And he said, young lady, he said,
I tell you what, I dare you. Martin used to dare people. He'd
say that I double-dog dare you. I double-dog dare you, young
lady. This was just what some defiant, young, rebellious, you
know, know-it-all needed to hear. Dare me what? He said, I dare
you, go home and ask God to show you yourself. She said, OK. Barnard came back into town a
few months later, and that young lady was there, and she was a
mess. She was broken. She was miserable. She wouldn't
smile. Her parents said, She's been
a mess ever since you left. We don't know what's wrong with
her. Barnard confronted her after and said, Now, young lady, now,
now, you go. He said, I dare you. I double-dog
dare you. He said, You go home and you
ask God to show you himself. He said, OK. Barnard came back
into town a couple of months, and the Lord had saved that young
lad. God got to bring a person to
themselves, to see themselves for what they are, and to see
Christ for who he is. See Christ for who he is. Ah,
Christ comes, they'll live. They'll live. Let's read on.
Well, Martha still, verse 22, I know she said, If not even
thou, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give to thee.
Martha still had hope, didn't she, for her dead brother. And
don't despair. Don't despair over anyone, as
long as there is a gospel. Now, let me say this stuff. If
they're not under the sound of the gospel, then you have reason to despair. Maybe, perhaps, though, if they've
heard the gospel at some point, God will use that as a seed,
and maybe if he planted it. This happens. It happened to
me. He planted that seed, and later on, something watered it.
They came back, and then the Lord caused it to bring forth
life. That seed planted a long time
ago. You lose them for a while. Maybe
it's like Philemon with Onesimus. Maybe you gain them back forever. Don't despair if they've heard
the gospel. However, they need to be under
the sound of the gospel. We'll see this in a moment. Look
at verses 23 and 24. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Many believe in heaven, don't
they? Everybody wants to go to heaven. Christ is heaven. Look at the
next line. Christ 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 thou this? You believe
this? Christ is life. If you believe
Christ, you'll never die. Do you believe this? If you really
believe, you'd come to Christ. If you knew, you'd ask and you'd
get. Did you notice what Christ said
there very carefully? Look at verse 26, "...whosoever
liveth and believeth in me." In other words, today is the
day of salvation. Why, you've got breath. Don't boast of tomorrow. You
just don't know. You don't know. He that liveth
in belief. And also, no one is going to
believe unless Christ gives them life. All right, read on. Look
at verse 27. She saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should
come into the world. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." Do you believe this? Do you believe
Christ? Do you? Young people, do you? Do you
or don't you? If you did, you'd come to him. Look at what Mary did, verse
28 and 29. When she said, She went her way and called Mary,
her sister, secretly, saying, The Master has come and called
it for thee. As soon as Mary heard that, she arose quickly
and came unto him." Christ is calling you. Do you believe Christ
or not? Do you or don't you? Then why
tarry us that? Arise and be baptized. Either
you do or you don't. I don't know if I do or not.
No, no. You either do or you don't. Then why tarryest thou? Arise, be baptized, come to Christ.
Read on. Verse 13. Jesus was not yet come
into town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews
then, which were with her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she
rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth
unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto
him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
That's right, but that's wrong. They both were. Had a great deal
of ignorance, didn't they? Oh, my. But she fell at his feet,
didn't she, imploring the Lord. Beseeching the Lord on behalf
of her brother, didn't you? Huh? Didn't you, Jeanette? Fell
at his feet. What's your hope? Parents? Husband, wife? Children? What's your hope of
your parents or whoever? Fall at his feet. Fall at his
feet. Lord, be like Job. Offer a sacrifice
for your children. case they didn't offer one. You
remember that? Remember that? Where Job offered
sacrifices for his children and said, and you know I'm not saying
that we can save our children, but you can sure fall at the
feet of the one who can, who does. Fall at his feet. Lord, save them or they perish.
They're not calling, I'm calling. The Lord sure heard his son on
our behalf, didn't he? Maybe he'll hear us on their
behalf. Oh, my. Verse 33, I love this verse.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping
which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit. And the margin
says he was troubled. He troubled himself. He troubled
himself. What trouble the Lord put himself
through. He put himself through trouble.
Christ didn't have to come down here. Christ didn't have to be
made flesh and dwell among us. Christ didn't have to be made
sin for us. he who knew no sin. Oh, no, Christ didn't have to
pour out his soul unto death, but if we're going to be saved,
he had to. So he troubled himself. He didn't have to die. In fact, no man taketh his life
from it, but he troubled himself. He laid down his life for our
sake, for the glory of God, for the greater glory of God. Read on, verse 34. He said, Where have you laid him?" They
said unto him, Lord, come and see. You know, everybody else can
see the condition somebody's in, but the person that's in
it can't. I look back at myself as eighteen,
nineteen, twenty-year-old, and I thought I had the world by
the tail on a downhill pull, you know. I thought I looked
like something I see these kids today with these
bold haircuts, you know, and they actually think they look
good. They actually think they look
good. That's all right. I came in looking a certain way, and
I was somebody that got my attention. I thought I looked good. I thought
everything, you know, I thought I was just, well, I didn't know nothing. I didn't know nothing. Where are you now? Look at you.
Just look at you. Just look at you. Till the Lord
brought me to just take a good look at myself. Like the prodigal,
he came to himself. Look at me. Look at what I, look
at me. That's what the Lord's got to
bring you to yourself. Where are you? Look at where
sin has laid you. Look at you. Verse 35, Jesus
wept. Now, our Lord didn't weep over the
sadness that was going on. Our Lord didn't weep out of sadness.
Let me just straighten that up. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Christ didn't weep because, oh,
it was such a sad situation and, oh, what are we going to do,
wringing his hands? This is awful. sorrow is those
who have no hope, you know, the weak control of it. Oh, no, he,
known unto him are all his works from the beginning. He knew he
was going to raise this man before he came. He knew that he'd seen
great joy when this day was over. I mean, they're going, all tears
are going to be wiped away. There's not going to be any remembrance
of tears. Nobody, there's not going to be a He's not going
to be a wet eye in the bunch in just a few minutes. He knows
that. No more sadness ever again. He knows that. So he's not weeping
over sadness. I believe here the Lord wept
over sin and what state sin had plunged this planet into. That's what I believe. Sin and
its awful curse, death. Look at it. This is what it has
to come to. Adam in the garden, upright, beautiful, glorious
in the image of God. Now look at him in the rest home,
no mind, shriveled up, doesn't know his own name, slobbering at the mouth. Look
at him now. It's enough to make you wait.
Sin. Sin. That's why we have to read
on. Then it said, The Jews behold
how he loved him. Yes, he loved him, loved him
to the end. It wasn't the end of his love.
Like I said, all he loves he raises. Oh, you're going to see
how he loved him. Not just raising him, but he
himself being raised on that cross. There behold what manner
of love. There you're going to see love.
Behold how he loved him, not just because he cried over him,
because it died for him. That's how you're going to see
his love. He died that Christ died that he might not die again.
That's love, not weeping at the grave, hanging on the cross. There's love. There's love. Read
on. Some of them said, Could not
this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that
even this man should not have died? Sure he could have. Only this man could. He's the
only man, only this man could do that. Read on. Jesus therefore
again groaning in himself. Why? Groaning over their ignorance
and unbelief. Cometh to the grave. It was a
cave and a stone lay upon it. It was a cave and a stone laid
upon it." This man was dead, he was in a cave, and there was
a stone over the door, just like there are some in here right
now who are dead in trespasses and sin, they are in darkness,
they don't see any beauty in Christ, and there is a stone,
a stony heart. This gospel is just not touching
this old heart, just unmoved, just sitting there. And he's going to stay that way
until Christ says, get the stone away. He doesn't have to. He could
have passed by. We sung that song. Did you sing
it? Did you take it on your lips? Pass me not. Did you sing that
song? If you did, you better admit
it. He just passed right on by Lazarus. He didn't have to sing it. But
he stopped. There was a stone on the cake,
a stone. And look at verse 39. Christ said, Take away the stone. Take away the stone. Why did he say that? Why did
he tell them to take away the stone? Why didn't he say, Move
stone? Well, his word did cause the
stone to move, didn't it? Didn't it, John? Why did that
stone move? You say, because they moved out
of what? Because he told them to. Right? He is the one that moved that
stone, no doubt about it. But it was at his word, you see. How does Christ say, not of molten
lightning, You're not going to be at home and all of a sudden
a boat and a lightning hit you. At least you're not going to
be saved that way. You might perish that way. How
are you going to be saved? The preaching of the gospel.
A man preaching the gospel to an old stony heart and saying,
live! Why will you die? a man attempting to roll away
the stone, and he can't unless Christ says, Roll away the stone. Preach! Oh, Lord, they're boned. Preach! Roll away the stone.
It's too heavy. Roll it away. Preach! I preached to them before. Preach! Come to Christ. They've heard that before. Roll
away the stone. Oh, that he'd roll away a stone
this morning. He did last week, didn't he?
If he doesn't roll away another one, I know a nineteen-year-old
girl, and I'm mighty glad he rolled away a stone. She heard
the gospel. Oh, I'm mighty glad that he's
still in the stone-rolling business, the heart-breaking business.
I'm mighty glad. That might have been the last.
Might have been the last. I'm trying this morning. He has to send the command, roll
away the stone, take away the stone, preach the gospel. But
Lord, he's stinking. That's what they say. He's stinking.
By this time he's stinking. He's been dead four days. He's
a long time dead. I said, take away the stone. Preach. Preach. Well, look at verse 40 and 41.
Jesus said unto her, If thou wouldst believe, said I not unto
thee, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of
God. Then they took Whitestone. Oh, Nancy, Jeanette, ladies,
people, men, John, if you'd believe. I don't know,
Debra, I just don't know, but there's something in this right
here. And if you'd believe, didn't I tell you? There's something
here that I think we're missing. Didn't I tell you? If you'd believe,
you'd see. Be like that importunate widow. Be like old Jacob, don't let
him go till he blesses you. I double-dog dare you to believe
Christ to save somebody. Follow this feat, Lord, roll
away the stone. It be a glad day. Oh, it be a
glad day. And when he had thus spoken, verse 42, they took away the
stone from the place. Jesus lifted up his eyes and
said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew
that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which
stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. I wouldn't dare try to imitate
that voice. Maybe he'll speak to you as he
did to Lazarus in a still, small voice. come forth. And he that was dead came forth. And he that was dead came forth. Not until then, not until Christ
cried. And I love that thought, Had
not Christ called Lazarus' name, everybody that was dead would
have come forth. Every grave would have opened,
every stone would have rolled away. Christ called his name,
and I'm calling you by name. Hopefully, sinner, come to Christ. He that was dead, and look at
this, this is important. He that was dead came forth,
verse 44, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. bound hand and foot with grave
clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Christ
said unto them, Loose him, let him go." That's important. that was added. He came forth bound hand and
foot with grave clothes. What's that? That's the old nature
that man still has, hand and foot, so that we cannot do the
things that we would. We still maintain these grave
clothes of sin, don't we? That bind us. Who shall deliver
me from this body of death? Let him go. The gospel, that's
the same thing that raises you, says, Loosen! And all our lives
are spent in the gospel, loosening us. Take off this, and there's
a napkin about his face. Oh, we see dimly, don't we? Old Lazarus came out of that
grave, couldn't see Christ very clearly, could he? He could see
that there he was. and that he raised him, but he
didn't know much, he couldn't see much. Start unwrapping that
twine. With each unveiling he saw Christ
clearer, didn't he? You see the picture. I need that
because I see people whom the Lord has obviously done a work
in their heart, and yet they come out and still have some
trappings of the old man and religion. self-righteousness,
you know, they still got those old self-righteous rags on. Get
loose of him. Get that off of him. And I see
that in people, you know. Until they've sat under the gospel,
sat under the gospel, sat under the gospel, sat under the gospel,
and in fact, those old grave clothes are starting to leave.
And they're bearing the image of a perfect, mature man or woman. No more until It's all unwrapped,
unveiled in Hebrews time. Let's go. That's what happened
to Lazarus, wasn't it? That's what happened to him,
finally. See, Lazarus died, didn't he?
Lazarus died. Twice. So do we. We have to, too. He raises us from the dead the
first time, spiritually speaking, and then we die physically He
raises us again, never to die anymore. All right. Sheriff, you'll come
up. Let's sing number 249, a couple
of verses. And I'm not singing this, we're
not singing this hymn for effect, people. And we'll not sing 102
verses of it. We'll sing two verses. I'm saying
it because it's a good hymn, and if you can say this from
the heart, if you can sing this from the heart, just as I am
without one plea. That thy blood was shed for me,
O that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, here I come. If you can say that, you can
come. All right, let's sing. Just as I am without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me And that Thou bidst me come to Thee O
Lamb of God Last verse.