Let us turn, if you will, in
your Bibles to John chapter 11. I'm going to read a long passage
of scripture from verse 1 to verse 46. and I trust you'll
follow with me in your Bibles. Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was at Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 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. When he had heard, therefore,
that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place
where he was. Then after that, saith he to
his disciples, let us go into Judea again. His disciples say
unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and
goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not
twelve hours in the 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. These things said he, and after
that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but
I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples,
Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well, albeit Jesus spake of his
death. but they thought that he had
spoken of taking a rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad for your sakes that
I was not there, to the intent that you may believe. Nevertheless,
let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we may die
with him. Then when Jesus came, he found
that he had lain in the grave four days already. Now Bethany
was nigh unto Jerusalem, about 15 forlongs 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
give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise in the resurrection at the last day. 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 saith 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 calleth for thee. 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 and 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 down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw
her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her,
he groaned in the Spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where
have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come
and see. 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
that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again
groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave and
a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for
he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith 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 hast heard me,
And I knew 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 thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. than many of the Jews which came
to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. This passage relates one of the
greatest miracles that is recorded that our Lord wrought when he
was here in the flesh. He raised many from the dead,
but we're only told of three. But none like this one. The young
girl had just died, the daughter of Jerris, 12 years old. He raised her from the dead.
The widow's son had been dead long enough that they were having
his funeral, which would have been the same day of his death.
But this man, Lazarus, he had been dead for four days. He had been buried and his sister
Martha, when the Lord said remove the stone, she was concerned
because she knew that his body was already decomposing, that
there would be that smell. This is a miracle that the surroundings
of the miracle. There's so many lessons here.
There's so many truths that we need to bring out. But it was
witnessed, you see, by the 12 disciples. They witnessed this. The sisters Mary and Martha,
they witnessed this. And those Jews who had come to
comfort the sisters in the death of their brother, they also witnessed
this miracle. And some believed. You see that? Some believed. But some went
and related what had taken place to the Pharisees out of hatred
for Christ. You know, it's not seeing a miracle
that God has chosen to use in saving His people. It is hearing
the Word of God, hearing the gospel preached. How shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? God has chosen, Paul said, by
the foolishness of preaching. To the world, preaching is foolishness. What I'm doing and what you come
to hear, service after service to the world, to the most people
in this world, that's crazy. That's foolish. But we know this
is what God has chosen to use in saving His chosen people,
to call out His elect. I want you to notice in verse
four that the Lord Jesus told his disciples that this death
was for the glory of God, for the glory of God. Everything
that happens in this world is somehow for the glory of God. That should be our desire as
his children. If we are believers today, whatsoever
we do, whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we should
do it for the glory of God. That the Son of Man, the Son
of God, might be glorified thereby. That's what the Lord Jesus told
his disciples, that this all is taking place here for the
glory of God. Isn't it wonderful to know that
our Father, our God, is in control of all things? That there's nothing
that takes place in this world from the very minutest, the smallest
thing, a tiny insect, a particle of dust, a volcano erupting,
that there's nothing from the greatest to the smallest and
all in between that is not under God's power and somehow in his
purpose to bring glory to himself. Well, I have five things this
morning that I want us to think about as we look at these verses,
this passage. First of all, God's children,
and I'm speaking this morning to God's children, those of us
who know Christ as our Lord and Savior, who have been born of
the Spirit of God and are part of the household of God. But
for God's children, we live in a fallen world. Lord, here comes
the message. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. John tells us very plainly in
verse five that Jesus loved Lazarus as well as he loved Martha and
Mary, and yet here's a man loved of God, and when God loves someone,
you know it is with an eternal love Here was a man loved of
God in this world, and yet he was sick. And sometimes people
get the idea that if a man was loved of God, if he was right
with God, if he was saved and a child of God, he'd never be
sick. Well, that's just not true. We live in a fallen world, a
fallen world in which man, not God, Not God, man introduced
sin which brought sickness and death and the curse into this
world. We live in a fallen world, but
we see that this sickness is for the glory of God. Now, none
of us like to be sick. Some of you are here this morning.
You may be dealing with a sickness now. Some were not able to come
this morning because of sickness. No one likes to be sick. I don't think we'll ever run
into anybody who would confess, well, I just like to be sick.
No, no one likes to be sick. But it is not a sign that God
doesn't love a person. We see that this sickness concerned
a man that the Lord Jesus Christ loved, and his sickness was for
the glory of God. Everything surrounding this sickness,
which will end in his death, is for the glory of God. These, the sickness and sicknesses
that we experience as we live in this world, just always, believer,
if you can, remind yourself, whatever the sickness is, this
is part of the all things that work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. This is just one of the things
that's part of the all things. What are some of the good things
that come out of sickness for a child of God? Well, there may
be several things, but one thing, if a person is sick, usually
the word of God becomes more precious to them. The word of
God, especially if it's a sickness, maybe unto death, the word of
God becomes more precious. And the psalmist, David, of course,
he gives us evidence of this and that Psalm 119, when he said,
before I was afflicted, I went astray. And the word of God becomes
more precious to a person who is going through a difficult
situation, dealing with bodily sickness. Not only the Bible
becomes more precious, but prayer. Prayer becomes more precious
to us when we go through a sickness. And not only that, but it serves,
sicknesses serve to prove our faith. It's easy to believe God
when the sun is shining, the wind's at your back, isn't it? Everything's going good. But
what about when the storms of life come? And they will come
because you remember In our Lord's illustration in his Sermon on
the Mount, the wise man, yes, he built his house on the rock
and the foolish man on the sand, but the floods came to both.
The wind and the rain came to both, and they do come. And it proves our faith. The
Apostle Peter wrote that the trial of your faith, does God
try? The faith of his people, he sure
did try Abraham's faith. You know, the scripture I believe
there in Genesis 22 speaks about God testing, but it actually
means trying, doesn't it? Think about that trial. Think
about that test. When God came to him and told
him, take your son, the son that you love, Isaac, and offer him
up as a sacrifice unto me. What a trial, right? Yes. Not only faith is tried, but
our patience is tried as we go through sickness. The scripture
says, tribulation worketh patience. Most of us have learned not to
pray for patients, haven't we? Why? Because the scripture says
tribulation worketh patience. We're not going to be praying
for patients with sickness. That's my first thought this
morning. God's children live in a fallen world. We had something
happen here. in the service a few weeks back.
And it kind of just brought the service to an end. But one of
the brothers told me as we were going out the door, he said,
we live in a fallen world. And I said, you're absolutely
right. We live in a fallen world. And things don't always go right,
don't always go the way we think they should go. We live in a
fallen world, a world really that's under God's curse. The
ground is under the curse of God. My second thought is God's
children are many times perplexed at God's leading. You notice
in verse seven, when the Lord said, let us go into Judea again. Now his disciples, they couldn't
see the wisdom in that. Let us go into Judea again."
Well, one of them, I believe it was Thomas, he said, well,
let us go and die with him. But all of them said, well, just
recently you were in Jerusalem in the temple, Judea, and that's
where Bethany is. It was located in Judea. Let
us go to Judea. Well, just recently you were
there and they tried to kill you. This is recorded, if you
look back just a page or two, into John chapter eight. John chapter eight, verses 58.
And Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before
Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast
at him. But Jesus hid himself and went
out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed
by. And let me just mention again,
the Jews, his enemies, they never tried to stone him for what he
did. Have you noticed that? It was never for what he did.
He fed thousands of people. He healed people. opened the
eyes of the blind. That did not cause them to want
to kill him, to take up stones to kill him. No, it was only
when he confessed that he is God, I am, before Abraham was,
I am, I am the eternal God. That's what caused them to hate
and pick up stones to cast at him. And now he says, let's go
into Judea. Let us go into Judea again. They couldn't see the wisdom
in that. You just left there. You just
left there and they tried to kill you. Why would you want
to go back there? They thought Lazarus was sick.
That's what they thought at this time. Lazarus is sick. And they
knew, they had watched the Lord Jesus Christ many times heal
people with the touch. And many times he just spoke
the word. Remember what he told that centurion,
speak the word and my servant will be healed. My son will be
healed. And what did they see? He just
spoke the word. That's all he needed to do here.
Why expose yourself to danger? Why go back to Judea when you
could just speak the word? And Lazarus would be well. They
were convinced that he was sick. That's the message they had received. But my point is that the path
of God's children, the path that God chooses for God's children,
many times, It's not the path that they would have chosen.
It just really isn't. Moses, we've been studying from
Exodus on Wednesday evenings here, and Moses never would have
chosen to go back into Egypt to lead the nation out. He had no desire to do that.
But you see, his way and God's way were different. And the same
thing is true of us in many different ways. The path that God has chosen
for us, and in his providence, he brings us the steps of a good
manner ordered of the Lord. And in his providence, he brings
us into these places, not necessarily the places we would have chosen. God's children, as I said, are
many times perplexed by God's leading. We meet in this life what we
call, I don't know if we're right in doing this, but we call some
of God's providences strange providences, hard providences. And what we mean by that, we
can't understand it. We can't understand it. And I'm going to say this, maybe
I shouldn't, but when God took Winner's husband, Cody. I had
preachers across this nation tell me, call me and say, of
all the preachers, of all the sovereign grace preachers that
I know, he was the one that in our estimation, we could least
afford to lose. And God took him. That's a strange
providence. That's a hard providence too
for his Wife and children, I know that. And you've gone through
providences like that. Hard providences, strange providences. God's children meet with perplexing
things. It's God's leadership, yes. They
don't just happen. It's all part of God's purpose. You remember William Cowper.
He was a friend of John Newton. suffered with depression. A child
of God, loved God, suffered with depression for much of his life. Tried to end his life. He hired
a taxi, I believe it was, to take him to drown himself in
the river. And the taxi driver, this is
a horse-drawn taxi driver, of course, the fog was so was so
severe in London, not in London, but in England where he was,
Olney, that the taxi driver drove around, came right back to his
house. Strange providences. But don't
you love the hymn that he wrote? God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in
unfathomable minds of never-failing skill, he fashions up his bright
designs and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh
courage take. The clouds that you much dread
are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head. Judge
not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence
is a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err. and scan his work in vain. God
is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. God moves
in a mysterious way. And he tells us that, doesn't
he, in Isaiah chapter 55. He says, my ways are not your
ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
God's children meet with many perplexing things in this world. God's children have a friend
in heaven. Notice that in verse 11. These things said he, and
after that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth.
God's children have a friend in heaven. Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. Now when he used that word sleepeth,
you know this is a very gentle way that the Bible speaks of
the death of a believer. because no one is afraid to go
to sleep, and believers certainly should have no fear of death.
But the point I want to make is the Lord called Lazarus our
friend. Now Lazarus was dead when our
Lord said that. He was still our friend. Now
the tables are turned, the Lord's in heaven, and we are here upon
the earth, But he's still our friend. We have a friend in heaven. Solomon wrote, there is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. Have you ever looked up the definition
of that word friend? When you do, you will find out
we have very few friends in this world. One of the things that
I remember about a friend is a friend is someone you never
need to explain anything to. You never need to explain anything
to him or her. Last week I was speaking with
a pastor friend and he was telling me about a young couple in his
church family. And the wife, he said, had just
broken down this past Sunday and told him their situation. They've been saved just a little
over a year, he said. And they have two children with
autism. They're having to take one of
them to a foreign city just to teach the child how to eat, how
to feed himself. And this lady, this sister, told
the pastor, she said, She said, we've lost all our friends in
this year. Our family, they don't want anything
to do with us. And as he told me that, I couldn't
help but think, well, she's wrong about one thing. She hasn't lost
all her friends. There's one friend you can't
lose if you're a child of God. You can't lose him. No, he's
a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And I realize
it's easy to say that when you're not going through those difficulties. It's easy for me to say it. It's
hard when a person is going through a trial. What a friend we have
in Jesus. We sing that hymn sometimes and
what a wonderful truth it really is. What a friend we have in
Jesus. My fourth point is God's children
have a sympathizing high priest. I want you to notice that in
these verses here. Verse 33, we read, when Jesus
therefore saw her weeping, when he saw her, Mary, weeping, and
the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned, he
groaned in the spirit. and was troubled. And then in
verse 35, he wept. We have a sympathizing high priest. We do not, and he is our high
priest. Remember as a mediator of the
new covenant, he has these three offices. He's a messenger of
the covenant. He's come to reveal the covenant.
He's also the surety of the covenant. He's the king and he's the high
priest. He's a priest. And he offered
that one sacrifice for sins that forever put away the sins of
his people. God, in Isaiah, I believe it
is, said you can take candles, and that's the only artificial
light I guess they had at that time. You can take a candle.
Well, Isaiah, you can take these giant searchlights that shine
way up into the sky and search to see if you can find one sin. of God's children. You can't
find it. They're gone. They're gone. Why? Because he took them in
his own body on the tree. Our priest did and offered that
effectual sacrifice that put away the sins of his people.
But now he's in heaven ever living to make intercession for all
who come unto God by him. And the writer of Hebrews tells
us we have not We have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. I see that here, don't you? The
sympathizing Savior, we sing that hymn sometimes, the great
physician, Now is near, the sympathizing Jesus. We have a sympathizing
high priest. And when we are in despair and
in trouble, we know that we can go to him and he cares for us. He cares. I want you to look
back with me to Isaiah 63. Turn back here to me, with me,
to Isaiah 63. And see what the Lord tells the
nation of Israel. Beginning with verse seven, I
will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord. Not just the loving
kindness. but the loving-kindnesses." That's
an unlimited amount, right? An infinite amount of kindness. I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that
the Lord hath bestowed on us. and the great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according
to his mercies and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are
my people, children, that will not lie. So he was their savior. Now notice this. Now he's speaking,
listen, he's speaking about the nation of Israel. In all their
affliction, he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them. And he buried them and carried
them all the days of old. But notice what Israel, national
Israel, how they repaid God for his loving kindnesses, for his
goodness. But they rebelled and vexed his
Holy Spirit. Therefore, he turned to be their
enemy, and he fought against them. And the point I'm making
is, if God did those things for natural Israel, think of what
he does for his people, the spiritual Israel of God. God's children,
we have a sympathizing high priest. One last thing. God's children
have a blessed hope. You know, I preached last Sunday
morning on a good hope, but God's children have not only a good
hope, but we have a blessed hope. Notice the words in verse 43,
Lazarus, come forth. Did he come forth? Can anything or anyone not obey
the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, Lazarus, come forth. And he came forth. Sure he did. And you know, I say we have a
blessed hope because the day is going to come when those whose
bodies have been buried in the ground, who are sleeping, not
their soul, but their bodies sleeping in the earth, The Lord
Jesus Christ is going to descend from heaven with a shout and
with the voice of the archangel. And you know what's going to
happen? All the bodies of his people are going to be changed
in a moment, are going to be raised incorruptible, will have
a body like unto his glorious body. And those who are alive
and remain until that day They will be changed in a moment.
And we shall all be caught up together to meet the Lord in
the air. Wherefore, Paul said, comfort
ye one another with these words. What a comfort, right? That the
grave, like a prison, holds that body, goes back to the dust. That's where it came from. Goes
back to the dust. But at the voice, just like here,
at the voice, Lazarus came forth, though he'd been dead four days,
though his body was already decomposing, yes. But when the Lord spoke,
he who spoke the worlds into existence, when he said, Lazarus,
come forth, he came forth. And we know this is a picture
of God's effectual call also, isn't it? Men and women, boys
and girls sitting in a service hear the preaching of the gospel
and God speaks. And God says, come forth and
gives life. And we believe, we repent. We don't believe and repent in
order to be saved. in order to be born again. That's what modern religion teaches,
isn't it? If you want to be born again,
then you believe. No, you're born again and you
believe. Life comes first. He said, I
am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me shall
never die. Believest thou this? If you do, God's given you faith
to believe it. Thank the Lord for that. Well,
I pray the Lord will bless these thoughts and words to all of
us here this morning.