The resurrection of Lazarus is
one of the most unmistakable and undeniable revelations of
our Lord's eternal Godhead recorded in the Scriptures. I know that
our Savior had to be made like unto sinful flesh and for sin. For it was in that body that
He condemned sin in the flesh. It was necessary that He be made
flesh in order to be the sacrifice that was offered to God to put
away the sins of His people. In Ephesians chapter 5, our Lord
is spoken of. Maybe you could just turn there.
Ephesians chapter 5. I just want to point this out
to you, verse 2, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2. This is what Paul says, walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. He had to be made flesh to be
that sacrifice. As I've said over and over again,
God who is Spirit can't suffer, He can't bleed, He can't die. There was no way God in the perfection
of His own Spirit, no way that He could in any way experience
any pain, any agony. God can't hurt. God can't feel
as we do. He can't experience any pain.
So therefore the son of God was made flesh and he dwelt among
us, the scripture says. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And in that body, he was the
sacrifice. He was an offering and a sweet,
the scripture says he was a sacrifice to God for a sweet smell savor. Smelled good to God. You know
why? Because He was the perfect man. If our Lord Jesus had been
contaminated by sin, the sin that was imputed to Him, that
was charged to Him, it wouldn't have been as sweet-smelling,
savory to God. It would have been unsavory to
God. It would have been an offering
that our God would have denied because Leviticus 22, 21 says,
it shall be perfect to be accepted. There hung the perfect man in
between two centers. And the one in the middle bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. All the iniquities of God's
elect were made to meet upon the head of the substitute. And God, the Son of God, the
Son of Man, offered Himself to the Father as the offering that
put away our sins. Nobody took His life from Him.
Nobody could kill Him. He laid down His life of His
own. And then he took that life again,
having satisfied, having honored divine justice. Don't forget about the legality
involved in salvation. We live in a day when everything
seems to be... what's emphasized is the experience
of grace. And I don't deny that there's
an experience of grace. But the reason we experience
the power of the Spirit of God in regeneration and the reason
we're brought to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ is because
of something that happened that satisfied divine law and justice. Our God would not compromise
His own justice. He's not going to save a sinner
at the expense of the legality of all things. Our sins had to
be punished. If we're going to go free, if
the guilty are going to be released, if the sins are going to be put
away, a suitable, innocent, perfect sacrifice had to die to satisfy
God. And our Lord did. He satisfied
Him fully. He was a sweet saver unto God. Our Lord Jesus was made flesh
for the suffering of death. But remember, he was not only
fully man. He was really God. He was really
God. Say, Jim, I wish you'd explain
that to me. That person who tries to explain
that is a fool. These things are way over our
heads. But I know this. When our Lord
Jesus joined himself to our humanity, that was a union that will never,
ever end. Oh, children of God, rejoice. There's a man in heaven. He's
the God-man. And he ascended to the right
hand of the majesty on high because he satisfied God. He did the
work that God gave him to do to save his people from their
sins. And as a reward for his sufferings,
he's exalted and he is the Lord over all. There's another passage
I want you to look at just briefly back in the gospel of Mark. And
remember, I'm kind of laying down the foundation really for
some things that I want to say this coming Lord's Day, at least
morning, maybe morning and evening too. But in Mark chapter six,
I'm going to be reading from Mark six, but in Mark the fifth
chapter, another great miracle has taken
place. A girl, the daughter of the ruler
of the synagogue in Capernaum. She was raised from the dead
by the very power of the word of our Lord Jesus Christ. See,
you know what death is called? The king of terrors. But here is one who is mightier
than the king of terrors. We see it here. We see him conquering
death with the widow of Nain's son. He raised the widow's son
from the dead. And of course, we see that, we
know that in John chapter 11, when he raised Lazarus from the
dead. But here's one who is mightier
than the king of Terus. He's the son of God. He will
say to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. That's what he
will say to Martha, as we shall see very soon. And it won't be
long before he will swallow death up in victory. And he'll do that
when he comes back. And he raised this young girl
from death to life. And then we get to chapter six. And he went out from thence,
he left Capernaum, and he came into his own country, and his
disciples followed him. So he leaves Capernaum and he
goes to Nazareth. And on the Sabbath day, verse
2, he began to teach in the synagogue. Now this is very amazing, if
you think about this. He goes into the synagogue, in
Nazareth. Do you remember the last time
he was there? He preached on the sovereignty
of grace, the distinguishing mercy of God. And they tried
to kill him. They tried to put him permanently
out of business. And now our Lord Jesus goes back
there. He goes back there. With no fear,
he walks among them quite freely. He goes once more to preach the
gospel to his own people. The Son of God willingly walked
out in the open among his enemies. and publicly
preached the gospel to men who sought his blood. And he goes into the house of
God to teach that word of God, the gospel of his own grace. And look at the second verse
again. And when the Sabbath day was
come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him
were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands? There was no denying of his works. But now remember there in John
chapter 10, the words that I read to you, that after our Lord Jesus
said, I and my Father are one, then they took up stones to stone
him. And he said, for which of my
works do you stone me? And they said, for a good work
we stone thee not. Do all the good works you want
to. It's that you being a man. you profess to be God. By the
way, there in John chapter 10, notice sometimes how many times
he refers to my father, my father. It's just like he did back in
John 5. when he healed the man who'd been lame. 38 years and
he healed him and the people got mad at him because he did
it on the Sabbath day. And they got even more madder
because he said, my father worketh hitherto and I work. And then
they were really ready to kill him again. My father, my father. He goes into the house of God
and he begins to teach. Wouldn't it have been wonderful
to have sat there and listened to Him? And, you know, I made
this statement not too long ago. One of these days, we're going
to enter into the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we're
going to hear Him teach. I know we're going to be perfect
in heaven. There's no question about that. And I acknowledge
that, and we're thankful for that. But that doesn't mean we're
going to be little gods knowing everything. We're not going to
be little divinities. And I think that we will still
have an increased capacity for knowledge to take in what He
has to say, and He's going to break open the Word of God to
us as it's never been broken open to us by any earthly preacher. We hear the one who speaks is
never a man has spoken when he opens up the word of God to us.
And he went into the synagogue and he opens up the word of God.
And they said, what wisdom is this? Where did he get his wisdom?
Where did he give his authority and power to perform all of these
miracles? Remember, this falls right on
the heels of the raising of this young girl, the ruler of the
synagogue in Capernaum, Jairus. His daughter had died and our
Lord raised her. And now they say, where did he
get that kind of power? Where did he get this kind of
wisdom to speak as he speaks? in opening up the Scriptures,
while their priests and elders, they quoted the elders of the
fathers, the traditions of the fathers. But our Lord Jesus,
He just breaks open the Word of God from His own heart, because
it's His Word. Who knows his own words better
than the author? And they acknowledge, he's a
great teacher. Where'd he get this wisdom from?
Where'd he get this ability from? Where'd he get this power from?
And then they said, verse three, is not this the carpenter? And the word means a skilled
craftsman, by the way. I thought he was just a skilled
craftsman. Most likely, Joseph has died
by now, and I suppose our Lord Jesus was, for some time, was
running the carpenter's shop. I don't know. The Spirit of God
doesn't tell us, so we don't need to get into that anyhow.
But they said, it's not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?
the brother of James and Joseph, and of Judah and Simon, and are
not his sisters here with us?" And they were offended at that.
They stumbled over him. He's just a man. He's just a
man. And our Lord Jesus says in verse
4, He said to them, a prophet is not without honor, but in
his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. They were offended at him. And
I'll tell you something, when it comes to the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the offense has not ended. See, these people who were offended,
remember, they're in, could I say church, they're in the synagogue,
but it's like as if they were in church. These are not irreligious
people. These were not people who were
out all Friday night getting drunk and everything, and they're
hungover and they can't come to church Saturday morning. Why,
these are the religious folks. These are the people who studied
the Scriptures. They memorized the Word of God.
There's a preacher, he says he's walking Bible. Lots of these
guys were walking Bibles. The Bible wasn't broken down
into chapters and verses back then, but had it been, you could
give them chapter and verse, they'd probably tell you what
it was. They were very knowledgeable of the Word of God. And yet here
is the incarnate Word, walking in their midst, breaking open
the written Word of God. And it was acknowledged. Never
a man spoke like this man. He has unusual wisdom and power. It was undeniable. And then they stumbled over Him.
They tripped over Him. I tell you, the lost, unregenerate
religious people of this world are still offended by His gospel.
Offended by His Word. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace will never be palatable to the self-righteous
man. Because the gospel is a declaration
of blood already shed and salvation already accomplished. The gospel
says righteousness has already been wrought. God is satisfied. The gospel doesn't concern you. Paul says in Romans chapter 1,
it's the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It concerns
Him. It's not about you. It's not
about what you'll do with Jesus. It's not about your decision.
It's not about it's all up to you. It's the fact that He Himself
has finished the work God gave Him to do. That's why I said
it's finished. It's finished. There could be no denying of
his power to raise the dead. They stumbled over this. They
hated him because he was the son of God. See, that's what
I'm trying to establish here in John chapter, as we get into
John chapter 11, this is the God man. He's the God man. And I know He's really God, because
He raises the dead. And I know He's really man, because
His heart was touched with sympathy for Mary and Martha. And there's a whole lot more
in John 11, 35 than we could ever expound. Jesus wept. And they weren't make-believe
tears either. He is a sympathizing high priest. And the Scripture says He is
touched with the feelings of our infirmities. I can't begin
to enter into the fullness of all that that means, but I know
that He saw Mary and Martha brokenhearted. And our Lord wept. In fact, it
says, if you go back to John 11, in verse 35, it says, Jesus
wept, shortest verse in the Bible. John 11, 35, then said, the Jews
behold how He loved them. And I tell you what, they had
no idea how much He loved them. He had loved them from all eternity.
This is everlasting love. This is covenant love, saving
love. And 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? Jesus therefore again,
groaning, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a
cave. He groaned in his heart. Can the God-man groan? He did. Behold, the Son of God, the Son
of Man. And you know, when Mary and Martha
went to the Savior, or sent word to the Savior, about their brother
Lazarus. They said something real key. Tell the master, he whom thou
lovest is sick. There's a wealth of information
in that. Tell him he whom thou lovest
is sick. Our Lord loved him with an everlasting
love. And this means He was chosen
in covenant grace unto salvation. Because everybody the Savior
loves, He's always loved them. He don't startleth in you. If He loved you now, He loved
you then, and if He loved you then, He's gonna love you out
your honor and eternity future. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. It means His love, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Brother Jack Shanks and I went
to hear a man preach one time, and he said, you know, the Lord
used to hate us. And then when we were brought
to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he started loving us, and
Jack and I both were just fit to be tied. Couldn't believe
a man could come close to preaching the gospel and then say such
foolishness as that. And then we confronted him. And
he said, well, it's the truth. I said, that's not the truth. He
never hated us. We were never an object of his
indignation. That somebody doesn't have any
understanding of eternal counsel of God and the love of God for
his elect. He whom thou lovest is sick.
That means he's a chosen vessel number two, means he was predestinated
to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself. This man's an heir of grace.
He loved of the Lord. And it means his regeneration
too. And it means Christ came to die for
him. It's not gonna be much longer before Christ lays down his life
for all of his Lazaruses. That's probably not a word Lazarus
is, but he laid down his life for all of us, all of his people. And he took that life again,
he ascended back to heaven and he intercedes for all of his
people. But my point is, our Lord was
touched with the pain of Mary and Martha. And he was concerned
about Lazarus who was sick. You know, maybe we take it too
lightly when somebody is sick. I know all of us have our bouts
of sickness. But I got to thinking about it
today. Our Lord didn't take this sickness
lightly. And if I'm speaking to a child
of God here or out there, somebody who's sick, it may appear that nobody else
is thinking too much of the fact that you don't feel well. But
I know somebody who cares. Your Savior cares. He is touched. I don't know, I can't explain
that. But he who knew the hurt of Mary
and Martha, he who knew of the sickness of Lazarus, Felt it in his heart. Can't explain
that. But he did. And he saw them weeping. And
I don't know what's all in, there's several things involved in him
weeping. No doubt the unbelief and that,
that enters into it as well. But the hurt that his brethren felt Somehow
or another, he entered into that. It says in Hebrews chapter 2,
he's able to succor those that are tried, those that
suffer. He's able to help. You know what
that succor means? To help with feeling. He's got feelings towards you. I try to have feelings towards
you. And I think on some level, it
may be a shallow level. I'm touched when you're suffering. But He really knows exactly what
you're going through because listen, He's the one putting
you through it. And just like it says here for
Lazarus, The sickness, not the death,
is for the glory of God. And the next time you're sick,
or maybe you're sick now, next time you're sick, remember this,
you have a caring Savior. He's touched with the feelings
of your own infirmities. And I don't know how your sickness
will turn out. Maybe it's just allergies like
a bunch of us have got now. Maybe you're sick with something
more serious. But I'll tell you this, in the
end, it'll glorify Christ. Because you see, Lazarus' sickness
would work to the glory of Christ, for the glory of Christ, because
he's gonna die. And our Lord will manifest the
magnificence of his person and raise him from the dead. And
I'll tell you what, if he can raise one from the dead, he can
raise a whole bunch. And in the end, he will. And
if He can raise a man from physical death, He can raise us from our spiritual
grave. For the Son quickeneth whom He
will, and those whom He quickens, they live forever. Well, I'm
just trying to whet your appetite for a little more into John chapter
11, and I hope I've done that a little bit, but let's glorify
and magnify our Savior, who cares about us more than we can ever
comprehend. Get your songbooks. Let's sing,
Under His Wings.