Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. We find that in the account
of Lazarus, in John 11-1, now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus of Bethany. the town of Mary and her sister
Martha. And it was that Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Now
let me stop just a minute right there. Now Lazarus, was a brother
to these two ladies, Mary and Martha, and it was Mary, the
one that had anointed the feet of Jesus and wept as she did
so, and even wiped her tears upon the feet of Jesus Christ
as she anointed his feet when he was a guest in their home.
Anyway, Lazarus, being their brother, was sick. And they had
seen Jesus as he came along the way, and they sought him. They
said, Lord, behold him whom thou lovest is sick. In other words,
Jesus had a special tenderness towards Lazarus as their brother,
because his Bible says, he that you love is sick. And the Bible
goes on to say that when Jesus had heard that, he said, this
sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the
Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now, people say Christians
ought not be sick. Now, I don't know how many of
you watch TV preachers. But there are many on there that
are preaching that if you're a devout Christian and you're
living for God, and that He's the main devotion of your life,
that you ought not be sick. God wants everybody that's His
children who serve Him and live for Him to be well. That is not
a true statement. I just read to you that one who
Christ loved A brother of Mary and Martha is sick and he's so
sick that Jesus said that this sickness is not unto death but
for the glory of God. Can there be a sickness for the
glory of God? Absolutely! That's a sickness for the glory
of God. Now let me give you another example.
I believe it's in the, probably about the 9th chapter of John's
Gospel. It's chapter 9 where there was
a man that was born blind. Now this man was born blind from
his birth. He never seen the light of day. And this man was born blind and
Jesus came his way and caused him to see. He touched his eyes
as he told him to go take and touch and put clay upon his eyes. He said, you go take and go wash
off over there in the river. And he did so and he began to
see. And for the first time, this
man who was born blind was able to see. God our Savior, Jesus
Christ, the miracle working God that proved his authenticity
of his deity as being God manifested in the flesh of man, made the
blind see. And here's the thing about it
is, they said, well we've known this man all of our life and
we know he was blind, but now he sees. What was this man, why
was the reason, was he blind? Was it because of his sin? Was
it because of the sin of his parents? Jesus said it was neither. It was neither the sin of his
parents, he was born blind, and neither was it of anything that
he has done, or could have done, that caused him to be blind,
but he was blind for the glory of God, that in this particular
time, that when Jesus Christ caused him to see for the first
time, that it would be for the glory and praise of God Almighty. So therefore, things that come
upon us, dear friend, whether it's illnesses, afflictions,
or whatever comes upon us, though it be a terrible and tragic and
traumatic situation at the time, which it has been, I spent three
or four days in the hospital in the last week of October.
By the time I got out of there, I was a wreck. They had me so
pumped full of stuff, I didn't hardly know my name. But there
was a divine purpose for it all. I wasn't there by chance. I wasn't
there by coincidence. There's no such thing in the
word of God as chance or coincidence. If you're a child of God, and
even if you're not a child of God, but it is our God that's
in the heavens, the Bible says, and He is God who sits upon His
throne and does whatsoever He pleases. Now that's the God we
serve. He says, I am God and there is
none beside me. The Bible says not only did he
cause that one who was blind from his birth to be able to
see for the glory of God, but now we've got this one Lazarus
who's sick, but Jesus said, well, his sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God. Now look at verse 5. Now Jesus
loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus. And when he had
heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still
in the same place where he was. He was concerned about Lazarus. He loved him. He loved his sisters,
too, more than Mary. in an expedient manner, rushing
over there to get Lazarus healed up all of a sudden. He said he
had bowed there two days. And the Bible says in verse 7,
then after that, he saith unto the disciples, Let us go to Judea
again. The disciples said unto him,
Master, The Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou
thither again? Jesus answered and said, Are
there not twelve hours in a day? If any man walk in a day, and
he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night,
he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. These things
said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. But I go, that I may wake him out of his sleep. He
says, I, I, he says, before we depart here, let me do my father's
business. Let's take care of Lazarus. For he says, our friend, Lazarus,
he sleepeth. But I go, that I may wake him
out of his sleep. And we're going to find out that
Lazarus, Jesus said he was asleep. But the Bible's going to tell
us that he was dead. Okay? Now, those that are out here
that have passed on and their mortal days are finished and
they're laying out here in these graves, they're asleep. Those
that are believers in Christ, those of God's elect family over
time, they're asleep in Christ. He said that I may awake him
out of his sleep." Listen to this now. Then the Bible says,
then said his disciples, Lord if he's asleep, he shall do well. In other words, if he's just
asleep, he's going to be okay. Then he's going to wake up and
everything ought to be alright. In other words, if he's just
asleep, if that's all there is to it, there's no big deal. How
be it? Jesus spake of his death. When
Jesus said he's asleep, Jesus meant He's dead. But they didn't
really get the gist of the matter. But they thought that he had
spoken of taking a rest in sleep. When he said that he sleeps and
he was literally dead, they thought when he said he was asleep that
he was merely taking a rest. That's what the Bible says in
verse 13. Look at 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes
that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless,
let us go unto him. And verse 16, then said Thomas,
which is called Didymus. This is doubting Thomas, you
know. The same doubting Thomas that doubted that Christ had
revealed himself after his resurrection, that when he wasn't present with
the disciples, he's still doubting this deal here. Thomas said unto
the fellow disciples, and said, Let us also go, that we may die
with him. And when Jesus came, he found
that he had lain in the grave four days already. He had already
been laying there dead for four days. And the Bible says that
now Bethany was nine to Jerusalem, but about fifteen furlongs off.
And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them
concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in
the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not have died.
Oh, Jesus, if you'd have just been here, if you'd have been
here four days earlier, my brother would not have died. And the
Bible says, but I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask
of God, God will give it to thee. She knew who he was. She knew
that he was the Son of God. She knew that he was the only
Savior of sinners. He was the only miracle worker.
He was the only one who could raise the dead, make the blind
see, and cripple people walk who had never walked before in
their life. There was one aspect of a man
that was 38 years old who was born poor and could never walk. And Jesus said to him, pick up
thy bed, for it was laid along the side of the roadway on a
mattress like that. He says, pick up thy bed and
walk. And he got up and he walked.
Let me tell you, when Jesus speaks, and he speaks for one to be raised
up from the illness, affliction, even death, they're going to
get up and they're going to respond to the call of God. So it is
with a sinner. Although we live a life of wretched
wickedness, But when it comes time when God wants to turn us
around 180 degrees and head us another direction towards Calvary,
to see Him on that cross of Calvary, all high and lifted up as a bleeding
Savior, one nailed to that cross to pay for the sins of all of
God's children, when one is called to see Him, they're never the
same again as a miracle-working God. The Bible goes on to say,
it says that If you had just been here sooner, he would not
have died. But I know that even whatsoever
you ask of God, God will do. And the Bible says, Jesus said
unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Let me tell you something,
when Jesus said that we're going to rise again, we are going to,
we that are caused to believe upon his precious name, we're
going to rise again. That's our hope. That's what
God has blessed his children with, is a hope that not only
are our sins forgiven, as far as the east is from the west,
and even God says, I have put thy transgressions behind me,
never to be remembered again, and if though we die mortally,
we shall rise up from the grave and be raised again. Just as
Lazarus, as we're going to see in the scriptures, was raised
again, so shall we be when our day comes and we lay yonder in
that graveyard. Yeah, I've got a place out here.
Yes, left brother Earl erases my name off of it, but I've got
a plot out here. And I'm waiting to go to it.
Here in the last week, October, in the hospital, I thought maybe
it was going to be pretty soon. I thought they ought to call
you to get the backhoe guy set up here. But let me tell you
something, my hope is beyond this place out yonder. My hope
is to be raised up when Christ comes back to call His church
bride from the grave. And those which are alive and
remain shall be parted together with them in the air to ever
so be with the Lord. What a wonderful thing that is.
The Bible says, Jesus said to her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha and Mary said to him,
I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last
day. In other words, they knew about the resurrection. They
knew that Jesus Christ was going to call, by God's divine schedule,
all of his children from the dead, from the mortal grave in
time. They said, well, we know that
he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day. They knew that,
but Jesus said in her, Listen to this now folks Jesus said
I am the resurrection and the life He that believeth in me
Though he were dead yet. Shall he live I'm gonna stop
right here just a minute Jesus said I am the resurrection and
the life. But he that believeth in me,
though he be dead, yet shall he live. Every man, woman, going
girl, born of the womb of a woman, as a natural-born human being,
is dead in trespasses and sins, is passed on by nature through
the blood lineage of Adam and Eve, as fallen parents of all
mankind race. We are dead spiritually. Jesus
said, no man be dead, yet shall he live. And they that be dead
spiritually are going to be caused to live spiritually in this time
world. Because Jesus said, unless a
man be born again, he shall not see, neither shall he enter into
the kingdom of God. Let me tell you something, the
new birth is something that is essential. And only brought about
by one an awakening, a quickening, and
a new birth to occur in the heart, minds, and souls of God's people.
Only they are going to be able to know Jesus as who He truly
is, the Savior of sinners. Jesus said, I am the resurrection. He knew that they knew, Martha
and Mary knew about the resurrection in the last day. But he says,
I am the resurrection. In other words, I am the one,
the sovereign one who has power to call the dead from the graves. And I'm going to be the one in
that day when Paul spoke in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 when he said, and the
Lord himself, not some other angel, The Lord himself, Jesus
Christ, the Bible says the Lord himself shall descend from the
heavens with a shout. Now I've heard folks preach on
the coming of Christ a number of times and talk about it as
a secret rapture. All of a sudden people are going
to be disappeared and nobody's going to know where they went
or what's going on. Cars will be wrecked and people
will be missing from homes and all this stuff. And it's going
to be a secret rapture. Oh, I've been preached for years
through these people that are in dispensationalism. Oh, I've
been all down that road. I've been down that theological
road. The Great Tribulation, you know. There will be three and a half
years of that. And then there's going to be
the big wars. And there will be blood as high
as the pride of a horse and all this other stuff. And at least
there are just going to be signs before the coming of the Lord.
And oh, we're going to do this and have this happen. Let me
tell you something. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
back to call His church, it's going to be with a shout. Now
listen, when somebody shouts, it's not to the point where you
can barely hear it. If I raise my voice, you hear
me audibly and louder. When Jesus comes back, it's going
to be with a shout and the world The entire globe of the earth
as we know it and every inhabitant upon it shall hear that voice. He'll come back with a shout
that Lord Jesus shall descend from the heaven with a shout
and the voice of an archangel and the trump of God. The trump
of God is a devastating sound that shall vibrate across the
face of this Every human being and creature alive, whether it
be of the cattle of the field, or that varmint that is a predator
by night, they shall hear the noise and the trump of God when
He comes back again. That ain't no secret rapture. When He comes back, it's going
to be with a shout, and the world is going to be devastated by
it. The Bible says the graveyards.
are going to give up the bodies of those that are asleep in Jesus. Yes, they're going to give them
up. And they're going to be taken
on a new body, likened unto the body they had, but only one in
a resurrected form, likened unto Jesus after he came out of that
tomb on the third day, when he himself was raised. He who is
the resurrection and the life was raised. The Bible says, Jesus
said, I'm the resurrection and I am the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Oh, listen, when
Jesus said, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. Coalates with John chapter 14
verse 6, when Jesus said, that I am the way, the truth, and
the life, and he that believeth on me shall never die. He's not
only the resurrection, but he is the life. There's only one
way to have life spiritually and to be in fellowship with
God, to have sins forgiven and a hope of heaven. That's in through
and by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest
thou this? This is a question. There's a
question marked after that. Believest thou this? Let me ask
you a question this morning. Jesus Christ, it says that if
you believe upon him, you shall never die. Do you believe that
this morning? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the
resurrection and the one that is the way, the truth and life
to the point of where that you have hope and believe that he
is going to raise you from the dead and give you a home in heaven?
I hope that you do. Because I can't make you do it.
I can't cause you to believe it. I've heard preachers just
get up and beg people, you know, to come and make a decision for
Jesus. Here's the question. Listen to
me. Has Christ decided for you? Hello? That's the question. Have you
been chosen, appointed, ordained? Have you been called and elected
of God Almighty? It's not what we do that initiates
salvation, it's what God's already done. And then, every one that
the Father giveth the Son shall come to him. And Jesus said that
my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. They don't try to
follow Him. When they hear the voice of the
Son of God and He calls them, they come. You don't have to
give some invitation and me stand up here and sing just as I am
without one plea that I love the shepherd me O Lamb of God
I come and oh please won't you come and be a Christian today. Won't you come and be saved.
Let me tell you something. They don't come by the wooing
of man, they come by the wooing of the Spirit of God within the
heart. I can tell you the whole history
of the invitation system. A fellow by the name of Tenney,
who was a preacher back in the late 1800s, had revival meetings
throughout the center part of the nation, and those that followed
him were called Tenneyites. The mourner's bench is a bench
that is about a foot off the floor, and people would come
down in front of the pulpit during the conclusion of the meeting
when Finney would beg the people to come and pray through and
trust Christ and be saved. And we're just totally up to
you. He's making an opportunity available, okay? You never heard people preaching
about, oh come and make a decision for Christ. And choose Christ. And go through this whole invitation
business. It all started right there. About
1850 was the day. The Mortar's Bench. The Mortar's
Bench is where you come and knelt down and you prayed until you
had peace of mind that God had done a work of grace in your
heart. Many people got up with tears and left that place without
no peace in their heart because Many men can get people emotionally
stirred up. You can sing people into a frenzy. You know that around here, around
some of these churches. I remember over here, even in
Lakeland, they had a big episode of Holy Laughter. Y'all remember
hearing about any of that? Back in the late 80s, all of
a sudden, a woman broke out into laughter in the midst of a sermon
and started laughing. You all heard about that? Well,
let me tell you, they started laughing. Somebody else started
laughing. And the preacher said, don't leave them alone! That
holy laughter, and the place busted out in laughter, and one
person got to be contagious. And next thing you know, about
every other meeting, they bust out in this holy laughter deal. It was the most sacrilegious,
unholy, irreverent thing that I've ever seen in my life. But
they said it was of God. The Bible says when the assembly
of God's saints are gathered together, they do so with godly
fear and You hear about, I come down here
today and I pass by a number of meeting houses and out on
the marquee of one of them says Revival. Dr. so and so here is
in here preaching for three days. The easy way to be a soul winner,
let me tell you something, there's only one soul winner that can
win you over to believe it and to believe upon Him will come out of that grave as
he's going to do as I'll read on here in a minute. He that
sleepeth and is dead that was raised up is the only one that
can raise you up from the sin sick situation that you were
born into by nature. Unless he does it, that ain't
gonna get done. I don't care how many preachers try to pray
you through, how many people lay hands on you, how many people
are trying to take and persuade you to become a Christian, unless
Christ makes you a believer, you'll never be one. And there's
so many people who think they are, that all in that day... I heard a preacher one time,
an old preacher, he got up and said, that never made it, that thought
they would. And there may be many there that
never thought they were going to make it, that did. I never forgot that. I don't
care how confident you think you may be, has Christ done a
work upon your heart, mind, and soul? Is that what you believe? Or if it's not, you're deceived. She said to him, Yea, Lord, I
believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which hath come
into the world. And when she had said that, she
went her way and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying,
The Master is come, and calleth for thee. And as soon as she
heard that, she rose quickly and came unto him. And Jesus
was not yet come unto the town, but was in the place where Martha
met him. And the Jews then, which were
with her in the house and comforted her, it says that when they saw
Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out and followed her.
saying, she goeth into the grave to weep there. She went there
to where Lazarus was laid at in the grave, and she went there
to weep. And the Bible says, then when Mary was come where
Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him,
Lord, if thou hadst been there, my brother had not have died.
Oh, she said it again, Lord, if you just would have been here,
oh, if you'd have just been here earlier, this would have never
occurred, he would have never died. And we read earlier that
he said he was asleep. In other words, he was temporarily
dead for the purpose of God to be manifested. Now you listen
to the Word of God. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned
in the Spirit and was troubled. Let me tell you something. Does
Jesus care about you? Does he care about those he loves?
He cares about them so much that when you're troubled, He gets
troubled. The Bible says that when He saw Mary and Martha weeping,
He came and He groaned in spirit and was troubled. He was in grieving
anxiety over their situation and over the grieving of their
dear brother. Now listen, and He said, Where
have you laid Him? And they said unto Him, Lord,
come and save. Where's your lion hat? Where's the great hat? Where's
the hat, Jesus said? They said, come, come, come and
see. Then the Bible says, Jesus wept. That's the smallest verse in
the Bible, is John 11, 35. Two words, Jesus wept. If you don't remember anything
I said today, remember John 11, 35, the smallest verse in the
entire word of God, Jesus wept. Jesus cried because of the sadness
and grief over the loss of supposedly the brother of Martha and Mary
who was asleep in the grave and given up as dead. He wept because
of their sorrow. And the Bible says that, then
said the Jews, behold, How he loved him. Oh, in other words,
he's weeping. Oh, how he loved Lazarus. In
other words, he's sorrowful because Lazarus is dead. No, no. He was sorrowful and weeping
because of Martha and Mary. He was weeping because of their
sadness. Because something was going to
happen here in a minute. that is going to eradicate their
whole sad situation. Listen here to what happens now.
And it says, and some of them said, could not this man which
opened the eyes of the blind that caused even this man, should
he not have died? In other words, this man here
that has opened the eyes of the blind in times past with signs
and wonders, could he not have kept this man from dying? Yes!
Absolutely, he can keep any man from dying. But has he been created
to do so? No! He was made to go and be
asleep in Christ and die the physical death that he did, that
God may be glorified and magnified. The Bible says, Jesus therefore
again groaning in himself, cometh and a stone laid upon it. He
cometh to the grave. Verse 38, and in front of this
grave there was a big stone like the tomb that he was buried in
when they took him off the cross. Here was Lazarus in the same
type of tomb with a stone in front of it. And the Bible says,
listen to this now, Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, said unto him, Lord, take away the stone. Do you realize that the stench
that is going to be manifested from he that has been dead four
days? The Bible says that by this time he's stinking. That's
what the Bible says. For he has been dead four days. Jesus said unto her, he said,
I said unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest
see the glory of God. He said to her, if you shall
believe, you shall see the glory of God. Now listen, and then
they took away the stone from the place where the dead was
laid. And listen, now Jesus lifted up his eyes, and he said, Father,
listen now, Jesus, Jesus Christ looked up into heaven, and he
beheld the Father. And he looked up to heaven, and
he says, He lifted his eyes up and said, Father, I thank thee
that thou hast heard me. Jesus didn't say, I thank you
that you're going to hear me. He says, I thank you that you
have heard me. You see, Jesus Christ and the
Father are one of the same. They're inseparable. Jesus said,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. For the Father and
I are one, John chapter 14. The Bible says, For he says,
And I knew that thou heareth me always, Jesus said to the
father. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me. And when he said this, he spoke, and he cried with a loud
voice. Now here he is. Here's Jesus.
And he cried with a loud voice. He didn't have to cry with a
loud voice. He could have said it softly,
gently, and tenderly. But the Bible says he said and
he cried out with a loud voice. Why? So all that was around and
about that grave tomb and all of those that were friends of
Martha and Mary and Lazarus that were there present, he wanted
all of them to hear what he was going to say. And it says that
Jesus cried with a loud voice and he cried and said, Lazarus,
come forth! That's all he said. And the Bible says, and he that
was dead came forth. Hallelujah. Be to God Almighty. Lazarus, come forth, he cried
out. And he that was dead came forth. He was bound hand and foot with
grave clothes. His face was bound about with
a grave napkin, which they did with part of their burial format.
And Jesus said unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Oh, take
that neck and all his face, unwrap the wrappings around his body
and let him go. And the Bible says that then
many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things
which Jesus did believed on him. Let me tell you something. Jesus
Christ changes people's lives. He raises up sinners. that others might see their testimony
and see them as a witness of His grace and His mercy and so
great salvation. That is why God comes to seek
and save sinners, to transform lives that we, which believe,
would be a witness of that to others around the balance. We
are witnesses. You know, I have been to seminars
years back where you could go out and learn how to witness.
Jesus said you don't have to go to no seminar or school to
learn how to witness. Jesus said in Acts chapter 1
that when the Holy Ghost comes upon you, ye shall be witnesses
unto me. When God's Spirit comes within
an individual and transforms the heart and mind of a person
and causes them to see Christ as who He is, the Savior of sinners,
that they have no hope of eternity, no hope of their sins forgiven
apart from Him.