We'll begin reading with verse
20. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. But Mary sat still
in the house and said, Martha, unto the Lord Jesus, Lord, if
you'd been here, my brother'd not die. Was there a toll of
rebuke here? Lord, if you had, if you had been here, was she
rebuking the master? Was she unhappy with the fact
he wasn't there in bodily form? Evidently, these two girls had
talked about this because Mary said the same thing. First words
out of Martha's mouth was, if you'd have been here, you wouldn't
have died. First words out of Mary's mouth,
if you'd have been here, you wouldn't have died. And then
the Jews said, could not this man, could not this man who gave
sight to the blind have not kept this man from dying? Well, she's
telling our Lord what to do in the next verse. Listen, but I
know this. I suggest this, that even now, whatsoever you ask
God, God will give it to you. Oh, how difficult it is. us human
beings to submit to the providence of God, the will of God, to the
purpose of God. We've got our ways, and they're
not his ways, and our thoughts are not his thoughts. And then
our Lord, first of seven statements, he said, your brother shall,
shall rise again. Isn't that enough? And more? What a glorious promise. Wouldn't
that satisfy your heart? That glorious promise from the
lips of our Lord, Martha, your brother, will rise again, never
to die again. He'll rise in incorruption, immortality,
and glory. Isn't that enough? Isn't that
enough? She knew that. She said, I know
he'll rise at the great day. My soul, that's what we're aiming
for. That's our hope. He that hath this hope in him,
that when he sees the Lord, he'll be like him. That's the blessed
hope. That's sufficient. If in this
life we have hope, we're all miserable. This is a miserable
existence. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Listen
to this promise of our Lord. This makes every trip to the
cemetery one of hope and rejoicing when we bury believers. I tell you, if when we have funerals, memorial services
for believers, people who know God. If there wasn't anybody
present there but the pastor and believers, we'd have a rejoicing
good time. But the presence of skeptics
and unbelievers keep you from saying some of the things you'd
like to say when a believer has been called home. That's a time
of rejoicing. You don't cry at graduations,
do you? When a fellow's finished his
course and won the victory and got the reward, you don't cry. You rejoice. And here in 1 Corinthians
15, verse 50, listen. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God. We've got
to die or be changed. We may not all die, but we're
going to be changed. Corruption doesn't inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised, and this is how they'll be raised, incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. This corruption, corruptible,
must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruption shall
they put on incorruption, this mortal shall they put on immortality? Then shall be brought to pass
the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where
is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Thy brother shall rise again."
That's what my Lord said. And David said, I'll be satisfied.
when I awake with his likeness, he'll rise again. Then Martha said, I want you
to listen to how she talks. Bless her heart. She has this
certain cold theological logic and ring that I hear all through
the years. I know, I know, this is what
we believe, I know he'll rise again from the dead. I know he'll
rise at that great day. I know that. I know that. And our Lord's second statement,
he said, Martha, the resurrection is not a doctrine.
It's a person. It's a person. He said, Martha,
I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. Whosoever believes
in me, trusts in me, relies on me, although he dies, although
he's dead, The body is dead, but Lazarus is not dead. He lives. Martha, I'm the resurrection.
The resurrection is not a doctrine. The resurrection is a person. Lazarus is not dead. His body
sleeps, but he lives because of me. See, Christ in you, that's
the hope of glory. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory. Eternal life
is not a future possession. Eternal life is not a future
possession. Eternal life is a present possession
in Christ, through Christ, and because of Christ. I live. You
see what he's saying? I know he'll rise again at the
great day. Martha, I'm the resurrection.
He already is risen. He already lives. Yes, his body
is dead, but he's not dead. He's not dead. The state of a
man's body has nothing to do with the state of his soul. The condition of his body has
nothing to do with the condition of his soul, the state of his
soul, the life of his soul. He lives! If I go out here and get in my
car and drive to Alabama today, I'm not dead, I'm not gone, I'm
in Alabama. I'm still living. And if God's
pleased to wind up this body right now and stop this heart
and stop these lungs and let it fall on the floor, I'm not
dead, I promise you. I'm somewhere else, where I want
to be, in the presence of the Lord. Depart from this body to be present
with the Lord. Why? Because He's the life. He's
the resurrection. I don't have to wait for a doctrine
to be fulfilled. I live. Martha, I am the resurrection. I am the life. It's not a doctrine. It's not a future possession.
Life is me. I'm life. Christ in you. I prevail to Christ be formed
in you, because if Christ is formed in you, you live, you
live. He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life. You're looking at an immortal,
eternal person when you're looking at a believer. Just like you're
looking at God. It's exactly like that. And the
state of his body has absolutely nothing to do with the state
of his soul. the condition of his body, it has nothing to do
with the condition of his soul. He lives. And here's the next
statement he says here in verse 26. And, Martha, and what he
just said is that he said, whosoever, whosoever believes in me, trusts
in me, although he dies, he lives. Now watch this statement. And
whosoever Whosoever is walking around right
now in human flesh, subject to the trials of life, the infirmities
of life, the pains of life, the tears of life, this flesh, the
temptations of this life, if he believes in me, he won't ever
die. He won't ever die. His body shall sleep. We know
that if our earthly tabernacle of this tent be dissolved, we
have a building of God, not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
And to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord.
His body may sleep, but he won't die. Sin, listen to this, this
is why. Sin is the cause of death, and
in Christ we have no sin. That's why you'll never die.
Now, people who do not know Christ, who do not have Christ alive,
They have sin. And sin, when it's finished,
brings forth death. The soul that's sinless shall
die. But we don't have any sin. Therefore we have no death. Turn
to 1 John 3, 5. Preacher, can you make good on
that? Yes, sir. I surely can. In 1 John 3, verse 5. Sin is the cause of death. The sting of death is sin. That's
what kills, is sin. Adam didn't die until he sinned.
And when he sinned, he died. And the soul that sinneth, it'll
surely die. Sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. The wages
of sin is death. But when Christ came, he took
those wages and took that sin to Calvary. Our sins were laid
on him, and he paid for them. He died under the wrath of God
because of our sins, and he put them away. He said, I'll separate
your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. I
cast him into the depths of the sea. I remember them no more.
The believer, whosoever liveth and believes on me, won't ever
die because he doesn't have any sin. Oh, preacher, I do things
wrong every day. Not in the sight of God, you
don't. I'm telling you the truth. You
have no sin. Listen to 1 John 3.5. And you
know that he was manifested to take away our sins, wasn't he?
To take away what? Our sins, how many of them? How many of them? Come on now,
how many of them? All of them. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If you left one unreconciled,
unsatisfied, unpaid for, we're goners. To offend in one point
of the law is to be guilty of the whole law. You don't need
to tear the whole fence down for the cow to get out. open
the gate, or just let one fence post follow. In him there is
no sin. Look at 1 John 3, verse 8 and
9. Listen. He that committeth sins
of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. And whosoever is born of God
does not commit sin. For his seed, God's seed, remaineth
in him. He cannot sin. He is born of
God. He cannot sin. Well, that's hard
to handle, isn't it? But it's so nevertheless. Because
only God can do something like that. Only God can justify our
sin. Only God can take away all guilt,
all charges, all sin. and make us in Christ perfectly
holy, without blame, without sin. Right now, I'm not talking
about next month, I'm not talking about after you die, I'm talking
about right now, right now, you have no sin if you're in Christ.
And though your body will sleep, you're not going to die, you're
not going to die. In him there is no sin, consequently
no death. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth will die. In Christ we have no sin. Now
listen, he said, Martha, do you believe this? Do you? I do. I do. Who shall stand in his presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. When are you going
to get that clean hands and pure heart? When are you going to get it?
You got it when he saved you. You got it when he put your sin
away. You got it when he came in to dwell. You got it when
he gave you a new nature. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. H-A-T-H, hath it. He's not going
to get it down the road. See, God's going to put this
old nature in the ground, this old man, that new man that lives
right now. He's going to take the glory.
Powerful, isn't it? That will give you some hope.
All right, let's see his next statement. He said, Do you believe that,
Martha? Verse 27, she said, Yea, Lord, I believe you are the Christ,
the Son of God, which shall come into the world. That, bless her
heart, that will cover it, too. That's all us ignorant folks
really need to know, is that he's the Son of God. And when she had so said, she
went her way and called for Mary. Now, let's go down to verse 32. Then when Jesus was come, when
Mary was come where Jesus was, she saw him, she fell down at
his feet, saying, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would
not have died. So when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews
also weeping, which came when he groaned in the Spirit and
was troubled, he said, Where have you laid him? Then said
they, Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. And the Jews
said, Behold, how he loved him. And some of them said, Well,
could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused
it? Even this man should not have died. And Jesus therefore
again groaned in himself, coming to the grave. Now, here's the
statement, where be ye laid him? Where be ye laid him? Our Lord
wasn't asking that for information. Our Lord knew where Lazarus was
laid, but he He is asking this like
he said to Adam, Where art thou? Or to Cain, Where is your brother? Or to Peter, Do you love me?
Or to Saul, Why persecutest thou me? And what caught my attention
when I read this was, Where have you laid him? It was not so much
what he did, but what he was saying, what our Lord did when
he said this. What was his thoughts when he
said this? Well, where have you laid him?
Where have you laid him? Look back at verse 33. He looked
at Mary. She was weeping. She should have
been rejoicing. He looked at this child of his,
Mary, and she was just greatly, greatly brokenhearted. And our Lord, he knew where Lazarus
was. in the presence of the Father. And he looked at her weeping,
and this is, turn to John 14. This is what he said to his disciples
later, John 14, verse 28. Listen. You've heard how I said
unto you, I go away and I'll come again. If you love me, you'll
rejoice, because I'm going to the Father. Your heart's a trouble, you're
weeping, you're sorrowful, you ought to rejoice. I'm going to
my father. So he looks at Mary here and
he's got the same response they got out of the disciple. Lazarus
was gone to the father and they were just weeping and crying. And he thought, Mary, you ought
to be rejoicing. Yeah, but who's going to support
Martha and I now that Lazarus is gone? The one that supported
you when Lazarus was here, the provider is standing here looking
at you, and you're weeping. And Lazarus has gone to be with
the Father and you're weeping. That's why he groans. He groans over our unbelief,
our unbelief, our unbelief. And then he thought of Lazarus,
out of this world, out of sin, out of darkness, out of disease,
out of tears. And he's going to bring him back,
put him right back in this cesspool. And then verse 35 says he wept. He wept. So when he said, well, where
have you laid him? There's a whole lot in that. leading it to him. I'll bring
him back. But you ought to be rejoicing. You ought to be rejoicing. I
weep for Lazarus. And then these Jews began to
talk. Some of them said, well, could not this man which opened
the eyes of the blind? Now, they saw him open the eyes
of the blind. They saw the power of Christ, the glory of Christ.
Could not he have caused this man not to have died? And then
our Lord groaned. He thought of these Jews questioning
his love for Lazarus, questioning his wisdom in letting him die,
questioning his purpose in allowing this to come to pass. And he
knew now, even when he raises him, they're still not going
to believe. They still are not going to believe. And he will. And when you see that little
verse there, you hear the Lord say, well, where have you laid
him? He wasn't approaching this grave
happy. He was just supported in spirit,
watching the behavior of his children, knowing that Lazarus
is coming back to this world, and seeing the unbelief of these
Jews. And he just wept, groaned in
his spirit. coming to the grave groaning
in his spirit. It was a cave, that's what it
says in verse 38, groaning in himself as he came to the grave
and a stone lay over him. Now watch this, watch this. Jesus said, take ye away the
stone. This statement is in two parts
and you need both to get the meaning. Take ye away the stone. And Martha spoke up, the sister
of him that was dead. She said, Lord, I object. Why did she object? Well, it
was a Jewish law that no grave should ever be reopened, but
that wasn't her concern. Her concern was not for the law,
but for the dignity of her brother, and the dignity of her family,
and the offense that it would cause. If we roll away the stone
and look in there, it's going to be a bad sight. bad side. And we don't want that. We don't
want that. Our Lord said, look, Jesus said
unto her, Did not I say unto thee, If ye would believe, ye
would see the glory of God? He told her that back earlier.
Do you believe this, Martha? If you'd believe, you'd see the
glory of God. These two statements together
roll away the stone. If you roll away the stone and
remove the covering and remove the pretense, then you have to
consider Lazarus as he is, a man, a flesh, dead, decaying, hopeless,
powerless. What can he do? Nothing. What
does he have? Nothing. What's his hope in himself? Nothing. Now then, consider the
one standing here. before the grave. A clear view
of him will show you the helplessness of Lazarus, and a clear view
of Lazarus will show you the power of Christ. And our Lord says, if you would
believe, you'll see the glory of God. And what glory is he
talking about? When he brings out Lazarus out
of the tomb, here's a picture. That's not the glory of God.
That's not the glory of God. You know, when Moses said, Lord,
show me your glory. Well, Moses, you've seen the
plagues in Egypt. You've seen the death of the
firstborn. You've seen the dividing of the sea. You've seen the smiting
of the rock, people drinking water out of a rock. You've seen
all plagues. You've seen matter fall from
heaven. That's not the glory of God,
raising a dead man, not the glory of God, a dead man physically.
Here's the glory of God. raising a dead man spiritually,
of which this is a picture. Back here in verse 25. I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall live. And whosoever lives and believes
on me will never die. I've raised him from death in
Adam to life in Christ, from the darkness of death to life
everlasting. That's the glory of God. And
Moses says, show me your glory. And God said, I'll cause my glory,
my goodness to pass before you. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. That's the glory of God. He's
saying, Martha, if you believe, you're standing around here with
these other folks, and they're all going to see Lazarus come
out of that grave. And they're going to be astounded. They're
going to be awed. But they're going to go on about
their rat killing after this and forget about it. But you
see when Lazarus comes out of that grave, you see a picture,
a type of every dead son of Adam whom Christ raises, to whom Christ
gives life. You see him live forevermore,
never to die. That's the glory of God. And
if you can believe, the Lord's going to raise Lazarus
and everybody that was there saw it. But Martha, you can be
different. You can be different. If you
can believe who did this and why he did this and the purpose
served in this, in showing the life of Christ to dead sinners,
you'll see the true glory of God. You'll see it. See what I'm talking about? If
you can believe. And everybody here this morning
who believes that Christ is the life, they've seen that glory
of God. And they don't need me to cause
a crippled man to walk. You've seen a lot of cripples
walk. They don't need me to touch a blind man and say, I can see.
Yeah, but you'll be blind in a few more years. But when God
gives life to a man, he'll never die. Sight to another man, he'll
always see the glory of God. Ears to a deaf man, that's the
glory of God. That's the greater glory. If
you believe, you can see that. You don't believe, you can't
see it. You don't believe, you can't see it. Now here's the
next statement. Verse 41. Listen to this. Verse
41. Then they took away the stone.
But you know, you've got to see. He said take away the stone.
You've got to see us as we are to appreciate the glory of God. To see us as we are. and see him in his power, sovereignty,
salvations of the Lord. Only God can save a sinner. You
could stand in front of that grave from now on, begging Lazarus
to accept Jesus as his personal Savior. Let God raise you. Let God raise you, Lazarus. God
wants to raise you. Would you let him raise you?
I'd just hold your nose and get away from that place. You see his shape, you can see
upon whom he depends, and you can see the glory of God, if
you believe that. If you believe what he is and
who he is, you can see the glory of God. Now, you don't want to
see it, too. But then he said, they took away
the stone, listen to verse 40, they took it away, the place
where the dead lay, and Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven. He
said, Father, I thank you, you've heard me, but I know you always
hear me. You always hear me. But because
of the people that stand by, I said it, that they may believe
that thou hast sent me." The Father always hears the Son. What the Father does, the Son
does. What the Father wills, the Son wills. What the Father
purposes, the Son accomplishes. That's always true. But he says,
because of these who stand by, because of Mary and Martha, and
his disciples were there, and there were some people there
who would believe. But our Lord says these things that we might
believe. He says it. I know you always
hear me, but I'm saying this for the people that stand by,
that they may believe that thou hast sent me. That's why we preach
these things. That's why we declare them. That's
why I take you to the grave of Lazarus and rehearse all that's
going on, that you might hear it and see who did it and believe
on him. That's right, that's why he did
it, for their sake. See, the Word of Christ declares
the power and glory of Christ, and they hear and they believe.
That's why he says, oh, here's the last statement. So here in
verse 43, and when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud
voice, Lazarus, he cried with a loud voice, a voice of purpose,
a voice of power, an immutable voice, he will not change his
purpose. And he cried out, and Lazarus
called him by name to distinguish him from everybody else buried
in that place. Lazarus, come forth. Come out of death into life.
Come out of darkness into light. Come out of captivity into liberty.
That's what he did for us. Turn now to Ephesians 2, and
let's read what this picture of Christ raising Lazarus presents
to us in Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you, and you, hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins? When in times past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were by nature
children of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy,
by his great love, wherever he loved us, even when we were dead
in sins, he quickened us already, quickened us together with Christ
by grace, and he raised us. He raised us up together, together
with Christ. And may we sit together in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might
show exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you are saved,
through faith, and that faith is not of yourself, it is the
gift of God. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. Lazarus,
by name, come forth out of death into life, out of darkness into
light. out of the captivity of sin into
the liberty of the Son of God. And then he said, Loose him and
let him go. Come forth, Lazarus. Now you
loose him and let him go. Loose him? Well, Lazarus came
forth. When a man died, they wrapped
him, called a winding sheet, wrapped him in all kind of cloth
and all, like a mummy. They wrapped him and put him
in there. Lazarus came walking out with all this things, stuff
on him. And our Lord said, Loose him,
that is, get the grave clothes off of him. And when the Lord
Jesus stands before the grave of dead sinners, like
you and me, whether we are dead in the world or dead in a church
or dead in religion or dead in tradition or dead in our old
ceremonies, And we live, but we've got that junk hanging on
us. We've still got those old companions out there in the world.
You've got to loose him. Take the Word of God. He told
his people, he said, you loose him. Well, he tells us preachers,
go make disciples, baptize them, and then teach them. Teach them
what I've commanded you. Teach them that. So you can get
the grave clothes off of them. So they can drop their idols.
And they can throw away their old traditions and throw away
their old false beliefs and throw away their old companions. It
takes time to free a man. If you know the
Son, he'll make you free. And that's not just free from
the grave. That's free from all the things that go with the grave.
That's free from all the old man, the shackles. and the traditions
and the things that abound us, get shucked yourself up. But
you've got to have the word to do that. You've got to be loosed.
Christ gives life. Lazarus comes forth, and he does. He comes forth. But he's got
to, somebody's got to free him of all this backage. Backage. We bring a lot of baggage. I
don't come out of an old Armenian church or a free will church
or a Catholic church or a Baptist church or out of the world. You
bring a lot of baggage with you. You bring a lot of stuff that
just doesn't go here. It just don't jibe. It's just
not God's way. I was out in California and some
of those people came to church with short shorts on. and stuff
like that, you know. They say, well, we have informal
worship. There ain't no such thing as informal worship when
you come before God. No, sir, it's formal. If you're in the presence of
a king, that's right, presence of a king, you're worshiping
the king, you're sitting before the throne, come like you're
coming to a king. You see what I'm talking about?
You hear the word, you're talking the word. And we come to Christ
like we are, but it doesn't work on us. It doesn't work on us. Loose him and let him go. And
I don't know how long it took them to unwind him, but they
unwound him, didn't they? They loosed him and they let
him go, because you can't be let go until you're free from
all that stuff. All right, let's sing 242, Jesus, I come, 242.