John chapter 11. John chapter 11. We are thankful again to be here tonight. This morning we had sunshine, but I'll go ahead and tell you, rest assured, rain is on the way, at least if it's coming from the direction I just came from. So it looks like God is surrounded. John chapter 11. We're going to deal with a familiar scripture here tonight and one that we would all be very well acquainted with. Hold on. The story of Lazarus. Whenever Lazarus died and the Lord brought him back to life, he showed the world the resurrection. He had power over death. And there's been people down through the years saying, well, if Jesus really loved him, he wouldn't let him die to start with. But the Bible says different. It says, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When he heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. So the Lord loved Lazarus, but the Lord had something he wanted the entire world to see. And he wanted me to preach from tonight. And it's been preached from throughout the years. The thought of the resurrection, boy, as Christians, we wouldn't be much if there wasn't a resurrection. You know, we preach the cross, and we think about the cross, and no doubt the Lord paid that tremendous, awful price that we could be saved, but if it was not for the resurrection, it wouldn't mean near as much. Without the resurrection, we'd be of all men most miserable, which the Bible tells us. And so, you know, if we just served the Lord in this life, and that's all we had, and we died, and there wasn't nothing left to us, and there wasn't no resurrection, then we would be among the most miserable. So I'm thankful that the Lord showed us the resurrection. And he showed his disciples this so that they could bear witness that we seen it with our own eyes. And it was not just his immediate circle, his close circle, but others that were there, mourners that were going about in the streets over Lazarus. They witnessed it too and they believed on that day because of the resurrection. Look at verse 39. Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said 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 wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. Martha, there's more to this than what you know. There's something going on here that's bigger than you. There's something going on here that I want to show you that is going to be wonderful. And if you would just believe, you'll see the glory of God this day. Verse 41, 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 hast heard 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 had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, Loose him, let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him." Let's read these verses tonight. Jesus allowed Lazarus to die. It even lets us know, and I read those verses earlier, back in verse 6, that even though he knew Lazarus was sick and he'd received word, he tarried two more days to let him die. In my little mind, it's hard for me to believe that, you know, Lord just let him die. You know, when we're facing with death, when we face death, it's always an eye-opening thing. We always, you know, have questions. You know, it was too soon. And we look at the situation, and we think, you know, how broken we are. But the Lord understood that death is a natural process of life and that we need to understand something about death. So I'm about to show you something about death. I am the resurrection and the life. He even said to his disciples, he said, let's go. Lazarus is sleeping. And they said, what if he's sleeping? He's doing good. Let's not wake him up. He said, no, I'm talking about him being dead. Verse 15, and I'm glad for your sake that I was not there. to the intent ye may believe. So I was going out of what there? I've got something to show you. I've got something. Jesus allowed Lazarus to die because he had a miracle that he wanted to show the world. The most important phrase in the book of John chapter 11 is not, Lazarus come forth. I know that's powerful and that's kind of the turning point of the story. We focus in on the fact when Jesus spoke, a man that was dead come to life. But the most important verse in all of the chapter, the one that has the most power is this, I am, verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. That's what I want to show you with all this. I want to show you I am the resurrection and the life. So Jesus wanted mankind to see that He had power over death. One day, because of His resurrection, that I am going to leave this place. If I was standing here now when the Lord came back, I'd leave this pulpit right now, and I would go and be with the Lord. And this mortal would put on immortality. This corruptible would put on incorruption. So in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everything about me would change, and I would put on a new body. No doubt, we might think of that as being death, right then and there. But we would be transformed into that new body. If I live on to the ripe old age, or whatever you think old is, and die, I still have this to look forward to. that I am going to be resurrected. I'm going to be brought up. So, he said, and this is what I want to focus in on, he said, take ye the stone away. Take ye the stone away. Notice he only asked them to do what they were able to do. They were able to take the stone away. Nothing really hard about moving a stone, I guess, Depending on how heavy it is, it might have took several people, but they took the stone away. That's not a hard job. You don't need a degree to be able to move a stone. You just have to be willing to do it. Move the stone. But then again, it was a little bit hard. Because when Jesus had taken away Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he's stinking. So, even though it's not that hard to move a stone, And it seemed like they certainly didn't have any trouble moving the stone once they began to move it. But there's this thought and now she's dealing with some emotion. And she's dealing with the thought, when we move that stone, he's going to stink. And that's going to be hard to deal with. We're already broken hearted. If we move that stone and we see that decayed body and we smell that stink, it is going to be bad. So she's got to deal with that. So Jesus said, said I nod unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, I should have seen the glory of God. I want to show you something. It's going to take faith. You're going to have to believe me enough if you're willing to move that stone. And so they moved the stone away. So he's asked them just roll the stone or move the stone away. So what I'm trying to get, and let's pull it down here tonight, just a feeble effort. I just want you to move the stone. Nothing hard about moving a stone. You don't have to be super intelligent to move a stone. Just move the stone and you have to be willing to have faith in order to just move it. Just move that stone. Just believe enough that you're willing to take away the stone. So, I want you to work on the outside of the tomb and I will work on the inside of the temple. You do what you can do. With your little feeble efforts, you move that stone, and once you do, I'm going to show you something that is going to blow your mind. I'm going to show you something that is miraculous in nature like you have never seen before. I am going to raise Lazarus from the dead. You're going to see the resurrection today. You can handle the stone. I can handle the stone, but I can't do anything about what's going on inside the tomb. Ain't a good thing. He didn't say, Marth, I want you to move that stone, and I want you to go in there, and I want you to breathe into his nostrils the breath of life. and watch him come back to life. He didn't say that, but might because she couldn't do that. She don't have the breath of life. The Lord has that. The Lord is the giver of life. The Lord is the one that can take care of the supernatural. You see, the miraculous, the spiritual, the supernatural, that is His realm. That is His responsibility. So you do what you can, move this stone. I'll handle the rest. I've been preaching to... Well, I've been preaching now for just over 20 years. In the 20 years, many of them have been right here. In other places as well. I have preached to many lost men. And I have preached to many lost women. and I have preached to lost boys that have come under conviction, and the Lord began to deal with their heart, and I have preached to lost girls, and they come under conviction, and the Lord deals with their heart, and to see them get saved by the power of God, by the grace of God, it still amazes me, because I don't have the power to save anybody. I've been preaching 20 years to those that be lost and it's still amazing because my responsibility is to preach the word. Ain't nothing hard about that. I mean, we make it hard. I have made it very hard along the way. A lot like Martha was making this hard. You start looking at the what ifs and the buts and the maybes and my little abilities and all that. My goodness, we just can't do it. But you believe. If you believe, I'm going to show you the glory of God. So that's what it takes to stand here by the branch. That's what it takes to stand in a pool. I'm nothing. I can't change a heart. I can't convict anyone. I can't bring anyone back that's wandered away. But I can do what He said. I can preach the Word. Whenever I preach the Word, He'll work on the other side. He'll work on the heart. He'll work in the realm of the supernatural. He'll work in the realm of the spiritual. He'll do his part and I trust him to do his part. See, I can't save a soul and God didn't ask me to. He didn't ask me to. He expects me to do the simple task of preaching His Word. I'm glad He said it's through the foolishness of preaching. He didn't say it's through the intellect of great preachers. He didn't say it's because of all the nice little examples you can come up with. And boy, if you really wow them with some kind of analogy, that you'll get their attention and they'll be saved. He says through the foolishness of preaching, men are saved. Boy, you talk about ever more light in the load when you realize that he just asked me to preach. Just go preach. He expects me to do the simple things. Move the stone. Just get the stone. Anybody can do that. Move the stone. He expects me to get up. I try to read my Bible. I try to get my thoughts together and then study for a while. Go through a lot of coffee. And then present it and let him do the rest. He even helps me with the presentation and he helps me get it out. He helps me put it together in a way that people might understand it. He expects me to He prayed for the lost sinners. He expects you to do the same thing. It's not all on me. He expects you to pray for them. He expects us to set good examples. He said to the pastor, you be an example to the flock. So I come, Brother Joe, and I try to be an example as best I can to the flock that God has given me. And he expects me to come and show how good God is. I can tell you, as a lot of people believe, if I get saved, man, I'm going to have to give up life. Life is going to be so boring, and it's going to be terrible, and I'm going to have to obey all these rules, and I'm going to have to read a Bible that's hard to read and understand. I have to do all these things. Let me tell you something about serving the Lord. It gets sweeter every day. If you're here and you're lost, you need to understand there's nothing greater on earth than being saved. Nothing. There is no greater life than to live a Christian life and please our Creator. Please our Savior. Nothing better than that. So He works to bring that lost sinner, if you're here and you're lost, the Lord's working on you. To bring you out of the grips of death. The Bible says a sinner is dead in sins and trespasses. Dead. Dead. I can't work in the realm of the dead, but the Lord can. He is the one that quickens. He's the one that gives life. He's the one that is living water. He is the one that gives new life, born again, and if you're here and you're lost, understand. He's the one that will save you. He is. He didn't stop there though, did he? Once Lazarus walked out of the tomb, he didn't say go in there and get him. He let him hop out of the tomb. And then he said, loose him and let him go. He couldn't loose himself. He told Martha, Mary, Y'all loose him. Let him go. You know the Lord told the church, take that person that was lost and has been saved, we're to take you down to the creek, take you down to the water's edge, and we are to bury you in a watery grave. You don't need to go around in grave clothes the rest of your life. Bury you in a watery grave so that you can be raised up to newness of life. so that you can live like a Christian, so that you can show the world Jesus, so that you can do your little fable efforts and the Lord bless them to help others. So, church, we're in the business of moving stones. That's the business we're in. Just trust Jesus to use our little fable efforts to help others. Look at Numbers chapter 21. Numbers chapter 21 We're in the book of Numbers we find Israel wandering around in a wilderness and They're thirsty again Thirsty and How did the Lord give them water? Moses, you go down and you strike the rock, and they'll receive water, and he did. Another time, they were thirsty. Moses, you go down and speak to the rock. At that time, Moses was angry. He was mad. These rebels, must I fetch you water? And he struck the rock again. He got in trouble, but they still got water. But you know, that's not the only time God provided water. He provided water in numerous different ways. Verse 16, And from thence they went to Beer, that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. So we're going to get water, but this time we're going to dig a well. Verse 17, then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. Verse 18, the princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it by the direction of the lawgiver with their stings. And from the wilderness they went to Matanah. So, notice the direction of the lawgiver. Who gave them the law? God. So God also told them how to dig a well. I don't want to be sinful or I'm not trying to be a comic here, but When I look at this digging of the well, it just seems so backwards, and nothing about it really makes sense, except the fact that the law giver said, do it this way. That's what makes sense, and that's all that needs to make sense. And what I mean by that, generally, it's not the princes and the nobles that are digging the well. They're the ones generally going to stand back and watch while others dig the well. But the lawgiver said, I want the princes and the nobles to be the ones digging the well. And also, if I was digging a well, I would want a shovel. I know they might not have shovels there, but it says they dug it with staves. That means they dug it with sticks. Maybe pointed sticks or walking sticks. They dug it with sticks. said they did this in the wilderness. Now, when I hear the word wilderness, in my mind, I think of Mississippi wilderness. Going to the wilderness area, you see a lot of trees, a lot of green grass, and under that, you know, good topsoil, dirt. And that's not the way it is here. In this particular area, when you look at where they're at, what this would be is sand. And maybe every now and then, just patches of rough type of grass, but mostly sand. And every now and then, maybe just a rugged looking little tree. But for the most part, sand. And every now and then, you might say, well, maybe they got to a place that was an oasis. So they would have seen maybe a little grass there, but still sand. And so when I picture this, you've got these nobles and these princes, and they are down in a hole with their sticks, and they are moving sand. That's not easy to dig a hole in sand. It's not, because whenever you dig, that sand falls back in. And so here they are, and they are moving sand with sticks. and you've got a congregation of people standing around them and they're singing, spring up old whale, sing ye unto it. Let's sing to the whale. Let's sing to it. But that was the direction of the lawgiver. That's how God wanted it. I want you to sing and I want you to dig. Now, this is my thought. And I want you to understand that, but I think it makes sense. Do you think they dug down to the water? Or do you think the water came up to them? Well, I'll tell you what I know about it. If God would have willed it to be so, they could have dug for three weeks and never got any water. God could have said that water in that area is a thousand foot deep. if he wanted to. But he gave them a law. He said, this is how I want you to do it. And he told them how to do it. And he had all these people, I want you to sing and encourage them. And that's what they did. And the water came to them. God give them water. Again, just feeble efforts. Just feeble, feeble efforts. That's all we can do. It's just feeble efforts. People need water. Those are lost. I'll tell you, I long for the day when I see somebody that would be lost. Trust the Lord. Get saved. I look forward every time I go to church. I'm ready to see somebody get saved. But I tell you, I can't give life. I can't give living water. But I can listen to the lawgiver. I want to encourage us as a church. Let's listen to the Lord. If He says go, let's go. If He says stand still, let's stand still. If He says pray, let's get on our knees and let's reach the throne room of heaven. Let's be willing to do what God says do. Well, Brother Brad, I can't do much. None of us can. It's just a different day we're living in. I tell you, it may be a different day, but the Lord said, go to the world, so let's go to the world. He said, preach, let's preach, and let's trust Him to give life. Let's trust Him to save souls. We can move stones. We can dig. We can sing. If the Lord says, sing, let's sing with all our heart. I'm glad I belong to a singing church. He can give life. He gave life to me. I tell you what, at one point in my life, somebody might have looked at me and thought, that's a lost cause right there. That poor, pitiful young man. But the Lord looked down and He saved me. He did. If you're lost, I want you to understand something. The Lord can save you. He will save you, not just He can, He will. He will save you. And there's nothing you can do. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Nothing you can do. But if you're willing, if you will repent, if you'll turn to the Lord and you'll trust Jesus, He will save you. And it'll be real. And it'll be to the uttermost. and he'll be forever returned. He'll save you. But you have to be willing to surrender. You have to be willing to trust him. In church, I want to encourage us that let's listen to the Lord. If the Lord says do it, let's do it. And let's watch him bless. He's still on the throne. He's still saving souls. He still is the power of God and the salvation of everyone that believes. Let's trust him and let's do what he says.