The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, pastor Tony is teaching in the book of John. Please open your Bible to John chapter 11 verses 38 through 44.

Tony Clark: Sin corrodes, sin kills, sin destroys. And to see what it has done to his creation, because the wages of sin is death. To see what it's done to his creation, oh, he groaned within himself. And I look at our country that I served. I look at the condition that it's in spiritually, and I groan within myself. I wonder if that's you. Or you just so desensitized you applaud like everyone else. Good for you. Oh, you're a hero now. Wow, I groan like Jesus does. Look at verse 39. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by now there is a stench, for he has been dead 4 days.

Now Jesus orders, or the Greek word means commands. He commands that the stone is removed from the mouth of the cave. Martha, who joined the group by this time, uh, was quick to raise an objection and remind Jesus that Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. As I mentioned previously, the Jews would normally bury their dead relatives the same day because of the warm climates of this area. And Martha was reminding Jesus that the body of Lazarus was starting to decompose. And and like the end of this verse says, Lord, by this time there is a stench.

And there is an odor. And this was the case because Jews didn't practice embalming like the Egyptians did. They would wrap the body in strips of linen and and tuck spices in them to counteract the smell of the decomposing body. So this is the scene where Jesus orders them to take away the stone. And I believe that the Lord is ordering us to do the same thing, to take away the stone. A stone is something hard that keeps people out. See, God wants to do something miraculous in our lives. He wants to bring life back into something that has died.

But first, we must take away the stone. We must expose the problem. The Lord is saying, allow me to have total access to the situation that has brought all of this hardness in your life that you're using to keep people out. And we so often cry out like Mary did. Oh, no, not that, Lord. Do you have to deal with that issue? I'm embarrassed about it. I'm ashamed of it. Lord, it has been an issue in my life for a long time. By this time, it stinks. And Jesus understood the length of time Lazarus had been dead.

So there was no need for Martha to say, Lord, by this time there is a stench. Jesus understands that this issue has been a problem for some time in your life. And he knows that it it stinks, but he still orders or commands us to remove the stone from the tomb. And Jesus is saying to Martha, I gave you a command in verse 25 that I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. But here is what you must do. Take away the stone. Even though what's inside stinks, let me deal with it.

And Jesus said this to Martha and to all of the Martha's in here today. He is saying, take away the stone. What is presently in your life that stinks that the Lord is commanding you to take away the stone? Is it the computer or your cell phone sites when everyone is asleep? Is it someone else in your life that you're trying to keep secret? Is it your mouth and the stinky words coming out of it? Is it a smelly attitude that you have? Is it the stench of unforgiveness and bitterness and hatred towards someone? Whatever it is, Jesus is saying to you, take away the stone and allow me access to deal with the stench.

And maybe you're like Martha, you're saying, you know, Lord, no. No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. By this time it stinks. And God understands that it's been an issue in your life for a long time. And that it had time to decay and decompose in your life. And now it stinks. Oh, you trying to keep the stone in front of the the entrance of it so nobody else can smell the stench, but we all smell it. Whenever someone comes around you, we smell it. We smell the attitude. We smell the unforgiveness. We smell the bitterness, the anger in your life.

We smell it. And you even wear it on your face. You notice how some people when you look at them they just seem like they it it's like like they smell something that it it it's coming through. It's coming through. What else did Jesus say to Martha? Look at verse 40. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you will see the glory of God? Now the response of Jesus was designed to give her hope, but also to suddenly rebuke her as well. Martha believed that whatever Jesus asked God the Father, he will give it to her.

Oh, we know this from what she said in verse 22. And and and it has been 4 days. It's been 4 days and the hope of seeing Lazarus raised from the dead is disappearing and starting to fade. And maybe the same thing is happening in your life. You believe that God is all powerful, that he can do all things. But as time goes by, the Lazarus in your life is still dead in the tomb. And so too like Martha, your hope is fading. Your hope is disappearing. Oh, the question is, did they obey Jesus to remove the stone?

Look at verses 41 to 43. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this that they may believe that you sent me. Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Now Martha, reassured by the words of the Lord, gave her consent to take away the stone. We all realized that a stone in front of the tomb was no real obstacle for Jesus.

And he really didn't need their consent or their help. And if he could raise the dead, surely he could miraculously remove a stone. So why did he wait for their consent and use them to remove the stone? Oh, because God uses people. God wants us to partner with him in accomplishing his purposes upon the earth. And this is why he asked him to take away the stone. But you know what blows me away, what I find fascinating, what blows me away is how Jesus never asked the Father to raise Lazarus from the dead. He just says in verse 41, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

And he finishes his prayer in verse 42 which says, and I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this that they may believe that you sent me. What a prayer. What a prayer. Where in this prayer does he ask that Lazarus is raised from the dead? It is not in Watch this. It's not in this prayer. Jesus had been praying about this Lazarus incident long before he came to the tomb. This is why he said at the end of verse 41, notice, Father, I thank you that you have heard past tense, heard me.

Oh, this shows us that Jesus practiced what we are later told in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing. Which means always be in an attitude of prayer. In other words, don't wait until you're in the midst of a crisis to start praying. Or wait until your Lazarus have died to start praying. Jesus had been praying all alone and when crisis hit, he was ready to deal with it. I wonder if that's you. You always do things the last minute and you wait until crisis hit, then you start. Oh, God. And then you you preface it by saying, I know you ain't heard from me in a while, but I've been in a crisis.

We're told to pray without ceasing, to always be in the attitude of prayer. Because you never know when the crisis is going to hit. And when the crisis hit, if you always been in the attitude of prayer, you will pray like Jesus did. Father, I thank you that you heard me. The mean meaning that you've been praying about situations and things long before the crisis hit. Or we see Jesus tell us in verse 42 why he lifted up his eyes and prayed out loud because of the people who were standing by that they may believe that you, Father, sent me.

Jesus had a reason why he did everything. Then we see in verse 43 when Jesus said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Well, that Greek verb cried out is is and it means to shout or to speak with a loud voice. I love what many scholars and historians have said about this verse. They said that the power of Jesus is so great. Had he not addressed Lazarus by name and just said, come forth, everyone in the graves would have come forth. And one day this will happen. Jesus said earlier in John chapter 5 in verses 28 and 29, he said, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who in the graves will hear his voice and come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

You know what this shows up these verses show us? They show us that everyone who has died is not it's not it's not going to happen. I'm tired of going to funerals where every what people who are in positions that like I'm in put everybody in heaven. No matter what kind of life they live, well, they're in you know, they're in a better place. Oh, they're they're up there worrying Jesus to death and all that kind of mess we do to try to comfort ourselves. Or these verses make make it very clear there will be there will be those who will be raised to life and those who will be raised to condemnation.

Or these verses also tell us something very important and that is God sees it all. Those who have done good and those who have done evil. And this is not referring to good works as opposed to bad works. As if our salvation is based upon our good works. No, our salvation is by grace through faith like Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 teaches us. Also in Titus 3:5 it says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. However, our works show that we are saved like Ephesians 2:10 says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has created that we should walk in them.

So we do not do good works in order to be saved. We do good works because we are saved. And there's a huge difference. So Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth. You know what the literal Greek says? The literal Greek says, Lazarus, here, outside. The question is, did he come forth? Look at verse 44. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, loose him and let him go. Now this verse says, he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

And so here is Lazarus stumbling out towards the familiar voice. He had heard many times previously. And keeping with the Jewish custom, Lazarus was loosely wrapped in strips of linen which allowed him to walk awkwardly on his own. And maybe you're here today and you're here like Lazarus with the grave clothes of anger and bitterness and unforgiveness on, unable to walk and talk properly. You came here walking awkwardly and talking badly because of sin. Your face is wrapped. You can barely breathe. You barely feel alive. And this is what sin does to us. It binds us.

It binds our hands and our feet with grave clothes. And it tries to suffocate us. You barely walked in here today. And Jesus is here to say, loose him and let him go. Jesus wants to set us free from our sin and from the grave clothes that are binding us up and keeping us from walking with God the way that he wants us to. However, Jesus once again he uses people. And just like he did here, he told them to loose him and let him go. John the author, if you would notice, he doesn't record for us the tearful reunion of Lazarus with his sisters Mary and Martha.

Nor the reaction of the people to Lazarus coming back from the dead. Why? Because all of these things could have taken away from the purpose of John recording this miracle. He wanted the focus of the miracle to bring glory to God like verse 40 says. John writes with a purpose in mind. If you remember when we first started the book, John writes with a purpose in mind. He He says at the end of this book, he said, these things were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and in believing you might have life in his name.

So he specifically chose these particular events to put in his gospel so people can believe that Jesus is who he said he is. And this is why he doesn't record certain things. Things that will take away take away from Jesus Christ. The Bible says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven, not you. This is why, you know, I'm always uh, I always got to really prepare myself to go into certain church circles. Because the focus is always on man, especially when I have to go back home.

Because especially when I have to speak, because I have to be introduced with this elaborate introduction. Oh, he's done this and he's so this and he's done that and this church is this side and this side and he's been in ministry this long and this long and he's done this and he's been speaking around the world and he's done all this sort of stuff and throw up his right here at the base of my throat. Because then when I get up, then I have to heap accolades on the person who just heaped them on me.

Oh, this person, thank you so much for inviting and you just such a and thank God, give honor to God the head of my life and the pastor and the ministers who are here and the deacons and whoever else want to be acknowledged. And I have throw up right here. Always wanting praise, always wanting accolades, always wanting pats on the back, always wanting to be seen, always and I'm just like uh, the Bible says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and not glorify you. Glorify the Father which is in heaven.

People wonder why I don't go to certain functions and things around here because I just I I really I can't stomach them. I really can't. People just drawing attention to themselves, screaming over here, screaming over there, doing this. I I can't take it. I can't take it. Because now our focus is on you and watching you run and watch you scream, listen to you scream, listen to you draw attention to yourself. And I just get I it's right here. One day it's going to come out and I I I hope I I hope nobody's in front of me when it comes out.

You know how when babies get sick they project they project I I it it it was it's going I I See, we if it was us, we would have talked about the tearful reunion. Did you see how they cried and Mary? Oh, Mary was on her knees and she was just all like and Martha was just grabbing on to Lazarus neck. She wouldn't let go for a minute and the people around were running around saying, did you see that? Did you And all that would have taken away. That the whole purpose was to see Lazarus come forth.

The whole purpose was to see that person who was dead. Jesus brought him back to life. And the focus would have been all on Mary and Martha and how they cried and wept. Somebody had to give them some tissue. And they ran out of that box of tissue and they had to get another and have somebody had to pick Mary up off the ground. And it's just a mess. He said the purpose, John says in verse 40, is to bring glory to God. Let me conclude with this. When God doesn't make sense, God doesn't make sense when he asks us to take away the stone from a tomb and expose something that stinks in our lives.

In our minds, this doesn't make sense. But it is necessary. It is necessary if we want to see God do the miraculous in our lives. What is the Lazarus in your life that has died and smells, that is decomposing, that you're ashamed of? Jesus is saying to you, take away the stone. Give me total access to that area. And you protest like Mary did and said, that doesn't make sense. By this time there is a stench. Jesus knows and wants to bring life back into it. Will you allow him? The choice is yours. He knows the hurt because you protest.

You don't know they've hurt me and I promise, I vowed I would never let someone get that close to me to hurt me again. And therefore you rolled a stone in front of the entrance of that area in your life. Because it's a safeguard. It's to keep you safe, keep you from hurt. But then that person in your life, that spouse in your life is pain. Because you can't love them like Jesus wants you to love them because you got that stone rolled across the entrance of your love. And Jesus is saying, roll away the stone, but you're protesting and saying, no, you don't understand.

I'm hurt there. And Jesus said, I know. Allow me total access. But Lord, you just don't know. I've been this way a long time by now it stinks. And he says, I know. Give me total access. Roll away the stone. The choice is yours. I wish sometimes the Lord would just all of a sudden just barge through the stone and and get in that area of our life. No. He tells us to roll away the stone. Allow me access in that area. Finally, maybe you're here today with grave clothes on, barely breathing, barely walking because of sin.

And Jesus is here to set you free. And he says to us, loose him or her and let them go. There will be people up front to pray for you and with you so you can leave here set free like Lazarus did from this tomb. No longer wearing the grave clothes of the past. Aren't you tired of wearing the grave clothes of the past? See, you you came in with those grave clothes on. You said, no, I came in looking cute. No matter how much you try to pretty up those grave clothes, they're still grave clothes.

They're still lit. And Jesus wants to set you free. Whom the son sets free is free indeed. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word. We pray, God, that you will continue to minister this word to our hearts. Draw your people right now, Lord. These are your people. Move in their hearts right now, Lord. God, I just pray for those with grave clothes on. I pray for those who are afraid to remove the stone. But Lord, you want total access there because you want to do the miraculous in that area that they've been hurt in.

And Lord, I just pray that you would touch your people. Draw them to you. Lord, I pray if anyone here has never repented of their sin and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, I pray that today will be the day of salvation for them. That they'll repent of their sin and believe that you died on the cross and was buried and rose again. Lord, you said they shall be saved. Lord, I pray that they repent of their sin and come running to you. Only you can set people free today. Only you can save souls today.

Saved by your Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

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