Turn with me to John chapter
11. John chapter 11. A very, very familiar passage
of Scripture to most of you, I'm sure. Our Lord said back in John chapter
5, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God. and they that hear shall live."
The voice of the Son of God. A dead man hears his voice. Verse
1, chapter 11, let's get right into it. Now, a certain man was
sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary, and her sister
Martha. A certain man was sick. The Holy Spirit records these
words, speaks these words, definite purpose, every single word in
the Scripture. He said a certain man was sick. Why do people take ill? Why do people become sick? Who's
to blame? Satan? That's what this world
says, don't it? Satan's behind all the problems
and the conflicts. You jot this scripture down,
and don't you forget it. Deuteronomy 32, 39. Don't you forget it. Deuteronomy
32, 39. Let me read it to you. God says,
see now. He says, I remember my dad used
to say now, you better see now. You better listen up. See now
that I Even I am He. There is no God with me. I kill. I make a life. I wound and I
heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. I do these things, God said. Isaiah 45, 7 is another one.
But God is the first cause of all things. Terry, he's either
God or he's not. It's what the word, it's what
the name means. Absolute controller, ruler, creator, author of all
things. He is the one who determines
who, what, how, and why. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Nothing catches God by surprise. Satan doesn't do anything outside
of God's direction or permission, right? That's what the scriptures
teach. And this is true, and this is
only true comfort for a believer, that God's in control of all
things, that all things truly work together for good to them
that love God. They were called according to
his purpose. All things are accomplishing, effectually accomplishing God's
Oh, wise, divine purpose. That's our comfort. That's our
rest, isn't it? God's in control. I wouldn't
come out of my house if I didn't think God was in control, that
Satan was on the loose. A certain man was sick named
Lazarus. Why was he sick? God determined
for this man to be sick. That flies in the face of Pentecostal
charismatic religion today. And we'll see here in a minute,
it was a man that God loved, Christ loved. Verse 2, now it
was that Mary, Lazarus was the brother of Mary and her sister
Martha. This was that Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother,
Lazarus, was sick. Therefore, verse 3, his sister
sent unto Christ They sent a message to the Lord saying, Lord behold,
he whom thou lovest is sick. He knew he was sick. He made
him sick. He knew it. But they sent message
to the Lord that Lazarus was sick. Now Jesus Christ frequented
this little cabin, this family quite a bit, Lazarus and His
two sisters, Mary and Martha, he loved this family, loved them
dearly, and he visited with them quite often. He loved this family. And Lazarus, the brother, became
gravely ill one day, gravely ill. Now, Christ loved this man.
The Son of God loved this man, but he became gravely ill, and
we'll see in a minute, he died. But he loved this man, and people
are asking these questions, then why did he let him get sick?
He loved him? If God, then why? This is what everybody is asking.
Why God? I mentioned Brother Todd's name
a while ago. Brother Todd is in the hospital
right now having a recurring bout with this serious illness
that almost killed him before. Why? Here is a young man with
a little daughter, about almost my daughter's age, and a lovely
wife, pastor of a little church, seems to be growing, God's blessing
the church, blessing the people, faithful preacher of the gospel.
Why? Why? It just doesn't seem right.
Why? One reason. There's one reason
for all things. Look at verse 4. When Jesus heard
that he said, when he heard that, He said, this sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God. It's one reason why all
of these things take place. It's for the glory of God. The
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby,
he said. One reason for all things. All
things redound to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
Heavenly Father. All things. No matter how things
appear, no matter how hideous things are, how horrible, how
devastating, how hard and unreasonable, how unreasonable. We can't figure
out some things that happen in this world, can we? Can't do
it. If we could, we'd be God, wouldn't we? Can't understand.
We don't know. He moves in mysterious ways.
But somehow, according to God's infinite wisdom, somehow all
things work together. good and what we call evil. All
things work together according to God's divine plan, just like
he plans them, and according to his power and his glory. Like
old Joseph. You remember Joseph down, when
Joseph was such a fine man, was falsely accused and thrown into
prison and just suffered all manner of ill treatment? Why? Why would this happen to such
a man? Well, men meant it for evil, but the Lord meant it for
good. Well, look at verse five. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. You'd like to have your name
written there. Well, if you're a sinner, it's
written. He loved these people. He loved these three people.
And folks, let me say this, and I'll say it again in a little
while. If God loves you, you ain't going to die. This is the
key to this whole chapter, I believe. He loved them. Short verse. He loved Lazarus. So Lazarus
is not about to die. You say, yeah, he did. No, he
didn't. Verse 6, And when he had heard, therefore, that he
was sick, he stayed put. He abode two days and still in
the same place where he was. He knew exactly what he was doing.
He knew exactly what he was doing. He was doing it. He's Lord. He
waited two days to get the greater glory. In his good time, in the
fullness of time, after everything was fulfilled according to the
scriptures, just as he planned it, look at verse 7, and after
that, after he waited two days, he said, let's go, it's time.
Let's go, it's time. Now, you all can take comfort
in this. You can take comfort in this, you who are afflicted
and sorry and under trials and tribulations and so forth. Scripture
says in Isaiah 30, verse 18, He waited to be gracious. The long-suffering of the Lord
is salvation. He's not waiting on you, no. But He's waiting
according to His good time, according to His good pleasure. He's waiting
until everything accomplishes His will, and His will will be
done. His will will be done. That's
the reason I harp so much on this thing of free will. Either
God's will is free or my will is free. It can't be both. Somebody's
will has got to be done. Scripture says His will will
be done. Not man's will. His will. Verse
8. So he said, Let's go. And his
disciples said unto him, Master? He said, Let's go down to Judea.
And his disciples said, Master, the Jews are trying to kill you
down there. What are we going to go down there for? Why? Why? Why go there? It doesn't seem
right. This doesn't seem reasonable. It's not the thing to do. No,
no, wait a minute. It's not the way I'd do it. Not
the way I'd do it. And even so, we can't figure
out God's way. His ways are not our ways. His
thoughts are not our thoughts. Mark it down. When we think something
ought to be, it probably not. Probably won't. But they were
going to soon find out But just as we shall soon find out and
know, even as we've been known, they're going to soon find out
why he went and why he went. He must, he must need to go to
Judea there. Oh, look at verse 9. So Jesus
answered. They said, Let's not go down there. And Jesus answered,
Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the
day, he stumble if not. because he seeeth the light of
this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because
there's no light in him. I believe what he's saying here
is, walk in the light you have. Believe what you see, like little
children. Believe, receive, hear God's
Word and believe it, whatever you hear. And more light will
be given to you. Don't question it. Look and see.
Look and live. Look and live. Listen and you'll
hear. Believe and you'll see. It's not seeing is believing,
it's believing is seeing. That's the way God does things.
And if a man has no spiritual light, if he has no understanding,
he'll stumble at everything. Anything comes along. A verse
of Scripture seems to imply something, let's stumble. Don't have any
true light. And I believe he's also saying
here that if you walk by faith in Christ, who is the light,
then you'll understand, you'll have true spiritual discernment.
and understanding, but if a man walks in darkness, unbelief,
he stumbles. He stumbles at everything because
there's no light in him, no understanding. The Word of God's not in his
heart. Verse 11, These things said he, and after that he said
unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, I go that
I may awake him out of sleep. Lazarus sleepeth. I go to awaken
him. And like I said while I go, I
believe the key to this whole chapter is verse 3 and verse
5. The love of Christ for these
people. Now like I said, everybody who
God loves, everybody who God Almighty truly loves, will be
raised from the dead. Raised from the dead. Oh, we're
going to die, all right. But not eternally. Not eternally. And everybody in Christ will
be given eternal life. They just merely go to sleep.
We die, all right, but we just go to sleep and we wake up in
the arms of the beloved. That's what we do, go to sleep.
And as verse 4 says, this sickness is not unto death, and your sin
is not going to kill you. It's not going to condemn you
before God. It's not going to bring you down to hell if you're
a disciple of Christ. If you're a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, your sin's not going to kill you, but it's for
the glory of God. It's for your salvation. That
sin that plagues God's people will not be to their spiritual
death and destruction, but for God's glory and their salvation. Now, look at verse 12. Well,
the disciples, he said, Lazarus is sleeping, and I go to wake
him. And his disciples said, well,
Lord, if he's asleep, he'll do well. If he's just sleeping,
let's leave him alone. He'll be all right. Sleep's good
for him. These disciples didn't understand
what he was saying, and neither does this religious generation.
They don't understand what God's Word is saying concerning the
condition of man. Most people believe that man
is only spiritually sick and asleep, and that God merely needs
to wake him up. Right? That's what men mostly
believe, that man is basically a good fellow and just needs
some help. God helps those who help themselves,
you know? That man just merely needs to be shown the way. Shown
the way. Just be put in the way. They believe that man is not
dead and trespassed in sin, but he has some good in him, and
if you'd only develop that good and teach him the good way, then
everything will be all right. He'll be saved. But people are
ignorant of this one thing that you must understand. Understand
any theology or any truth of the gospel. What happened in
the garden? That's what men are ignorant
of. What really happened in the garden of Eden when Adam and
Eve rebelled against God? What happened? God said to that
man and that woman, the day you eat of that fruit, of that tree,
you'll surely die. Now what this was, was a symbol
of God's authority and rule over them. He said you have everything
else in the garden but this one tree, no. This is a symbol of
my rule, my authority, that I'm God. You're little gods. Remember one place Christ said,
you're gods. That is, you're rulers in your
own area. But I'm God. I'm King of kings
and Lord of lords. I'm ruler over all. I'm ruler
over you. That's what he was saying to Adam. You're little
rulers over this little land, Adam. But I'm God. And this tree is proof of it. You don't touch that tree. It's
a symbol of my authority. And what did Adam do? What did
Adam and Eve say? We don't like that. We want to be in charge
of our own destiny. We want to be gods. We have our
free will, don't we? See, yeah, we do. Grabbed that
fruit and ate it. God said, the day you eat thereof,
you'll what? Get sick? It'll make you feel
awful. You'll suffer some awful persecution
and trial. Die. Did he die that day? Not physically. He lived another
970 years. Yes, he did die. He died spiritually. And that's true life, true life
with God. God's Spirit. And only those
who have the spiritual life of God in Christ are living spirits
before God. Everybody else is dead, dead
in sin. That's what happened in the garden,
and that's the starting point of all true knowledge. You miss
that, you miss it all. That's first base. If you stumble
over first base, you're out, right? What happened in the garden? Man died. Died to God. That is, he became spiritually
insensible to God. No eyes, can't see the glory
of God, can't see himself. No ears, can't hear the voice
of God. He's deaf. Can't hear it, can't hear about
truth, can't hear the Word of God. Can't do it. He can't speak. He's dumb. He has a speech impediment.
Whenever he does talk, it's wrong. Aye, aye, aye, free will. He talks all wrong. He's got
a speech impediment. He can't walk. He's lame. He's
dead. He's in the grave, like that
fellow laying in a ditch, and a Samaritan had to come along
and pick him up out of the ditch. That's everybody by nature, dead
in trespasses and sins, dead, dead. Now, when Jesus spoke of his
death, they thought he'd spoken of taking of rest and sleep.
But Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. God's word's
very clear, isn't it? God speaks very plainly, and
so do all his preachers. They don't hear him hauling around,
so he's basically dead. No! God's men and God's word
say plainly, man's dead. Dead. Graveyard dead, somebody
said. Dead, dead. How do you get anything
else out of that saying than dead? And that's what the Scripture
says, doesn't it? Ephesians 2, 1. We're dead. Oh,
I just remember one word. If we can remember this, if God
will impress this upon our hearts and minds, that we're dead by
nature, then we might hear that voice that gives life. Not until
then, not until then. Dead. God's Word speaks very
plainly. Man is dead. He's very much alive to this
world. Yeah, we're very much alive to
this world. We are sensible to this world. We have eyes and
ears and taste and lust and passion after this world. Very much alive
unto this world, but we're dead unto God. Romans chapter 1 clearly
explains that. Men don't like to retain God
in their knowledge. When they see God's Word, they don't like
to know God. I don't believe that. But they're
very much alive and consumed with, taken up with this world,
aren't they? But dead to God. Dead. Cut off. Cut off. Adam could not get back
in that garden. Why? He was cut off. And we cannot,
no man could come unto the Father except, come unto Christ except
the Father which has sent him. Glory! Unborrowed away, right? Break
down that middle wall of partition. Dead. Dead. And if any man say
that he's not dead, Barbara, if any man say he has no sin,
he's a liar. Right? Somebody just told you
the other day, I don't sin. That's proof that he's the worst
sinner there is. If any man says he's not dead in sin, that's
proof he is dead. Right? Because if any say we
have not sinned, we make God a liar. We say, no God, that's
not true. make God a liar. And the scripture says, and the
word is not in them, the truth is not in that person. Christ
said to the Pharisees, because you say you see, therefore your sin remains. You
remember that? See, because you say you see,
your sin remains. When somebody says, I can't see,
a blind man, I can't see, he'll give you sight. Or a man that
says, I'm dead, Lord give me life. He'll give that man life. Anyone who says he's not dead
proves that he is, because his eyes, his ears, and his spiritual
mind are insensible to God's Word. And look at verse 15, Christ
said, I'm glad. I'm glad he's dead. I'm glad
for your sakes, that is, that I wasn't there. Why wasn't he
there? He intended not to be there, to the intent that you
may believe. I'm glad for your sake that I
was not there. I'm glad he died. Oh, my. Oh,
my. I'm glad he died. I'm glad for
your sake, the intent that you may believe. Nevertheless, let
us go." You know, it's a poor old sinner. And this is the...
We preach on sin here all the time, all the time, bringing
up sin. And some people come in, they don't like to hear it.
I think this is old-fashioned. This is base, ignorant preaching,
you know. But people got to see they're
dead. If we don't, us people in here right now don't know
they're dead. Right now, us people in here right now, that don't
see that they're dead. And this is, you can't hear any
good news unless you've heard the bad news. Unless you, the
gospel means nothing. You don't need a Savior unless
you're an out and out wicked, hell deserving sinner. If you're
just a bad person, well, God just needs to help you out a
little bit, doesn't He? But if you're bound for hell, you need
a Savior, don't you? And if you're dead, you need
somebody to give you life. Life. And I'm glad when God ever
shows a sinner that he's dead. I'm glad. I'm glad. Because God, every time He shows
somebody that, that person mourns their state. It's the goodness
of God. It is. And it'll lead that man to repent.
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, I thought about
this. I wish I had Christlike faith
that I could look at everything, everything that happened, and
say, this is the Lord's will. Isn't this great? I'm glad. So there the Lord hath made us
rejoice and be glad in it. Somebody told me that one day
when my car had broken down or something. Well, I wish I could
feel that way, you know. That's the way you ought to feel.
Everything is on purpose. Everything. It's the Lord. That's
what Eli said when they came and told him, your sons are going
to die. It's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good.
He knows what he's doing. That's faith. That's faith. Verse
16. Well, old Thomas, Thomas, which
is called Didymus, said unto him, Let's go also, and we die
with him. This is just a man speaking when
he ought not speak. This is a man speaking up when
he should have been quiet. That's you and me, asking foolish questions,
thinking foolish thoughts. Verse 17, when Jesus came, so
Christ waited two days, and apparently he waited two more days until
he got there. It took two more days to get
in there, four days in all. So when Christ came to Judea,
or Bethany, when he came to Bethany, He found that Lazarus had laid
in the grave four days already. Now, Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem,
about fifteen furlongs, about two miles off. And many of the
Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their
brother. Now, listen. God lets some people remain in
sin a long time. He let some people remain in
sin. He saved some people at an early age. He let some people
remain a long time for his greater glory, for his greater glory. And by this time, old Lazarus
had been dead for four days, and many friends and neighbors
and loved ones and all had come to the funeral to see more people
were going to see the glory of God. Had he rushed down there,
there wouldn't have been as many people there, right? suffered with cancer for two
years. She was well known. Suffered with cancer and finally
died, and we had the service on a Wednesday night, wasn't
it? A night time, so more people could come. One of the largest
funerals I've ever seen. Maybe close to 500 people there,
450. Standing room only. God did that,
when he did it, how he did it, so that more people could hear
the gospel. And they heard the gospel all right that night.
They heard the gospel. And God tarries. God, he does
things to get the more, the greater glory. All things. Verse 20.
Well, when Martha saw him coming, when she saw Christ come, as
soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went, probably
ran out and ran real hurriedly out to meet him. But Mary sat
still in the house. And Martha came up to the Lord
and said, Lord, if you'd have been, if, if, If you'd have been
here, my brother had not died. Where is God when our loved ones
die? Same place when his son died,
on the throne, in control, right? Where is God? And it doesn't
do any good to conjecture about things. What if? If only. It
doesn't do any good, does it? What if? Where is so-and-so now? It doesn't do any good. He's
gone. God's on the throne, reigning
and ruling. Verse 22, but Martha said, I
know that even now, I know even now that whatever you will ask
of God, God will give it to you. I know now. Martha still had
hope, but there was none. Why? She knew Him. Some people
heard on Martha here, and they say many things about what Martha
said here. Based upon that, I believe that she had hope that Christ
was life. She said it here in a minute.
She admitted it. She had hope that Christ, who is hope, could
give her hope even in the face of death. She had hope. And I
say this to people in light of this scripture, don't despair.
Don't despair of anybody you love. I don't care how long they've
been dead. Don't despair of them. As long
as there's a gospel, be a preacher. As long as Christ carries his
coming, he can save that person. Don't despair. Don't despair. There's hope as long as Christ
is on his throne, as long as he doesn't get up and come. Verse
23, Jesus said unto her, Martha, your brother shall rise again.
Martha said, I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. There's some people that believe in heaven.
I know there's a heaven. I know that. They believe in
heaven, they believe in the hereafter, that there is a God. But see,
she didn't see the necessity of what he was talking about.
She didn't, and then people don't see the necessity of men being
raised spiritually from the grave of sin. And Martha didn't understand. Because of people's ignorance
concerning man's dead, lost condition, and their ignorance of Christ,
his character and his work, they ask foolish questions. I know
this, I know that, but I don't understand. But Jesus said in
there, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection
and the life. She said, I know He'll rise someday.
But Christ said, I am the resurrection and the life. He didn't come
to show people how to live. He came to be life, to give life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Yet shall he live. Christ said,
I am come that they might have life. The Savior came to come
to save the lost. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners. And if you're dead, I say this
to anybody in here, if you're dead in trespasses and sin, feel
yourself to be a hell-bound, wicked, undeserving sinner. Christ said, believe in me. Believe
in me. Look to the Lamb of God. Look
to Him. And you'll be saved. Depend upon
Him. God's well-beloved, only begotten Son. The only man God
ever approved of. You depend upon Him. Depend upon
His righteousness. And His alone, not your own.
Depend upon Him. Depend upon Him to be your substitute.
His blood. Not what you do, not what you
think, not what you believe. But depend upon Him. You trust
Christ alone and He'll save you. And though dead, you'll live. You shall live. Whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die." Verse 26. Do you believe
this? Do you believe this? Do you? Are you looking to Christ alone? Are you looking to yourself and
your past profession of faith or what you know or whatever?
Are you? Are you looking to Christ? Do you know Him whom to know
is to have eternal life or are you just religious? Do you believe
this? Well, verse 27, Martha said,
Yes, Lord, I do. I believe. Help my unbelief. I believe, Lord. I believe that
thou art the Christ. That is, you're the anointed
one. This is the gospel in a verse. Lord, I believe you're the only
one. You're the only salvation God will accept. You're the only
righteousness God will... You're the anointed one. You're
the chosen one. You're the Christ, God's chosen
one. My only... Righteousness before
this Holy God. You're the one. You're the Son
of God. That means you're equal with the Father. You're equal
to the Father. Which should come. The one who
has to come to save us. Or else I remain dead. You're
the one. I believe that, Lord. I believe
that. And I believe that. Secretly, she said to Mary, the
Master is here. The Master has come and he calls
for thee. What a verse. The Master has
come and he calls for thee. And as soon as Mary heard that,
she arose quickly. And she came unto him. Now, Jesus
was not yet come into town, but was in that place where Martha
met him. And the Jews, when they were with her in the house, they
were comforting her. All the family and friends and
relatives and so forth were comforting Mary, and when they saw Mary
get up in a hurry, they didn't hear what Martha said. See, instead
Martha said to her secretly, the Master's here. He's calling
for you. She jumped up and ran out of
there, and the people that were with her said, well, she's going
to the grave to weep. Martha, like I said, went in
there and quietly told Mary that Christ was here, and her heart
leaped, and her feet did too. She jumped out of there and went
down there, and nobody else had heard what she'd heard. And they
thought, well, she's just going down there to the grave to mourn
and to weep. And people say the same thing
about you. You go to church. You go down
to worship. They say the same thing about you. Well, he's just
going to church. He's just doing his duty. They ain't heard the
good news. They don't know why you're going. They don't know
why. Going down there to be religious.
But just like Mary, look at this. When Mary was come where Jesus
was, verse 32, and saw her, she fell at his feet. And that's
the reason you come here. You come to follow Christ's feet
and learn the thing. You're not coming down here to
be religious. Some may be, but most of you have come like Mary,
to see Him, to learn of Him. I'd like to be like Mary, I tell
you. Mary may be one of the greatest examples of a true disciple in
all the Scripture. I know it speaks about Paul and
Peter and Abraham and Moses and all the conquests of God's great
saints, but there's a lot written about Mary. But you know all
that's really recorded of Mary? She sat at His feet. She was
always at His feet. That's all that ever records
of Mary. She was at His feet. At His feet. Remember the time
she bathed His feet in her tears and wiped them with her hair?
At His feet. At His feet. Every time He came, she got at
His feet. And Christ loved her. And Mary is the one Christ revealed
Himself to when He rose from the grave. I'd like to be like
Mary, wouldn't you? Instead of wanting to be somebody.
Wanting to be somebody. My soul. Now, evidently, when
Mary saw her Lord, when she saw her Lord, she was
overcome with grief. Have you ever had a problem,
been torn up by something, and you You see somebody or you hear
somebody's voice or whatever and you overcome and you pour
out your heart to them, you know. I called up to see about Brother
Todd and his wife answered the phone and she heard my voice. Todd and I are very, very close
friends, brothers. And she just busted out crying.
She recognized a familiar voice and she poured out her troubles. And this is what Mary did. When
Mary saw the Lord, she ran and fell at his feet, saying, Lord,
if you'd been here, my brother had not died. And when Jesus,
therefore, saw her, weeping, weeping. It says he groaned in
spirit. The Jews weeping with her. He
groaned with her. He groaned with her. Her tender,
kind, compassionate Master and Lord and Savior and friend. He
groaned with her. Father, we have not a high priest
which is not touched for the feeling of our infirmities. He
knows what you feel. He knows. He does. Scripture
says, cast all your care upon him. He cares for you. Jesus
knows the pain you feel. He can save and he can heal.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. And I say
on the authority of this scripture, Believer, you go ahead and cry
your eyes out. You go ahead. I wouldn't give
you a plug nickel for somebody that didn't shed a tear. I mean,
they're hard in sin. That means they're dead. Stone
dead. A man that never cries over the
gospel that's preached, dead. Dead. Insensible. The Christ saw her weeping. He
groaned. He was troubled. Do you see that? It says he was
troubled. That means he troubled himself. God can't be troubled
by anything because God's in control. God has to trouble himself. This is our Lord's grace and
mercy. He troubled himself about this matter. And Christ did when
he came down to earth. He literally, purposely, on purpose,
came down in the midst of this trouble and troubled himself.
Who would put themselves in such a position? None but our great
God. And he said unto her, verse 34,
where have you laid him? You know, Scripture many times
asks questions. Christ knew where he was. He
knew where he was. Remember when God said to Adam,
Adam, where are you? What he was saying was, where
are you now? Just look at you now, Adam. And
what he's saying here to us is, oh, where sin has laid us. If
you could have seen me, He meant several years ago, oh, where
sin has laid this boy, this prodigal. And some people out there are
still laying in it. Where have you laid him? They said, Lord,
come see. That's what we say about our
love. Lord, come see. Lord, come see. She was praying,
praying for him. It could be, I remember a man
told me about Gerald Kings. He said, I was praying for you. for years I was praying for you.
Verse 35, Jesus wept. And the Jews said, Behold, how
He loved them. Behold, how He loved them. And
they said, Could not this man which opened the eyes of the
blind? Couldn't he have caused even that this man should not
die? Why? Why? Where's God? Why is this taking
place? Isn't he able? Yeah, he's able. He just might not be willing,
you see. Yeah, he's able all right, but
he just might not be willing. Verse 38, and groaning in himself. Somebody
said when he saw him weeping and Lazarus in the tomb and all
that, perhaps his groaning and his weeping and all was what
sin had done to his creation. God saw his creation, saw everything
that he had made man, chiefly, that he was good. That's what
a glorious creature man is and must have been in his sinless
state. He saw what was good, and when
God came down to this earth and witnessed first-hand, God's unto
him pure eyes to look upon iniquity. But in the Son of God, the God-man,
he can come down here and actually experience it. And he came down
here and saw what sin had wrought upon his work, and he wept. Oh, he wept. Oh, boy. Well, he'd grown in
himself. And Jesus himself, he groaned,
he cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay
upon it. And Jesus said, take away the
stone. Take away the stone. There's
so much here. There's so much here. I've got to hurry. God has to
take away these hard and stony hearts in order for this Word
to be heard. God has to take away this old
hard heart in order for the seed, the incorruptible seed of God's
Word to be planted in and bring forth faith unto life. God has
to take it away and give us a heart aflame, molded and make it to
prepare us to hear His voice. And I see this here also. Christ
told these disciples, take away the stone. He told them to do
it. Now, he could have done this,
couldn't he? Oh, yeah, he walked on the water, he healed the blind,
and they said it. Couldn't it have been the man
that opened the blind and caused this man to live, that he shouldn't
die? And he could have rolled that little stone away, gracious.
He said, go away. But that thing rolled down the
hill a hundred miles an hour. But he didn't. He told these people
to roll it away. Why? Well, I see here that God
has given us means to use. God has given us means to use,
and we're responsible to use them. We're responsible to use
these means. And just as Christ could have
easily spoken the door open, he could easily bring your loved
ones in here, couldn't he? He could say, boy, get in church
and hear the gospel and save him right now, couldn't he? He tells us, speak to them. Go
preach. Give them a tape. Speak to them.
Give them a tape. Bring them to hear the gospel.
Roll away the stone. Roll away the stone. And Christ
didn't move that stone because what was about to follow was
the greatest glory. See, people get People get the
glory when their lives are cleaned up and some miraculous thing
has happened. You know, a man quits his drinking and so forth,
and people seem to get the glory. And he goes all over town, all
over the world, talking about how he was a reformed drug addict,
and everybody says, wow. But when a man is just saved
by the simple preaching of the gospel, God gets the glory, doesn't
He? God gets the glory. And look
at verse 39. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister
of him that was dead, said, Lord, he's stinking. He's been good
for a day. He's hopeless. He won't listen.
He's been a sinner 30 years. He's been a sinner 40 years,
50 years. He's thinking it won't do any good for him. Take away
the stone. Take it away. Christ said unto
him, Didn't I say unto you? Didn't I say? Doesn't the scripture
say so many things unto us that we don't avail ourselves of it?
Don't hear what he's saying? Don't you hear what I'm saying?
Either have the ears to hear, let him hear. Didn't I say unto
you, Christ said, if you would believe, you'd see the glory
of God? Didn't we study the other night on importunate prayer?
Have we quit already? Believe! Why not? Why not? Why not believe God to save somebody
we know and love? Why not? He saved you, didn't
he? Dead's dead, understand? You talk about dead now, I was
dead. But dead's dead! And God can save anybody who's
been dead two days or four days or forty years. He can save anybody. Yeah, He can. Take away the stone!
Do what I say now. And they took away the stone,
verse 41, from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus
lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, I thank Thee
that Thou hast heard me. And I know you hear me always.
But because of the people that stand here, I said this, because
of them, that they may believe that you've sent me. All that
Christ did was for the glory of his Father. Everything he
did, everything he said was for the glory of the Father. Everything,
for the honor and the glory of God, to accomplish God's will,
to accomplish God's purpose in saving God's people. Everything
he did and said. And right now, even right now,
He's going to glorify the Father. He's not going to take the glory
to Himself. And that's a picture of you and me, isn't it? God's
got to get the glory in our salvation. Not my will, not my faith. God's
going to get the glory in this thing. We're going to speak about
Him and Him only. Wouldn't you like to be in here
at this scene? I'd sure like to have been there
and seen that. But you know what? I have. I've been there. I was Lazarus. And I heard his
voice. How about you? I was there. But here's the thing. A great crowd of people had come
to comfort Mary and Martha over the death of their brother. And
they were comforting people who had come from far and wide, and
they were weeping and wailing, troubled, torn up, and Mary and
Martha were beside themselves with grief. And here comes Christ. Here comes Christ. Everybody
knew who this was. And eyes perked up and ears perked up and all,
but they were still sad and grieving and so forth. And you've heard
Christ. You've seen him. You know his power. You know
his glory. Don't be all together. We don't sorrow those who have
no hope. But Christ walked into this town. He came up and he walked up to
the gravesite. And he walked right through town,
didn't stop. and walked right up to the gravesite. All these
people standing around walked up to the funeral procession
as it was. Walked right up to the gravesite. Take stone away. Take stone away. And all eyes were fastened on
him. And then he looked up to heaven. Father, I thank you that you've
heard me. And I know that you always hear
me. But I said this for their sake. They might believe that
you've sent me. And then it says he cried with
a loud voice. Lazarus! Come! And out walked a dead man. A dead man. A dead man. And there was a time when I went
to the church house, dead, stone dead, I didn't hear the gospel,
I didn't care. And I heard that voice. Obviously, some never heard it. And there comes a time for some
people, like me, like some of you, to go to church and people
say, what's he doing there? What's he doing there? What's
the stone doing roll back? What's he doing in there? He's
no different than anybody else. He stinks. He's a sinner like
everybody else. But one day, that old sinner
hears the voice of the Son of God. Hears the gospel. Preach. Christ's voice. It's not always
a loud voice like that. Sometimes it's a still, small
voice. Sometimes it's just a word in season that pricks the heart.
But they hear His voice. And they come out. They come
out from amongst them. They don't stay in the grave
of sin. They come out when they hear
the voice. Life begins, a new creation,
a new person, a new person. Look at it. It says, he that
was dead came forth. Somebody said if he hadn't have
called Lazarus' name, ever that man would have walked out. And
that's the picture of the gospel. If God doesn't personally call
people to himself, if the blood of Christ is not personally applied
to the hearts of particular chosen people, everybody will be saved.
But that's not so. He calls names. Sinner, That's
not my name. I didn't call you then. That's
my name. That's my name. But old Lazarus came out. What,
what, what must folks have thought? Lazarus came out. It said he was, he that was dead
came forth. Came where? Came to Christ. I
bet you, I'm just surmising this, but I bet you he didn't run up
and hug his sisters. God saved? No. He went to Christ. We don't come
down to Iowa to be saved, do we? God deals with us, get in
our closet before we come to Christ, by the way. But He came. He that was dead came, came to
Christ. But look, it says He was bound
hand and foot with grave clothes. His face was bound about with
a napkin. And you know, God saves people.
They still have many of the marks and the actions of sinners. Still
many grave clothes that they have on them. Like that blind
man. When the Lord healed that blind
man, some of them said, well, he's like him, but there's something
different about him. And it happens. That's the way
it happens with God's people. There's something different. Now, you
don't stay the same. Don't anybody fool themselves
into thinking that, my, so God, Christ saves you from your sin.
From it. A new creation. It says his face
was bound with napkins. We don't see very clearly at
first. We don't understand very clearly
at first, do we? We've still got this shroud over
us. It's this worldly mind, and so we don't see it, but we're
alive. Oh, Lazarus, oh, he came out of there, you know. Oh, wrapped
up, couldn't see hardly anybody. But he was alive, buddy! And
that's a young believer, a young convert. He doesn't know anything.
He'll say things off the top of his head, off the wall, but
he's alive. He's alive. And Christ said about
old Lazarus, you loose him and let him go. And the more you
hear of God's Word, the more you're loosed, the more you're
loosed. Because every time you hear the
Word, another bandage comes off. What? There's something I didn't
see. I see something else. And then finally one I see clearly
now, I see clearly, a new creation, a new creature in Christ. Old
things have passed away. I'm telling you this is the way
it is. God's word is telling me. Old
things have passed away. All things have become new. A
follower, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Went up to Christ and, oh. Why? Why'd all this happen? How'd
all this happen? That voice. You remember back there in John
5? The time will come. The day will come. And now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live. And all that is here shall have
everlasting life." And this happened. This old dead man lived. Why? Not because he accepted Jesus.
Christ didn't come to the grave and said, now, would you like
to come forth and make your decision? Because that voice, that all-powerful,
sovereign voice, come out! And he came out of it. He came
out. He wasn't about to stay in there
anyway. He didn't want to anyway. When he finally says he wants
to, it's been changed. He wanted to come out, but not until he
was given life. Not until he was given life, he came out because
of that all-powerful voice. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Thank you.