Let's go to John 11. We've been
studying in John 11 for several messages. And let's visit this again tonight
with the subject being the resurrection and the life. Our Lord Jesus often went to
Bethany. found great fellowship and comfort
when he entered into the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. I was thinking about it, blessed
is that home where one has been brought to saving knowledge of
Christ Jesus. That's just marvelous when there's
one in a in a family to whom God has separated, He's singled
them out, and He's revealed to them His marvelous grace. That's
a wonderful, wonderful thing. And it's especially wonderful
when husband and wife, two people in a house, love the gospel. I know I'm looking at the faces
of some people here, and both Husband and wife love the gospel
of God's grace. The grace of God abides in your
household. That's a blessed, blessed thing. I know several places, several
households where one spouse is a believer and the other one
isn't. And it's difficult. That's a difficult situation. And I tell you, I know that those
of you husband and wife, both of you loving the gospel of God's
great grace. I know that you delight yourself
in the Lord and you thank him so much for his mercies to you. Well, here in Bethany there was
a special household where two sisters and a brother loved the
Lord. The Lord had written their names
down in his book of life, even before he ever made the world.
And he had special grace for these people, saving, sovereign
grace for Mary. Martha and Lazarus, and they
dwelt together. They had a very, very blessed
family, united, of course, by the strong ties of nature. But even more than that, they
were united in the blessed bonds of grace. And I'll tell you,
if you're united in the bonds of grace, that's a union that'll
never end. That just goes on and on forever. Well, even though the Lord Jesus
loved all three of these people, because it says that in John
11 and verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
even though he loved them. Lazarus got sick. It was a sickness that ended
up with his death, the physical death of his body. Our Lord Jesus,
when he was speaking to his disciples about this, he said, our friend
Lazarus, he sleeps. And they thought if he had fallen
asleep, that was good for him. But they thought he meant the
sleep of the body and resting through the night. And then our
Lord Jesus, he said to them, he's dead. He's dead. Our Lord could have, number one,
he could have raised him from the dead immediately. He didn't
have to go back to Bethany. He was there where John had baptized. and where he himself had been
baptized by John and lots of people were believing the gospel
of God's grace. There was a, we would call it
a revival was going on and lots of people who remembered the
preaching of John the Baptist, now they listen to the preaching
of the Lord Jesus. And they were saying this, you're
the one He spoke of. You're the one He was preaching
about. And lots of them believed on
Him. It wasn't necessary for Him to
go to Bethany in order to raise Lazarus from the dead. He could have said the Word.
But He didn't. He didn't. According to His infinite
purpose of grace, he would go to Bethany and raise Lazarus
right there, but only after four days had passed. Four days. I think it's no, I know that
it isn't a coincidence that the Lord decided that he wouldn't
go to Bethany until Lazarus had been dead four days. There's
a reason for this. I don't know all the reasons,
but I think I can come up with at least one good one. I read
in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8, But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day, one day as with the Lord is a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Think about that. When our Lord
walked on the earth, it had been 4,000 years since Adam died. 4,000 years. Four days. Right? Since a thousand years
is with the Lord is a day. It's been 4,000 years. Because
even judging from right now, it's been 6,000 years. Our Lord
was here 2,000 years ago. So when He was on this earth,
it had been 4,000 years. Four days. Four days since Adam
died. Oh, wait. Four days since you
died. Since I died. because we died
through our representative, Adam. You remember the Lord said to
Adam, he said, in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. He said, there's one tree right
in the middle of the garden. Don't eat of it. Because in the day ye eat of
it you'll surely die. He didn't say if ye eat. He said
in the day ye eat. It didn't catch God off guard.
It all fit into God's eternal purpose. And the day thou eatest
thou shalt The scripture says, surely die, or literally, dying
thou shalt die. Because if you look up a word,
surely, it's the same word as die. You'll die, die. You'll immediately be dead. That's
what he was saying. And you know, you think about
this, this was the only thing to which the fidelity of Adam
was exposed. One thing. God just required
one thing. One law. One rule. That's all. Not a whole bunch. Not ten commandments. One commandment. One... God said, that tree right
there in the middle of the garden, don't eat of it. If you eat of
that, you'll die. One room. There was no other
action prohibited. Just that. And we know from Genesis chapter
3 that Adam ate and immediately something happened. He and his
wife died a spiritual death immediately. Later, they died a physical death. Genesis chapter 5 says Adam was
930 years, I believe it was. It says there in Genesis 5, 930
years old when he died, but he did die. And were it not for
the grace given to them, And I believe grace was given to
Adam and Christ Jesus before the world began. If that hadn't
been so, he'd have died an everlasting death, a loss of the soul and
the body in everlasting destruction. So when we get to John 11, it's
now been 4,000 years since that death. And reckoning it according to
the measure of the Lord in 2 Peter chapter 3. It's been four days
since Adam died, four days since all of his posterity died with
him. Listen to this verse, Romans
5 and verse number 12. Wherefore as by one man, one
man, something entered into this world. You know what it was?
Sin. And as a result of that, something else entered into this
world. Death. Death. You see, James says that
sin, when it's finished, it brings forth death. That's what God
said. That's the way it is. The wages
of sin is death. God said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. So, wherefore, as by one man,
this matter sin, entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed on all men, for that all have sinned, or
all sin in Adam. As we've studied before, and
I know you've read it and studied it also, Romans chapter 5, the
design of Romans chapter 5 is to show how man came to be in
the condition that he's in. By nature. And it also is designed
to show how we have come to be in the condition we're in by
grace. By grace. It's through the actions
of representative men. Two of them. First one was Adam. He represented all of his posterity. He represented all of his race.
When Adam fell, we fell. When Adam died, we died. We died
representatively in Adam. We died in reality in Adam. We died spiritually. That's why
when you were born into this world, your precious little baby
and your mom and dad were so thrilled to death that you was
born, you came along, you brought such a joy to them, but you entered
into this world as one who's spiritually dead. That's right. That's right. Death, death, that hangs over
all of Adam's posterity. Spiritual death. Nobody's born
spiritually alive. Nobody's born in spiritual neutral. I think that's what a lot of
people believe. You're in spiritual neutral. And then depending on
what you do, you can either go forward or you can go backwards.
But no, you're born going backwards. We're born in sin. We're born
spiritually alienated from the life of God. We're against God. The scripture says in Romans
chapter eight, the natural mind is enmity against God. There
is hostility. That's what that means. Within
the heart of every person toward the God of glory. That's an awful
thing, an awful thing. No wonder, no wonder God says
that the wages of sin is death. We're hostile against God. We're mad at God. We're angry
with God. We don't like God. We don't love
God. Actually, all men by nature,
can you take this? All men by nature, we hate God
as he really is. We suppose him to be quite different
than he is. We have no understanding of his
righteousness, his holiness, his justice. We're sinful. The design of Romans
5 is to show we're ungodly, we're sinners. We're enemies and it's
also to show that as we fell by representative man, we're
raised by representative man. How was it that you became a
sinner? Through the action of one man. And you know what? One action,
one deed by one man Boy, that had a devastating result on everybody. Right? One action. One deed. By one man. It killed us all. But there's another representative
man. That's brought forth in Romans
5. He's the Lord Jesus. And He represents all of His
race. All of His posterity. All of
those the Father gave Him in covenant love and grace. And He was obedient, obedient
unto death. By one act, He made us righteous. And that act was His death, was
His death. As by the action of Adam, we
died, by the action of the Lord Jesus, we're made to live forever. Forever. Now, as Lazarus, going
back now in our thoughts to John 11, as Lazarus had been dead
four days, all of God's people, like everybody else that Adam
represented, we'd been dead for 4,000 years. or four days. But the Lord Jesus entered into
this world to do something about our death. You see, the reason
He went to Bethany was to do something about the death of
Lazarus. He who is the resurrection and
the life, He went to Bethany to give life to this man who
was dead. And the reason he entered into
this world after 4,000 years that we'd been dead, the reason he came down here
was to give us life and that more abundantly. That's the reason
he came. 4,000 years had gone by. Lots and lots
of ample, ample time to show that the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. That man with all of his philosophies,
man with all of his education, man with all of his learning,
man with all of his wisdom, he didn't know God. He's worshiping
rocks and stumps and beasts of the field. That's man's wisdom. He didn't know anything about
God. Didn't know anything about how God can be a holy God and
a just God and save people like us, save sinful people. For 4,000
years, men dwelt in ignorance, by and large, unless God revealed
the gospel to them. They dwelt in ignorance about
who God is and their own condition. Dead! But then something wonderful
happened. One who is life came into this
world. And he came into this world to
give life to all of his Lazaruses. All of his Lazaruses. We read just a few minutes ago
There in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, for as in Adam all die, so
also in the Lord Jesus Christ shall all be made alive. This is why the Son of God came
into the world, to give us life. You see, He delayed going to
Bethany For four days, on purpose. It is absolutely, without any
kind of argument or anything else, it's definite, Lazarus
is dead. You know, a bunch of the Jews
felt like for three days or so, the soul hung around the body,
and then he was gone. Well, now he's been dead four
days. As we shall see, when the Lord Jesus went to where Lazarus
was buried and he said, roll the stone away, Martha said,
you don't want to do that. By this time, he stinketh. He's
been dead four days. There's no doubt about it. He's
dead. And with you and me and all of
Adam's posterity, And all of God's elect, even. There's no
doubt about it. We were all dead. And we couldn't do anything to
raise ourselves. Men from the first Adam, right
up to the time Christ came, and from then on, even right up to
this day, if we'd all put our wills together, we can't raise
one dead soul. That's why it's foolish to talk
about free will. Put all of our wills together.
Can't raise one dead soul. Top lady said, man's free will,
can't even heal a toothache. Talking about having a tooth
pulled, can't even heal a toothache. How's it going to heal your soul?
How's it going to be a remedy? for your spiritual condition.
Christ came on the scene. After 4,000 years, death reigned. Isn't that what it says in Romans
chapter 5? Death reigned, death reigned. It reigned till he who
is the resurrection and the life came into this world. And when
he who is the life meets death, guess what happens to death?
It's got to give way. It's like the Lord Jesus, when
he met that funeral procession, the widow of Nain, her only boy,
he had died, carrying him to the cemetery. And I'll tell you
what, when life meets a procession of death, death's got to give
way. The boy's made alive. The little
girl who died, our Lord Jesus, went into the house where she
was. Oh, they mocked him when he came
and he said, all y'all get out. And he went in. He said, arise. And she arose. Nobody else could
do what he did. And one day he visited you by
his free and sovereign and effectual grace. And he found you in your
death, in that sleep of spiritual death. Oh, evangelists had tried
to awaken you by saying, make your decision for Jesus. But
you remained in the tomb. People talked to you and said,
oh, please, won't you believe on the Son of God? And you remained
dead. Oh, at the tomb of Lazarus, friends
wept. They cried. Mary wept. Martha wept. In fact, in verse
35, it says Jesus wept. But all the tears of all the
people who visited his grave, they couldn't raise him. And
I tell you, all the tears of moms and dads over their children,
lost children, lost grandchildren, that can't raise him. That don't
mean stop praying for them. We pray for our children. We
pray for our grandchildren. And the reason we do, because
the one to whom we pray, He's the only one who can do anything
for them. We can't twist their arm. You sit your children down,
talk to them. This is the way it is. And then you just ask God to save
them. Many years ago, David, our son
David, he is in kindergarten, first grade in a private school.
And Nancy was getting her certification to teach in a public school in
the state of Virginia. And in the meantime, we needed
her to have an income because I pastor a very small church.
But anyway, she went to work for a private school. And David
at that time, I think he was in first grade, and he come home
and he said, the teacher said, I need to be saved. And he said,
he asked me, he said, Dad, do you think I ought to be saved
and give my heart to Jesus? And so the next day I visited
with the teacher. And I went about it like this.
I said, I'm sure you believe that salvation is of the Lord,
don't you? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I do. I said, that means
that we have no ability to coerce or present so much valid reasoning
to where we talk somebody into salvation or a decision or anything. I said, you understand that?
She said, oh, yes. I said, well, from now on, You
leave David's salvation to the Lord. I said, since we've already
agreed that the Lord has to save sinners, why do you want to put
pressure on little children to make a decision? Listen, we love
our little children. We appreciate them. I'm thankful
for them. But listen, they've got to hear
the Word of God. And the Lord's got to open up
their ears. He's got to open up their heart. And we pray for
them and we want them to be here. We want them to be under the
sound of the word. My children, I had them under the sound of
the word. And my grandchildren. And yours as well. But the only
one who can raise anybody, little or big, from a spiritual death
is the same one that raised Lazarus. because he speaks with a voice
that raises the dead. And here he is. He goes to Bethany. When he informed his disciples
that he was going to Bethany, which was a little less than
two miles from Jerusalem, and they knowing what an awful greeting he had received in Jerusalem. The last time he was there, they
figured this was a suicide mission. In fact, back in verse 16 of
John 11, Thomas said, let's go with him that we may die with
him. Verse 17, then when Jesus came, he found he had lain in
the grave four days already. Now Bethany, verse 18, chapter
11, was nine to Jerusalem, about 15 furlongs off. Many of the Jews came to Martha
and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. And Martha, as
soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went out and
met him. Before he ever got all the way
into Bethany, she goes out to meet him. But Mary, verse number
20, Mary sat in the house. She just stayed there. Then said
Martha unto Jesus, Lord... Now, don't be too hard on Martha. Her faith was weak, but what
faith she did have was in the right object. She believed the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you this, it's
not the amount of faith you got. It's whether you got faith in
the right person. And she called him Lord, and she meant it. And she said, Lord, if thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died. And there are a lot of
things you could have said to Martha. He didn't even have to
be here. If he'd have willed it, he wouldn't have died. But
the fact that the issues of life and death belong to this one,
belong to the Lord Jesus. But she said, but I know that
even now, whatever thou would ask of God, God will give it
to you. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know
he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Now, there were
a group of Jews, Sadducees, they didn't believe in a resurrection.
There were some people who had infiltrated the church in Corinth. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, they didn't believe in a resurrection either. But Martha did. She said, I know you'll rise
again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus saith unto
her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in
me, though he were dead, Yet shall he live, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Believest thou this? He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. This is one of the seven I am's
found in the book of John and only found in the book of John,
by the way. Matthew, neither Matthew, Mark,
nor Luke used these. And I'm sure when Martha heard
the Savior say, I am the resurrection and the life, using that expression,
I am, she was well acquainted with that passage of scripture. We know it's found in Exodus
chapter three, where Moses saw a burning bush that was He was
on fire, but he wasn't being consumed. And he went there,
was the angel of the Lord. It was the Lord Jesus himself.
And when Moses said, who shall I say is sending me to Israel
to deliver them, as the Lord had instructed him, the voice
said, I am that I am. And that's, our Lord picks up
on that. That's what he uses here. I am,
I am. And when he says, I am, that
I am, that contains all three tenses of the verb to be. It might be translated, I was,
I am, and always shall continue to be. You see, the Lord's name
represents His eternal character. When we call upon the name of
the Lord, we worship Him as He really is. When the Lord God
here says, I am that I am in Exodus chapter 3, he's revealing
himself as God, the only eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient,
unchanging, immutable, constant, faithful one. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember the one speaking to
Moses is the, that was the same one who's right here speaking
to Martha. That's the same one. It's the
same voice. It's the same second person of
the Trinity. Because the one Moses met and
spoke with there in Exodus chapter 3 is the only mediator between
God and man. You see, God's not going to speak
to nor be spoken to by any son or daughter of Adam except through
a mediator. And that voice that came out
of the bush that burned but wasn't consumed was the voice of our
Mediator, the Lord Jesus. And he who spoke to Moses now
speaks to Martha. And it's recorded for our understanding,
for our admonition. This is one of whom it is written,
he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And now here he
is, hundreds of years later, after he used that name to Moses
there at that bush, he uses the same name to Martha. Now he's used this throughout
the Gospel of John. You know, he said, I am the bread
of life back in chapter six. He says, if any man eat of this
bread, he'll live forever. Christ is the only one and only
true bread that not only gives life to us, but he keeps that
life. He preserves that life. He's
the bread which every sinner needs and without which a sinner
will perish. Oh Lord, give me an appetite
for this bread, the bread of life. John chapter 8 and verse
12, he said, I am the light of the world. He who follows the
Lord Jesus no longer walks in the darkness of tradition and
false religion and superstition and idolatry and ungodliness,
but rather he walks in the light and in the knowledge of the glory
of God. I am the light of the world.
In John chapter 10 verses 7 and 9, he said, I am the door, by
me if any man enter in, he shall go in and out and find pasture.
He's the door to salvation. One door. It's like that door
into the ark. There was only one door into
the ark, only one entrance. I don't care whether it was an
elephant or an ant. Anything and anybody who entered
into the ark went in the same way. Man or beast. And anybody who goes into the
kingdom of God enters in through the door. And the door is a living
door. Christ Jesus said, I am the door. There aren't many entrances into
the kingdom of God. There's just one. We say, well,
that's the Baptist faith. I'm of the Catholic faith. Or
I'm of the Lutheran faith. Or I'm of the Episcopal faith.
There's just one faith. Just one faith. One way, one
door. Speaking of one way, he uses
that expression in John chapter 14 when he said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. Without him, there's no coming
to God. He said in John 10 again, he
said, I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd, just
one good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. He knows his sheep. He gathers
his sheep. He keeps his sheep. He saves
his sheep. He preserves his sheep. And here it says, I am the resurrection
and the life. And in John 15 verse 1, he said,
I am the vine, you're the branches. I am that I am. That's who this
is. He tells Martha, I am the resurrection
and the life. The one speaking to Martha was
the very son of God. Even as he spoke to Moses, and
he must speak to us too. And he speaks to us through His
Word, not an audible voice. But He speaks irresistibly through
the Scriptures. And He tells us who He is. I
tell you this, before He reveals His salvation to us, He's going
to reveal to us who He is. We're going to know who saves
us. We're going to know who forgives us. And we're going to know how
He does it. The Lord's people, we're not
theologians by any means. We don't know everything there
is to know about the things of God. But we do know this! God
saved us. God saved us on purpose. And
God saved us by His Son who paid our sin debt on Calvary's cross. And He saved us totally by grace. Everybody whom God saves, I do
believe He reveals those things to them. The Lord Jesus says, I am the
resurrection and the life. Remember this, we were saved
and we were raised representatively when our Savior rose from the
dead. I'll tell you one of the most glorious doctrines of the
Word of God. It's our union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I think if that I started to say if we ever get
hold of that, but actually if that ever gets hold of us, it will bring such joy to the
soul when we see that we have always been wedded to and one
with our representative. In old eternity, God gave us
to Christ Jesus. We were one with Him. We were
united to Him. When He lived on this earth in
obedience to God, we were in Him. Think of that. parental law,
civil law, divine law, all of His elect were in Him, keeping
the law. You couldn't keep the law at
all, neither could I. But in Christ Jesus we did. Moreover, when He died, when
He died, He did not die a private death. He did not die as one
man. He died with all of His people
dying with Him. We were with Him. When He said
it is finished, we were right there. We were in Him. We were
wedded to Him, united to Him. And it was finished for us. And when He arose, He didn't arise as a private
individual, just one man. All of the body of Christ Jesus
came out of that grave. That's you and me and all of
the rest of the elect. And when He ascended back to
glory, we ascended with Him. You see, this is a Tell you about
our union with Christ. Number one, it's forever. It was a secret union that we
didn't know anything about until it was brought to light through
the gospel. But nevertheless, though it was
a secret union and we didn't know anything about it, it was
a real union because God united us to Him. And our union with the Lord Jesus
was a legal, representative union. And everything He did was right there with Him. And when He answered the claims
of the Law of God and died under the wrath of God, bearing our
sins in His own body on the tree, We died right there with Him.
Justice can't demand anymore. See, that's why it's absolutely
ridiculous to say that Jesus died for everybody trying to
save everybody. Listen, if He died for everybody,
there's not going to be anybody in hell. Because what He did
satisfied God Almighty. And those for whom He died were
His elect. I just love that. I love that
truth. Our union with the Lord Jesus
was a vital living union manifested to us when we were born again. That wasn't when we were united
to him. But after that, we began to be
instructed and taught. And then the Spirit of God taught
us, God has always viewed you in Christ Jesus. It's always been about Him and
you in Him. And all of the rest of the myriads
of God's people in Him. Our union with Christ Jesus is
an everlasting union of life and grace. Martha, he said, I
am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Believest thou this? Do you believe
this? Do you believe this gospel? Boy,
I do. I do. And I say in my heart,
amen, I do. Believest thou this? Lord, I
believe. Help my unbelief and help my
understanding. Give me more understanding. Give
me a greater grasp of all that you've done for me and are doing
for me and will yet do for me. But Lord, I do believe. Believest
thou this? I say by the grace of God, yes,
Lord. I believe, because you gave me
faith. You gave me faith.