Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If
you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'll be preaching
from the book of John, the gospel of John chapter 11. It's a long
chapter, but it deals with an episode in the life of Christ
where he raised a man from the dead, a man named Lazarus. Most
of you are probably familiar with this passage or with this
event. I've entitled the lesson Resurrection and Life. And I
took that title from verse 25 of this chapter, where Jesus
spoke unto Lazarus' brother, I mean his sister, he was her
brother, that spoke to her, her name was Martha. And he said,
in verse 25 it says, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, though he would die physically, yet shall he
live. And then verse 26, it says, and
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. And that
means they'll never die eternally. Now, this body, the Bible teaches
us that it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that,
the judgment. And the Bible also tells us that
this body, this physical body that contains our soul and our
spirit, that this body is dead because of sin. The wages of
sin is death. but it says the gift of God is
eternal life, but this body is dead because of sin, but the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who is the sovereign agent who gives
life to the dead in the new birth, that's called quickening or regeneration
and conversion, the Spirit is life because of righteousness,
and we're going to talk about that. But let me give you some
things leading up to this, a lot of scripture here, but I'll just,
I'll just, I won't go through it verse by verse, but I'll hit
the highlights here to show you the main meaning and lesson that
this has for us. And of course, obviously the
main meaning and lesson is that, that spiritual eternal life can
only be found and can only be attained by the grace of God,
the power of God. the mercy of God in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And outside of that, there is
no spiritual eternal life, the quality of life of living forever
in the grace and the love and the mercy and the majesty and
glory of God. The only other alternative is
eternal damnation. And that's no life at all. It's
called the second death. In fact, Christ calls it the
second death in this passage. So if we look at John chapter
11, it says in verse one, now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
Now Christ had been there before and this family were special
to him. They were friends of his. And
it says in verse two, it was that Mary, which anointed the
Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. So where she is identified, this
family. And it says, therefore his sisters,
Lazarus' sisters, sent unto him, sent unto the Lord, saying, Lord,
behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And that's a great way
of putting it. You know, salvation, when God
saves a sinner, He imparts spiritual life. The Bible states that in
different ways. You see, by nature, we are all
spiritually dead. We're gonna see Lazarus dies,
and he lays in the tomb four days. And that's an illustration,
the physical death of Lazarus is an illustration of our own
spiritual death. We are born into this world,
fallen in Adam, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and totally
depraved. And that's our state by nature. And even those whom God saves
are born that way. In fact, the Bible in Ephesians
chapter two speaks of those who were quickened. You have he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. And it says in that spiritually
dead state, it describes us in Ephesians two, one through three,
and it closes with this. He said, and we are by nature,
children of wrath. Now a child of wrath is a sinner
who will never be saved. You have to understand that.
A child of wrath is a sinner who goes through this life and
never comes to a knowledge of the truth, never receives Christ. But even the children of mercy,
vessels of mercy they're called, whom God chose before the foundation
of the world, as we are naturally born into this world, we're no
different than the children of wrath. We're born spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins, and has fallen in Adam. When
Adam fell, we fell into a state of sin and death and totally
depraved. And that state of spiritual death
is evidenced by several things. It's not just immorality, because
a lot of people who are spiritually dead are, in the eyes of men,
moral, religious, sincere and dedicated and charitable. But
the problem is, is that by nature, we're in darkness, blind. We
don't know the right way of salvation. We don't know the right way of
being accepted with God. A person, for example, who is
doing their best to do good works, as they would see them, or as
they would call them, in order to be saved. That's a wrong way. Salvation is not by works. It's
not by what we do. And if we think it is and we
do our best all of our lives to make our way into heaven based
on our works, that's evidence of being spiritually dead. Deceived,
ignorant. That's what this state of, this
natural state, And not only is it evidenced
by blindness and deception and darkness, when the gospel of
God's grace in Christ is preached to us, or when we read it, by
nature we won't receive it. I quote it all the time, 1 Corinthians
2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. They're foolishness to him, they're spiritually discerned.
And that's an evidence of spiritual death. And I'll be so bold as
to say, I'm preaching the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus
based upon His shed blood alone, His righteousness imputed alone. And that is the only way of salvation. There's no other way. Now there
are many ways that people imagine It's quoted twice in the book
of Proverbs. There's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
it's the way of death. Christ said, I am the way, I
am the truth, I am the life. And here, later on, he tells
Martha, he says, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, though he dies
physically. Even those who are saved by God's
grace will die physically. We can't enter eternity in this
vile body. It's what Paul wrote in Romans
7, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this
body of death? This decaying body, decaying because of sin.
But my spirit and soul will live on in a new body. And so all
of this shows us that even the people of God, even the children
of God, even the elect of God, And that election and that salvation
is evidenced by their receiving Christ, believing in Christ as
the one and only way of salvation. So he said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father
but by me. So even though there are other
ways that lost people bring about to try to get into heaven, it's
all a way of works, and it's a wrong way. There's only one
way of salvation. And when you hear that way, with
the physical ear now, or you read that way, if left to yourself,
you won't receive it. And I'll tell you why you won't
receive it, because it requires you to throw away everything
up to that point that you thought recommended you unto God. Bible
says in Luke 16, 15, that what men admire and what they hold
dear is an abomination to God. And you'd have to call that an
abomination, even your good things as you saw them, because they
didn't glorify God. So my point is, is that's what
spiritual death is. And to be delivered of that,
we have to be born again. Christ said you must be born
again or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Well, here's the Lord. He hears about Lazarus being
sick. And it says, look at verse three.
This is John 11 three. Therefore his sister sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And
as I said, that's a great way to put it because the ground
of salvation is not our loving God. It's His loving us. He loves His own. He loves His
sheep. Doesn't love everybody, but He
loves His sheep. And His sheep will hear His voice.
They'll be given spiritual ears and spiritual eyes in the new
birth. And so in verse four it says,
when Jesus 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, when you read that, is he
saying that Lazarus is not going to die? But then later, Lazarus
does die. No, Christ knew what they didn't
know. He knew that he was going to
raise this man, Lazarus, from the dead. That fact was predetermined
before the foundation of the world that the Son of God incarnate,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was going to do this great act, this miracle,
And for what purpose? But for the glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now he had done a lot
of miracles up to this point. But the miracle of raising a
person from the dead, what a miracle that is, how that would glorify
him. Fame of that spread throughout. And it stirred up the Pharisees
to want to kill him even more than they did before. But he
knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And that's what
he means when he says, this sickness is not unto death. Yes, Lazarus
will die, but he's going to live again. And that's a point that
we need to understand. Only one who is God, can raise
the dead. Now I know the Lord gave his
disciples the power to raise the dead in the early stages
of the church. Gave them power to speak the
gospel in other languages. Gave them power to do many wonderful
works. But that power was not their
own. That power was from God. And that was evidenced by their
preaching the truth of the gospel. Anybody who claims to do miracles
and doesn't preach the gospel. They're inspired by Satan. But
that power of the apostles and the disciples, some of the disciples,
was from God. Well, this power to raise the
dead was Christ himself, who is God, manifest in the flesh. And so, it says in verse five,
now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. He loved
these, they were his sheep. He had given them life and brought
them to faith. and repentance. And it says in
verse six, when he had heard, therefore, that Lazarus was sick,
he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Why
didn't he rush to Lazarus' side? You know, if I get sick and think
I'm gonna die, we call an ambulance. Turn on the lights and speed
down the road, get me to the ER, or the emergency room, yeah. But he waited, he abided, he
stayed where he was two days. Well, see, He knew the score.
He knew what was going on. But now they didn't. It says
in verse 7, then after that, He said to His disciples, let
us go into Judea again. Now, they knew, the disciples
knew that Him going to Judea would be dangerous for Him. Because
they knew that the false religious Pharisees and others were after
Him. They wanted to kill Him. And
it says in verse eight, his disciples saying to him, Master, the Jews
of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again?
You're going there again? And Jesus answered, verse nine,
are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day,
he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
Verse 10, but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because
there's 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 awake him out of sleep. Now Christ is saying,
it's time to work. It's time to do the work, I'm
here, the light's with you. And he said, I'm here, I'm gonna
go work. And verse 12 says, his disciples
said, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well, he's okay. Sleep's good,
if you're sick, sleep's good for you. And in verse 13, Christ
said, how be it Jesus spoke of his death. In other words, what
Christ said when he said he was asleep, he's using a term that
was often used for death, he's gone asleep. That doesn't mean
he didn't really die, he's really gonna die, and that's what Christ
says here, how be it he spake of his death. Verse 13, but they
thought that he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep. And then
said Jesus unto them, verse 14 plainly, Lazarus is dead. Make no mistake about it, this
man Lazarus was sick unto death. Just like we are by nature, sin
sick unto death. Lazarus is dead. And again, the
only way out of that state of death is eternal life that comes
by Jesus Christ our Lord. One of my favorite verses in
the Bible is Romans 5.21, which says, that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life, and here's the key, by Jesus Christ our Lord. The only way that we who are
sinful are going to pass from that state of death into a state
of life is by the righteousness of Christ. A righteousness that
he accomplished in his obedience unto death as the surety, the
substitute, and the redeemer of his people. Well, this goes
on, and like I said, it's a long chapter, and I'm not gonna read
every verse, but there was an exchange between him and the
disciples, and he took them to Bethany, verse 18. Now, Bethany
was nine to Jerusalem, about 15 furlongs, which is about a
couple of miles, two or three, maybe four miles. And they didn't
wanna be that close to Jerusalem because they knew he was in danger
of being attacked. And it says in verse 19, and
many of the Jews came to Mount Martha and Mary to comfort them
concerning their brother, Lazarus, had died. They'd already put
him in a tomb. By the time Christ got there,
it's four days, and it says, then Martha, verse 20, 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 there, my brother had not died. She
knew that Christ that Jesus had the power to heal him from the
sickness. I'm sure she had heard and she'd seen this before. He'd
healed many sick, he healed lepers, he healed a man of the palsy,
a man who couldn't walk, made him rise and walk. What it says
in verse 21 or 22, it says, but I know that even now, this is
Martha talking, If you'd been here, he wouldn't have died.
You'd have healed him. But she said, I know that even
now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it to you. I know whatever you want, you'll
get. That's a good point of theology. God, God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, they don't have any unfulfilled desire. Preachers often say, God wants
to do this, if you'll let him. That's not the God of the Bible.
I've heard preachers say, God will save you if you only cooperate. That's not the God of the Bible.
That's an idol. That's a God who's like us. I
have many unfulfilled desires in this life. You do too. But
God has no unfulfilled desires. He said, if I want it, I'll do
it. Read it in Isaiah 46, Romans nine, all over the scripture.
He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Well,
verse 23, Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again.
And Martha said, now she knew the gospel and she knew this
much. Look at verse 24. Martha saith
unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. Remember what Job said thousands
of years before this? He said, I know my redeemer liveth
and he'll stand in the last day. Martha said, I know he's going
to be risen again in the resurrection on the last day. Well, verse
25, listen. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead yet shall live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Faith, God-given faith is given
to sinners whom God has made alive. He said, I'll put my spirit
within them. I'll give them a new heart. This
is what the new birth is. It's a quickening. It's a spiritual,
powerful, invincible, sovereign work of God to raise His people
who are spiritually dead unto spiritual life, evidenced by
the gift of faith in Christ, the Christ of the Bible, the
Christ who's described and identified and distinguished in this word,
the glory of His person, God manifest in the flesh. The power
and success of his finished work. He didn't die for people who
perish in hell. No, sir. That's a failure. That's
a counterfeit Christ. That makes salvation conditioned
on you and me and not on Christ alone. And that means it would
be a failure. There's none good, no, not one,
none that seeketh after God. You see, in order for us to seek
after God, He seeks us, finds us, and gives us a desire to
seek Him. And all who seek Him will find
Him. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me, back in John six, shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, and they'll never perish.
He said, this is the will of him that sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, and am known of my sheep, and they know me, and
they'll never perish. So here it is. I am the resurrection,
the resurrection of Christ. The Bible says is the first fruits
that show forth that the whole crop, all of his people for whom
he died, who were given him before the foundation that they'll be
resurrected to in the unto life. Now everybody will be brought
out of the grave, be resurrected, but some will be resurrected
unto damnation. But Christ speaks here of those
who will be resurrected unto life. They are God's elect. They're justified. They're forgiven
of all their sins by the blood of Christ and declared righteous.
Based upon His righteousness imputed to them, God cannot impute
their sins to them. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. Christ said in verse
26, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
That's the second dead. We'll die physically. This body
is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. We serve a risen savior. And because he arose again based
upon the accomplishment of the justice of God being satisfied
by his death, He was buried, he really died, but he didn't
stay dead. He arose from the dead. So he that whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. And he asked Martha, believest
thou this? Do you believe this, Martha?
And she said unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of God, the giver of life, which should
come into the world. And when she had said so, she
went her way and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying,
the master has come and calleth for thee. And as soon as she
heard that, that is Mary, she arose quickly and came unto him.
Now the next rest of this chapter, it involves, it shows people
in the area that were there, you know, giving their opinions
and all of that, some showing their unbelief. That's where
we, and then we have the shortest verse in the Bible. They say,
John 11, 35, Jesus wept. And it says in verse 36, then
said the Jews behold how he loved him. He loved this man Lazarus.
And he hated that this man, Lazarus, had to go through this sickness
unto death, and he loved him. But later on, he called for them
to take away the stone. Lazarus was in a tomb with a
great stone on the outside, and it says, in verse 40, Jesus said
unto her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe,
thou should seeest the glory of God? And it says, verse 41,
they took away the stone from the place where the dead was
laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank
thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest
me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And so when
he thus had spoken, verse 43, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth. He didn't say, Lazarus, if you'll
receive me, I'll raise you from the dead. Or Lazarus, I'm trying
to save you, but you won't let me. No, he said, he always said,
Lazarus, come forth. That's the way it is in the gospel.
The gospel directed in power by the Holy Spirit to the people
of God, the sheep, and it says, come forth. because he gives
life from the dead. He is the resurrection and the
life. And it says they brought him
out and he had grave clothes on. They took the grave clothes
off and they clothed him. That's what Christ does for his
people. The grave clothes of works religion and sin come off
and he gives his righteousness. Our righteousness has already
been, his righteousness has already been imputed to his people. and
that's evidenced by the call, come forth. He is the resurrection
and life. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. 317-07. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.