Well, it is always good to visit
with family. And you've been part of our family
for a long time. I thank God for you. I told you,
Pastor, the other day, I have the last book is at the publisher,
the last one. I don't remember the last one.
I'm going to do the last one. I've just finished. I've been working
on it for a number of years. And it should be probably in
my mailbox when I get home, called Going Home. spoke about the believer's
experience going through this world in anticipation of heavenly
glory. So you pray for God's blessings
upon that. And I always particularly enjoy
coming to a place and observing the Lord's table with family
members that I don't see very often as we shall this morning.
I don't know about you, but I have been all my life somewhat confused
as to why the Lord Jesus, in this age of spirit worship, when
we're forbidden to have any kind of images or icons or pictures
or religious symbols, gave us two physical elements by which
to remember Him, the bread and wine. And I know that people
are raised in all kinds of religious backgrounds to have the idea
that taking the Lord's Supper is some kind of a unusual, very testing, sobering
time. For believers, this is the feasting
of remembrance of our Savior. And it's not an option, no more
than baptism is. Our Lord commands us to confess
Him in believers baptism. And He speaks to you who believe
and says take this cup My blood in the New Testament, and drink
it in remembrance of me. Take this bread, my body broken
for you, and eat it in remembrance of me. But why did he give us
those physical emblems? And I finally got the answer.
I was preaching for Brother Marvin Stoner, I grew up at Katy Baptist
Church in Fairmont, West Virginia, a while back. And Brother Scott
Richardson, our dear friend, he's preached here many times.
Before, just before the Lord took him home, he came into the
office one day and said, Marvin, I want to give you something
to remember me by. And he reached in his pocket
and handed him a pocket knife. And Marvin looked up at him a little
bit, disappointed, and he said, Scott, Brother Scott, I don't
need a pocket knife to remember you by. He said, put the knife
in your pocket and you'll remember me. Marvin told him that story,
pulled out that pocket knife, and he said, Brother Don, I never
reach on my dresser in the morning and put that pocket knife in
my pocket that I don't think about Brother Scott. I never
take it out to cut open an envelope or clean my fingernails or take
it out in the evening and lay it on my dress before I go to
bed at night. I don't think of Brother Scott. I can't handle
that knife and not think about him. Isn't it a marvel of God's
grace? You can't drink. Eat that bread
and drink that wine. without remembering the Savior.
Gracious is He who sweetly forces us and enables us to remember
Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Now turn with me if you
will to the 11th chapter of John's Gospel. Just hold your Bibles
open on your laps. In the scriptures we sometimes
read about families Not just individuals, not just one or
two in the family, but entire families loved of God. Imagine that. For most of us,
we are one or two in the household that God's been pleased to call.
The rest of the family's still in darkness. But there are some
families, entire families given to us in the book of God loved
of God. I wonder what we might learn
from such a family. For the whole family is born
of God, saved by His grace, redeemed by Christ's precious blood, walking
with Christ in faith. A whole family. What instruction
might we get from them? Well, there was such a family,
a family loved of God in a little town called Bethany, just a couple
of miles outside of Jerusalem. We read about them here in the
11th chapter of John's Gospel. I want to talk to you as God
will enable me for a few minutes about a family loved of God. As I began to prepare this message
for our Sunday morning Bible class a couple weeks ago at home,
it just got bigger and bigger and bigger as I studied this
chapter. But I want to pull out a few
simple lessons from these 57 verses of John chapter 11. and
show you some things here taught by our God to you and me from
this family loved of God. He who raised Lazarus from the
dead at Bethany continues to raise sinners from death to life
today by the power of His grace. He who showed himself gracious
to Martha Mary and their brother Lazarus and Bethany Continues
to show himself gracious to his people today Here are lessons
for you who are gods lessons for me Lessons for you who do
not yet know our God here what the scriptures teach number one
look at verses 1 through 4 Here's the first lesson taught in this
chapter It's something we need to learn. We need to lay it to
heart and remind ourselves of it often. True believers suffer
sickness and disease, pain and sorrow, trial and adversity in
this world just like all other people. faith in Christ and the
grace of God in our lives does not in any way exempt us from
suffering and sorrow and sickness and pain and trouble and adversity
heartache and gut-wrenching difficulties look here in John 11 verse 1
now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany the town of
Mary and her sister Martha 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 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." Sickness,
pain, discomfort, trial, adversity, trouble. These things are not
in any way an indication of God's displeasure or of a lack of faith
on our part. The fact is these things are
sent by our Heavenly Father for our benefit. That which is aggravating
to our bodies is often good for our souls. Sickness tends to
draw our affections away from this world to Christ. Sickness
has a way of sending us to our knees sending us to our Bibles
and sending us to our Savior. Trouble, adversity, and heartache
graciously force us to our Savior, force us to our knees, force
us to faith. Anything that accomplishes those
things is good. These things remind us that life
in this world at its best is but a vapor and is soon gone. They force us to look to the
grave, look beyond the grave to judgment, and beyond judgment
to eternity. And I would urge you to think
about those things every day throughout the day. Don't push
them asides. I don't want to think about that.
Don't talk about that. We are dying, Larry. soon going
to die, that we'll meet God in judgment, that we'll spend eternity
somewhere. You ought to be wise and lay
those things to heart. Whenever sickness or trouble
comes, be it nothing but a cold, something serious as cancer,
or the loss of your dearest companion, let us be patient before our
God and ever mindful of the fact that these things are the fruit
of sin. All of these things are forerunners
of death. These things are all in the hands
of our God. Sickness and health, life and
death, peace and trouble, prosperity and poverty, all alike are in
the hands of our God. But for believers, sickness is
never unto death. Our Lord said to his disciples,
this sickness is not unto death. He knew that Lazarus was going
to die physically. But he said, this sickness is
not unto death, but rather it is for the glory of God. And
in sickness, the Lord Jesus comes and makes himself known to us
in a way which we could not otherwise know him. Turn back to Psalm
41. I want to show you something. Read this again this morning. I met a young couple out in San
Diego a couple of weeks ago. Had been married very long. Young
man. Doctors discovered he had cancer.
About the same age I was when doctors told me I had cancer.
And he and his wife were going through some real difficulties.
Prospects, as far as the doctors are concerned, Don't look good
for me. I sat them down one reach side
of mass I want to show you something God showed me one day when I
was just where you are right now Psalm 41 verse 3 The Lord
will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing Thou will
make all his bed in his sickness Thou will make all his bed in
his sickness Now if you've ever spent any time in a hospital
really sick, after a little while, nurses come in and turn you in
your bed. You can't turn yourself, they
turn you in your bed. And there's a reason for that.
It's to keep you from getting bed sores. That's exactly what
the Lord Jesus is here said to do for his people. He comes and
fixes it so your bed of sickness and your bed of trouble causes
you no soreness. But rather it is for your benefit
and for your good. He makes himself known to you
in a way that you could not otherwise know him. And the sickness is
but the forerunner of everlasting health. I love what Richard Baxter,
I read about Richard Baxter years ago When he was dying, one of
his friends came in and spoke like we usually do in such times
with foolishness, not knowing what to say. And he walked in
and said to him, he said, Pastor, how are you today? And the old
man could hardly lean up on his elbow, but he raised his head
a little bit and he said, almost well. Almost well. Sickness is not for us the forerunner
of death, but for us the forerunner of life everlasting. Here's the
second lesson. True faith, now listen carefully. True faith always submits to
the will of God. True faith always submits to
the will of God. When Mary and Martha, Lazarus'
sisters, saw their brother fall sick, they sent a word to the
Lord. They wrote a message. and they
sent it by someone to carry it to the Lord Jesus. And this is
what they said, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. They didn't ask the Lord to heal
him. They didn't ask the Lord to come where they were. They
didn't make any demands of him. They said, Lord, he whom thou
lovest is sick. They simply left the matter in
the Savior's hands. Oh my God, teach me to do that. Like Eli of old, when his sons
Hophni and Phinehas were slain and slain because he was a lousy
daddy. God put his boys to death because
he did not restrain them. God put his boys to death because
he did not rebuke them. God killed his boys and it was
his fault. He understood that. But when
it was done, he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth
him good. And sooner or later, if we're
gods, he'll teach us to submit to him, to bow to his will. We never will on our own. We
never do initially. But sooner or later, the Lord
God graciously calls us true faith to bow to him. In the hurry
and excitement of trouble, in the annoyance of pain and sickness,
always remember that none can help like Him who took our infirmities
and bear our sicknesses. None is so kind, none is so gracious,
none is so wise, none is so able to help as the Lord Jesus. And
we are wise to submit to Him. But we must never imagine that
faith in this world will be found perfect in any man. You can read
through this chapter, and I have to call your attention to certain
things about Martha and Mary that indicate some things that
really needed to be corrected. But both Martha and Mary seem
to have misjudged the Lord's intentions. Lord, if you'd been
here, our brother would not die. If you'd have just been here,
everything would have been alright. They misjudged his intentions.
How often we misjudge God. How often, how sadly, we misjudge
our God. It's easy to talk about these
things when faith is, we have faith and we're healthy and strong
and everything going well. But it's hard to practice this
submissive faith when we're sick and hurting, when we're in trouble,
have heartache, just gut-wrenching difficulties. At such times,
we recognize that the strongest believer's strongest faith is
fragile and apt to break. But the Lord graciously brings
us to our wits end. And when he fixes it, so you
can't do anything else, then you'll trust him. Not until then. Thank you, our
God, for fixing it so that we can't do anything else but trust
you. Still, there's another thing
revealed here about faith in this chapter our Lord tells us
plainly that if we would believe we would see the glory of God
look at verse 40 Jesus saith unto her said I not unto thee
that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory
of God if you would believe You'd see the glory of God. Now I'm
not talking about just having faith, I'm talking about believing
the Lord Jesus. Believing God. If you'd believe,
you'd see the glory of God. Clearly he's talking about the
resurrection of Lazarus immediately. But it's applicable to every
aspect of our lives. As we believe, in measure as
we believe, we see the glory of God in providence. Believing
him we see the glory of God in the saving of sinners by the
sacrifice of his son Believing him we see the glory of God in
our own experience of his grace Here's the third lesson in this
chapter The Lord Jesus Christ our God and Savior loves all
his elect alike the verse 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister
Mary and Lazarus. Here are three chosen sinners,
saved by God's grace, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ,
all alike the objects of God's electing love and Christ's redeeming
blood and God's saving grace. But they were not at all alike
in many respects. Martha appears to have been a
little too pushy and domineering. That always makes a woman ugly.
Mary appears to have been very spiritual and thoughtful, but
perhaps a little bit negligent with regard to earthly responsibilities. Lazarus, we know nothing about
him. Matter of fact, the only thing
we know about Lazarus in the whole book of God is that he
died and was raised again. And after he was raised again,
he was made the object of hatred and persecution because the Lord
raised him again. That's all we know about Lazarus.
But we're told plainly here that the Savior loved them all. You
see, our Savior's love for us is never conditioned upon anything
in us. He loved us from everlasting. And his love never increased
or diminished. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. How does God love us? Do you
remember what our Lord Jesus told us in John 10? Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I laid down my life for the sheep.
Well, didn't he love him before? As God, yes. As God the Son,
yes. But our Lord Jesus as a man made
himself fully worthy of God's approval and love by his perfect
obedience unto death. And he loves you for the same
reason. Because in Christ we are made
to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life. Now listen
to me. I want you to listen to me. God
Almighty never has a reason to be angry with you if you're His. He wore out His anger on His
Son and His love for you doesn't depend on your obedience and
is not diminished by your disobedience. His love for you doesn't depend
on the strength of your faith and it's not diminished by the
weakness of your faith. His love for you in no way is
dependent upon your circumstances but rather his infinite love
and wisdom determines your circumstances. Jesus loved Martha and Mary and
their brother Lazarus and so He loves his own with sovereign,
everlasting, unchanging love from the beginning to the end. We must never undervalue others
because they're different from us. We must never undervalue
God's people because of their inconsistencies. We must never
undervalue God's elect because of their seeming Lack of faith. We must never undervalue God's
people because they do things that they ought not do. They're
loved of God. They ought to be loved by you.
They're embraced of God. They ought to be embraced by
you and by me. You see, perfect love. Perfect love. You won't find
that in John Copeland or Don Fortner. But perfect love and
not your love for God or for me. It's God's love for you.
Now listen to what John says about it. Perfect love casteth
out all fear. I have no rightful reason to
ever fear anybody or anything. I'm loved of God. Can you get
that? I'm loved of God. If that woman
sitting there is convinced that I love her. She has no reason ever to imagine
that anything within my control is going to harm her. She has
no reason ever to imagine that anything that can be done for
her benefit by me will not be done by me. Children of God,
our Father, our God, Our Savior loves us perfectly. Now, what
was it that you bothered about? What is your fearful love? We're
loved of God. Now, in the kingdom of God, among
God's true children, there are differences of grace and faith
and maturity, but the weakest and the most feeble of the Lord's
disciples are nonetheless the objects of His love. Along the
same line, look at verses 30 through 36. Now Jesus was not
yet come into town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
The Jews then, which were with her in the house, and comforted
her. When they saw Mary, that she
arose up hastily, and went out and followed her, saying, she
goeth unto the grave to weep, to weep there. Then when Mary
was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his
feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been him, my brother
had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, watch this,
he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, where
have you laid him? And they said unto him, Lord,
come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how
he loved him. Our Lord Jesus wept. Why? He knew what had happened. He's
the one who did it. He knew where Lazarus was. He's
the one who put him there. He knew he was about to raise
Lazarus from the dead. He's God. Why did he weep? because Mary wept. That's all. That's all. You see, our Lord
Jesus Christ is a great high priest, our advocate in heaven,
who is a man like ourselves, touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. Touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. Which of you mothers or dads
have not had to take a child to the doctor and that doctor
has to set a broken bone and that child just winces with pain
and you do too. You take a child to the doctor
and that child's got to go through surgery and that child is hurting
and you hurt. It's called sucker. It's an old
English word we don't use much. It means to help with passion,
to help with feeling. Since Christ is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, he is now able to succor them
that are tempted. He's able to reach down where
you are, take you to his breast, and hug you up against him, feeling
what you feel. with the feeling of our infirmities.
And the Jews misunderstood. They said, behold, how he loved
him. Really, if they'd understood
what was going on, they'd have said, behold, how he loves her. He's weeping with her. Weeping
because she wept. Our blessed Savior is a real man. in all points
like as we are, sin alone accepted until he went to Calvary. Nothing troubles this man like
my sin. Nothing troubles me like God
hiding his face from me. Nothing troubles me like me not
being able to speak to God with God not being willing to speak
to me. Nothing so troubles me. And our
Savior, when he was made sin for us, was forsaken of God,
he cried, and God refused to hear him. He said, others cry
to you for help, and they call on you, and you answer them.
Why are you so far from helping me? who endured all the agony
of the curse of the cross for you is touched with the feeling
of your infirmities. Look at verse 45. Then many of
the Jews, which came to Mary and had seen the things which
Jesus did, believed on him. As a result of their kindness,
they reached a rare, rich, unexpected blessing. These Jews who went
out and wept with Mary and Martha saw the Lord Jesus perform the
most notable of all his miracles, raising a man from the dead.
And having heard his word, many of them believed. These things
are written for our learning, for our admonition. Children
of God seize every opportunity to bear one another's burdens,
to care for others, to benefit others. You'll find it beneficial
to your own soul. I just read a lengthy thing yesterday. A friend of mine sent it to me. A Marine had just come back from
a tour overseas, and his dad was in the hospital and dying.
And he went to the hospital to visit with his dad. He got there
late in the evening. and met a nurse and told her
he was there to see his dad and she took him into a room. He just followed her into his
room and he sat down beside the fella in an oxygen tent. The
old man was dying. He couldn't breathe, hardly on
his own. He was just laying there waiting to die and he slipped
his hand through the tent. He looked up and saw a figure
of a man, I guess, through the oxygen tent and he just reached
out That Marine sat down on a stool and took that feeble hand and
his strong hand, and he just sat there. And the old man tried
to say a little something, and he tried to console him a little
bit. He just sat there. And he sat there all night long,
holding that old man's hand. And the nurse would come in and
say, you need to come over here and rest a little while. He'll
be all right. And he refused to move. He just sat there. Every
time he got a chance to, he'd say a little something, try to
encourage the man, comfort him. You sat there. You sat there.
And finally, just as the day began to break,
the old man's hand went limp. He was gone. And that Marine
got up, walked out, told the nurse he had died. And she started
to express her sorrow to the man. He said, who was he? She
said, well, that was your daddy. He said, no ma'am, no ma'am.
I've never seen that man before in my life. She said, that wasn't
your dad? He said, no. She said, well,
why on earth did you stay there all night long like you didn't
sit there all night long? She said, or he said to her,
it looked to me like he needed somebody to sit with him and
hold his hand. He needed somebody to give him a little comfort
in his dying hours. It appeared I was just the man
to do that. Oh God, teach me so to help,
wherever help is an opportunity. To bear the infirmities of others,
wherever God gives me opportunity. Our Lord Jesus shows us that
loving someone is being touched by that which touches them. Moved
by that which moves them. grieved by that which grieves
them. He groaned within himself because Mary was groaning. He
wept because Mary was weeping. That's the kind of Savior we
have who always is present to help. Therefore he says, let
us come boldly to the throne of grace. The word means confidently,
freely. Come on in. Come on in. Come
on in! Come on in. And find grace to
help in time of need. That's what I'm here for. Here's
the fourth lesson. Look at verse six. We're reading verse five. Jesus
loved Martha and her sister Lazarus. And when he heard, therefore,
that he was sick, He abode two days, still in the same place
where he was. Verse 11. These things said he,
after that Lazarus saith unto him, after that he saith unto
them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may wake him
out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord,
if he's asleep, he shall do well. Albeit Jesus spake of his death,
but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep.
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad. Isn't that wonderful? I'm glad. I'm glad for your sakes
that I was not there to the intent that ye may believe. Nevertheless,
let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die
with him. Then when Jesus came, he found
that he had lain in the grave four days already. Now here's
the fourth lesson. Understand it, get it well. God's
time is always the right time. God is never before time, he's
never behind time. He always knows when best to
intervene, when best to work, and how. When he heard that Lazarus
was sick, he stayed right where he was for two days waiting for
Lazarus to die. He stayed there on purpose for
the sake of his church, for the good of his friends, for the
glory of God, for the benefit of his chosen. He stayed there
until he knew that it was time for him to appear and act. He
always intervenes at just the right time. Did you ever notice
in the scripture, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law. In due time, Christ died
for the ungodly. Our Lord Jesus said, my hour
has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. My
hour has not yet come. Then he said, my hour's here.
This is the hour. He always knows best when to
intervene, when to act, and how to act. He always knows best
when to help and best how to help. In all the affairs of our
lives, we need to realize that his time is best. Nothing so
helps us to bear patiently the trials of life as an abiding
conviction of the perfect wisdom by which our God manages all
things. Oh, God teach me. You always
do right. You always do right. He's too
wise to err, too good to do wrong, and too strong to fail. But we're
like Moses when Miriam was stricken with leprosy. He said, Lord,
heal her now. We want things done right now.
God's time is the best time. God's way is the best way. The
best thing we can do is wait on him. Our times are in his
hands. It is our great wisdom and faith
patiently to wait for him to do what he will when he will. When sick, he knows the best
time to heal. When we're in trouble, he knows
the best time to deliver. When we need help, he knows the
best way to help. Number five, look at verse 11. Because Christ, our Redeemer,
is the resurrection and the life. We who believe him shall never
die. God's elect shall never die. These things said he after that
he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. But I go that
I may wake him out of sleep. And the disciples said, Lord,
if he's asleep, he'll be all right. Verse 13, Jesus spake
of his death. But they thought that he had
spoken of taking rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead. Then in verse 25, Jesus saith
unto her, 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? Blessed and holy, John tells
us in Revelation 20, verse six, is he that hath part in the first
resurrection. On such, the second death hath
no power. We who are gods, We who believe
on the Son of God have died already. When he was crucified, we were
crucified. When he was raised, we were raised. He has raised us in the newness
of life, in the new birth, as we were raised by him representatively
when he arose from the dead. And we shall be raised, these
bodies, in resurrection glory. But when the believer dies, these
bodies alone die, not the believer. We, who are God, soon will leave
this world. And that's not something to be
dreaded. That's not something to be looked
upon as a great sorrowful thing. I know we tend to... Don't look at it this way. The
believer's death is a hope. It's something to be anticipated.
It's something to be longed for. I don't mean by that that we
should not take right, responsible action to protect the lives of
others and our own. I do mean we have no reason at
all to dread death. Should I leave this body and
enter into glory before I finish preaching this sermon? Will you
understand this about that? At that moment when I breathe
my last breath on this earth, all that I most earnestly desire
and pray for shall be accomplished. I'll be done with sin. I'll be
in communion with my Redeemer. I'll be with Him and Him with
me all the time. in constant bliss. Our highest,
noblest ambitions are then realized like Christ. Like Christ. Not just like him
being born again. Not just like him being redeemed. Not just like him being accepted.
Like him having no sin in me. The body of sin gone forever. Like him suffering no evil consequence
for any sin ever. In that moment, Terry, when I've
taken my last breath, every trial, every heartache, every disappointment
is gone forever. Now, what was it about death
that you dreaded? What is it about leaving this
world that you want to put off for a while? For believers, death
is the beginning of life. It's the entrance into glory.
Number six, look at verse 39. Learn this. The salvation of
a sinner is accomplished by the life-giving resurrection power
of the Son of God. Jesus said, take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. Isn't
it amazing how we argue with God? For he had been dead four
days. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the
glory of God then 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 would stand by I said
it that they may believe that thou hast sent me and when he had Thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. That's called a personal
call. And he that was dead came forth. That's called a powerful, irresistible
call. It's a life-giving call. That's
how God saves sinners. He comes and calls you by his
grace. You mean he comes and says, Don
Fortner, live. Yeah, that's what I mean. That's exactly what I mean. Nobody
hears the voice except the one he calls. But when he calls you,
you hear his voice. And you rise and follow him.
Read on. And his face was bound about
with a napkin. I'm saying he was bound hand
and foot with great clothes and his face was bound about with
a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, loose him and let him go. Here
in broad daylight, a man who was dead is raised to life in
front of multitudes so it could not possibly be denied by anyone. A man who had been dead for four
days brought out of the tomb. But the Lord Jesus did a marvelous
thing. He said to those who stood by,
take away the stone. Well, that doesn't make any sense,
does it? That just doesn't make any sense. if he could raise
him from the dead, though he could surely move that rock. Why did he do that? Because they
could take away the stone. Oh my God. What a privilege it
is to preach the gospel of God's grace and be used of God to roll
away the stones of darkness from the tombs of the dead by
the preaching of the gospel and hear the master speak life to
the dead. And then he says, loose it and
let him go. You see, God's people, all of
them come out of the grave bound hand and foot with grave clothes
of legalism and religion and works and It's our business in
preaching the gospel to continually loose them, to set them free,
that they may be freed from all the bondage of sin and death
and ungodliness. Now, one last thing. In the last
section of this chapter, verses 49 through 57, we won't read
those verses for the sake of time, learn this. All that we
have seen thus far would be meaningless at best, useless at best, if
I fail to show you the last thing revealed in this chapter. Because
the salvation of a sinner is an utter impossibility without
the sacrifice and death of the Lord Jesus as the sinner's substitute. Here's a marvelous picture of
God's sovereignty and a marvelous declaration of Christ's substitutionary
atonement. Caiaphas the high priest now
He spoke by prophecy the Spirit of God tells us not because he
was a prophet But because he was the high priest and he was
a religious leader and folks heard what he said God the Holy
Ghost made him say something. He didn't have clue what he's
talking about He said it's expedient for you and for me that one man
died that the nation perished not and declared two things that
this religious world never gets hold of. The sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ was necessary for the accomplishment of these
two things. Justice must be satisfied, either in you or in a substitute. Justice must be satisfied. God's gonna punish sin. He'll
either punish you personally for your sins in everlasting
judgment, or he'll punish your sin in a substitute, which he
did 2,000 years ago at Calvary. And Jesus Christ, when he bore
our sins upon the cursed tree in his body, took all the fury
of God's holy justice. and pulled the sword into his
own holy soul until fury is expended. Anger is gone and justice is
satisfied. And those for whom justice is
satisfied can never perish. The nation, his people, His holy
nation, that chosen redeemed nation must go free. Every one of them. They cannot
perish because Christ has died. These things we learn in the
lives of every believer and this family, this blessed family loved
of God. Oh, God.