Go with me to John 11. John 11. This is a very familiar
portion of scripture. As I said earlier, it may mean
more to you now than ever. John 11. I had a title. It will be taken from verse 26. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou that? That's what
the Lord said. Shall never die. True believers
never die. Our Lord, it's not a figure of
speech. It's truth. And what the Lord said to Martha
to comfort her, this was for her comfort and her great grief
and sorrow, he says, all his fearful saying, you will never
die. Now, the reason being, because
this is our greatest fear. Why do we fear pestilence? Why do we fear death? There are
people dying. I do not, it's very real. brought to our attention time
and again over the last little while that thousands of people
die every day of something. Most people don't consider that.
But we have. That man, Scripture says, that
Christ came, made partaker of flesh and blood to destroy death. To deliver them who through fear
of death all their lifetime were subject to bondage. Fear is the
greatest bondage of all. You know that? It's a snare. Bondage. It's the most contagious.
She's talking about contagion. Fear is the most contagious thing
of all. Tell me. Every time you cough,
do you not? Seriously. Death is very real. And we've
been pointing out to God's people, and we'll see it in a moment,
that whatever it is, God said it. And God's people who trust
him need not fear, because the final thing, the last thing,
death, is the best thing. You know, the proverb says that
a day of one's death is better than birth. We don't have to believe that.
And hopefully this will help dispel some of that fear. Verses
1 through 3, a certain man was sick, Lazarus. The Lord loved
Lazarus and Martha and Mary. Verse 5, Jesus loved Martha and
her sister, Lazarus. And Lazarus, he loved him, didn't
he? Now he was sick. Where'd he get
the sickness? How'd he get the sickness? God
sent it. That's what God said, didn't
He? Deuteronomy 32, 39. I wound, I heal, I kill, I make
alive. That's Bible. That's not fatalism. That's God's Word. If there's
one thing outside of God's control, we better run to the hills. People are doing that. But you
can't run from God. He whom thou lovest, they sent
word to him, verse 3, his sister sent word on him, Lord, behold,
he whom thou lovest is sick. Now, the Lord said in verse 26,
he that believeth in me shall never die. Believe us, that is.
He didn't say he would never get sick. He didn't say that. He said they'll never die. They'll
get sick. But it's not going to be death.
He started out by saying this is not unto death. In fact, all
through the scriptures, he doesn't call it death. He talks about
them that sleep. We don't fear sleep, do we? The
older you get, the more you want to sleep. Many of us get in bed
now sometimes at seven o'clock. Why? We want to go to sleep.
You don't fear sleep. You look forward to it, don't
you? It's rest. And you just hope you get about
four or five hours. He giveth His beloved sleep,
eternal rest. We're afraid of it. Oh, don't
nobody afraid of it? The older we get in the faith,
the more we ought to look forward to it. Honestly. He whom thou lovest is sick."
Every single one that God loves, every single child of God gets
sick. Why? God sent it. Not the devil. The devil can't do anything.
We just looked at that second shift, first, second, third shift. The second shift saw that in
Job, but Satan couldn't touch him. And God said, here's what
you're going to do. Here's what I'm going to allow
you to do. And really, God said, it's my hand that's doing this.
God in whose hands our breath is and all our ways. The God
in whose hands everything is. Principalities, powers, spiritual
wickedness and high pleasure. And I remind you that that God
is Jesus Christ. He's not this silly, helpless
fellow standing outside our door. He's a lamb seated on the throne. His feet, he's sitting on a circle
of the earth, doing as he pleases. Boy, that's comfort. Nothing, nothing moves and nothing
harms us except what God sends. Lazarus got sick because the
Lord sent it. That's one. I remind you again,
Elisha was one of the greatest prophets ever to live, wasn't
he? There's Elijah. And then Elisha had a double
portion. Elisha got sick, and he died
from that sickness. What was it? Cancer? A virus? Something? He got sick. How? Why? He's got God sent. We need
to get that in our heads. Martin Luther lived during the
time of a great plague. Martin Luther lived during a
time of a great plague and many thousands of people were dying.
It was very real and very frightening. And Martin Luther said, I'm not
going to run from it. He said, I can't. He said, God
wants to find me. He'll find me and give me that. He did say this. He said, I'm
going to fumigate the air. I'm going to wash my hands. I'm going to do what they tell
me to, but I'm not going to be afraid. He said, I'm going to
trust the Lord. And he said, I'm going to serve
God's people. I'm going to preach. I'm going to visit with them.
If one of you got this sickness and you wanted me to come see
you, you think I would? That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did, Sister Karen. You know that? He came to this
leper colony and became a leper. That's exactly right. Why? To remove that disease that would
kill us. And now he says, never die. Not
going to die. He's sick, Lord, and they were
troubled. Oh, they were troubled, greatly
troubled. Verse 4, the Lord said, This
sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. Now, let
me say this. Psalm 91, the Word of God does
not say we won't get sick. I cannot promise you none of
us will get this virus. We can't do that. We might. Here's what I can promise
you, though, that if we got it, God sent it. And he will give
the grace to endure it. And if he takes you, if he takes
you, if you die for him, you don't die. So in that sense, it worked together
for your ultimate eternal good. Is that not right? And I reminded everybody Wednesday
night, why don't we live right now, instead of living in fear
of what we don't know is coming, why don't we live right now,
thanking the Lord for right now and his mercies that are new
this morning. It's of the Lord's mercies that we're all not consumed
by sin, not destroyed by the wrath of God. And this is the
wrath of God. It is. And we're all sinners. Let's
rejoice in the goodness and the mercy and the grace of our God
through our Lord Jesus Christ right now, okay? Not worry about
tomorrow. That's what the Lord said. He
said sufficient for tomorrow is the evil thereof. The worry,
the fear, and all that. There'll be enough of that. Why
don't we rejoice right now? We have every reason to do it. Right? That's good advice. It's
not. It's a command from our Lord.
All right, but they were distraught. Their brother was sick. And now
look at this, verse 4. He said, This sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God. And all of God's people
had become sick at one time or another, or will. I told the
people this Wednesday, I said, We might die of a car wreck on
the way home today. And we're worried about tomorrow. We might have, I might have, cancer right now. You might, right? Right? So, and these sicknesses that
God sends, he says it's not unto death for his people. He's talking
about those he loves, those he died for, came to die for, put
away their sin, which It's death. When sin is finished, it brings
death. Christ put away death by his own death. Sin. Sacrifice of himself. And it
says this is for the glory of God. Whatever God sends our way,
it's to the praise of the glory of his grace. It's for us to
testify that God sent it. This is an opportunity for us
to tell the whole unbelieving world God did this. because God's holy, God's just,
God's righteous, God is angry, God is wrath, God doesn't love
everybody, he loves those in Christ. And the wrath of God
is clearly revealed from heaven because man, Romans 1, because
man is not thankful, doesn't think about God, change the truth
of God, his imagination, he thinks he's done everything when God
gave him everything, and people don't give him a thought, and
not thankful, so God sends him down. It's a time for us to say
that with longsuffering, with love, and tell them God's people
are no different, we're all sinners, but God. The mercy of God, the
grace of God, the love of God is not on everybody, it's in
Christ. And all of God's people, it's
for their glory, God's glory, and for our good. It's for our
good. This is for the glory of God.
The Son of God might be glorified. What we're telling all men and
women now more than ever is that there's one way, there's one
truth, there's one hope of true life, and it's Jesus Christ. His blood, His righteousness,
God's mercy in Him. The ark. Get in the ark. Get
in the heart. Come to God. Come to Christ.
That's what we're saying. Now more than ever. And if you
get this sickness, you'll never die. That's good news isn't it? All
right. Verse 6. He heard that he was
sick. Our Lord heard. He heard. He
made the ear. This is the Creator, known unto
God all his works from the beginning of the world. We just read in
Revelation 1, I'm the Lamb. Well, for their sake, he had
somebody come, and for his disciples' sake, tell him, Lord, he whom
thou lovest is sick. So Peter, James, John, Thomas,
all of them are hearing this. Thaddeus, they're all hearing
this. Matthew, Levi, they're all hearing this. The Lord knows.
He said to them, for their sake. Like in this same chapter, he
prayed out loud. He said, I know you hear me,
but for their sake. All right. So when he heard,
he stayed where he was for two days. Two days. And on purpose. All right. Two days. Martha and Mary were
distraught. They sent word, Brother John,
Lord, come quickly. Lazarus, our brother, has a deathly... He's going down. Lord, he's fading. He's getting worse with every
moment. Lord, please hurry. You ever been there? We've all
been there, haven't we? Lord, do something fast. We purposely stay away for two
days. Martha and Mary are thinking,
where is he? Why doesn't he come? I think
that's what they're thinking. Why didn't he come? We prayed,
we called on him. Where is he? I'll tell you where
he is. He's right in the room. He's sitting on the throne. I'll
tell you where else he is. He was right there with them
all the time. They didn't know it. Like in the garden. Mary
thought he was a gardener. Then she turned around and said,
you know where they've laid my Lord? They don't lay your Lord
anywhere. He's the one that lays people
down. He laid down his own life. Are you the gardener? No, I'm
Mary. Opened her eyes to see him and
was with her all along. That's where he was. My brother was killed in Vietnam.
Who did it? God did it. Now, Dad preached
his first begotten son's funeral. You know how hard that was? And
people are so cruel, unbelieving people are so cruel, they don't
know God. They said it to David, ah-ha,
ah-ha, see? You claim you're God's sovereign?
Look what he did. Yeah, look what he did to his
son. Crime on purpose. for God's people, for His glory,
for their salvation. He does all things, and He does
it well. The most horrible thing that
ever happened was the crucifixion of Christ, and it was the best
thing. One of those people said to my dad, Where was God when
your son died? Do you know what he said? same place
he was when his son died on the throne. Job, look at you. You've lost
everybody, lost everything. Who did this? The Lord did it.
The Lord gave it. The Lord taketh away. Even his
wife said, Christ God, you believe this sovereign God? Look at what's
happened to you. He said, you're a fool, woman.
Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not Him alone?
It's the Lord, Job said. That's his peace. That's his
comfort. That's God's glory. And someday
we're going to see. Or we just read. They all went
through tribulation. They're all saying, why did we
fear? It was all so good. We just didn't know. We just
didn't trust Him. He knew what he was doing all
along. We just didn't know. Well, Lord,
do something. He is. He's working all things
after the counsel of his will. Isn't that wonderful? Where is he? Mary and Martha. He's on the throne, and he said
he'd never leave you, and he's right there with you. You just
don't see him. Rather than we've all been through
it, we've all sat up all night long worrying about somebody
we love, haven't we? David said, my soul waited for
the Lord more than they did watch for the morning. And he said,
all night long. He said, I've watered my couch with my tears.
We've all been there. We've all been through somebody's
sickness, trouble happening, can't sleep. And he called out
to the Lord, Lord, where are you? Help me. Those disciples, think about
when the Lord died. Think about those two days. He
stayed away here two days. And they were distraught. They
thought, He's not coming. And then Lazarus died. Well, think about when their
Lord, their life, their everything, their father, their brother,
their all, their Savior, their wisdom, their right, their everything.
They saw Him die on that cross. He'd been telling them all along.
He'd been telling them all along. This is where I'm going. This
is why I came. This is where I'm going. I came for you. I
don't try things. I do things. This is what I've
come to do, and I will do it. And when it's all over, I'm going
to lay in that grave. I'm going to be that fit man
that takes that scapegoat in the wilderness with your sins
and separates them as far from you as the east is from the west.
And then I'm coming back to receive you to myself, but for three
days. Thomas. All of them. He's dead. He's dead. No, he's not. You just can't see him. Well,
our Lord said then. Now look at His words. Every
word. Don't worry, I'm not going to deal with every verse. Maybe you're worried I won't.
That'd be good. Paul preached one time. Oh, not
long. Not me. They said, verse 8, Lord,
are you going to go? He said, let's go to Judea, verse
7. They said, Lord, don't go there. The Jews will kill you. They're out to get you. They're
going to kill you, Lord. They're going to stone you. They
sought to stone you before. You know, if the Lord had said,
reminded them, do you remember what happened? I passed right through the middle
of it. Don't you forget that so soon? How many deliverances
have you and I been through all of our lives, huh? I could tell
you story after story when I didn't know the Lord. But God, I can't die. I've got to know Him. I've got
to come to him. I can't. He's not going to let
anything kill me. No man taketh my life from me.
No man took his life from me. He laid it down. He's going to
lay mine down. I had a dog that I loved. I loved him dearly.
He got sick. I didn't send him. But anyway,
he got sick. And the day came, I decided,
Karen, I decided I'm going to put him down. I loved him. I put him down. And it's the same with you. No
man, no thing takes your life from you. The Lord does. You're
not your own. You're bought with a price. You
belong to Him. He says when it's time. Nobody
could have told me, you need to put Him down. Don't tell me,
I'll do it when I feel like it. And did it grieve me? Yes, it
grieved me. But the thing is, his people,
all his people, I'll never see Abner, my buddy, again. I'll
never see him again. But that's why God puts him there.
He sees them right away. Forever. Never departing from
them. You ever thought about that?
That God takes his people. He said, I'm not going to be...
I want them right now. He left his son here for just
33 years. He couldn't, may I say it this way, couldn't bear to
be apart from him any longer. Can I say that? I did. But that's
a good, a good illustration. No man taketh our life from us,
our Lord does. He's the one that sent the sickness
to Lazarus. He stayed away two days so that
he would die. All right? And they said, Lord,
they're going to stone you. No, it's not possible. There
will be a day when my time comes. Brethren, we have time. Our days
are numbered. Our months are with the Lord. He has appointed our bounds that
we cannot pass. Is that fatalism? It's Job 14.
It's the Word of God. It can't lie. Let's believe him,
shall we? Verse 9, our Lord said, Are there
not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he
stumbleth not, he seeth the light of this world. This is why we
stumble and fall and get fretted and all that. The entrance of
His Word giveth life, giveth understanding. Isn't everything,
doesn't everything seem to be better when the sun is shining
the brightest? Doesn't it? It troubles at night
time, but always worse. And what do you do? You wait
for the morning. For the sun to come up. Let me
tell you something. The sun is always up. We just can't see it. The earth
is in darkness. Let us not be in darkness even
as others. Our Lord said we walk in the
day. We have nothing to fear. Daylight, you know, you see everything
clearly, don't you? In daylight. But if a man, verse 10, walking
at night, he stumbles. There's no light in him. We're
not in darkness as others. That's what Paul said in II Thessalonians. Comfort, God's comfort one another
with His Word. Comfort, comfort, comfort. We're
not in darkness as others. The Lord's coming and sending
them. All right, let's look at this. He said in verse 11, Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth. See that? Sleepeth. I go that
I may awake him out of sleep. You know why the Lord Jesus Christ
came to this earth? He came, he said that they might
have life. The Lord came to awaken dead
sinners. to call them from darkness to
light, from death unto life. That's why he came. And he is
the light. Christ crucified is the light.
He is our life. He came. I may awake him out
of sleep. Verse 35, when the Lord came,
he wept. And I've heard so many messages
on that. I've tried it myself. But some have said this, and
it's a good one. that our Lord wept at bringing
Lazarus back to this place. His sisters were weeping because
he left. Lazarus didn't act. There's no
soul sleep. Forget all that, what the Catholics
said. Forget that. There's no soul sleep. There's
no purgatory. Get that out of your head. He
was just asleep. His heart was stopped. And he
was dead as far as everybody knew him. He didn't go to heaven
and the Lord did not bring him back to heaven. Wouldn't that
be cruel? He didn't do it. He went to sleep.
But his heart's gone and they think he's dead. And they put
him in the grave. And they said after four days,
he's stinking. He's dead. He's bound to be stinking. Why did I say that? Because our Lord wept at the
thought of bringing Him back. When we leave this place, everybody
on earth that loves us will weep. But everybody in heaven will
be shouting for joy. Including the Lord. It says in
Zephaniah, He'll rejoice over us with singing. They're home! Everybody's going to say, He's
home! And there are the sheep in the fold that sing. The Lord
saved him. He's home. Everybody on earth
is weeping uncontrollably. Everybody in heaven is rejoicing
with joy on his people. So our Lord wept. He had to bring
him back. He wept over what sin had brought
death. He wept over their unbelief,
perhaps. I weep over mine." On and on it goes, we can say that.
He says, but I go, I come that they might have life to awake
him out of sleep. Verse 12, his disciple, Lord,
if you sleep, you do well. That's right. Oh, that's so right. Do you hear your own voice? Then he said plainly, what you know to be death. He's
dead. But he said, I'm glad. Glad? Glad? What they're so sad about
making glad? Yeah, here it is. Verse 15. To
the intent. I'm glad I was not there. To
this intent. For this purpose that you may
believe. Nevertheless, let's go unto him.
That you may believe. Do you understand that everything
that happens in the life of God's people is to this intent and
this purpose to strengthen our faith, no matter what it is and
how difficult it is? Everything is for this intent.
This is what God intends it for, for God's people. To the praise
of the glory of his grace. And true faith won't be tried
until it's difficult. It's got to be a fiery trial,
really? We don't really trust the Lord in good times, do we? No. That boat, Mike built the
boat, you know, and he's had it out on the lake or whatever,
I guess. Have you had, hey, ten waves, ten foot waves crash over?
Huh? Sixty mile an hour wind, you
hadn't? Well, there ain't no boat. Let's take her out when the storm
starts rising. We'll see if that's a boat. Well, that's faith. And
what is our faith? It's not in us. It's Christ the
Ark. He is our faith. Are we in Him?
The only way that's going to be really tested. When chilling winds and poisonous
breaths come, deep waters, storms of life, where there is no hope,
no hope in man, no hope in human reasoning, no hope in technology,
no hope in medicine, no hope but in God. Now, let's see. When you've got no place else
to turn. He's dead. Time to lay. Come
to this intent. That you may believe. You say
everything. You know, some of us, all of us have gone through
something. You thought, this is the worst
thing. This is awful. This is awful. I don't know how
I'm going to get through it. Lord, in His mercy and grace,
John and Early lost a son. I can't imagine anything being
harder than that. You know, the Lord gave them,
I wish you could have seen their faces as I was reading the Word
to them. Peace. Their hearts are breaking,
but their hearts have peace. I explained that. I can't. That's
the peace that Pastor Thomas taught. Right, John? Who did
that, John? The Lord did. That's your peace. He does all things well, and
he does everything right. And someday you'll know, even
as you've been known. And he said, that's what this
was intended for. And you did, both of you. The
Lord gave you a profession before all of us, and it helped me early,
Sister Early. It helped me. That's what it is intended for,
that you may believe. Look at this, Thomas. Now listen,
you're going to like this. You're going to love this. This
is what made me want to deal with this. I thought about Thomas.
We give him a hard time, old Thomas does. Remember when the
Lord was dead, and they all ran, and they all prayed for three
days. They all thought he was dead. None of them believed the
women that came back. He's a liar. No, he's not. Don't
believe you silly women. No, he's alive. Well, Thomas
said, this wasn't so much fear, I mean, unbelief and all that,
as he loved the Lord. Christ was everything to him.
He'd given up everybody and everything, and he depended on Christ for
three years for everything. Now he's gone. Do you understand? Now who am I
going to turn to? His dad. And they said, no, Thomas. He said, I don't believe it.
I won't believe it till I lay hold of him. And we gave him
a hard time for that. I understand where he's coming
from. And I've been there so many times, more than I can tell
you. All right, now listen to this. Old Thomas. Look at this. Now, what sickness did Lazarus
die from? Brethren, whatever it was, he
died in 72 hours. It was something bad. It had
to be something deadly. Was it a virus? It could have
been. Whatever it was, it killed him
immediately. Whatever it was, it could have
been greatly contagious, could it not? Huh? Listen to Thomas. Thomas said, verse 16, which
is called Didymus, and he said this to his brethren for their
comfort. Let's also go and just die with
him. Let's get whatever he got and
just die with him. Go to be the Lord. Brethren,
let's go. The Lord said, let's go. Let's
go. No worries. We're with him. He did this. He knows what he's
doing. Let's go. Shall we? That's what I'm preaching
to you right now. Let's go. Oh, if we're crucified
with Christ, if we've died with him, we're going to live with
him. He's promised. Whatever he sins,
it's not death. And that's what he said. And
let me close all this by saying he came to the grave where they
were, Mary and Martha. In verse 22, verse 21, she said,
Lord, if you'd been here, my brother had not died. He was
there. Just like the disciples out on that water, you know,
feared for their lives. And where was he? He had his
eye on them all along. That ship can't go down till
he can. She said, I know now. I know
even now. If you ask, God will give it to you. She said, verse
23, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Our Lord said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believe it shall be. He that
hath the Son hath life. You believe Christ, you have
life right now. You have eternal life. It can't
be taken from you. Whatever the Lord sends, if your
body lays down, it's just sleep. Your soul goes on forever to
be with the Lord, alive unto God forever. No death, no sorrow,
no sickness, no pain, no suffering. Isn't that good? Never die. He said, I am the resurrection. The moment he sends his word
through the preaching of the gospel, the incorruptible seed
and causes it to conceive in the heart of a dead sinner, they're
born of God and they'll never die. Never die. That which God doeth shall be
forever. I am the resurrection. Christ
said this. He said, I am the way, the truth,
the life. Christ is the king, prophet,
priest, king, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, heaven
itself, life itself. He that believeth Christ. He
said, I am all that you need, all that you require. I am it. I am that I am. Do you believe that? That's what
he asked it. Believe us now then? And then
he went to his tomb. Oh Lord, remove the stones. These things that hold us bound
in these grave clothes. These things that keeps us in
darkness. All these fears. Lord, open. Our eyes, as we might
see, remove these grapes. He came to that tomb where he
lay, and we are, in a sense, entombed in this world, this
earth. As is the earth, earthy so are
they that are earthy. That's us, bound by fears, bound
by darkness, that the people that walk in darkness have seen
a great light. When this was over, when our Lord cried with
a loud voice, that's his word, that's his gospel, Lazarus come
forth. He that was bound came forth alive. And you know, the
Lord wept before that because Lazarus was going to die of something.
He was going to get sick again and die. But he did it to the intent that
they might believe and that we might believe. And someday, we
need to believe this, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no
more sin, because Christ put it away, and no more death ever. Do you believe that? That's what
Christ did. All right, stand with me. Our Father in Heaven, again we
thank You for Your Word. Without it, we are in darkness.
Thy Word, entrance of Thy Word, give light, and Christ is the
light. God, Thou hast spoken sundry times in diverse manners
in His last day, in His very last day, spoken unto us by Your
Son, sunlight, and we believe. The Son of Righteousness has
come and given us an understanding. We might know Him that is true
or in Him that is true, even His Son, the Ark. We believe, Lord. Oh, help our
unbelief. Take this Word and help our unbelief. And whatever
you send enables us to witness a good profession, as you did
before Pilate. As you did before your disciples
and said, I came for this reason. Oh Lord, whatever you send, give
us the faith of Job, and we'll have the end of Job. The Lord
gave, the Lord take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Let us not murmur or complain, but give thanks in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.