introduced me like that but I feel totally unworthy of that but such is the love that
brethren have for each other when he introduced Brother Tony
now he said dear dear brother I thought he sure is I concur. John, Peter, all said, dearly
beloved, dearly beloved, we do not feel worthy of the Lord's
love, nor the love of His people, but we sure love one another,
Emma. That's how you know that you're one of God's own. You
love Him as begotten. of him that begat. Let's look
at John chapter 11. John 11. And while you're turning, let me
thank you again for all that you've done. All that you've
done and I know the food we're about to partake of will be wonderful
and I thank you all for your labor. This is a very familiar chapter
to most of you. The story of Lazarus. Though
we will not dwell so much on Lazarus, but on Lazarus' Lord. This is not new to most of you. Brother Milton Howard recently
made a good statement. He said, when we're preaching,
we're not trying to bring out something new. Not trying to
come up with something new, but merely bring to remembrance or
remind God's people of things that have already been written.
That's what the Holy Spirit does, doesn't it? If He blesses the
preaching, He brings to remembrance the things that have already
been written, things that Christ said and did. John 11 let's read
verses 1 through 3 in John 11 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 And
therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he
whom thou lovest is sick." This is a story that brings great
glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. One who raises the dead, who
comforts the sorrowing, Our only hope. Our only peace. The Lord
that comforts us. This is a real story. I hope
we can enter into this because it's a real story of real people
like you and me. Two sisters and a brother. This
is a true story. There's a real sickness in this
family. Real worries. real fears and real troubles
and real questions and a real death and real sorrow and I hope we'll see this morning
several things here we'll see how that the Lord loves his people and his people love him And what happens to those whom
the Lord loves? They get sick. And they sorrow. And they die. But they all live again. A real man named Lazarus was
sick of Bethany. He lived with his sisters Mary
and Martha. The Lord was a dear friend to
these three. The Lord loved them and loved
to resort to their home. He loved to spend time. He spent
a lot of time in their home, didn't he? They were dear friends
of the Lord. Dear friends. He was thinking
that. He said that to all his people, didn't he, Brother Tom?
I call you friends. You're my friend. He often came
to their home. He often ate in their home and
lodged there. And I thought about the Revelation
3 that says he stands at the door and knocks at his church,
at all of his people. And those that open the door,
those that bid him, he'll come in and sup with them. As Brother
Todd said last night, just ask. You know that verse is not talking
about salvation. Pastor, no, no, he's talking
about communion with and fellowship. The Lord loved to sup with and
lodge with Lazarus and Mary and Martha and they loved to have
him. Well, he'll come in and sup with
everyone that asks him. Do you remember Martha is the
one who busily prepared the food while Mary sat at his feet? Martha
was Love to serve the Lord. Let's not condemn her for doing
that. The Lord gently rebuked her for being too busy to sit
down and hear him speak. That's the rebuke. But service
like that is commendable. It's commendable. The Lord loved
this family. It says in verse 5, now Jesus
loved Martha. and her sister and Lazarus. The
Lord loved this family. The Lord really loves His people. They're His family. He loves
them with a love that's far greater than our love for our own. That's
hard to conceive, isn't it? But it's so. In fact, the love
we have The love we have for our own
comes from Him. God is love. Anyone loves, they
got it from God. But He loves His own very deeply,
very really. And we're going to see He loves
them savingly. Everyone He loves, He saves.
They will not perish. They cannot perish. He loves
them eternally. Those he loved. Real love never
fails. Never quits loving. Scripture
says, for whom he did foreknow. That means set his love upon
before the world began. For whom he did foreknow. He said to Jeremiah, before I
formed thee in the belly, I knew you, meaning I set my love upon
you. He said to Jeremiah again, he
said, yea, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I will never stop loving you.
And what he says to Jeremiah, he says to all his people. And
over there in John, I believe John 12, it says, having loved
his own, Now God does not love everyone.
That's plain from the scripture. But those He loves, He really
loves and He loves them to the end. Having loved His own, He
loves them to the end. He always has and always will
love His own. That's the love of the Lord. And all He set His love upon,
all whom the Lord Jesus Christ loves, He saves. Listen to this
from the book of Isaiah. We quote, well I think Isaiah
is quoted more than any Old Testament prophet. I know he is. Other
than the Psalms perhaps. But Isaiah 48 says this. The
Lord hath loved Jacob. Remember Malachi, Jacob have
I loved. The Lord hath loved Jacob, he
said in Isaiah 48, 14. You go down to verse 20, it says,
the Lord hath redeemed Jacob. How do you know he loves him?
He saved him. That's love. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, he said, and therefore with loving kindness I've drawn
thee and saved you, if loved by the true God. The true Lord
Jesus Christ, whose love is powerful love, all-powerful love, whose
love is effectual love, whose love is saving love, whose love
is eternal love. If loved by Him, you will be
saved by Him. You see, this perfect love never
fails, and this perfect love will cast out fear. Let me ask you, if you had the
power to save those you love, And there are those you love,
don't you? Children, spouse, parent, if you had the power
to save them from perishing, would you? Would you? To never lose them, would you?
Well, he does have that power. And he said they shall never
perish, didn't he? My, my, the Lord loves his own.
Well, all whom the Lord loves, they love Him. We saw that the
other night, didn't we? A little bit, I hope. They love
Him because He first loved them. But Mary and Martha and Lazarus
loved the Lord. They did. They loved the Lord.
How do you know? They loved to be with Him. They
loved to be with Him. To hear Him speak. There's nothing
they love more than to be with Him and hear Him speak. You know,
when we come here, we're not just True worshipers are not
just coming to church. They're coming to hear about
the Lord Jesus Christ. They're coming because they love
to hear about Him. They love to hear from Him. They
want to hear from Him. They want to be with Him. Don't
you, Tony? Don't you, Chris? You want the Lord to meet with
us? I want to hear from you. I don't
want to just hear a sermon, David. I want to hear from you, Lord.
Would you say unto my soul, I am thy salvation? Lord, meet with
us. That's what it means to meet
in His name, where two or three are gathered together in His
name, that is, in love to Him. We saw the other night, those
who love Him, love His glory, His honor, His salvation, they
love His person, they love His word, they love His people, His
presence, they love His kingdom, and they look forward to His
coming. Mary and Martha and Lazarus loved
the Lord. And I tell you who will love
the Lord. You know, Mary is the one who washed the Lord's feet
with her tears. What was that all about? She
was a great sinner. Seven devils cast out of her.
And she came to the Lord and wept. And she had a prized possession
of great cost to her, and it meant nothing to her. She bestowed
it upon the Lord. Because those who are forgiven
much, will love much. Great sinners
love this gospel. They love this Lord. Helpless
sinners, yes helpless, who find no help in themselves or anywhere
else, they love this sovereign all-powerful Lord. Guilty sinners
I mean guilty sinners who have, as Brother Todd said, a cloud
of guilt hanging over their head all the time. They love this
gospel of mercy that never fails, that endures forever. Mary loved
the Lord Jesus Christ. She sure did, as did Martha and
as did Lazarus. Who loves the Lord? Sinners. That's it. Great sinners love
this great Savior and His great salvation. Well, all whom the Lord loves get sick. All of them. Lord, they said, he whom thou
lovest is sick. Now Satan is called the father
of lies, isn't he? And he has, scripture says, his
ministers who have transformed themselves into ministers of
righteousness. But they're wolves in sheep's
clothing. But Satan perpetrated this lie
and it's repeated by or perpetuated by his so-called preachers that
are in the average pulpit today throughout the land who say this
to everyone, God doesn't want you to be sick. God doesn't want you to be poor. Have you ever thought about the
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ could have made every person
he came into contact with fabulously wealthy? Do you know he never gave a dime
to anybody? Look at that. He never gave a
dime. He was without riches. What does
that tell you? That's not the need. Nor is that
truly the blessing from God. We're going to see how this sickness
itself was a great blessing. All whom the Lord loves get sick. This lie of health and wealth
is nothing could be further from the truth. He whom thou lovest
is sick. Isn't it obvious? We've already
seen that the Lord loves Lazarus. He loves him dearly. He says
that two or three times. The Jews said, behold how he
loved him. Well, he's sick. I mean he's
really sick, deathly sick. There are numerous scriptures
that testify the fact that God's people get sick and they die
from that sickness. Job is the oldest book, oldest
recorded book in scripture. Job lived around the time of
Abraham. Our Lord said of Job, he's my
servant. Job, there's none like him. The
Lord loved Job, didn't he? Or the Lord smoked Job with boils
all over his body. Have you ever had a boil? One boil? How could the Lord love? If the
Lord loved him, how could? Well, He did. All over his body. Hezekiah was a good king wasn't
he? He was a good man. Isaiah, he
was one of Isaiah's friends and vice versa. Hezekiah was sick
unto death. Thought he was going to die.
Lay on his death bed. who had a double portion, arguably
the greatest prophet in the Old Testament, a double portion of
Elijah's blessing. Elisha died from sickness, didn't
he, Brother Tom? He got sick, Elisha, and died
from that. What was it? Cancer? Something? He died. Paul The greatest apostle had a thorn
in the flesh, meaning he had a physical, he had an infirmity
all his days. He begged the Lord, he said three
times, earnestly asked him, Lord please remove this. He wouldn't. My grace is sufficient. Timothy. Remember he had evidently had
constant infirmities. Paul said so. Epaphroditus, an
elder perhaps of the church at Philippi. Epaphroditus was sick
near unto death. He almost died. David Brainerd. Keep going on up into our day.
David Brainerd was a missionary to the American Indian. One of
the first. He was 29 years old in the height of his ministry. He died at 29. Robert Murray McShane, and on
and on we could go. Spurgeon, 30 years he was sick
wasn't he? 30 years. How many of our dear
brethren have been and are right now sick? Brother Charles Pennington,
I don't know of a finer preacher. Sick, bad sick. Brother Scott
Richardson, Brother Maurice Montgomery and on and on we could go, couldn't
we? Sick. How do they get sick? Where does sickness come from? What's the scripture say? Deuteronomy
32, 39. You don't have to turn. But I'll read it for you, I'll
quote it for you. The Lord says, see now that I,
even I, am he. I kill, I'm the Lord, and I kill. If someone dies, the Lord killed
them. Is that right? I didn't say that,
the Lord said. Now that's great comfort for
God's people. Because they're immortal until
God is through with them. Right? You don't have to worry
about things. Things may kill cancer, car wrecks
and wars and so forth, but it's the Lord. I kill, I make alive, He said,
I wound. I won't make sick. And I heal. Anybody's healed. Well, thank
God for modern technology. Yes, but... Nobody beats cancer. Do you hear me? I detest that. That's robbing God of His glory,
isn't it? So-and-so beat cancer. Nobody
beats cancer. What about the ones who didn't?
Were they just weak? What about the ones who died?
My sister died of cancer. My mother-in-law died of cancer.
Were they just too weak? They couldn't beat it? Didn't
have enough faith? Elisha didn't have enough faith?
Nobody beats cancer. The Lord heals them. Men don't give God the glory,
neither are thankful. God's angry. God's people know
who wounds and who heals and they give Him the glory for it. Go back here in John 11. God's
people get sick. And there are many reasons, too
many for me to name. I don't know them all. But here
are a few why God's people get sick. They get sick in order
that they might see, we're not staying here. We have here no
continuing city. This is not our home. We're going
to die from something. Got to. Got to. Flesh is grass. It all corrupts, even up. And
the Lord makes us sick to show us we have here no continuing
city. We're going to die. Teach us,
Lord, to number our days. Psalm 90, Moses said, teach us
to number our days. If a man lives out a 70 year,
3 score and 10, he's got 25,500 some days. I sat down and numbered my days.
I had 5,000 left. Now if you think about it like
that, where have they gone? It was
appointed unto man once to die. Who makes that appointment? It's
an appointment we cannot miss. The bounds are set. We cannot
pass, right? Is that fatalism? Oh, it's Bible. That's Job 14. That's what God says. I've appointed
their bounds. They cannot pass. The Lord has
numbered our days and we get sick to show us we have here
no continuing city. We get sick to wean us from this
world. In the world you will have tribulation.
You'll have suffering. You'll have sorrow. You'll have
sickness. If we never got sick, if there
were never any trials, we'd want to stay here. The Lord makes His people sick
to cause them to look up. When you're down low, when you're
brought low with affliction, there's only one place to look,
isn't there? That's what Psalm 107 says. These people were brought
low by labor and sin and sorrow and sickness, and what did they
do? They had to look up. We'd never look to the Lord if
we didn't have troubles. We never would. We get sick to show us His strength.
He said, my strength is made perfect and weak now. What is his strength? What is
the power of God? It's the Word of God. David said,
it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn
thy statute. God's Word is never so dear and
never so real and never so proved to us as when we're going through
a trial. Right? Never. and to empathize with our brethren.
We comfort them with the same comfort wherewith we are comforted,
don't we? That's why the Lord makes his people sick, but chiefly,
here it is, John 11 verse 4, when the Lord heard that Lazarus
was sick, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
That's what this is all about. And that's what every trial and
tribulation and sickness of every person, every one of God's people
go through chiefly is for God's glory. Because The testimony of a child of God
during trials and sickness. Are you with me? God is more
glorified in God's people when they're going through trials
than when they're not. People sit up and listen, don't
they? This is real. They have a peace that passes
understanding. They have a testimony. I've seen
brethren die and the scripture said in Psalm 37, verse 37, mark
the perfect man. You mark Him, you watch Him,
you observe Him. The end of that man is peace. And I've seen it. I've beheld it. Peace. The dying
peace. My wife, mother who loved the
Lord because He loved her, she died in peace. She was ready
to go. She had a pleasant look on her face,
didn't she? When we covered her up. It's easy to bless the Lord and
say you believe in times of hell, isn't it? That's easy. Anybody
can say that. Good times, isn't it? But when
you've lost your health, or gone through some trouble, and you
can say, like Job, after the Lord takes away everything, and
then a man says, Blessed be the name of the Lord. This must be
real. It's true, isn't it? And all whom the Lord loves,
they get sick. And all whom the Lord loves,
die. They die. They really die. They
lay this body down. All flesh is grass. It's appointed
unto man once to die. The Lord waited for Lazarus to
die, didn't He? Verse 6, it says, when he heard
that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place.
He waited. He waited for Lazarus to die.
Over in verse 37, they said, they said, couldn't this man
who opened the eyes of the blind, could not he have caused this
man not to die? Yes, he could. But it was his purpose, wasn't
it? As we say it, I kill. As the
Lord said, I kill, I make a life, I wound, I heal. It was his purpose.
Lazarus got sick because the Lord said, this is for my glory. You remember the man born blind?
The disciples said he must have sinned or his parents must have
sinned. It's his fault? No, no, it's
for the glory of God. This sickness, this is all about
the glory of God. And they die, God's people die
unless He comes real soon and we're still here. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? But all His people die, they
really do, they die. We've beheld many of them die.
What mercy that is for those He takes, huh? Oh, it's great mercy. Merciful
men are taken, they're spared from the evil to come. It's getting
worse isn't it? But it's a great sorrow for those
that are left behind. And all those that are loved
by the Lord Jesus Christ, they sorrow deeply. Are you with me? Believers sorrow, not as others
who have no hope. But they sorrow. There's nothing
wrong with sorrowing. Matter of fact, there's something
wrong with it if you don't. Sorrow is proof of love, isn't
it? It's not unbelief, it's love.
Mary and Martha were greatly troubled over Lazarus being sick.
They were worried. Rightfully so. He died. They
were worried that he was going to die. He did die. And they
were worried. They lost sleep over there. They
feared for their brother's life. They loved him. Nothing wrong
with that. Don't let any self-righteous
fellows tell you that it's unbelief. No, it's love. There is a measure of unbelief
there, but the Lord knows our frame. Thank God. And that little grandbaby here
didn't think I was going to get through without bringing her
up, did you? I love her. You love to talk
about those you love, don't you? Don't you? Mike and Debbie came
back out to our room last night and thought they'd never leave.
They were talking about their grandbaby. No, I'm just kidding. We loved
every minute of it. They showed us 153 pictures of
it. Recordings on her phone and on
and on. That's what I get in it. But when that little girl was
born, I didn't sleep too well for about three months. Anybody know what I'm talking
about? The first grandbaby? Talk about that first trimester,
that's pregnancy and the first sudden infant death syndrome.
I worry about her. If we love her, we don't want
to lose her. You don't want to lose those
that you love, do you? You don't want to lose those that
you love. When are you ever ready to give
up somebody you love? Would somebody tell me how you
can prepare yourself for that? If you would, I'd like to know. Ever heard a preacher say that?
This is one saying it. My dad's 83 years old. He doesn't
have long. It's inevitable. It's going to
be very soon. But I'm closer to Him now than
I've ever been, and I don't want to see Him go. Well, the Lord didn't come, though.
He heard that Lazarus was six, not that he just found out. Oh
no. Oh my, the inscriptions are written
in man's language. But he didn't find this out. Just as when he asked Adam, where
are you? Well, the Lord didn't come though.
And he didn't send word that he was coming. And he didn't
answer their urgent plea. Do you know how urgent their
message was? Dear Lord, would you please hurry? Has anybody
in here pleaded and pleaded and pleaded with the Lord for somebody
you love? Well, as a woman near and dear
to me, we're begging the Lord to spare her. But he didn't. She died. And the Lord didn't send word. And they sorrowed. Those four
days before the Lord came seemed like four years. They didn't
sleep. You know it's so. You've been
through it. Great mourning over beloved brother.
Look at verses 19 and 20. Many of the Jews came to Mary
and Martha to comfort them concerning their brother. Martha, as soon
as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. And Mary couldn't
get out of her chair. Lionel, she's just so heartbroken. Do you remember old Jacob when
he thought he lost Joseph? He said he refused to be comforted.
Nobody could give him any comfort. When Absalom died, David cried
out and all Israel heard him. Oh Absalom my son, Absalom my
son, my son, I wish I would have died instead of you. Why? I believe, I thought about that,
I believe because Lazarus was a lost man and he was sorrowing
without hope for that boy, wasn't he? Not that baby. He sorrowed greatly,
but when the baby died, he changed his raiment, washed his face,
and went in and worshiped. He had hope. He had hope. But they sorrowed, and Mary was
too sorrowful to even come to the Lord. And Martha said this, Lord, verse
21, Martha said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had
not died. You know, the Lord is omnipresent. He said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He said, am I a God at hand and
not a God far off, or vice versa? If you'd have been here, Lord,
When my brother, I told you about my brother being killed, my oldest
brother, my father and mother's first son, and no one can imagine
what that must have been like except somebody who's gone through
it. But someone cruelly said to my father at that time, and
people are so cruel, They said, knowing that he preached God's
sovereign, that the Lord did all things. And they said it
like the Pharisees derided the Lord. But this man said to him,
he said, where was your God when your son died? And he said, The same place he
was when his son died on the throne, reigning and ruling. And he killed him. God killed
his son. Yes he did. It pleased the Lord
to bruise his son. We wouldn't do it that way. But
he did. Well, the Jews saw Mary weeping. Well, Martha came, look at verses
28 and 29. Martha came to Mary, her sister,
secretly and said, The Master is come and calling for thee.
As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came. All that
the Father giveth shall come to thee. Come when they call.
She came to the Lord. Well, the Jews mistakenly thought
she was going to the grave. Verse 31. They thought, she's
going to the grave to weep there. Oh no, no, no, no. She's not
going to the grave. She can't find any comfort there.
We don't sorrow as those who have no hope. We don't go to
a grave and weep over it and visit it all the time and keep
weeping over it. We go to the Lord. Where else shall we go? Mary went to the Lord. But Mary,
like Martha, see, had Same question, Mary said in verse 32, Lord,
if thou hadst been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Oh my. Lord, I believe, help
my unbelief. If you'd have been here, my brother
hadn't died. They greatly sorrowed. They were greatly sorrowing.
Look at this. Shortest verse in the Bible.
Verse 35. Jesus wept. The Lord Jesus Christ wept, sorrowed. Scripture says He carried our
sorrows, bore our sorrows and carried our grief, didn't it?
Bore them. He sorrowed. Down in verse 30,
I love this verse, verse 33. He came and he saw them weeping
and he says he groaned in spirit and was troubled. The margin
says he troubled himself. He put himself through a great
deal of trouble. Voluntarily. Would you do that? Man of sorrows, what a name.
What a son of God who came. But he did, voluntarily, put
himself through trouble. He wept. Why did the Lord weep?
They said in verse 36, behold how he loved him. The Lord did
not weep because something terrible had happened, because Lazarus
had died and he couldn't stop it. That's another Jesus that men
say, the Lord didn't want that to happen. It'll happen anyway.
What good is a Lord like that, James? Huh? What good is a Jesus
like that? He didn't want it to happen and
it happens anyway. Who needs that guy? Why would you pray
unto a God that cannot save? People all over do that, don't
they? Why? The Lord wasn't weeping because
He couldn't stop this. He wasn't weeping because something
horrible had happened. The death of the precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. It's bringing
his children home. The Lord doesn't weep when his
people die. He rejoices. Heaven erupts. While earth weeps, heaven erupts. Here she comes, our dear sister. Oh, heaven erupts. While earth,
people left behind, wail. Lord's not weeping because he
died. I think, I believe, for what it's worth, Lord wept at
the thought perhaps of bringing Lazarus back to this earth. Let me ask you,
would you bring back That beloved one who knew Christ, would you
bring them back to this veil of tears? Would you bring them
back from a place where there's no more tears, no more suffering,
no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death, no more weeping? Would you bring them back? The
Lord wept. The Lord, I believe, wept over
sin, the consequences of sin, death. It's horrible what sin
has done to this planet. You want to know what sin has
done to this planet? Think of Adam and Eve in that
garden, glorious, beautiful, in the image of God, male and
female, upright. And then go to a nursing home
and look at all that sin has done. It's just sad, isn't it? Sad, isn't it? Well, and he groaned
at the grave. He groaned, he wept. Why? The Lord, we have a high priest
who's touched with the feeling of our infirmity. He wept over
their weeping. Doesn't the Lord tell us, weep
with them that weep? Doesn't He say, weep for yourselves
and for your children? Now weep for me, the Lord said.
Weep for yourselves. Now weep for your children. The
Lord wept for His children. He wept for us. Scripture says,
Tony, our tears are in a bottle. How many times have you cried
unto the Lord? It says He's counted them all.
Are you aware of your children's crying? How does your children's
crying affect you? How does your baby's crying affect
you? When their little face says,
Granny, How does it affect you when it kills you, doesn't it? How much more, Mike, the Lord
of Glory. He's not weeping now. It's only
part of that song, Depth of Mercy, that I don't like. He's not weeping
now. No. But He did then. Made a little lower than the
angels, a high priest, touched with a feeling of our infirmities,
tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, but
he was touched with a feeling. He wept because they were weeping.
He wept over their sorrow. No, he's not weeping over an
uncontrollable circumstance. He's about to bring this weeping
to a halt. Boy, he's about to bring this
weeping. Weeping may endure for a night. If you just wait, then
hear this joy. Listen to this. I never got a
hold of this passage like I did in studying it. Psalm 126 verse
6 says, He that goeth forth weeping, Bringing precious seed, shall
doubtless, without a doubt, no shadow of a doubt, no doubt about
it, he will come with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
But that seed's got to be planted. Doesn't it, Tom? Got to be planted. That's death. Well, the Lord
came, and the Lord said to them, oh my, there's so much here,
we don't have time. The Lord said, thy brother shall
rise, and you know what Mary and Martha said, Lord, I know
that he'll rise in the resurrection. The Lord said, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection, the life. Oh, you've got to see this. This
is wonderful. It says in verse 26, our Lord
said, verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Dead in trespass
and in sin, he'll live forever. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? When Lazarus died, the Lord said,
he's sleeping. The Lord said, he's sleeping.
They said, well, it'll do good. He didn't understand. He said,
well, so you can understand he's dead. But no, he's not dead.
He said, they'll never die. They don't die. They lay down
and immediately they're in the presence of the Lord. Absent
from the body, present with the Lord. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. I am life. He that hath the Son
hath life. Everlasting life. That's true. Get a hold of this. Cast your
soul on this. On Him. He is life. Never die. Never die. Do you
believe this? Do you believe that? We believe
what we believe because Jesus Christ said it. And we say, let every man be
a liar. Let God be true. Every man a
liar. People are searching for the
meaning of life. Christ has revealed that to us.
Him. He said, I live. That's what
He said. He said, I was dead, I live.
And he that liveth and believeth in it shall never die. Do you
believe this? Oh, you know, that'll dry up some tears. That'll get
rid of some worries. Yes, it will. When our Lord came,
verse 43, He came to that grave and He cried with a loud voice,
Lazarus, come forth. I wouldn't dare try to imitate
that. But He cried with a loud voice.
The voice of the Lord is powerful and wakes the dead. Somebody
said if He hadn't have called Lazarus' name, everybody would
have come forth. His people, particularly His
elect, come forth. And He that was dead, verse 44, He that was dead came
forth. When I call, when Christ calls,
they come. And I quoted that verse with
you and I want you to turn in closing to 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. I quoted that Psalm to you, Psalm
126, He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Our Lord said to His disciples,
you will weep and lament. The Lord said, I am leaving,
but you will weep and lament, the world will rejoice, He said,
but you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to
joy. He said this, he gave this illustration,
a woman that is in travail hath sorrow, great pain and sorrow,
but when her hour is come, As soon as she is delivered of
the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that
a man is born into the world. And our Lord endured indescribable,
the greatest suffering more so than any human being ever, and
travailing in birth for His children on Calvary's tree. But for the joy, did it for the
joy set before Him. And now, No more anguish. And look at this, 1 Thessalonians
4, he that goeth forth weeping, he says, I say this unto you,
verse 14, we that believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so, them also which sleep in Jesus. Those believers who died,
in our language, who sleep, believing, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's going to bring them with Him. When Christ comes back,
the family reunion, it's going to happen in the air, in the
sky, before we get to the new earth and heaven, isn't it? That's
what it says. He's going to bring them all with Him. We're looking
forward to seeing them. There's nothing wrong with that.
That's love. But He's going to bring them
with Him. I can get a hold of this. He's going to bring them
all with Him. Look! Bring them with Him. Verse 15, Then we which
are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord will not go
before them, prevent them. The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
a trump of God, a shout of victory. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Comfort one another
with these words. Lazarus come forth, and he came
forth, and you know what? As much as they sorrowed, it was gone immediately. You know how much they sorrowed?
You've been through a little bit of it. Gone. In a moment, in a twinkling
of an eye, all that sorrow was gone. And as much as they sorrowed,
their joy was a hundred times greater. So much so, they forgot it all. That's the way it's going to
be. You have His Word on it. Okay. Lord bless you. to find your songbook on country
number 82. Our ladies have been busy this
morning cooking, preparing food, and I'm sure that there is plenty
of delicious