If the Lord will allow me to
do so, I want to preach to you tonight on the subject, Lazarus
Raised or Grace Irresistible. Unless God Almighty does something
for you that you cannot and will not do for yourself, You will
perish in your sins and spend eternity under the wrath of God
in hell. Unless God graciously causes
you by almighty, irresistible grace to come to His Son, you
will not come to Him. Do you know anything at all about
the love calls of omnipotent mercy. It is impossible not to know
them if you've ever heard them. Frequently, you preachers can
bear witness to this. Folks will come to you and they
will want us to tell them whether or not they've been called, whether
or not they are born of God. I refuse ever to even give a
hint. I'm not about to tell you that
God has saved you. I'm not about to do so. If you
have to have me to tell you, I promise you, God has not saved
you. If you are called by His grace,
You will hear His voice, and you will know it is His voice. You won't need that to be confirmed
by anybody. The soul that hears the voice
of the Son of God, though he never heard it before, knows
the sweet sound of the Shepherd's voice. When the Savior speaks
to the sinner, dead in trespasses and in sins, He speaks marvelously. His voice is a loud voice that
cannot be missed. Our Lord Jesus cried with a loud
voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth.
It is a powerful voice that cannot be resisted. The voice of the
Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. When the Lord Jesus speaks, he
speaks in a still small voice that no one hears except the
one who's called. When the Lord called Saul of
Tarsus on the road to Damascus, the folks who were with him knew
something was going on, but they just thought it was so much noise.
They didn't have any idea what it was, but Saul of Tarsus heard
the Lord speak to him. He speaks in a sweet, loving,
winning voice that causes the one who is called to arise and
seek the Lord. And he calls his own in a personal
voice. So personal that it causes the
one who is called to know that he's been called. Zacchaeus,
come down! For today I must abide at thy
house. And Zacchaeus knew he had been
called. Let's look at John chapter 11.
And you just turn there and hold your place there for a minute
while I make three or four statements. John chapter 11. Here's the first thing I want
to declare to you. It is my responsibility. It is my responsibility as a
man called and sent of God to preach the gospel. It is my responsibility
as one who stands in this place claiming that he is sent of God
to preach the gospel. It is my responsibility as a
preacher of the gospel to preach the gospel to you. You who preach, hear me. Old and young alike, God help
you now hear this preacher. Hear me. Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Preach it with the greatest simplicity
you possibly can. Preach it in words that any child
can understand. Preach it every time you stand
to speak in God's name. Or don't pretend to preach. Preach the gospel. This book
is not written, it is not given to us for the purpose of causing
our minds to swell with our knowledge of theology and our knowledge
of doctrine and our knowledge of Bible history and all the
nonsense with which men try to impress other men. This book
is not written to give us a code of moral conduct. This book is
not written to give us the history of God's dealings with the Jews
and the history of God's dealings with His church. This book is
not written to give us a timetable on which to measure the calendar
of time and see when God's going to bring the earth to an end.
This book is written to reveal Jesus Christ to chosen redeem
sinners. And our business as God's servants
is to preach the gospel. Preach the gospel with earnestness.
I keep praying God give me grace every time I open this book before
men to preach to you fully convinced that you who hear my voice are
about to draw your last breath and wake up in hell without God
unless He intervenes by His word right now. Preach the gospel. Woe is unto me If I preach not
the gospel. He didn't say woe is unto me
if I don't preach. No, no, no. If I preach not the
gospel. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. The greatest privilege God can
ever give to men and women in this world is the privilege of
having established in their presence a regularly established faithful
gospel ministry. The greatest responsibility Any
man can carry on his shoulders and on his heart is the responsibility
of speaking to eternity bound men and women in the name of
God. Preach the gospel with sincerity
and simplicity, not with wisdom of words. Not with wisdom of words, not
with words that you would use to impress. Not with words that
you would use to get the attention of men. Not with words of learning
by which you can force men. You can force men, contrary to
their own heart's experience, you can force men to agree with
what you say. Not with the wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of non-effect. But rather
with simplicity. And preaching it, let us preach
it with steadfastness. Here's the second thing. It is
your responsibility to repent and believe on the Son of God. God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. I rejoice to declare to all men
everywhere that any sinner in all the world who will call upon
Christ in true faith shall be saved. Ah, that's a hard nut for some
fellas to take. They just can't handle it. Some fellas, they're
scared to death we're going to get one of the non-elect into
the kingdom, aren't they? Whosoever! Whosoever! Did you know that's in the book?
Whosoever shall call on his worship at the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Whosoever! Well, brother Don,
that sounds like anybody who worships the Lord Jesus shall
be saved. Isn't that amazing how that sounds?
Sounds just like that. That means if I call on the Son
of God, if I believe on the Son of God, I shall be saved. A Philippian jailer asked Paul
and Silas, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And you know, Paul
and Silas, they weren't real bright. They hadn't been to the
best seminaries and hadn't read the best theology books. And
so they didn't say, now you work monger, you're so mistaken to
think you can do something to be saved. You can't do anything. That's all he said. What'd they
say to him? What'd they say to him? That's
what it said in the Genesis. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Well, that's not good Calvinism.
Good. Good. Good. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. I know that you're responsible
before God to believe. what's plainly written in his
word. And I know that if you will believe, God will save you. Indeed, I know that if you will
believe, God has saved you. For it is written, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Yet I know that no man
can by nature And no man will, by nature, believe on the Son
of God. You just will not come to Christ. But you might have life. He won't
do it. No man can come to me, our Savior
said, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. It is
not within the realm of man's power. It is not within the realm
or the scope of man's heart's desire to come to Christ. No man wants Christ. No man does. Every man wants salvation. I had a letter from a fellow
a few weeks ago, and he told me he'd been trying to believe
on the Lord Jesus for four years. And he wrote to me, and he was
just concerned because the Lord hadn't let him believe on Him,
hadn't given him any peace in all these years. Then I read
the letter with great care, and read it several times, and understood
the last time exactly what was implied the first time. He was
very concerned about dying and going to hell. And he wanted
God's salvation. But he hadn't had any thought
of seeking the Lord. And I wrote to him and told him,
you haven't been seeking the Lord. You've been seeking to stay out
of hell, that's all. That's all. And after a few weeks
he wrote me back and he said, you're right. That's what I've
been seeking. No man has within him any desire
to bow to Christ, to trust Christ, to have Christ rule over him,
except God reveal Christ in you. You won't want Him until God's
made Him known to you and in you. I know that you cannot believe,
except God create faith in you. And I know this, true saving
faith is the gift of God. I'm learning it more and more
every day. It is the gift of the operation
of God. If you believe God now, if right
now, for the first time in your life, sitting right where you
are, you believe the Son of God, if right now you believe Him,
God has created faith in you and God is operating faith in
you. And if you have been a believer
for 40 years, and you now can believe God tonight, worship
the Redeemer, and your heart goes out to Him in faith, it
is God working faith in you. You will find yourself in the
midst of trial, seldom do you believe God when the trial first
comes. Am I telling what you've experienced?
Seldom. Seldom. We ought to. We ought
to. Had no reason not to. But Pastor,
we can't. Not even now. Except God give
us faith. And work faith in us. You mean,
Brother Don, we're constantly, constantly, utterly dependent
upon God's grace? Constantly. Utterly dependent
on God's grace. This is our Savior's doctrine.
No man can come to Him. Anyone may come to Him. But blessed
be God, someone shall come to Him. And all who come to Him,
He will bring at last in resurrection glory to Himself in everlasting
life. If anyone comes to Christ believing
on him unto life everlasting, he does so Because God gives
him faith. Because God is gracious to him. Faith in Christ, faith in us,
is not the cause of God's grace to us. Faith in us is the result
of God's grace to us. Faith in us is the gift of God's
grace to us. And by the greatness of His power
we believe according to the working of His mighty power which He
wrought in Christ Jesus when He raised Him from the dead.
It takes the very same power of God for me to believe on Christ. as it took for God to raise his
son from the dead. Because you see, faith is born
in the heart when the sinner is raised from the dead. Faith
is created in the heart when the sinner is raised from the
dead. So that faith, believing on Christ,
requires the very same power that God, the triune God, exercised
in the raising of Christ from the dead. We believe on him then
in resurrection life by the power of God and the irresistible grace
of God as is portrayed here in John chapter 11. Now my text
this evening really is John chapter 11 verse 1 through chapter 12
verse 11. But I'm not going to try to read
it all, I couldn't do any preaching. So you read it when you get home,
and you follow me along as I pick up the highlights. There are
numerous, numerous pictures of irresistible grace, of the effectual
call of God's Spirit in the Word of God. We've mentioned Zacchaeus. Abraham was called out of her
localities, your pastor mentioned this morning, that man called
of God to leave his father and his father's house and his kindred
and all things behind him and go to a land that he would show
him at the appointed time. And Abraham got up and left.
The Lord God gives us pictures of that deserted infant, that
child, aborted and cast off from his mother's womb, naked and
polluted in his own blood, laying out there dead and rotting and
decaying in the filth of its own blood until the Lord God
passed by and said, I pass by thee and behold thy time was
the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and I said
unto thee live, yea I said unto thee live and thou becameest
mine. And so it is that he calls us
from death to life. Ezekiel saw that vision of bones. In a place of a terrible warfare
long ago, the bones were parched and scattered and dry. One bone
separate from another so that one could not be identified as
belonging to another. And the Lord God said, can these
bones live? And God's prophet said, Lord,
you know. He said, prophesy to the bones. Well, what if somebody
hears me? Out here preaching this valley
full of dead, dry bones. Prophesy to the bones. And the
bones were raised up, and God said, so shall I do for the house
of Israel. I will raise up your dead ones,
and they shall live and worship me. And that he promises as the
covenant God of Israel. But certainly no picture of the
work of God's almighty, irresistible grace is more familiar to our
minds than the picture of Lazarus described here. First look with
me at verse 14. Here's Lazarus' condition. Then
said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. But I wonder what that means.
Just how dead was he? Isn't it amazing how foolish
men can be and show their folly when it comes to the Word of
God? If you picked up the newspaper and you read in the obituaries
of Danville, Kentucky next week, Don Fortner, bless his heart,
he's dead. Nobody would think about, I wonder
if he's going to get well. He's dead. Well, maybe if we talk to him,
maybe if we present things in the proper light to him, God
will get up and go home. He's dead. Dead. Not dead like this wood. No,
no. Dead as in our father Adam, we
all died. Dead with regard to all sense
and sensibility. Dead with regard to all life
and all understanding and all sight and all knowledge of all
things spiritual. Dead. So the natural man is unmoved,
unaffected, untouched by anything spiritual until God gives him
life. There's no genuine conviction
of sin, only a fear of wrath. No genuine conviction of righteousness,
only a fear of judgment. No genuine conviction of Christ's
finished work and judgment finished, only a fear of going to hell
until God gives life. There's nothing in the dead man.
Nothing. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned." The dead cannot move toward God. The dead have no will and no
ability to trust Christ. The dead don't desire God's salvation. The dead can't see. The dead
can't hear. The dead can't understand. The
dead must be raised or they cannot see the Kingdom of God. Is that
what our Lord told Nicodemus? Our Lord said, Nicodemus, and
this is going to be hard for you to take. I know you've been
to the best of schools. And I know that you're a respected,
learned theologian, but you can't see the kingdom of God except
to be born again. And he wasn't talking about seeing
it as drawn on one of those dispensational horror books, you know. That's
not a picture. No, he wasn't talking about seeing
with the physical eye. He was talking about understanding.
You can't understand the things of the kingdom of God except
to be born again. Except to be born again, you
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The man who is born of
God hears the Savior's voice. He's raised from the dead. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, 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. Oh God, make you hear His voice. Oh God, make you hear His voice. This new birth is called the
first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power. Those who are born of God have
been raised spiritually and shall be raised physically at the second
resurrection. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2. And read about this resurrection
from the dead. You have to be quickened. That
doesn't mean you were in a deep, deep sleep and he came along
and poked you with a pen and woke you up. Made alive. You have to be raised
from the dead, who were dead. Dead in trespasses and in sins.
What does that mean? Where in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. You who now believe God. You who now are raised from the
dead. You once walked just like everybody else in this world.
But I never did spend much time in the honky-tonks. I always
went to church. You live just like everybody else. Just like
everybody else, according to the course of this world, the
word says, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, just exactly like everybody
else. We were bent on hell, just like
everybody else. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. What's that mean? By grace you
saved. Alright, here's the second thing,
John 11 verse 43. You've got Lazarus' condition. That
was our condition when the Lord Jesus called us. He was dead. Here's Lazarus' calling. The
effectual, irresistible call of God's omnipotent grace. And
when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. Now there is a general call that
goes forth when we preach the gospel. We call men to faith
in Christ. We bid you believe on the Son
of God. But that general call Even that
is limited. God gives everybody a chance
to be saved, salvation not by chance. There are lots of folks
who never hear the voice of a preacher. Lots of folks who never read
a text of scripture. Lots of people in this world
who live and die and go to hell having never heard any kind of
a call except by God in creation stamped on their own consciences.
But there is this general call that goes forth, wherever God
sends a gospel preacher, we call men to repentance. But if all
you hear is the voice of the preacher, no matter how full
of empathy and full of pathos and full of compassion he may
be, if all you hear is the voice of a preacher, You'll come in and out church
doors all your life and go to hell, nothing bettered for having
heard. Nothing bettered. This was not
a general call. No, it was personal, particular,
powerful, irresistible, effectual, omnipotent. Put whatever term
you can possibly imagine, That's the call. We are called to life
by the power of God's Spirit. The only way a sinner will ever
be saved is if God sends His Spirit and calls you from death
to life. Causes you to hear His voice
and believe on His side. As Paul said to the Thessalonians,
our gospel came to you, not in word only. but in much assurance
and demonstration of the Holy Spirit and in much assurance
and in power so that the word that comes comes to you by the
power of God's Spirit and God speaks directly and you have
assurance God speaks to you for he gives you faith in Christ
Jesus the Lord alright read on John 11 44 Here we have a picture of Lazarus'
conversion. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot
with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin.
Jesus saith unto them, Loosen, and let him go. Oh, I love those
words. The whole religious world scared
to death of him, didn't it? Loosen, and let him go. Loosen,
let him go. Oh now, son, now the Lord's called
you, this is what you got to do. You need to do this, you
need to do that, and you need to take care of this, and you
need to stop that, and you just keep putting more grave clothes
on him. Binding him up. And churches
are full of folks, wrapped up secure in grave clothes, sitting
in the front view, saying, Amen to everything the preacher says.
Loosen! And let him go. Regeneration
is instantaneous. The Lord God gives life instantly. But conversion is a lifelong
process. We are continually being turned
by our God to Him. And continually turning to our
God by His grace. Our Lord demands that we loose
His saved ones and let them go. Loose them from what? Grave clothes. The grave clothes of false religion. The gold coils of works religion. Read 2 Corinthians 6.14 down
through the 1st verse of chapter 7. God says don't be in equal
yoke together with unbelievers. And he's not talking about buying
your bread at a grocery store that sells beer. He's talking
about being connected with religious folks who don't know God. Be
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And we must
break away, continually break away from the traditions and
customs of men that are nowhere to be found in this book. Touch
not, taste not, handle not, works religion of our day is more horrible
than it's ever been. Loose him and let him go. What
do you do with God's people? You preach free grace to them.
You preach to them the marvelous, wondrous work of God's grace
in Jesus Christ. You point them to the crucified
Redeemer. Tell them of the Savior's great
sacrifice. The Savior's great mercy and
love. And you watch God work in them. You watch God work in
them. I loved what Brother Gene said
today about preaching. He said, well we just watch for
the election returns. That's a good way to put it. We preach the word and wait for
God to work. When we try to make the word
effectual, when we try to make the word effectual. Either to
the unbeliever or to the believer. We mess up every time. Our business
is to preach the word and wait for God to work. Alright? Here's the fourth thing. Look
in chapter 12. Verses 1 and 2. This man who
the Lord Jesus raised from the dead and loosed by His grace
is now found in communion with the Savior. Then Jesus, six days
before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which
had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made
him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that
sat at the table with him. Can you tell me something else
that Lazarus did? Don't leave anything up by Lazarus. He sat at the table in sweet
communion with the Son of God. Oh God, give me such a life.
Give me such a life. Soon after his resurrection,
here's Lazarus. Now don't miss this. The house
where this feast was made belonged to Lazarus. The table where the
feast was spread belonged to Lazarus. But the master of the
house is the one who raised Lazarus from the dead. You see, this man, raised from
the dead by the power of God's grace, gladly surrenders all
to the rule of Christ his Savior. The believing Surrendered hearts
is the heart with which the Son of God holds sweet communion. I can almost hear Lazarus as
he's sitting at that table. I can almost hear him singing
in his heart without muttering a word. I am thine, O Lord, I
have heard thy voice. And it told thy love to me, but
I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to
thee. Consecrate me to thy service,
Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with steadfast
hope, and my will be lost in thine. And here's a fifth thing. This man, raised from the dead
by the power of God, Converted by the command of our Savior.
This man who knew the joy of sweet communion with the Lord
Jesus. This man is in stern conflict with people around him. Look
at verses 9-11, chapter 12. And much people of the Jews therefore
knew that he was there. And they came not for Jesus'
sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had
raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted
that they might put Lazarus also to death. Wow! Well, he was out with his picket
sign marching in abortion clinics. No, he wasn't. Well, he was going up and down
the streets trying to buttonhole everybody, get them to join his
church. No, he wasn't. No, he wasn't. Well, Lazarus,
he was marching in protest of men working on Sunday. No, he
wasn't. Well, Lazarus, he was fighting with everybody all the
time. He was a contentious man. No, he wasn't. What was Lazarus
doing? Nothing. Nothing. I know it says nothing. I want
you to hear me. Nothing! Nothing! Just sitting
there worshiping the Savior. Living in sweet communion with
the Son of God. A man living before God with
peace. Peace of conscience. Because
he knew he's accepted of God. And lost religious legalists
can't stand it. It torments them. Drives them
insane. They can't stand for a man to
actually be confident that he is God's. And he is wronged in
righteousness with which God himself can find no fault. Washed
from sin so thoroughly that God himself says, I see no evil in
him. And these Pharisees, let's kill
him. Let's kill him. Do you know that's
exactly what happened back in Genesis chapter 4? Back in Genesis
4? You remember Cain and Abel came
to worship God. And Cain brought his turnips. I know they were turnips because
you can't get blood out of a turnip. And he polished his turnips up
real good. He made them look like they would
be prize-winning turnips at the county fair. He brought the best
turnips there were. And he presented them to the
Lord and said, Lord, here I am to worship Jehovah, the God of
my father Adam, God who promised the Redeemer. I've come to worship
Him, trusting the Redeemer. Now see here the work of my hands. And nothing happened. In here. No peace spoken to him. Because
he brought a sacrifice that God would not accept. And his conscience
wouldn't accept. And he knew when he brought the
sacrifice, he spit in God's face and God spit on his sacrifice.
He knew it. His brother Abel comes and brings
a lamb. Just like his daddy taught him. And he presents the lamb,
the firstling of the flock, looking to Christ the firstborn, the
Lamb of God who must come to redeem our souls. And the Lord
had respect to Abel. What happened? I don't have any
idea. No indication that God sent down
fire from heaven and consumed the lamb? God just had respect
to Abel. How do you know that? Because Abel walked with peace
before God. He went home rejoicing. believe
in God. And the Lord saw Cain's anger
with Abel and he said, he said, if thou doest well, it shall
be accepted. And he's talking about the sacrifice.
He's talking about worship. He's talking about worship, isn't
he? He said, if you do well, it'll be accepted. You come worship
me right away, it'll be accepted. And if thou doest not well, Sin
lies at the door. The first time the word sin is
used in the book of God doesn't have a thing on earth to do with
smoking lucky strikes. It doesn't. Now, I'm sorry, now
I'm glad to offend if that offends you. It doesn't have a thing
on earth to do with whether you wear Bermuda shorts or don't.
It doesn't have a thing on earth to do with whether you let his
dye your hair, wear lipstick or don't. Do you know what it
has to do with? The first time it has any mention
in the Bible has to do with worshiping with a false sacrifice. Coming
to God by your works, expecting God to accept you on the basis
of what you do for Him. And the Lord said, if you do
not well, send by it at the door. But nothing's happened with Cable.
He said, Abel, his desire will still be toward you. Isn't that
amazing? He said, you will yet rule over
him. Abel being accepted of God hadn't
caused Abel to be mean to you. He knows you're the firstborn.
He knows that you had the right of the firstborn. He knows that
you have authority over him. And he loves you as his brother
still. And Cain couldn't stand it. So he rose up in a rage and murdered
Abel for just one reason. Just one reason. Because God
accepted able through a Lamb of God's providing without able
doing a thing. And God still accepts sinners
through a Lamb of God's providing. His name is Christ Jesus, the
Lamb of God without a sinner doing a thing. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on
the Son of God hath been raised from the dead. He has everlasting
life by the call of God. God help you now to believe His
Son. Amen.