John 12:9-11

[0:00] The Gospel of John chapter 12 began at verse 9 says, much people of the Jews, therefore, knew that he was there.

[0:10] And they came not for Jesus's sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priest 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. And that's all we'll read for right now.

[0:32] So much people of the Jews, therefore, knew that he was there, and they came not for Jesus's sake, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. Well, the Bible here says that they came not just for the sake of Jesus Christ. Now, folks, normally in the Gospels, when we read the Gospels, and miracles began to happen, blind eyes began to be opened up, deaf ears were unstopped, a lame were made to walk, and these things, these are the, these miracles, they drew crowds. And the crowds came not only to see the miracles, but to see the man that had performed the miracles, to see the one that was able to do these things, to see this man that had such power with God.

[1:22] These are the things that drew the crowds. It's no different here with the case of Lazarus. There was a miracle performed. People not only here in Bethany, but the news had reached Plum to Jerusalem, that Jesus Christ had raised someone from the dead, that this man had been in the grave for four days. There had been time for corruption to set him on the dead body. There had been time for the rot to begin to take place, and the time for any, or the hope for any kind of healing, any kind of help, and any kind of resurrection, that hope was to plum out the window in these two's eyes.

[2:03] But here comes Jesus down the way. Jesus comes at the exact time that he needed to come. Hey, this wasn't the only time that Jesus Christ showed up right on time. Every time that Jesus came when he did, it was at the precise moment that Almighty God wanted him to show up on the scene. It doesn't matter if it was blind people being healed, lepers being healed, lame, make the walk.

[2:30] The miracle did not matter. It happened at the time that God had appointed an ages past for it to happen, because everything that God does has a purpose. Everything that God does has an order.

[2:44] Everything that God does will be done in the will of God, and in the way that God wants it to happen. When Jesus Christ came to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, he wasn't one minute late.

[3:00] He wasn't one hour late, and he certainly wasn't one day late. It happened at the exact time that God wanted it to happen. Why? Because that was the time that the people would be most primed for a miracle such as this. It was a week before Jesus Christ was to be crucified. This was the prime time to show people what a real resurrection looked like. It was the prime time to show people that Jesus Christ had power over death, had power over hell, and had power over the grave, and he showed them a physical example that this man Lazarus, before he actually raised her, when he actually raised him from the dead, and before he raised himself from the dead.

[3:52] Jesus here, it says, much people 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 priest consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death. I said at the end of John chapter 11, at the end of that chapter, you see these same people taking counsel together to put Jesus to death, taking counsel together to get Jesus out of the way.

[4:25] Why? Because people were following Jesus instead of following them, but this being the chief priest folks, the Pharisees aren't brought up here in this verse, in the 12th chapter of John. We look down our noses at the Pharisees all the time, because they were normally in on such matters as this, but here it was the chief priest that took counsel to kill Lazarus. It says to kill him also. They were also in on the plan to kill Jesus, the plan to get him out of the way, but if you read in Acts chapter 5, you'll read that a lot of the Sadducees were the chief priests of this time. The Sadducees had no, had no belief in the resurrection. They had no belief in a life hereafter. They had no belief that the body could be raised from the dead. But here these chief priests, hey, not only was Jesus coming against them, but this man that they knew to be dead. He was a testimony against the chief priests, the Sadducees. He was a testimony against their belief, and instead of praising God over the miracle, then it'd take them place when Lazarus being raised from the dead.

[5:46] They would rather take the example out of the picture, so that they could continue to have their following. Shame on them. There's a lot of preachers like that nowadays.

[5:58] A lot of preachers that will not preach the truth of the gospel. They will not preach sin. They will not preach repentance. They won't preach these things because they know that the people in the churches, they know the individuals by name within their congregations that'll get up and walk out the door.

[6:19] And these are the same people a lot of times that are throwing the 50s and throwing the hundred dollar bills in the copper plate every Sunday. Hey, I'll preach the truth of God's word. I don't care if we ain't got the two people in this congregation. The gospel will not change.

[6:37] It will not change. I won't change it for you or anyone else. And praise God. I don't think anybody in this congregation wants it changed. Hallelujah. Because you don't find that everywhere.

[6:51] You got preachers, they won't preach against sin. They're gonna get on grandparents' toes because grandparents know what their grandbabies are doing out there. Their grandparents know what their teenage grandchildren are doing. They won't preach certain things because they don't get on parents toes. They know what the sons and daughters are out there doing but the sons and daughters and grandma and grandpa are coddling these children and coddling these young adults. Alarm say no you'll be fine, you'll be just by the preacher.

[7:27] Hey he says that you're fine. Hey if we ain't careful we're gonna coddle our grandchildren and our children right on into hell by convincing them that they're okay with God when they are not.

[7:42] We've got to be careful with such things. The chief priest consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death. It's amazing and it's no different now. Things haven't changed in 2,000 years.

[7:59] They would rather get rid of the gospel in its entirety. I told you all before the gospel in its entirety we're sinners and we need a Savior and Jesus Christ is that Savior and he's the only way unto salvation. That's the gospel. That's the gospel but we have to have repentance. Folks at gospel without repentance is a false gospel. There must be repentance. There has to be repentance. If there's no repentance in our lives, hey if you got saved and you continued doing the same things you were doing before, you never got saved. If you got saved and you kept on going to the same places, kept doing the same things with the same people, hey if God didn't clean up your acts, if he didn't clean up your your culture, if he didn't clean up the ways of your life, you never got anything and neither did I. If that is the case, why is that? Because God moves in on the inside. He shows us what sin is. He gets rid of that sin, casts it in to us. He forgets on us. The Holy Ghost moves in and shows us where we are wrong from that point on. Amen. These chief priests here, they didn't have that. All they had was their own mindset. They had their own idea of what was true and this man

[9:32] Lazarus was a testimony against them. Folks, the question arises, what kind of testimony are we? What kind of testimony am I? I've been raised from the dead. What kind of testimony are you being raised from the dead? Are you still doing the same things? Hey Lazarus was here. He was here but he was being a testimony. I don't read one word in this passage that Lazarus spoke. His very presence was a testimony against these chief priests. It was a testimony against the things that they have been teaching their own disciples and their own followers.

[10:12] Possibly the things they've been teaching in the synagogues and on street corners. It was a testimony against them. Folks, when we get saved, why is it that we can't hang out with the same people that we did before? It's not only because we have a guilty conscience about us because of that but it's because our lives become a testimony against those people. It's because we put the scripture into practice to let your life some shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven once our life starts shining which is not a lot of our own but a lot of Jesus Christ the world should want nothing to do with us. Those that are lost in their sin they should be scared to death to hang out with us. Why? Because glory's done moved in and that glory that light off of that glory it'll shine into their life and what does the world do? They'll try and drag us right back in. They'll say oh you don't really mean that. Told y'all before been saved 11 and a half years and I'm still I've still got people out there some of them in my own family waiting on me to follow my face as far as salvation goes. Hey I ain't following on my face my God's got me praise God. He's got me he's keeping me. I've come too far now the Bible says that any man that puts his hand in the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. I've had my plow my hand on that plow for 11 and a half years. I ain't letting go of it.

[11:48] Now my God's done too much. My God has saved me. My God has kept me. He's provided for me. Hey he's done things in my life that nobody else knows about just like he's done things for you that nobody else knows about but the people I used to hang out with they don't hang out with me now because all I want to tell them about is Jesus and what he can do for them. My life's a testimony to him now. Lazarus was a testimony to these chief priests these Sadducees that did not believe in a resurrection. There's a world full of people out there now. They believe a false gospel. They believe God loves everybody and God's gonna save everybody and they believe that because that's some of the vomit that has come out of the pulpits of America. That's exactly why they believe that my Bible says otherwise. My Bible says that the unrepentant will burn in hell. My Bible says that the whores and the whoremongers and the drunkards and the liars and those that are caught up in their own lasciviousness. Those that are caught up in their own wickedness. There is a spot for them in the lake of fire and I don't say that in a sarcastic or a smart altitude. I say that because that's what says the word of God. I say that is a warning that people who are unrepentant of their sin will wind up in a place called hell. That's what the scripture says. That's what Jesus preached. Jesus preached hell more often than he did heaven. There's something to that he wanted to warn people. I want to warn people. There's a place out there called hell. 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.

[13:47] Where did they go away from? From the chief priests. What happened when they went away from the chief priests? They left the law. They left their ways. They left their customs. They left their traditions. There's a church world out there that I wish would leave their traditions laying in the dust. I wish they would leave their traditions and the way things have always been and the way that they say, well it's always been like this. Ain't no sense in changing it now. Folks that bulls down their tradition and tradition will lead to nothing but dry religion and religion is not worth a dime in the eyes of God.

[14:26] Religion wasn't worth a dime but as far as the Israelites went and God gave them that religion, God told them to burn their incense. He told them to make their sacrifices. He told them what kinds of sacrifices but what happened? They turned it into nothing more than a form and a fashion of worshiping God. They said, I'll go out. I like how I want to and as long as I'm taking the correct animal to the priest and he's making that sacrifice, I will be okay and God said I will not have your burnt offerings. They are a stench in my nostrils. I despise your beast days. I can't stand this about you. I don't want my God looking at my life like that. I want my worship to be pure. I want my preaching to be pure. I want my preaching to be on point. I want everything that God has me to do to be absolutely on point in his eyes. Now folks that don't mean I won't stumble and that don't mean that I won't fall. I trip up over scripture all the time when I preach you all here that and I trip up over different things throughout the course of my life. Hey we stumble. Sometimes we might even fall but God's right there to pick us up, dust us off. Hey it took him to clean us up to begin with and he'll take him to clean us up with his word to continue on this day. To continue on the way. It takes God to clean us and it takes God to keep us clean but these chief priests here they were upset because their testimony against them was sitting right before and not only was the miracle itself there but the one that performed the miracle was right there in the midst. They had already taken counsel to kill Jesus. They said we're gonna have to kill Lazarus too. Amen. And these were chief priests. Yeah. Familiar with the law.

[16:24] Familiar with Exodus 20. Familiar with thou shalt not kill. And here they were taking counsel to do just that. People in churches all over America, all over the world really, all over this region. Folks unfortunately here wherever we're at we think that we're immune to such things missing, growing up, in prayer requests.

[16:48] Just a little while ago things was happening around here just like they happen on the other side of the country. Just like just like they happen in other parts of the world. It is coming right here in the buckle of the Bible belt. It is coming and it is coming home. It's gonna take up and abode here and it's gonna roost for just a little while right here. What are we gonna do? What kind of testimony are we gonna have? What kind of light are we gonna be shining? Is it gonna be underneath the bushel so that nobody can see it or is it gonna be set up on the hill? That everybody can see it. My God I want you to put me up on the hill. I want everybody to see the light of Jesus Christ. I want everybody to know how good He is, how merciful He is. Hey if I go to jail, I go to jail. If they come to kill me, they come to kill me. The worst they can do is send me home on an express train. But I want Jesus his life to shine.

[17:48] Lazarus here. He was just just sitting there like I said not one word is recorded here. The Lazarus speaking. But because of the reason of Him many Jews went away.

[18:01] We don't use because of Lazarus. Because of Him sitting there. Now listen I understand Lazarus was a remarkable a miraculous story. I understand that.

[18:15] But folks his story and all honesty is no more miraculous than yours or mine if we're saving born again. Because we were just as dead as Lazarus was. We were just as dead according to the Scripture as Lazarus was. When God looked down and He saw me, He saw me not swimming and not swimming in a cesspool of sin. He didn't see me floating around. He didn't see me crawling. He didn't see any of those things.

[18:46] He saw a dead lifeless body in the spiritual sense. He saw me dead and I have been resurrected and the world cannot stand that. Some of my friends I used to hang out with. Some of the folks I used to drink with. Used to go out to concerts with. Used to party with. Hey they couldn't stand to be around me.

[19:08] Once this man Jesus came in my life. Once Jesus took over took control over me. Once the Holy Ghost moved in they wanted nothing to do with me. I ain't saying that those people wanted to kill me but they wanted nothing to do with me. Why?

[19:22] Because there was something different about me. I had something at that point that they didn't have and unfortunately they wanted no part of. But that didn't stop me from telling them about the goodness of Jesus Christ. But folks that's the way that it works when I saved. When someone gets saved and born again. Those folks that they used to hang out with and do evil deeds with. They should want nothing to do with that child of God from that point. But we invited the church.

[19:55] We share the gospel with them. Tell them about Jesus. But as Lazarus did here and I lost the unbeknownst to Lazarus. Unbeknownst to Lazarus. He was being a testimony. But it says that they came to see Lazarus. It says the May Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Went away from religion. Went away from what the chief priest had said. Went away from what the Sadducees and also the Pharisees. Hey now unfortunately there's parts of the gospel. It says that some people followed Jesus a little way and then they turned right back around and it says they followed him no more. That's a sad story. That's a horrible story. But once they got bored with it. Once they got dried up with it. Once they got out of it for just a little while. It says hey they followed Jesus. No more God help us to stay out of that boat. Help us to stay away from a mindset like that. Jesus Christ has led the way thus far. He's been leading the way since the dawn of time. He's certainly been leading the way of the church for the past 2,000 years. That's when the Bible says that he is the head and we are the body. The head determines what the body does. Where it goes. How it goes. And everything else in between Jesus Christ is leading that way. Don't turn your back on him now. Just keep on trucking. Yeah. Heard a preacher one time say I'm glory bound with a hammer down. Hallelujah. I can't remember who that was and said that. I thought myself saying that once in a while. Glory bound with a hammer down. But they left or many of them. I'm sorry. Because of the reason of him, the reason of Lazarus, many of the

[21:53] Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Why did they believe on Jesus? Because of the testimony of someone else. Because of the testimony of Lazarus. Now folks listen.

[22:03] My testimony can't save nobody and yours can't save anybody. But boy it can show some people. It can show some people. Those people that you used to used to do God knows what with. I don't even want to know what's in your past. You don't want to know what all's in mine. Ain't none of my business. If my past were broadcast on this wall right over here now, y'all probably chase me out the door. Even though I've been forgiven and I'm a born again child of God and I dare say either of us to have you probably feel the same way. We've all got deep dark stuff that nobody knows anything about. We've had thoughts. We've performed actions. We've done a little bit of everything that we don't want nobody knowing about. And that includes the preacher. All those are in that boat. But it's a testimony now that that God has indeed saved my unworthy soul. And therefore when I run into people I went to high school with. When I run into people that I used to hang out with. They say well Spencer you used to do this and you used to do that. Boy we had some good times together. I'm like used to.

[23:09] Used to. Once upon a time that's all in the past now. That's all in the past and every one of those sins that you just listed God has thrown into that seer forgetfulness. He don't even remember those sins no more. They're not on a log that he's got kept tucked away in heaven somewhere that he can bring out on a special occasion. If the Bible says that God forgot it, he has forgotten it.

[23:34] And they'll say well that's a shame. That's a shame. It's a shame that you don't want to come out and sin with us anymore. I mean I basically have people tell me that it's a shame you don't want to come drinking anymore. Or you don't want to invite me over to drink with you anymore.

[23:48] It's a shame that you don't want to do this. Folks that's not a shame. That's the glorious God. And it's the glory of God that they saw that in me. It ain't nothing to do with me folks. It was really and truly it was nothing to do with Lazarus here. It's who had performed the miracle upon Lazarus. Once again I know I preached it this morning talking about the book of Acts but you look over in Acts and you see where Peter preached that word and 3,000 people got say, God added to the church. You flip over another chapter. Him and John go up to the temple. They go up to the gate called beautiful and there's a man there. Been lame on his free and they told him they said silver and gold have I none but such as I had given the in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk and that man rose up and walk the crowd began to gather Peter saw that as an opportunity to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified and what happened the man got in trouble because he preached the truth. You preach the truth. It's a sad sad thing when that happens.

[24:56] But folks if we're living if we're living the life I know we say all the time the church will say all the time when you live live your life according to the Bible and we should do our absolute dead level best to do that but it's impossible to do to a T. It's impossible that's why Jesus Christ had to come and die because we can't keep the law. We have a hard time keeping the two that Jesus brought up. We have a hard time keeping two of them. Anything that God spoke and anything that Jesus Christ spoke in this book is law. So it's by grace that we're saying it was by grace that Lazarus got raised. It was by grace that I got raised from the dead but when I got raised from the dead much like Lazarus here Lazarus was a testimony I should be a testimony from my God because he raised me from the dead and he done it by grace and he done it by mercy. He could have left me laying there dead and never touched me just the same way that Jesus could have here but Jesus does those things for a reason. He does it that the works of God may be manifest within you and may be manifest within me. Flip your Bibles back three more chapters to John chapter 9. You'll see a blind man and you'll see the disciples ask Jesus what sin did this man commit or what sin did his parents commit and Jesus said this man didn't commit a sin. This man's in this shape.

[26:34] He's blind that the works of God may be manifest within him. Hey God might have looked you land at the bottom of that setful of sin for 50 years but he done it for a reason but call it the prime time when he knew that the time was right.

[26:51] That's when he saved you. And he done it his own time. Why don't he wait why didn't he wait these thousands of years before he ever sent Jesus for he ever sent Messiah. We don't know for sure but if you look at it if you look at it and you think on it just a little bit who was in control at that time Rome.

[27:11] There was one country in control it was peaceful. Now listen they were still skirmishes they were still disagreements things like that but there was one country that basically ruled everywhere at that point that kept peace and the physical aspect that kept peace. What a better way to spread this news that Jesus Christ and in a peaceful time. Also the Romans who do you think made all the Roman roads over there in the Middle East. The Romans did that. It made it a lot easier for him to go from country to country from region to region from city to city instead of trudging through unknown sands and unknown desert. The Romans God let a bunch of Gentiles that didn't even believe in him make a road system to make it easier for the disciples to go out and leave Jerusalem and go out all over all over these areas around Jerusalem and around Israel and the Middle East all these places he let them build the roads for. Oh yeah and there's a ton of other things that just a couple of them. Well God's got a reason for saving you. That reason is to glorify him.