Mike Rigsby is going to confess
Christ in Believer's Baptism tonight, and we rejoice with
him. And as the Lord enables you,
be in prayer about the conference next weekend. I pray that the
Lord will be pleased to bless us and speak to our hearts through
the preaching of his word. Let me read these verses again,
verses 43 and verses 44. John chapter 11. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Lucid,
and let him go. I've entitled this message, Lucid,
and let him go. Lazarus is dead. The advances that have been made
in modern medicine are quite remarkable. I think of drugs. I take blood thinner every
day. I'd probably have blood clots
if I didn't have it. I've got what's called antithrombome
3 deficiency. I've had it for 40 years, and
I just looked up what it meant for the first time. a couple of days ago, Lynn said,
you haven't ever looked that up before? I said, I'm not like
she looks up everything. I look up nothing. I don't want
to know. But I take blood pressure medication. I take something
for my stomach for, you know, I just take stuff and I'm thankful.
Drugs, you know, they're helpful. You think of the amazing things
that have been done in surgeries. Lynn, she had a kidney liver
transplant three years ago. And what an amazing thing that
is that doctors have been given the wisdom to do things of that
nature. I mean, medicine is amazing. Let me tell you one thing they
never have figured out, how to raise somebody from the dead. Cryonics. freezing the body to
stop the process of decay, hoping that at a later date we'll be
able to give life to the dead. That's a vain hope, utterly vain. I think of Ted Williams, arguably
the greatest baseball player of all time, last person to hit
400, 1941. They froze him. This kid's frozen. The moment he died, he was frozen,
hoping that one day he'll be able to live again. We'll figure out a way to raise
the dead. It's not going to happen. Lazarus
is dead. Look in verse 14 of John chapter
11. Then Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Verse 17. Then when Jesus came,
he found that he'd lain in the grave four days already. Four days dead. Verse 21. Then said Martha, as soon as
she heard that Jesus was... Then said Martha unto Jesus,
verse 21, Lord, if thou hadst been here, My brother had not
died. Verse 39. Jesus said, take ye
away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. That's
how advanced the process of decay has become. By this time he stinketh,
for he's been dead four days. Now question, why is Lazarus
Dead. Same reason you and I will die.
Sin. By one man, sin entered the world. And death by sin. The reason you and I are going
to die, the reason Lazarus died, is because of sin. In Adam, all die. The wages of sin is death. God's just, God's holy, God's
righteous. He's not gonna let sin just be
swept under the carpet. Sin must be punished. If it were not, God would cease
to be a just God, a holy God, a righteous God. Lazarus has
died because of sin. Now, in the scripture, there
are actually three different types of death. First, spiritual
death. You remember when the Lord said
to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, speaking of that fruit, in the
day you eat thereof, that very day, the very moment you eat
of that fruit, You shall die. He didn't say, if you eat the
fruit, you'll die. He said, when you do, you will
die. This was all a part of God's
sovereign purpose, just as everything else is. And the glorious thing
about our Lord is he brings good out of evil. What Adam did was
evil. And oh, the good God brings out
of it. Only he can do this. I mean, you can't do that. He
can. He's God. But he died spiritually. He lost the ability to have communion
with God. He lost the ability to love God.
He lost the ability to see any beauty in God. He was spiritually
dead. And you and I are born into this
world. spiritually dead, unable to do anything with reference
to the Lord God. And then there's physical death.
Here's Lazarus, stinking, physical death. And then there is eternal
death. Now just as a dead man cannot
perform the functions of physical life, you can show him a beautiful
picture, he can't see it. You can play beautiful music
to him, he can't hear it. You can give something that smells
good or bad, he can smell neither. He's dead, you can kick him,
he doesn't feel it, he's dead. You can pat him on the back in
encouragement, he doesn't feel it, he's dead. You can give him
something good to eat, doesn't taste good to him. You can give
him something bad to eat, same, he's dead, spiritually dead,
physically dead. Now, spiritual death is the same
thing, spiritually. If the Lord hadn't given me life,
I can't hear the gospel. Oh, I hear it audibly, but I
can't hear it as gospel. It's just words. I can't see
any beauty in God's way of salvation. I can't see the beauty of Jesus
Christ. I can't taste that he's gracious. My spiritual senses are dead. Now that's the state of the natural
man. Lazarus simply pictures the state
of the natural man, dead. If you are without spiritual
life, you are dead in trespasses and sins. And this is wicked. This is not just, well, we feel
sorry for somebody that's dead. Well, we do, but it's blameworthy. A willing hatred. of God, a willing hatred of His
way of saving sinners. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. It lacks the ability. Now, there are two words that
describe this spiritual death. The words depravity, that's a
harsh word, isn't it? depraved. Depravity and inability. Where you have one, you have
the other. Now, what is meant by these terms? More importantly, what you say,
well, these terms aren't in the Bible, but they're not. Neither
is the Trinity, but it's taught. Neither is sovereignty, but it's
on every page. What is meant by these terms
of depravity and inability, that's the state of spiritual death. Well, here's a verse of scripture
that describes total depravity. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, And
God saw, this is what God saw. We're not talking about what
men see. We're talking about what God sees. And isn't that
all that counts? And God saw. the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Total depravity doesn't mean
everybody's an ax murderer. You would be, apart from the
grace of God. You know that, I realize that. Doesn't mean
everybody's out robbing banks. It means every faculty is under
the dominion of sin. Your conscience, trust your conscience. You better not. It'll fool you. Your heart, your motives, your will is under the dominion
of sin. Somebody says, I've got a free will. No, you don't. Your
will is controlled by your nature. You have a sinful nature and
that's what controls your will. There's no such thing as free
will. The things we ought to hate,
we love. The things we ought to love, we hate. That is the
state of the natural man, totally depraved. Every faculty, there's
not one good thing about us. Every imagination. of the thoughts
of his heart is only evil continually. This is what God sees. Now, somebody
says, well, I'm a nice guy. Well, I'm sure you are. I'm glad
you are, you ought to be. But we're talking about what God
sees. Only, only evil continually. And then there is the total inability
that rises out of this total depravity. The Lord said, no
man can come to me. He didn't say no man may come,
you can come if you will. But no man can come to me, except
it were given him of my Father. The natural man, 1 Corinthians
2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they're foolishness unto him, neither indeed can
he know them. He can't. If you're without the
Spirit of God right now, you cannot understand the Gospel,
you can't figure it out, you can hear words, you can give
agreement to certain things, but there's no true spiritual
understanding in the natural man. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither indeed can he know them
because they're spiritually discerned. You have to be spiritually alive. You have to be quickened from
being dead in sins before you can hear the gospel as gospel. There, Lazarus lays the process
of decay has set in. And I've got a question. What will take place without
divine intervention? He's gonna continue to rot. He's
going to stay dead. unless God gives him life. Now, how dependent are we upon
God to give us life if we're dead? We're totally, 100% dependent
upon Him. Now, the same is true of a man
dead in sins. He'll stay that way if God doesn't
give him life. If God doesn't give you life,
if God doesn't give me life, we will stay dead in sins After
that, physical death will certainly come, and after that, eternal
death, the eternal punishment of sin. The command, Lazarus, come forth. Christ commanded Lazarus to do
what he could not do. Isn't that what's going on in
the preaching of the gospel? We're commanding men to do what
they cannot do. The objection men have to this
is, would God command man to do what he can't do? Is that
right? To command somebody to do something
that they cannot do, that they lack the ability to do. Is that
right? When God gave the Ten Commandments, was there even one person in
all the world that had the ability to keep them? Not one. Was he wrong for giving
the Ten Commandments then? Well, you know better than that. The law exposes sin and gives
no power to obey. Was God unjust in giving the
commandment because men were unable to obey them? Of course
not. Why would God command men to
do what they cannot do? Young men don't really believe
He'd do that. People think, well, God wouldn't
do that. He wouldn't command us to do
something we can't do. So we make up a scenario where we do
something. It's called free will. That's
exactly what it's called. This is really the issue. Men
think, well, I'm sinful, but I do have a free will and I can
decide to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior or I can
reject it. Salvation is in my hands. I have a free will. I can do something. Now, the Lord said, all that
ever came before me, are thieves and robbers. If you think there's
something that you can do that will precipitate your salvation,
you've missed it. You don't really understand that
you are a sinner needing a savior. If you think there's anything
that you must first do before God can save you, Now, the scripture denies that.
It's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. Your
efforts, it's of God that showeth mercy. And this is what men object
to, the objectivists. I think of In Romans chapter
nine, where it says, with regard to Pharaoh, even for this same
purpose, have I raised thee up that I might show my power in
thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, whom he wills,
he hardens. And let me remind you, all God's
got to do to harden your heart is leave you alone. Nothing else
is needed. He leaves me and you alone, our
hearts will be as hard as granite, unable to respond to the gospel.
And then Paul says, thou wilt save me. Why does he yet find
fault? For who has resisted his will? If he can harden my heart,
how can he hold me responsible for my sin if he's the one hardening
my heart? Paul says, nay, but O man, who
are you to reply against God? You're in no position to make
any objection to anything God does. He's God. Whatever He does
is holy, right, just, and good. God is absolutely sovereign.
Men are absolutely responsible. You're responsible to obey God.
Well, I can't! That doesn't get you off the
hook. You're still responsible. I'm sure if a man ran over somebody
through being intoxicated, he could say to the judge, well,
I couldn't control myself. I was drunk. I couldn't. What's
the judge going to say? Oh, you're off the hook then.
No, you are held responsible. Responsibility doesn't mean ability. But sovereignty does not deny
man's responsibility. And we are all held responsible. Now, why would God command a
man to do what he can't do? Well, first of all, because he's
God. I like that answer, because he's God. Parents, this is a
good thing to learn. If your children calls you into
question, why do I have to do this? Because I said it. That's
a good answer. Because I said it. No other reason
is needed. Why do I need a better explanation
than that? Because I said it. That's authority. I believe what
God says because He said it. And nothing else is needed. But this also, Him commanding
us to do what we cannot do, shows us our inability and our sinfulness. I'm in a pickle. I'm being called
upon to do that which I cannot do and am responsible to do.
But this shows us his power too, doesn't it? Hath not the potter
power over the clay? Of the same love to make one
to honor and one to dishonor. And how this magnifies his grace.
We're made to see really that salvation really is by grace.
It's all of grace. Because if he doesn't do something
for me, Like Lazarus, I will continue to be dead. And this shows us clearly that
it is what he does that makes the difference, not what we do. Who makes you to differ from
another? God does, if you believe. What do you have that you didn't
receive? Nothing. Salvation is of the Lord. The command to Lazarus Come forth. Now, listen to this. This wasn't
an offer. You know, I hate it when preachers
say, God's offering you forgiveness, or God's offering you life. God
doesn't offer anything. He commanded him to come forth.
He didn't say, Lazarus, it's up to you. I'm offering you the
ability to, I mean, if you want to come from the grave, I'm giving
you this offer. What would have happened? Nothing.
the free offer of the gospel. I just don't like that language.
The gospel is not an offer, it's a command. If it's offered to
me, some way I'll mess it up. I'm sure of that about myself.
If I have to, well, it's up to you to accept the offer. Well,
I'll die then. I need to be given life. Lazarus,
come forth. Now, what was behind this command?
Look in John chapter 11, verse Three, therefore his sister sent
unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. That's what was behind the command,
the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there are a great number
of people that he loves. I wanna be one of them, don't
you? I wanna be one of them. I wanna be like John, that disciple
that Jesus loved. What was behind his command? Lazarus, come forth. He loved
Lazarus. He was one of those people Behold,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. His love is for his elect, his
sheep. Ephesians 2, 4, 5 says, but God
who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved
us even when we were, what? dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. The Lord came to save Lazarus. The Lord came to save all of
his people. Here's the message of the gospel.
Lazarus, come forth. Revelation 22, 17, the spirit
and the bride say, come. May the Lord enable me to say
this as it ought to be said. The message of the gospel is
come to Christ right now. Not go and do. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. The only fitness
he requires is to have a need of him. Don't wait to get better. Don't wait till you understand
more. Don't wait till you've stopped this sin and started
doing this good thing. Then you're fit to come. No,
you're not. You're to come right now. Nothing,
don't look for anything else. Lazarus, first get your life
straightened out and then come forth. Lazarus, when you got
more understanding, you can come then. No, right now. Lazarus, Come forth. But I need to know more. I need
to experience more. I need to feel my sin more. I
need to improve in some areas. Surely I can't come just as I
am. Lazarus, come forth. There's nothing that's keeping
you except your own wicked self-righteousness. That's the only reason that you
wouldn't come to Christ right now. You're looking for some
reason in yourself. You're looking for some goodness
in yourself. Quit looking there. It's not there. I remember one time a guy came
up to me and started telling me about that. He said, I'm worried
about my sinfulness. I said, let me assure you it's
a lot worse than you think it is. The only hope somebody like Lazarus
has is for the Lord to say in sovereign power and grace, come
forth, come. Don't wait and do anything. Don't
wait. Don't wait till tomorrow. Tomorrow
might not be here. Right now, Lazarus, come forth. Question. Could Lazarus have said no? Could that have happened? No,
I don't think I'm going to. No. He that was dead came forth. And you know, this was before
a lot of witnesses. You think those people freaked
out when all of a sudden Lazarus comes out of that tomb, hobbling
in grave clothes? But there he was. I'm sure that
this blew their minds. Now this is what is known as
the effectual call. Lazarus, come forth. Oh, if the Lord says to you,
come forth, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna come forth.
He that was dead came forth. John chapter five, verse 25.
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. Matthew, follow me. He got up, forsook all, and followed
the Lord Jesus Christ. Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. Today I must abide at thy house.
You know what it says? He made haste, came down. It's
always coming down. That's my problem, I'm too far
up. Come down. He made haste, came down, and
received him joyfully. Lazarus, come forth. Now this is a personal call.
You see, he calls his own sheep by name. And I've never heard my name
taught. Never heard that. Somebody says,
Lord said this to me. I heard him say, no, I don't
believe it. But I heard my name in the preaching
of the gospel when I found out that I'm a sinner and sinners
are to come to him. I heard my name. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. I hear
my name. I hear my name. That's my right to come. I'm
somebody who needs him. You see, this is the call of
omnipotence. Only God can give a man life
from the dead. What a powerful call. If you
come to Christ, it's the omnipotence of God that caused you to. If
you live, it's the omnipotence of God that gave you life. Oh,
the power of the gospel. The kingdom of God is not in
word, but in power. The power of the gospel. He that was dead, came forth,
but something very unusual. This is not the way I would have
had it happen. I'd have had him running out
and jumping and leaping and just, but that's not the scriptural
account of what took place. Verse 44, and he that was dead
came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Now I don't know if he looked
like a mummy. I don't know what the process of grave clothes
was back then. I know that this was a wealthy
family and I'm sure he was given a fairly wealthy burial and he
was Bound with these grave clothes, but he comes out hopping or,
I don't know, you know, shuffling. He can't see, his face is covered
up. He's got life. Here he comes, bound with grave
clothes. And there's so much significance
to that. Even when we're given spiritual
life, we still carry about with us what Paul calls this body
of death. He calls it that. And we still
have our fallen nature and we still have the grave clothes
of our old religion and our old way of thinking. Every one of
us do. You've got great clothes you're wearing right now. I've
got great clothes I'm wearing right now and we'll spend the
rest of our lives removing through the renewing of our mind, those
great clothes. Now, what did the Lord say? Do
you realize you got grave clothes? Do you realize you just got wrong
ways of thinking? Even now, even though you've heard the gospel,
you still got so many wrong ways. I've still got so many wrong
ways of thinking. I still have the grave clothes
of my old man that's still got the grave clothes of my own way
of thinking. What does Christ do? He gives
a twofold command. Loose him. And let him go. Set him free. Unbind him. And let him go. He didn't say, now here's, now
that you've got life, here's what you need to do. Give him
a bunch of things. Nothing like that. Loose him. Set him free. And let him go. I hope I understand this eternal
principle. Law never produces love. It only produces fear and resentment. That's all law. If you give me
something, you need to do this, you need to do that. All I'm
looking at is what I need to do. Law never produces love. You know what produces love?
Grace. Loose Him, set Him free, and
let Him go. Look in chapter 12 for a moment,
verse 1. Then Jesus, six days before the
Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead,
whom he raised from the dead. There they made him the Lord
of Supper, and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that
sat at the table with him." I want to be one of them, don't you?
What did he wanna do? He wanted to sit at the table
with him. That's what he wanted to do when
he was set free. I would like you to turn to Mark
chapter 10 for a moment. Mark chapter 10. Verse 46. And they came to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. He blind as a bat. He couldn't
work. He sat by the highwayside, I
guess with his cup out, waiting for someone to give him something. And he was vocal about it. Would
you give me something? I need it. Verse 47, when he had heard
that it was Jesus of Nazareth, Now he was sitting there begging
and all of a sudden he heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Now I'm giving my opinion of what took
place because we're not told exactly, but he knew who Jesus
of Nazareth was, the son of David. And I have no doubt that he had
been led into the synagogue and heard the scripture read. And
there's a lot of promises of him giving sight to the blind.
And one day he heard that Jesus of Nazareth gave sight to the
blind. That's him. That's the Messiah. That's who he is. And I'm sure
he thought if he ever passes this way, I'm going to cry out. I'm going to cry. Oh, I'm going
to cry. Well, he's sitting there begging
and he hears a commotion. And he says, what is this? Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. Oh, I pray that it's what he's
doing right now. Passing by me and you to give us grace. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Verse 47, when he heard there
was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry, Jesus, thou son of David. He knew he was the Messiah, David's
son, David's Lord, the son of David. And only if it's one person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Christ, God's Messiah. Have mercy
on me. And then he charged him that
he should hold his peace. You know, you're going to have
all kinds of voices in your mind, in your heart saying, just shut
up, hold your peace. What did he do? He cried the
more, a great deal. Any inclination you have to hold
your peace, stop it. Do what Bartimaeus does. He cried
them o'er a great deal. Have mercy on me. You see, if
you're a sinner, you know what you need is mercy. That's what
you need. If you have any goodness, you
don't need mercy. You need justice. You need God
to give you what he owes you. But if you're a sinner, oh, you
need mercy. And that's why the Lord, the
Son of David, came to put away the sins of God's people, to
put away the sins of those who by His grace will believe, so
they stand before God without guilt because of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the Son of David can do
this. Oh, He's the Son of David. Son of David. Shut up, Bartimaeus. He cried the more. A great deal. Do the same in your heart right
now. Verse 49, and Jesus stood still. Now he was on his way to the
cross and the scripture says he set his face like a flint.
Nothing's gonna stop him. But this cry for mercy made him
stand still. He stood still. You cry for mercy, he's gonna
stand still. And he's gonna listen to your
cry. And he commanded him to be called. He didn't say ask him if he wants
to come, offer him a, no, he commanded him. The gospel to
command. He commanded him to be called
and they called the blind man saying unto him, be of good comfort,
rise, he calleth thee and he casting away his garment. Now, if you come to Christ, there's
a garment you're going to cast away. your own righteousness. You're going to see that it's
a filthy garment and you don't want to have anything to do with
it. And you're going to throw it away. I mean, you're going
to cast it away. It's not going to be something you're going to
go on. No, you see what it is. He did. He cast it away. It came to Jesus and Jesus answered
and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do? Oh, don't miss that. Not what
are you gonna do? What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. That's my need. And Jesus said unto him, Go that
way. Do you know that's the same word
in our text in John chapter 11? Loose him and let him go. Go your way. You're set free. Go your way. Not, you need to
start doing this, and you need to start doing that, and you
need to start getting that. Go your way. I told Janine before the service,
I was going to tell something to her. First time I ever heard
somebody say this, it was her dad, Bill, missionary to Africa
and France and such a dear man. Lord used him greatly. I love
the man dearly. But the first time I ever heard
him say this statement, trust Christ and do what you want to. You know, the first person, he's
the first person I've ever heard say it, but Martin Luther was
the first person that I've read where he said that, trust Christ
and do what you want to. Do you know that scares people
to death? Well, that'll lead people to sin. That'll lead people to
indifference. That'll lead people to all kinds
of horrible things to say, trust Christ and do what you want to.
Well, that's what he said to Bartimaeus. Go your way. Set
free. Go your way. You're made whole. Thy faith
hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus in the way. You see, I know what your
want to is. It's to follow Jesus in the way. the way, set free to do that. That's the desire of every believer
to be one of them. He was described as one of them,
which sat with Jesus at the table. I'll be one of them, don't you?
I want to follow him. That's what I want to do. And
that's what every believer wants to do. He comes out with grave
clothes, bound hand and foot, and the Lord gives a twofold
command. Loose him, unbind him, and let
him go. Set him free. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
gospel. How we thank you that because
of what your son accomplished on the cross, you gave dead sinners
life. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you would speak in power to a dead sinner and say,
live and say, loose him and set him free. Lord, that's above
the strength and energy of this flesh, but we look to you to
do this for us and in us. Bless us for Christ's sake. In
his name we pray.