years and years ago, 77 somewhere
now, 78, and I was learning the gospel. And they asked me to
preach, and I preached that there's another king, even one Jesus. And these people believed that
Christ wasn't going to come and reign until after the, he was
going to reign for a thousand years. He was going to come and
sit on the throne in Jerusalem, and reestablish the Jewish kingdom,
Jewish nation. And I preached to his king now.
You've never seen such folks getting such an uproar. They
just got in an uproar about it. They really got upset about that. Oh my. If he's not reigning,
I'd like to know who is. I know I'm not. I can't even reign over me. You
know I can't even reign over myself or anybody else. But I want to bring a message
this morning and the title of my message is Cause and Effect. Everybody knows that there's
a cause and after the cause there comes an effect. And the resurrection
of Lazarus was a resurrection a real raising of the dead. The resurrection of Lazarus was
a real raising of the dead. When our Lord Jesus Christ called
his name Lazarus, told him to come forth, he'd been dead four
days. Four days. Most of the time when
someone dies, we bury them generally on the third day, sometimes on
the fourth. But this is typical of our Lord
Jesus Christ giving life to dead sinners. You hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. And the reason for it was
for the glory of God. He said this death is for the
glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified. And our
Lord Jesus Christ strips sin of its penalty. Strip sin of his penalty. You
know what the penalty of sin is death And our Lord Jesus Christ
strips in Of his penalty death. That's why I said he that believeth
on me shall never die Believe thou this Yes, Lord. I believe
that thou art the Christ the son of the living God we live
and believe on him and we believe on him because we live and Where
did we get life? We got it from Him. We couldn't
believe until He gave us life. Life comes before belief. And He also stripped death of
its power. He stripped death of its power.
This man was laying dead, laying in a tomb, stone over it. Martha said, Lord, if you move
that stone, we're going to be confronted with the awfulest
smell. Oh, it's going to be stinking.
He said, take away the stone. Take away the stone. So he stripped
the grave of its power. Sin of his penalty was death,
and the power of the grave, when he stripped it of its power,
when he said, come forth, death has to let go when Christ speaks. Now, for every cause there is
an effect. Sin? Cause. Death? The effect. Life from
the death? Christ is the cause. Life is
the effect. And He speaks. He calls by name. And when He calls a man by name,
He says, I know my sheep and they know me. When He speaks
and He calls by name, they live Lazarus come forth and he that was dead
came forth and he what did he do to bring this man to life
just spoke just spoke he used his word to call forth a dead
man and that's what he uses the same word today is what he uses
to call people from dead that's the same thing that he does he
still uses his word to call people as he does now and because Christ
gave Lazarus life from the dead that's the cause but it also
produced an effect and we're told in these verses the effect
that this Life-giving miracle that our Lord produced here and
performed in raising a dead man from life been dead for days
And it had an effect upon everybody in the presence there Ever that
miracle had a had a fact on these those that were present But I
want you to notice this before I get into my message Nothing
is said about Lazarus Nothing said about his sisters and their
feelings. If this Bible, if this wasn't
inspired of God, that's all you would hear about and find out
about is how his sisters felt and their emotions and their
feelings. They'd have been writing about Lazarus and what did you
see Lazarus while he was dead? Did you see him in bright lights?
Did you go to another world and come back? They would have been
worrying about their emotions, their feelings, and questioning
Lazarus. But God's book is not about that.
It's about Christ and His accomplishments. And if this Bible hadn't have
been God's word, that's all we would have found out about. Oh
Mary and Martha, I bet you're so happy. Tell us how happy you
are. Tell us how you rejoice. Lazarus, tell us what it's like
to be dead and come back to life. Oh My people talk about there's
a movie all about a year ago It's about a little boy that
died and came back from heaven. They made a big movie about some
big stars in it Come to find out That this little boy made
that whole story up. I But you know people are supposed
to go, they go and then they're supposed to die and come back
and tell you what all was seen and all that to come with down
into death and come back. I'll tell you somebody, Paul,
he said he was called up to the third heaven. Whether I was in
my body, I don't know. Whether I was out of my body,
I don't know. But I was called up to the third heaven. I went
into the presence of God himself. I saw the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And when I got back, I can't
tell you a thing about what I've seen. Now there's a man who was
called up to see God, to see the Lord Jesus Christ personally.
And he got back and said, I can't tell you about it. And I tell you what, the only
person who ever come back from the dead that we can believe
is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And I tell you that oh Now let's
look at this miracle. God's pleased to conceal the
emotions of this family But all look at the effect look at the
effect of this, you know at this miracle that happened verse 45 After Lazarus came forth and
that napkin about his face, they had to take the napkin off his
face the first day. Our Lord Jesus Christ had a napkin
on his face. And when they come to the tomb,
the first thing they saw was that napkin laying over everybody's
head. You know why? Because when he rose again, he
just reached up there and got it himself and laid it aside.
He didn't have to be loosed from his grave clothes like Lazarus
did. He just got out of them. And he laid the napkin aside
and his gray clothes laid right where they were. And you can't
find it in the Shroud of Tyrion either. Some believed. Look what it said
here. Some believed. Many of the Jews, verse 45, which
came to Mary had seen the things which Jesus did and believed. They came here to comfort Mary.
They came here to be a blessing to Mary and Martha. And they
have a high regard for her and him. And then they let him have
a high regard for him. And they came to Mary and they
saw for themselves the great miracles that he did. And that's
the thing, they saw for themselves. And that's what you got to do
and I got to do. We got to see for ourselves.
I can't see for you and you can't see for me. Look over John 4
with me for a moment. For a little bit look here John
for this is the woman at the well, you remember the woman
at the well when our Lord Jesus came and told her and Told her
all the things about herself and and then she left her water
pot and run back into town Said come see a man which told me
all things that ever I did Now look what she says here in verse
39 John 4 39 And many other Samaritans of
that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which
testified, he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans
were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with
them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed
because of his own word. And said unto the woman now we
believe not because of what you said For we have heard him ourselves
and know that is this is indeed the Christ They some believe
because of her others believe because they saw him himself
and that's what happened here these saw for themselves They
heard for themselves and so some believed on him and look what
he says here in verse 46 but some of them and they believe
not and But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and
told them what things Jesus had done. Oh, they're spies of the
Jews. Hear Christ and His miracles.
You know what this is? Savior of death unto death. That's
what this is here. And I'll tell you what, the Lord
Jesus Christ and his gospel is still a savor of death unto death
to a lot of people. Some of them believe there's
a savor of life to them. They smell Christ and they wasn't
concerned about Lazarus and him stinking. They just saw the miracle
of him having life. And our Lord Jesus Christ hears
these people that they see Christ They seize miracles and they
run and tell the Pharisees and that day was a saver of death
unto them Christ means nothing to them. There's a hatred of
Christ for them And has always been a division because of him
Our Lord Jesus Christ has always been a division because of the
Lord Jesus Christ look in Acts 28 Go over here in Acts right
after John Acts 28, right after John, the last chapter of Acts. This is the way it's always been,
the way it always will be. And this is the way it is here.
There's not a congregation that you can preach to or be in that
this is not the way it is. Look what he said here in Acts
28 and verse 23. Paul's preaching now. He's got
a place that they'll let him live in. When in verse 23 and when they
had appointed him a day the Apostle Paul There came many to him under
to him unto his lodging to whom he expounded and testified the
kingdom of God persuading them concerning Jesus both out of
the law of Moses and out of the prophets and he did it from morning
to evening all day long all day long and Now watch what happened.
And some believe the things which were spoken and some believe
not. Kind of the way it is here and
kind of the way it is everywhere. Some believe. Some believe. Others back up and say I can
take it or leave it. They believe not. But there's
always a division because of him. Some say, yes, he's the
Messiah. Some say, yes, he's the Christ.
Others say, no, he's not. Well, you believe on him if you
want to. I don't have to. I don't need religion. I don't
need Christ. Well, I tell you what, I need
Christ. I don't need religion, but I
need Christ. And I tell you what, look what
they said. They asked them a plot now. Here's an effect. Some believed. Oh, they saw the things that
the Lord Jesus Christ did. And I've seen what He did. You
start with Christ. You got to start with His person
and who He is. Because who He is makes sure
that what He did is true and right. You know, if he wasn't
who he said he was, what he did didn't amount to anything. But
if he is the Messiah, if he's the Christ, if he's the Son of
God, if he's the one sent down from heaven, if he's God's blessed
Son, if he was sent down here, and he done these miracles, then
the thing is that what makes what he did right and accomplish
what he did, because first of all, you start with who he is.
Like I said last week, it's not how much blood was shed on the
cross, it was whose blood was shed on the cross. It was not
why he died on the cross, but who it was that died on the cross.
We're dealing with a person. And that's what people's got
to deal with, a person, not a doctrine. Not a preacher. Not a verse of
scripture, but we got to face a person. And you know what?
We'll face a person right today. We face the Lord Jesus Christ
today. And I tell you what, when this
thing's all said and done, we're going to see one man, one man, sitting on his throne and he's
going to judge this whole world this man who raised Lazarus from
the dead this man who some believe and some believe not this man
he's going to be your judge or your savior he's going to be
your judge or your redeemer he's going to be your judge or he's
going to be everything to you one or the other one or the other
Now I tell you what, I believe, oh I believe, I believe, I believe. And then look what they, they
some believe not. So they went over and said, they
come and told the Pharisees, look, they come over and told
them, said, you know, we was over there at this man's house,
we went to see Mary and Martha and to comfort them. And we was
standing there and this Jesus of Nazareth, He told a dead man,
called him by name, and Lazarus came forth from the dead, and
I saw it myself. They went and told him. And oh
my, they had to get all together. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees, and they got the whole council together. And
they hastum a plot. They hastum a plot. The high
priests, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, They all got together and listen
to what they said. Oh my, you know enemies get together
over Christ. They get together over the gospel.
The Pharisee was a Sadducee. They didn't believe in spirits.
They didn't believe in the resurrection. The Pharisees believed in both.
This high priest was a Sadducee. And I tell you the Sadducees
and the Pharisees didn't believe the same thing at all. Pharisees
believed in spirits and the resurrection. Sadducees didn't believe in spirits
or the resurrection. But enemies get together over
Christ. Enemies will get together over
Christ. Let me look over here in 2311, you know, I Believe
it was Joe Terrell. He went they have a ministerial
association in every town you know, the ministers all get together
the preachers all get together and they They all you know and
visit one another and have fellowship and eat breakfast that kind of
thing and Joe went a time or two and he started telling them
what he believed. Everyone in that whole group
turned on him. You know they all believe the
same thing. Every single one of them. An Armenian is an Armenian
is an Armenian. Salvation is by work, by works,
by works, no matter how you cut it. Or else salvation is altogether
of grace and works don't enter into it. And that's why I don't
go to these preachers meetings. You know, I know what's gonna
happen but look what he said here in Acts 23 11 Inherit with his men of war set
him at naught Can you imagine setting the Lord Jesus Christ
the Son of God at naught setting him to be nothing? You know what
naught is Nothing And mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous
robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And listen to this. And the same
day Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before
they were at enmity with themselves. They were against one another.
But when it came to crucifying the Son of God, they became friends. That's the way these Pharisees
said. Now look back over here in John 11, verse 46, 47. Look at what he says here in
verse 47. And the council got together
and said, what do we? What in the world have we done
here? How did we allow things to get
so out of hand? How did we allow this to get
so far gone? How did we let this man get this
along this great? How did we do this? Because that
one time in John 7, it says they sent men to take him. And they
sent officers to take him. And they got there to take him.
And they stopped there and he was preaching and teaching. And
they went back. And they said, why didn't you
take him? Well, we ain't never heard a man speak like that before.
And so they didn't take him. And oh, I tell you what, and
I tell you this is, what do we? How did we let things get so
out of hand? What are we going to do now? What are we going
to do? Look what he said, for this man
does many miracles. Many miracles. They knew that
he performed miracles. They saw the miracles that he
performed. And they knew that they were
real. Yet their conscience was unmoved. He does many miracles. Miracles did them no good. And
let me tell you something. I know this without a shadow
of a doubt. I know this is so. If someone could find a dead
person today, if they went to a funeral home today, somebody
laying there dead, if somebody God gave them the power to tell
them to live and get up out of that casket, and they had a great
big funeral home full of people, not one of them, not one of them
would believe that miracle without having a new heart and having
faith. In fact, that miracle wouldn't
save anybody. Christ raising the dead never
saved anybody. Christ raising you from the dead,
that's what life is. And we're a miracle. But I tell
you what, miracles are real. And this miracle was real. But
it never touched them, never moved them. And people could
watch somebody raised from the dead, You know that I tell you that God uses His
power, the power of His Word. He brings sovereign, effectual
grace to bear upon His sheep. I'll tell you something about
believers. We don't need signs. I do not need a sign. Do you
need a sign? Do you need a miracle? Huh? I tell you what, it took a miracle
to hang the stars in place. It took a miracle to hang the
world in space. But when it saved my soul, cleansing
made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. Huh? Oh, listen. Believers don't need
signs. They don't need miracles. You
know people, preachers are out there and everybody's looking
for the ark. If they found the ark, it won't, I won't, it will
not affect my faith whatsoever if they found the ark. And if
they found the cross that Christ was crucified on, it would not
change my faith one bit. Would it, George? It would not make our faith any
better. Said if we just find that, people would believe. No,
nobody's gonna believe without the sovereign grace of God being
brought to bear upon their hearts. If Christ don't change your heart,
you'll never believe. If Christ don't change your understanding,
you'll never believe. If Christ don't give you life,
you'll never believe. You may like me. You may like
all the preachers that come here. And you may even enjoy the Word. And say, I like the way they
preach it. But if God does not do something
for you, you will perish. God's got to speak to you. The Word's got to go to you. He said, Lazarus, He's got to
call you. He's got to call you forth. And
if He ever gives you faith, you'll never require another sign. Lord give me a sign. Oh, people
will take the Bible and they'll say, they'll open the Bible and
say, Lord speak to me through your word and they'll pop open
the Bible and we'll see where they find it. That don't suit
my situation, let's do that again. People do that. I've seen folks
do it. When I was lost, I did it. I
said when I was lost. here they come up with a solution
look at their solution now look at their solution in verse 48
if we let him alone if we let him go on like he is if we let
him continue performing these miracles and all are going to
believe on him Oh, the whole nation is going to end up believing
on Him. And then, oh my, and the Romans
will come. The Romans will come. Because
I tell you what, they won't let nobody usurp their authority.
And the Romans shall come and take away, now listen to this,
take away, here's the first thing they said, our place. Our place. What was their place? power,
authority, positions. This priest here lived
in a palace. You read over here in John and
then Matthew, they lived, he lived in a palace like the Pope
lives in the Vatican. He lived in a palace. And they'll come and take away
our temple. They'll take away our place.
They'll take away our authority. They'll take away our position.
They'll take away our power. They'll take away everything
from us. They weren't interested in God's glory. They didn't care
about God or His glory. They didn't care about what was
best for the people. They didn't care about the worship
of God, the sacrifices of God. The only thing they were interested
in was their place. Their place. And out of their
own mouth shall they be condemned. And then Caiaphas, the high priest,
look what he said now. In one of them, verse 49. named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them,
said unto that whole council, he said, you don't know nothing. I've got a perfect plan. I've
got a perfect plan. He said, you all don't know nothing,
do you? You all just don't know nothing. You don't know how to
deal with this problem. You don't know how to deal with
this man. You don't know nothing at all. Huh? You don't know nothing
at all. You don't know or consider that
it's expedient. That word expedient means it's
profitable. It'll be best for all of us.
Expedient for all of us. This will be the best thing for
all of us. I've got the answer. I've got the answer to this situation.
What shall we do? What are we going to do about
this man? If we leave him alone, we're going to lose everything.
And they told the truth. They're going to lose everything. And here's the solution that
is expedient, profitable for all of us, that one man should
die for the people and that the whole nation not perish. And
he said, boy, I tell you what, we'll save our whole nation.
He wrapped himself in his flag. That's what he did. Wrapped himself
in his flag. If we follow Jesus, if they follow
Jesus, our whole nation will perish. Put him to death? and the whole nation saved. And
you know the irony of this is that 70 years later, Titus, a
general in the Roman army, marched into Jerusalem, slew the Jews
by the thousands, and tore down the walls of Jerusalem and laid
it bare. Didn't he, Gary? They come in there and just destroyed,
just wiped them out. He said, let his blood be upon
us and on our children. It's been, it was. But now look
what, but that's what he says. But now look what the Holy Spirit
says about it. The Holy Spirit interprets this
for us and tells us what's going on. In verse 51, and this spake
he not of himself. He wasn't talking about him dying.
No, no. One man should die. One man should
die for the people. One man should die for the nation
of Israel. And this spake he not of himself. But being high
priest that year, watch this, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation. And not only for that nation,
but that also he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad. Oh, he didn't know what he was
saying. This is substitution. This is
substitution. Oh my. Many devices are in a man's heart,
but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. When he said
this, if one man should die for the people in this media, God
said, this is what's going to happen. One man is going to die
for his people and gather together in one in Christ, all his people,
no matter where they are. They're scattered everywhere.
They're everywhere. But I'm going to save them. How? By the death of one man. Oh,
he said what he wanted to say. Oh, he said just exactly what
he wanted to say. His intent was wicked. His intent
was hateful. His intent was awful. His intent was full of hatred.
But God's intent was all together different. God let that man say
what he wanted to say, do what he wanted to do, and when he
said that, God said, I'm going to take his words, I'm going
to take the anger of this man, and I'm going to make it praise
me. I'm going to take this wrath of this man, and I'm going to
make it praise me. Oh yes, he said one man is going
to die, but he's not going to die for that whole nation. You
know who he's going to die for? Look what he says here. in verse
52 that he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad you keep this and look with me
in Ephesians 1 10 me and Bruce Crabtree was talking about this
last night or yesterday afternoon oh my listen here in Ephesians
1 10 Oh my God made known to us there in
verse 9 God made known unto us the mystery of his will He made
us known the mystery of His will, the mystery of Christ coming
here, saving His elect, according to His good pleasure which He
had purposed in Himself. Now listen to this, that in the
dispensation of the fullness of time, when all time is over
and done with, He might gather together in one all things in
Christ, things that are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in Him. God is going to gather everything
in one unto Christ. And you know all His people are
one in Him already. All of us are one in Him. That's
why we're all here together. We all believe the same thing.
We're all looking to the same Christ. Oh my! And all He chose. God in His
eternal decree put the words in this man's mouth. Huh? God put the words in this man's
mouth. He said just what he wanted to say. But God said this is
what I mean by what he said. This is what's going to happen.
And here's the mystery of God's providence. God's will and human
responsibility. Caiaphas said exactly what he
wanted to say. And he said it freely. He was
uncoerced. Yet God's will was being done
in choosing these words to reveal how He's going to save His elect,
how He's going to save His people by the death of this blessed
man. We've got to kill this man. God said, go ahead. That's what
I meant to do anyway. That was my purpose from the
beginning. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation. You're just
saying exactly what I was going to do from all eternity. Listen. He said that he should
also gather together in one. And you notice this. The children
of God. The children of God. The children
of God. God's children. Oh, I remember
an old fellow used to say all the time, Lord, we pray for God's
children. He had a real southern accent.
Pray for God's children, he'd say. And oh, he'd talk about
God's little children. Every time you'd hear him talking,
he'd talk about God's little children. And beloved, that's
what we are. We're little children. We're
just little children. And ain't you grateful we have
a Father that takes care of his children? Do we have a father
that loves his children? We have a father that gathers
his children together? Oh my! About the only time anymore
you can get a whole family together is when something terrible happens. But God said, listen, I'm going
to gather all my children together in one. How? That this one man
should die. This one man should die. And
how's he going to do it? He's going to save his people.
He's going to gather them. Oh my. And oh look here, let
me move on here real quick. And oh he's going to do this.
And you know what? Peter says we was a holy nation.
A holy nation of peculiar people. Set apart by God. A holy nation. God's people are. And oh my. and you know he says the children
of God he said I lay down this is what God said about the death
of Christ what Christ said about his own death he said in John
16 I lay down I lay down my life for the sheep no man no man takes
it from me I've got the power, the authority, and the might
to lay it down. And I've got the authority and
the power to raise it up again. And that's exactly what he did.
Oh my. Now look at what happens here
now. Here's the fifth effect of what's
going on here. The fourth effect. Salvation
is going to be for sure. Then from that day forth, From
that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more
openly among the Jews. No more walk no more openly among
them. You know why? Because it's not his hour. It's not his hour. He's going
to start here in John 14 and him and his disciples are going
to have a wondrous Lesson teaching preaching from our Savior. He
is it in John 17 John 18 they come and get him And look what
happens here now And oh, he walked no more openly among the Jews
But with this into a country Near to the wilderness into a
city called Ephraim and there continued listen to this with
his disciples He continues with his disciples wherever they are
he continues with them. And they asked themselves and
the Jews Passover was nigh at hand. Nigh at hand. And many went out of the country
up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Oh my,
these same Jews that hated Christ, despised Christ, they got to
go up there and purify themselves, get rid of all their leaven,
sanctify themselves, wash themselves and do all these things. And look right here, they sought
for Jesus. Are you seeking for the Lord
Jesus Christ? Are you seeking Christ? Do you
want the Lord Jesus Christ? Then sought they Jesus. They
sought, they was looking for Him. They went looking for Him. Went in the temple, went all
around Jerusalem looking for Him. And then they spake among
themselves. Talked among themselves as they
stood in the temple. Oh, they're in the place of religion,
you know. They're in the place where all,
everything that's happening is happening. What do you think? You think He'll come to the feast?
You think you'll come to the Passover? I'm going to tell you
something. Our Lord Jesus Christ was our
Passover. The last Passover that was ever
offered. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when
He died, this is the Passover week. There's seven days going
to happen here. And our Lord Jesus Christ on
the day, on the evening, that they're going to offer that lamb. Our Lord Jesus Christ died when
the lamb was being slain. If you look it up, see if that ain't
so. That's why Christ is called our Passover. Three o'clock in
the afternoon, that's when they put that lamb up. And they slay it, and they begin
to roast it. And our Lord Jesus Christ died
at the slaying of the Passover. God's ways is past finding out. Everything is perfect that He
does. You take this Bible and you can't
refute it. It's just the things that happen
down to the minutest detail. And they saw it for Jesus. Do you think he'll come up to
the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees, listen
to this, listen to this, had given a commandment,
this is the kind of authority they had, this kind of power
that they had, that if any man knew where he were, let us know,
tell us, cause we gotta take him, we gotta take him. And you
know who told him where he was? Judas. Judas said, I know where
he's at. Well, we'll give you 30 pieces
of silver if you'll take us to him. Oh, I know exactly where
he's at. I know exactly where he's at. I know where he is too. He's in glory. Sitting down at
the right hand of God. Sitting on His throne. With all
power in heaven and earth. Vested in Him. I see Him sitting on His throne.
I see Him in His glory. I see Him in His power. See Him
in His majesty. Got to have Him. Our Father, O our Father, Thank
you for allowing us to meet here today. Thank you for your gospel. Thank you for the truth as it
is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the work you've
done in the hearts of your people. Bless you that you did the work.
Salvations of the Lord. And I pray you do a work today.
Do a work. Do a work in hearts. Do a work
in minds. Do a work on the will. Open someone's
heart like you did Lydia. And do it for Christ's sake.
Amen. Amen. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. bless this Lord how merciful
thou art to me and that's true