He whom thou lovest is sick. You'll turn back with me now
to John chapter 11. This chapter is actually 57 verses
long. And I can't possibly do any justice
trying to cover 57 verses, but I will attempt to take about
half of them. And in this short period of time
that we have, try to make some comments. But I do encourage
you to read the whole of it because it's rich in the treasure of
the gospel and instruction to those who would walk with Christ
in this world. It's rich all the way through. The account given to us here
in John chapter 11 is only one of many miracles which our Lord
performed in his earthly ministry as a man. And I would remind
you at the outset of the message that all of these miracles are
pictures of how God saves sinners. It's the picture of the sinner,
not just in one capacity, but all of them taken together are
a picture of the sinner. And only one way for them to
be saved, and that's through the Lord. So I'd remind you of
that. In the spiritual sense, they
are blind, lame, dumb, paralyzed, diseased, palsied, and demon-possessed
sinners. That's the state of the sinner.
But nothing in these miracles depict the condition of the sinner
like death. You hath he quickened who were
dead. Sin entered, the scripture said,
and death passed. In Adam, that is, all his offspring,
all his children, all his seed, in Adam all died. And then the scripture that I
quoted to you there in Ephesians chapter 2, you, Hathae Quicken,
who were dead. After years in the ministry,
I'm painfully aware that most men and women have no clue of
what the gospel is and especially of what eternal life is. Most believe that eternal life
describes the length of it. Now I'm going to tell you something
when you think about this. The soul is eternal whether you're
saved or not. The soul is going to go on forever
whether you're saved or not. So it's not talking about the
length of it, it's talking about the quality of it. You could hardly call everlasting
punishment, the soul going on forever in eternal punishment,
you could hardly call that eternal life. So we're not talking about
the length of it. It'll be forever. It is forever. Everything God does is forever.
No reason for Him to change it. Eternal life is to know God.
John made an amazing statement in 1 John 5 verse 19. This is an absolutely amazing
statement, and it's something that nobody knows except a believer. You know, all through John's
writings, he said, and we know, and we know, and we know, all
the way through that book of 1 John. But listen to what he
says here. He said, and we know that we
are of God. And the rest of the world, the
whole world, lies in wickedness. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? Well, how, John? How do you know
these things? How can I, the sinner, know these
things? I may know them for myself, not
take somebody at his word, but how can I know these things for
myself? Here it is, 1 John 5, verse 20,
very next verse. Because the Son of God has come
and given to us an understanding that we may know Him that's true,
and that we're in Him that's true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. Now listen, this is the true
God and eternal life. Great is the mystery of godliness,
Paul says. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. How have we learned
that? We saw it manifested in the Son of God. I'm weary of hearing men's testimonies
of how they came to know God in the law. I was reading the
law, studying the law. Some speak of a vision. I was
in my closet. I was just a kid and saw a vision. I heard a voice. I was out on
the lake in my boat fishing all by myself late one night, about
11 o'clock at night. Heard a voice. I was on my sickbed. I was bleeding
to death on the battlefield. One man told me that. He was
bleeding to death on the battlefield. God spoke to him. Will you hear me? God only reveals
himself in Christ. That's it. That's it. I'm talking about in a saving
way. I'm talking about in a way that is life eternal. They said, show us the Father
and we'll be satisfied. He said, have you been so long
time with me? Have you not seen the Father? None other name given among men
whereby we must be saved. Through this man, Paul said,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. All that the Father
hath given me, Christ said, are going to come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And so what's
taking place here in John 11 is that which is repeated time
and again in the lives of God's elect. A dead sinner is brought
to hear the voice of the Son of God. He said, the day is coming
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. You say, he's talking about that
last day. Maybe he is. But I'll tell you
something else he's talking about. He's talking about men hearing
the voice of Christ through the preaching of the gospel and living. Dead sinners are brought to hear
Christ speak and called from death unto life. And that with
which they're bound in their death is commanded to loose them
and let them go. Now that's what, this is repeated
thousands upon thousands of times in the lives of all God's elect. When you say Lazarus, his resurrection,
talking about the resurrection at the last day, oh I beg your
pardon. I beg your pardon. That resurrection
at the last day, that man is going to be glorified and never
die again. God raised him from the dead,
but he still had another death to die. He's not talking about
the last resurrection, he's talking about the first resurrection.
And there's seven things that I want to point out as we go
through these verses. Seven things that I hope will
comfort you and give you strength sickness and death of them that
we love. The very first thing I want you
to see here is a terrifying reality. Lazarus is sick unto death. Now he didn't have a headache.
They didn't send messengers out to run Christ down all that ways
because Lazarus had a headache. He was sick unto death. We're not told the nature of
his illness. It don't really matter. All sickness
is because of sin, Eddie. And it's all under death. And
that was his condition. He was sick under death. He was
a believer. He was a faithful disciple and
a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he was sick. My friend's salvation in Christ
is not immunity from disease. Don't you ever get to thinking
about that, oh, if that person knew Christ, they wouldn't, oh,
yes, they will. Yes, they will. Death and disease
are the result of sin, and if there were no sin, there'd be
no death, there'd be no disease. Death reigned, our Lord said,
from Adam to Moses, even over them who had not sinned like
Adam did. Talking about babies, young people. Death and disease are the result
of the fall of Adam. They're the cause of sin which
entered this world and brought death upon. I believe also that
Lazarus' illness is a picture of the sickness that we all have.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 2.1, you have the quickened who were
dead, born with the nature of sin, sin reigning unto death,
the carnal mind enmity against God, none good, none righteous,
none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, brought
forth from the womb speaking lies. And if God don't intervene,
we're as sure for hell as if we're already there. We're dead.
Spiritually, we're dead. I know we're alive and we're
walking around, but we're walking according to the course of this
world and according to the prince of the power of the air. We're
walking, but we're zombies. We're walking dead. That leper,
eat up with leprosy. They call leprosy a living death. His whole body is rotting while
he lives. That's what's going on in the
center. If God does not intervene, we're
goners. Sin must be manifested. It must
be brought to light. It must be recognized for what
it is and help sought to deal with it. All right, here's the
second thing. There's a terrifying reality,
and I don't know if some of you have been awakened to see it
or not, but you're sick unto death until He raises you, if
He raises you. You're sick unto death. That's
a terrifying reality for a man to come to grips with. It is, that you don't have anything
in you. You don't have any power in you.
You don't have any will in you to come to him. You don't have
any understanding to figure it out if you did read it. You have nothing that you can
do for yourself. Lazarus was just laid there on
a bed with a fever and couldn't talk and couldn't walk and couldn't
do anything for himself. That's a terrifying reality when
a man comes to grips with it. He can't do anything. He has
no money to buy his way into heaven. He has no influence.
He has no value. We are together become unprofitable. What will I do? What can I do
for myself? Nothing. He's going to have to come to
you. All right, here's the second thing.
Intercession was made on the behalf of the sinner. Lazarus was sick unto death.
He couldn't do anything for himself, so his sister sent word to the
Savior. You know somebody's sick? I ain't
talking about sick with disease, I'm talking about sick with sin. Who passed all earthly help,
can you see their sickness sucking the life out of them every day?
What are you gonna do about it? Only one thing you can do. Send
word to the Lord. Huh? That's all you can do? But don't be despondent about
it. He came into this world to save sinners. Huh? That's a pretty good reason to
call him. Send word to the Lord. He came into this world to save
sinners. The whole need not a physician, he said, but the sick. He came
to deal with the sick. Spiritually. He said, I come
to show mercy, not sacrifice. You gonna worship me, you gonna
learn what that means. There's only two things that
I know that can be done for the sinner. Pray for him and bring
him to here. Now listen, this is the prayer
of a true intercessor. He whom thou lovest is sick. I don't know who God's elect
are, except that they in general are from every people and nation,
tribe, and kindred unto heaven. I know this, I know they're sick.
They're sick unto death and they need Christ's intervention. And
even though I do not recognize them, I know that he loves his
sheep. Huh? Brother Mahan used to tell us
before you can talk to men about God, you're going to have to
learn to talk to God about men. You're going to have to learn
to intercede for men. You're going to have to talk
to Him because He's in control. How are you going to preach if
He don't send you? You're going to go to the wrong
place every time. You words are gonna be useless. They're gonna
go out and fall in the floor. It may have been what took place
Friday, I don't know. The prayer of faith, the Bible
said, will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. You
reckon he meant that also or primarily in the spiritual sense? There's a sickness unto death,
he said, I say not that you pray for that. God has by his grace brought
us to know the Lord Jesus Christ and his Father who sent him.
And we have one who loves us and who has all power in heaven
and earth to grant us our petitions. Why do we hesitate so often not
to go to him? We go to the bed of the sinner.
We sit, and boy, I guarantee you, his two sisters was on their
knees beside that bed, holding that boy's hand, had a rag wiping
his head. Everything was about the sinner.
And then, secondly, it dawned on us, let's send word to the
Savior. Let's do everything in our power
to turn that around. Let's call on the Savior first,
and then go wipe his head. Let's call on him. Thirdly, a reason for the sickness
of his beloved is given. He tells you why. This sickness,
he said in verse four, is not unto death, but for the glory
of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. I'm gonna
tell you something. God's people were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Whom he did foreknow. Who did
he foreknow? Them who were chosen in him before
the world was. Their names written in the book,
a covenant established, Ordered in all things and sure,
every detail was ordained by divine wisdom. Nothing was left
to chance and circumstance. The Lord Jesus Christ was appointed
as the sovereign mediator of that covenant. He's going to
mediate the peace between God and his people. He's the redeemer. He's the substitute. He's the
representative. God has made him to be for us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All of these
things back yonder in eternity. Nothing left to chance and circumstance. They're not even a shadow of
doubt that anyone chosen of God shall not be saved. Everything given to us in time,
Jesus said, cometh down, or James said, cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variables, neither shadow of turning. Whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. He might be the firstborn among
many brothers. And moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he called, and whom he called he justified, and whom he justified
he glorified. And he did all them things because
he loved them. And you can't separate them from
that love. Yes, mankind fell in the garden. Yes, by one man
sin entered into the world and death by sin. Yes, I come forth
from the womb speaking lies. Yes, I walked according to the
course of this world. Yes, by the offense of one judgment
came upon all men the condemnation. And all of God's elect suffered
this malady. But the difference is that it's
not unto death. This sickness is not unto death. This sickness is different in
Lazarus than it was in Judas Iscariot. Their death's not the
same. That's what I tried to point
out at that funeral. This boy's death is not the same. They're born in sin, that old
nature and spiritual death, not going to go untreated. Their
manifested illness and physical death is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. And I'm going
to tell you this, when God saves a sinner, he's going to get all
the glory. He's going to get it all. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. All right, fourthly. A strange
act of providence is brought to pass. John 11, verse six. When he had
heard, therefore, that he was sick, he ran to Bethany. Know what
that says? says he abode two days still
in the same place where he was. The salvation of God's elect
is ordered by divine predestination down to the smallest detail. Let me read you something over
here in Ephesians chapter one beginning with verse 10. This
is talking about the mystery of God's redemptive will as it's
being manifested in this world. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, things which are in heaven, things which are on earth, even
in him. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. I'm talking about his redemptive
will. And he did it that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.
Those Gentile believers down at the Church of Antioch, you
know why they believed? Tells you right there in the
verse. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Religion
won't, oh, they won't turn that around the other way. Many as
believed were ordained. No, that ain't what it says.
Many as ordained believed. You see what I'm saying? Everything
about Lazarus' death, was ordered before the world was. It was
predestinated in the purpose of God. And God's working His
redemptive will. He's working His redemptive will.
And it was not yet time in the counsel of God for Lazarus to
be called. There's another reason why Christ
remained there two more days. that Lazarus' illness might be
fully manifested in death. Long as he was alive, Mary and
Martha had hope. When he died, their hope, that
soap bubble, busted. He gone. They didn't run out there and
say, Lord, you're finally here. Now he, raise him up. No. They went out and said, if
you'd been here, he wouldn't have died. A crucial part of our calling
is the manifestation of our sin. I listen to you, you come to
me and you say, I believe what you're preaching and you won't
be baptized, I'll go back there and baptize you. But I'm telling
you this, nobody gonna be saved until their sin is manifested
to them. And Lazarus laid there until
he died. When God is going to work a work
of salvation and a work of glory in you, he's going to manifest
that death to you. You're going to die. Paul said,
I was alive without the law. But when the law came, sin was
revived. And what happened? I died. I died. You see, our guilt is what shuts
our mouths and leaves us fully dependent upon the mercy and
grace of God. It's a good knowledge of your
sin and helplessness that'll cause you to submit to a preacher. Man all self-righteous and all
full of these preconceived notions and stuff, you can't talk to
him about the Lord. I don't care if he's only read
one page in the Bible, he'll sit there and tell you what he
thinks about all these things. has to die. The sinner has to
die. I'm talking about in his experience
before the Lord. He's gonna die. I don't know
to what degree. I'm not trying to put a degree
on him. Oh, he has to come to this or he has to do that or
it has to be like John Owens or John Newton or I'm not going
to put no spot, but I'm going to tell you this, you're going
to die. That death is going to be manifested to you. You're
going to see yourself beyond hope, beyond help, beyond anything
that you can do. And when you do, that ear will
perk up. You'll want to hear everything.
Anything. Everything. Somebody who knows something,
tell me. Tell me. He ran out in that wilderness
and he'd run along beside that chariot and he looked up there
in that old Ethiopian eunuch reading the book of Isaiah. He
said, you understand what you're reading? I could if somebody declared
it to me. I could. Scoot over. Huh? He didn't go to Lazarus because
his death, his sickness had not manifested itself yet in death. And then the third reason why
he stayed in that same place is because he was about his father's
business. He said, is there not 12 hours
in the day? I got work to do. I got work. I know what I'm doing. This was
the Savior. I know what I'm doing. I know
what he's doing. I know what you're doing. And
I know what's going to come to pass in time. And there's 12
hours in the day, and I'm not going to waste them running over
there. It's not time yet. But I'm gonna
stay here and be about my father's business. I'm gonna tell you something,
the experience of salvation is a very personal and singular
work, and we come to see ourselves alone from the crowd. But the Savior has many, and
every one of them has a time allotted for their calling. Every one of them. All right,
50. A comforting word was given. He says in John 11, 11, our friend
Lazarus sleepeth. Now unlike the unbelieving rebel,
God's elect only sleep when they die. They just sleep. Ephesians 5.14 says, Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give
you light. Wake up. Wake up. Believers in Christ only sleep.
We don't mourn the sleep of our children. They're in there sleeping
in the bed. We're not in the kitchen bawling and carrying
on. But let somebody we love die.
You can't hold back the tears, can you? What are you crying
for? He's just asleep. Scripture said, be absent from
the bodies, be present with the Lord. You mean you'd want to
take Nathan from the presence of the Lord and bring him back
down here in this mess? No, sir. You mean you think he's
worse off because he's in glory and not here? My soul, he's speaking
as clearly today, singing like an angel. Singing in that heavenly
choir. Paul said, I would not have you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep. that you
sorrow not as others which have no hope. Our friend Lazarus just
asleep. He's asleep. But here is the next thing. This is the sixth thing I want
you to see. A painful misunderstanding. Verse
12, his disciples said, Lord, if he's sleepy, he's all right.
He's all right. Howbeit Jesus spoke of his death,
but they thought that he'd spoken of taking rest in sleep. Then
said Jesus plainly unto them, Lazarus is dead. Sleep, as our Lord had spoken
of Lazarus, is a spiritual term, simply meaning that the body
shall rest in the tomb till he calls it forth. Scripture said our life is hid
with Christ in God, and when Christ who is our life shall
appear, then we're gonna appear with him in glory. But I'm gonna
tell you something, death's real. Huh? It wasn't at 18. I'll cut y'all
some slack. It wasn't with me at 18. But
it is real to me now. It's real. Death is real. The
only difference between a believer's death and an unbeliever is that
the believer's soul goes to be with the Lord. It goes to be
with the Lord. The believer's competence is
that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
And I know people fantasize about talking to their departed loved
ones and They take things out to the grave that they knew that
they enjoyed and they do all this and some of them will sit
there in a chair and talk and read and do different things.
That's an old tent. That soul has gone to be with
the Lord. You don't go to your grandbaby's
grave and sit over there and talk to him. No. He's with the
Lord. That's where you want to be.
Well, David, he got up and started washing his face and everything.
He'd been mourning and fasting over this departed little one. And I said, well, wow. He called
for breakfast and bring me in something to eat. He was ready
to eat, washed his face and all that. He said, I can't bring
him back, but I can go and be with him where he's at. Everything tangible of this world
is gone forever. There's only one thing that shall
abide with you in your death, and that's your relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ or your sins. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Death? No. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All right,
here's the last thing. A distant hope made nigh by faith. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, ran out to meet him, but Mary sat in
the house. And with tear-stained eyes and
a broken heart, she looked the Savior in the eye and said, if
you've been here, My brother had not died. But I know that
even now, whatsoever you ask of God, he'll give it to you.
And Jesus said to her, that brother's gonna rise again. Martha said,
oh, I know, I know, out yonder, way out there, way out there,
out yonder. God gonna raise him up at the
last day. Jesus looked at her and he said,
I am the resurrection, and I'm not way out there. I'm right
here. Huh? I am the resurrection and the
life. My friend, He is the resurrection,
and the resurrection, though it shall be an act, is in reality
a person. It's a person. He raised his
elect from the dead when he himself rose from the dead. We were raised
up with him, Paul said, ascended up into glory with him, and sat
down with him at the right hand of God. He's the resurrection. Salvation is union with him. He's not in the tomb. He's on
the throne. Moses and Elijah wasn't in the
town. They were up on that mount talking
to the Lord about his death. He's the resurrection. He was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And we are even now risen and
accepted in the blood. Hard to get a hold of, isn't
it? We are alive in this life in
Christ. We're alive in Christ when those
bodies go back to the dust and we shall be alive and joined
again to our incorruptible bodies when he calls us out of the tomb.
What are you trying to say, preacher? I'm trying to say that the resurrection
is not some distant promise. It's a current, present reality. I'm alive in Christ. Whether
this body sleeps or whether it walks around, it don't make no
difference. I'm alive in him. Whoso liveth and believeth in
me, never die. Now, you theologians, do you
believe that? That's pretty much what he told
Martha. Do you believe that? Now concerning the dead, let
me read three verses of scripture to you. First of all, this verse
our Lord quoted. He said, I'm the God of Abraham,
and I'm the God of Isaac. He didn't say I was, he said
I am. And I'm the God of Jacob. Now he said, you understand something. God is not the God of the dead.
but the God of the living. Secondly, Moses and Elijah, I
mentioned that to you a few moments ago, were seen on the Mount of
Transfiguration talking with the Lord about His death, His
exodus. And then in Matthew 27, verses
52 and 53, I bet you this is something you've never read or
thought about. Our Lord died on that cross. His dying words,
it's finished. It's finished. And that veil
in that temple rent from top to bottom. And the earth began
to shake, quake, and rocks were bursting. And after his resurrection, now
listen to this, after his resurrection, Get over here where I'm at. It says, after our Lord's resurrection
the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept
arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection and went
into the holy city and appeared unto many. Saints they watched
crucified. Saints they watched put to death.
Saints they saw stoned by the Jews. Rose up out of them tombs,
went into Jerusalem where other saints were, and walked in and
sat down with them and talked to them. Huh? I am the resurrection. Our resurrection is a present
reality and we confess this reality in baptism, don't we? We're not just buried in baptism
and left under the water. We're buried in baptism and then
raised to walk in newness of life. We're alive. Now Paul said
if you're buried in the likeness of his death, you'll be risen
in the likeness of his resurrection. And so it is with Lazarus. He walked up to that old tomb
and he said, take away the stone. Oh, they didn't want to do that.
Lord, he's, you know, it's hard to smell
a decayed body, but a decayed body that you knew and loved
It'd just rip your heart out, wouldn't it? Like Wade Stone. Lazarus! Somebody said if he hadn't said
Lazarus, everybody in every tomb in that country would have come
out there. Lazarus! Come out of there. And I believe he floated out.
I don't believe he walked out. He was bound head to toe in grave
clothes. They had him wrapped up like a mummy. He can walk
out of there. God brought him out of there. He said, loose him. Loose him
and let him go. That's why I preach the gospel.
Because that is exactly what happens to every sinner chosen
of God. He calls him from death unto
life. And he says of that old log,
loose him. Let him go. He says of that old
wheel in bondage, loose him. Let him go. He says of that old
nature that held him down, loose him. Let him go. And they just
fall off. The shackles fall off. And there's
lashes restored again.