By way of a little bit of context, John chapter 12 picks up right after the story of Lazarus' death and resurrection at the hands of, his resurrection at the hands of Christ in John chapter 11. And this is the important thing to keep in mind considering the message tonight, is Lazarus has just been dead and then raised back to life a very short time ago. Beginning in verse 9 of John chapter 12, the Bible says, Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. In John 11, like I just said, we found Lazarus becoming sick. Jesus said in John 11, verse 4, that this sickness was not unto death, but unto the glory of God. We know that this death that Lazarus experienced was a very temporary one. Jesus made very sure that Lazarus' death was temporary. It was probably an inconvenience more than anything else. And he was brought back to life after four days in the tomb. Jesus raised him, and then he stayed in Bethany with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at their house for an unknown period of time. Not super long, but he was there for probably at least several weeks. While everyone was in Bethany, the Pharisees, this group that was originally created under the time of Alexander the Great during the 400 years of silence, this group created to protect Jewish tradition from Hellenic or Greek influence, later on used by Rome to help control the Jewish populace, primarily through overseeing temple worship and taking part in a rotating priesthood, They met in a council to discuss what to do with Jesus. This is at the end of chapter 11, where they are concerned with Jesus, his growing fame, his growing signs, the growing inability of the nation of Israel to hide or deny the truth that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God. They knew that the status quo that they're so fond of cannot be maintained if Jesus continues to do what he's doing. And so the outcome of this council is a decision that they need to kill Christ. And then after Lazarus was raised from the dead, like we just read, his possession of life was a problem for the Pharisees. They're trying their best to deliberately and knowingly minimize Christ and the truth of the gospel. And Lazarus' mere existence over here is drawing people to Christ. So Lazarus is an issue for the Pharisees. The Pharisees' concern about Jesus is only growing day by day. This problem that they have isn't going away. And so, Lazarus, we see he is gaining notoriety and fame, and he is one of many who has gained some level of recognizance from the Jewish populace after being healed from something. We know there are many in the Bible who were healed. They were previously blind, they were deaf, they were unable to speak, they were crippled in some way. And even Jairus' daughter was also dead and raised back to life. But Lazarus is interesting because he was dead for four full days. He was embalmed, he was placed in a tomb. He was very much dead to the point where Martha told Jesus that his body would stink if they opened the tomb. He was completely dead. There was no way of anyone trying to deny that Lazarus was fully and completely dead. This is going to generate a lot of discussion amongst the Jews in Bethany, certainly, but the Jews across Judea as everyone starts to hear this story. It's a major news story. This is going to go all over the country. This isn't something that happens very often. We don't see very many people rising back from the dead. And so, I mentioned earlier at the end of chapter 11, we see the Pharisees convening a council to figure out what to do about Jesus. They feared his following. They hated the truth. They wanted to kill him before he brought Rome's eyes onto Judea. And now we see the Pharisees want Lazarus dead too. They want him dead in addition to Christ because he is a significant and an undeniable part of Jesus' more recent fame. The Pharisees don't want to leave any loose ends. They don't want to leave a mess behind. They want to get rid of Jesus, but they're not content with just taking the sword to the head of the proverbial snake. They want to make sure that they get everything so there's not a problem later on. And then in verse 9, we see that the Jews are coming to the house where Jesus was staying, not only because of Jesus, but because they wanted to see Lazarus too. They wanted to see their town's newest celebrity. Now, this is interesting. This tells us that Lazarus' life, his very possession of breath, is a testimony of Jesus' power. His very existence in the moment is, or was, living, breathing proof that Jesus was sent by God. And this was used to the glory of God. Many Jews were coming to salvation in Christ by this sign. There were many Jews who were, the Bible says, going away and following Christ. They were leaving some of the I'm gonna put this. He says they were going away. They were leaving some of the traditions of the Pharisees, the man-made traditions that were not found in God's law, and were following Christ, recognizing that he is the Messiah, the one sent by God, the one that the Old Testament points to and speaks of, and they didn't want to be part of the crowd that was ignoring that truth. And so, I lost my place, my bad. So these Jews, they have been given incontrovertible proof that Jesus was the Messiah, sent by God, and they accepted this proof. Rather than, like the Pharisees, trying to stifle it, trying to push it down, put it in a corner where no one can see it, or otherwise ignore it, they accepted the truth that was evident before them, and they instead followed Christ. They, like Jesus told His followers, took up their crosses and followed Him. They forsook the things of this world to be His disciples. And so, many people were doing this. The Pharisees could see the tide of public opinion changing very rapidly. And in fact, starting in verse 12, we have the account of the triumphal entry. We can tell that public opinion of Christ is improving rapidly. The people are fine with him. He is doing miracles, he's doing good works. People are becoming aware that he's the Messiah. They are coming to follow him in droves. The Pharisees are very much not happy with this. Lazarus was making it painfully clear to everyone that Jesus was the Messiah simply by being not dead. simply because he was still breathing. And if this account were allowed to continue to spread throughout Judea, many more would come to know the truth of God. In chapter 11, we see that the Pharisees were dedicated in maintaining the status quo of their comfortable life. They were propped up by Rome. They weren't. The Pharisees and the priests are not synonymous when we consider the Aaronic line of Levites. There's a separation there. That happened during the Maccabean revolts when everything was going crazy between Alexander the Great and Rome in Judea. And so these Pharisees are propped up by Rome. They are allowed to exercise some little control over their theocratic government. They're allowed to do their thing. They're allowed to make lots of money. They're used to kind of control the Jewish populace by means of running temple worship, overseeing sacrifices, and taking part in a yearly rotating high priesthood, which incidentally was not the original way the high priesthood worked. That was a lifelong office in the Old Testament. And that was changed. And so the Pharisees are being the servants of God in name only, making tons of money off of the whole thing, and they're just, they're making lots of money off of those who don't know any better. They're ignoring the truth and very comfortable. But if Jesus were allowed to continue living, and Lazarus as well, Jesus' following is going to continue to grow, which is surely going to draw Rome's ire. Rome is dedicated to making sure that there aren't any messy revolts that they have to come clean up with the edge of a sword in 10 or 20 years. Rome would be very annoyed with the Pharisees if a revolt started in Judea or anything that even hinted at authority coming from someone other than Rome, like Jesus being the king of the Jews. The Romans weren't going to have that. They had appointed a king already. Anyone who wasn't that king was taken care of rather swiftly. In fact, you'll recall in Luke chapter 2, during the account of Jesus' birth, Herod tries to have all the babies in Bethlehem slain because he's concerned about another king of the Jews coming up. We know the only baby who escaped that slaughter was Christ himself, but it shows us that the government, if I could say, the institution of that time, the Roman government and by proxy, the Pharisees, the religious government, were very dedicated to making sure that there wasn't anything inconvenient happening that would pose an issue for them keeping their status, their money, their power, their titles. And so the Pharisees want Lazarus dead as well as Christ because Lazarus' very existence lends significant credence to Jesus' claims of being the Messiah. Everything about Lazarus pointed to the validity of the claims of Christ and to the truth of the gospel. And so I exposit all of this because I believe it has a very specific application for the lives of us in the modern day. Even though we're about 2,000 years past when this was all taking place, this has some very specific applications for us. I have three truths and then I have three questions afterwards. So the first of these three truths is that, like Lazarus, we, if we are claiming to be Christians, ought to be living evidence of Jesus. Romans 12, one and two. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present to your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly unacceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God. Romans 12, 1 and 2 again, We are to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, being not conformed to this world, and proving with our lives the good and perfect will of God. There is no room in what the Bible says for a Christianity that is not obvious, a Christianity that is not living evidence for Christ. Even the name Christian, we all know that comes from little Christ, right? We're the mimickers of Christ. Our mere existence, outside of the things that we say, the way we dress, the things we do, our mere existence should be such that unbelievers realize the truth of the gospel and of God by being around us, by speaking with us, by working with us, by working under us as our employees, or over us as our employers, working alongside us, or really interacting with us in any way, shape, manner, or form. In fact, the last thing any true Christian should ever hear is another person, especially an unbeliever, saying, wow, I didn't know you were a Christian. The last thing we should be hearing. Like Lazarus, we, if we're gonna be Christians, ought to be living evidence of Jesus. Lazarus was living evidence just by walking down the street, because without Jesus, he would not be capable of walking, having been dead and put inside a cave. And then, secondly, like Lazarus, others around us, both believers and unbelievers, should recognize a change after we come to Christ. Coming back to life is a pretty noticeable thing. And in the same vein, being brought to life at all is noticeable. I guarantee you, every one of you, when you were born, somebody noticed. Even if it was just your mother, someone noticed when you were born. People noticed your sudden having of life when you, nine months earlier, had not existed. And so, when you come to Christ, people should notice. Even if they can't immediately name your denomination 20 minutes after your conversion, there should be a level of noticing that takes place. Things should be different in your heart, your mind, your actions, your life. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. There should be a complete change in how you operate after coming to Christ. The things that you used to do, the sins you used to commit without a second thought should bring new conviction, and there should be new God-honoring desires that replace the old sinful ones. Of course, we know perfection will not arrive this side of eternity, much to all of our collective distress, but like a tree, people notice growth, especially over a period of time. If you come back to a tree 10 years later, if it hasn't grown any, there's a problem with the tree. But if the tree has grown, even if it's not 10 feet in 10 years, you notice that the tree has grown somewhat. It wasn't just Lazarus was going to synagogue on Saturday that pointed people to Christ, pointed people to God. It wasn't just when Lazarus was trying to act pious and religious that people thought of Christ when looking at him. His mere existence, completely outside of his own power, his own purposing, his own ability, was pointing to Christ. And we know Lazarus did not raise himself from the dead. Lazarus was not the one who willed himself back to life. He didn't roll the stone away, nor did he get rid of the grave clothes that he was bound in. And yet, he's still here walking around. That tells everyone who's looking at Lazarus that an outside force did something to bring him back to life, because he sure didn't get a defibrillator on himself. Lazarus was brought back to life by Christ. And that's what we have been. If we are saved, we've been brought to life by Christ. That should be noticeable. That should be completely different to what happened, what was going on before. So Lazarus, just walking down the street, being noticed, would make someone immediately think of Christ when seeing him by necessity. Lazarus could not have been doing anything without Christ, and so when he comes walking into the store, when he comes walking into the synagogue, when he passes you on the sidewalk, you're going to think of Christ. That's major news. That's going to be something that immediately occupies your mind, even if you don't consciously go there yourself. And that's what we should be doing to those around us. We should be pointing others to Christ the way we live, even when we're not trying to act religious and pious, even when we're not wearing a suit and a tie, standing in front of a church, standing in a church building, or at a Mexican restaurant after Sunday morning service. What excuse do we have to not be doing the same as Lazarus, pointing others to Christ purely by our existence. We claim the name of Christ, should we not act like it? Should we not be forcing others to consider, even in passing, the existence of Christ based on his influence in our life? And then this last truth, this builds off the last one. If there is never any outward change into the likeness of Christ, there was never any inward change. If there is never any growth in Christ, if there is never any sort of growth more into the image and likeness of Christ, if there is never any growth in grace, if there is never any change in attitudes, in actions, in thought, or in words, there has been no inward change. That inward change is what motivates the outward change. If there's been no outward change, there's been no inward change. Coming to Christ brings a complete change, a complete reversing, of course, a change of direction. It's decisive, it's wholehearted and 180 degrees away from sin and towards Christ. Now, Christ does work first on the heart. We can't expect a brand new believer to be perfect, but what happens on the inside will inevitably impact the outside. Because if you go back to a tree, like I said, 10 years after you first saw it, and it hasn't grown at all, there's something wrong with the tree. The issue is not the dirt that the tree is in. The issue is the tree itself, if it hasn't grown in 10 years. Repentance, the whole word, is something that means changing your mind and turning away, turning around, not half turning and then bouncing back and forth forever whenever I feel like it. Now, while we are not perfect, while sin always comes back and our old nature is constantly vying for supremacy and mastery, a true believer has a heart that has been fully, irrevocably changed. Inward change always precedes outward change, but inward change with no outward change is no change at all. James 2, 17. Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. John 14, 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Luke 6, 46. And why call ye me Lord and do not the things which I say? Paul said in Romans chapter six that the things that he does not want to do, he finds himself doing, and the things that he wants to do, he finds himself not doing. He's torn betwixt this inward battle of sinful man and renewed man. It's a battle, but if there's no battle happening at all, there's a problem. And so, considering these truths, we're left with three questions, some things to consider personally. The first one is the obvious one. When it comes to any discussion of Christ, the first question is, has this change been applied to you? Has Christ come and applied this change to your life? Has Christ brought you to a spiritual life out of a spiritual deadness in trespasses and sin? Has Christ brought you to Him and made you alive in Him? In sin, we're dead spiritually, just as dead as Lazarus was physically. The same way Lazarus could not get himself out of the tomb without Christ, the same way Lazarus could not will himself back to life, the exact same are we. We cannot will ourselves saved, we cannot make ourselves saved, we cannot bring ourselves to realize the depth of our depravity before God. Has Christ done that in you? When, if ever, has Christ called you forth from your own tomb and brought you to life, apart from any work of your own? And then, assuming that he has done that in you, is your life a living testimony of God's work within you? The same way others noticed how Lazarus was alive when they knew he had been very much dead, others ought to notice if you're alive when you previously were dead. Even if the others around you do not know enough of the Bible to assign specific jargon to it the way we do in our Baptist circles, they should know that there's something different that wasn't the way it was before. There's something that makes you different from everyone else. There's something that makes you different from what you were prior to your salvation. So the question, do you act in a way that honors and glorifies God? Do you desire to act in such a way? What is the main focus of your life? Lazarus' life was not temporarily changed by Christ, it was forever changed by Christ, irrevocably. He was brought back to life in the most literal sense possible. Everyone noticed that, and that wasn't a change that reverted. It wasn't a New Year's resolution that got dropped off sometime mid-February. That was something that lasted forever. That's something that the effects of are seen even in eternity, where those Jews who saw Lazarus come back to life were, by that, enabled to accept Christ as their Savior. There have been eternal effects. There should be an eternal effect to any change in your life. And then the final question, this is the hard one. Can others tell that Christ is living within you? Once again, we do not search for perfection, we search for evidence. You even yourself should be looking for evidence. This is the most important question you could ever answer and the worst possible question to ever get incorrect. C.S. Lewis said, in all discussions of hell, we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies, nor our friends, but of ourselves. We can academically know that Jesus is the son of God, that he came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross, and still be completely in the wrong about our hearts. We can know everything and still not enter the kingdom of heaven by way of our hearts not being truly regenerated. Satan even knows full well everything I just stated, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Messiah, the Savior of humanity, and that knowledge has not saved him, nor will it save him. It hasn't even inconvenienced him as he seeks to continue making a nuisance of himself in the lives of believers. He's been eternally defeated, but that hasn't stopped him in the moment from constantly causing issues among believers and unbelievers alike. And so the question is, is Christ living within you? Prove it through your life. The challenge, I should say. The challenge is to prove it through your life. We all here, we're all familiar by now with C.T. Studd. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ shall last. So consider your life. Consider what happens in this only one life that will soon be passed. Your intentions, your desires, your wishes, your occupations, the things that you can't live without. Do these things reveal a life that is rooted fully in Christ and dedicated fully to His cause? Can others see simply by your actions your allegiance to the King? If you were mute, completely unable to speak for yourself at all, unable to produce words for anyone else, would the evidence of your life point still to God? The entire reason we still exist on this planet post coming to Christ is to live for Him. We're not here to make money, we're not here to have fun, we're not here to make friends or do anything else. We are here to live for Christ. We talk, of course, about living for God's honor and glory in this kind of vague sense. That's terminology that is especially prevalent in my friend group. We talk about living for God's honor and glory, but we say it so often I fear we lose sight of the meaning. What does it mean to live fully for God's honor and glory? It means living purposefully and actively in such a way that everything we say, everything we think, everything we do, everything we take part in, and absolutely every microscopic aspect of our existence points others to Christ, points others to God, to His majesty, His glory, His goodness, His power, and His desire to save. We exist as mere reflections of His wonder, not to accomplish any agenda of our own. This is the truth of Scripture. My question for you all is, is this the truth of your life? And if it's not, why not?