Back to John 11. The title of my message this morning is
Faith and Unbelief. Faith and Unbelief. You know,
our Lord had received a very touching message that Lazarus
was sick. In fact, they said, Lord, he
whom thou lovest, we know you love him. Sick, you die. Now, Lord Jesus Christ is making
his way to Bethany. Lazarus had already died, been
dead four days. And the message of John 11 is,
to make the Lord Jesus Christ known as the resurrection. Not
only the resurrection but life. Life itself. Now resurrection
can only take place where death is. People ain't dead don't need
to be resurrected. And resurrection can only take
place where death is. And death Death's desolation, the helplessness of man in its
presence is vividly seen here in this chapter. And we see it
ourselves vividly everywhere we look, how helpless we are. In our spiritual death, who can
give himself life from death? Who can quicken himself? Who
can save himself? who can bring a dead man that's
back to life again. And that's what our Lord Jesus
is talking here. That men are dead and that he's
the only one that's the resurrection. If a man lives again, Christ
has to be the one to cause him to live again. And I tell you,
beloved, in how helpless we are, how helpless I am to give you
life. How helpless you are to give
yourself life. but also we see here not only
is Christ seen as the resurrection and life but he's also the glory
of God and everything that happens in this life is that the Son
of God might be glorified and that God might get the glory
look what he says down here in verse 40 Jesus saith unto her
said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest
see the glory of God Believe and you'll see God's glory. And
I tell you, it's the glory of God to give a man life. It's God's glory to give a man
life. Man may be helpless before death,
but not God. You remember our Lord Jesus Christ
told that rich young ruler, sell everything that you got. He wanted
to know how he could be saved. He wanted to know how he could
have life. He wanted to know what it'd take to enter into
life. And our Lord said, take everything you got, go sell it.
Give all your money away. And then come and follow me.
That man went away sorrowful because he had lots of possessions.
And our Lord Jesus Christ said, how hearty is it for a rich man
to go into the kingdom of God? He said, it's easier. He said,
this is what he said, it's easier for a camel a great old big camel
to go through the eye of a needle. And people say, well, that means
a little old gate that a camel couldn't go. No, he said, no,
he meant an eye of a needle. I can't even thread a needle.
You gotta have good eyes and a steady hand to thread a needle. And he said, it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to be saved. Them disciples were amazed and
astonished at this saying. And they said, Lord, who then
can be saved? He said, with men it's impossible,
but not with God. All things are possible with
God. And that's why we preach, because
all things are possible with God. God may give you life, God
may give you life. And I tell you what, as we study
God's word, there's two things we consistently and constantly
say. Two things. We see man's utter
and absolute sinfulness. His imperfections, his desperate
need of man, how fallen he is, how sinful he is, and how fleshly
he is, and how carnal he is. And that even believers are full
of imperfection and false and sin themselves. So we see that
man and what an awful, awful state he's in. Then we turn around
and we see the Lord Jesus Christ who is a perfect man. There's
only been one perfect man on this earth, and it wasn't Adam.
He stayed, he went about, some writers said he might have lasted
24 hours, maybe 48. He didn't last long in the garden.
Didn't last long at all. But there's the perfections of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man, but a perfect man,
a sinless man, a holy man. And in light of him, everybody
else fades away to insignificance. And he was a man, but I tell
you, as a man, as a man, and if we preachers say, well, we
need to follow his example, I would love to follow example of Christ.
I really, truly would. In every way. And one of these
days, I will be conformed to his image. But oh, to be like
him, But He is so far above, that's why we seek Him, that's
why we look to Him, that's why we call on Him. So He's so far
above us, that that's where we go to. And
then let's start here in verse 11 and go down through here and
deal with these as kind as we go. It says in verse 11, these
things said He, After what said he he's talking about everything
that he had said before He's talking about Lazarus not being
sick. This sickness is for the glory
of God Then he said let us go to Judea again Then he told his
disciples who said let's don't do that You walk in the day a
man can see no case of stumbling in him, but if you walk in the
night You'll stumble because you can't see where you're going
and then after that he saith unto them now listen to this
Listen to this, our friend, our friend. Our friend, my friend and your
friend. Our friend Lazarus. Our friend
Lazarus. Ain't that a wonderful thing
for Christ to say about somebody, our friend? He's a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother. Our friend, my friend. One dearly
loved of God, dearly loved of Christ. And he says, look here,
our friend Lazarus sleepeth. Sleepeth. But I go that I may awaken him
out of sleep. You know, when our Lord talks
about sleep here, and I tell you, this word is used often
in the scriptures, but sleep is a figure of death. It's a
figure of death. Our Lord Jesus Christ, or Paul
did in 1 Corinthians 15, said, we shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. And
it says, we shall not as them which sleep. And he says, men sleep in the
night. Let me say a few things about
sleep. We're talking about sleep as a figure of death. Sleep is
harmless. Are you afraid to go to sleep?
Sleep's harmless. Nothing to fear about going to
bed and going to sleep. Much to be thankful for, to be
able to get to sleep. And here I said, Our Lord Jesus
Christ said, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. And no wonder, beloved,
and here's why we're not afraid of sleep going to this place
called rest. It's because the sting of sin
is gone. The strength of sin is the strength
of the law, and sting of death is gone. The sting is gone. And that's why David said, Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll
fear no evil. And I tell you, sleep, secondly,
is a relief. It's relief after the sorrow
and the troubles of the day. Oh, you have the sorrow and troubles
of a whole day. And then you get to go to sleep. Go to sleep. Let me keep this. Look over at 1 Corinthians 3.
I want you to see something over here. that first corinthians
3 and verse 20 I think it's verse 20 I want to look at starting
with look what it says here you know
sleep is the relief after the sorrow and troubles of the day look what our master said here
in verse 21 that's where I want
to go Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours. What
does he mean all things are yours? Well, he's going to tell us.
Whether Paul, he's a prophet, he's an apostle, he's yours. Or Apollos, he's yours. God gave
him for you. Or Cephas, or the world. All
these things he gave for us, they're yours. He gave them for
you. To be a blessing to you, to strengthen
you and to teach you and instruct you. And the world is for you. I created this world for you.
I made this world for you to live in. And this world is yours. And everything that I give you
and blessed you with in this world is yours. And life is yours. I gave you life. It's for you.
And death, it's yours. things to present right now or
things to come everything that happens for you that's what he
said talking to believers now and listen to this all are yours
he says sleeps for us and listen to this and you're Christ Christ
is yours and Christ is God's Oh my. Ain't there something
that death and life is ours? He give it to us? And so oh my,
I'm telling you something beloved. Methuselah lived 900 years. Adam lived 600 years. Those people
lived hundreds of years. I'm glad I'm not living in them
antediluvian times. How miserable it would be to
live 500 or 600 years in this world. How miserable it would
be. Had they lived in this world
for 400 or 500 years? Oh, live in a world of sin and
turmoil, no rest, no sleep. So sleep is a relief of after
the sorrow and troubles of the day. And in sleep we lie down
to get up again the next day. And sleep is just such a brief
time. I mean the morning comes so quick. And in sleep we lie down to rise
again. And it's just a brief time. And
we awake to a new day. Our friend, Lazarus, is sleeping.
We lay down, we get up, boom! Man, where'd that night go? That's
where life is. And that's what Daniel said,
you know, many will awake to glory and many will awake
to shame. Then we sleep. And sleep is a
time of rest. Oh, what a time of rest. You
know, Revelation says this, Blessed are they that die in the Lord
that they may rest, rest from their labors. And sleep, sleep shuts out the
troubles and sorrows of life. When you're asleep, you're not
conscious of your troubles. You're not conscious of the sorrows
that's going on in your life and other people's life. We're
mercifully, mercifully unconscious of the things that trouble us.
And death has shut all this out of life. And death is like a
nun to sleep. To emphasize the ease. The ease
with which Christ quickens us. That He is so easy for Him to
raise the dead. It's easy for Him to raise the
dead and waking someone that's just asleep. When you go wake
somebody that's asleep, He said Christ is as easy for Him to
give somebody life from the dead as it is to wake somebody from
the sleep. Our Lord Jesus Christ says the hour is coming and now
is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. And sleep, our friend Lazarus
sleep. Sleep is the time when the body
is refreshed, restored for a new day. And in our resurrected bodies
we'll have new power. Sown in weakness, raised in power. But for those, but for those
who die in their sins, for those that Christ don't give life,
for those Christ don't give, those who die in their sins,
instead of life, damnation. Instead of light, outer darkness. Instead of life, Instead of death, you have life. Instead of life, you have death.
Instead of light, you have outer darkness and gnashing of teeth.
That would be an awful place for people to die without Christ.
I thought of this morning. Today would have been Herman's
birthday, April 7th. Floss was always in bloom when
he was born, when his birthday. And he had eight brothers, he
had seven brothers, and a mother and a daddy. Not one member of
his, they hated Christ, he didn't want you to talk to them about
Christ. I talked to every single one of them about Christ. His
mother would just grit her teeth when you mentioned Christ to
her, flip her feet on the ground like that. The only one out of
that whole family, God Quicken. And you know what he said the
day he believed his perfection of faith? He said, Rhett, where's
Shirley sitting? He said, Donnie, I heard his
voice today. The hour is coming now. The only
one. Out of Shirley's family. You're
the only one. Out of my family. As far back
as I can remember on both sides. Me and Charlie Pennington went
to see my uncle that I lived with for so many years. Went
to see him. He was 85 and he was dying. We went to see him. Didn't want
to hear about Christ. Didn't want to hear about the
Lord Jesus Christ. It'll be awful, awful, awful.
And you know what? It does not bother me that they
die like that. It's awful. I tell you, it's
awful. But David, they've been told.
They've been prayed for. And you've been prayed for. You've
been talked to. You've been prayed over. And
you've been preached to. And the voice of Christ is heard
here. But you know what it's going
to be for us? Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. He's rested. Look
what he says here. Now look what he says. I want
you to see this back there in verse 11. But I go. Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth. But I go. Now watch this. That I may awake him. Out of
sleep. I'm going to go wake him up.
I'm going to go wake him up. Oh boy, that's what our Lord
Jesus Christ does. Oh boy. He's going to wake us
up out of the grave. Look what he says now, look what
his disciples say. Then said his disciples unto
him, Lord, if he sleep, that's wonderful, that's great. It's
just, oh, boy, that's wonderful. We'll go over there and we'll
visit with him. You know, you'll wake him up
and we'll just go have a wonderful time together. We'll have some
fellowship with him. We'll enjoy his company and marry Martha's
company. But oh, listen. But howbeit spake Jesus of his
death. But they thought that he had
spoken of taking rest and sleep. They thought, this is carnal
reasoning. And they said, Lord, it's great, it's wonderful that
he's sleeping. And oh, they thought that Lazarus
was just resting, recovering from his sickness. And they were, you know, they
were timid about going back to Judea, worried about stoning
and temporal things. And now they said, why do you
want to go over there and wake him up? He's asleep, that's a good thing.
And then look how Lord Jesus said plainly, verse 14 then Jesus
said of them plainly plainly Christ spoke in plain language
the common people heard him gladly Jesus said plainly Lazarus is
dead now you know what this tells us that I Lord Jesus Christ knows
all things he know Lazarus was dead he know he had been dead
four days He knows when he was going to die. He stayed over
there and he said this sickness is going to be unto death. But
it's the only reason it's going to be unto death is for that
I might be glorified. That I might be glorified. Lazarus
is dead. And I tell you how come he knows
Lazarus is dead? Nobody sent any message. You
know Lord, Lazarus died last night. Lazarus died yesterday.
Lazarus died last week. No, nobody said no new message
to him. You know how Lazarus was dead?
Because Christ appointed his death. Appointed the hour. We all got an appointed time.
Bless his name. We got an appointed time. And
we can't go until our appointed time. And look what he says now. I'm
telling you, I'm glad for your sakes. Verse 15. I'm glad for
your sakes that I wasn't there. I'm glad for your sakes that
I didn't rush over to Bethany. I'm glad for your sakes I didn't
run over there in healing. I'm glad for your sakes that
I was not there. Well, why Lord, why? Because
I intend and I for the intent and I want just to happen to
you that you may believe. I waited and waited and waited
and this happened and I'm glad I wasn't there and I'm glad that
you wasn't there either and I want you to reason I wasn't because
I want you to believe and understand the power I've got the grace
that I've got I was there that the intent you
may believe nevertheless let's go now watch this what's what
he says let's go unto him Now let's go to Bethany. Now let's
go see Mary and Martha. Let's go unto Him. He's going to go unto a dead
man. He said, let us go unto Him. Listen, I'd love for Christ to
say, let us go unto Him. Maybe Christ will send the Holy
Spirit today and say, let us go unto Him. Maybe he'll send the word and
send it to my son. Let us go unto him. Maybe to
my daughter. Let us go unto him. Maybe my
grandsons. Let us go unto him. Maybe my
brother. Let us go unto him. Oh, I'm glad for your sakes that
you may believe. Believe my omniscience. Believe
that I'm the resurrection. and believe all things for my
glory. And I'll tell you something,
we never find anyone, anyone that died in the presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one. There were three people
that were dead and Christ gave them life. Two of them he just
spoke to and the other one he just said to her, daughter arise
and took her hand and raised her up. Nobody ever died in the
Lord Jesus Christ's presence. And this is true. He's the Prince
of Life. If he'd have been over in Lazarus'
presence, Lazarus couldn't have died. That's why he's called
the Resurrection. He only goes to places where
people are dead. He's the only one that can give
them life. Whenever he comes into death's
presence, you know what? It had to flee. It's like when
Simon Peter cut off Malchus's ear. He wasn't aiming at that
ear. Christ just caused him to miss. He healed that man's ear. And
that thief that our Lord said, today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. That thief didn't die until after
Christ said it is finished. Christ himself had already died
before that thief died. That thief couldn't die as long
as Christ was alive. And you and I can't die as long
as Christ lives. We who are believers, who have
life, we cannot die as long as Christ lives. He's our life. Bless His name, He's our life.
And if Mary and Martha had what they wanted and the Lord Jesus
had run back over there, they'd have been denied a greater blessing.
Oh, what a greater blessing! Which is a greater blessing?
Just to heal him who is sick or give him life from the dead? And we would have been deprived
of seeing the glory of God and the power of Christ in such a
way that is manifested there. And you know our Lord Jesus,
He instructs us just gradually. We get a little here, a little
there, a little here, a little there. You know in John 2.11
it says, you know that at the marriage of Cain and he turned
all that water into wine. He said that was the first miracle
where he manifested his glory. Now here He is, He's going to
manifest it in a greater way. But we see slowly and we learn
slowly. He opens our lives slowly. And we see more and more and
more and more of the glory of our God. The more we learn about
Him, the more we see His glory. The more we learn about Him,
the more we love Him, the more we appreciate Him. You know, I tell you, it's like
Mark said it this way. He said, You know that life is
like when Christ gives us life and this is the way we learn.
You plant an ear of corn. Plant a piece of corn. First
you have a little blade comes up. Just a little old blade comes
up. Then it comes on up and then there's an ear. On that corn. Got some life in it. The life
manifests itself just as quick as it pops through the ground.
And then it grows up and it has an ear on it. And then after
a while, Deer is ripe and it'll fall down. And that's the way
it is. Christ just teaches us. We just,
we learn. We're just a little old blade.
Then we start growing a little bit and we start bringing forth
a little fruit. And then after a while, about the time we learn
something, we have the full corn of the year and it's time to
go. And look what he said. Nevertheless,
let us go unto him. Lazarus is dead, yet he says,
let us go unto him. The grave doesn't separate Christ
and his friends. Who shall separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ? Now listen to what Thomas says
in verse 16. This said Thomas, which is called
Didymus. We call him Doubting Thomas.
And he said unto his fellow disciples, he's not talking to Christ now,
he's talking to his other disciples. He said, oh my, when he found
out Lazarus was dead, he told his fellow disciples, let us
also go that we may die with him. My, my. Thomas looked on the dark side
of things. You ever have days where things look just so dark?
Thomas said, Oh Lord, if he's dead, let's just go die too.
You ever have a day, you said, one day, you know, you really,
really long to go home. He said, Lord, I would just love
for you to come take me home. The next day, you know, you're
not like that way. But that's the way he was this
day. He looked on the dark side of things. Lazarus is dead. He
says, Christ is going to die. Well, let's just go die too.
And this, our Lord had just told him, said, I'm going to go over
there and wake him up. Oh What a despairing despondent
mind Only see the dark clouds, you know when he they came and
told him that Latin that our Lord Jesus Christ had risen from
the dead You know what did he said? He said I ain't gonna believe
it. I'm not gonna believe you I'm not gonna believe you Simon
Peter. I'm not gonna believe you John.
I'm not gonna believe you Mary. I'm not gonna believe you until
I can take my finger and stick it in his hand, in my hand, in
his side. I saw him die. And you boy, when
he did, he said, go ahead, Thomas. Go ahead, Thomas. My Lord and
my God. And I tell you something, beloved,
this teaches us this. The grace of God is in conversion. It doesn't change us. Our old
nature, at least our old nature is just like it is. I've got
the same nature I had when I was 15 years old. I've got the same
nature I had when I was 25. I've got the same nature I had
when I was 40. I've got the same nature. My nature hasn't changed. My
fallen nature hasn't changed. What I am as a natural man, I
am. And I tell you, the grace of
God in conversion doesn't change our character, our main character.
And whenever we're dealing with one another, we got to take this
into account when we're dealing with one another. Our natural
temperament. You know, some people got a very
outgoing temperament, some got timid. Some just pops off without
thinking what they're going to say. Others think a lot before
they say anything. Some, you know, they want to
be a chief and everybody else wants to be an Indian. But most
wants to be chiefs. That's the way we are. But I
tell you what, but here's the thing about it. So whenever we
deal with one another, take that into account. You know, I thank
God that you all took into account what a mess I am or you all would
have got a share of me long ago. There ain't no doubt about that.
And you probably should have. And you may yet. You may yet. But I tell you, it's like Mary
and Martha. Look at the difference in Mary
and Martha. Mary was a busy mother. Martha was busy, busy, busy,
busy. Work, work, work. Mary was timid and quiet and
pensive. Look at the difference between
Thomas and Solomon and Peter. What a great difference in them. And look what it says in verse
17. Look what it says in verse 17. Then when Jesus came, he
found that he had laid in the grave four days already. You know, our Lord didn't rebuke
Thomas. Didn't correct Thomas. He let
the truth do that. He let the truth that he had
seen here in a little while correct him and instruct him. Now it
says, Bethany was nine and Jerusalem about 15 furlongs, close to two
miles. Close to two miles. And many
of the Jews came to Mary and Martha to comfort them concerning
their brother, just like we do here with someone that we love
or somebody we know or somebody in our congregation or some person
we know. We come to comfort, we get together
to comfort one another. They come to comfort them and
that's what they did. They came to comfort them. They
knew Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And how could unbelievers comfort
believers? Well, that's just the way it
is. People come to comfort one another, come to pay their respects,
and that's what they're doing here. They come to sit with these
folks as their brother was dying. Weep with them. And look what
they said in verse 37. Those people that came to comfort
Mary and Martha. some of them said could not this
man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even
this man should not have died oh they knew something and by
waiting four days by our Lord Jesus Christ waiting four days
a greater greater number of people would see and witness the resurrection
of Lazarus now look what it said in verse 20 then Martha Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus
was coming, went and met Him. Martha, she's just like, she's
true to her character. She went to meet Him. Typical
of Martha. Rush out. Get busy. Get out there
and speak to Christ. Let's get out there and get it
done. And Mary says, still in the house. And I tell you, Mary
and Martha are very active, stirring, busy. Mary, she stayed at home,
she's quiet, she's gentle, she's pensive. Then said Martha unto
Jesus, oh my. Then said Martha, she run out
there and the first thing she says to him, Lord, if you'd been
here, if you'd have got on over here, If you'd have been here,
my brother had not died. He couldn't have died. He wouldn't
have died. He wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have died. And oh, she's pouring out her
grief, pouring out her sorrow. And we're here, we see her mingling
of the natural and the spiritual, of faith and unbelief. Lord,
if you'd been here, he wouldn't have died. But now here's her
faith. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou will ask of God,
God will give it thee. But did you know if he would
have died if you had to been here, but never in her mind of
his power to raise him up again. She is making distance, limiting
our Lord Jesus Christ's power. But I know, I know that whatever
you ask of God, He'll give it to you. Look what our Lord said
unto her now, verse 23. Our Lord said unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. He gives beauty for ashes, jewel
of oil for mourning. And here they are mourning. He
gives these beauty for ashes, this jewel of oil for mourning. Thy brother shall rise again.
He didn't say how, he didn't say when, but he said enough
to encourage her, to strengthen her faith, to give her some blessed
hope. Our brother shall rise again And our Lord Jesus Christ spoke
of a present blessing look what he said in verse 24 Martha said unto him. I know
that he shall rise again the resurrection at the last day
He speaks of a present blessing. He shall rise again. She looks
way way way to the end of time and Her hope was in the day. Her hope was in the last day.
It wasn't in Christ. It's like the woman at the well.
We know that if the Messiah cometh, he'll tell us all things. He
said, I that speak unto thee of me. She's worried about her
last day. She's not talking about, she
looks into the future. Christ said, listen, he'll live
again. And this is what he said to her.
Oh, I know he'll rise again the last day. I know he will. And Jesus said unto her, I am. I am. I am. That's one of them
I am's. The great I am. Don't look to
the future Martha. Don't look to a general resurrection. I am. And what he says I am,
takes her mind off of all that she directs and looking at now
and directs her to look back to Him and to look at Him and
address Him and look at Him and His presence and His power and
His person. Why? Because He said, I'm that
resurrection. Resurrection is not a day, it's
me. Resurrection is not a time, it's a person. I'm the resurrection and I'm
the life. If Lazarus lives again, it's
because I'm the resurrection. If he has life, it's because
I gave him life. And if you and I have lived life
and resurrection right now from the death of sin, Christ gave
it to us. And look what he said. And he
that believeth in me, listen to this now. Oh my. He that believeth in me, and
look what he uses in the past tense, we're dead. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead. The word dead is in the past
tense. He that believeth in me, though he was dead. Back there. Look what he says now. Yet shall
he live. He's dead. But oh my, he believes
in me. That's life. Huh? Faith and life come together.
And our Lord said this, oh my. You know, we're dead past tense.
He shall live and continue to live. This is the life of a believer. He has indestructible faith.
You know why? Because it lives on Christ. Faith
looks to Christ and Christ alone. And I tell you, and our Lord
says this, in verse 26, Whosoever liveth, Where did you get life? He's dead. I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. You were dead.
Now you live. Whosoever lives, lives and believes
in me. Faith and life in Christ go together. And here's what he says, they
shall never die. Never die. He said the second death, that
second death, that death of sin never have no power over us.
Never have any power over us. Indestructible faith. Never die. Do you believe this? I believe
it. I believe it. I believe that I'll never die.
This body will, but I won't. There's not a believer in this
building that hasn't lost somebody. And immediately, if they're a
believer, immediately, you say, oh my, what they're enjoying
now. Isn't that great? If you know
Floyd, he wrote me a bunch of letters. And when he was sick,
he wrote me a letter and said, I'll see you in the morning.
And that's what we'll do. It'll be a morning for us. We'll
go to sleep. and wake up in a new place. He that liveth, liveth, right
now lives, believes in me. Do you believe thou this? I do
believe it. What would it amount to if we
didn't believe that? Do you believe anybody that you
believed as a believer? Do you believe that they're dead?
You don't believe they're dead. Do you know where they believe
they're at? They believe they're with Christ. That's what we say. They're with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Their body's dead, yes, but they're
not... He said to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. Paul said, I have a desire
to depart and be with Christ. Not to grieve. To be with Christ. And I tell you what, believers
fall asleep, but they live. And living believers, Christ
said, because I live, you shall live also. Believe thou this,
oh my. And then look what she said to
him. And then I quit. She saith unto him, yea, Lord,
I believe this. I believe you. I do. I believe
you. And I believe that thou art the
Christ. I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which should come into the world. But now
she said that there, and then look what she did down in verse
39. It's hard to believe that she'd say that and then come
down here. I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God,
which should come into this world. Verse 39, Jesus said, take away
the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, he just got to saying, you know,
of the resurrection and the life. She said, I believe that whatever
you ask of God, he'll give it to you. And I believe you're
the Christ, the son of the living God. I believe that a man will
live again. Take away the stone, Martha said,
the sister of him that was dead said to him, Lord, oh Lord, by
this time he stinks. He's been dead four days, leave
him alone. Leave him alone. Oh, listen, if we waited for,
you know how corrupt you are? You think Lazarus stunk? All of our righteousnesses are
as a filthy rag, full of wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores. Oh my, boy ain't you glad that
Christ don't care how long you've been dead and how much you stink. When he says live, you go live. Oh, our blessed, blessed Father,
our blessed Savior, our gracious God in heaven. Lord, we are helpless,
helpless to give life, even give ourself life, but not you. And Lord, we thank you for your
word. What a blessed word. Lord, your
resurrection, If anyone has life, you got to come and quicken the
dead, raise the dead from the trespasses and sins. And so Lord, you can only one
that can do anything for anyone. And we look to you to do it.
We ask you to do it. We plead with you to do it. Oh
God, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, oh God, send the Holy Spirit
Send Him among us to save, to quicken, to give faith, to give
repentance, to give a new heart, to give spiritual life, to give
life from the dead. I know there are some here that
stink. They've been dead so long they stink. They stink before
you. Their self-righteousness and
self-confidence stink. The corruption and sin stinks. But oh Lord, that has no bearing,
no hindrance to you. So Lord, come to them that are
stinking and say unto them, I say unto you, live, live, live, live. Oh God, give life. And do it
for the Lord Jesus' sake. Dismiss us now. Let us go home
to your glory and spend the rest of the day considering you and
trusting you and looking to you. Come meet with us again tonight
for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace I'll see
you tonight, God willing.