I want to bring a message today
on six sayings, seven sayings from the grave. Seven sayings
from the grave. From these verses that I read
today. I guess all of you have heard about
the seven sayings of the Savior on the cross, book by Arthur
Pink. seven sayings on the cross. The
first one was, Father forgive them, they know not what they
do. And then the thief said, Lord
remember me. And our Lord said today, thou shalt
be with me in paradise. And then when Mary and John were
standing before the cross, He said, son behold thy mother,
mother behold thy son. And the first one was, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The fifth saying of our Lord
on the cross was, I thirst, I thirst. Gave him vinegar, gall to drink. The sixth saying that our Lord
had on the cross, it is finished. And the seventh cry from the
cross was, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Now, I want to give you seven sayings.
We have seven sayings of the cross. I want to give you seven
sayings here that our Lord made at the grave of Lazarus. Seven sayings of our Savior.
And the first one we're going to start here in verse 20. Start looking here in verse 20. Then Martha, you know the Lord
Jesus, He loved Mary and Lazarus and Martha. They'd sent to Him
to come because Lazarus was sick. Well, he died while our Lord
was coming. And when He got there, you know,
He was right outside of town and come in yet. Then Martha,
as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him,
and Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. Now, if
you look at this, I think you see a slight rebuke. We sent
for you days ago. Why didn't you come? Lord, if
you would have been here, he wouldn't have died. I believe
she had a slight rebuke here. Then Mary then said the same
thing down here in verse 32. Did these two sisters get together
and say, this is what we need to say to the Lord when he gets
here, when and if he comes. Then when Mary was come, verse
32, where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying
unto him, Lord said exactly the same thing. Did these girls,
these ladies get together, these sisters get together and say,
you know, our Lord, if you'd have been here, they got together
and talked about this thing. Lord, if you'd have been here,
if you'd have got up and got on over here, our brother had
not died. And I tell you, I feel like it
was a slight rebuke of our Lord. I believe that's right. And then
she says this, but I know I know, Martha's one of these people
that, she knows too much, she knows
a lot of things. And here she said, I know that
even now, since you didn't come when we asked you to come, I
know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will
give it to you. Since you didn't come and your
providence didn't bring you over this way, you just ask God and
God will do whatever you want him to do. Since I didn't like
the way you didn't come, I didn't like the way things happened,
you ask God now and he'll give you whatever you ask. And he'll
give it to you. Well, here's the first saying
that our Lord, here's the first thing saying at the grave. Look
what our Lord said here. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. He'd been dead four days. She
said that brother our Lord says that brother Shall rise again
didn't pay any attention to what she had to say about whatever
God said that brother shall rise again Now you talk about a blessed
promise. Oh Blessed promise thy brother
shall rise again. Look now you keep John and look
over here in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 Look over here in
1st Corinthians chapter 15 You know This is the most wonderful thing.
Thy brother shall rise again. What a blessed promise. We go
out, and we're gonna go out here at Memorial Day, and we're gonna
put flowers on people's graves. And a lot of these people that
we're gonna put graves, flowers on their graves here at Memorial
Day, they're gonna rise again. We're gonna go put flowers on
their graves, and we're gonna remember them. We're gonna thank
God for them. and they're gonna rise again.
We're gonna stand, one of these days, we're not gonna go put
flowers on them again because they're not gonna be there. We
ain't either. Because our Lord says, thy brothers shall rise
again. Now look what he said here in verse 50. 1 Corinthians
15, 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now I'll
tell you what, Lazarus is not in flesh and blood anymore. Neither
doeth corruption inherit incorruption. But I'm going to show you a mystery.
We're not all going to sleep. We're not all going to take a
rest. But we're every one of us is going to be changed in
a moment in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trump, for
the trumpet shall sound. And listen to this, the dead
shall be raised incorruptible. I mean, here's a man laying in
the grave, four days. He said, this corruption's got
to put on incorruption. And I tell you what, the mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible body
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal man shall have
put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that death, that's written death, is swaddled up
in victory. O death, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of the sin is the law, but thanks be unto God for
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's a blessed
promise. There's lots of people out here
that we're gonna put flowers on their graves, and they're
gonna rise again one of these days. They're gonna rise again.
That's what our Lord said. Your brother's gonna rise again.
Huh? And then look what now, look
what she says now. Martha said unto him, here she
goes again, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. Now here's where she's at. She's
talking about a doctrine. She's talking about something
way out in the future. And she's just dealing with cold
doctrine instead of, said, Lord, what a blessed hope you've given
us. What a blessed thing you've given us. But she starts talking
about doctrine, cold doctrine. And that's what we say. We say
our church believes this doctrine, that doctrine, and the other
doctrine. And still now, I believe that what we ought to say is
when somebody asks us what our church believes, say, our church
believes in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I read a little
thing this morning where a fellow said, are you a four-point Calvinist
or a five-point Calvinist? He said, I'm a one-pointer. He
said, what in the world is a one-pointer? I have one point, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That would be a wonderful thing
for us to tell. Next time somebody asks you,
what do they preach up there? They preach a person, Jesus Christ,
the Lord of Glory, the only Savior of sinners. And that'd be a wonderful
thing to say, ain't it? Instead of talking about old
doctrine that we believe. But oh my, listen to what our
Lord said, and here's his second word. Here's the second word
of the grave. Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection. And listen to what he says, I
am the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Now here's what's happening here.
He said, I'm the resurrection. He that believes on me, though
he was dead. He's already gone. But if he
believes on me, he has life. That's what our Lord said. And
your brother's dead, but he has life. And all those folks that
believed on Christ that are dead, in a grave, they have life. Lazarus, he's been dead four
days, though he was dead, yet he's gonna live. And that's what
our Lord's saying, that Lazarus isn't dead. His body lays in
a grave, his body sleeps. Ain't that what our Lord said
back up here in verse 11? These things hath he ate, that
he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I'm gonna
go and wake him out of sleep. And sleep, you know, we're talking
about sleep, you rest when you sleep. You rest, your body rests. And he says this body is at rest
in a grave. But Lazarus himself is not dead. As though he was dead if he believes
in me. He's got life. And I tell you,
I, Lord, and then look what they said. Then said his disciples,
Lord, now they misunderstand. They said, Lord, if he sleeps,
that's wonderful. That's great. Then said his disciples,
Lord, if he sleep, he does well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death. Our language is he sleeps, he's
at rest. Christ's language is this. They
thought he had spoken of taking sleep. Then Jesus said unto them
plainly, Lazarus is dead. Our language is he sleeps, but
he said, and though he's dead, he lives. His body rests, but
he lives. Now listen to me. Eternal life
isn't something we're gonna possess way out here in the future. No,
no. We possess it right now. Life
is something we possess right now. And he that believes on
me has life. Eternal life is what we possess
even now. And he that believes on me has
life. Though dead, he yet lives. And
when the disciples walked with our Lord Jesus Christ, they didn't
talk about resurrection, but they walked with a living Lord,
a Lord that was with them and taught them and blessed them
and instructed them and they enjoyed his presence. And let
me tell you something, the state of our body has nothing to do
with the state of our soul. Ain't that right? The state of
this body, you can't look at my body and tell the state of
my soul. And you look at somebody, and
they, the minute life leaves their, if they believe on Christ,
they have life. They have life while they lived
here, they have life when they die. Though he were dead, yet
believes on me. He lives! And that's what he's
telling them. And this old man, this old man
here, he dies daily. But that new man, that new man,
that new man, I tell you what, that new man, that's the one
that's saved, that's the one that knows Christ, that's the
one that has something to do with our soul. I tell you what,
you can't look at this body and tell. This body, this old body
here one of these days is going to, you're going to carry it
to the grave. The funeral home's going to come and get it and
take it and clean it up and take it out to the, put it in a casket
and they're going to go to the grave. But the minute I'm alive
now and I have life and when I die I still have life. And
that's what our Lord's telling them here. That's what I, I'm
the resurrection. Christ said, I'm the resurrection.
Resurrection's not something in the future. Resurrection's
not something that's gonna happen well these days. Resurrection
is in Christ right now. Huh? Oh my. Though he's dead, yet he lives.
And look what else he says here. In verse, here's the second thing
he says now. Oh my, this is the second thing.
He said, whosoever, verse 26, whosoever lives and believes
in me shall never die. You see, we living, we who live
on this earth, right now, those of us who believe the Lord Jesus
Christ will never die. Never die. Now you, that's, I
don't know if you, we never die. never die, can never be separated
from Christ, never die. Body is, but we're not. The body is, but we're not. Oh,
though we have trials, though we have afflictions, though our
body gets weak and frail, though our body just withers away, But
yet, he that lives right now and believes on me has life,
has life. Cause why? He's the resurrection.
You know what's the cause of death? You know why men die? Sin. If there was no sin in this
world, that's why, that's why, that's why we're not gonna die.
You know why we're not gonna die? Because we don't have no
sin. You know sin's the cause of death. He says the sting of
death is sin. And I tell you the strength of
sin is in the law. And this, you know Adam, this
is why Adam died. Because he sinned. And he died
in his body, but I tell you it's the soul. It's the soul. And we'll never die because we
have no sin. We which are alive right now,
we have no sin. And I'm gonna show you we don't.
I'm gonna show you, you all know this, well as I do, but look
over here at 1 John 3. 1 John 3. You know, this is the
wonderful thing. You know why we're not gonna
die? Sin, people die because of sin. And it's the soul It's the soul
that lives, not the body. And it's the soul. Our Lord said,
the soul that sinneth, this shall die. And Adam sinned, and that
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. But I tell
you what, we'll never die. You know why we never die? Because
we have no sin. That's what our Lord's talking
about here, we which are alive. Look what He said here in 1 John
3 and verse 5, what He said here. And you know that He was manifested
to take away our sins. Oh my, where they at? God said
that He cast them as far as the east from the west, cast them
behind His back, cast them into the depth of the sea, brought
them out as a thick cloud. And I tell you what, He puts
them behind His back. Anybody ever know where God's
back is? Since He inhabited us eternity?
And he said, he cast them into the depths of the sea. And when
you get in Revelation, there is no sea. Even the sea is done
away with. And I tell you, he said, in him
was manifested the knowledge to take away our sins. In him
is no sin. You know, the scriptures tells
us that God made him, Christ, to be sin. Who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, and if there is righteousness in Him, and He
put away our sin, then we're righteous as He is righteous.
Ain't that right? And I tell you, look down here
in verse 9. 1 John 3, 9. Now listen to this.
Now this is something that People just can't hardly get a hold
of, but this is true. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Who is that person that's born
of God? It's not this body. It's that new man. It's that
soul. It's that heart. It's that new
nature that he gave us. Now this flesh is just rotten
as it can be, but he says, you know, whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin. You say, I do. God says you don't. You gonna believe God or believe
yourself? That new man cannot sin. You never had a problem
with sin until God saved you. And then he made you understand
that he took it all away and he didn't remember against you
no more. Then look what else he gonna say. For his seed, whose
seed? Christ's seed. The word of God,
the seed of God, the seed of Christ that liveth and abideth
forever. And he cannot sin because he's born of God. Now, if I ain't
got no sin, that's why I ain't never gonna die. But I tell you what, you die
without Christ in sin, you'll always be dying and never die. This body has to go now, this
body has to go to the grave. It's weak, it's corruptible. But oh, that soul, that soul
that God breathed into a man, that soul, he'll never die. It's
Christ in you, it's the Spirit in you. That's our hope of glory. And I'm gonna stand in God's
presence one of these days. And if I stand in God's presence,
I have to stand there without sin. I have to be perfect to
be accepted of God. Now you keep John, look over
here in Psalm 24 with me. Look at Psalm 24. If I'm going to stand before
God, I feel sorry for people who are trying their best to
work their way to heaven. Where they start at is where
they try to finish at. That's our starting place. But
look what it said here. Oh listen, if I'm gonna stand
in God's presence, I have to live without sin. And he asked
this, he asked this question. Verse three. Who shall ascend in the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands. He
that hath a pure heart. who hath not lifted up his soul
to vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Now I'll tell you what, naturally, that's not me by nature. I can't
ascend into the hill in the Lord. I don't have clean hands, and
I certainly don't have a pure heart. That's not me with my
nature. That's not my nature. But in
Christ, I'm already ascending. In fact, I'm not already ascending,
but I'm sitting down with him right now. Huh? That's what our Lord said. Our Lord's doing the talking.
That's the second thing he said now from the grave. And then
look what he says to Martha in verse 27. Oh my, Martha, oh listen, Martha, do you believe this? Oh, she, oh my. And she said, do believest thou
this? He's talking to Martha and says, believest thou this?
Do you believe what I just told you? Look what she said. Oh, yes, Lord, I do. Yes, Lord,
I do, I do, I do. And look what she says now. I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God, which should come into the world. Oh
my. Listen, she said, you know, this
is what the new man believes. This is what that, believe it's
all I do. That new man, here she was, you
know, she was talking about these things. And I tell you our Lord
says this, we believe, we believe, yeah Lord I believe. You know
you can get religion, believest thou this, you can get religion
and perish. You can learn doctrine and perish.
But you can't be in Christ and never be separated. You can't
possibly be in Him and perish. People will all the time, but
I don't want to make a false profession. If you really, really
believe Christ and believe on Christ, it's impossible to make
a false profession. Ain't that right? I'm like Martha, yeah Lord, I
believe. I believe you're the Son of God.
And I'll tell you, yeah Lord, I believe. This is the foundation
of the church. This is the foundation of our
faith. And he said, our Lord Jesus Christ,
he said, who do men say that I the Son of Man am? Oh my, who
does men say that I the Son of Man am? Some say you're Jeremiah, some
say you're Elijah, somebody else. He said, but who do you say that
I am? Thou art the Christ. You're the Son of the living
God. But in spite of her words, Lord, if you would have been
here, in spite of her words, I know that he'll rise again
in the last day. And our Lord said, I am the resurrection. It don't have to do with the
day. This was her testimony. This is our testimony. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now here's the fourth, fourth
things our Savior said. Here's the fourth word. Now look,
why don't you start back up here in verse 28, and let's go down
through here and just deal with this a little bit at a time. And oh, and when she had so said,
and she had told the Lord Jesus Christ that, and answered him,
do what you believe, And when she had so said, she went her
way. Now this, they're still out there
talking, see, he's not, it's him and Martha's out here talking
when she, I got through saying, you know, if you'd have been
here. And when she had told this, she went back to the house. She
went away and called Mary over to her and whispered in her ear
and said, the master's come and calls for you. As soon as she
heard that, The Lord's here, the Lord's come. And listen to
this, He's calling for you. As soon as she heard that, she
arose quickly and came unto Him. Oh my, come unto Him, come unto
Him. And now Jesus was not yet come
into the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him. Now
watch what happens now. The Jews then, which were with
her in the house, And they, you know how people, when somebody
dies, people come in people's houses and comfort one another,
sit around with one another. And that's what they were doing,
they comforted her. And when they saw Mary, that
she rose up quickly and hastily and went out, they followed her,
said, well, they all come out of the house with her. And said,
she's going to the grave, she's going over there to cry, she's
going over there to weep. Then when Mary was come, where
Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto
him, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother had not
died. Oh my. And this is the fourth word that
our Lord said. In verse 33, when Jesus therefore
saw her weeping, saw her crying, And the Jews also weeping with
her, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was
troubled. And this is the fourth saying
at the grave, where have you laid him? Where's he at? Where have you laid him? Where
have you laid him? Oh, he asked the question. And
then the next verse, they said, come and see, come and see. And our Lord said, and it says
there in verse 35, and Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Let me give you three
things about our Lord here. Our Lord groaned. Look what he
says there. They asked him a question. In
verse 37, the Jew said how he loved him. And some of them said,
could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind should
not have caused that this man should have died? And then therefore
Jesus groaned again, groaned again. Oh, groaning in himself. In himself cometh to the grave.
Our Lord groaned. The first time when he saw him
weeping, saw Mary weeping, all them Jews weeping. He groaned,
it bothered him to see him weeping. He groaned in his spirit. Troubled,
that's what the margin says, he's troubled in his spirit.
And then he began to weep, began to weep. And those Jews said,
well, why couldn't he kept this? If he'd have been here, this
man couldn't even have died. The man that could open the eyes
of a blind man, this man could not have died had he been here.
And then our Lord, he groaned again. He groaned, he wept and
he groaned. Oh my, and he saw her weeping
and he sat down low and she should have been rejoicing. But here she was weeping and
he groaned. Let me show you something here
in John 14, 28. Look with me over here. This is why she should
have been rejoicing. Our master said here, told his
disciples, you have heard how I said unto
you, I go away and I'll come again unto you. If you loved
me, you would rejoice because I said, I go unto my father. And that's why she should have
been rejoicing. Because Lazarus wasn't dead,
he was with the Father. And he said, tell me where you've
laid him. And he said, he told him, he said, I'll go raise him
up. And you know when he groaned in spirit and he began to weep
and groaned again, he thought of Lazarus. Now listen to me,
Lazarus, he said he wasn't dead. He said, though he's dead, he
believes in me, he lives. You know where Lazarus was? He
was with the Father. That's where Lazarus was. He
was with the Father. He was out of this world. He
was away from sin. No darkness in him anymore. No
disease, no pain, no tears, no fears. And our Lord's weeping
and groaning because I've got to bring him back into this old,
wretched, miserable world again. Oh my. That's why. Anybody that
you love and know anything about, would you have them come back
into this world just for one split second? No. No. And I got to bring him back into
this sinful world. No wonder our Lord wept. No wonder
he groaned. Oh, I tell you, think about this.
Had to bring him back, that'd cause anybody to weep. Huh? Oh my. I tell you, had to bring
him back into this old world. And that's why they ask him,
he says, They say that, you know, there's
a whole lot more to Jesus, just Jesus wept. What's the shortest? They teach kids in school and
teach them in Sanskrit. What's the shortest verse in
the Bible? Jesus wept. Our Lord was weeping. Oh my. And I tell you, that's why they
said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind,
could have kept this man from dying? And our Lord groaned as
he came to the grave. You know why he groaned again?
He knew that these people weren't going to believe him. His disciples
didn't understand. And he knew that even bringing
Lazarus back from the dead, even bringing Lazarus back from the
dead, they still wouldn't believe. They wouldn't believe. These
Jews, with all their law, with all their ceremonies, with all
their feasts, with all their worshipings, and oh my, and all
their religion, they wouldn't believe. And I'll tell you something, if somebody went out here to
one of these graves, and told somebody to get up out
of the ground. And I tell you, the casket busted
open and somebody come up out of the ground, apart from the
grace of God, that man would still not believe, though he
saw it with his own eyes. And I tell you, and that's why
our Jews, our Lord Jesus Christ, He wept. He wept for us. Wept for us. He wept for them
because of their unbelief. And he was weeping for Lazarus.
I've got to bring him back. Uh-huh. Got to bring him back.
Oh, here's the fifth thing our Lord said now. It says there in verse 38, Jesus,
therefore, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a
cave, and a stone lay upon it. Our Lord said unto Martha, Take
away the stone. Said unto them, Take away the
stone. Take away the stone. That's the fifth word our Lord
said. But look what Martha said. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. He's
been dead four days. Martha didn't want him to open
that grave. Let's don't take the stone away.
Let's don't take it away. Martha said, no, no, let's don't
do that. She objected again. And she said, by this time, he's
been dead four days and he stinks. Well, look what our Lord said
unto her. Verse 40, said, I'm not unto thee, that if thou wouldst
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. Oh my, didn't I
tell you that if you'd believe, you'd see the glory of God? Why
did Martha object to having this stone taken away? Well, under
Jewish law, you never open a grave after it's been closed. But she wasn't concerned about
that law. Do you know what she was concerned
about? She was concerned about, first of all, the dignity of
her brother. I don't want nobody to see my
brother like that. I don't want to see my brother like that.
She thought about the dignity of her own family. Oh, I don't want to see my brother
like that. She thought about all the offense
that it would bring. You open that grave. Oh my. He's been dead four days. His
body had rottened. It's rotten. It's rotten. Her objection was she didn't
want people to see her brother as he really is. Oh my. He said remove the stone. You know when you remove the
stone, you know what you see? You remove all the pretense. You remove the covering. You
remove the things that hides hidden nature, human nature as
it really is. Don't take that stone away, Lord.
We'll have to see him as he really is. We'll have to consider what
flesh is. Dead, corrupt, rotten, frail,
powerless, helpless. What can he do? Nothing. What
does he have? Nothing. What is there, is there
anything about him? Nothing. Huh? Oh, we've never,
never seen flesh as it really is. You know how corrupt flesh
is? Oh, this rotten flesh. And God, listen, I'm glad we
don't see it as bad as it is. That's why we put people that's
dead out of sight. Oh, we never. And that's why
she said, don't take away that stone. She said, oh my, all the
pretense of being taken away. People see him as he really is.
And that's what preachers are doing. They're making a pretense. They're making a covering for
people. And our Lord said, listen, I don't want people seeing him
as he really is. And I'll tell you, if God ever
Oh, that's why no wonder Paul said, I'm a wretched man, but
I am. That's why he says this corruptible
has to put on incorruption. This mortal has to put on immortality. Oh my, we've never seen flesh
as it really is. When you was 30, did you ever
think you was going to be like you was when you was 80? When you was 70, did you ever
think you was going to be like you was at 85? Flesh, gold, royal flesh, oh
God. We don't know what flesh really
is, how rotten it really is. We've never seen it as it really
is. But now, now here's the fifth
thing. Here's the fifth thing. Now let's
consider him that's before this grave. Let's consider him that's before
this grave. You know who's standing here
at this tomb? Holiness incarnate. Glorious God-man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the one who has all power. Here's a man, he's wicked. Here's
holiness, the Lord Jesus. Here's death. Here's life in
Christ. And he told her, said, didn't
I say to you that if you'd believe, you'd see the glory of God? Well,
what is the glory of God? Is it to bring Lazarus back from
the dead? Not entirely, no. Because see,
bringing Lazarus back from the dead is a picture of our Lord
bringing all his people from the grave. And the true glory of God, the
true glory of God is raising the dead, raising us from the
death of sin, raising us from sin, raising us from the dead, and
the glorious resurrection of all his people. Oh, I said, if
you'd believe, you'd see the glory of God. I'm going to tell
you something. Those of you sitting there right
now, some of you sitting here right now, you've seen the glory
of God. Where'd you see it at? When He
raised you from your sin? When He quickened you who were
dead in trespasses and sins? If you've seen the glory of God
sitting right where you are, what did you do to get life? Nothing. What did you contribute
to your life? Nothing. He did it all. That's where we see the glory
of God. He did it all. He did it all. Oh, now listen
to what our Lord said here. Now listen. That's why, that's
how we see the glory of God. He did it all. He did it all. We give him all the glory for
it. Now look what he said here in verse 41. They took away the stone from
the place where he was dead, where the dead was laid. And
Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that
Thou hast heard me, and I know that Thou always hears me, but
because, but because of the people which
stand by, all these people around this grave, all these Jews, Mary
and Martha. Because of all the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent
me." You know, our Lord prayed not because He needed prayer. He prayed, and I tell you, there's
a covenant between the Father and the Son, this glorious covenant. And our Lord prayed. And why
did he do it? Because of all the people that
stood around by him. And he did it that they may believe.
Lord, that they may believe. And that's why he was there and
prayed that they may believe. That's why we pray. That's why
we preach. That you may understand. That
you may believe. That's why we're preaching all
the time, to give understanding that people may believe and be
brought to faith in Christ. Look in John 20 with me. Look
over here. This is what I'm saying. Down
verse 30. Oh, listen. I pray because of
these people that are standing by. I want them to believe. I want them to hear. I want them
to understand. I want them to believe. And that's
why you sent me, our Lord said. That's why he sent preachers.
That's why he sends people to preach, to give understanding
that you may believe. And it says here in verse 30,
and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written
that you might believe Now see, there's lots of things that Christ
did that Deborah didn't put in this book. But this book, these
things are written. What is here, written down here,
is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God. And that believing, you might
have life through Him. He said, that's why, that's why. And oh my, that was the sixth
thing that our Lord said in the prayer. That prayer, that's the
sixth thing he said to grace when he prayed. He prayed, Father
I thank you. Here's the last thing, the seventh
thing. In verse 43, and when he had
thus spoken, he spoke with a loud voice. That's the first thing
you see, he spoke with a loud voice. He's there on purpose,
he's there with a purpose. He has the voice of power. He
has the voice of immutability. And you know why he said Lazarus?
You know there's a lot of people in the graves out there. You
know why he said Lazarus? If he had just said come forth,
they'd all had to come out of the grave. That's what's going
to happen one of these days when he's going to say that trumpet
sounds. And we're all going to leave
at the same time. Lazarus! Why did he say Lazarus
forth? If he had just said come forth,
all them graves would, all them stones and all of it. Oh my. And you know why he said Lazarus?
He said, I know my sheep. I know where they are. I know
the condition they're in. I know what's wrong with them.
I know he's corrupt, but I tell you what, I'm going to give him
life. Oh, is that yours? I know my sheep now. Come down. Saul, get off that horse and
get in the dust. Oh my, that's what he meant when
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
And then look what it says now. And when he had thus spoken,
verse 43, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Now listen to this now. And he
that was dead, I never get over this, he that was dead came forth. And when God quickens us, he
that's dead comes forth. And then look what happens here
now. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with
grave clothes. You know, back in those days,
they wrapped people up. Wrapped them up in white linen,
wrapped them up, prepared their body, wrapped them in clothes,
wrapped them all up. Kind of like a mummy, you know,
you've seen these mummies, and they had them all wrapped up,
put something over their eyes, and they wrapped them. He's alive. He's still Lazarus.
He's alive. He's wrapped up. But he's alive. That's Lazarus standing there.
And look what our Master said to him. Loose him. Loose him. Start and run and then take us.
And that's what happens, you know. You can't give him life. I've already done that. But I'll
tell you what you can do. You can start teaching him. You
can start telling Him. How many grave clothes did we
have on when we first came to Christ? Oh, how many did we have? Huh? How many did we have? Oh
my, how many grave clothes did we have on? We had on traditions
and ceremonies and altar calls and doing the best we can, living,
trying to live holy lives, trying to do all those things. You know
what set us free? The Word set us free. The Gospel
set us free. And as you listen to that Word,
and God blesses that Word, them grave clothes come off and come
off, and then what we're talking about is having liberty in Christ. Free from the law, oh happy condition. Huh? Oh my, power in that blood. To wash from sins. And I tell
you, it's the Word. It's the Word that sets us free.
I can't set a soul free. I can't take off grave clothes.
But He can. I don't even know what grave
clothes you got and I don't even know what I got. But He knows. He knows. Don't He? Huh? He knows. And I tell you what,
when Christ starts taking them off, oh boy. Remember the first time you heard
that you have a righteousness and it's not your own, it belongs
to somebody else? And you got it for nothing? Remember
when you was dead, now you're alive? Oh, remember when you
found out you did nothing, He did it all? All to Him we owe. Our Father, in the blessed name
of your Son, O Lord, thank you for your words. Thank you that
the grave has no power at all. Thank you that you're the resurrection.
Right now, we live in you. And all those that are dead,
they're with the Father. They're enjoying his presence.
And one of these days, bless your holy name, you'll holler,
you'll blow a trumpet, and all of those that believed in you,
all of those who trusted you, they're going to come out of
the grave, and they're going to forever be with the Lord.
And oh Lord, as those girls sang, going home, we're going home,
we're going home. Nothing in this world can hold
us here. Nothing in this world that we
want We want and long for the day that we can come, be with
our Lord Jesus. Thank you for your word. God
bless these hearts today and do it for Christ's sake. Amen.
Let's sing that 125 again. Let's sing that 125. We sing
it all the time, but let's sing it again.