I invite you to turn back in
your Bibles to the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Saint John. Here in John chapter 11, I want
you to look at verse 14. The disciples were confused.
They thought that our Lord, and speaking of Lazarus, they thought
that he was merely asleep. And in verse 12 they said, Then
said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death,
but they thought that he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep.
And then in verse 14, Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus
He is dead. Lazarus is dead. Now there lay
Lazarus in the grave, dead. His restoration to life was utterly
hopeless upon any ordinary principle. His resurrection, his ability
to come out of the grave, was absolutely, utterly hopeless
beyond our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly Lazarus could not raise
himself. He had no ability, he had no
strength, he had not the ability to raise himself from the grave. His affectionate sisters who
had been weeping at the grave, they could not, with all of their
weeping, they could not resurrect their brother from the grave,
nor could the disciples called back Lazarus, his departed spirit,
and resurrected him from this grave. His sisters were helpless,
Lazarus was helpless, his sisters were helpless, and the disciples
were helpless to do anything for their brother. It was a hopeless
case and we know that none could revive, none apart from our Lord
Jesus Christ, could revive this dead man. He had begun to stink
already, the scripture says, and he was in a condition of
decay and none could help him. Those around him were helpless
to do anything on his behalf. Now this, beloved, is a parallel
case with every unconverted sinner in the world. Every man outside
our Lord Jesus Christ is lost, and he's not only lost, but he's
dead, the Bible says, in trespasses and sins, in Ephesians 1, or
in Ephesians chapter 2 it is, verse 1, and he's not sick, he's
not partially disabled, as some tell us, and not just wounded,
he's not just having a fit, that when he carries on the way he
does in this world, no, he's dead. He is spiritually dead
and spiritual death reigns over him. I'm talking about people
outside of Christ. I'm talking about unbelievers.
I'm talking about those who have never felt the power of God and
the regenerating power of the Spirit of God in their lives.
I'm talking about those that are strangers to God's grace.
Those that have never tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Those that have never received
the effectual call from God calling them out of the world and calling
them unto the Lord Jesus. Those who have never been translated
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear
Son. That's who I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the lost, the unconverted, those that are outside
of Christ. Now the sinner never gives life
to himself. The sinner has no ability to
save himself. Now there are some who feel,
I'm sure, that they have the ability to will themselves into
the family of God. They have the ability to, as
it were, lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. and to
do whatever is necessary for their own saving. But such is
not the case. The thing is inconceivable. No man can save himself. No man
has the ability to save himself any more than Lazarus had the
ability to get up and come out of that grave himself. He had no ability and neither
does the sinner. Now in John chapter 1 in verse
10 through verse 13, the scripture says he was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came
into his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. Now that scripture very plainly
tells us that those who are children of God, sons of God, believers
on the Lord Jesus, having been given the ability by sovereign
grace to receive Christ, that they're born, they're born again,
they're born of God, But they're not born of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That's
John chapter 1 and verse 13. In James 1 and 18, it says, Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Of his own
will. Now, it's the will of God that
saves sinners. It's God's will that delivers
us out of sin's bondage. It's God's will that brings us
out of spiritual death unto spiritual life. Now we read in the Bible,
in John chapter 5, Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death, is passed from death unto life. And 1 John
says, we know that we pass from death unto life because we love
the brethren. Now those that are believers
in the Lord Jesus, they have had a spiritual resurrection
and they're no longer in sin's death, but they've been liberated
out of death. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
Jesus said in John chapter 5 and verse 40, He said you will not
come unto me that you might have life. Now that's left to yourself.
I said salvation is by the will of God. Damnation is by your
own will. Salvation is by God's will. And
Jesus said you will not come unto me that you might have life. Neither will they come now any
more than they did then when Jesus was speaking to them. He said you will not. You will
not to come to me that you might have life. And a dead sinner
left to himself, apart from divine grace, apart from a touch from
heaven, will never come to the Lord Jesus. Now until we see
dead men raising themselves, we do not expect to meet with
sinners who have spontaneously and without divine assistance
turned themselves toward God and righteousness. I don't expect
until I can go out to the cemetery and see people coming out of
their graves under their own power, I don't expect to see
lost sinners, poor, hopelessly lost, ruined sinners, hell-deserving
sinners come to Christ on their own without divine assistance,
without the power of God at work in their lives, without the Spirit
of God taking the Word of God and coming and breaking the hard
heart, the Spirit of God coming and giving life to that dead
sinner. I don't expect to see it until
God's Spirit comes down and works a miracle in your heart. You're
here this morning and you're lost? You're going to remain
lost. It's not in the power of this preacher. It doesn't make
any difference how skillful the preacher is. A preacher's not
able to give life to a dead sinner. We know that a preacher cannot
give life to a dead knight. There's no way that we can resurrect.
We cannot resurrect a fly. There's nothing we can do. You're
hopelessly lost this morning. Shut up to one thing, and that
is that Jesus Christ would come where you are, and that He would
breathe life into your soul. You're shut up to that. There
isn't any way out. That's the only way that you
can be delivered. Relatives or friends, cannot
regenerate your soul. And even though they may take
an interest in you, and they say, well, I'm going to take
you to church. I want you to come along. I'll bring you to
church. They may take an interest in you, but they cannot regenerate
your soul. They can't say any more than
Lazarus' sisters and relatives could do anything for him. They
can't do anything for you. Now, beloved, I know that there
are many clever preachers in the world. And I don't care who
your preacher is, I'll tell you this, he cannot regenerate your
soul. You're shut up to one who has
the power. And Jesus said, all power is
given to me in heaven and earth. All power is mine. Power belongs
to God. And he said, I can deliver you,
I will, I do deliver sinners. from the death, from the death
of sin, and I can deliver you. But you're shut up to Him. You're
shut up to Christ. Religion can't do it. Education
can't do it. Now, death is a terrible picture
of our natural state, but I'm not exaggerating. And somebody
may say here, I think the preacher's exaggerating a little bit this
morning. He's acting like that we're dead
as Lazarus. Well, beloved, I know that you're
alive physically, But spiritually, you're dead if you're outside
of Christ. Spiritually, you need that same
power that raised the Lord Jesus, or that raised the Lord Jesus,
yes, and raised Lazarus from the dead in order for you to
be saved. Now, it won't help to educate
you. Somebody says, well, I think
what people need is a better education. Well, beloved, education
cannot develop life out of death. There's no way that you can educate
somebody out of death into life. It won't happen and it cannot
happen. You say, well, I think they need
a little more persuasion. I think they need to get excited.
If they can just get them at a certain level of excitement,
I believe that people will just automatically be brought to life. Well, that won't do it either.
You know, there are, as I mentioned earlier, some clever preachers
in the world And it doesn't make any difference to me who your
preacher is, but I'll tell you this. You know, there's an argument
among theologians as to whether or not whenever you cut wood,
whether it's the sharpness of the axe, or whether it's the
strength of the arm that wields the axe. Now, beloved, I recognize
there's nothing wrong with a sharp axe. If a man's going to cut
wood, there's nothing wrong with having his axe just as sharp
as he can get it. But I'll tell you where the power
is, and it's in the arm that wheels the axe. And if you've
got the arm, if you've got enough power, my friend, you can cut
the wood. And I'm telling you that the
power's with God. And the preacher can be dumb,
and the preacher can be uneducated and uncouth, and the preacher
may say things that's a little funny and hard for you to understand,
but if the power is there, God by His Spirit and power takes
the Word. He can break your heart and He
can bring you to Christ. And He can bring you out of your
sin and bring you into the liberty and life of the Gospel. God has
the power to do that. and the power belongs to Him.
So listen, reasoning cannot infuse life into you. I can sit here
and reason with you all morning long, and it will never infuse
life into you. The arm of God must be revealed,
and until it is, you're hopelessly lost. I'll shut you up to it.
You've got to have John chapter 11 experience where the Spirit
of God comes and cries out your name, and calls you by name,
and calls you out of sin unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
must come to the tomb. of Lazarus, and cry, Lazarus,
come forth! And when he does that, when he
comes to your tomb, then my friend, you will live, and not until
he does. All that can be done by mortal
man may be done, but nothing will be effected until Jesus,
who is the resurrection and the life, speaks that quickening,
that life-giving word. And Jesus said, the word that
I speak unto you, their spirit and their life, their life, There's
life-giving power in the Word. In His omnipotent voice lies
the power to raise the dead. In His omnipotent voice lies
the power to raise the dead. In John 5 and 25, Jesus said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is. I was talking one time to an
Armenian preacher, and I quoted this verse of scripture to him.
I said, the Bible says, 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. And he said,
well, all of that's true except that little phrase you put in
there yourself, and now is. And I said, you take your Bible
and you open it to John chapter 5 and look at verse 25 and you
will find that it plainly says, and now is. Well, you say, what
is the significance of that? Well, verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, or the hour is coming, and now
is, when the dead shall hear, the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. And now is. Meaning that we don't have to
wait till resurrection morning that there's a voice that speaks
now. And you don't have to. Listen
to me. Listen to me. It's not the voice of the preacher.
It's not the voice of the preacher. That's the only voice you ever
hear. You will die and go to hell. You've got to hear the
voice of Christ in your soul. calling you out of sin unto the
Lord Jesus. 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. We believe that in every case
where God saves a sinner that the voice of Christ is heard
in the soul and that that voice is heard through the word preached.
That voice is heard through the Bible being read. That voice
is heard as God takes the word and makes it flesh in your heart. Makes you hear from Him. Regeneration
is a supernatural word. Regeneration is not a human project. It's God's project. It's God's
work. It's something God must do. And
we believe that in every case, salvation is of the Lord alone,
all together. Salvation is of the Lord all
together. That's what old Jonah learned
in the College of the Whale's Belly. When He was down, down
deep in the college of the whale's belly there, He cried out and
said, Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation, deliverance, is of
the Lord. If you're ever going to be delivered,
then God must deliver you. All that can be done by us is,
we just preach the Word, but all that can be done by us is
about what was done by the sisters and the disciples for Lazarus. Well, all that can be done by
mortal men ought to be done, but nothing will be effected
until the Lord Jesus takes up the case. Now then, the poet
said, he said, Can aught beneath a power divine the stubborn will
subdue? Tis thine, eternal spirit, thine
to form the heart anew, to chase the shades of death away and
bid the sinner live. a beam of heaven, a vital ray,
this, thine alone to give." And surely those are indeed true
words. Well, what can be done and what
ought to be done by us in regards to the dead sinner? Now, my message
this morning is on the subject of instrumentality. I want to
be an instrument in the hands of God. I want to be used of
God. I believe that men are used of
God. I believe that God calls men
to preach. And I believe that every one
of us here, I believe that everybody God saves, He means for them
to be an instrument in His hands. Now you may say, well preacher,
after having said all that you have this morning, it looks like
it puts us all out of business. Well my friend, when it comes
to saving people, we are out of business. We cannot save anybody. I've tried to paint you the picture
this morning to show you that it's only Christ that can deliver
and only Christ that can save. But yet the Bible teaches that
we're to be instruments in the hands of God. Paul said, I have
become all things to all men that I might by all means save
some. Paul again said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, he said God has chosen through the foolishness of preaching
to save some. not through foolish preaching,
but through the foolishness of preaching to save some. The Bible is crystal clear. If
you would turn to the book of Romans chapter 10, and I invite
you to do that, I'd like to read to you this little short passage
of scripture that will show you that it is necessary for men
to be useful as instruments in the hands of God. Look, if you
will, here in Romans 10, And we read, beginning with verse
13, where it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. Whosoever will, somebody
says, is those who can be saved. Yes, it's whosoever will, not
whosoever won't. It's whosoever will. whosoever
will and God said my people will be willing in the day of my power
when I do something in a man then he'll become willing when
I put the will in him and the Bible says it is God that worketh
in you both the will both the will and to do according to his
purpose and so when God puts the will in you then it'll be
whosoever will and you will but now you won't you won't and Jesus
said you will not come to me that you might have life but
Paul here says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved and then how shall they call on him whom they've
not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they've
not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher How are
they going to hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things? Well, how are they going to hear
without a preacher? Now this is an instrument. A
preacher is an instrument in the hands of God. Now turn back
with me, if you will, to the eighth chapter of the book of
Acts. And look at this, if you will. And here we see something
else very interesting about an instrument. An instrument in
the hands of God, in spite of the sovereignty of God, in spite
of God willing a man's salvation, in spite of the fact that God
Himself is the one that quickens dead sinners and brings them
to life. God uses instruments. And here
in the 8th chapter of Acts, In verse 29, the Spirit said to
Philip, he said, Philip was running alongside the chariot. The Spirit
of God had sent him down there into the desert and told him
to go down there, and so Philip was running alongside the chariot.
And the Spirit said, Go near and join thyself to this chariot.
hop on this chariot and Philip ran thither to him and he heard
this Ethiopian eunuch that was a religious man and I take it
that he was a religious man because he was coming home from church
and so Philip ran thither to him and and he got up in the
chariot and he heard this man read out of the prophet isaiah
and he was reading some of the scriptures we talked about last
week out of isaiah chapter fifty-three this is one of the eighty-five
references uh... to the fifty-third chapter of
isaiah that we mentioned last week and said uh... to this ethiopian
uh... he said understandest thou what
thou readest do you understand what you're reading And he said
in verse 31, how can I except some man should guide me? How can I understand what the
prophet's talking about? I don't know whether he's talking
about himself or whether he's talking about some other man.
I don't know whether he's talking about somebody else or himself.
And he said, how can I understand except somebody guide me? And
so he desired Philip that he would come over and sit with
him. And the place of the scripture which he read was this. He was
led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shears, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his
judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation?
His life is taken from the earth. And Philip, in verse 35, opened
his mouth. He opened his mouth. He was an instrument. God gave
him a message and he had his mouth open and he began the same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus. He began at the same scripture
and preached unto him the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beloved, what
can be done by us ought to be done. Now, here in John chapter
11, if you're back there, if you've not turned away from there,
I want you to notice some things with me here in this chapter. There are some things that ought
to be done. There are things that Christ
is not going to do. He's not going to do. There are
things that we must do in regards as being instruments in God's
hands and there's three things here that I want to point out
to you and that'll be our message this morning. But I want you
to see this and I believe that God will use this to stir up
our hearts to bow our knee that we may bow our knee and submit
ourselves unto the hand of the Lord that he might use us in
the salvation of sinners. Now a sovereign Christ could
do anything he can do anything he does not will to do just anything
he will have to do that which he purpose to do and the purpose
of god will determine what he does and he will not work america
all needlessly he will not there are some things that we can do
on the back half of those that were interested in on the back
half of centers now the bible has given the church the great
commission Jesus said you go into all the world and you preach
the gospel to every creature and you baptize them in the name
of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and you teach them
to observe all things that I have commanded them to observe. You got a ministry out here in
the world. Now the first thing that I want
you to see is in verse 3 of chapter 11. Therefore his sisters, now
Lazarus was sick, and he was sickened to death, and his sisters
sent unto him, meaning they sent unto Jesus, saying, Lord, behold,
he whom thou lovest is sick. Now this brings me to the first
thing that I'd like to talk just a little bit about, and that
is that as believers in Christ, those of us who are yielded up
as servants of righteousness unto holiness, wanting to be
an instrument in God's hands, alive in the Lord, wanting to
do something in the kingdom of God, serve the will of God in
our generation, One of the first things that we can do is send
unto the Lord Jesus or call upon the Lord Jesus on the behalf
of those that we'd like to see saved, on the behalf of those
that we'd like to see brought out of sin and brought to Christ. Now, beloved, we pray to Jesus
Christ because, as we said earlier, all power belongs to Him. He
can do whatever He will do and He can save a sinner. He can
do that. He can save your son. He can
save your daughter. He can save the children in your
home. He is able to do that. And so
you should send as Mary and Martha. They sent unto Jesus. Because
now they knew they had a hopeless case on their hands. They knew
that they couldn't do anything on the behalf of their brother.
They knew they were helpless to do anything. And so they sent
unto Jesus. Oh, if you fathers would begin
to cry to God for your children. Begin to pray, begin to beg God. Dear Jesus, dear Jesus, I come
to you on the behalf of my children. My children are not saved, my
children are lost. My children are headed for a
certain and sure hell if you don't intervene. And if you ever
get the picture clear in your mind of Lazarus in his dead state,
and recognize it's parallel to your children, and see that it's
parallel to your mother and your father, your brother, your sister,
and is parallel to all of your relatives and friends. They're
all dead, as Lazarus was. Physically, they are. Spiritually,
and you must send to Jesus. He's the only one that can do
anything about it and begin to pray. That's why a church ought
to have a prayer meeting. We ought to be praying for lost
sinners. We ought to be sending to Jesus. Jesus, hear, hear my
cry as a preacher. Lord, I preach to these people
until I'm blue in the face. It appears in all of my words.
have fallen to the ground. It hadn't affected these people.
They're still as hard-headed and stone-cold. It's impossible for me to do
anything on their behalf. Lord, would you hear me? Lord,
would you come down Lord, by the Spirit, would you come down
and anoint my heart and give me words, more words, some other
words, something to say to these people that will bring them out
of sin's death, that will bring them into the family of God.
Something. We need to pray. We need to pray
and ask God. Send to Jesus and beg Him that
He would undertake just like he did undertake in the case
of Lazarus, that he would do something. Ah, you mothers, remember
to pray for your children. You fathers, pray for your children.
You that would go downstairs and teach the class, don't go
downstairs and teach the class until you've sent to Jesus on
the behalf of those that you're going to be teaching downstairs
and beg Him to intervene. Intervene in these young lives.
Intervene in the souls of these children. and bring them unto
the Savior. Send to Jesus. Now we can do
that, can't we? Every one of us can do that.
We can send up a prayer to Almighty God. Now there's another thing.
I want you to look in verse 39. Verse 39 of John chapter 11.
And we see where Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Now,
you know a sovereign Christ, anybody can raise the dead. Couldn't
he remove this big stone that was at the mouth of this cave?
He could do that, couldn't he? If he could raise the dead, surely
he could move this stone out of the way. Well, beloved, he
said to these standing around, these Jews and the relatives
here of old Lazarus and the friends, and he said, you take away the
stone. You take it away. Take away the stone. Well, now
this is a type and it's symbolic. of many stones that I think today
of heavy weight that lies at the very mouth of many spiritual
graves. They're stones that we can take
away, that we can take away. You remember the Ethiopian eunuch
said to Philip, Philip said, you understand what you read?
And he said, well, how can I except some man should guide me? I think
there's a stone of ignorance. a stone of ignorance that we
can take away. I'll tell you what, every time
I preach I'm reminded of the fact that we overestimate how
much the people we're preaching to knows about what we're talking
about. We overestimate it. And I have
preached, I've attempted to preach in the last few weeks just as
simple as I know how. Just as simple as I know how.
And yet I'm afraid that many of the very simple things of
the Word of God go right over the heads of people. There are
very few people that never pick up their Bible, that never read
the Word of God, that never study. And this is the most important
book that God Almighty has ever allowed to exist in this world. And yet people are ignorant of
this Bible. They're ignorant of it. And I'll
tell you there are people here that when you talk about salvation,
they don't know about salvation. They don't know a thing on earth
you're talking about when you're talking about being saved. When
you're talking about are you saved? Do you know that you are
saved? Do you know that you belong to
Christ? They don't know what you're talking
about. I don't know anything about sin either. Oh, most people
can't even spell the word, much less know what it's about and
what God has against a man. Why it is necessary for a man
or a woman, a boy or a girl, to be saved from sin. Why it's necessary. You've got
to be saved from sin and you're going to hell if you're not.
If Jesus, if His death on the cross is not your death to sin,
you're going to hell to die the eternal death of sin. The wages
of sin is death. And you cannot escape it except
in a substitute. And that substitute is Christ.
And only as you stand in Him will you escape it. You gotta
know three things to go to heaven. Number one, you gotta know you're
a sinner. You're a sinner. That's your
name. Sinner! That's your name. You
were born into this world blind as a bat, dead as a doornail,
and you haven't got the sense of an eye, spiritually speaking.
And only, only, only when God is pleased to show you that you're
a sinner, only then is there hope for you. Convinced sinners! Is there anybody here this morning
that's convinced? You are a sinner. You are a sinner.
Well, listen to me. There's another thing you got
to know to be able to go to heaven. This ignorance has got to be
done away with. You got to know who Jesus is. You got to know who He is. You
got to know who Jesus Christ is. He's the eternal Son of God.
And old Philip, he asked the eunuch, they come to water, and
Philip said, well, The eunuch said, I want to be baptized.
The pilgrim said, well, he said, if thou believest that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, thou mayest. And that eunuch said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's who I
believe he is. I believe he's God's Son sent from heaven down
here to this earth. And I believe that when he died,
he died for me. I believe that when he paid the
price back to God, he was paying my sin debt, and he was answering
to God for me on my behalf. I believe that. And so Philip
said, well, then you may. You may be baptized because you
believe you know who this is. It's the Son of God. It's Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. Do you know who he is? He's the
Savior. He's the one God sent and anointed
to save your soul from a devil's hell. He's the one that came
down here willingly and voluntarily, laid down his life in order to
rescue fallen sinners and to bring them home to God. Jesus
Christ, that's who he is. So you got to know who he is. Know you're a sinner and know
who he is. Well may the Lord be pleased
to remove some of the ignorance. Some of the ignorance that is
waiting, which is a huge wait. at the mouth of your spiritual
grave and may God use some man, somebody, some man or woman,
somebody to come to you and to remove that stone, that stone
of ignorance and help you to come to know who the Lord Jesus
Christ really is. Well, so the absolute ignorance
and the absolute error of our day. Oh, there's so many people
preaching, so many messages going out but the errors of the day. My soul. There are so few that
know anything about the truth of God's grace, that salvation
is altogether of grace, that it's the work of God from the
beginning to the end. So few know anything about that. Mixed works with grace, and works
involve, when it's involved, Salvation is a criminal doctrine. Salvation is by grace from the
beginning to the end. The Lord Jesus Christ providing
everything He demanded for us. Do you believe He did? Everything
God demanded of us, Jesus provided in our room and stead and place.
That's grace. Grace. But this world is full
of delusion and error and despair. My soul, have you ever met anybody
that was at the point of despair? because of their sin and their
guilt, because they couldn't get rid of their bondage. They
could not, it appears, find any relief for their soul. They were
helplessly shut up into a state where they felt like they had
died a thousand deaths fearing one, because they knew that when
they died they would go up yonder to face Christ's holy God and
answer to God for all of their sin and all of their failure.
And they did not know that there was a way whereby they could
get rid of all of their past. And where all of their sin could
be forgiven. Where all their sin could be
put away. And where they'd never have to face it again. Never!
And they could start life anew! Completely new! And they would
never have to face it again. Oh, they didn't know that. Until
you come along. and told them. And I hope you
do be on the watch looking for people that are despairing in
this old world. There's people every day and
only God knows the number that puts a gun in their mouth and
blows their brains out because they've come to the end of themselves
and they don't know where to go. They don't know what to do. They don't know which direction
to head out in anymore. And they need somebody, an instrument
in God's hands that'll come and say, hey, you better bow down. I tell you, there is lifting
up. There is a way out. There is
one who cares. And there is one that is willing,
willing and able to bear your burden and to deliver you from
your sin. There is one, thank God, that
is able to reach you and to help you where you are. There is one. Well, in verse 44, and I've got
to hurry on. In verse 44, And he that was
dead, after Lazarus came out of the grave, he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face
was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him. and let him go. Loose him and
let him go. You see now, there again a sovereign
Christ could have surely jerked these grave clothes and these
bindings off of Lazarus and let him go himself. Surely he could
have done that, but he said, you loose him and let him go. Loose him and let him go. Well
now, every time a baby is born into the family of God, they
need a mother to nurse them. They need somebody to help them.
After a man is converted, he labors under many disabilities. He's saved, he's a child of God,
he's in the kingdom of God, and the Spirit of God abides in him
and dwells in him, but he needs some help. He needs some help. He needs some guidance. He needs
somebody to lead him in the way of truth. Now then, I think this
is so because they need to be comforted and they need to grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now to
be comforted, old Lazarus had to get them grave clothes on.
He could not function with those grave clothes on. And I'll tell
you there's some people around here that's been saved a number
of years and you still got some of your grave clothes on. You
have. You've not been comforted, and
you've not been, you've not growed, and these grave clothes are still
on you. And when an individual believes, like old Lazarus was
raised from the dead, Jesus said, take them off! Take and loose
him and let him go! Take them grave clothes off of
him. Need to be comforted. Need somebody
come along and begin to instruct them in the ways of God. And to say, well now, You know,
like a plant needs to be watered. And the scripture talks about
one watering and another, one sowing and another watering,
and God giving the increase. Well, it needs somebody to water
the plant. Somebody to put a little water and a little fertilizer.
Somebody to come along and say, I can help you with that. I can
help you with that. They say, I don't understand
this sin business. How God put away all my sin. I don't know
how all my sin was charged to Christ. Past, present, and future
sin. How many people is there that
believe that, you know, that they had a little experience
where all their past was forgiven, but their present sin and their
future sin, they got to answer to God for that. The Bible teaches
that God does not impute sin unto those that believe. That all sin, past, present,
and future, was imputed, reckoned to, accredited to, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when He died, He died for
all my sin, not part of it. And you need to be comforted
and told that He cast all of your sin into the depths of the
sea. And that He's not going to remember
it against you anymore. And there's so many things we
could get into right here where that we need to help by loosening,
as it were, the grave clothes of those who are converted. And
then I think also he needed full liberty from these grave clothes
so that he would be free, that he would have freedom, that he
would have his freedom again. He couldn't even move. He couldn't
even move about because he was tied with these things and he
had no freedom, no liberty. You know the Bible warns us in
Galatians to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has
set us free. God's people have been liberated. They've been liberated from the
bondage of the law. They have been liberated. They
are free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Free in Christ. And not only
that, but they are free from the And there's so many of these
things, we just got to touch them briefly and move on. But
they're free from that fear of failing and finally, even though
they've been saved, go to hell at last. You know there's a lot
of people that believe that you can be saved and then lost and
saved and then lost and saved and lost and saved and lost and
all through your life you're saved one day and lost the next
and so on and so forth. The Bible don't teach that. The
Bible does not teach that and I thought about how many people
there was that was still bound up with this fear and they need
somebody to get a hold of that rag and take it off of them and
loose them and let them go. I'll never forget What the Lord
did for me when I first understood John chapter 10, verse 28 and
29, where Jesus said, He said, I give unto my sheep eternal
life, and they shall never perish, and neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. And my Father which gave them
me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of his
hand. I could have swung out over hell on a grapevine. I wasn't
afraid anymore. I believed that Jesus Christ
had given me eternal life and I would never, never perish regardless
of my old nature, my old sinful, wicked nature, which we have
by birth, which we'll never get rid of until we die and we're
buried in a grave. But I'll tell you this, I believe
in eternal salvation. I believe in everlasting life. And I believe the kind of life
that an eternal God gives to his people is eternal life. God gives them everlasting, eternal
life. And there are some of these people
that need to have their rags took off of them and they need
to be told that salvation is forever and that the saints are
preserved forever. Forever preserved in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, freedom. The full liberty
of a child of God. I know, I know, and I'm not presumptuous. I know I'm saved. I know I'm
saved. I know I am. And the way I know
it is by what the Word of God says. By what God says in His
Word. He said, this is the record I
give of my Son, eternal life. And he that hath the Son hath
life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. If
you've got Jesus living in your heart by faith, then you have
life. And if you don't have, you're
lost, and you're dead in sin, and you're going to hell when
you die. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And if He's not in
you, He's not your hope. Only when He's in you. Is he
your hope? And then also I think we need
to take, like old Lazarus, you know he, after his grave clothes
was taken off, he sat down with Jesus at the table. Fellowship. And I'll tell you what, in order
for people to have fellowship, you know what that word means,
it means two fellows in the same ship, is what it means. And they
need somebody to come along and say, well you're with us now.
You're a child of God. You belong to this family. This
is this church family. We want to fellowship with you.
Have some fellowship. Encourage them. Build them up.
And old Lazarus, there he was, out of the grave clothes, sitting
at the table with Jesus. Communion with Jesus. Having
fellowship with Jesus. And then also, we need to help
these people so they can bear testimony. You know old Lazarus,
he had that napkin around his face, and he had all them rags
around him, and he couldn't bear testimony to what the Lord had
done. He couldn't even shout! Until, until they took them grave
clothes off of him. And I'll tell you what, there's
some people get mighty happy when they get under spirit anointed
preaching and whenever they begin to fellowship with people and
begin to lead them in the things of Christ and they begin to show
them the truth and open the book and talk to them and counsel
them, they get right happy. and they get right joyful, and
they can begin then to mouth what it is the Lord's done for
them. They can begin to tell you what Christ has done on their
behalf, in their room, in their stead, in their place. And so
we help them by loosing the grave clothes, help them so they can
get their mouth open, and begin to bear testimony, and begin
to praise the Lord. Well, what God has done, what
God has done. Well, I think we should be encouraged
this morning I'm not here to preach down to anybody. I don't
ever do that. But I just preach right straight
out to you, right from my heart. And I tell you what we need to
do. We need to examine ourselves and find out. We believe in a
sovereign Christ here. And we believe that salvation
is of the Lord from the beginning to the end. We believe in absolute
predestination that God has an elect people and that he has
purpose to save them and he will save them. And every child of
God will be at last in heaven because Christ will do the work.
But we know by the reading of this chapter that there's some
things we need to do on their behalf, on the behalf of God's
people. Send to Jesus for them, and then
we need to move that stone, and then we need to loose them whenever
they come out of the grave and let them go. That's a great ministry,
isn't it? A lot to do, isn't it? Bless
God, there's a lot to do. Can't sit on your hands. You
can't sit back on your blessed assurance and say, well, I ain't
got nothing to do. You got plenty to do. Get to sending to Jesus on behalf
of people you know. And get to moving the rock out
in front of the grave. The rock of ignorance. The rock
of despair. Move it out! And get to taking
them grave clothes off of people that know the Lord and begin
to show them the truth of the gospel so that they might enjoy
full liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ and have a thankful and
praising heart. May the Lord bless. Father, in
the name of our Lord Jesus. And for His sake, we ask that
you will visit this church, and we pray that each one of us may
begin to take seriously the ministry that you've given to your church.
And I just pray for revival in all of our hearts. It's time
of stirring up, a time of the moving of the Spirit of God upon
us, that we may see a great harvest come in, souls will be saved,
Men and women, be blessed and encouraged, and great things
be accomplished for the glory of Christ. You know, our Father,
our feebleness. You know our weakness, our frailty. You know our tendencies toward
giving up. And I pray Thee, our Father,
in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that there shall
be a great outpouring of strength and help and grace in this church,
and that many will take up the ministry of your word and begin
to be useful in the family of God. In Jesus' name we pray,
Amen.