away the stone. and reveal what all men are by
nature. We have to do, if you preach
the gospel, you have to reveal what all men are by nature. We're
dead in sins. We're stinking and rotting. I've
seen, come across a car wreck one time. Friend of mine died
in this car wreck. Happened moments before I got
there. He looked the same to me as he always did. Let him lay there four days,
and he won't. It's not just that we're dead,
freshly, newly dead. We're stinking and rotting in
our sin. This is our condition by nature.
We must take away that stone and show that we're offensive
because of our sin. We have to take away that stone
and uncover what man is by nature so we see our true condition,
that we see how corrupt and filthy that we are. We must see how
utterly hopeless we are before we will ever see or appreciate
the glory of God's grace when He gives sinners life. We must
see how deplorable we are before we'll ever see how glorious He
is. Take away the stone. We must take away the stone so
that sinners deal one-on-one with the Savior. You don't go
to Mary to be your mediator with Christ. You don't go to the pastor.
You don't go to your mama or your daddy. You go to Christ. Take away the stone so the sinner
deals one-on-one with the Savior. I love what Brother Cody Groover
says about preaching. He says, preach Christ and get
out of the way. so that sinners deal one-on-one
with the Savior. I don't care if this afternoon
you forget my name, but ahoy how I pray that you know the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ this afternoon. We have to take
away the stone of ignorance. We must know who Christ is before
we'll come to him. We have to. We have to make men
understand original sin. A man by nature is ignorant of
original sin. We don't know we died in Adam
until somebody tells us. We don't know that salvation
is not by our deeds of the law until somebody tells us. We're
ignorant of that. Paul said of his countrymen,
they're ignorant of God's righteousness. We have to take away that stone
of ignorance and reveal the righteousness of God which is in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Man by nature doesn't know who
God is. We don't know who Christ is. We don't know who we are.
So take away the stone of ignorance. Now, salvation is a hard work. You cannot educate anybody into
the kingdom of God. Salvation is a hard work, but
that understanding is going to come through the head. I mean,
it just is. We have to take away the stone
of ignorance. We have to take away the stone of false religion. Now that stone of false religion
is going to keep you from coming to Christ until somebody takes
it away. There are not many ways to God. There's one. That one way. We're not all, you know, we're
all worshiping the same God in different ways. No, we're not.
We're not all going about this in different ways, all end up
in the same place. No, we're not. There's one way to God. There's one mediator between
God and men. the man Christ Jesus. There's
one way of salvation, not salvation in any other name than the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If a sinner is going to find
the Savior, he can't look where he's not. Somebody's got to point
him out. He's not going to take away that
stone of false religion, so the sinners will see Christ. And
we must take away the stone of self-righteousness. Now this
is a heavy stone, a stone only God can remove. That stone of
self-righteousness has to be taken away so that we see there's
none good, no not one. Friend, no part, not the smallest
part, not the first iota of salvation is due to any of our goodness. The obtaining of salvation and
the keeping of salvation has nothing to do with our goodness. Salvation is in Christ alone. Righteousness is in Christ alone. The only righteousness a sinner
will ever have is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Then
we have to take away the stone of intellectualism. That's a
big word just to say people knowing theological facts and not knowing
Christ. And this is a popular one in
our day. I hate and despise intellectual
preaching. I hate it. When a man preaches
so that I'll be impressed with how smart he is, with his use
of $5 words and hidden theological, biblical facts, I despise that
kind of preaching. It gives me a headache. Don't
preach to fill my head. Preach to fill my heart. Now,
you have to preach to my head. You have to preach so I can understand.
I mean, I try my best to preach in a way so you can understand
what I'm saying. Now, you might not believe it.
That's God's business. But it's my fault if you don't
understand. I have to preach so we understand. So don't preach
to fill my head with facts. Preach to fill my heart with
Christ. That's preaching. Take away that
stone of intellectualism. But then on the other hand, take
away that stone of emotionalism. Don't get caught up in this business.
Well, don't you want to get saved so you see mama in heaven? Won't
you come down front, make a profession? You'll make your mama so happy. That kind of preaching gives
me a stomachache. I mean, it just makes me nauseous. Just
preach Christ. Just preaching. Salvation is
not an emotional response. Salvation is not an emotional
experience. But it sure is an experience,
isn't it? Oh boy. But I'll show you this in a minute.
Salvation is much more than an emotional response. And it's
not based on, cannot come from an emotional response. Salvation's
in Christ. He is our salvation. We have
to take away these stones so sinners deal directly with Christ. Now look at verse 41. 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. Now this prayer is not for
the Lord's sake. It's for our sake. It's like
all of His recorded prayers, they're for our sake, so we'll
learn something. The point of this prayer is just
like the point of this miracle, that we see, that we see Christ,
that we see His glory and believe on Him. Now, you wanna hear something
that'll comfort your soul? The Lord still prays for His
people. He still does. If the Lord prays
that someone believe on Him, You reckon they're going to believe?
Yes, they will. The Father always gives him what
he asks for. And when the Lord, our Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ, seated at the Father's right hand, prays
to his Father that someone would be given faith, he's praying
on the merit of his own sacrifice. Father, I've died for them. They're
going to have faith. They're going to see. The Father
always gives him what he prays for. Our Lord prays that someone
have eternal life. They're gonna have it because
Christ purchased it for them. And this is what our Lord gives
us a picture of here. We're gonna learn five or six
things about the irresistible call of grace when our Lord calls
Lazarus. Verse 43, and when he had thus
spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Now here is the irresistible
call of grace. Even the dead hear the voice
of the Savior. When He speaks, the dead live. That's why they hear. Lazarus
could not stay dead. Lazarus could not stay in that
tomb when Christ called him forth. The same voice that said, let
there be light, and there was light, cried to Lazarus, come
forth. Lazarus heard that voice in the
darkness. Even the dead hear that voice.
Now that's a whole lot different here in the words of the preacher,
isn't it? I mean, I've heard preachers that are powerful,
that are persuasive. But you'll hear when you hear
the voice of Christ say, come forth. It's an irresistible call
of grace because of who it is that calls. This is the Lord.
Secondly, this is the sovereign call of grace. There are a lot
of dead people in that cemetery, but our Lord called one. called
Lazarus. He called the one that he chose,
the one that he loved. The Lord loved Lazarus. I mean,
scripture is plain, the Lord loved Lazarus, and he called
him forth. Lazarus was dead, but our Lord
didn't leave him there. He didn't leave him in that condition.
Just like Mary, there she was, alone in her grief. Could be
she was pouting. Could be she was doubting the
Lord. But our Lord didn't leave her there. He didn't leave her
in her grief. He didn't leave her doubting
Him. He didn't leave her pouting. He called her to Himself. That
got rid of the unbelief. That got rid of the grief and
gave her joy in Him. That got rid of the pouting and
gave her happiness in Him because He called her to Himself. Our
Lord didn't call the others. He called Mary. Our Lord didn't
call everybody else in that cemetery. He called Lazarus. It's a sovereign
call of grace. Third, here's the personal call
of grace. The Lord always calls his sheep
by name. Lazarus, come forth. We saw this earlier in the chapter
in verse 28. Mary, the master's come and calleth
for thee. Not the master's come and he's
calling. The master calleth for thee. He calls his elect by name. If our Lord would have just said,
come forth, that entire cemetery would have emptied. Arthur Pink
said this, if our Lord would have just called, come forth,
hell would have emptied. but our Lord issued the personal
call of grace. Lazarus, come forth. God never
issues a general call of grace to see how many people might
come to him. The Lord issues a personal call
of grace to his elect. Now, there is a general call
of the gospel so that men hear and are left without excuse,
but there's never a general call of sovereign grace. That call's
always personal. Lazarus, come forth. Fourth,
here is the powerful life-giving call of the Savior. Verse 44,
and he that was dead came forth. Now this is why I say we have
to take away that stone of emotionalism. Mary and Martha, they had faith,
but that faith couldn't bring Lazarus out of the grave, could
it? Their prayer couldn't give Lazarus faith or give him life.
Their prayer was a good prayer. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. And they left it there. They
didn't say, Lord, now he whom thou lovest is sick, and here's
what you do. They didn't do that, did they? They left it to the
Lord. That's a good prayer. But their
prayer couldn't give Lazarus life. They shed many tears, but
their tears couldn't give their brother life. I'll be careful
here, but even the tears of our Lord Jesus by themselves could
not give Lazarus life. You see these people that come
up with these statues, you know, and that, oh, this is a statue
of Jesus. Really, it's a statue of a hippie, but they say, oh,
look how he's crying. You know, miraculously, tears are coming
out of this stone or the ceramic work. Who cares? Who cares? It's not the tears
of the Lord that gives life. It's his blood. Life's in the
blood. But the dead live when life himself
comes to the grave. He comes to his people and he
issues the powerful life-giving call that gives life to the dead. He calls us from death unto life. Those dry bones live, not when
we preach. when God gives them life, when
life comes to the grave. Captivity is led captive. Death
gives way to life when Christ calls in power, and he calls
us to himself. The body's dead because of sin,
but we're alive through a vital union with Christ. Even love
itself could not give life. Christ had to come where Lazarus
was and call him forth and give him life. The love of God alone
could not save God's elect. Christ must come and shed his
blood and die as a substitute for his people so that they can
live, so that they can have the life that he earned because he
died the death we deserve. And we hear of that through the
preaching of the gospel. The call of grace is a call to
obedience. Lazarus, do what you want. No. Lazarus, come forth. Well, why issue that command
to a dead man? He can't come forth. He can't obey. He can't hear. He can if Christ calls him. He
will if Christ calls him. And that dead body laying there
in that tomb is such a good picture of our spiritual condition. That
dead corpse is helpless, totally unable to do anything for himself. He can't hear. He lacks the ability
to hear. He can't see. He can't respond. He can't feel. He's dead. He's a mass of corruption. This
is us, dead in trespasses and sins. Well, Frank, if men are dead
in trespasses and sins, they've got a nature that hates God,
they've got a nature that refuses God, they've got a nature that
wants their righteousness rather than His, why bother preaching
to them? Because when God calls, they
hear. I mean, we bother preaching because
God told us to, but when God calls, His elect are going to
hear. They'll respond. They'll see. And when I say see,
it's not just that their eyes are open. They understand. They
feel. Because when God calls through
the preaching of the gospel, dead sinners receive life. And
with life comes hearing, comes responding, comes seeing, comes
feeling, comes a warm, soft heart that God's given a new heart.
That dead body can't do one thing for himself. That dead corpse
is completely dependent upon Christ to do everything for him. Isn't that us by nature? And
when Christ comes, when life comes to the grave, he calls
in power. And in that life, in the power
of that life, he gives the power to become obedient. Obedient
sons, obedient daughters, Christ called. And here comes, Lazarus
can't come forth. Here he comes, shuffling out
of that tomb because Christ called him to obedience. Fifth, the
call of grace is a call to freedom. Verse 44, and he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face
was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, loose
him and let him go. Those religious Jews, they had
old Lazarus wrapped up real tight. He couldn't move. I mean, he's
wrapped up like a mummy. He can't see, but he still came
forth. He's just shuffling. His legs
are all wrapped up, and here he is shuffling. That napkin
bound about his face, he can't see real clear, but he can see
through that napkin some light, and he's going to come to it.
Those things are wrapped around his ear. He can't hear as clear,
maybe, as he will later, but he comes to the sound of the
master's voice, and they're going to take that off, and he's going
to see more light. He's going to hear more clearly.
That's a growth in grace. Religious men bind up men and
women with religion, false religion, with the ceremony of religion.
They bind them up with the law, and Christ says, loose them.
set him free, let him go. Now, the law has to bind up people. The only way you can control
a rebel is bind him up. You've got to put him in handcuffs
and chains. But Christ sets his people free to serve him. How
do you know they'll serve him? When you say let him go, how
do you know they're not going to run off? He's given them a new nature.
They can't leave him. He won't let him go. There's
no place else they'd rather be than be with him and serve him.
Those grave clothes are the grave clothes of dead religion and
dead religion. You can't wrap up a living man
like that. The only man you can wrap up like that is a dead man
who can't move and can't resist you. And it's going to take a
while. Put those grave clothes on. They're
good and tight. And it's going to take a while
for them to come off. It's just going to take a while. Now be
patient. It's going to take a while to
unlearn everything you learned in false religion. It's going
to take a while for them to come off, but they'll come off. And
I'll tell you how they'll come off. It's not just going to happen
naturally. It's going to happen by hearing
Christ preached. They'll start to come off. You have more and
more light and more and more freedom the more you hear Christ
preached. But now look over in Galatians
5. Here's a warning. If you take your eyes off Christ,
you'll be surprised how quickly you can become entangled in those
grave clothes again. Galatians 5 verse 1. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Preach Christ.
Well, then what do you do? Preach Christ some more. You
keep preaching Him. You keep preaching Him. Keep
looking to Him. Oh, look to Christ. But keep
looking to Him. Come to Christ. Come to Him. but keep coming. Isn't that what
Peter said? To whom? Coming. The only way you're going
to keep those grave clothes from coming back on is keep coming.
Keep looking to him. Don't put those grave clothes
back on again. Now I say to those who are dead in sins, come to
Christ. You close with Christ right now. Well, who's going to come to
Christ? Well, I got about three things I give you here in closing.
People who come to Christ are people who've been given spiritual
life. Coming to Christ is an act of
spiritual life. You're not going to come to him
if you're dead, are you? What'd our Lord say? You will not come
unto me that you might have life. You won't come to me because
you're dead. Well, if we come to Christ, you know what that
means? God's given us life, and we come to him. It's a reaction
of life to come to Christ, just like it's a reaction of physical
life to breathe. It's a reaction of spiritual
life to come to Christ. Second, who'll come to Christ? God's elect to come to Christ.
Coming to Christ is an evidence of divine election. What our
Lord say, all that the Father giveth me shall what? Come to
me. You don't come to Christ because
you know you're one of God's elect. You come to Christ because
you're a sinner. And when you come to him, you
find out, oh, he was drawing me along. He was drawing me because
he chose me from the foundation of the world. Third, people who
come to Christ are people who've been taught of God. Coming to
Christ is evidence. God's taught you, not your preacher,
not the denomination, but that God has taught you. Look over
in John chapter six, just back a few pages. Coming to Christ
is an indication that that stone of ignorance has been rolled
away. John 6, verse 45. It's written in the prophets,
and they should be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father does what? Cometh
unto me. We come to Christ when we've
been taught of the Father. Now, that's the gospel. That's
how God saves sinners. That's how God gives life to
dead sinners. And there's only two reactions
to that message. There's just two and there's always two every
time the gospel is preached. Some believe and some do not
believe. That's what's happened here this
morning. That's what's happened at the grave of Lazarus. Some
believed and some did not, verse 45. Then many of the Jews which
came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed
on Him. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Some
believed. Remember when I told you earlier
about when the Lord delays and He doesn't do things the way
that we would? Don't question Him now. Don't question Him.
Martha and Mary seemed to question Him. If you'd been here, my brother
hadn't died. If the Lord had been there, all
those folks that believed wouldn't have seen the Lord. What was
best? Was it best that the Lord run
quickly when they came and said, Lord, heal him, I love us to
sit? Or was it best he delayed? It's best he delayed, wasn't
it? But they didn't know that then. Wait on the Lord, wait
on the Lord. Faith believes Christ. Miracles never save anybody,
ever. I mean, if we could work miracles
up, they're not causing anybody to believe. These people saw
a dead man who stank come out of the grave, and in a little
while, they're going to see him sitting at the table with the
Lord himself feasting at a feast. He's alive. I mean, he's not
just a ghost. He's eating food at the feast.
And they didn't believe. Not only did they not believe,
they hated the Lord when they saw him give life to the dead. They saw the Lord relieve the
grief and the sorrow of these sisters, and they hated the Lord. And they hated Lazarus too. We're
going to put him to death because he's living proof that the Lord's
Lord. We're going to put him to death,
get rid of the evidence. They hated him. Miracles never save
anybody. Faith simply believes Christ. Now, we don't believe because
we see the preponderance of the evidence. and then believe. We don't believe because, oh,
I see the glory of God. Well, it makes sense to me. I
believe. No. We believe and then we see the glory of God. Isn't
that what our Lord told Martha in verse 40? Said I not unto
thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory
of God. Belief comes first, doesn't it? We believe God because God
gives faith. Then we see the glory of God.
How I pray. The Lord be merciful. Maybe life
would come to the grave today and he'd give life to his people.
I pray that he would. Let's bow in prayer.