John chapter 11 this morning
is our text and will be our message from this chapter. Notice verse
11, John 11, 11. These things said he, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ, and after that he said unto them, our friend,
Lazarus, our friend, he sleepeth, he sleepeth, but I go that I
may awake him. I'm going to wake him up out
of his sleep. I'm taking the title for the
message from those words found in verse 11. Our blessed Redeemer says, our
friend. He's our friend. What a friend. Sleepeth. Now last week we learned
that even though the Lord Jesus loved this family, it says that
in verse 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister Mary and Lazarus. He loved them with a special
love, an intimate love. This is the love of God that's
manifested in Christ Jesus. This is that eternal, eternal,
sovereign, saving love. Yet, did not prevent Lazarus
from being sick, did not prevent him from sickness and from dying. But we also learned that all
this was brought to pass. purpose. All this was brought
to pass that the Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified, and that's
what everything's about, His glory, in raising Him from the
dead. Notice over in verse 40 of John
11, the Lord said to her, said I not unto thee that if thou
wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God? The glory
of God. Back in verse 4, the Lord said
when He'd heard that Lazarus had been sick, or was sick, this
sickness, He said, is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God, that the Son of God might be glorified. Behind everything that our great
and glorious God brings to pass is His glory. Everything He does,
He does on purpose. Everything he does, he does wisely.
He never makes a mistake. Everything he brings to pass
comes to pass on purpose for his glory. Even when sin, S-I-N,
entered into the picture, entered into this universe, this earth,
this world, into all men, humanity, even sin entered in that the
Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in putting away our sin. Now
think about that. Sin came in, not by accident,
sin came in by purpose, that God might be glorified in all
things. Remember this scripture from
Exodus 33 where Moses asked the Lord to show me your glory? And
he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. Now who needs mercy? Who needs
grace? Sinners! Did sin just happen? Was sin an accident? Did sin
enter into this universe, into Adam's race, into us by accident? or by purpose. You see, the Lord
Jesus Christ stood as a surety, the Savior, the Mediator, before
Adam ever was created or before Adam ever sinned. Before Adam sinned, the Lord
Jesus Christ stood. You see, sin even entered in
that the purpose of God and the glory of God might be manifested
in putting away sin and saving sinners. The Apostle put it this
way in Galatians 6, God forbid that we should glory save in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again this scripture that
I often quote about the glory of God in Romans 11, of him and
through him and to him. That covers everything, doesn't
it? Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom
be glory now and forever. And then he says, Amen. You see,
everything God does in the salvation of sinners, in the glorification
of sinners, in choosing sinners, in redeeming sinners, it all
works to the praise of His glory, doesn't it? Turn over to John
17 for a moment. Look at verse 1. John 17, verse
1. You see, Lazarus died. His sickness
wasn't accidental. His sickness was on purpose.
To the glory of God. Look at John 17 verse 1. These
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come. glorify thy son, that thy son
also may be glorified." See, it's all about His glory, salvation.
Salvation is about His glory. "...as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
we might know thee, that they might know Thee, the only true
God, Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee
on the earth." This is our Lord's priestly prayer. I finished the
work that You gave me to do. I finished it to Your glory.
And now, verse 5, "'O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own
self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.'"
You see, it all gets... The bottom line is this. His
glory, isn't it? Lazarus being sick, Lazarus dying,
Lazarus being raised from the dead is all about the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this, in Lazarus' sickness,
we see our sin. In Lazarus' death, we see the
result of sin. In Lazarus being raised from
the dead, we see the greatness of how great God's salvation
really is. He does indeed raise sinners
from the dead. And all this is a picture of
His sovereign grace. When the Lord Jesus Christ walked
in front of that grave of Lazarus, who had been dead four days,
He died on purpose. His sickness was on purpose.
God raised him up on purpose, all for His glory. But did you
notice when he says down here in verse 43 of John 11, and in
this we see the gospel of God's sovereign grace, don't we? When
the Lord walked in front of the tomb of his dead friend, he said,
and I don't know how many people were buried in that cemetery.
I'm sure there was, over the years, maybe thousands buried
there. But he didn't say, come forth,
did he? What would have happened if he
would have said, come forth? All of them want to come forth. But
you see the effectual, irresistible call of grace, personal, powerful,
pointed, directed to one man who is the friend of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Lazarus, come forth. And what happened? He that was
dead, like what it says, he that was dead came forth. Now you
see all that, and all this is a picture. Can't you see the
picture of sin entering in, sickness, death, and then life and resurrection
by the Lord Jesus Christ giving Lazarus life from the dead? See
all this happens. by the purpose of God. When Adam
sinned in the garden and brought death upon all men everywhere
and Adam all died, that wasn't an accidental death. That wasn't
an accidental sin. It was all arranged in the wise
counsel and purpose of God from all eternity. And what happens
when God is pleased to save a sinner and bring him from death unto
life in the Lord Jesus Christ? That is all happens, God never
saved a sinner by accident. Every sinner for whom He wisely
saved by His power and grace happens on purpose. Purpose. As Brother Mahan said,
if you ever get a hold of that word purpose, you'll learn the
Gospel. God saves sinners on His purpose,
by His own purpose and grace. In Adam, All die. In Adam, all have sinned. But in Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ now, all in him shall be made alive. Now, with having
said that, let's look at verse seven. The disciples, after the
Lord had declared his glory, the glory of God, he said, let
us go back to Jerusalem. Let us go back. Verse 8, his
disciples said to him, Master, the Jews of late sought the stone.
Do you want to go there again? Now the Lord Jesus Christ must
needs go back to Jerusalem. Now we've seen several times
where he comes to Jerusalem and then he leaves. Then he comes
back to Jerusalem. Every time there's a Passover,
he comes back to town to observe the Passover. Now, this time
here when He comes to Jerusalem, He doesn't leave, except by resurrection
glory. Because here, we're going to
see when He comes back to Jerusalem here, it's on the eve of the
cross. The Passover is just six days away. And he's going to
be sacrificed for our sin being our Passover. The Lord Jesus
Christ must need to go back to Jerusalem, not only to raise
Lazarus from the dead, but to do something else. He goes there
to lay down his life to put away the sin of all God's people and
to give his life a ransom for many. Turn to John, or rather
Matthew chapter 16. Turn over there, Matthew 16.
Remember our Lord said in John 10, no man takes my life from
me. You remember? I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. You see, He must go back to Jerusalem
because that's where God said that the Lamb of God would die.
That's where God's determined, God decreed that the Son of God
must put away our sin. He said to His disciples on another
occasion found in Matthew 16.21. Have you got it? Matthew 16,
21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples
how that he must go into Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders,
chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again
the third day. It must happen. It must take
place. Peter took him and began to rebuke
him, saying, Be it far from thee, God forbid, Lord, this shall
not be unto thee. Well, he didn't understand, did
he? You can't go back to Jerusalem. You must not go back there. You
must not die. Verse 23, but he turned and said
to Peter, get thee behind me. Satan, you're an offense unto
me, but I savors not the things that be of God. But those that
be of men, I must go to Jerusalem." And that's what the Lord is saying
here, let us go again and do Judea. Now, He knew exactly what
was awaiting Him there. He knew exactly what He was walking
into. You see, the cross didn't sneak
up on Him. Isaiah 50 says, He set His face
like a flint to go unto Jerusalem. Oh, I tell you, how What love? Herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and He laid down His
life for us. Now clearly in verse 8, the disciples
at this time had no idea of all that the Lord must do to accomplish
our salvation. But they did have a fresh memory
of something that did happen last time they were in town.
Do you remember? Turn back to John chapter 10.
And they were reluctant to follow the Lord, but you know what?
They did. They did. You see, His sheep followed Him.
You remember in John 10, verse 31, then the Jews took up stone
again to stone Him. Now, the disciples were with
Him. They probably would have been stoned too. And now here
the Lord said, we're going to go back to those people who hate
us. We're going to go back into that
hornet's nest and everything's going to be okay. Because He
says in verse 9 and 10, by way of this parable, Now a parable
is an earthly story that tells and presents us and gives unto
us a spiritual truth. And this parable teaches us about
the Lord's great saving and redemptive work. Let's read verse 9 and
10. The Lord said, Are there not
twelve hours in the day? And normally we say there are
twelve hours of daylight. And if you walk in the day, you
won't stumble because he seeth because the sun is shining bright.
Right? We all understand that principle.
But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles because there's no
daylight. It's dark. It's dark out. Now,
here's what he's saying. Usually there's 12 hours of daylight
in which we can work or walk and then the night falls when
there is a hindrance in working or walking. Now here's what he's
teaching. There's a set time given to him
by the Father to accomplish his redemptive work. You remember
in John 17 we just read he said, my hour has come. You remember
on other occasions when he escaped out of their hands he said, what
did he say? My hour has not yet come. You
see, there's a set time determined and decreed of God that the Lord
Jesus Christ must come, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. There is a set time
when the Lord must accomplish the Father's purpose. Now turn
back to John chapter 9. Verse 4, John chapter 9, remember
he said here, I must work the works of him that sent me, while
it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. Now he's setting
forth the same principle. The Lord Jesus Christ was given
a set, definite time to accomplish God's purpose in saving His covenant
people. Can anybody alter that time?
Can anybody change God's purpose? No. Remember how many times the Lord
told us that he said, I must be about my father's business.
I must be about my father's work. The Lord is now at this time
in the 11th hour. He's about to depart and die
for us and put away our sin. The 11th hour of his work when
he should soon depart away by the cross. having laid down his
life, having died for our sin according to Scripture. The night
time here speaks of his death when the work of salvation is
accomplished. When the work of salvation is
done. Make no mistake, the Lord Jesus Christ here actually accomplished
everything that God gave him to do. He left nothing undone.
The work of salvation and the work of redemption is not an
undone work. It's a finished work. It's an
accomplished work. He said in John 19.30, his last
breath upon the cross before he gives his life a ransom for
sin, he said, it is done. It's finished. It's completed.
It's accomplished. Now, I mentioned four things. all scripture is fulfilled in
the death of the coming and dying and the doing of the Lord Jesus
Christ now let me show you that turn back to Luke 24 he left
nothing undone all scripture fulfilled he died for our sin
according to the scripture in Luke 24 Luke 24 verse 44 Luke
24 44 these are the words which I have spoken to you while I
was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which are written
in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said, Thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ." It became necessary
because it's written. for Christ to suffer to rise
from the dead the third day being delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem you are witnesses of these things so the Lord Jesus
Christ actually accomplished all things written of him in
the scripture all scripture fulfilled secondly he accomplished complete
atonement for the sin of His covenant people. Complete atonement. He actually took all the sins
of God's covenant people, His elect. They were laid upon Him. Those sins were charged to Him.
And He actually paid the full price for our sin. God made Him sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. Did He accomplish salvation in putting away our sin? Absolutely. Is there any sin that any believer
has that's not completely atoned for? And not completely put away
and expiated? No! He put away all our sin. He made complete atonement for
sin. His atonement is not a failure.
He put away all the sin. He accomplished. He obtained
eternal redemption for us. And He established, thirdly,
righteousness for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He
actually established a perfect, justifying righteousness for
us, and He freely gives that unto us. Blessed is the man whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. See, He left nothing
undone. You see, we receive salvation
as the free gift of His grace. He actually justifies us by His
grace. Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely, freely give us some things? know all things." We have all
blessings in Christ Jesus. You see, He did accomplish our salvation.
Now, here's the last thing I want to bring before you. Verse 11 and following. These things said he, and after
that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. But
I go, I go that I may awake him out of sleep." Then said his
disciples, Lord if he sleeps, he's doing well. How be it the
Lord speak of his death? But they thought that he had
spoken of taking rest and sleep. Then the Lord plainly said unto
them in language they could get a hold of, Laddreth is dead. And then he said, this strange
thing, I'm glad. Laddreth is dead. And I'm glad. I'm glad for your sake that I
wasn't there to the intent, the reason, the purpose, that you
may believe nevertheless let us go. Let us go unto him." Now, the Lord tells us two things
about Lazarus here. Both of them are absolutely true.
He says first of all, Lazarus sleepeth. And the second thing
he says, Lazarus is dead. Both statements are true. Whatever
the Lord speaks is true, isn't it? Absolute truth. But notice this. He says, our
friend, our friend, Lazbarth. What a blessing for every believer
to be considered by the Lord Jesus Christ his friend. He's that friend that's taken
closer than a brother. You know, Abraham, it says in
Scripture two or three times, Abraham was called the friend
of God. Oh, I want a friend like that.
I pray the Lord by his grace considers me to be a friend in
him. of Him, by Him and through His
grace. Notice something else. Notice
how the Lord considered death. He said Lazarus was sleeping.
Now many times in the Scriptures the death of the believer is
called and referred to as sleep. Sleep. Now let's look at a few.
Turn back to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. There was a ruler
of the synagogue, Luke chapter 8, who had little daughter in Luke chapter
8 look verse 41 Luke 8 41 turn and read this with me Luke 8
41 behold there came a man named Jairus he was a ruler of the
synagogue and he fell down at Jesus feet and besought him that
he would come into his house for he had one For he had one
only daughter, twelve years of age, and she lay dying. But as he went, the people thronged
him. And the woman came with issue
of blood. And then look down at verse 49. While he yet spake,
there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying
to him, Thy daughter is dead. Some said, Well, don't bother
the master, don't trouble him. The Lord, when he heard that,
saying, Fear not, Believe only, and she shall be made whole."
Luke 8, 51. And when he came into the house,
he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, James, and John,
and the father and the mother of this 12-year-old girl. And all wept and bewailed her. And he said, Weep not. She's not dead. She's not dead. She's sleeping. Sleeping. And
they laughed him to scorn. Now, not Peter and John and the
mother and the father, but those who were in the house when they
heard that, when the Lord said, she's not dead, she's sleeping.
They laughed him to scorn. Now watch, read on. And he put
them all out and took her by the hand and called, saying,
Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and
she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. And
her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they
should tell no man what was done. The maid was sleeping. Now turn
over to Acts chapter 8, I'll show you another. Acts chapter
7 rather, when Stephen, the servant of the Lord, was preaching the
gospel, And when the religious Pharisees were very angry and
mad at him, they took up stones and they did stone him in Acts
chapter 7. Verse 57, "...then cried out
with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him
with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet,
whose name was Saul. They stoned Stephen, calling
upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, received my spirit, and he kneeled
down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Now he
was dead, he died. He died. You remember what we
read over here, don't turn, let me just read it to you again,
over in 1 Thessalonians 4. If for if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also would sleep in him,
rest in him, will the Lord bring with Him. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
under the coming of the Lord, and that shall not precede them
which are asleep, those who have died in Christ." You see, to
a believer, That's why death is called precious. Precious. Sleeping with the Lord. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. That is why death to a believer
is called blessed. Blessed are they who die in the
Lord. For a believer, the Apostle says,
to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of the
Lord. Our Lord said to that dying thief,
today you'll be with me in paradise, resting with the Lord. The Apostle
said in Philippians 1, 21, for me to live is Christ and to die
is gain. So when believers depart, and
we'll look at this again in a minute, when believers depart, they leave
this tabernacle of clay, this tabernacle of flesh, and this
body is dead, but the person's not. To be absent from this body
is to be in the presence of the Lord, at rest in Christ Jesus. But this is also true. Look back
to John 11 again. Verse 13 and 14, the Lord says
here in verse 14, the Lord said to them, Lazarus is dead. This is also true. The body or
the tabernacle that Lazarus occupied, and that's what this flesh is,
it's a tabernacle. It's a tent, a frail tent that
will be folded up. And when the Lord is pleased
to remove our soul and spirit from this body, there is nothing
left but a lifeless, dead, rotting corpse. Lazarus has been dead
four days and he's rotten. He's smelly. When the Lord calls
us out of this life, there is nothing left of this body but
dust. Nothing left but a shell. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. We have this treasure
in an earthen vessel. Sometimes when you have opportunity,
read Ecclesiastes chapter 12, because it talks about death. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth. It starts there and then ends
with old age and dying. And it says this, then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was, that's where this
body came from. And the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it. Now the body's gonna die and
go back to the earth. But the Spirit's gonna live,
the soul's gonna live and be at rest with the Lord Jesus Christ.
But you know, even that is not the end of our body, is it? Not the end of our body. The
Lord will come again, resurrect our body, make it like unto His
glorious body, and unite our redeemed soul with our glorified
body, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Turn over here
to John chapter 14. That's why the Lord said, 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. Our Lord said in John 14, look
at verse one, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. But I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again. and receive you to myself, that
where I am, there you may be also." You see, the end of this
body, when we take our loved ones, our friends, believers
who have died, and we put their body in the grave, we put it
there with an anticipation of a glorious resurrection. It's
sown in corruption, it'll be raised in incorruption. It's
sown in weakness, it'll be raised in power. What a glorious, glorious
day that will be when the Lord is pleased to bring our body
out of the tomb, unite our redeemed soul with our glorified body.
Think of it! Having a body that will never,
ever be capable of death, sickness, dying, or sin. to worship God
like we want to, like we ought to, love Him like we really should.
What is death? Think about it. What is death? Well, to a funeral home, it's
more business, isn't it? Bob and Carol were in the funeral
home business for 50 years. To the funeral home, death is
more business. What is death? To the courthouse,
it's another will to be filed and executed. What is death to
the newspaper? It's another obituary that needs
to be written. What is death to the philosopher?
It's a great mystery. To the insurance company, it's
another claim that must be paid. What is death to the cemetery?
It's another grave that must be dug up. To the unbeliever, death is the
beginning of endless torment and eternal punishment. Our Lord
said, if you believe not that I am, you'll die in your sin. If you die in your sin, you cannot
come where I am. What is death? To the believer
at the time of departure. The Apostle Paul, did you ever
notice that? Turn back over here to 2nd Timothy.
We looked at this earlier today, 2nd Timothy chapter 4. To the
believer, it's a, I like the way the Apostle Paul writes about
his death and execution here. He's getting, he's in prison
in Rome. He's getting ready to be executed
for the gospel. But he says here, in 2 Timothy
chapter 4, verse 6, Now I'm ready to be offered, poured out, and
the time of my departure is at hand. Paul, where are you going?
What is he departing to? Well we know they took his headless
body, his corpse, and they put it somewhere in the ground. And
it's still there, waiting for the glorious resurrection. But
where did Paul depart unto? Well to be absent from this body
is to be present with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, death
seems So final, so permanent. But to the believer, it's not. To the believer, death is not
punishment, it's promotion. Departing from this life. Death
to the believer is not punishment, it's promotion. Death to the
believer is graduation. It's coronation. It's separation
of our soul from our body. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. You see, look back over here
at John chapter 8 just a minute. John chapter 8. To the believer, there is no death. You heard
me right. To the believer there is no death.
We've already died with Christ Jesus. Now we have life and salvation. Look here at John 8 verse 51. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
if a man keep my saying, he'll never see death. You see, there is a departure
But for the believer, that soul redeemed that's made alive and
one with Christ, there is no death. We just go to be with
the Lord. We go to be with Him. That's
why it says in verse 26 of John 11, Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me will never die. Will never die. We can no more
perish than he can. Saying that we're one with him
and he says in John 14, 19, Because I live, you shall live. that we put these frail tents,
we fold them up, we put them in a box, and we bury them away. But we know they're not there.
The believer's not now. He's with the Lord. Now, these
last few years, we've said goodbye to some friends who have died,
all who were saved by the Lord's grace, called out of darkness
into His marvelous light. They're forever with the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're forever with Him. Set
free from pain. Set free from death. Set free
to die no more. Set free from sin. Set free to
love and worship the Lord Jesus Christ forever. Set free. Set
free. Now let me give you this simple
illustration. This is a simple illustration.
I think it will illustrate this, what I'm trying to say. Have you ever in the spring of
the year, we've had this happen several times over at the house,
in the spring of the year we'll see the birds start to come alive
and they'll start feeding and they'll start mating and before
long we see a bird, he'll start bringing in twigs and branches
and dried up grass and all of a sudden they're building a nest. And then they lay some eggs in
there. You know, I go over there and peek and look down to count
the eggs and I'll go out and I'll look at it every day. I'll
go out there and look at that, see how long it takes for those
eggs to... I know there's life in that egg.
There's a little bird in that egg being formed. And then one
day you walk out and that little bird starts pecking through that
shell. And you go out there the next
day and you see all them broken shells. And the little birds
are in that nest. And they grow and they get feathers.
And then eventually you walk out there and the little birds
are gone. They're gone. They're free. And what's behind the shell?
The shell. That's what death is to a believer.
The shell is left behind. It's brittle. It's frail. It
will go back to the dust. But the bird, that soul, is flown
away. It's free, free. Imagine little
birds flying through the air. What they're singing, free, free. Something they've never experienced
before. Confined, mashed. Now they're free. That's what
death is to a believer. That's why the Lord said, Ladrus
is dead, but I'm glad. I'm glad. For your sake, he said,
turn back over and look at verse 15, that I'm glad for your sake
that I was not there to the intent that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go. You
see, the Lord brought all this to pass. that they might truly
see the glory of His person and the glory of His work. And these
things are written in the Word of God. We're going to see this
over in John chapter 20 where it says, these things are written
that you might believe on the name of the Son of God and that
believing you might have life in Him. The Lord is so good and
gracious unto us, isn't He? Lazarus sleepeth And believers who have gone on,
they're sleeping with the Lord. They're at rest with Him. And
one day, He's going to raise our body and we'll be with Him
forever and ever and ever. Never to die no more.