I will start this morning in John 1, or a call to worship. John 1, 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was nothing made that was made. And in him was
life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth
in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Let's pray. Our Father, we pray that you might shine
this light on us this morning. We know that light is Christ.
And we pray, Father, that you would receive all the glory and
all the honor as we worship you. In Jesus' name, amen. This morning, I The lesson I'd like to talk about
is found in John 11. John 11. Most of you are familiar with
the scripture account of Lazarus
and for me, I want to start with the gospel,
because that's the joy that we have in
Christ. And so, our Father made Christ sin for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's my favorite verse. Because,
and this particular verse reveals something that is very
important. You know, Christ is righteousness. And you know, in this account of Lazarus, There's
a contrast between when Christ was in the grave, he never was corrupted because
he is righteous. He is holy God and holy man in
the flesh. And it's very important that
we see that. Christ in his person was never
sin, and yet, He bore our sin, all the sin of all the elect
were laid upon him. And then God poured out his wrath
upon him. And we see that in scripture,
and we know that this is true. But in the opposite, in the account
we're gonna talk about Lazarus, Lazarus, when he was in the grave,
was corrupted. His flesh turned into corruption. And he stank. He had a bad odor. But we look at that, and there's
an example that we have to see in that. Because in the scriptures,
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection
and the life. We have to understand that this
whole scenario, this whole account, that's a really, and I'm gonna
read Romans 11, or I mean John 11, but it's a very tender story. It's a deeply moving story about
a death of a loved one. And so, We have this account,
and it's for a purpose. Now, the purpose is always to
give glory to God, and we can see that in verse four, 11-4.
And we know that the greater purpose for us now, you know,
the doctrine of the resurrection, there's a doctrine
of the resurrection. And this is only a little portion
of it, but it's so critical. And so it's important for us
to understand, because we have to understand that if we're going
to talk about resurrection, we have to talk about death. And
so there's something that In religion, they don't have
this right. In religion, most of us were
always taught wrong. And you know, there's a way of
saying that in Romans 10, it says, we have a zeal for God,
but not according to knowledge. And that's the problem, that
religion can get us in such trouble. because they don't really see
their condition. The condition is that we come
into this world dead and we cannot reach God, we can't speak to
God. And we have the knowledge of
good and evil. That was the understanding that
we have with Adam when he sinned. When he sinned, they knew what
good and evil was. But they always thought they
could reach out to God and talk to God. But I want you to look
at a verse in John 9. Let's turn back a couple of pages.
John 9, 31 says, now we know that God heareth no sinners. Now this is a two-edged sword.
But if a man be a worshiper of God, he doeth his will, him he
heareth. Now this is a pivotal verse. On one side, It's saying that
God doesn't hear a sinner. Well, when we come into this
world, we're under Adam's sin. We're debtor and adorner. I like
to say we're like roadkill. You know, you come driving on
a road and you see a dead deer, and you know, it gets warm in
the summertime. You go by in another week, and
that dead deer, You can smell that dead deer before you get
within 100 yards. It's a picture of death. And this is what we are when
we come into this world. We are dead. And because when
Adam, when he sinned, the light went out. I'll put it that way,
the light went out. He had no relationship with God
anymore. He had fellowship with God. He
could speak to God. But when he sinned, the light
went out. His spirit died in the day that
he ate that fruit. And now he died some years later.
But you know, in religion, they don't understand that death. And they can base a whole understanding
of their religion based on free will. And free will is a part
of your old dead flesh. And it can't reach God. God says if you're a sinner,
he don't hear you. He don't hear you. And you know,
in Romans 3, there's something interesting. Take a look at Romans
3. And you see something that, you know, When it speaks of the
whole world guilty before God, and there's non-righteous, I
like to use Isaiah 53, it says, all we like sheep have gone astray.
But then when you're reading Romans, it says, and this is
everybody, this is the Jewish people, this is the Gentile people. He says, there is non-righteous. No, not one. This is verse 10. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
There is not one. Now here's the verse that I want
to point out. Their throat is an open sepulcher. That's an open tomb. That's how God looks at a sinner. And when you speak and you call
out to God, it's a foul odor. It's a stench if you don't have
Christ. So this is our state when we are
spiritually dead. But Christ, he said, I am the
resurrection and the life. And that's what this whole account
is about. Christ has to make us alive.
It's Christ, because we're dead. Christ has to make us alive,
and it's his life in us. And so, this is a very serious
thing, and you know, I said this before, if you don't get this
right, if God doesn't reveal this to you, you could spend
your whole life in great confidence that you have salvation, and
you really don't. You're living in a lie, because
God doesn't lie. He's faithful to himself. So this verse is a critical verse
here that you have to understand that God doesn't hear a sinner. He doesn't hear a sinner. You
need to be brought to life. I am the resurrection and the
life. Christ has to do that. We can't
do it ourself. It's impossible, you know. So you can see our state before
God. We are dead. And so we see what
it says in Romans 9. And we know that in Romans 5, we ought to read
that. Romans 5, verse 12. Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sin. For until the law, sin was in
the world, but sin was not imputed when there was no law. But listen
to this. Nevertheless, death reigned. from Adam to Moses,
even over all them that had not sinned, after the similitude
of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was
to come. Now, so death reigns. Death reigns because of sin. The wages of sin is death. We
all know that. We've been taught that. When you're dead, when you're
dead, there's only one person that can make you alive. When
he says, I am the resurrection and life, that's how life comes,
through Christ. He is the resurrection and the
life. So, now let's look at John 11. And you know, this whole text
is so that we believe. Jesus asked the question sometimes
about, do you believe? And you'll see this. And I almost
named, I didn't put a name on a sermon. I'm not a preacher,
but listen, I was gonna say, if I had a name on this, I'd
say, Lazarus had to die. Lazarus had to die. And you'll
see it when we read this. When you go through it, you see
it. Lazarus had to die. Christ had a purpose. There's
a purpose for this. And the characters in this text
are a beautiful picture of God's love. People that you see that In the scriptures, it says Jesus
loved them. And so this is a tremendous thing. How would you like to get a letter
of somebody with your name on it, and it was the Lord, and
he said, I loved you? That would be fantastic. But
you see these characters, three, you have Mary, and you have Martha,
and you have Lazarus. Now, Lazarus in this whole account
is silent. Okay, he's not speaking. But
we have these others here. And we have, the disciples are
here. All right, we're gonna deal with
that a little bit. Thomas. Now some of these believe,
all right, let's look at this. Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary which anointed the
Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sisters sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Wow, okay, so you see already
here who he loves. And when Jesus heard that, he
said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now, Jesus
loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. You know, it's a wonderful thing
that I was talking to Dana about this, you know, this love that
you see here just didn't happen. You know,
in eternity past, God loves his people. He calls them, he calls
them, uh, uh, his loves ones that he loved,
and there's those that he hated. Before anything, he created that. And he said, I love Jacob and
I hate Esau. And yet, this was an eternity
past. And so, when we read something
like this, and you know, You can't separate God and Christ. They're one. When God says he
loves, Christ loves. And so it's a wonderful thing
to see this. And so I wrote something that
God is love and God is holy. God is omnipotent. God is sovereign. God never changes his mind. God
knows the end from the beginning. I wrote this too, and I said,
you know, when was the Lamb's book of life written? In eternity
past. You realize that? In eternity
past. And you know, when we read that
all that the Father gave Christ, when did that happen? That happened
in eternity past. Eternity past. When was Christ
made surety for his people in the covenant in eternity past? Before the earth. Now, here's
the thing. When we come here, we come under
sin, okay? Even though God loves us, Christ
is our surety. And so in Christ, everything
is in Christ. Everything is in Christ. We can't
lift Christ up high enough. And so when he says he loves,
when Jesus says he loves these, it's a wonderful thing. And when
Jesus heard that he said, his sickness is not of the death,
but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified
thereby. And when Jesus, and now Jesus
had loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus, and when he had
heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still
in the same place where he was." Now, what did I say? What did
I say? Lazarus had to die, okay? So he stayed, he stayed. Then after that, he said to his
disciples, let us go into Judea. And his disciples say unto him,
Master, the Jews at late sought to stone thee, and goest thou
hither again? And Jesus answered, Are there
not twelve hours in a day? If any man walk in the day, he
stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But
if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no
light in him. And so we know that it's clear
what he's saying here. We know that he's talking about
himself. When Christ was there, when he
was with us, he was the light. When he was walking and preaching
and teaching, he was the light. And so we know that he was only here
for a short period of time. And he was not worried about,
remember a couple times he, in a crowd, when they wanted to
stone him, he could disguise himself and walk right away.
He was never in danger. He couldn't do anything before
the time. And then he says, these things
said he, and after that, he said unto them, our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. but I go that I may awake him
out of sleep. Now, it's interesting. Now, don't
forget, Lazarus is a beloved. He's someone he loves. Even though he's dead, look how
the Lord speaks about him. He says he's sleeping. He's sleeping. That's what all believers, when
we die, We're sleeping, in a sense, we're sleeping. It's not death. You know, a body, yeah, the body
dies, but the person lives. And so, and he says, he says,
our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him
out of sleep. Oh, then his disciples, Said, Lord, if he sleeps, it'll
be well. Albeit, Jesus spake of his death,
but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sake. Well, you know,
I shouldn't say this, but every time I read this, I start laughing
because it just strikes me God just works in a different
way. And, you know, you would never
speak to somebody that dies to their, you know, you wouldn't
say you were glad that they died. But he says it here, he says,
I'm glad for your sake that I was not there to the intent that
ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
him. Now said Thomas, now here's the verse that when you look
at it, you say, wow, this seems really out of place. Then said
Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto the fellow disciples, let
us also go that we may die with him. Now I want you to look for
a second here. Go over and look at Matthew 26. Matthew 26, and Jesus speaking to the disciples. But after I am risen again, this
is like 32, I'll start reading there. I will go before you into
Galilee. And I just read that because
Because the disciples, I sometimes think they just didn't hear what
he was saying, that he was gonna die and he was gonna be risen
up, that he would come back to life. And he says, but after
I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. And Peter answered
and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. And Jesus said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto you, this night before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter said unto him, though
I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise, now
this is what I want you to see. Likewise, also said all the disciples. So we always, I don't want to
say this this way, but we always pick on Peter like he was very
bold and he would say things like this. And we know what happened,
but all the disciples had the same mindset, they all had the
same idea, that they were going to die with Christ. And somehow, it's kind of, in a sense, it's
a kind of, they were going to help God,
or some kind of way that they would receive something out of
that. And you see that they all had the same idea. They were
not gonna deny the Lord. They were willing to die with
Christ. And what did the scriptures say?
God struck the shepherd and all the sheep scattered. See, God
had to change their mentality to what God wanted. But I want
you just to understand that Thomas had the same mentality, okay? He had the same mentality. So
here he is, and he sees this account in John 11 with Lazarus. So I might as well just stick
with this a little bit because he, in evidence, he saw the Lord,
raise up Lazarus from the dead. And this is all so that we believe,
okay, that I am the resurrection and life. And Thomas here, he
saw this, and yet he didn't believe. And okay, if you look at, Actually, the same account is
in John 14 about how their mindset was that they were going to die
with the Lord. But look at John 20. If I can find this here. John 20, look at 24, verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12, called
Didymus, now that's the same one, that's all Lazarus resurrected,
was not with them when Jesus came. Now I'm trying to establish
the fact that Thomas didn't believe. And the other disciples therefore
said unto him, we have seen the Lord, but he said unto them,
Except I see in his hands the prints of the nails and put my
fingers into the prints of the nails and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe." Now, he just really confessed
what I'm saying. And after eight days again, His
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. And then said he to Thomas, Thomas,
reach hither thy fingers, and behold my hands, and reach hither
thy hand, and thrust it into my side. And be not faithless,
but believing. And what does Thomas say? And
Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. Okay, there's the patience and the
forbearance of our Savior back here when he's dealing with these
loved ones here. And those that obviously God
loved, but they were not awakened to saving faith yet. They really had to see Christ
resurrected. But some did believe. Okay, let's
go on here. In verse 17, John 11, 17. Then Jesus came and he found
that he had lain in a grave for four days already. Now, Bethany
was nigh unto Jerusalem about 15 furlings, which is about two
miles off. And many of the Jews came to
Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then
Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and
met him. But Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But
I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will
giveth thee. And Jesus said unto her, thy
brother shall rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. And Jesus said unto her, I am
the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She said
unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she
had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister, secretly
saying, the master is come and call for thee. And as soon as
she heard that she arose quickly and came unto him. Now, Jesus
was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha
met him. The Jews then, which were with
her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that
she rose up hastily, went out, followed her, saying, She goeth
unto the grave, to weep there. Then, when Mary was come, where
Jesus was, and saw him, She fell at his feet, saying unto him,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. And
Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which
came with her. He groaned in the spirit and
was troubled. He was deeply moved and went
and said, where have you laid him? And they said unto him,
Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. Then said the
Jews, behold, how he loved him. And some of them said, could
not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
this man should not have died? Now, Jesus, therefore, again,
groaning in himself, coming to the grave, It was a cave, a stone
lay upon it. And Jesus said, take ye away
the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. In other words, he had an odor. For he hath been dead for four
days. And Jesus said unto her, said
I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst
see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heard me. And I know that thou hearest
me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me. 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. And Jesus said unto them, loosen
him and let him go. Now, you'll see here that the
next couple of verses, you'll see that some believe and some
didn't believe. Because some of the Jews which
came to Mary had seen the things which Jesus did. They believed
on him. But some of them went their way
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. And
of course, you know, the chief priests and stuff, they were
just, they were always wanting to stone Christ. And a matter
of fact, the truth is that they actually wanted to kill
Lazarus again later on, I'm sure the scripture doesn't tell us.
I mean, he raised them from the
dead, but I think they probably had him killed later on, and
he was probably martyred. But this account is a wonderful
account of God's raising Lazarus, and we are to we are to believe this account.
It's not a fable, it's a historical account. And it's based on his
love, we see. And he did all these things so
that we would believe that he is the
resurrection and the life. And I like to the scripture when it says about
when Mary was sitting in her house still and quiet. You know,
we have no formula for salvation, like religion. Our salvation
is all in Christ. He's the life giver. And we just
receive the truth. And what we do is we sit still
in our house and we just wait on the Lord.
He's the one that brings life. And we believe the scriptures and
his truth. And he said to Thomas, Don't be faithless, be believing. And that's what we're to do.
And so God gets the glory for all these things. And that's about all I can say. I
just, I want to thank the Lord for his grace. Lord, I do thank
you for your grace and for your mercy and for your great love.
We dispraise you in Jesus' name, amen. Take a break.