John 11, go back there with me,
John 11. You're familiar with this blessed
story, amazing story of our Lord raising Lazarus from the grave. But we're just going to look
at a portion of this and dwell on one verse, really. Read verses 1 through 6 with
me again. Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus, of Bethany. town of Mary and her sister Martha.
That Mary, which anointed the Lord with ointment, wiped his
feet with her hair, his brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his
sister sent unto the Lord, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. And when he 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. Now, Jesus loved Martha,
her sister, and Lazarus. And when he therefore heard that
he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where
he was. Sickness. We're going to talk
a little bit about that. Sickness. The certainty of it.
The certainty of it. The sadness of it. The purpose
of it. And the end of it. Amen. Sovereign
Lord. Our Lord is sovereign over everything.
He sends sicknesses. It begins this way. A certain
man was sick. I love how the Scripture is written
so many times of certain things. I love the certainties of Scripture,
don't you? It speaks so often of certain
men and women, certain noblemen. A certain man with an infirmity,
38 years. 38 years. The Lord had that man sick for
38 years. A certain woman who had an issue
of blood for 12 years. He tried everything and everyone
to no help, no avail. Certain, the word certain. I
love to look up words. Listen to this. Certain means
without a doubt. It means it's sure of. It means
it's destined. It means it's sure to happen. Certain means it's bound to come.
Certain means it's fixed and it's settled. That describes
everything our Lord does, doesn't it? Everything. The truth is,
and this is what we believe, our God is sovereign and has
ordered all things and they are sure, certain. All things are
certain. This is all our peace, all our
comfort, all our joy, all our strength, that our Lord and our
God is absolutely sovereign over everything. and has purposed
everything and ordered everything and predestined all things. All
of those things are working together for our good according to His
purpose. Those that love God. Why do we
love God? Because He first loved them. Those that God loved. Nothing
is by chance. There are no accidents. Nothing,
nothing. There's no thing, nothing, no
thing outside of God's absolute, purplish power and control. Whatever
happens, God made it happen. That's comforted. Whatever we
get, God gave it. Whatever is taken from us, God
took it. That's what Job said, didn't
he? He concluded, the Lord gave,
the Lord taketh away. So what do we do? Bless the name
of the Lord. Everything is certain and fixed. If that's not so, if there's
no sovereign God and nothing is certain, we're in trouble,
aren't we? And we have need to fear everything, anything and
everything. But if it is so, and it is, we
have nothing to fear. Nothing and no one to fear. We
have peace, we have comfort, we have nothing to fear. And
the sooner we believe that, the more we trust Him and believe
that, the sooner we'll get to sleep. Go to bed and go to sleep. Because He that keepeth Israel
doesn't sleep. Doesn't sleep. That's why our
Lord said there, alluding to that, I got to work by this day. He was always working with me.
Sicknesses and trials and troubles and sorrows are certain. A certain
man was sick named Lazarus. A certain man, Lazarus. You know,
he was of Bethany. If you tell of Mary and Martha,
it names where he was, who he is, and it names his sibling.
If you'll just substitute some names, just substitute some names
we know there, okay? A certain man named Joseph Parks
of Rocky Mountain, who's, you know, Stephen and Marian, Nancy,
was sick, sick. A certain man named Henry of
Ashland and Rocky Mountain, Mindy and Paul and Doris, That's another
Henry from Corn Valley, Roberto. He was sick, but a certain woman
named Brenda, Brenda of North Carolina, and then Rocky Mountain,
Kelly, probably in the town of, was sick, sick. All of God's
people are going to get sick. And it's just not going to get
sick, the Lord's going to send these things there. His tribe
is in trouble. Now it says, it names this town
Bethany. Our Lord went to Bethany a great
deal, like He went to Capernaum. Capernaum was called His city,
wasn't it? And we've looked at that. He
grew up in Nazareth on purpose. And the whole world thought,
Nazareth? Yeah, that's where He chose to
grow up. And in Capernaum, He spent most
of His time, did most of His miracles in Capernaum. It was
called His city. Capernaum? Galilee? That's like Franklin County.
It really is. People look down on it. People
in the big city of Jerusalem. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? Yeah, that's where the Lord was.
Those are His people. And Bethany was like that. A little old two-bit town like
Rocky Mountain, like Louisville. Dingus, West Virginia. What's
in Dingus? You ever been to Dingus? Everyone's
in Dingus, a church and a bridge. Now what else do you need? A bridge to get out when the water
rises up. And it does all the time. But
that little church is still standing in spite of it all. A little
insignificant town of Bethany, but oh, how blessed was Bethany. And how blessed are we. The Lord
was there. The Lord abode there. How blessed
that town was and how blessed this town is. They just don't
know it. The Lord prospers the places where His gospel lives. Amen. It's for that reason. Three siblings. It was Lazarus,
Mary, and Martha. The Lord saved three siblings. The Lord revealed Himself, saved
and supped with three siblings. How blessed were they? We've
got three siblings that the Lord saved and supped with. Deborah,
Teresa, and Pilate. What a blessing. Three of the
four, my four siblings knew the Lord, know the Lord, and it ain't
over yet. Might be four out of four. Wouldn't
that be wonderful? Can you think of anything more
wonderful than those three girls sitting beside you, sitting here
when they're 50 or 60 years old? You see, anything matters beside
that? Come what may. It's all good,
isn't it? These three siblings, my, my,
how blessed if the Lord saves siblings or the Lord saves a
husband. What about a husband or wife? I can't imagine being
married to an unbeliever. It's got to be one of the hardest
trials you could possibly go through. And here you sit. You know how blessed you are
if your spouse knows the Lord. My, my. Amen. What a blessing. This underscores
that, and it doesn't mention their parents, does it? What
about Lazarus, Mary, Martha's parents? It doesn't even mention
them. Were they the same? It doesn't say. It doesn't say. This underscores the fact that
salvation is up to the Lord. He saves whom He will. He can
save a whole house. He did that several times. In
some places He didn't save anybody. He went all the way through Jericho
and didn't save anybody. Save one man coming in and one
man going out. That's how this is of the Lord.
So if the Lord has saved you and your spouse, rejoice. If
the Lord saved you, rejoice. If He saved your spouse, again
I say, rejoice. Oh my, what a blessing. Verse
5 says, Now Jesus loved Martha and Mary. It says that. Do you wish that
your name was written there where you'd know for certain that the
Lord Jesus loved you? Do you wish you'd said, now Jesus
loved John Chesed? You know our names are there. Charles Spurgeon once said, I
know you've quoted him. I've quoted him 100 times. Spurgeon
said, I'm glad my name's not in there. He said, I just know
it means some other Charles Spurgeon. There was a, there was a, I got
a phone call one time. He said, are you Paul Mahan?
I said, yes, I am. He said, Father Paul Mahan? I
said, no, not Father Paul Mahan. He said, you're not a priest,
Catholic priest? I said, no. Apparently this guy
was wanted for all that stuff. He had my name. He's a pervert. But you know, our names, this
is a faithful saint. It's true. Worthy of all acceptation. This is who the Lord loves and
this is who the Lord Jesus Christ came in this world to save. You
know what their names are? Say it aloud. Sinners. That's
me. That's just as sure as him saying
that the Lord loved Lazarus and married Martha in it. That's
just as sure. He that believeth in me shall never die. Do you
believe that? Martha's testimony is mine. I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God. That's who he loved. I'm getting
ahead of myself. But the Lord loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. And you know, I feel like I know
these three people. We've looked at their stories
so many times. And the stories of, like, Jacob.
I feel like I know Jacob. Don't you love Jacob? David. Don't you love David? Oh, I love
David. Rahab. I'm looking forward to
seeing Rahab. Just as much as David. Mary Magdalene. Don't you love her? All of us
are sinners saved by grace whom the Lord loves, and we love them,
don't we? We love them. Now, verse 2, it
says, this Mary identifies who he's talking about. Mary anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. And that
story is told ahead of time. It's found in chapter 12, the
story. This is not the Mary who was
weeping when he was in Simon's house and she was weeping and
wiped his feet with the hair of her head and her tears. But another Mary did the same
thing. There are several Marys in Scripture. You know, a woman's hair is her
covering, it's her glory. It is. The Lord gave this beautiful
covering for the heads and women take great pride in their hair. They so do. Spend a great deal
of money on it. This woman loved the Lord. She
fell at His feet and she just humbled herself and nothing was
For her Lord was too good for her Lord, and she needed something
to dry. She used her hair to dry his
feet. Would you do that? Would you
humble yourself, lower yourself, and bow at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and just mess yourself up? Sure you would. This is who they're
speaking of. Now all these married are different.
Married, all of them are different. They're all the same. They're
sinners. And they were all loved by the Lord, and they all loved
the Lord. I know some Marys. I know some Marys, and I love
them. There was a lady named Mary Turner. Mary Turner Farias.
Anybody know her? That's my mother's mother. She knew the Lord. She wrote
a great deal of poems, a lot of poems about the gospel, good
poems. You'd have loved her too if you'd
known. There she sits. She's just like her mama. Mary
Turley. Anybody know Mary Turley? You
love her? That's Helen's mother. What about
Mary Parks? Anybody love her? Anybody? Raise
your hand. The ayes have it. It's unanimous. Mary. We've been blessed to know
some Marys. These Marys have been blessed.
Well, This man named Lazarus was sick.
Verse 2 says he was sick. They pleaded with the Lord he
was sick. And verse 4, the Lord says he
spoke of his sickness. His sickness is not unto death.
He was sick. Something sudden happened to
him. A deadly something. Disease something. I mean it
was, man it was fast wasn't it? They no sooner got word of the
Lord, he was gone. He died of something deadly,
didn't he? What was it? We don't know, do
we? That's why I love so much. You
know, when the Lord sent that plague, we looked at this stuff.
And you remember Thomas, when they heard he'd got sick and
died within four days, Thomas said, well, let's just go get
it. Let's just go die with him. One of our sisters actually said,
I'd rather die from COVID sitting in a pew than at home alone.
Let's just go die with it. I mean, he got something deadly,
didn't he? Where'd he get it? Who gave it
to him? Was it contagious? The Lord did it. What difference
does it make what it was, or where it got it, or what the
means were? The Lord did it. The Lord gave it. You know what?
The Lord took it away. Brethren, in your patience possess your
souls, okay? We need not fear anything, because
it's the Lord. There it came, this life-threatening,
deadly sickness. And verse 3, therefore his sisters
sent unto him, saying, Lord, can you hear the anxiety in their
voices? Can you hear it? They sent a
messenger. They didn't come. They sent someone.
They called on the Lord through someone else, sent someone. But
I can hear their worry and their fears and their anguish. Can't you? Their brother whom
they love. Can you hear it? Lord. There have been many in this
room who've heard that word, cancer. It's frightening. Both my parents
have. My sister. Many in this room. Cancer. Lord, so-and-so had a heart attack. He's in I.C.E. We've heard those things, haven't
we? We've sent word to the Lord. We've called on the Lord. Lord,
I'm worried about her. The Lord sent this, and now they
knew the Lord. And this is why they called on
the Lord. They knew the Lord. He is Lord. That's what they
called Him. Look at it. 3 says, Lord, behold, he whom I
love is sick. Look at verse 20. 21, Martha,
as soon as she heard the Lord was coming, she went and met
Him and ran. Verse 21, Martha said, Lord. Verse 27, she answered Him, Lord,
yea, Lord. Verse 28, she said to Mary, her
sister, the Master has come and called us for thee. And then
Mary came, verse 32, Lord. And verse 34, the Lord said, where
have you laid thee? And they said, Lord, come and see. See, out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Their hope was in the
Lord. That means He's the Sovereign
One. One that sends all things, that
controls all things. It's Lord over the dead and the
living. To this end Christ came, both
died and rose again. He might be Lord of the dead
and the living. He's Lord. Why do we call Him
Lord? Because He is. And that's our hope. Not this other Jesus that doesn't
want things to happen. If He's Lord, things happen because
He made them happen. He's Lord. And that's what they
called Him. And whosoever calleth on the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Saved from this overcoming fear
and doubts and worries and anxiety and all that. Just remember,
He's Lord. That's what Eli said. It's the Lord. See? It's not just a title that we
well deserve, but it's our comfort. He is Lord. And you know, nobody
can say He isn't, except by the Spirit of God. They knew Him. They knew Him. Now look at what they said. Lord,
behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. It's certain that Lazarus and
Mary and Martha loved the Lord, isn't it? It's certain. But their
hope for themselves and for their brother was not in their love
for Him, was it? Their hope and their peace and
comfort was in His love for them, for Him. His love, His mercy
and His grace, His power is our hope and our peace and our comfort.
They didn't say, Lord, You know Lazarus loves You. Come heal
him. Lord, you know how he served
you and worships you. You know what a devout man he
was. But that's not what they pleaded.
They didn't say, Lord, we've fed you so many times. Lord, he whom thou dost. I said,
brethren, this is all our peace and comfort and hope and assurance.
It's found in, not our love for him, but in his love for us.
His mercy and his grace. 1 John 4. Turn over there real quick. 1
John 4. All through 1 John speaks of
His love and our love, doesn't He? His love and our love. And
1 John 4 tells us very plainly, here in His love. 1 John 4, verse
10. Verse 9, and this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because
that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him. Here it is love, not that we
love God, but that he love us. When did he put his love upon
us? Before the world began. But while we were yet sinners,
he said, and that's love. That's love. Verse 19, look at
it. We love Him because He first
loved us. Listen to this again. Listen
again for your comfort, for your peace. Jacob have I loved. Who? Jacob. Listen to a message, a little
bit today, a message about Happy is he that the God of Jacob was
in. Jacob have I loved. Jacob have I chosen. The Lord
came to Jacob. How do you know the Lord loved
Jacob? He came to Jacob and wrestled with him. Wrestled him down.
He revealed himself to Jacob. He revealed Jacob to Jacob. He
humbled Jacob. He put him down but only to raise
him up. Changed his walk. Changed his
name. How can I know the Lord loves
me? Well, listen to this. Anybody like
Ephesians 1? Really? You know how many people hate
it? Whom the Lord loves, He reveals Himself to. He comes through
the preaching of the gospel and reveals Himself and reveals Yourself
to you. Listen. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly things in Christ. Do you consider
what we're doing heavenly? A blessing? Is there a place
you'd rather be right now than right here? Is this not a little
heavenly place? According as He hath chosen you,
that means He's chosen you in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. He did this in love to us. Please
God to make you his people. How do we know? He reveals the
gospel to you, the truth to you. Predestinated us under the adoption
of children. Who likes that? Who likes predestination? Oh, there ain't one in a hundred
thousand that loves that. I do. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, and it says that you trusted him after you heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation was sealed. Who loves once in grace, always
in grace? I do. That's my only hope. What about this? You like Ephesians
2? Here's you, and here's what the
Lord did. Okay? Salvation of the Lord.
Here's what you did. Here's what I did. And here's what the Lord
did. In time past, you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that
now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past, in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, by
nature the children of wrath, even as others. That's you. That's
me. Here's salvation, but God, who's rich in mercy for His great
love. Who does He love? He's elect. He's chosen. Notice He reveals, like old Manoah's
wife, you know, what she said to Manoah, He's not going to
kill her. God's not going to kill her. You know why Manoah thought
God was going to kill him? He saw the Lord. He thought,
He's going to kill me. He knows I'm a sinner. I said, No, that's
why He came. And that's what she said. He wouldn't have received a sacrifice. He wouldn't have showed us all
these things. He wouldn't have told us. He keeps telling us over
and over again. You mean you never get tired
of Ephesians 1 or 2? Well, that's the Lord keeps telling
you, keeps reminding you who He came for. That's who he loves. The Lord loved this man Lazarus
and his sisters. He chose them. He came to them.
He spoke to them. He abode with them. He called
them. And that's the same with all
of his people. He reveals the gospel to them. He tries all
of those he loves. He tries them. He sends troubles
and tribulations. He said to his disciples, he
said, you must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom
of heaven. Tribulation and troubles and
trials that He sends out of love. Sicknesses that He sends Himself. Whom the Lord loves, He makes
sick. Why? Here, let me get to that
in a minute. These people love the Lord, don't
you? It's not presumption and it's
not pride to say that. When our Lord arose from the
grave, you know how Peter denied Him terribly and went out and
wept bitterly. That was one of the hardest things
he ever went through, I'm sure. How he denied the Lord and reverted
right back to that old man that he was. You know what the first
thing our Lord asked him was? Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me more than thee? Not more than disciples, but
more than moats and nets and fish and this world and everything.
What does Simon Peter say? He didn't have to stop and think
about it. Yea, Lord, thou knowest. I know it. That's not presumption to say
that. We're ashamed of our love, aren't we? Our love is so cold,
so faint, and Thine is love to us so great, we say. But we do. He knows that. He knows our prime. He knows who He loves. Who loves
Him because He loved Him first. And so the Lord sent this sickness.
He sent this sickness to one that He loved. I thought about
this. That the Lord makes all of His
people, He sends a sickness. A grievous sickness. A cancer. All of His people. That's in
them. That's deadly. And they know
it. And it's a terrible thing. And
it's called sin. And Lord, whomever the Lord loves,
that's what He does. He makes you see your loins are
filled with a loathsome disease. And makes you call on the name
of the Lord. What a blessing it is for the
Lord to reveal to you, you're a dead and dying sinner. Because
everybody He does that for, He raises that. He's going to raise
Lazarus. He's going to raise you. He has,
already has. Already has. And He sends this
heart trouble, the plague, The most deadly plague is the plague
of the heart. Oh, Solomon told us that great
prayer that everybody knows the plague of their own heart needs
to pray. Call on the name of the Lord. Everybody does. The
Lord heals. Sacrifices of God are a broken
heart, contrite spirit. What's the purpose of sickness?
What's the purpose of sorrow and trials? Look at verse 4.
Our Lord tells us. And I close with this. When he heard, it's not like
he heard it for the first time. But somebody came, and this is
for his disciples. Notice, several times he did
this for their sake. He knew what he was going to
do all along. He's the one that sent this. He knew Lazarus was
sick. Nobody had to tell him that.
And he knew he was going to raise him, didn't he? When he went
to the grave, he prayed to the Father out loud. He didn't have
to do that. But he did it. Why? So they'd
hear him. Like in the garden, aren't you
glad we have John 17? Aren't you glad John heard that
prayer and wrote it down there? Well, our Lord, when he heard,
for their sake, he said to them, his disciples, they heard it
too. He said, this sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God. And the same thing can
be said of every single thing, every sickness or whatever it
is that God's people go through. This is not to death. This is for the glory of God.
And that the Son of God might be glorified there. It's not
death. It's for God's glory. You see, we know that we will
be tried. 1 Peter 1, listen to this, 1
Peter 1. Our Lord, through Simon Peter,
says, if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptation.
And someone said, if it be, it need be, or it wouldn't be. If it be, it need be, or it wouldn't
be. And these trials are heavy and
many temptations and troubles and trials and tribulations and
sickness and sorrow and sadness. That the trial of your faith,
it's a trial of your faith. Faith's more precious than gold.
Faith is a precious thing. To you who believe, He is precious.
And to those who have obtained like precious faith with us,
through the righteousness of our God and Savior, the blood
of Christ, it's a precious thing. And how you know you have it
is the Lord sends trials. Faith must be tried to know that
it's faith. And what is faith? Looking to
the Lord. Depending on the Lord. knowing
that the Lord sent it, and glorifying Him in sending it. See, faith in trial glorifies
the Lord. Whenever something happens, or
whenever something bad happens, a believer knows it's the Lord
and says so, and witnesses a good profession before everyone that
the Lord did to him. That's a peace that passeth understanding. That's a peace that the world
doesn't understand. And yet this glorifies the Lord,
doesn't it? It doesn't glorify us. These things are difficult. To
lose a child. I hope I never go through that.
Some of you have. Several of you have. And I've
seen you witnessing a wonderful... I've seen the grace of God bring
you through it. You couldn't have. You couldn't
have if God hadn't been with you. And this glorifies the Lord. It all gives great glory to Him.
That's why He sends them. That's why He sends them. Brother
Scott once said, Did most believers have one big opportunity to really
witness and testify of the grace of God in a trial? And I remind you, Brother Scott
was kind of like Job, wasn't he? He went through it all. Children,
sons in prison. He's on himself sick, cancer,
riddled with it, eaten up with it, lost his wife, lost his health. But he's the one that said, I
ain't heard any bad news since I heard the good news. Now that glorifies God. Why? Because only God can do that.
Only God can bring someone through something like that. Glorifies
the Son of God. And these trials, Try our faith,
who we look to? Who we look to? If the trial
is serious enough, if somebody is sick enough, who are you going
to turn to? Doctors? Lord, He whom Thou lovest is
sick, aren't you? And you're going to keep calling
until He answers you, until He heals or He doesn't. And how
many times have we prayed for those we love? Lord, I mean,
lost sleep, watered our cats with our tears for somebody we
love. Lord, heal them. And they died. Well, you know what? He answered
our prayers. Didn't He? He did. One of these old preachers
was dying on his deathbed and somebody came in and said, ìHow
are you?î He said, ìAlmost well.î Remember, death is better than
birth. But he sends these trials to try our faith and to make
us look to the Lord and experience His grace as never before. David
said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn their statute. Never do we understand or really appreciate
or experience God's Word like when we go through trials. Right? It seems like every verse of
Scripture speaks to you. So it's good. And for the comfort
of other people. That's why I sent these things.
Because these same afflictions, Peter wrote, are accomplished
in your brethren throughout the world. And we have seven widows
in this church. Seven. Why? Well, so they can
help each other. I know what you're going through.
Right? I don't know. I don't have experienced it.
I can try to comfort. But only somebody who's gone
through can do it. You understand? So that's why. And here's the biggest reason. We go through all these troubles
and trials, as we said Sunday, to make us one out of this place. And brothers and sisters, when
we get out, when it's over, When God wipes away all tears, you're talking about, I love,
it's all over but the shouting, and boy are we going to shout.
And only trials and tribulations and troubles and sickness and
sorrow and sadness will make you want out of this place and
make you look to the Lord. And brother, you know, here's
the thing. Sickness will make health mighty,
mighty fine. We take for granted everything
until we lose it. And one of these days we're going
to lose everything and everyone. And then in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, we're going to be chained. We're going to
be with the Lord, and we're going to get it all back with interest.
A thousandfold. As bad as the sorrow was, joy
is going to be unspeakable. And full of what? Whose glory? His glory. His glory. And let me just close with these
verses, verse 24 and following. Martha said, I know that He'll
rise again in the resurrection at the last day. He said unto
her, I am the resurrection. You know how it keeps saying
He's going to rise again? What do you mean again? The Lord
already quickened Him. You've already been quickened,
you know that? You've already been raised. You can't die. But He's
going to raise His vile body, His corruptible body, someday.
And that's a mystery. He's going to raise us again to meet the Lord in the air.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Do you
believe that? Do you? She said, Yeah, Lord. I believe. I think she's smiling for the
first time in four days. I do. I really do. The Lord's Word, His blessed promises
are the only thing that can make us smile in sadness and sorrow
and sickness, and the only hope we have. So, Lord, be whom thou
lovest to see. Yes, I know. I know. I see that. Just trust me. Okay, let's be dismissed in prayer.