In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the lack of spiritual understanding in the world. He criticizes the psychologists on BBC for missing the spiritual aspect of life. The preacher then focuses on the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus. He highlights the scientific and miraculous nature of the signs performed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. The sermon concludes with a mention of the reaction of the Jews and the Pharisees to the miracle of Lazarus' resurrection.

We bless Thee, that Thou art our God in heaven and in earth. We praise Thee, that Thou hast ordained through Thy Son, that Thou should have a new people on the earth, and Thou art preparing them for the new creation, starting the new creation in us, not merely forgiving our sins, but thank You for that, but to make us new creatures by a birth from heaven. Glory to Thy name, Father. Keep us ever in the way, the way of holiness, the way of separation of ourselves unto God, made liberal all over the earth unto the rest of mankind. We ask Thee, Father, to meet us this day, for we know nothing of ourselves, nothing of self, for that won't be acceptable with Thee. It's that which we know of God. Instruct us, therefore, in the way of truth this morning. Bless every one individually and all together, that we may be by Thy grace and by Thy grace alone worthy to bear that precious name by which alone we can be saved. Hallelujah. Amen. Into the gospel of our choice or selection, my selection, I'm afraid, is with John. If I haven't told you before, it's my favourite gospel, but I expect I'm guilty of repetition. Here then, we'll go on, beloved. We're in John 11. We never got through it. Now, I am hoping to get through quite a lot in the first two lectures, as we go through, because there are a lot of chapters remaining, which I want to cover in these, what is it, next week and the week after I'm with you? No, I've begun the second week, have I? Oh, well then, this week and next. It's genuinely that I forget, so don't think I'm playing around. It's what they call a short-term memory. Seems to have fled me. But here we go then, into this wonderful 11th chapter. As you know, it's the chapter that contains the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Amen. When the Lord, as we have formerly seen, displayed himself as the light, as the life. And this was the great thing. I am the resurrection and the life. And in verse 15, he was very glad that he was not there to heal Lazarus. I'm glad, for your sakes. As you may understand, I'm not just a healer man, or merely a person of the gospel, if you like, which simply means good tidings. It's not just about that. I am the word from heaven. He never boasted of that. He is only called that once, as you will know, in the beginning of John's gospel. But it's the whole content of this gospel. Of course, you have other gospels as well, but this is our chosen one. Is a word from heaven. The whole of it. You understand that? Not just what I do, or what I say, or perform, if you want to think about it that way, with miracles. He said, it's this glorious thing. I am in toto, from head to foot. And as far into eternity as you can dig backwards, and far as you may think forwards, I am the word. Of course, in the gospel according to Paul, I've talked that over with you. It's not printed as a gospel. We are told in the first letter he wrote to the Corinthians, that it is the word we preach, the Christ crucified. The Christ of many miracles, Luke, Matthew, Mark, even John told you about that. And he speaks about, that we preach, Christ crucified and so on, but also in that first chapter, he says, the word of the cross, that's exactly the same word in the Greek, which is translated in John, in the beginning was the word, the Logos. So we are preaching the Logos of the cross, not the Logos of Palestine, as it was called then. Not the Logos of this miracle, that miracle, though it was the same, but that was not the emphasis. Like the emphasis in John, is not the emphasis that's in Matthew, Mark and Luke. The synoptics. He wrote a different gospel, same Jesus, and Paul went even further, he comes in on the cross, and of course the living Christ, since then. It's a marvelous thing, and remember from this, in your, if you are there, and I offer you no insults at all, please, but I must make the if, if you are in the position, of knowing the Logos of the cross, you are able to discover more. If you don't know the Logos of the cross, and as we are seeing in John chapter 11, I am the resurrection and the life, but only the Logos of the cross was the resurrection. You understand that? That's the most important thing. OK. You won't really understand the things, that are in Paul's writings. You understand some, anybody can understand that, say he was in a shipwreck and all this kind of business, that's there for the gathering. There are jewels lying on the surface, you may remember, that probably the biggest diamond in the world, was discovered, in the sand and in the rocks, where now the great Blum, Fontaine, and all those kinds of people, that kind of area, where they have the diamond mines in Africa, it was a child, playing with a glittering stone, picked up. You see, you can pick up all these gems, jewels, on the surface. You understand? But then, you must realize that Jesus, only talked about superficial things. When he was here, tell them stories, the sort of thing you would do if you had a baby, sit it on your lap and tell you stories. Oh, they're wonderful stories, they're true stories, they're not fairy stories. They're glorious. The sower went out to sow, all right. Or, just take the one parable that John tells, the shepherd and the sheep, all right. We all take that in readily. But in this further thing, that Paul wrote, he said, you've got to be crucified, you've got to be dead and buried, out of sight, you, Christ has to live in you, he's the one who's got to be seen and heard, not you. And that's what it's all about. But let's come back to this marvellous chapter 11. I drew your attention to the fact, I hope, I've forgotten, and I don't keep notes, as you see. I have to rely on immediate inspiration, or else I can't preach. Learn that. You would-be preachers, or are preachers. You learn it. You can't preach by the Holy Ghost, unless he's filling you, and then fills your mind, and fills your mouth. In fact, that then, is called, the ministry. Not learned in a college, or in a bible school. Brush you up on the edges, about points of which you may be ignorant. But, it's very wonderful, what this is, and I trust I drew to your attention, when he says, in verse 15, I'm glad, for your sakes, that I was not there. You haven't seen anything yet. Oh, I've seen. He wouldn't say this. It's the sort of thing that men say. But he would say, I'm glad. And he also says, wonderful things. But let's come to verse 16. It was Thomas, called Didymus. Now, the word Didymus means twin. What? The word Didymus, as it is in, I don't hear you, you understand, I wasn't being funny. I just don't hear unless you really speak up. Here is the thing. That word Didymus, in verse 16, that word means twin. So, Thomas was one of a pair. Alright. He said to his fellow disciples, let's go with him, that we may die with him. Now, Thomas is usually run down. He wasn't there when Jesus appeared. Where was he, minding the baby or something? I don't really know. Now, watch it you women. Don't you prevent your man being in the thinking of God, if he is a true man, because of this current emphasis on the female. Just keep that clear. And you always remember, I'm going to remind you again, if I haven't done it before, it was Eve that started the rot. Not Adam. He had to bear the responsibility, because like a lamb, he followed Eve into sin. Just keep that right in your mind. Don't get carried away by emphases in the world, or things like that. Just keep that in mind. So, Paul, Jesus goes right on. And Thomas too. Let's go with him, he said. We'll all die together. That's what's in his heart, bless him. But there are some strange things in this part of John's Gospel. Strange according to the nature of man. Very common amongst us. I mean, as truth is known in heaven, for you'll know that everybody you meet on this earth, except they be born of God, is a strange person. All of mankind is estranged from God and dead. So I hope you didn't get messing about with politics. Here is the big thing for us to understand. Verse 17. Then Jesus, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had been in the grave four days already. Now, Bethany was now out of Jerusalem, about 15 furlongs off. If you don't know the English measurement, there are 8 furlongs to a mile. An eighth of a mile, roughly about the eighth of a kilometer. So you get nearly two eighths in 15. Alright, two miles away in our English speaking from Jerusalem. Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary, oh dear, that's my interposition, couldn't rise to it. She sat still in the house. In her misery, Martha went to Jesus. In her misery, Mary didn't go. Just keep that clear, because she sat at his feet and had learned of him. But apparently her own inward grief she could not overcome. Martha said to Jesus, If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Was that a complaint, or was it a compliment? Is it to be viewed as that you didn't come when we sent for you, you could have done if you'd have wished? Or, he died because you weren't here, so you wouldn't have let him die. I don't know, after pondering it much through the years, I'm still not clear on it. But we'll go on. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. It's the greatest thing he ever said in connection with the I AMs. And she took it like a lamb. Bless her. I am the resurrection and the life. If it's the resurrection of the life, he's telling her and us, we who read this, that he was living the life. We, if we are born again, are going to live in heaven. It's here on the earth. Bodies have got to be adjusted to it, I know that. But this is what he's saying, and you must see this, beloved, you aren't gods unless you're living the life of Jesus Christ on the earth. It's not your abilities, it's not your brains, as though that must be in it somewhere. It's not that. Keep it clear. I am the resurrection and I am the life. I'm going to put this in that you will have your... I wonder what they thought about that. I do beg of you never to gallop through scripture. Stop and think. Life after resurrection, not before. You understand that? You don't get life until you've been crucified with Christ, stone dead, death to that old man. Then you will live the life Jesus Christ supplies by the Holy Ghost for us to live it out on the earth and may I say, and see how you get on. You know that earth is a preparation for heaven, don't you? Once you say you're a Christian. If not, please don't say it. You've got to get at truth. It's not just forgiveness of sins. You must understand that Moses preached forgiveness of sins. John Baptist latterly preached it and that closed the Mosaic era. And in comes Jesus, now you've got to be born again. He only ever said it once. He said it to the great teacher of the teachers, the great professor, art thou the teacher of Israel. He taught them all in their seminaries or whatever you want to call it. And you don't know this. So if I want to come into that, see where it's got you Nicodemus. You might be a nice man, you don't blaspheme, you're not a blackguard, you go worship in the temple, you bring the blood offering when you think when you want, but you must know that from that moment, say you'd have been under John, John's ministry, you see why I have a job to get through this subject. We've got to know what it's all about, not me give you a list of this, this, this, this, this. Now write that down, learn all about it and it's merely academic and having sympathetic minds that go along with it. But Jesus never repeated that again, that you must be born again. He told the head teacher of the race, the head professor, alright, the professor who taught all the other professors and teachers. You see, that would soon be disseminated, but he never once repeated it. He said often, your sins be forgiven you, your sins, but the forgiveness of sins is not the new birth particularly. Keep that clear. It's a tremendous thing of course, this is in new birth and always remember that the Lord, neither John Baptist nor the Lord Jesus who followed him ever talked about you can be born again only once. So that teacher Jesus said, John never directed the people, now you've had your sins forgiven, go up to the temple and make your sacrifices and never, just read your Bible with your eyes wide open. Don't guess your way into truth. See what the Bible says unless you'll be betraying the people that listen to you. Now I know if you're on the street corner you don't preach all these great, what we might call the deeper things. You're preaching the gospel and inviting to come. Jesus only told people to go up to the temple and make the appropriate sacrifice. Do you know who they were? The ten lepers. He said go up to the temple and make the sacrifice. But it was for a testimony to them. Alright? That I have cleansed you because nobody was reckoned to be clean from leprosy unless the priest pronounced them clean. Now God showed them that you are cleansed. Alright. And I am the priest. I am the great high priest. That's what it was about. Now that is the tremendous truth. The revelation. God forgives a thousand times may I say a man if that's possible or woman but he can only give you birth once. Keep that very clear. Cost him nothing to forgive. All his love was implied in it. All grace was there. But the forgiveness of sins is not new birth. It's a beginning on the road. I wish people understood and taught this and preached it. Here then is the truth. I know he shall rise again. I'm expecting to rise again myself. I put that in. On me. Everybody will rise. I know that. I'm the resurrection. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live. And I want to tell you that's where you start believing in Jesus Christ. Not wanting to go to heaven when you die. I've told you already that he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. It's not fit for us. He's going to do away with it and make another one. It's going to be wonderful. Now I mustn't stop on that. Listen. Whosoever liveth, verse 26, and believeth in me. Now what he said is this. I am the resurrection and the life. Believe in me. Not the great sin forgiver. Which he is of course. But he makes his emphasis. He never started like this I said. All he did in the beginning was just say well I am the life. Now he's getting through to the end. I am the life. And then he repeats that in chapter 14. I am the way. If you want this life. I am the truth. I am the life. You can't come to the father but by me. You've got to be born again to come to the father. This is the great ingathering of the true saints of God. Go for it. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She said unto him. Yea Lord. I believe thou art the Christ. The son of God which should come into the world. That was a tremendous statement. A great statement by the Lord brought a great response from Mary. From Martha. Mary never heard this. They would have shared it together afterwards of course. When she so said. 28. She went her way and called Mary her sister secretly saying the master is come and calleth for thee. She never John never revealed that Jesus was calling for Mary. And neither is all that Jesus revealed to Martha is not stated here. It is lower down. We'll come to that. As soon as Mary heard that she arose quickly came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town but was in the place where Martha met him. The place if you recall where the great revelation had been made. The Jews then which were with her in the house and comforted her when they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and went out followed her saying she goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying if thou hast been here Lord my brother had not died we both believe that that you would have cured him. You would have prevented him from dying. But that was the exact opposite from Jesus intention. He intended Lazarus to die. Do you think that? Oh not to rot in a grave but he got at some time this was his royal commission from his father to reveal the fact that he was and is the resurrection and the life. He got to reveal that. He could demonstrate I am a good shepherd and all this. This was simple to him. This was the task. This was the great thing. And he loved Lazarus so much and Martha and Mary He selected that family Bethany I referred to it. He chosen to make that his final earthly home in their house ere he died. Alright. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her he groaned in his spirit and was troubled and said Where have you laid him? They said unto him Lord come and see. They never said anything about raising him from the dead. Just come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews Behold how he loved him. Some of them said could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind of course that even this man should not have died. Evidence the tears. But that wasn't why Jesus was crying. He wept because they thought it was all over. If he was weeping just because Lazarus was in the grave they would have been what my mother used to talk to me about say if I was crying she used to say they are crocodiles tears. They are not real because he knew he was going to raise him from the dead in five minutes. Why was he weeping? Because Mary though she had sat at his feet didn't understand him. Do you understand him? If not he will weep over you. He will weep over you. It's one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible. If he knew he was going to raise him as soon as he got there he wouldn't go weeping just because Lazarus was in the tomb. Mary His Mary as the next chapter will reveal when we get into it. She didn't understand. And the people said this could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died Jesus therefore again groaning in himself. See all the time you'll read that in the Bible. Groaning because Mary who had chosen the better part had sat at his feet and had learned of him did not understand. I guess he's if he was on the earth he might share some tears shed some tears but you will be Hmm As I've warned you already this morning it isn't sufficient for you to know the Bible from cover to cover or all these things. You've got to know God. That is your privilege. The person of God. Shall I say his moods not that he's as changeable as moody people on earth how he that this is your privilege and you'll have to spend time on it. More than your outward activities as good as they may be you must give time to God. Time to get to know him. Surely you're going to be married to him aren't you? This is the thing beloved and for that marriage you'll have to leave all others. How glorious is you may have married yourself to a computer or something. You know what I mean by that. You don't go through a service to say you're man and wife. In your heart you might have married what you think is truth and then you are totally deceived. In your heart you've got to be married to Christ. He's after a bride but I mustn't stop on that now. But that's what he's after. He's had enough. I may say he'll understand me when I explain I don't know a better way at the moment to express it. He's had enough of being made the filth of the world and carrying their sins and having to forgive you every other day or something for something or another. He wants love and union. He wants purity, holiness. He wants to marry you like that. Hmm. Hmm. The gospel is really a proposal of marriage when it's understood. How marvelous is this truth. You say, well, where do you get that? Well, listen to John Baptist. He lived in the blood of animals. He lived baptizing people and talked about washing away their sins. He lived doing that and then he said I can hear the bridegroom's voice. He that hath a bride is the bridegroom John 3 but that is presaged in John 3 with You must be born. You've got to be born again. Jesus said so. Unless you will not belong to his bride. How tremendous this is. Go for it with all your heart. I'll be preaching to you if I'm not careful. Here is the great truth. You see, he wept because Mary didn't understand. Mary was confused. She made up for it. We'll see it in a moment. Before we get through this morning perhaps. She made up. Oh dear. She made up for it. As best she knew how. It comes with a great groaning. 38. I don't know whether they were audible groans. But this is what the Spirit inspired John to write. He may even have been there and heard it all for himself. Came to the grave. It was a cave. A stone lay on it. Jesus said take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. She didn't want the stench of her brother's body coming out into everybody's nostrils. She loved him. She loved him. She wanted the stench sealed in the tomb. And that's what they'll probably do with yours when it won't be a tomb. That's right. You stink once human life goes out of you. It's only life that keeps you from stinking. Not a nice way to put it is about your brother. You wouldn't call that a very nice thing. But she was a realist. Always was. Bid her that she come and help me serve, you see. She's one of these, let's get on with it and do the business. Mary didn't talk like that. They were dears, both of them. But each was quite distinct. And he said, oh she said that to him, he's been dead four days. Jesus said unto her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldst see the glory of God. Now that's not recorded earlier. So there was some conversation went on between Martha and Jesus that isn't written down there. But it's revealed here. He said it to her. And you know why he said it? Because when he told her he was the resurrection and the life, she said, yeah Lord, you are. I believe. What is the private conversation that goes on between you and the Lord Jesus? And the things he says to you, what is it? Could be some wonderful conversation in heaven. Here is the marvellous truth. They took away the stone 41 from where he was. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. But nobody else. Nobody else. We've been talking to Father all the time. Ah, this is the art of living. People perhaps will say, oh he's talking to himself, she's talking to himself. I live with a daughter at home, right way down south. And she'll sometimes say, I could hear you talking, Dad. When she's outside the door, they know not to come in. Of course, I've got to live on my own. Here is the great truth, beloved. You've got to learn to talk to God in the busy heyday in which you live. And it's according to that that you'll make spiritual progress. And only according to that. I'm saved, oh beloved, what's the use of you keep trotting that out unless God believes you're saved and sufficient to live and talk with him. And walk with him. How we go on. I knew that you heard me, he'd already asked for it. You see, I don't mean it was unnecessarily in our conversation, but when he heard the news of Lazarus, I guess he asked then. Talk to God about it. He always did what his father wanted. To get into the life of Jesus. To understand his actions and reactions. This is your greatest occupation. Oh, you've got to go in the ward and preach the gospel. I shouldn't attempt it, unless you hold a lot of conversation with God. Shouldn't attempt it. Well, anyway. I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people that stand by, I said it. That they may believe that thou hast sent me. Alright. So, he directed them to the father. Look at me. I'm the great miracle worker. Oh no. You will remember that in chapter 5. Oh no you won't. At least you won't, I never lectured to you then. But you've remembered it probably through much bible reading. He said this, it was an astounding thing. He said, I can't do anything except my father shows me. God showed him, his father, to go to that tomb. And God showed him to let Lazarus die. And break the heart of his two sisters. Now, this is sometimes when I'm praying about that. I say, could Jesus Christ trust you? When you are in the midst of this baffling thing. Listen. There are great people in the bible. This was one of the great families in bible days. Look at Abraham. God said to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac. Talking to him in the midst of the night. Go and offer him to me. What? Could you take that? Reason would come up. Oh, you well trained in this realm. You see, you're almost a psychologist. Do you see? Don't you realize the greatest psychologist is God? He's not a mere psychologist. Hmm. But he is. I've said all human rules. God doesn't worry about that. He's after a family. Not that he doesn't want multitudes in salvation. But he's honest and true. And don't you dare say anything that's not according to God's psychology. Don't look at man's psychology. They're staggering along, trying to find out. Whether the spirit exists. It's just a psyche. Body and soul. To them, I could start naming them. You want to go over every word that falls out of their mouth and see whether it accords to the teaching of this book. If not, scrap them. Never a greater psychologist than God. He made human beings. This is their blasphemy. I'll tell you something. Perhaps you ought not to stay up so late at night. Only your students, you've got to be prepared for tomorrow. But on Sunday nights, please, I'm not advertising. On BBC, there is a man following the news and comes and he's called the psychologist. I listen to him every Sunday night. He's quite reasonable. But beloved, they always miss the spirit. Always. They're just as clever as paint. Perhaps a little evil though. But anyway, always have at least two coats of paint undercoat and then overcoat. Well, you don't call them overcoat but that's what it is if you're painting walls. They understand a little bit on the surface. Glitters, talks nice. The world's lost, beloved. They're trying to grope their way up through all the cesspit of humanity. That's what it is. And find light. They wouldn't say that. But here is the thing, beloved. When Jesus has said that, now listen to what he said. Roll away the stone. Not until they had rolled away the stone, did he say, because there are spiritist mediums who can have a manifestation in plasma which they can bring forth through their own bodies and they can see faces in it. And I know this, not because I studied it, because it would have pleased God to thrust me into this. People were so thoroughly deceived and I had to learn the ways of evil spirits. Ectoplasma. It is. And they can make a person's form, faces appear in stuff which they produce through their own bodies apparently before you can see it coming out of their mouth. Now don't go investigating. I found out. I was well known in that realm once. I mustn't tell you stories now. I don't mean that I partook, but it was God's good pleasure somehow to thrust me into it. Do be careful. And he wanted to show that he wasn't an ectoplasmic manifestation. Of course you can't handle those things in an ectoplasm. You can see, and remember he dealt with sight in chapter 9. It's very, very scientific, this gospel. You think it was an old croc called John, do you? The introduction of one thing is leading to the next and to the next and to the next and to the next. And they are not miracles. They are called signs. John only speaks of signs. Let me go back to the beginning. The sign that he was the true vine was brought out in John chapter 3. The sign, I turn water into wine. That's all a vine does. You see? We're so ignorant. We're so suppressed, mixed up. We can't see the way. No, Jesus said, I'm the way, I'm the way, I'm the way. It's so glorious, isn't it? Here is the thing, he said. All right. All the way to the stone. This isn't any magic. This isn't anything to do with spiritism. Lazarus, come forth. And he goes, go on, unloose him, unwind him. They must have been scared out of their wits. Why did he say that? Why didn't he do it? Well, he wanted them to feel that it was really Lazarus in there. Flesh and bones, a nocturnal plasmic manifestation. All done through some mediumistic soul. A medium one. Oh, how wonderful it is. Ah. Hmm. Bound hand and foot. Napkin on his face. Loose him, let him go. That was the end of it. Many of the Jews which came to Mary had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. We'll have to come back to that. I just want to read the next verse. Then gathered the chief priests of the Pharisees a council. They got the report from that wonderful miracle. Couldn't be gamesaved. But we'll examine it after I've had a cup of tea.