Take Ye Away the Stone

Q: What does the Bible say about spiritual resurrection?

The Bible teaches that spiritual resurrection occurs when God quickens the dead in trespasses and sins to new life in Christ. According to John 5:24-25, Jesus declares that those who hear His word and believe in Him are granted everlasting life, effectively passing from spiritual death to life. This concept reflects the reality that, in Adam, all are dead in sin, but through regeneration, God brings to life those whom He chooses. This spiritual resurrection underscores God's sovereignty in salvation and highlights the transformative power of faith in Christ, who alone has the authority to give life to the spiritually dead.

Q: How do we know that God allows suffering for His glory?

God allows suffering to reveal His glory and purpose, as seen in the story of Lazarus where death leads to a greater display of God's power. In John 11:4, Jesus states that Lazarus's sickness is for the glory of God and the glorification of the Son. This principle extends beyond individual instances, illustrating that God often permits suffering and death to fulfill His divine purposes and ultimately magnify His glory. Just as Lazarus’s death was not the end but a precursor to his resurrection—showing Christ’s might over death—so too in our lives, trials and tribulations can serve to display God's glory and sovereign plan for salvation. Therefore, suffering is intricately tied to a greater narrative of redemption and the exaltation of Christ.

Q: Why is it important to recognize our spiritual deadness?

Recognizing our spiritual deadness is crucial as it reveals our need for divine intervention and highlights God's grace in salvation. According to Ephesians 2:1, we are told that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Understanding this condition helps us realize that our ability to respond to God is non-existent without His enabling grace. The acknowledgment of our spiritual deadness fosters humility and dependence on Christ for salvation. This awareness compels us to move away the stones of ignorance, tradition, and self-righteousness that obstruct the truth about our sinful state and our need for God's regeneration. Ultimately, it is only when we face our true condition that we can truly grasp the magnitude of God's grace and the power of Christ's resurrection.

Now, the Spirit of God has been
very careful to give nearly two pages in the
Word of God to this account of Lazarus being raised from the
dead. In this Book of God, there are
almost two complete pages that are dedicated to this event. and the account thereof. Now
is it not because that this is because this is a picture of
our spiritual resurrection and our physical resurrection? Our
Lord speaks of both. Turn to John 5 for a moment.
John chapter 5 beginning with verse 24. Now the word of God
plainly declares that sinners are dead in trespasses and sins. Dead to God. You hath he quickened
who were dead. And also we shall experience
a physical death. So there's a two-fold resurrection.
There's life from spiritual death, and then there's life from physical
death. And our Lord speaks of both here in John 5, 24. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." That's from
spiritual death unto life. In Adam, we died. In the Garden
of Eden, when Adam sinned, God said he died. And this life is
the new birth. It's regeneration. It's the life
of God. Verse 25, He said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, right now, when the
dead, this is still talking about a spiritual resurrection, shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. He gives life. The Son, look
back up here at verse 21, As the Father raiseth up the dead,
and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickens whom He will.
That's spiritual life and resurrection. Verse 26, For as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority. Thou hast given me authority
over all flesh, he said, to execute judgment also, because he is
the Son of Man. Now marvel not at this. Don't
be amazed at this, the fact that he gives life to those who are
spiritually dead, that he quickens those who died in Adam, that
he gives a new life, spiritual life, the life of God to those
who are dead in trespasses and sin. Oh, marvel at that, for
the hour is coming, not now is, but the hour is coming in the
which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice. All that
are in the grave shall hear his voice, and they shall come forward.
In other words, there's a spiritual resurrection and there's a physical
resurrection. Now turn to John 11. And this
story of Lazarus and the amount of coverage given it in the Word
of God is a picture of our spiritual resurrection, the Lord Jesus
giving life to his people, to his elect, to the believers.
And blessed are the eyes that can see what I have to say today
and the ears that can hear it. All do not see and all do not
hear. But I want to begin with verse 37. Now, Lasweth was dead. Lasweth was dead and buried for
four days. And the Lord Jesus came there
to the family. They took him out to where they
laid Lasweth. And it says in verse 37, And
some of them said, Well, could not this man, this man of all
authority, all power, could not this man, which opened the eyes
of the blind, and what did that fellow say in John? He said,
it never has been heard since the beginning that somebody's
given sight to the blind. This is the only one who can
do it. Christ can give dead, dry eyes, blind eyes that haven't
seen from birth. Can you imagine the condition
of those eyes when a man is 38 years old and is never seen from
birth and Christ spoke and he saw? And they knew it. And they said, well, couldn't
he, listen, couldn't he have caused that this man should not
have died? Why certainly. But they came
to the Lord and said, he whom thou lovest is sick. Now this
little family, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, lived in Bethany.
And our Lord was the guest in their home several times. Mary
was the one that washed his feet, anointed them. He was in their home several
times. And they sent word to him, said, he whom thou lovest
is sick. The Lord knew he was sick. He
had knowledge of all things. He knew Lazarus' condition. And
he could have healed him. He didn't have to go to Bethany. You remember the centurion said,
I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof. Just say
the word. My servant will be healed. Christ said, well, according
to your faith, be it unto you. And he went home. He said, what
time did he get better? He said, a certain time. He said, that's
when he said it. So he let Lazarus die. He could have prevented
it, but he allowed him to die. Well, he gives us an answer back
here in verse 4. They said, Lazarus is sick, and
when Jesus heard that, He knew it already, but these writers
write to men, He said, this sickness is not unto death, this will
not terminate the life of Lazarus, this is not the end of Lazarus.
This is not the end. But this sickness is for the
glory of God, and this sickness is that the Son of Man might
be glorified, the Son of God might be glorified. That's his
two-fold answer. They stood there, Lazarus was
dead, dead, been dead four days, was corrupt. And our Lord walked
up. Here's the Master, the Lord of
glory. And these people stood around,
they asked a sensible, legitimate question. They asked a sensible,
legitimate question. The Lord wept. He was standing
there weeping. And they said, look how He loved
him. And one of them said, well, why didn't he keep him from dying
then? That's a good question, isn't
it? He loved him. Well, he said, why did he let
him die? Couldn't he have stopped it? He could have. But he gave a
twofold reason for allowing Lazarus to die. He said, for the glory
of God and that the Son of Man, the Son of God may be glorified.
Now I ask this question, when Adam was there in the garden,
there was a whole human race in the lawns of that man. God's
elect, God's sheep, God's people in the lawns of Adam, right? God knew his dangers. God knows
all things. God is God. And God let him fall. Don't tell me any different.
It has to be that way, just like Christ let Lazarus die, God let
Adam fall. Could not this God prevented
the fall? Now come on, is there anybody
in here, anybody in here, is there anybody under the sound
of my voice that has even a notion that God couldn't prevent the
fall? God let Adam fall. He allowed
Adam to fall. God stepped back and watched
him fall, just like Jesus Christ watched Lazarus die. And He could
have prevented it. Well, you got an answer? I don't. But I found one right
here in verse 4. This is not the termination of
God's program. This is not the termination of
God's kingdom. This is not the termination of
the life of God's elect. Christ said, it's not the last
time you're going to hear from Lazarus. I'm allowing Lazarus
to die for the glory of God and for the glory of the Son of Man.
And Adam died for the same reason. And you can't give another answer.
I don't care how intellectual or smart or trained or educated
you are. It's just a two-fold answer for
the fall. and God's purpose in the fall,
and God's will to allow man to fall, and there it is, God planned
His resurrection for the glory of God and for the glory of the
Son of Man. And you know the amazing thing
is, that suffices me. That's all the answer I need.
If God's glory is served, that's good enough for me. If Jesus
Christ, if in all of this program and in all of this creation and
fall and Satan's temptations and man's demise and depravity
and degrading and Christ coming and dying and suffering and buried
and rising again, ascending to glory and interceding and all
that God has done in His doing and will do, if that brings glory
to God, eternal, ultimate glory to God and glory to Christ who
deserves all preeminence, that's enough for me. Is that all right,
John?" And that's the only answer that can be given. They said, couldn't he have stopped
it? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. He stopped a lot of
death, but he didn't stop that one. And he told them why. He
said that God made me glorified and that the Son of God... All
right. Well, thank God he came to the grave. I'm sure glad he
didn't go off and leave Adam and all of us. He came to the
grave. Look at verse 38. Jesus therefore
again groaning in Himself, and that's why He came to us groaning,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and despised and rejected,
misunderstood and hated. He came groaning over their ignorance
and unbelief. He came to the grave. What was
it? It was a cave. You ever been
in a cave? I mean a cave is damp and dark
and drab. It was a cave. Old Lazarus was
dead in a dark cave. In a cave. But that's not all. They had a stone rolled in front
of the cave. Lazarus was not only dead, but
he was out of sight and well covered. Well covered. And that's the way sinners are
today. I'm standing up here. looking at a bunch of sinners,
and a bunch of sinners out there looking at another sinner up
here. And by nature, we're not only dead, but we're two-fold
imprisoned. We're in the darkness and deadness
and depravity of a cave. We're imprisoned like Lazarus.
We've done all we can do to hide the true condition. We've dressed
up. We've bought us a Bible and a few pins to wear on our lapels. Got a smile on our face and we
rolled a stone in front of the door to hide our true condition
from God and from each other and from ourselves. We're dead,
but we've taken great pains to get it out of sight. Lazarus
was dead and they put him in a cave and rolled a stone in
front of the door and went about their business. And our Lord
walked up and the first thing He said in verse 39, He said,
take away that stone. Take ye, take ye away the stone. He could have done it. He created the stone. Our Lord Jesus Christ put it
here to begin with. He dug the cave. He could have
moved the stone, but He wouldn't do it. He said, you move it. You move it. You put it there
and you move it. You move the stone now. And Martha
said, bless her heart, Martha, the sister of him that was dead,
said, Lord, don't make us move the stone. We don't want to do
that. You don't want to do that. You
don't want to do that, Lord, because by this time he's stinking,
he's been dead for four days. Lord, don't make us move the
stone and face death for what it really is. Don't make us face the truth.
Oh, how reluctant we are to face the truth. We'll brag on ourselves
and justify ourselves and brag on one another and justify one
another. The hardest thing to do is to
bring the naked, dead, corrupted carcass right out into the open
and let it be viewed by all and say, This is what sin did. This is what sin does. This is
what sin is. Now, we've done everything in
the world. We've rolled more stones in front
of these caves than you can shake a stick at. First, there's the
stone of ignorance. The stone of ignorance. We've
denied spiritual death. Preachers deny it. There's a
little spark of life in every sinner. That's what the tale
needs. There's a little flame that must be fanned. If we can
just say the right words, if we can just use the right argument,
if we can just give the right illustration, the right poem,
and the right tears, that person will turn to God. He's dead!
Let's face it. He's dead. Sinners are dead,
dead. Graveyard, dead, dead. They've
been dead a long time. They're dead. They're not going
to do anything but lie there. That's all. Roll a stone of ignorance
away, get it out of the way, you have to quicken who were
dead. And then there's a stone of sentiment. I run into this
all the time. You want to watch a man change
gods, you let his mama die, or his brother. You change gods
in the middle of the street. You'll start out with a sovereign
God, with salvation of the Lord, with salvation being in Christ
alone, all these things. You let somebody die that doesn't
believe those things, you'll change gods on you. And Martha said, that's my brother
in there. That's my brother. She might
not have been as alarmed if somebody else's brother had been in there,
but that's her brother. Now, the other fellas spoke up.
When he said, take away the stone, nobody said a word but Martha.
Because that's her brother. She didn't want his true condition
revealed. She said, that's my brother.
Don't make me face the truth about my brother's condition.
Well, he's dead too. He's dead too. Come on, let's
roll the stone of ignorance away. Let's roll the stone of family
ties and the stone of sentiment. Let's roll them out of the way.
Roll, get them out of the way. And then there's a stone of tradition.
Preacher, you just don't preach this way. This is not the way
we do things in this day. I'm getting tired of hearing
people say, well, that's not the way we do it. But we've gotten so
far away from the way God does it, we need to get back to the
way God does it. We've got all these traditions and these customs,
we've been about 40 years in Era and tradition, all of us
that are 60 years old, people have been in tradition and it's
got to go. It's got to go. Move the stone
of tradition. And let's see sin for what sin
is. Let's see God for who God is. Let's see truth for what
truth is. Quit playing this blooming religious game. Stone of tradition. Stone of
respectability. stone of morality. We've gone
to great lengths to make human nature appear to be what it's
not. We'll sprinkle water on it. We'll even immerse it in
water. We'll give it a title. We'll wrap man up, dress man
up, and close man in and just will not face the fact that he's,
I don't care how he spells his name or how educated or how wealthy
or how respectable or how honored he is, he's dead, dead, dead,
dead. That's right. Just face it. Get the stone out of the way.
And then there's that awful stone of unbelief. Unbelief. Hardest of all to move. Hardest
thing in the world. Oh, how hard it is. We've got this thing, we've got
Lazarus out of the way, we've got him in the grave, and we've
got him wrapped up, and we've got a stone in front of it, and
the Lord Jesus Christ gets us by the hand and comes right back,
right to where the trouble is, and He said, now you get that
stone out of the way. Don't make, Lord, don't make us move. I said
move this thing. You move it. I'm not moving it,
you're moving it. You put the ignorance there,
and the superstition there, and the tradition there, and your
morality there, and your works there. You've hid the true condition
of men. You've hidden the facts of your
wicked heart. Roll that stone away and let
that naked, depraved, dead sinner come face to face with his God. That's what's got to be done. His God. That's what I'm talking
about. And they were reluctant. They were reluctant. And he said in verse 40, I told
you, if you'll believe me, if you'll believe me, I told
you, you'd see the glory of God. We've seen all of the tactics
programs of men, haven't we? We've seen them get their buses
and their big churches and their steeples and their glass buildings
and their entertainment and their bands and all their floral decorations
and all the girls smiling and singing. And we've seen all this
dressed up hidden wickedness and all the whoop-de-doo and
the hand-waving. We've seen all that as they try
to disguise death and disguise truth. They won't deal, they
won't bring the naked sinner before his God to deal with Christ,
depending on the power of God. We'll bring them down the aisle
and shake their hands and say, you're saved. Hundreds are saved,
thousands are saved, millions are saved. We're saving everybody.
We're getting them down the aisle. We're hitting this thing of sin
and guilt and shame and demand for death and blood and sacrifice
and a holy God to be appeased. and justified. We're not going
to have God face the sinner and the naked sinner face God and
depend on God to raise him. He's dead. We've seen man now. Who wants
to join with me and get the stone away and see what God will do?
See what I'm talking about? The glory of God. I want to see
the glory of God. The glory of God. We move the stone, he said, you'll
see it. You move the stone, take away the stone. And they said,
don't make us do that now. We'll do about anything else
you require, but we're not going to look into the recesses of
wickedness. We're not going to face what
we are. We're not coming like the publican,
like the thief, like the Canaanite woman. Help us! See, we're somebody. think I'll join your church.
Y'all could use me. I do bring a lot of influence,
you know. I'm somebody. I can help that program of yours,
Preacher. Yeah. Old Lazarus couldn't help their
program, could he? He needed help. He needed help. He needed help. Well, okay. It says, I thank God for this.
Somebody believed him, verse 41, and then they took away the
stone from the place where the dead was laid. They took away
the stone. And it wasn't a very pleasant
odor. It wasn't a very pleasant sight.
Sin never is. To get a good look, to know God
and to know thyself. Oh, what a pleasant sight Isaiah
saw when he saw the glory of God, and what an unpleasant sight
when he saw himself in the light of God's glory, and he said,
I'm undone, I'm cut off. But they rolled it away, and
then, watch this now, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said,
Father, Father, it's not in time to call a soul winner, is it?
There's a dead sinner. A helpless, hopeless, depraved
sinner. Lazarus is helpless. His sisters
are helpless. The friends are helpless. Everybody
else is helpless. But there's one who's not helpless.
And he lifted his eyes to the Father because salvation's of
the Lord. You believe that? Well, a fellow
said on television the other night, the devil voted against
you and God voted for you and you cast it aside and vote. Lazarus,
how do you vote, son? The devil and the Lord God don't
have equal votes. In fact, the devil doesn't have
a vote. And it took place, the election took place before you
was born, so you didn't vote. The Lord Jesus said, Father! Oh, I tell you the place to call
when death is present is the one who can give life. I tell
you the direction to look when Depravity prevails is the only
place where a soul can be cleansed. The place to look when all hope
is gone is the place where grace and mercy is given. Father! I know you always hear me. And
I'm not saying this for myself. Because you sent me. I'm your
servant, your messenger, your son. I'm saying this for the
benefit of these folks here, that they might believe that
you sent me. There's the key. They must believe. Father, this thing's not of the
will of the flesh nor the will of man, it's of God. Father,
it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, it's
of God that showeth mercy. You believe that? I know that's
so. I know that's so. But we've got
to believe that He is the Way, He is the Truth, He is the Life. The Father wills it, the Son
accomplishes it. The Father purposed it, now what's
your will? Lazarus is dead. He got no will. His sisters out here, they've
got a will but no strength or power. They can't do anything. The Lord Jesus is the sent one. He is the one who accomplishes
what the Father will. So this whole thing of life,
salvation, redemption, resurrection has got to be directed to the
throne, my friends. Father, we hear from you now, that they might believe that
you sent me. And then he said, And then he
said, the father willed it, the son spoke it. The father purposed
it, the son purchased it. The father decreed it, and the
son declared it. Lazarus! Come forth. Now brethren, that's salvation. And that's how salvation takes
place. That's how dead people are raised. Not by might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord. God saved sinners. And let me
tell you something. Listen. And he that was dead
came out of that grave. He came forth. He came walking
out of there, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and with
a napkin on his face. And my Lord said, Now loose him!
Loose him and let him go. What are those grave clothes? Lazarus came out wrapped up.
It says here, his hands, his feet, and his face had that gauze,
that wrapping. His feet were... He came forth. He did walk, but halting. He walked some. He was bound,
but he could walk. And he came with his hands, but
they were bound. And he did find the hole, but
even though he had a napkin on his face, he could see, couldn't
he? Well, that's twofold. Number one, you and I, when we
come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been steeped in so many
traditions and customs and ways of men that we need to share. His word has to be taught. He'd say to us preachers, preach
the truth to him. Loose him from this tradition. Loose him from these customs. from these elements of the world,
loose him from these things and let him go in the liberty of
Christ, in the joy of the Lord. See what I'm saying? Loose him
and let him go. Preach the word to him, teach
him. A man can know Christ, but he said there's some who regard
the day unto the Lord and there's some who regard not the day unto
the Lord. Well, loose him from that slavery, from that bondage. There are some who, I told you
about this several weeks ago, there are some who are bound
by certain duties and requirements that they're doing, you know,
they're grave-closed. Let them go. Be motivated by
the joy and love of Christ, the freedom of Christ. But wait a
minute, that's not all. I believe this, that also when
Lazarus came from the from the grave, and I come from a spiritual
grave. I'm bound in foot. I can't walk
in holiness as I'd like to walk. And I'll be bound all this life.
Wouldn't you like to walk perfectly in the path of righteousness?
Perfectly. Never stray, never, not a toe
from perfect holiness. But I can't. I'm bound. And I'd like to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ. serve Him in such a way as to
glorify Him so majestically and powerfully, I'd like to serve
God. But no, these hands have got
to feed this flesh and work and do all these things. You know,
I can't serve Him. I'm bound by responsibilities
and duties and all these things. And I can't see. I can see some, I've got a seat through a glass
dimly. I can see you, but not too well.
See what I mean? I'll see him, but not as well
as I'd like to. But yesterday I watched Bill
Borders die. Now he walks in perfect holiness. Now his hands serve the Lord. Now he sees all things as they
are. Let him go. Let him go. Let him go. Oh yes, someday the
Lord is going to remove all these grave clothes. I know, but I
know in part, and I preach in part, but someday when that which
is perfect is come, I'll know as I have been known, I'll see,
not through a glass dimly, but face to face. I couldn't survive
a face to face view of him now anyway. I got to have perfection. Well, how do people handle this?
I'm going to quit. How do people handle this? This
is real. Boy, I tell you, that's something,
isn't it? Made the dead to live. Well,
He speaks in the dead to live. He speaks in the blind to see.
He speaks in the lame to walk. He speaks in the deaf to hear.
How do people handle this? Verse 45. Many of the Jews which came to
Maven had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him. I
think the majority of this congregation, you've seen the things our Lord
has done, you've seen His glory, you've seen His power, you've
seen His grace, you've seen His sacrifice, you've seen His blood,
you've seen His intercession, you've seen these things, and
you believe! You believe. But not all of them. Some of
them went their way. They went not his way, their
way, and they went to the preachers. You know what that fellow 13th
Street preached last Sunday? They'll do it. They'll come and
hear, and instead of receiving the Word and believing the Word,
they'll run to some preacher, some Pharisee, and make a report. And that's what these folks did.
See what they did? Some of them went their way to
the Pharisees and told the Pharisees what they got to do with it.
all the things that Jesus, all these things He had done. And
the Pharisees said, well, He's got to go. He's got to go. We've got to put Him away. We're
not going to believe this message and follow this message and love
this message and go to God ourselves. We're going to move the message
so nobody can hear it. I'm going to believe. As painful as it is, we're going
to move the stones. And we're going to stand back
and watch Him raise the dead. Raise the dead. And by God's
grace, we're going to try to preach the truth and loose men
and let them go. Let them go. Come to Christ. 2.42. Out of my bondage, my sire
and knight Jesus, I come. into thy freedom, gladness, and
light. Jesus, I come to thee.

Take Ye Away the Stone

What does the Bible say about spiritual resurrection?

How do we know that God allows suffering for His glory?

Why is it important to recognize our spiritual deadness?

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Take Ye Away the Stone

What does the Bible say about spiritual resurrection?

How do we know that God allows suffering for His glory?

Why is it important to recognize our spiritual deadness?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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