our family, who has He quickened? Whom He will. Whom He will. He says, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. Whom I will, I harden. I just
leave them as they are. I leave them as I find them. You see, it's a wonderful witness
to the mercy of God that you believe. That you believe. He did not leave you in the deadness
of your sins. He did not leave you in your
defilement. He did not leave you in your
grave of spiritual death. He raised you. He raised you. He quickened it. The Scripture
says, whom He will. Well, how can He do that? Well,
because of who He is. He said, I am the way. I am the
way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He said to Martha, I am the resurrection
and the life. The reason he quickens spiritually
dead people is because he is life. He is life. But like I said, this is not
talking about him raising the physical dead, physically dead,
although he did do that. And one of these days, he's gonna
raise all the people who died. In fact, you can look at verse
here in John 5, 28. This is what this is speaking
about. Marvel not at this. The hour
is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice. And they shall come forth. They
that have done good under the resurrection of life, and they
that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. But
that which is emphasized most especially in this passage is
that He raises those who are spiritually dead. You see, only
the Lord Jesus can bring men and women out of the jaws of
death to the joys of life. Where did he find you? In the
jaws of death. Nobody else could pry those jaws
open. Death had, spiritual death had
you. It owned you. It ruled over you. You see, sin had dominion over
you. It had authority over you. But our Lord Jesus, He broke
the power of death. And He gave you the joy of life. The joy of life. The joy of spiritual
life. The joy of eternal life. What is eternal life? To know
Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. And
He gives everlasting life. A life that will never end. It
will never die. That's the life we got right
now. Never going to lose it. You see, we know this, sinners
who are spiritually dead, destitute of spiritual life, destitute
of spiritual strength, destitute of spiritual awareness, destitute
of any ability to make a spiritual motion or movement. We're dead
to God. We're miserable. And we're not
sensible, we're not aware of our misery. And we can't get ourselves out
of the misery even if we were aware of it. We don't even know
how bad off we are. But if we knew how bad off we
are, we couldn't do anything about it. That's our dilemma. So you see, the conversion of
a soul to God is resurrection from death to life. It takes more than the words
of a Christian counselor to raise a soul from death to life. It takes more than a decision
on the part of the sinner to raise his soul from death unto
life. It takes more than the powerful
preaching of a man to raise a soul from death unto life. The one
who is life himself must give life or there will be no life. We'll just remain dead. You see, it's only when the soul
is made alive to God that then we begin to live to God
and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. I know repentance and faith are
necessary and I would not, I would not at all lessen just how vital
those are because the scripture says without faith it's impossible
to please God. But you know what faith is? It's
the evidence of life. That's not how you get it. That's
the evidence of having life. when we cry out to God. That's
not the cause. We have life. That poor publican. There the Pharisee was and he
boasted about, you know, thank God he wasn't like everybody
else. I'm thankful I am not like that publican either. And the
poor old publican just beat upon his breast. He said, Oh God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. Be merciful to me. Be propitious
to me. Be the mercy seat. I need a mercy
seat. That's what he said. Be the mercy
seat for me. I am the sinner. But that didn't
make him alive. You know what that cry was? The
evidence of life. That's what it was. You can go
over to Philippians chapter 16, the Philippian jailer. And we don't have to rehearse
that story again. You all know it. Paul and Silas
are in jail. God sent an earthquake. Doors
flew open and here comes all the prisoners out and the jailer
thought they were all going to escape, which they didn't. And
then Paul said, hey, we're all here, don't harm yourself. He
called for a light and he sprang in. He said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? That's the evidence of life.
That's right. He wouldn't want God's salvation
unless really God's salvation had already come to him. What
do you think about that? What must I do to be saved? And
this came from a heart, a heart that yearned, yearned for God's
salvation. And the very fact that he cried
out, what must I do to be saved? Is evidence of the fact he had
been quickened. That's a man been quickened right
there. You see, praying, that's not
how you get life. That's not how you get life.
That's evidence of life. That's what that is. And I'll
tell you this, it's by the voice of the Son of God that sin is
erased to spiritual life. Lazarus, come forth. That's what happened. That's
what he said, Lazarus, come forth. Then he which was dead, he came
forth. Oh, something about that voice.
That voice. That voice wakes the dead. And
I'll tell you something about this spiritual resurrection. It is conveyed. This life is
conveyed. It is given to us through the
Word of God. through the Word of God. You
see, the Gospel, the Gospel, it is the voice of Christ saying,
come forth. And when He sends it to the heart,
Oh listen, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Why not, Paul? For it, this Gospel,
is the very power of God unto salvation. There's power in this
Gospel. It's power to cause the dead
to live. This Gospel. That's the reason
we just keep on preaching the Gospel. Because it's the dynamite
of God. To everyone who believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in this gospel is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. And is it
written, the just shall live by faith. Look at John here, 5.24. John
5.24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, he's already
got everlasting life. You didn't know it, did you?
But you already had it. You already had it. And you shall
not come into condemnation. Why not? Somebody's been condemned
for you. Somebody else already took your
weapon for you. Somebody already bore the wrath
of God for you. Well, you passed from death into
life. What a mystery, what a miracle. What a miracle. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice, the gospel, The gospel of God and they that hear
shall live. You see, I stand up here preaching
the gospel tonight of substitution and satisfaction of the full
accomplishment of redemption by the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And some hear, and some don't
hear. Oh, everybody, the words go in
these ears, but some people don't really hear. While others do, it depends on whether the voice
of a life-giving Savior is going forth. He's got to speak. He's got to say to you, Lazarus,
come forth. He calls His sheep by name, doesn't
He? By name. You see, when He speaks, the
dead hear. He makes them to hear. He makes
them to understand. He makes them to receive. He
makes them to believe. Watch this again. Verse 25 again. 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. I love the Lord's shalls, don't
you? They shall hear and they shall live. There's no question
about it. There are no ifs or buts or anything
about that. No, well, maybe they will and
maybe they won't. No, it's not like that. They shall hear and they shall
live. And no devilish authority on
earth or in hell can stop this from happening. The Lord said,
I will work and who's going to hinder me? Who's going to hinder
the Lord? It's one of the reasons we keep
on preaching the Gospel. The Lord has His people. He has
His chosen ones in this world. He has His redeemed ones. We
keep on preaching the Gospel. And one of these days, at His
appointment, they'll hear His voice. You see, the voice of Christ
must be heard by us that we may live by it. They shall hear and they shall
live. There's infinite, infinite authority
and infinite power in the voice of Christ, the Son of God. Now when a soul is raised from
the dead, it's only then it can have fellowship with the Lord.
We know this. Lazarus. Been dead four days. Putrefaction,
corruption, rotting flesh, Maggots beginning to devour his
body. He's not a pretty sight. But look at him. He's sitting
at the supper table with Christ Jesus. And you know what? He doesn't stink anymore. Martha, when the Lord Jesus said,
take that stone away, Martha said, you don't want to do that. He's been dead four days, by
this time he stinks. Ah, but I tell you what, if you're
sitting beside him, you can go, hey, he smells good. It's not
the smell of death anymore. It's a fragrance of life. It's
a fragrance of... This is a fragrance we've got.
By nature, we've got a rotten smell to us. But by grace, we have the perfume
of Christ's righteousness. Hey, He's given us a bath. We've
had a bath in the blood of the Lord Jesus. And we've been robed
with His righteousness. We have the refreshing fragrance
of the Son of God upon us. And when a soul is raised from
the dead, it's only then he can have fellowship with the Lord. There's no bringing sinners and
a holy God together in fellowship and communion apart from the
substitutionary sacrifice of Christ Jesus. Because our sins
and iniquities have separated us from God. You know, before Adam fell in
the garden, he and Eve enjoyed fellowship, communion with God.
But that communion, that fellowship, that joy of being in the presence
of the Lord, that all went by the wayside. When something entered
into the picture called sin. And then the Lord came calling
in the cool of the day. Adam, where art thou? And you know what? Adam doesn't want fellowship
anymore. He doesn't want communion anymore. So instead of running to the
Lord, he runs away from the Lord. And that's the way all of his
posterity has been doing ever since. We haven't been running
toward him, we've been running away. He's got to track us down. And the Lord did that. The Lord
sought Adam. Adam and Eve didn't seek the
Lord, the Lord sought them. It's the Lord, you see, it's
the Lord who sought this restoration of fellowship and communion. Not Adam, not Eve, not you, not
me, not any son or daughter of Adam. It's the Lord. He said, there
will be a restoration of this fellowship. Oh, but Lord, how
is this to happen? Our sins are like a gigantic,
infinite mountain. And you on one side and we on
the other side. The Lord says, I'll take care
of that. And He illustrated what He was going to do to Adam and
Eve when He killed those animals. And then robed them with the
garments, with the skins. That's what Christ Jesus was
going to come and do. He's going to take care of the
mountain of our sins. And I tell you, He moved the
plumber out of the way. Now everything's level. Now we can have communion
with God. God who's in the light. God who
is light. How can we have fellowship with
God? We're in darkness. Well, He brings
us into the light. Christ does. And then we have
fellowship with God. And over here in John chapter
12, here we find the Lord Jesus and one who was formerly dead
sitting at the same table. And isn't this the way it is
with us tonight? This is the way it is. People
who were formerly dead in trespasses and sins. we sit at the same
table with the Lord of Glory. He's pleased to come and commune
with us and fellowship with us. Because as He visited Mary and
Martha and Lazarus, so He visits with us this evening. Listen,
blessed is that man, blessed is that man whom the Lord of
Glory is pleased to visit with. Blessed is that woman whom the
Lord of glory is pleased to visit with. Blessed is that family
whom the Lord of glory is pleased to sit down at the table with
you and fellowship with you. And blessed is the church. Blessed
is the church with whom the Lord of glory is pleased to visit
and make Himself known. I had Joe Reed to begin the service
from Psalm 106. And verse 6 says, remember me,
O Lord. David said this, remember me,
O Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. Oh,
visit me with Thy salvation. Oh, visit me with Thy salvation. You don't have to. You don't
owe me anything. But would you visit with me?
Lord, would you visit with us? Would you visit with us again
this evening? Visit me with thy salvation. And I'll tell you, we're visited
with God's great salvation in time because of something that
happened before time ever began. an everlasting council of peace. That was held and God chose us. And Christ stood for us as our
surety. And 2,000 years ago He came and
redeemed us from all iniquity. There sits Lazarus at the supper
table with Christ. He's been released from the captivity
of death. Released from the clothes of
death. He's still a sinful man, but he sits at the table with
the king without any fear. Without any fear. I know Terry's
favorite passage is at Mephibosheth. sitting at David's table. Anybody left of the house of
Saul and Jonathan? I show mercy for Jonathan's sake. Yeah. Mephibosheth, lame on both
feet. Fetch him! Fetch him! Archangel thankful for fetching
grace. Brought him to the king's table. He sat down at the king's
table. I bet he was thinking to himself,
boy, if my old buddies could see me now. Look at me! He said, I'm a dead dog! That's
what he said. I'm a dead dog and look at me!
I'm sitting at the king's table. But he is still laying. But you
couldn't see it under the table. And I'm just, you know when I
read these stories of the scriptures. I kind of try to insert myself
into how would I feel if I was Lazarus. I'd be thinking to myself, my
goodness, look where I'm at. I'm having supper with the Lord
of glory. He is sitting here at my table.
And He's talking with me and I'm talking with Him. And I have
fellowship with Him. And He has fellowship with me. I bet you old Lazarus was thinking
to himself, Boy, this is wonderful grace. This is wonderful grace. And don't we feel that way when
we meet together and the Lord blesses us and He speaks to us
and Christ is exalted. Our hearts are refreshed and
renewed and we have a restoration of spiritual energy, so to speak,
as we feast on the things of God. Don't we kind of feel like
this? Who are we that He'd come and have supper with us. But
He does. Because even though the Pharisees
said it with a bad motive, it is always true. Christ is a friend
of publicans and sinners. Oh, visit me with Thy salvation. And I tell you, when He visited
this house, It was a friendly visit. I tell you now, He's going to
visit this world in judgment one of these days. It's not going
to be a friendly visit. No. He's going to visit this
earth in wrath and in judgment. But sitting at that table with
Martha serving and Lazarus sitting there and Mary's going to wash
His feet. It's a friendly visit with the
King of Kings. And every time we meet together,
it's a friendly visit. Been visited by the King again.
Don't get no better than that on this earth. No, not on this
earth. And one of these days, He's going
to take us home to Heaven and we're going to visit with Him.
but it's going to be forever and ever. Ain't that wonderful? Sure helps this poor old sinner.
I'll tell you that. Well, let's sing the closing
song. 478. I'm actually going to continue
this idea Sunday night. The Lord visiting with His people.
I'm going to talk from Psalm 8. The Lord's thoughts. and his
visits. I haven't forgot about that passage.
I'm just reserving that till later. All right. Well, let's
stand and say this. What is it?