I know that you don't want to
hear anything else and I don't want to preach anything else.
So you take your Bibles this evening
and turn with me to John chapter 11. As I prepared this message, I
went on the website there at Grace and seen how many times
this passage has been preached. You've heard this quite often,
so I'm not going to say anything new. I pray you never hear something
new. We're in trouble. We're in trouble.
But I believe the Lord blessed this to my heart, and I pray
He will to yours. John chapter 11. Scripture says, Now a certain
man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary,
and his sister Martha. It was Mary which anointed the
Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sisters sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. The title of this, I Am the Resurrection
and the Life. That's the title of this message.
In this passive scripture we have before us our Lord Jesus
Christ, as He most often does, He is going to here use a physical
event, a physical event to teach the gospel. He's going to use
a physical event to teach us the spiritual truths. concerning
himself, concerning his attributes, and concerning his grace toward
his people. Now, Lord, Jesus was preaching
and this word came to him that this man he loved was sick. The sisters, his sisters, sent
word, behold, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. The first lesson
that I want us to see tonight is the love of Christ. This man
was loved of Christ. His sisters were loved of Christ. This man Lazarus was a dear friend.
He was loved. And not because he was great
or because he was moral. This man was loved because he
was one of the elect. He was one of the elect of God.
He was one that was saved by grace through faith in Christ.
And this is a blessed truth that we can all be comforted with. You that believe on Christ, you
that were chosen of God, redeemed by Christ and called by the Spirit.
This is true of Lazarus. This is also true of us. The
Lord loves his people. Jesus, listen, loves you. He loves you. Now, this is something
that we as believers in Christ will never be able to fathom
the depths of the love of Christ. How much does Christ love us? Now listen, if you want to fathom
the depths of how much I love Christ, that's It's too shallow. There are no depths to my love. My love is shallow and fluctuating. My love is, at times, can you even call it
love? I love him. Oh, what to God, I could love
him more. But I'll tell you this, I'll
never be able to find an end to his love. I'll never find
an end to his love. Now, there are times in the believer's
life where we feel less spiritual. Maybe it's me, but I do. There are times where I don't
feel spiritual. I don't feel his love. I don't
feel his presence. When we feel as though this love
of God We know it's great to the elect. Listen, at times,
even when I don't feel his love toward me, I know he loves you. That's what Asa felt, didn't
he? He said, you know, I know God's good to Israel, but as
for me, I don't know. I don't know. Sometimes we don't
feel that. Sometimes we are overwhelmed
and taken in false. Sometimes our hearts are cold
and indifferent, and we think within ourselves that our Father's
love, Christ's love, is similar to our love. That if our love
has fallen off, that somehow His love has fallen off. But
believer in Christ, Let us never base the love of God, or our
works, or our religious action, or our feelings for him. Let
us never base the love of God on these things. God's love is
not based on how you feel about God's love. God's love is not
based on how religious you are or how much you, your obedience. These exhortations in scripture
are wonderful. We should do these things, but God's love is not
based on you obeying these exhortations. You see, God's love, according
to his word, is based on his own free grace in Christ. Listen to what he said in Jeremiah.
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yes. You always begin something with
that. You have a problem and somebody
just walks up and says, yes. That'd be a great way to start
a conversation, wouldn't it? You want something and all of
a sudden, yes. Yes, God says, yes. I have loved
you with an everlasting love. How do you know that? Therefore,
with loving kindness, what do you do? I've drawn you. Has he
drawn you? Has he drawn you to himself?
Has he drawn you to faith in Christ? This is the evidence
of his love. The cause of God's love then
is only found in himself, and there is no reason in us that
God would love us. Stop looking. You look for reasons why God
should love you? You won't find any in here. There's nothing.
We're sinners and rebels. And listen, doesn't the scripture
say that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us? He did not
wait for us to merit such love. He, in an act of love, saved
us before we ever loved Him. Believe or take comfort in this
fact that God loves us is not based on anything in ourselves,
but simply this, his own grace in Christ. The reason God loves
you is Christ. Listen to what he said in Ephesians
one, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. according as he had chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. That's what he did. Now listen to his motive. In love, in love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children, listen, by Jesus Christ, to himself. You ever draw your
children to yourself? And your children, they come
to you and you embrace, you want their embrace, you draw them.
God says, that's what I'm doing to you. I've loved you. I put
you in the safest place there is, in Christ. And I've determined that by Him,
I'm gonna bring you to myself. Now listen, according to the
good pleasure of his will. Now you know why he loves you?
According to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of
the glory of his grace. Dear believer in Christ, rest, don't rest in your feelings toward
God, but rather rest in his love towards you. He predestinated
you not to be his slaves, but his sons. His sons, his children. Believer, listen, God loves you.
This phrase has been worn out by so many religious people that
we brush it off. Listen, God does not love everybody. But if you're His, He loves you. And when you ask Him, do you
love me? He begins the sentence, yes,
I've loved you. Not with just any love, an everlasting
love. So as he's loved Lazarus, what's
the proof of this love? Is it not the death of Christ? Is that not the greatest gift
that God could give to prove his love? Greater love hath no
man than a man laid down his life for his friends. But consider
Christ did not just lay down his life for his friends. He
laid down his life for his enemies. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died. How much greater love then is
the love of Christ to lay down his life while you were yet rebels? And because of this, it pleased
the Lord to bring. You got that? I don't wanna see my children
suffer, I just don't. It wouldn't please me to bruise
my children, it wouldn't please me to hurt them. But you know
what, it pleased the Father to bruise him. Pleased the Lord to bruise him,
he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, what is he going, he shall see his seed.
He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his end. He shall see of the travail of his soul
and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. You want proof of his love? He
bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Therefore, when they breathe,
I like this hymn, it says, when Satan tempts and doubts and fears
assail, what do you do? Look to my love for God. Is that
what you do? Look to the Lamb of God. You
in his strength shall over all prevail. Look to the Lamb of
God. Are you weary? Is the way seem long? Look to
the Lamb of God. Listen, his love will cheer and
fill your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. And so as we see that he loved
Lazarus, listen, so he loves all his children. He died for,
He chose us, and He redeemed us, and He called us, and right
now He's keeping us. And I want you to see this. When
troubles come to those who are loved by Christ, the troubles
that come to those who love, now this man that was loved of
Christ, listen, this was the report. He whom thou lovest is
sick, is sick. Notice the trouble of the one
that Jesus loved. He was sick. And I'll tell you
what, he loved Mary and Martha too. Lazarus was not the only
one suffering. Mary and Martha were suffering
concerning their brother. Now, we as sinful creatures often
base our love on what we get out of it. Isn't this true of
everything we love? Even consider our love for God.
Our love for God is truly based on what we get, what we need. We need Him. We need His blood. We need His righteousness. What
did God need from you? See the difference? Our love
is selfish. I tell you what, I love my children.
I love my son and daughter, and I don't want anything ill to
happen to them, and so often I have to take things from them,
or I prevent them from doing the things that they wanted to
do in order to help them, not to hurt them. It does hurt them.
They make it very clear when they're hurt by my decisions. But consider the greatness of
our Lord's love. The Lord loves his children with
a greater love than we could ever have. And I know at times
we fall into troubles and sicknesses and pains and sorrows. And all
these things on the outside look evil. But because the Lord loves
us, we must understand this truth. All that he does, all that he does to us is for
our benefit. All that he does to us in this
life is for our benefit. Mark this down as you know the
end of this story. Now in the middle of this, do
you suppose that Martha or Mary or Lazarus could see any good
in what was taking place? Now we know the end of it. We
see the end. We know it's going to be so much
better because we have it written, but they didn't at the time.
And how often do we not know what good God will bring from
our troubles? But we know, Paul says, that
all things work together for good. To them that love God,
to them are the called according to his purpose. Now listen. In Jeremiah chapter 32, you know
this, that the Lord says that, let's read that, Jeremiah chapter
32. Look at this. I know you're going through troubles.
I know your trials are great and your pains and sorrows are
great, but look at this. Jeremiah 32, look at verse 40. I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. Isn't this the covenant of grace
you have made with you? The covenant concerning his son,
the covenant, like you just said, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord has provided. He's provided all. In this covenant
of grace, every provision is made. He said, I made an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them what? When has the Lord ever turned
away from you to do you good? According to this, he says, I
will never, it's never lasting, I will never turn away from you
to do you good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. Look at Jeremiah 29,
over a couple pages there. Jeremiah 29 and look at verse
11. How often do you guess what God's
thinking? He said, well, man, he's thinking
ill. He's put me in a bad place. He must think ill of me. God
said, listen, I know my thoughts toward you. Don't tell me what
I'm thinking. I know my thoughts. Towards you,
what are they? Thoughts of peace and not of
evil. Listen, to give you a smooth
path. No. Doesn't say anything about
the path, does it? What does it talk about? The
end. I'm gonna give you an expected
end. That's what he promised. So when
this is all ended, What are you gonna find out? It's good. God says, I'm gonna give you
an expected end. What do you, at the end, what do you expect?
What do you expect? You should expect to be received
into the presence of God for eternity. That's what you should
expect. You should expect the glory of
God to be given to you. That's what you should expect. You should expect to be without
sin. You should expect to love and serve him for eternity with
all joy and peace. That's what you should expect
at the end. Let them have their best life
now. I wouldn't expect the end. God said, I'm gonna give you
an expected end. Why? Because everything is for your
good. Now, Jesus knew that his friend was sick. And listen,
he knew something they didn't. He knew he was gonna die. Jesus told him at the beginning,
he said, this is not unto death. Why? He knew what was gonna happen
at the end. But he knew he was going to die, and he knew this. He was going to be for his good
as well as the good of his church. Listen, I cannot explain what
God's doing in dark providences. I cannot. He does not give us
any indication as to what he's doing in your dark providences.
But in the dark providences, what are we to do? Believe. Faith. This is how we walk. This
is our law. This is our rule of life. It
is faith in Christ. It is trusting Him regardless
of how we feel or what we think or what we experience. It's trusting
His love, His grace, His mercy, His blood, His righteousness. It's bowing to His will in the
dark times. Can't tell you what God is doing
in dark providences, but I know this, He is working all things
for your good. And He'll never turn away from
doing that. Why? He said so. He said so. And some believers, we do fall
into this trap. The flesh does anyway. Listen,
our flesh is always gonna fall into this trap. that we come
through some dark time and we say, well, if God loved me, then
surely he would want me to be healthy. If God really loved
me, he'd make my way prosperous. Sound like spoiled children,
don't we? That's how we think. That's how we feel at that moment. I think of Jonah. When I was
a younger believer, I really couldn't understand why Jonah
was angry with God. I said, man, how could a person be angry with
God? Well, I've lived a little since then, and there are times
I've been angry. And how sweetly does he whisper,
does that well to be angry? No, no, we've often fallen into
that trap, but we must understand that nothing is out of God's
control. If God wanted Lazarus to be well,
he would have been well. If God did not want Lazarus to
die, he wouldn't have died. But what took place was according
to the sovereign will of God, and what takes place in our life
is according to the sovereign will of God. Everything. Everything. Everything. Lazarus was loved by Christ,
and yet he was stricken with sickness, which was designed
by God for a purpose, a glorious purpose, a glorious purpose. Look at verse six in this chapter. And when he heard, therefore,
that Lazarus was sick, he ran with all speed. Know what
it says? He abode two days still in the
same place. The next lesson that we learn
is about delayed deliverance. We learn about His love. We learned about his will towards
us to do us good even in the dark times, but we also learned
something about delayed deliverances. He did not rush to Lazarus' aid. Sometimes we do come into trouble
and we, when do you want Christ when you're in trouble? Now. When you're sick, when do you
want him? Now. You know what, this flesh
never stops crying when you're sick, does it? It just... It just pours out of you. And
you want Him now, and sometimes I tell you, He has done more
often than not, He's come sooner than later. We just remember
the laters. We don't remember the sooners.
But when our Lord delays in His coming, know this, that He has
never left you or cease to think about you. When Christ delays, you must
consider that his eye is still on you. Remember that in Mark
chapter six when he told his disciples to go across the sea
and he went into the mountains to pray. Our Lord Jesus was in
the mountains. There's no way he could physically
see them on the sea. But as he commanded them to go
across, listen, it just so happened there was a storm. What a stroke of bad luck. These
guys, he sent them out there and they were sailing pretty
good and a storm came up. We know this, that that too was
divine providence. That was God brought that, Christ
brought that storm. But listen to this, as they were
rowing, now they, listen, those boys rowed I think for six hours
or more. And listen to what it says in
Mark 6, 48. And he saw them toiling and rowing. Had he left them,
was he unaware of their toil? Consider you, is he unaware of
your trouble, of your grief, of your sorrow, of your pain?
No. Friends, He knew of Lazarus'
sickness. He knew Lazarus wanted to die
because that's what he determined. And even so, the Lord has his
eye on us. And though he delays in coming,
though he delays in deliverance, listen, this is something by
faith we should know that he will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Never. Consider when he's ever forsaken
you. I didn't ask how you felt about
it. But God has never forsaken his
people. And notice this in verse 11.
These things said he, after they'd said unto him, our friend Lazarus,
sleepeth. But I go that we may awake him
out of sleep." And the disciples, they said, well, what? That's
good to be sleeping. That's good to be sleeping. How did Jesus speak of his death?
But they thought that he was speaking of taking a rest. And
then Jesus tells him plainly, Lazarus is dead. Don't you see
this? That Christ knew the moment he
died. Christ had his eye on Lazarus the whole time he was sick. And
the moment he died, he said, I know. I was talking to Audrey in her
little so-called Bible class she got in school. Audrey made
a plain statement that was just true. Everybody that dies, God
killed them. And they were a gas. The whole
class was against her, teacher and everybody. And I imagine
she's heard me quote this, that scripture. He says, the Lord,
he said, I am the Lord, I kill, and I make alive, and they go,
oh, well. Who killed Lazarus? It was his
friend. The Lord Jesus Christ took his
life. Who's going to take your life? I'm so glad it's him. Aren't you glad it's him? The
one who loved me, the one who never leaves me, the one who
always is with me. He knows where we are, dear believer. And though all around us seem
to be to your destruction, it is for your good. Though all
the world forsake you, he will never leave you. Though all the
world forsake me and Satan tempt me sore, through Jesus I shall
safely reach the goal. He'll never ever leave me nor
yet forsake me here. While I live by faith and do
his blessed will, he's the lily of the valley. a bright and morning
star. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. Let your character, Paul said, and let your conversation
be without covetousness. What's the reason for us to live
without covetousness? Why should you not want what
everybody else has? Be content with such things as
you have for. That's why you need to be content.
He said, I will never leave you and never forsake you. This should be a great source
of contentment. When we're sick, should we envy
someone's health? When we're dying, should we envy
someone's life? He said, be content with whatever
you have. Because I am here. I'm not going to leave you, nor
forsake you. I remember those Hebrew children.
Remember Shaphat, Meshach, and Abednego? They were defying a
king. They were defying a king. He
wouldn't bow. And he said, look, if you don't
bow, I'm going to throw you in the fire. And they said, look,
we're not anxious about this. We know this, the Lord can deliver
us if he wants to. We ain't got no promise, he will.
I ain't got no promise, but I know this, either way, we're gonna
be delivered out of your hand today. And you remember, God did choose
to manifest his presence with him in that fire. How many fires
have you been through that Christ wasn't there? How many
trials have you been through that Christ wasn't there? You
listen to me. Christ was there with Lazarus
when he died. He'll be there with you when
you die. This should be our comfort. He
is always, he is a very present help. Listen, in trouble. Now we want him to be a present
help out of trouble. He didn't promise that, did he?
He said, I will be a present help in trouble. In trouble. God uses, therefore uses these
trials only for our good and to cause our faith and love to
grow. God may be using our trials not
just to help us, but to help his church. Isn't this what he
was doing with Mary and Martha? They weren't sick. They weren't
dying, but they were suffering. They were suffering, but yet
God is going to use the sickness and death of their brother to
reveal something about himself to them. He's going to preach
his gospel. And so then, I'm gonna skip down
now. I've got to skip down. I can't
keep going like this. We're going to see now what God
uses this death of Lazarus for, this physical trial. He's going
to preach the gospel to them. He's going to preach the gospel
to... And so our Lord now allowed this to happen. You remember,
He didn't come until Lazarus was dead. And now look at verse
21. Martha runs out to meet Jesus,
she hears his comments, she runs out to meet him, and she said
unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not
died. She recognizes his ability to
heal, his ability to cure her brother. But in her grief, that's all
she could see. How often have we said that, Lord, if you'd
been there? He was there. He was there. But in our grief,
sometimes we can't see that. And Jesus answers her and he
says, your brother shall rise again. Your brother shall rise
again. And Martha, she explains her
understanding of the resurrection. She says, I know he'll rise again
at the last day. But Jesus here gives her and
us a wonderful teaching. Now he's using, consider this.
We would not have this text in front of us had Lazarus not been
sick and Lazarus not died. But because the Lord purposed
this, He purposed by this to reveal something great about
Himself. And by this revelation, those
of us who are sick, those of us who are suffering, might find
comfort, real comfort. And so what does He tell us?
Look in verse 25. He says, Jesus said, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? The first
thing he's going to reveal to her is this I am. This is one
of those I am statements of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is revealing his deity. His deity. I am the resurrection. You're looking for a certain
event. Listen, I'm it. You shouldn't be looking to an
event in the future. You need to be looking to me
right now. I am the resurrection. I am. He who loves us, consider
this, he who loves us and purposes all things for our good is God. Now listen, I can purpose to
do you good, but that's no real comfort in
that. Because I can't, I don't have power. I can really try,
but I don't, you're not going to be comforted by it. But listen,
he who has all power, all power is given to me in heaven and
earth. How much power is that? Are you breathing now? Where
is that power coming from? All power is given to me. in
heaven and earth. He who loves us, he who is always
with us and desires our good, he who died for our sins, rose
again for our justification, is God manifest in the flesh. Sometimes we get into troubles
and trials and we say with our lips, the Lord has all power,
but really we don't believe that. We don't trust that. And so what
do we do? We look for somebody or something
to deliver us. Trying to look to man. We may have a problem with another
brother in Christ, and instead of taking it to Christ, we do
it ourselves. We're always trying to straighten
people out, aren't we? I had a preacher of the gospel,
a real brother of mine, Somebody had offended him, and he said,
man, they need to confess. I said, to you? They don't need
to confess to you? To Christ. I'm always trying
to straighten people out. It's not my business. Friends, our Savior is God manifest
in the flesh. He has all power to deliver us
out of all trouble. Now he says this, I am what?
The resurrection. This has reference to the first
resurrection. In Revelation chapter 20 it says,
blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. This is our new birth. Our new
birth. Jesus says, I am the resurrection. Now we all were born dead in
sins. If a man's not born dead, then
he'll try to find some hope in himself. This is what false religion
tells you. Well, man's not really dead.
He's got something he can do. No, the scripture tells us that
we are dead. And what do we need? Lazarus
was dead, wasn't he? What a picture. The Lord allowed
his friend. The Lord decreed that his friend
should die so that he should be a picture of us as we are
by nature, dead in trespasses and sins. We were by nature sinners. There
is none righteous, no, not one. We have all sinned. And yet God
demands perfect perfection that we cannot provide. And so we
see the purpose of Lazarus' death is to be a picture of our nature
being dead and no hope in ourselves. Lazarus, listen to me, he would
have no hope of being raised in himself. Something must have happened
outside of himself for him to have life. Jesus is telling us by this statement
that he must do something for you. I am the resurrection. Listen,
if you are without life, if you are without faith in Christ,
faith is the evidence of life. Listen, if you're without life,
the only hope for you is if Christ come to you. If Christ, who is
the resurrection, gives you life, anything else, there's no hope
for you. He must come to you. He must raise you from the dead. I do pray that he will. He said
this in John chapter five, 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. I am the resurrection and the
life. If there's any spiritual life,
it is by the power of Jesus Christ through the working of the Holy
Spirit to give it to you. There's no hope of life without
him. I am the resurrection. Is Christ your resurrection and
life? If he's not, then you have no
life. There is no life apart from him
giving it. We see in our picture what happened
when the Savior then gives life. Look what he did with Lazarus
in verse 43. He told him, move this stone. I like our response. He was really dead. You got that? He was four days dead. And his
sister said, don't do that, he stinks. Another picture of ourselves.
You know what your righteousness smells like? A dead corpse. That's
what it smells like. He said, roll away the stone,
and they did. When he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud
voice, Lazarus, come forth. Was this a question or a command? Was he asking Lazarus to come
forth? as religion does. No. When the resurrection and the
life commands life, life comes forth. Lazarus, come forth. He did not ask, this was a command. And this is the way with all
of us who believe on him. We were lost in sin, dead in
our sins, and he called us by name, and we lived. We lived. You remember that infant,
polluted in his own blood, what a picture of us, cast out to
the loathing of itself. Bastard son, thrown away, left
to die. And when God says, when I passed
by thee, it was a time of love. I saw what you were, polluted
in your own blood. And I said unto thee, live. I washed thee. I clothed thee. I put a jewel upon thee. What is this but the blood of
Christ that cleanses us from all our sins and the righteousness
of Christ that now robes us? The spirit that calls us, friends,
is an irresistible call. Could Lazarus have refused? Is it possible? Him whom the
Lord loved, he called. Is it possible for Lazarus to
refuse? No. You that believe, was it
possible for you to refuse to believe? Right now, can you refuse
to believe? I can't do nothing but believe.
God helped my unbelief. But I know this, I have faith
because He gives it. He gives it. Just like He gave
me life, He gives us faith to believe. He commands us to life
and we live. Are you without life? The scriptures are clear. Christ
said, come unto me. This is not a question. It's
command. Well, I don't want to come. I
ain't talking to you, is he? When he talks to you, you will
come. There's no doubt. When he said,
come unto me, it wasn't a request. You that are heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest." You see who needs this? Who needs to
come? Those who are laden with burdens and sin. They're the
ones who need to come. And when they hear that command,
you know what they do? They come. You know what? I haven't stopped
coming. I haven't stopped coming. And notice this, Jesus said,
He comes out of the grave. Let me see this here. Hold on, I'll get there. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was bound in grave clothes And this is a miracle
to me. You understand they mummified
these people. They wrapped them from head to toe. He could not
walk. This band around him was so tight,
he could not walk. It was impossible for him to
move. And yet he still came out anyway. I don't know if he floated
out. I don't know what happened, but
he came out. And the moment he came out, you know what Christ
said? Loose him and let him go. You know what Christ does when
he calls a sinner to life and faith? He says this, loosen and
let him go. You know what we're free from?
Law. Free from the law, oh happy condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, Christ hath redeemed us, what? Once for all. I like this. Go to Hebrews chapter
10. I don't want to say this and
then I got one more little thing I want to close, but Hebrews
chapter 10. Listen how free you are. How free from sin you are. Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse
11. Now, let's just go back up a
little bit in verse nine. He says, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, and
he may establish the second. By which will we are, what? By the will of God, you are what?
Sanctified. Well, now, how in the world are
you sanctified? I'm fixing to throw off the grave
clothes here. Listen to this. You're sanctified. By the will of God, you are sanctified.
How? Through the offering of the body
of Christ, Jesus Christ. How many times? Once. How many times were you sanctified? Once. Will you sanctify through
your will and obedience, through your obedience to the law in
any measure? The scripture doesn't say that.
It says by the will of God we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Christ once for all. No such thing as progressive
sanctification. What a lunacy. What a lunacy. Just some of those men that we
respect and admire, they had so much dead gum baggage from
that old church. Bless their hearts. I mean, they
did. They had a whole bunch of it. And people just grabbed ahold
of it. They said Luther said it. Calvin said it. Who cares
what they said? That says that I'm sanctified
by the will of God through the offering of Christ once for all. And every priest standeth ministering
daily, offering the same sacrifices and never take away sin, but
this man, this man that loved me, this man that's always with
me, this man that desires only my good, this man that sanctified
me through his offering, listen, but this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. You sat down because
you're what? You're done. You're finished. He sat down on the right hand
of God, henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by his one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." Sanctified by the will and death of Christ,
he's perfected you. Forever. Grave clothes. Off. What binds me? What keeps me
from coming in the presence of God? What keeps you from coming
in the presence of God? Anything? I don't feel. I don't care. I don't matter. Nothing stops us from the presence
of God because we have been sanctified through Christ once for all. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe it. And listen,
Christ is the resurrection to come. This life is full of pain. Believers, we don't escape it.
Lazarus didn't, and we won't. In the pain, remember he loves
you. He's always loved you. He'll never stop loving you,
because his love's not based on you. Listen, he always intends for
your good. Always. He's always with you,
even when you don't feel it. And in this time of darkness,
what's our comfort? He is God manifesting in the
flesh. He is the resurrection and the
life. He that liveth and believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Mark, when are you going to die? When will you die? Never. You understand that? The body's going to the ground,
but you ain't dying. Ever. You believe that? You do if you know Him to be
the resurrection and life. And one day, He is coming for
us. He will come. Soon and very soon our trials
will be done. Our pains will be no more. And every tear, God himself Is it any wonder we can't preach
anything else but Christ? I don't want to talk about anything
else but Him. I know you don't want to
hear anything else but Him. Pray God will bless you.