There was a small village just
a couple of miles east of Jerusalem by the name of Bethany where
the Lord Jesus spent much time while he made his brief sojourn
through this world. During the days of his earthly
ministry, he often refreshed himself at Bethany in the home
of three choice friends, Martha, and Mary, her sister, and their
brother, Lazarus. Bethany was the scene of our
Lord's most notable miracle, perhaps His most notable miracle,
the raising of Lazarus from the dead. I want us this morning
to go back to Bethany and ask God the Spirit to give us the
instruction that's intended by Him from these 57 verses that's
good for our souls and needful for our souls this day. Now,
obviously, in a passage this length, I'm just going to pick
up some highlights and give you some specific lessons. We'll
come back and look at it in more detail later. the Lord willing,
but today I want to draw your attention to seven distinct lessons
given in this passage of scripture, illustrated well for us by the
events that transpired before Lazarus died, when he was dead,
and as he was raised from the dead. There's such grand simplicity
to the things written in this chapter that Attempting to preach
from it is sort of like painting a lily. And yet the things that
are written here are written for our learning, for our admonition,
for our comfort, for our consolation, for our instruction, and for
our reproof. And they are to be preached.
And so I will ask you to pray that God might be pleased to
speak through me to your heart as we look at this passage. Here's
the first thing. True believers often suffer sickness, disease,
and sorrow in this world just like everybody else. Never be expected to be exempted
from any pain, any sorrow, any bereavement, any weakness, that
any other mortal experiences in this world. Never expect to
be exempted. It's not going to happen. In
fact, believers have an aggravation to their sicknesses and their
diseases and their pains and their sorrows. We have an aggravation
because we know that whatever it is we experience of the grief
and pain and sorrow comes by the hand of our heavenly father. That comforts us and at the same
time aggravates the pain. Especially when it lasts a while. Especially when we cannot for
the present see the benefit of the difficulty. John chapter
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 sisters 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. Sinfulness is not a
sign of God's displeasure. It is not an indication that
somehow there is a lack of faith. The fact is sinfulness is 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 the world to Christ. Sickness sends us to our knees,
sends us to our Bible, sends us to our Savior. And anything
that accomplishes those things is good. Anything. Anything that draws my heart
away from this world. Anything that drives me to my
knees. Anything that forces me to the
book of God. Anything that squeezes from my
heart earnest prayer is good. It doesn't usually feel good. It doesn't normally appear to
be good, but it's good. You see, sickness and trial,
difficulties here remind us that life in this world, at its best
and at its longest, is but a vapor and is soon gone. Sickness forces
us to look to the grave and beyond the grave to judgment and beyond
judgment to eternity. We have in our midst doctors
and nurses and folks involved in various ways in caring for
sick people all the time. I don't know how you do it. I
don't know how you do it. Thankfully you do, but I don't
know how you do it. Somehow you have to detach yourself,
I'm sure, from the personal involvement with folks, but constantly you're
reminded of death and judgment and eternity. And if you're not, you're a fool
for not being. It is good that you and I, live
all the time in the keen awareness of death and judgment and eternity. It is good that we think often
of dying, of meeting God in judgment and of eternity. Oh, may God
cause you, especially you who are without Christ, Never to
get these thoughts from your heart and your mind and your
conscience until you find rest in the Redeemer. Soon you must
die. Soon you must meet God in judgment. God who is righteous and will
not tolerate evil. God who is holy and will not
look upon sin. God who is just and must punish
the guilty. You shall meet God in judgment. And then you're going to spend
eternity either in the tormenting flames of hell that no man can
imagine or in the bliss of glory that no man has ever conceived. Sickness is the fruit of sin. It's the forerunner of death.
And sickness and life and health and death are in the hands of
our God and Savior. But for believers, sickness is never unto death. Our Lord said, this sickness
is not unto death. But Lazarus died. No, he didn't. His body died. There's a difference.
There's a difference. You lose your house. You didn't
lose your life. You just lost your house. You
take off your suit. You didn't dissolve and cease
to be. You just took off your suit.
And these bodies are but temporary abodes for our souls, and these
bodies must die. But he that liveth and believeth
on me, the Savior said to Martha, shall never die. Sickness is
the forerunner of physical death, and for the unbeliever, the forerunner
of eternal death. But believers, for them, sickness
never results in death. It is never unto death. I recall
my last visit with my dear friend, Brother Charlie Payne. He'd been
sick for a number of years, almost ever since I'd known him. He
had heart trouble, and he had gone under the knife for the
last time. I was about to. I started to leave him and he
said, he said, I'll leave here better or well. And it took me till I got to
the car to realize what he just said. I'll leave here a little
better or completely well. For believers, sickness is not
unto death. And our sicknesses, whatever
they are, are for the glory of God. Our troubles, whatever they
are, are for the glory of God. Earlier this week, I wrote to
a dear friend who's enduring with his family in a
time of deepest darkness. And I said to him what I have
had many to say to me, and I've said often to you, and I understand
It rolls off your back like water poiled on slick oil. You almost say, why'd you say
that? Because it can't do any good
unless God makes you hear it. And he will make you hear it
if you're his. This is for God's glory. This
is for your good. And soon, you will know this
is for God's glory and for your good. All right, here's the second
lesson. True faith submits to God's will. When Lazarus got sick, his sisters
Martha and Mary sent a word to the Lord Jesus. In verse 3, they
wrote a letter and very brief it was, and sent this note to
their dearest, most tender, most caring, most affectionate friend. They said, Lord, behold, he whom
thou lovest is sick. Now, they didn't attempt to tell
him what to do. It's obvious that they wanted
him to heal their brother. It's obvious they wanted him
to come and help, but they didn't prescribe anything to him. They
simply said, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. As things went
on and Lazarus died, they became discontent and disturbed for
a while, but they submitted to the will of their master. submitted
their brother and their care and the care they had for their
brother to the Lord Jesus. 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 sickness. That statement in Matthew 817, telling us that the Lord Jesus
took our infirmities, our weaknesses, our frailties, and bare our sicknesses. I have no more understanding
of it today than I had the first time I read it. But oh, I can't
tell you what a much deeper, greater appreciation I have of
it. He who sits in glory bear in
his body all our infirmities and carried in his body all our
sicknesses. He knows as no mortal can know
everything that touches you. He has experienced as no other
man can ever experience every pain, every sorrow, every trouble,
every heartache that you endure on this earth. Everything, everything. And he tenderly remembers you
for whom he suffered those things. Faith submits to God's will,
but We must never imagine that faith will ever be perfect in
this world. We find it easy enough in the midst of great ease and
comfort to be easy in faith and say we believe God. We find it
fairly easy in the immediate face of trial to take it to the
Lord, but like Martha and Mary as things are protracted and
then get worse. As you go through this chapter,
you'll see that they both misjudged the Lord's reasons for staying
where he was when he got their message. They both misjudged
his intent. They both misjudged his purpose
and they both despaired of any help once Lazarus had died. True faith is not perfect faith. Not yours and not mine. In fact, when they finally came
to the place where Lazarus was laid, they still seemed to argue
a bit with the Lord. Look in verse 39. Jesus said,
take ye away the stone. And Martha, the sister of him
that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time is staketh. It's too late. It's too late. He's not dead like Jairus' daughter
was dead. He's not dead like the widow
of Nain's son was dead. He's been in that tomb for four
days. His body's already begun to rot. It's too late. It's too late. The fact is the strongest believer's
faith is fragile and apt to break, sustained only by God's grace. Don't ever imagine, child of
God, don't ever imagine that there's some way in which you
would not act in unbelief. Don't ever imagine that there
is some display of unbelief that would not be found in your heart
in the midst of any difficulty if God Almighty did not at the
moment sustain you with His grace and cause you to believe and
give you faith. Faith is the gift and operation
of God, not only when initially given to the dead sinner, it
is the gift and operation of God every moment of your life. As we believe Him, we believe
Him because He gives us grace to believe Him. Still, there's
another thing revealed in this chapter about faith. Our Lord
tells us plainly, In verse 40, that if we would believe, if we would believe, we would
see the glory of God. And it puts no limit on that. 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 me, Martha,
you'd see God's glory in him giving you your brother Lazarus.
And you'd see God's glory in your brother's sickness and even
your sorrow. You'd see God's glory in his
death. And hang on, you'll see God's
glory in his resurrection. If you would believe, you, who
are without faith in Christ, you hear us speak of the glory
of our God and the glory of the gospel and the glory of the God
in the face of Christ, and you say, I can't see it. If you would
believe, you would. If you would believe, you would.
If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God
and the sacrifice of his Son for the saving of our souls.
If you would believe, you'd see the glory of God in his providence
and in every act of his providence. The reason for our darkness is
our unbelief. The reason for our sorrow in
not being able to grasp God's goodness is our unbelief. The
reason for our confusion is unbelief. If thou wouldest believe, that
would see the glory of God. Here's a third lesson. The Lord
Jesus, our God and savior. Loves his elect. He loves them
all. And it loves them all alike.
Look at verse five. Now, Jesus loved Martha. And her sister. And Lazarus. Here are three sinners chosen
and saved by the grace of God. Three sinners made righteous
in Jesus Christ. Three sinners accepted before
God. But these three dear souls, these
three people, though blood kin to one another, are very, very
different. And Martha appears to have been
a little pushy, a little domineering. And dear ladies, that's always
ugly in a woman. That's always ugly. Well, that's
not politically correct. That's the reason I said it twice.
That's always ugly. Pushy, domineering women are
not characteristically behaving as ladies and as women. And Martha
needed to learn that. Mary, on the other hand, if I
mistake not, is that same Mary out of whom the Lord cast seven
devils, the one who anointed him with ointment and washed
his feet with the hairs of her head. And she was a little negligent. She sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word, and she delighted to do so. She chose that good part
that would not be taken away from her. But but she was a bit
negligent. She she seemed to let things
go that were her responsibility. And that, too, is not good. Lazarus. Anybody can any of y'all tell
me anything about Lazarus? I know he was Martha's sister,
Mary's sister. I know it died. Lord raised him
from the dead. And now the cause of the Lord raised him from the
dead. The Pharisees hated him. That's all I know about Lazarus.
Don't know if anything ever said or did. We're not told. He may
have been a remarkable man, but we're told nothing about Lazarus
except those things I just declared. But all three, Mary and Martha
and Lazarus were the objects of the Savior's love. He loved
them all for the same reason, because he loved them. He loved them all in the same
measure, fully. He loved them all freely, freely. There's a lot of talk in our
day about unconditional love. I want to tell you something,
there's no such thing among men. There's not a man here who could
not destroy his wife's love for him. There's not a woman here
who could not destroy her husband's love for her. There's not a child
here who could not destroy his parents' love. And there's not
a parent who could not destroy his child's love. Not one. There's no such thing as unconditional
love except with God our Savior. He loves freely. without cause,
without qualification, without condition. He loved Mary and
Martha and their brother Lazarus. Now, this same line, look at
verse 30. 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 rose up hastily, and went out, followed her, saying,
She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come
where Jesus was, and saw them, 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, he groaned. 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. Skip down to verse 45. Then many
of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which
Jesus did, believed on him. These people who came with Mary
to the house and went with her and mourned with her. Now, I
know the commentaries talk about this was just folks who were
hired to do this and that kind of stuff. The text doesn't imply
that. These were people who seemed
to have genuine care for Mary and Martha and for Lazarus who
was gone. And they are sitting in the house
weeping with them. And they follow Mary out to the
tomb to weep with them. And they saw the Lord Jesus at
Lazarus' tomb weeping. And they said, oh, look how he
loved him. Unusual to see a man weeping,
weeping in public, even at a grave. Behold how he loved him. And then the Lord Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead and they heard his word and saw his work
and they believed him. By their kindness to Mary and
Martha, they themselves were blessed immeasurably. Now, I realize that this can
be taken wrong. We are in the midst of this a
thing, everybody making pleas for money for hay tea, and about
supper time you start to sit down and have your nice juicy
hamburger, some starving children will come on and they'll say,
send a dime a day to make you feel good. That's not much of
a motive to send a dime a day or a dollar a day. But let me
tell you something. There is no greater contentment
to anyone's life than to be of benefit to other people. And
often, The surest place of great blessing for yourself is in the
place where you serve another freely. These Jewish women had
done nothing but come to do what they could to comfort Mary and
Martha. That's a good thing to do. That's
a good thing to do. I recall some time ago getting
an email, someone, you know, they send these things around,
and I don't read many of them. This one happened to catch my
attention, and it was about a little boy who his mother got to missing
him, and she knew he liked to go next door neighbor to this
old man, and he kind of harassed the old man, but his wife had
just died, and she saw the little boy sitting up in the old man's
arms, sitting on his lap and chair, and she called him home,
and she said, she said, what were you doing over there? He
said, I was just helping him cry. I was just helping him cry. Let me tell you something. Sometimes the best thing you
can do for one in need is just help them cry. Just be there
for them. Those who do such things naturally
ought to shame you and I. Our brethren need help. Our sisters need help. Help them. Be there for them. Be there for
them. All right, here's another lesson.
It's a lesson about God's providence. Our Lord's time is always the
right time. Look at verse 11, or verse 6.
When he heard, therefore, that Lazarus was sick, He abode two
days still in the same place where he was. That sure looks
like strange language, doesn't it? It's written for a reason.
Verse 11. These things said he, and after
that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but
I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples,
Lord, if he sleep, 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 for your sakes that
I was not there to the intent that you may believe. Nevertheless,
let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Thomas. Looks like there's always a time
for somebody to shine, isn't there? When did you ever think
anything good about Thomas? They knew that the Lord went
up to Bethany. The Jews were wanting to kill
him. Thomas said, let us also go that we may die with him.
Then when Jesus came, he found that he had laid in the grave
four days already. Our Lord Jesus always knows the
best time to work and the best way. He always knows the best
time to intervene and the best way. We never do. We never know when's the best
time. When he heard that Lazarus was
sick, he stayed right where he was.
for two days. And then he started out knowing
that Lazarus would be dead for four days by the time he gets
there. He knew Lazarus was dying, and
yet he stayed right where he was. He is the only one in the
universe who could do anything about Lazarus's condition. The
only one. It wasn't as though he could
send somebody else. He's the only one who could do
anything. And he stayed right where he
was just as though he didn't care. Not because he didn't care. He
stayed because he did. But he acted just as though he
didn't care. For the sake of his church. For
the good of his friends, Martha and Mary and his disciples. For the good of Lazarus, his
sick friend. For the good of those Jews whom
he would call. For the glory of God, he stayed
where he was until he knew that it was time for him to appear
and time for him to act and time for him to show forth the glory
of God. It was the fullness of time when
Christ came to redeem us. That's the language scripture
uses. Peter tells us that with the Lord one day is as a thousand
years and a thousand years as one day. Well, let's calculate
that way. The Lord Jesus, after four days
of death, Four days after we sinned in
our father Adam and died and were plunged into death. Four
days of spiritual corruption. After four days, he appears and
raises us to life again by his sin atoning sacrifice. In all
the affairs of our lives, we need to realize God's time is
best for everything. I might not move like it, but
Lindsay, I'm always in a hurry. I'm always in a hurry. In a hurry
for things to happen. In a hurry for God to act. In
a hurry for God to perform his wonders. In a hurry to see God's
work. Always in a hurry. Nothing so
helps us. to bear patiently the trials
of life as an abiding conviction of God's perfect wisdom in the
arrangement of everything. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. for they are waiting on the Lord. Everything that happens to us
is well done, done in the best manner possible, done by the
right instrument, and done at the right time. You remember how Moses prayed
for Miriam when she was stricken with leprosy? He prayed like
we pray most of the time. Lord, heal her now. He knows when to intervene. He
knows when to act. And you're not going to hurry
him. You're not going to rush him. When we're sick, he knows the
best time to heal and the best way. When we're in trouble, he
knows the best time to deliver and the best way. When we need
help, he knows the best time to help and the best way. Here's a fifth lesson. Because
Christ is the resurrection and the life. God's elect shall never die.
Look at verse 11 again. These things said he, and after
that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. Then
they said, well, he'll be all right. And the Lord said, fellas,
he's dead. But now he said that just to
accommodate their ignorance. He said that just to accommodate
their weakness. The body dropped and now he's
dead. But no, not really. Look at verse
25. Jesus said to Martha, I am the
resurrection and the life. Martha had been She had been debating the resurrection
with him. She had been discussing the doctrine
of the resurrection. What fools we are. What fools
we are. She's standing in front of him
who is the resurrection and trying to tell him about the resurrection. He said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. You see our doctrine. is not
a system. It's not a system. You can learn
every system of theology in the world and never learn this book.
It's not a system. The gospel we preach is not a
system. It's not a creed. Our doctrine's
a person. The resurrection is not a point
of theology, it's a person. Eternal life is not a point of
theology, it's a person. The Lord Jesus said, I'm the
resurrection and the life. Read on. He that believeth in
me, though he were dead, dead spiritually, now believing ye
shall live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. When our bodies cease to function,
when our earthly tabernacle is dissolved, when these houses
of clay crumble, we shall be forever with the Lord, who is
the resurrection and the life. The resurrection he is. in that he raised us from the
dead representatively. When he was raised up, we were
quickened together with him. We sat down with him in heavenly
places when he sat down He is the resurrection to us in that
when he comes to us by the mighty power of his spirit in saving
faith in saving grace Giving us life and faith Christ the
life comes in and takes up residence and we're raised from death to
life That's what it takes to save us in it. He's the resurrection
in that when he comes again these bodies shall be raised incorruptible."
Every now and then some smart aleck will say, you know, those
people who believe in the resurrection. Why, nobody believes in the resurrection,
Ron. Nobody does except a fool or
a Christian, one of the two. That's all. You really believe
that these bodies, now today we pickle them pretty good, so
how How long it takes them to rot, I don't know. But you really
believe that the bodies of those buried at sea, those buried and
burned and ashes scattered to the four winds, those who have
just been died and nobody knew when or where they died, they're
just laid there on the ground until their bones, parched in
the sun, just decay. The flesh decays and the bones
just lay there. You don't really believe. You
don't really believe. Lord's gonna raise up all those
people. Yeah. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, the dead in Christ shall rise. Christ is the resurrection. I don't ever intend to die and
I'm not. I'm not gonna die. This body
going to the grave And that will be a welcome relief at God's
appointed time. I keep telling Dr. Hendrickson,
I don't have a problem with dying. That's not any difficulty. I
just don't want to go through the process. I don't want to
hurt in the process. That's all. I'm immune to death. Did you get that? I'm immune
to death. It can't touch me. Not going
to happen. Verses 39 through 44, we see
a picture of the salvation of a sinner accomplished by the
resurrection power of the Son of God. Jesus said, take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said, Lord,
by this time it stinketh. Why do you reckon the Lord said
to her, take away the stone? He's about to raise Lazarus from
the dead. I suspect if He wanted the stone moved, He didn't have
to have anybody move it for Him. Why does He say, take ye away
the stone? Because our great Savior condescends
in infinite mercy to use chosen sinners in the saving of His people. Ain't that wonderful? Ain't that
wonderful? I can't raise the dead, but I can move stones.
I can't raise the dead, but I can open doors. I can't raise the
dead, but I can move rocks out of the way. I can cast out the
way before the people. I can't raise the dead, but I
can preach the gospel of God's free grace. And the Lord Jesus
then called Lazarus. He called with a loud voice.
He said, Lazarus, Reckon why? Because he didn't
intend to raise anybody from the dead but Lazarus. He wasn't
there to empty the cemetery, just to empty one tomb. He came
to raise Lazarus from the dead, so he calls Lazarus personally,
distinctly, particularly, irresistibly. He said, Lazarus, come forth! Well, he can't do that. He's
dead. He's dead. I call you, come to
Christ. Believe on the Son of God. Trust
the Savior. Believe Him and you'll see the
glory of God. Well, you can't do that. You're
dead. I know that. I know that. But
if God speaks by the word He issues, the dead hear His voice. And they that hear come forth
in the resurrection of life by the power of God. Let's see. And he that was dead came forth bound in grave clothes. He came
forth, but he still had the rags of the tomb on him. So it is
with those who are converted by God's grace. You spent your
life exposed to religion and religious works and religious
nonsense. And Lord Jesus says to those
standing by, Lucid, and let him go. Now, if you go down the road,
across the road, back of the road and join the church, this
is what you're going to find. As soon as you get there, they're
going to start wrapping you up in great clothes. Here, Lucid. What do you reckon I ought to
do? Whatever you want to. Seek God's glory, do whatever
you want to. Trust the Savior, do what you will. Love Christ,
and do what you will. You mean, Brother Don, you don't
put rules and regulations on folks, tell them they can't touch
this, can't see that, can't go there, can't wear this? No, no. I recall years ago, I was in
Australia, and I talked about believers' freedom from the law,
worksmonger sitting in front of me talking, wanting everybody
to hear what he was saying. He had come up with a wonderful,
wonderful argument. He said, you mean if your wife
loves you, she can sleep with anybody she wants to? And he
said it, you know, I got you now. I said, yep, she loves me. She can sleep with anybody she
wants to. But she sure can. She sure can.
Matter of fact, I'm away from her more often than I'm with
her. And I never had thought about putting a chastity belt
on her. If she loves me, she can do what she wants to. I think I won't explain that
anymore. I'll just let it confuse, confuse folks and rejoice your
heart if you can get hold of it. Loose it and let it go. Another lesson. Our Lord Jesus
here gives us a picture by inspiration of substitution. Salvation comes
to sinners by the work of God Almighty and the sacrifice of
His Son, called substitution. In the last portion of the chapter,
these Jews, beginning in verse 49, were upset. Lazarus was raised from the dead,
he's performing miracles, and they said, fellas, what are we
going to do? If we leave him alone, the whole world's going
to go after him. Everybody wants to follow that
man who raises the dead and then turns them loose. Everybody's
going to want in on that. And their concern was not for
Lazarus or for God or for the souls of men. Their concern was
that we're going to lose our place. People are going to quit
listening to us. We're going to lose our power,
our influence. money, our security. And Caiaphas, the high priest,
spoke. He spoke by divine inspiration, though he knew nothing about
God. This high priest that year prophesied, we're told in verse
51, that Jesus should suffer and die for that nation, and
not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. God saved sinners by the sacrifice
of his son, by substitution, by the satisfaction of justice.
And this message is preached here by a fellow who didn't know
God from a bumblebee. He didn't know God from a bumblebee.
Now, you'll have fellows want to buttonhole you, you know.
Everybody wants to find some kind of an experience they can
push to. Well, who was preaching when you believed? Yeah, I heard Paul. Yeah, good. I heard Apollos. You heard who?
Apollos? I ain't sure about you. I heard
Judas. Judas? Well, he was a lost man. So was Caiaphas, but he spoke
by the Spirit of God. He couldn't help it. He couldn't
help it. You see, the power of the gospel
is not in the man who's preaching it. The power of the gospel is
in the God who speaks it. Caiaphas declared this, and notice
what he declares about the Lord's substitutionary sacrifice. It
will be a gathering to gather in one of the children of God. Jews as well as the Gentiles
scattered abroad. At one time, at one time, by
the sacrifice of himself, the Lord Jesus gathered together
all God's elect and ransomed them and delivered them from
guilt and sin and death and secured for them everlasting life by
his blood. And the Lord willing, I'll pick
up on that a little bit this evening. The day's coming when
he's going to make up, gather together his jewels. He did so by his death. May he
do so now by the sweet operation of his grace, giving to you who
know him not, life eternal, causing you now to believe in Him who
is the resurrection and the life as only He can. Amen.