Good evening, everyone. First, I want to say thank you for this privilege to be able to share God's Word with God's people. Christ for Forum has been so gracious to us and our family, and we've been just overjoyed to be here. So thank you again so much to the pastor, the elders, and it's a privilege to be able to stand in the pulpit where so many other great men have stood. And so I just want to thank you guys for that. So let's turn our Bibles to the book of John. And we're going to John chapter 11. And we're gonna read verses one to 53. So I have like 20 points tonight, is that okay? No, just joking, don't run. If everybody could please stand, we're gonna read the word together. All right, the word of God says, now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. And then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. And are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we may die with him. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Murray, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Murray rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. When he said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all that the whole nation should perish You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day, they made plans to put him to death. Brothers and sisters, this is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for salvation. Thank you for Jesus Christ, and thank you for another day we get to bow our knee before you in worship and adoration. Father, we pray that you will, by your Holy Spirit, bless your word to go forth and that your people will receive it with joy. Father, I pray that you will drown me out so that they may hear the shepherd of their souls. Father, we pray that you will comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Father, I pray for your people, the church, that you would fill it with all truth and all peace, where it is corrupt, purify it, where it is in error, direct it, where in anything it is amiss, reform it, where it is right, establish it, where it is want, provide for it, where it is divided, reunited, for the sake of him who died and rose again. and ever lives to make intercession for us. Jesus Christ, your son and our Lord and savior. In his name we pray. Amen. So what a person believes about Jesus Christ determines their eternal destiny. And that's true throughout all of redemptive history. So then it is imperative that we go to God's word for everything that we need to believe concerning Christ. It is Christ that is at the center of all there was, is, and ever will be. Tonight, I'm going to attempt to preach from one of the I am statements of our Lord. I am the resurrection. If you look back at your Bibles at John 11, verses 17 through 27, now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who believes, who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world. So we'll have five points this evening. We're gonna try to get through this as quickly as possible, but the five points are as follows. The problem permitted, the promise personified, the people's plight, the potentate's power, and the persecutor's plan. So there was a certain man who was sick, and it was Lazarus of Bethany. And Lazarus of Bethany was the brother of Mary and Martha, as we just read, and Jesus loved Lazarus. The Greek word for love, the love that Jesus had for Lazarus is phileto, which means Jesus adored Lazarus as a close friend, as a brother. Murray loved Jesus Christ. It was the same Murray that took an alabaster flask of expensive ointment and poured it on Jesus Christ. And she anointed him and Jesus said, she did this to prepare my body for burial. And where does she get that idea? Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and learned about the gospel from him while he visited Martha and Mary at the house. And then of course we all know Martha, right? She was hospitable, loved to serve. And it says, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. And the question is, when you read this text, is why would he delay? If you had a cure for your family member or friend and they were ill to death, Wouldn't you make them your priority? Wouldn't you drop everything right then and there to go to them? It seems strange that Jesus loved these people so much that he waited two days to go see them. Not only that, he could have spoken a word to heal Lazarus. I mean, it's recorded in John 4 that he healed an official's son who was ill by his word. Didn't have to go touch him, didn't have to be in the presence. He sent his word and the noble son was healed. Then you have the centurion that's recorded in Luke. He had a servant who was ill and sick and the centurion told Jesus that he didn't think he was worthy for Jesus to come into his home. Jesus spoke a word and he was healed. So why didn't he do the same for Lazarus? You would think with such power and authority that Jesus would have executed the same thing for them. And Martha and Mary and Lazarus seemed to be even closer to Christ than the centurion and the nobleman's son. but many of those who are near to God's heart, he allows them to endure such hard trials, doesn't he? It is because of the abundance of God's love for his people that we suffer and endure hardship, not because of a lack of it. John Chrysostom said this, he says, many men, when they see any of those who are pleasing to God, suffering anything terrible, as for instance, having fallen into sickness or poverty, and any other the like are offended, not knowing that to those especially dear to God, it belongs to endure these things. We should never be discontented or vexed if any sickness happens to good men such are dear to God. And you might still ask, well, how can that show a love from God? And the answer is that all that we go through is for God's glory. God does all things and works all things according to the counsel of his will for the glory of himself. And we see that in John 9, right? As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Can you imagine being born blind, growing up, never seeing a sunset, never seeing the birds, never seeing in front of you? And it was all for the glory of God. Even our sins are forgiven, according to John in 1 John, for God's glory. He says, I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake. So you might be asking, well, great, man. Where is God's love in your glory system? Didn't you read 1 John 4, 8, that God is love? John Piper says, from beginning to end in the Bible, nothing is more ultimate in the mind and heart of God than the glory of God, the beauty of God, the radiance of his perfection. What is clear from the whole range of biblical revelation is that God's ultimate allegiance is to know himself perfectly and love himself infinitely and to share that with you. God's purpose to share with sinners the knowledge that he has of himself and the love that he has for himself is the meaning of love. In 1 John 4, 8, God is love means that it is God's very nature to share the knowledge that he has of himself and the delight that he takes in himself with sinners though it cost him the death of his son. So what is God doing? He puts himself on display so that we may glorify him and enjoy him forever. Now up to this point, John records six miracles. Water into wine, healing of the noble man's son, restoring the impotent man, multiplying the loaves and fishes, and walking on the water and curing the man born blind. The reason why Jesus didn't heal Lazarus is because he wanted to put himself on display publicly and openly to all that he has power, not just to heal, not just to forgive sins, not just to walk on water, not just power over the earth and disease, but to display that death itself was subject to him. Not just a few hours, minutes, or one day of death. But even when the body is decayed, he is showing himself as the sovereign potentate in the most hopeless situations and the most devastating enemy of all mankind. And that enemy is death, isn't it? Death is certainly a problem for all creation. As the story moves forward, we can see the oppression of death through his disciples. We see the oppression of death take hold of the disciples. They were in full understanding that the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus. And when Jesus said, let's go to Judea, their response was, Rabbi, the Jews were just seeking now to stone you and you're going there again? The disciples feared for their master's life as well as for their own. Our Lord's response to them was that while he is with them, they must be fervent to do the works of God while it is still day. However, he also informs them that there is a time coming when the sun will set on his earthly ministry at his death on the cross. Jesus was making a point that there is still more to do, and the sun has not set yet, and God will make safe provision for him and them while he finishes his earthly task. So our Lord goes on to say that Lazarus has fallen asleep, and the response of the disciples was, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus has spoken of his death, but they thought he meant taking rest and sleep. The disciples had taken that Lazarus had fallen asleep literally instead of referring to death. And their attitude revealed that they wanted to stay out of harm's way instead of risking their lives. The disciples did not want to think about death because it was an enemy to the plans that the disciples had in mind concerning the Messiah. And we see this in Mark 8. It says, and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again. And he said this plainly and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you are setting your mind on the things of man rather than God. In Mark 9, they went on from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise. But the disciples, they didn't understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. The disciples remained numb to the euphemism of falling asleep for death because death has been an undefeated enemy that has oppressed mankind since the fall. They wanted to ignore the fact that death could and would be soon upon any of them, especially the Messiah. And this is how mankind has dealt with death, hasn't it? Mankind tries to ignore death because they know there's nothing really they can do about it. No matter how long they prolong their life, eventually everyone dies. When the subject of death comes up, many try to change the subject. Myths are made up to soothe the conscience. And stories and jokes are to soothe the terror of it. And why? Well, Job tells us why. He says, indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. He is torn from the tent in which he trusted, and is brought to the king of terrors. Ecclesiastes says, no man has power to retain the spirit or power over the day of death. And what sobering truth. Now death exists not only to oppress but to give glory to God and to remind us that this life is not all there is. One theologian writes, death creates as well as kills. It can shape and mold as well as tear and shatter. It communicates the divine displeasure at the creatures usurping the throne, and so enacts the limited boundaries of human existence that must be respected. He goes on to say the day of death is better, the day of death is better than the day of birth, not because death is better than life, he says, but because a coffin preaches better sermons than a crib. And Thomas, in his sarcastic fashion, gives evidence that the disciples were trying to avoid dying for the Messiah and themselves. Thomas goes on to say, let us also go that we may die with him. So then the disciples follow God's champion to defeat, to witness the power of the greatest, to witness his power over the greatest adversary to all mankind. Our second point is the promise personified. When Jesus and the disciples arrived, Lazarus has been dead for four days. And this is significant because some Jews believed that a person's spirit hovered over the body for three days. The person's spirit no longer hovered over the body after three days because the body has started to decay. So Jesus wanted to wait past the three-day mark because he didn't want any mythological explanation for the miracle he was about to do. And as he approached, Martha went out to meet him. And this was also significant because per Jewish custom, those who suffered the loss of a loved one remained seated while the other mourners consoled them. But Martha, as we know from scripture, was not one to sit still, was she? When she heard that Christ was coming, she rushed to meet him. May we follow her example to rush to go meet our Lord. So once Martha reached him, she cried unto him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Beloved, and we must remember that God owes us no answers, does he? He doesn't owe us any blessings. He doesn't owe us salvation. God owes us nothing. We see this in Isaiah 45. He says, woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots. Does the clay say to him who forms it, what are you making? Or your work has no handles? Romans nine says, but who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? But God is gracious, isn't he? He reveals to us the answer to our existence, to all our suffering and trials, which is the person of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1.1, God's revelation comes through Jesus Christ. He says, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Louis Burkoff says, in the study of all other sciences, man places himself above the object of his investigation and actively elicits from it his knowledge by whatever method may seem most appropriate. But in theology, he does not stand above, but rather under the object of his knowledge. In other words, man can know God only in so far as God actively makes himself known. Without revelation, man would never have been able to acquire any knowledge of God. There is no way from man to God, but only from God to man. Martha believed in the last day resurrection, where the dead would be raised to life. And Jesus Christ tells her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And Jesus tells her that the promises of God that she's holding on to is fulfilled in him. The promises of God are not fulfilled in some random, historical, distant event. Rather, all of history centers on the person of Christ. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And this is what he's been saying throughout his earthly ministry, hasn't it? John's gospel records some of the I am statements. He says, I am the bread of life in John 6. He says, I am the light of the world in John 8. He says, I am the door in John 10. He says, I am the good shepherd. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He says, I am the true vine in John 15. And when he says he was the vine in the Old Testament, Israel was called the vine, he says, I am the true Israel. There is no life apart from Jesus Christ. He tells Martha what he has been communicating all along, that he is the resurrection. All our hopes and the promises of God is in Christ. To separate the promises of God from Jesus Christ will leave the person only with death and sorrow, disappointment. John 1 says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Our next point is the people's plight. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept, so the Jews said, see how he loved him? But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? Jesus wept. It's the shortest verse in the Bible, but it has such a significant impact. So why did Jesus weep? And some of you might be like, duh, Lazarus is dead, right? And that's close, but it doesn't seem to fit the context. Cause earlier it says, so the sister sent to him, sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified through it. So he knew he was going to come and raise Lazarus. Furthermore, Jesus says this, I mean, the word of God says this, he says, it says, then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. And the Greek word for glad is kairo, which means that he was in a state of happiness and rejoicing. Others would say, well, he was moved at the thought of the reality of death. And I would say that's getting closer to the true reason why he was weeping. The text says that he was deeply moved, and in the Greek, it means to feel strongly about something. Another way to say it is that he was indignant, he was vexed, he was outraged. To say that Jesus was outraged or vexed by the reality of death is close, but we're only clipping at the branches, we're not pulling it up at the root. So let's look at some texts where Jesus was outraged. And it's recorded in Luke 13, he cries out, he says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. In Luke again, 19, he says, and when he drew near to the city and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you on every side and tear you down to the ground. You and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation. In Luke again, Luke 23, And as they led him away, they seized one Simon Serene who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. Now listen what Jesus says. He says, but turning to them, Jesus says, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Jesus was weeping over sin, the unbelief of the people of Israel. You see this in 11 verse 37, but some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? Israel is full of unbelief, apostate, Israel. Herman Ritterbaugh says, Israel only insofar as it believes in Christ may it lay claim to the name of Abraham's children and to the promises given to Abraham and his seed. And insofar as it rejects Christ and trust in the possession of the law, circumcision, and its own righteousness, it can no longer assert its right to the name and privilege of Israel in the redemptive historical sense. National Israel is nothing other than the empty shell from which the pearl has been removed and which has lost its function in the history of redemption. Jesus Christ is more concerned about our spiritual deadness than our physical ailments. It is the state of the soul that drives what will happen to the body. Lazarus was gonna be raised from the dead and even die again. The reality is that the mourners who were there to comfort Mary and Martha were even more dead than Lazarus was in the tomb. Apart from Christ, we're all dead in a tomb of lies and deception. Jesus wept over the deadness, not of Lazarus, but of the walking dead before him in Israel that was hidden for judgment, eternal torment and damnation. And don't we do that? What we do is we separate death from sin, don't we? But we have to remember that sin and death are married and no one will ever divorce them. The reason why we try to is because we don't see sin married to death, we see sin as a pleasure in our American society, right? We don't mourn sin like Christ because we're entertained by sin. Look at your daily Hollywood flow of movies and TV shows. We don't see sin as a threat. We allow her to embrace our children. She counsels us in our marriages. She inspires our dreams and desires. We let her in our pulpits and churches. She tells us, live your life. Jesus died so we could be together. Don't judge anyone. We're all okay. Lighten up. You're gonna have the time of your life. You're under grace. Don't worry. You can do everything you want. You can be whatever you wanna be. I will make that happen. All the while, while she's entertaining you, death is right around the corner, her jealous husband. He's furious and he wants his revenge for us performing adulterous acts with her. And Sin loves to provoke death to wrath on her recipients because she enjoys the devastation that death causes for her. Death is looking and waiting to strike us for our entertaining of his wife. Romans six says, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness, but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. And then Paul goes on to say, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. One theologian writes, it is a cultural mistake to ever think the heat of the battle is with the idols of money, sex, and power. Such things receive homage only because of the more deep-seated idol of self. The desire to be an immortal creature apart from God is the primary sin, and God's dismantling tool is death. That death, when received as the appropriate marker of finitude this side of the fall, can be the source of life, well-lived, the true destroyer of our deceitful deities. When we understand that sin can't be separated from death, that will help our deliverance from it. And the question is, where are the mourners of sin? We talk about being like Christ all the time. Do we mourn sin? Where are the Christians and the preachers that'll say, pastor, deacon, brother, husband, wife, young people, if you don't pluck your eye out, if you don't cut your hand off, you're going to hell. In other words, don't befriend sin. Don't befriend sin. Take out your sword and slay her immediately. But many don't want to say that, Doody, because if we do, we'll be at odds with the world. And if we are honest, we love ourselves too much to be hated. The contemporary American church is proud of its casual relationship with sin, championing social justice, acceptance of unregenerate heterosexual, homosexual, transgender immorality, placing women in pulpits, and instead of pastors, we get CEOs. So many believe that there will be no retribution for this rank rebellion against God. If death does not bring retribution on them, He surely will have it on the next generation because of our unfaithfulness. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthian church. He says, wake up from your drunken stupor as is right and do not go on sinning for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Jesus was weeping over the cause of death, which is sin. And we as the church should weep as well. We should take our key from Apostle Paul when he says in Philippians, for many whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and their glory is their shame with minds set on earthly things. That should break our hearts. Martin Lloyd-Jones says there are so many people trying to diagnose the human situation and they conclude that man is sick, man is unhappy, man is the victim of circumstances. They believe therefore that his primary need is to have these things dealt with, that he must be delivered from them. But I suggest that that is too superficial a diagnosis of the condition of man and that man's real need that man's real trouble is that he is a rebel against God, and consequently under the wrath of God. And that leads us to our next point, the potentate's power. So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I, knew that you always hear me, but I say this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me when he said these things. He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. This is a display of his power over death and creation, because remember, Lazarus was under decay, so not only did he call Lazarus from the tomb, he regenerated whatever decay had happened to Lazarus. John 5 says, truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, for as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. The call of Lazarus from the tomb is a visual illustration of God's call to his people. This is regeneration, the irresistible grace, the efficacious call of our great God. God's call is a work of God, the spirit alone. Man contributes nothing to the internal call because he's dead. Man is passive in regeneration. He cannot come to God God goes to mankind to raise them from their deadness. An example of regeneration is Acts 16, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening to Paul, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. Charles Hodge says, raising Lazarus from the dead was an act of omnipotence. The act of quickening was the act of God. We know that when a man is dead, as to the body, he neither sees, feels, nor acts. The objects adapted to impress the senses of the living make no impresses upon him. They awaken no corresponding feeling. They call forth no activity. The dead are insensible and powerless. The things of God, the things of the Spirit, the things pertaining to salvation, these things, although intellectually apprehended, as presented to our cognitive faculties, are not spiritually discerned by the unrenewed man. He may have an intellectual knowledge of the facts and doctrines of the Bible, but no spiritual discernment of their excellence, and no delight in them. The same Christ as portrayed in the scriptures is to one man without form or comeliness that we should desire him. To the regenerate man, he is the chief among 10,000 and the one altogether lovely. God manifests in the flesh whom it is impossible not to adore, love, and obey. This new life, therefore, manifests itself in new views of God, of Christ, of sin, of holiness, of the world, of the gospel and of the life to come, in short, of all those truths which God has revealed necessary to salvation. So how do you know you are regenerate, regenerate? How do you know you've been called? examine how you feel about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Have you come out of your tomb of lies and deception? And are you moving closer to Jesus Christ? Are you moving in your life in the direction of Christ? How you answer that will tell you if you are a regenerate. And the last point, the persecutor's plan. John 11 says, so the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered counsel and said, what are we to do? For this man performed many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death. The Pharisees, along with some of the other Jews, hated Jesus Christ. Their hatred for him was so deep-seated and intolerable that after Jesus Christ raised someone from the dead, their plan was to kill him. I read this, I was like, really? Don't you wanna keep him around, right? If somebody could raise somebody from the dead, I would want them to stick around, but they hated Christ. And it wasn't his works, it was his words that they really dreaded. This is one of the things he said to the Pharisees. Jesus tells them, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Martin Luther said, always preach in such a way that if the people listening do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you. The Jews had become comfortable in the kingdom of darkness, haven't they? They established their thrones and were unwilling to bow their knees to Christ. They were successful in their desire to murder Jesus. They did murder him. However, their evil desire was used by God to accomplish his plan of salvation. Acts 2, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosened the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Death was swallowed up by death from the one who had life in himself and only he could do this because he had no sin. He set the captives free and the display of the fullness of what was to come was immediately evident. And Matthew says, and behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were open and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection. They went into the holy city and appeared to many. And that was just the beginning. He's going to raise his people. All who have picked up their cross to follow him will end up like him. We are in the already, not yet. We have eternal life now, and that is the reality. And the consummation will be the redemption of our bodies. And beloved, we know Christians still die, and the reason we still die is because we still sin. Remember, sin and death will never be divorced. But let us never forget that we are freed from the penalty of sin. We are freed from the power of sin. And when our bodies are given back to us, we will be freed from the presence of sin as well as death. First John says, see what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Those who are like him in character will be those who, when the king returns, will be transformed to look like him in kind. A new body without sin, fit to serve the master for all eternity. Revelation 21 verse four, John writes, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. So what is God doing? What's the come walk away for tonight? God is redeeming creation through Christ. The new creation is the fulfillment of the first act of creation by God. In other words, what God is doing, God spoke the world into existence through the word when he said, let there be light and place man in it. But in the new creation, he has reversed that order, hasn't he? He spoke, let there be light in our dark hearts, and the new creation is going from the inside out, rather from the outside in. Herman Boving said, the world according to it consists of heaven and earth, humans consist of soul and body, and the kingdom of God accordingly has a hidden spiritual dimension and an external visible side. Whereas Jesus, came the first time to establish that kingdom in a spiritual sense, he returns at the end of history to give visible shape to it. Reformation proceeds from the inside out. The rebirth of humans is completed in the rebirth of creation. The kingdom of God is fully realized only when it is visibly extended over the earth as well. So what is the hope, what is the mandate going from here? Give the gospel. Give the gospel. Take part in that. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Empower us day by day, step by step, to grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Father, give us a correct view of sin and remind us that it was sin that killed our Savior. May we declare our, declare War on sin for your glory and be resolved to live a life of holiness. Father, give us boldness to give the gospel to those around us so that our friends, neighbors, family, co-workers may be freed from the bondage of sin and death. Father, as we go about our week, help us to live a life of worship so that Christ is exalted in our deeds as well as our words. Keep us safe. Bless. us with your protection, your provision and blessed providence until we meet again in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.