Good evening. Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man. That's simple. Does a kid get
that? The only way that can take place
is for the Lord's sake, wear the mask. Was that hard two years
ago? Boy, it was a whole lot harder
two years ago when I ain't doing it. Well, that ain't submitting
to every ordinance of man, is it? Don't park here. There's
no parking zone. Merge. You are to indicate, I've
been wanting to say this for two months, you are to indicate
the lane change whenever you are merging into traffic. Click,
click, click, click, click. Do it. You know the only way,
the difference between a child of God doing what man says and
a legalist that will die and burn in hell for the law he's
trying to keep is, it says down there, a conscience towards God. For this is thankworthy if a
man for conscience towards God endureth grief. The only difference
is the heart. The only difference is the heart.
And buddy, I tell you what, we can't tell. God has to look on
the heart. We can get a good idea if they're kicking and spotting
and, well, I ain't doing that. Remind them of Christ, and if
they still act that way, it might be a problem. All right, let's
turn over to John chapter 11. I'm going to say a couple of controversial
things this evening, but I have an obligation to do so. This
isn't controversial. Fall back Saturday night. set your clocks back, you get
to sleep a whole hour. And that'll come in handy, because we're
having a big meal Sunday morning. And I actually found two turkeys.
Thanks to Miss Sarah, shot me a text, told me where to get
them. Now we'll see if it turned out okay. We may be getting fried
chicken from Albertsons, I don't know. And I hope everybody had
a good Halloween. I saw a bunch of pictures. Young
people are a blessing to a pastor. And I'm thankful. I saw a lot
of pictures from other assemblies. where all the kids would get
together and they'd go trick-or-treating together. That was nice. That's good to see. I was thankful
for that. Here in John 11, we're going to look at at least the
first three verses. If we have time, maybe the fourth.
John 11, verse 1 says, Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of
Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that
Mary which anointed the Lord with anointment, and wiped his
feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. Therefore,
because he's sick, a certain man, his sisters sent unto him,
saying, praying, petitioning. You don't need a thesaurus. Behold, Lord, behold, he whom
thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
the sickness is not unto death, not unto eternal death, not unto
the death that sin deserves. This sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
thereby. I kind of got stuck on that this
week. It says in verse 1, man was sick. A certain man. Most
of the time in the scriptures, whenever it refers to a certain
man or a certain woman, that's the Lord's man. That's the Lord's
woman. That's his child. A certain man
was sick named Lazarus. Okay, well now we know who he's
talking about. Well, there's more than one Lazarus. No, this
is a Bethany. Well, maybe there's more than
one Lazarus in Bethany. Maybe it was in a different generation. Is that what you're talking about?
No, the town of Mariette and her sister Martha. That's real
specific, isn't it? That's real specific. A certain
man, Lazarus, the best in the same town as Mariette and Martha.
Very specific. You know why? Others were sick in that town.
Maybe there was another Lazarus that was sick in that town. There were some other people
in this world that were sick at that time. Others were sick in that area,
I'm sure. that this was the Lord's child, Lazarus. He said over in Luke 4, I tell
you the truth, many widows were in Israel on the day of Elisha
when the heavens were shut up three years and six months. Great
famine was throughout the land. There's a whole lot of widows.
But unto none of them was Elisha sent, except one woman, one widow,
one Gentile widow. And he said, there's many lepers
in Israel. the time of the loss of the prophet,
and none of them was cleansed. None of them was cleansed of
leprosy. None of them, saving Naaman the Syrian. Except for
old Gentile. The Lord said that and they got
real mad at him because they knew he was telling the truth. But
he's speaking here of one person, a certain person, Lazarus. He
was sick. That sickness was created and
given to Lazarus. We're going to see why here soon.
but it was on purpose. Everything's created for the
Lord's people. Everything's created for His people. You eat a banana,
God made that banana for you. I'm hard to fish with. I throw
the bait out there. If I catch a fish, the Lord has
sustained salmon or tuna or whatever for the eons, for millennia. So I caught that one. Everything's
for His people. You know what else that means?
Man's ordinances. That's for you. That's for you.
He created that for you. Speed limits, those state troopers,
California Highway Patrol that do not bear the sword in vain,
that's created for you. Those things. Guess what else?
Pneumonia, hereditary diseases, operation
surgeries, tonsillitis, whatever. The sniffles. Johanna had hiccups
yesterday. I thought, Lord gave her hiccups.
He brought that to pass. Hiccups were not there before.
He created it and gave it to them. And sickness too, isn't
it? Sickness. That reminds us. We'll
see this as it goes on. It reminds us of our sin sickness. All this relates to physical.
We have all these physical things for multiple reasons. But it's
so we see. We that have eyes to see. You
got a horrendous disease that you're about to die from? So
what? People say, I don't want to make
light of it. I do want to make light of it
and compare it to the sin sickness that all mankind has that they're
going to face a holy God over. Better quit playing church and
cry out to God for mercy. That's way more important. I
promise. That's why we get wrinkles is
cause of sin. Did you know that? That's why our bodies break down
over time is because of sin. That's why we have ailments.
Sin. My back hurts right now. Sin. It's so. Why does a believer get sick?
Sin. Why does a believer die? Why does this body finally give
up? Sin. Couldn't we be translated
like Enoch? Couldn't all believers be like
Elijah and be carried up in chariots and not have to physically die? No. We got to die. Paul tells us in Romans 5, Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for they all have sinned. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression. I didn't eat the fruit of that
tree. Yeah, but they died. They didn't have the law of Moses
to break, but they died. Cause of sin. That moral law.
They didn't believe God. That ought to put a great impression
on that. Man's worried about the Ten Commandments.
You don't even think about the Levitical law. I always tell
you about eating a medium-well steak, putting a railing on your
roof. The Lord had housing codes. You go to hell because of that.
But all that stems from the moral law of not believing God. Thinking
you know better than he does. So we get wrinkles. We get the
sniffles. Some of us get sick a lot, don't
we? Never think that the Lord's punishing sin because of sickness. Don't ever think somebody would
scare you to death and put you under bondage. That's what the
Reformed folks did. Well, you're sick because you
did something. What'd you do? No! Knock it off. Stop that. Stop it right now.
You hear me? I mean it. Sickness and trial are results
of sin, yes. But the Lord's using that. He
allows us to come to pass for instructing his children, for
caring for his children, for calling out his own. He's going
to use that to call out his own. That's what we're going to see
with Lazarus. The Lord said, I know this happened. You think
I didn't know this happened? I'm doing this for my glory, and
so you'll believe. Famine was because of sin every
time it came into scripture, because of unbelief, is that
right? But both sickness and famine are to teach us, are to make
us cry out. It's tools the Lord uses for
his children. We read that in Acts 14, confirming
the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in
the faith and that we must. through much tribulation enter
into the kingdom of God." Much tribulation, and that's over
sin sickness. You're going to have a whole
bunch of tribulation in the body because we don't like to see
our sin. And if we saw all of our sin, we'd explode. The Lord
showed us what we are. but we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God. That's why I say with confidence
and a broken heart, people that's never just ill over their sin,
there's never shut up to sin. I have concern for their souls. There's no tribulation. There's
no illness. You ain't never sick because
you're a sinner. The Scriptures say that. We must go through
much tribulation. Paul wrote this. This must happen. He said,
for verily, when we were with you, he said, when I was there
with you, we told you before that you should suffer tribulation.
Paul says, I was there preaching to you. I said, it's going to
get bad. There's going to be tribulation. There's going to
be sickness. He said, even as it came to pass and you know.
If God's going to save you, he's going to shake you up and you're
going to be tore all to pieces and you'll know. I taught me
and John Reeves talk all the time. I was explaining something
I was going to say in this and I said, you know, and he laughs. He said, yeah, I know, you know,
too. And I said, I know, but you're
going to know I can't explain that to a dead person. I can't
explain that to an unregenerate person. I can't explain two natures
to someone that hasn't experienced it. If you're gods, you're going
to experience it. And if you ain't gods, you ain't
going to know what I'm talking about. It'll be just doctrine. It'll just
be something you memorize on a three-by-five card, and you can regurgitate
around believers and look like you know what you're talking
about. You got to. He told Timothy, he said, Yea,
and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. What's that? Sickness, trial,
affliction, suffering, sorrows, you name it. Whatever. You're
going to be miserable. And when you're miserable, the
Lord's going to show you what you are, and you will cry out to Him.
That's what's going to happen. A Hebrew writer said, By faith,
Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. We had a good life, didn't we? He had it made pretty good right
there in Pharaoh's house. Choosing rather to suffer affliction. Who does that? With the people
of God. true affliction. Everybody in
the world suffers affliction. Everybody suffers affliction.
Everybody has a hard time. Everybody has to stop at red
lights, should. They don't, but should. It happens. But to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Our Lord told us, if those apostles weren't enough, said, these things
I have spoken unto you that you might have peace. In the world
you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world." I've overcome it. Turn over Romans chapter 8. You ever read something that
just seems new? Like, when? How long has that been there? I pray to God to make it real
new tonight. New enough to save somebody. I seriously, I pray
the Lord saves somebody in this room tonight. Earnestly. And
that ain't some prefab, canned response I regurgitate in front
of people. I mean it. I pray God breaks
somebody's heart tonight. Why are we going to have tribulations
in the body, but especially of sin? This was prophesied. Did you know that? So we see
Christ. Isaiah 53 says, Surely he hath borne our griefs. You
ever grieve over something? I can't explain that. You ever
had a sore throat? You ever had a headache? I ain't
saying he was ill in his holy body in this world, but the Scriptures
say he's bore our griefs, he's carried our sorrows, yet we esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. Everything we can imagine, any
pain in this body, or any pain in the mind, any pain in the
heart, or grief over sin, over our guilt, He bore our guilt. I can't explain that. Man can't
enter into that and explain it, but it's so. It's so. Romans 8, verse 26. Likewise,
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. The Spirit does this. The Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Oh, it helps our
infirmities. David said that. Happy is the
man that has the God of Jacob for his help. Helpeth our infirmities. Verse 27, and he that searcheth
the heart… Who looks on the heart? God does. Man can't. He that
searcheth the heart knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit. Why? They're one. They're warm
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. When we're sick in our souls
or we're sick in our body, the Spirit helps us. Christ Almighty,
God in human flesh, intercedes for his people. He ever lives
to make intercession for us. Our great high priest, now knowing
that, that covers the body, that covers our nature, our sin. Singular, the noun, right? Now
knowing that. See that? Now read verse 28.
And, that's what the and there for, and we know that all things
work together for good. For everybody underneath the
sun. Nope. To them that love God. Why do we love him? He first loved us, we're his
children. To them who the called according to his purpose. So often, People talk about practical
gospels and all that. It's life. You're alive. This is my life. This isn't something I enter
into this thing and I enter into that thing and I pray for this
particular bucket of mercies and that bucket of mercies because
I'm so hupti ha-holy. No. This is life. If I can take
my sin and my burden to the Lord, He bore it. He took that away.
I still have to see it and do it. But He bore that. Can't I
take an illness? Can't I take a sickness? Can't
I take a head cold or allergies or something like that to the
Lord? A sorrow? A trial? Can't I take that to
Him? We'll see how we do that in the second half. All this
is for our good, and it's for His glory. But it's also for
the good of our brethren. Why did Lazarus get sick? Why
was he about to die? For the good of his brethren.
I turn back in our text there in John 11. John 11 verse 14. The disciples,
the Lord said, he sleeps and he said, well, why do we got
to go there for you to wake him up from a nap? That's a long
way. Somebody there can wake him up.
I'm pretty sure Martha and Mary, they lived with him his whole
life. They don't have to throw rocks at him or water or pull his toe
or something. Why are you talking about that?
So our Lord's clear to us children that don't understand everything
underneath the sun. Verse 14, Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead. He ain't sleeping, his body is.
He's dead, that's what you're concerned. And I am glad, I'm
glad he's dead, for your sakes that I was not there, to the
intent ye, ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.
Nevertheless, it's gonna happen, let's do it. He allowed Lazarus
to die so his disciples could believe Christ. Isn't that good? Isn't that precious? Isn't that
wise? So his sister Mary and his sister
Martha could believe the Lord, that our brethren believe. Does
that make sickness a little more bearable? You got something horrendous
right now. I know several brethren. I know
a lot of brethren. We have brethren in this congregation. Multiple brethren
that are bad off. Bad off. And that's so God could
call out his children and make his other ones believe. Doesn't
that make it a little more bearable? Doesn't that make you quit moaning
and yapping and murmuring so much and exhaling all the time? That's for them. That's for them
to be called out and that they're comforted. We have trials and
sickness to be a comfort to our brethren that are going through
the same thing down the road that we've already been through.
We're just loading our gun right now. If you're in the middle
of it, someday there's going to be a man raised up to pastor
of church that's going to go through the same things that
I've been through and I can look him dead in the eye with experience
and say, this is why it happens. I'm your brother. I'm here with
you. Here's why, you're going to be all right. That's what
Peter wrote to us in 1 Peter 5. Whom resisteth steadfast in
the faith, knowing that the same afflictions, same suffering,
same sickness, same trials, same whatever, sorrows, the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. We have
brothers and sisters out there somewhere going through the same
thing we're going through. That gives me comfort. It saves
the Lord's people. And it comforts the Lord's people.
That's a good reason to have sickness, isn't it? Imagine this. I thought about this. Put it
in shoe leather with old brother Lazarus, okay? We're there in
Lazarus today. The Lord raised him from the dead, and I'm on
my deathbed. I've never been on my deathbed
like that when I'm about to really die. I'm about to leave this
world. I've never left this world yet. And this body of sin is
giving in its death throes and tormenting you. That old man
just swinging for the fences on the last one. Drive you crazy. And brother Lazarus walks in,
comes to visit you, and says, oh my brother, or oh my sister,
I've lived through this already. I can tell you with experience
Our Lord is gonna speak comfort to your heart. You're about to
be with Him. He's gonna speak comfort to your heart and He
will strengthen you in whatever strength is required in His power. I promise. And you're gonna look
Him face to face whenever you rise. I promise. Wouldn't that be nice for you
if you was laying on your deathbed? Have a brother, a child of God
that was patient and tender and caring and long-suffering come
in there and tell you this, I've lived through this. I know what
you're going through. You're scared, and you're worried,
you're looking to do your work some, and you know better, but
I've lived it. Sickness, long-term illness,
trials in this world, that's a precious thing. That's a precious
time for the whole body of believers. It's a temporary joy for the
believer, because in a vapor that this life is, that's going
to be over, as soon as it's over, that opportunity to comfort a
brother is gone. When we die and we're not in
this world no more, that opportunity to weep with someone, that opportunity
to be kind and have a kind word to say, when you want to be instructive,
stop being instructive and start saying, I'm sorry. I don't hear
I'm sorry hardly ever anymore in this nation. I hate to hear that. I'll pray
for you. That's a good thing to say. That's
a good thing, isn't it? To weep with one of God's sheep. That opportunity to do all these
things, it's going to be gone. That's a privilege we have only
in this world. Why? Because when this life's
over, John wrote, said, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them. And they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." You're never going
to cry again. All tears, he's going to wipe away. And there
shall be no more death. You cannot comfort a brother
or sister who's lost a loved one, there ain't going to be
no more death. Neither sorrow, no more sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain. A whole lot of people's hurting.
The Lord gave it, though most of it, the means might be self-inflicted.
But there ain't gonna be no more pain. We have an opportunity
to comfort one another. People say they want to work
the works of God. Here's your chance. James and John was talking
about it. Here you go. Believe Christ and
love your brethren. Love them. Love them like you
love a two-day-old infant. What do you do to a two-day-old
infant? You smile at it. You say gooey and nice things,
don't you? And you hug it and love it. That's
it. You don't teach it how to walk. You don't teach it how
to talk. You don't do nothing to it. Just love it. The Lord
teaches them things. That's your opportunity. Sickness stirs up
our pure minds, don't it? When we physically have sickness
in those bodies, and you got to get kind of bad sometimes.
Not the sniffles won't do it. And we think on our brethren
that's evil. You have cancer scare or something like that.
You think of our brethren right now in another state. Ate up
with cancer, don't you? You think what an encouragement
that man is. How strong that man is. How kind that man is. And you think, well, he's just
a strong boy. The Lord's done that. Christ
is coming out of him. That new heart's speaking, isn't
it? We must be made aware of the trials and the illnesses,
or we don't know what to pray for. We have to be made aware
of those things. Hold on your horses. Not gossip. There's a
difference. What did we start off saying?
The only difference you can tell is sometimes you can't tell.
It's the heart that means it, don't it? There's a difference
between gossip and knowing you need to pray for somebody. Good
for them to bring it up. I tell you, tell your brethren.
Don't let somebody else tell them. You tell them. I've heard
things that I don't know what mean. Unspoken prayer. What is that? I'll tell you exactly
what it is. Can we tell you? It's a self-righteous
way of saying, look at me. I know something you don't know.
Or that person, oh, there's something going on. What do you think it
might be? I don't know. They didn't tell me. I bet it's this. You know
how I know that? I got an old man that does it.
I do. I know it's so. I know it's so. Or if it's for another person,
come talk to me later. I'll tell you about it. That's
a position of power and knowledge and authority, isn't it? You're
making yourself rulers of men. Stop it. You hear me? I'm giving
you good advice. I told you. Like Paul said, that
suffering's gonna come. You'll see. You'll know. Turn
over James chapter 5. James talks about this. We'll
see the context, too. I see this tossed around a bunch
as a whip. people that seem to be ignorant
of love and understanding, and it ought not be. There's times
we cannot mention what it is because we don't know. There's
times we ought not mention to protect other brethren when it's
more than one of them involved. But the prayer is the same, isn't
it? Does it make a difference? If something's wrong with you,
does my prayer for you change? No, it's the same. Lord, save.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have your presence with
that person. That it? Just our weeping and
our relating is different if we know. That's the only thing
that changes. Look here in James 5 verse 13. Is any among you
afflicted? Let me ask it this way. Anybody here got afflictions?
Is anybody afflicted? I pray you are. Let him pray. How do we know that Saul was
a child of God? He prayed. Why just ain't that
afflicted? You better pray to God you get
afflicted. If there's any among you afflicted in the body, the
mind, the soul, whatever, let him pray. Is there any that's
merry? Are you not afflicted today?
Good. Sing psalms. Sing psalms. Is any sick among
you? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. That's not literally. If I get
sick, I don't want you men coming to my house and hovering over
me like some kind of weird thing going on and putting oil on my
forehead. No. Have some understanding. He said
to elders. Elders know what he's talking
about. Pray over and pray about them. Have them on your heart,
because you ain't going to be able to keep them off your heart.
And anoint them with oil. What's that? The oil of gladness.
The gospel. Christ saves sinners, whom I'm
chief. That means he'll save you too.
You know him. You love him. Lean on him. in the name of the Lord. And
the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up. And if he has committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him." Now he says, confess your faults
to one another. That doesn't mean have a sinning
contest, and that doesn't mean you confess your sins to man,
but you confess your faults of what you are. You confess your
faults of body. I got a A bum ankle and a bum
knee, and that makes for a bum hip, and this whole side cramps
up? It does. But what other faults
do I have? Unbelief. I spent most of today not believing
God. Why? I'm a sinner. And I get
so low on myself because of that. And then I remember, he saved
sinners. He eats with them. We're gonna
sit at His table. And I see Him, not myself, and
I'm lifted up, because He's lifting me up. Are some immune to that? Do pastors get a break because
we're just working so hard, laboring in the Word? Negative. Negative. If some young fella in here or
some young one down the road, the Lord ever calls you to preach,
be a pastor, let me tell you something. If the Lord's gonna
put you in the ministry, there will be a lot of tribulation. There'll be a lot of physical
illness. Think of the people we know.
Either them themselves or their spouses are tormented in the
body, tormented in the mind, tormented in the soul. Old John
Rusk wrote that. He said, I want a preacher that
feels like he's been tore limb from limb and he's starving to
death, don't know where he's going to get his next meal. That
sounds so elegant, doesn't it? That sounds so churchy and religiousy
until you're the guy getting tore limb from limb and you don't
know where you'll get your next meal. I think I got a message for believers
in San Diego County tonight. The second this is over, I'm
going to have trouble going to sleep because I'm going to wake up tomorrow
morning with nothing. Empty pockets. I'm going to cry to God. I'm
going to get sick, ill. Sometimes I get real sick in
the body, don't I? It's going to happen. But that's a good
thing. That comes with some precious
benefits. I get to see my Lord. I get to
watch Him work and His people. I look them in the eye when I
preach to them. Tom Harding said, I just had
a little pastor's intuition, Kevin. I said, uh-huh. That man
looked me in the eye while he preached to me. He wasn't a fool.
Back in our text there in John 11. What is part of the purpose
of this sickness? This affliction and trials and
tribulations for believers. This ain't for unbelievers. All
things ain't gonna work out for good if you ain't loved of God. I got bad news for you. And you need to hear it now before
eternity comes. If you ain't a child of God,
everything ain't gonna work out for your good. It's gonna be
for your bad. It'll be for my good, not for
your good. This is for believers. What's
part of the purpose for this? We know it calls them out, and
it comforts them, and strengthens them, and gives them other sheep
to be with, so they're not alone in this world. Also prayer. Calling out to the Lord. The
Lord makes us sick. in mind, body, and spirit, to
call out to him. It says in verse 3, Therefore his
sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. They sent to him because they
couldn't go there. Does someone pray to the Father on our behalf?
The Spirit does, and the groanings can't be uttered. It interprets
all the things we should say, to the Father, because we don't
know what to ask for. We don't know how to ask for
these things. We're just little children. But they sent someone
to the Lord, and they said, Lord, behold, him whom thou lovest
is sick. We send our petitions to the
Lord. We entreat the Lord, don't we? There's plenty to learn here. I'll try to go quick. Three things
I want to touch on. First, they called on the Lord.
Not a religious person. They didn't call to a neighbor.
They didn't call the family. They didn't call the local experts.
They called on Him who is able, because they knew He was able.
The great physician. Don't miss this. They sent to
the Lord. Lazarus was sick, but Mary and
Martha and Lazarus, they did use the means that God gave them.
You understand that? Lazarus was sitting there sick
as a dog, and they put wet towels on him, or they put aloe on his
forehead to cool his fever, and they changed the bedsheets, and
they put a poultice on his chest and tucked up a big old blanket
so he could breathe it in, or they rolled him on his side.
They said, he breathes better if he lays on his side. Put him on
his side. They did those things. They used good sense that they
had. If the Lord gives me food, if I have food, the Lord gave
it, right? And I got to take a spoon and put it in my mouth.
Don't you? He gave me the power and the
motivation to do that. That's him too. But God Almighty
puts me through the motions. He clothes me. Every stitch of
clothes I own, that's his. He owns it. He gave it to me.
But I got to put my pants on one leg at a time. Don't I? I got to put the clothes on.
He gave me a job. I got to get up in the mornings
and show up on time and work as unto him. Don't I? That goes through the motions.
They called on the only one that could help. The only one that
can heal, they called on the Lord. Second, why did they call
to Christ? The trial the Lord sent Mary
and Martha caused them to cry unto the Lord. They would have
never cried that Lazarus is sick if Lazarus wasn't sick. Does
that seem too simple? I thought of the last time I
felt great. I mean, you just wake up, man,
I just feel really good today. Everything's kind of limber,
and I'm breathing good, and everyone I know is doing pretty good.
Don't know anybody local that's going through nothing too rough,
and the weather's nice. I'm in a great mood. I'm doing
something real fun. Tell you what I wasn't doing,
calling on the Lord. Now, I may have thanked him for
a brief moment. Lord, thank you for this day, but for a brief
moment. And I fear too often it's just lip service in me.
Do I really mean it or is this checking the block because that's
what we're supposed to do? How many times do we check the block
in prayer? I ask myself this, you ask yourself this. How many
times do we check the block in prayer? Tell you who we're going
to reveal that to you. Get a little tiny kid to come
up and ask you some questions. Get a three-year-old to come
ask you. That's what we're going to reveal it. Mommy, daddy, grandpa,
grandpa, uncle, cousin, friend, neighbor, whatever. Why do you
pray before you eat? Well, child, we thank God for
all the food that He's given. He's provided this for us. We
ask it for nourishments to our bodies. Well, why don't you pray
when you eat ice cream? Because I'm a hypocrite. I'm
not truly thankful. I have unbelief. I'm a sinner.
And all of a sudden, I get real sick in my soul. Maybe we pray at the big meals,
don't we? Maybe that shows I'm more of a sinner than I'd like
to admit I am. How about you? I wish I quit playing religion. But when you're in serious sickness
and trial, you'll cry out then, won't you? Heathens will cry out too, but
not for His glory and His will. What was their reasoning? What
was the heart of their prayer? What was the foundation of their
prayer? It says, For his sisters sent unto him, verse 3, saying,
Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. The sisters did not
say, that one that loves you is sick, did they? Aren't you thankful the love
of God towards people isn't conditioned on their love to him? They didn't say, you've stayed
in our house 16 times. Boy, we've cooked you a lot of
meals. We've washed all the dishes that you've ate off of. No, uh-uh.
He whom thou lovest is sick. They knew that was the most important
thing ever. Somebody asked me one time, I
said, do you love Jesus? And I said, I do, but that really
don't matter. It matters if he loves me. If he loves me, I will
love him. He first loved me. That'll happen.
But it don't matter if I do or not, it matters if he does. It
don't matter what I think of him, it matters what his thoughts
of me are. His thoughts towards me. There's contradictory prayer,
did you know that? when we ask for stuff and things,
because we don't know what to ask for. It's good just to state
something to the Lord. North and south during the Civil
War, both sides prayed, didn't they? Unregenerate on each side
prayed to win. Not a good little anecdotes and
jokes about those things to go around. But I'll tell you what,
God's sheep on either side prayed. They petitioned the Lord for
mercy, and they petitioned the Lord that His will be done, and
grace to bear His providence, however this turns out. both
sides were answered. They received grace, they received
mercy, and the Lord's will was done. If we pray for the Lord
to heal our loved ones that's about to pass this world and
to keep them with us, that might be contrary to what Christ prays. Father, I will that they also,
not everybody, whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. That will either make you mad
or glad. That's a good head nodder until
you got a loved one on a death bed. You either get mad or you'll
get glad. But both times you'll be sad,
won't you? You'll weep and that's okay. We'll see that next week.
David wept too. Turn over to 2 Samuel and I'll
wrap it up. I've gone too long as it is. 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel
12. Our text reads, Lord, behold,
he whom thou lovest is sick. They didn't instruct the Lord
on what to do. They didn't tell the Lord to do anything. Lord,
will you please do this? Lord, will you please do that?
They just said, behold, lo, attention, the one that you love is sick.
They knew he knew. They're not informing the Lord. We always try to inform the Lord.
Now, Lord, now this one over here is sick. He knows. You know
what that also means? How could it be? Lord, you love
him. Come to us. He's sick. Now we're sick over this. That's
a child of God. How could a child of God go through
so much pain and trouble? Old Spurgeon did that. He died
at a young age. He was 52 or 58 years old whenever he died.
For 28 years, that man suffered immensely. His congregation would
send him down to the coast of France, which is pretty nice,
because his body physically couldn't handle the things going on in
it. And three times he tried quitting
on them. He said, I'm not going to be your pastor no more. You
call somebody else. They said, absolutely not. You are our pastor.
That's a work done in the heart. You can't hire a pastor. It's
like marriage. It has to make it in the heart.
He said, you're our pastor. Now you go down there and recoup.
One time it was six months. They did most of his writing
down there. That happens sometimes, doesn't it? And you think, how
could it be? How could it be? All throughout
history, the top lady and all of them. And in our day, too.
Everyone I know. A month and a half ago, we read
this, but it's not too soon. It's not too soon for us to read
it again. Let's look at 2 Samuel 12, verse 14. Nathan had just
come to Dave and said, you know this man you're mad at? You agree
with me, as long as it's somebody else, you agree with me what
he did is wrong? That's you. You're the man. The Lord is going to do something
about it. 2 Samuel 12 verse 14, How be it because by this deed
thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme? I pray I never do that. The child also that is
born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his
house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bear
unto David. And it was very sick. David therefore
besought God for the child. And David fasted. And that wasn't
he was doing some religious work. He couldn't eat. And David fasted
and went in and lay all night upon earth." When you get up
in bed, David, I'm like, I can't move. He laid on the earth, didn't
he? And the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise
him up from the earth. Pick him up. You grab arm, I
grab arm. But he would not. Neither did he eat bread with
him. And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died.
And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was
dead. For they said, Behold, While the child was yet alive,
we spake to him. He wouldn't harken to our voice. And how
will he then vex himself if we tell him the child's dead? He's
in this bad of shape when this kid was sick. Imagine what's
going to happen when we say, he's gone, David. He's dead.
Verse 19, but when David saw that his servants whispered.
Dad always told me it wasn't polite to whisper. When he saw his servants whisper,
David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said
unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. You know what the Lord told the
disciples? Lazarus was dead. He's dead. Then David arose from
the earth and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel,
and came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He got up,
shaved his face, took a shower, put some cologne on, put a little
deodorant on, put a new, fresh set of clothes on. He didn't
look like some man that's wild and moaning and whooping and
poking around. Clean his face, he went and worshipped
God. And he came to his own house, and when he required, he asked
for food, they set bread before him, he ate it. He ate this whole
time, seven days. Right as rain. And a servant
said unto him, why did all this happen? What happened with Lazarus? The Lord said, so you might believe.
Sometimes God will kill somebody real close to you so he can teach
you the gospel. And a servant said unto him, What thing is
this that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep, for
the child was alive. But when the child's dead, now
you're going to rise up and eat. We'd be sad now. You ain't sad
now. And he said, While the child
was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can tell whether
God be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he's
dead. Wherefore should I fast? The
Lord answered my prayer. That's something they said, Behold,
Lord, the one thou lovest is sick. There's no contingencies
on that. If you come and raise him, that's
fine. If you don't, that's fine. It's
right either way. David said, But now he's dead.
Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I
shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. I'll go to
be with the Lord, with Him, where He is now, because He departed
from this body to be with the Lord. I'll go to where He is.
He ain't coming back here. I'm going to take some butter
and put it on my bread." He went and sat under the shade tree
and ate a ham sandwich. It was right. What the Lord did was
right, hadn't it? And that's for His glory. We'll
look at it next week. There in our text, John 11, verse
4 says, verse 3, 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. Why me? Why do I have to bear what I
bear? Why do you have to bear what you bear? It's not unto
death. That's good news. That's gospel.
Our sins have been put away as far as east is from the west.
But it's for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be
glorified thereby. I wish I could remember that
every time I got a cold coming on, every time I got a limp coming
on, every time a storm moved into the area and aches and pains
come, or as I'm on my deathbed. This is for God's glory and His
people's good, isn't it? Amen. All right. How do I sing
to you tonight, Brother Mike? Can you come later?