Tombstones Or Livingstones

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Living stones are living stones. I don't know about you, but I'm a living stone.

Hallelujah. John chapter 11, I begin at verse 32. Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply troubled in his spirit and he was deeply moved in his spirit and was troubled and said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. And verse 35 is that smallest verse in the Bible. I remember when I was a kid in youth group and they'd always have you stand and say, Would you quote a verse? This was always the good old faithful.

I'd stand and I remember my mother one time, I stood and quoted and she gave me a look and said, Is that all you can come up with is Jesus wept? Shortest verse in the Bible, verse 35. And so the Jews were saying, Behold how he loved him. But some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of him who was blind have kept this man also from dying? Jesus therefore again, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb.

Now there was a cave and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, Remove the stone. Moth of the sister of the deceased said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead four days.

And Jesus said to her, Did not I say to you, If you believe you will see the glory of God? And so they removed the stone and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hearest me and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people standing around, I said it that they may believe that thou didst send me. And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice saying, Lazarus, come forth.

And he who was dead came forth. Tombstones are living stones. Let us pray.

Our Father tonight, we thank you that you are the resurrection and the life. Hallelujah. Lord, that resurrection life dwells within us tonight.

And Lord, we pray that you would bring some people tonight out of the tombs that we create, and tombs of doubts and of fears and despair. Other tombs, Lord, that we enter in that is not of your making. Oh, Lord, speak the word tonight that some people might be liberated and come out of their bondage and come out of their tomb to know that they are living stones.

Hallelujah. Anoint your word, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, Lazarus was a living stone that became a dead stone that became a living stone again. 1 Peter 2, 5 gives us this terminology of the believer as a member of the body of Christ, as a part of the body of the term living stone. It says you also as a living stone being built up as a spiritual house.

Now, I want to use Lazarus as a type, a type of one who was a dead stone who became a living stone. And I see in the story of his death and resurrection a picture of how we create and enter tombs. And we roll stones over them as a sign of our acceptance of certain things that happen to us as being final or being over with as in death.

But when in fact those things are not dead as far as the Lord is concerned. Jesus considered Lazarus only asleep. Now, it's true he was indeed dead.

In fact, dead four days. But in spite of the stone rolled against the tomb signifying the finality of death, Jesus did not consider the case closed. Out of death came life.

Out of defeat came victory. Out of the tomb came a living, breathing, resurrected stone. A living stone.

And how often do we see tombs when we should see Jesus? I said, how often do we see tombs when we should see Jesus? Too quickly we consider a situation hopeless and we bury our Lazarus in a tomb. We roll the stone over the cave. We conclude that it's all over, finished, done with.

No more hope, no more life, no more Lazarus. I know how Martha and Mary felt. I have had situations on my hands.

I've been through difficult trials and dark days of sorrow in which I saw a Lazarus die. And the idea of rolling away the stone or believing that Lazarus could come forth was beyond my belief. Especially since the situation was as far gone, as far as I was concerned, the situation was too far gone and it stunk as far as I was concerned, as Martha said.

But Jesus came along in this situation and he said, did not I say to you, if you believe, you should see the glory of God. Hallelujah. And tonight, if you don't receive anything else, I believe the Lord has a word for some of you tonight and it's in this very words.

Did not I say to you, if you believe, you shall see the glory of God. Hallelujah. And if you're in a tomb tonight, I want you to know that there's resurrection life that can bring you out of that tomb.

Glory to God. And so I want to speak about the tombs that we build and the Lazaruses we bury in them. And then we roll the stone over the door and we forget the promise that Jesus made when he said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me shall live even if he dies and lies in a tomb. Now tombstones represent the conclusions of doubt and fear. They are the memorials that we erect to denote or signify our lack of faith.

A tombstone is a sign of defeat. It's a sign of death. It's a sign of despair.

I know a person like this. Every time this person hears the least little bit of news, the least little bit of bad news, this person goes to pieces and is sure that it's a lot worse than has been reported. And immediately, in other words, this person builds a tombstone and they put themselves in it or somebody else in it.

And that's what I'm talking about tonight. I was thinking about my message even Sunday morning and Pastor Bob gave a beautiful illustration of what I'm talking about when I say we create tombstones. And if you weren't here, he gave a cute and simple illustration but it illustrates the point that I want to make tonight.

He was talking about when he was a little boy, he was playing in the yard and a little boy bit him and didn't hurt him at first but he went inside and sat down and his mother came along and said, what's the matter? He said, nothing. And she said, well, you look like something wrong with you. And he said, yeah, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die. You know, he was sure. He had heard that there are poisonous snakes and you get bit by a snake and he was sure that he had that kind of poisonous snake.

He was sure he was going to die. And how many times have you been bitten by a garden snake and you're sure you're going to die and you build a tombstone and you say it's all over. And I want to talk about a few of those tombs tonight.

First of all, go with me to Exodus chapter 14. There's the tomb of despair. And some of you tonight may be in a tomb of despair.

This is Exodus chapter 14. The children of Israel cry out in their despair, in their despair, fearing that they're going to die in the wilderness and they're going to die at the shores of the Red Sea. And in their minds and in their words, they create graves or tombs in which to bury themselves.

Listen to it in verse 10. It says, and as Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them. Now they were just fresh out of Egypt.

They were just enjoying the first hours of their freedom. And they no sooner get outside the outskirts of Goshen and they hear this noise in their ears and they turn around and here is Pharaoh and they recognize what it is. It's his company of chariots.

And what a sight and what a sound it was to the ears. And it says, and they became very frightened as the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Now they were in a life-threatening, dead-end, nowhere-to-turn situation.

When they left Egypt, they were led southeast. They could have gone directly east, but that would have taken them through the land of the Philistines and they would have had to go to war. And so the Lord preserved them from that and he led them in a southeastern direction.

But suddenly the guiding cloud took a course due south and by that route within four or five days or five or six days, five or six days outside of their exodus, after their exodus, they found themselves in an extreme point of a wedge. On one side was the Red Sea. On the other was the wilderness.

In front was an insurmountable barrier of mountains. And there was no natural egress from this dead-end or we might say this cul-de-sac that God had put them in. Their only recourse, of course, was to make a U-turn, turn around and go back to Egypt.

Now the Israelites were, I don't know if you know the expression, but I remember it as I was growing up as a kid and I don't know where it originated, but it probably originated from this story. There's an expression about you coming to a place or a time in your life where you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea. And if this doesn't describe Israel, they were between Pharaoh the devil and the Red Sea, the deep blue sea.

And in their fear, they turned on Moses and they said, is this some kind of a cruel joke that you played on us? To bring us, liberate us, you bring us, you dangle the promise of freedom before us, you lead us out here. And this is what they said in verse 11. And they said to Moses, is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Moses, you've got some sense of humor.

Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? And so they built graves or tombs in their minds and in their language and in their voice, in their talk. And they saw themselves being laid in them. They saw the stone rolled against it, seeding their doom.

And they said to Moses, it would be better that we would be a live slave than a dead free man. Now I paint that picture, I give you that story because how often, how often do we find ourselves in the very same place? I call it between the devil and the deep blue sea. In a place where you consider it certain defeat.

And that's where we begin to build these imaginary tombs and we enter the tomb and we watch the stone roll in front of the door finalizing our defeat. You see the tomb of despair that I'm talking about tonight is built at the incrossable waters that we all come across in our spiritual journey. It is that place where we come to a standstill.

We have no more answers. We have no more solutions. And we stand there and we say, we see no means of salvation.

We see no means of rescue. We see no means of getting across the troubled waters. Now tonight that barrier may be to you a sickness.

It may be to you an illness. I think as David read the letter of this daughter who hurt her father and I could feel the pangs of that daughter and that father who's just found out that he has terminal cancer. You talk about an incrossable river and maybe some of you are at that river tonight.

And if not, maybe you live with somebody is at one of those rivers. And I want to tell you, sometimes it's harder to be the one not sick than the one sick. It's harder sometimes because you feel so helpless.

You want to do something. You want to help. And it's just as difficult to live in that kind of terminal situation that somebody has in their body.

Or maybe the incrossable river tonight is a life-controlling problem that you have. Some sin, some habit that clings to you that you can't seem to get victory over. Or maybe you feel locked into a relationship with somebody else that you can't seem to get along with.

Maybe it's a teenager with a parent. Maybe it's a husband or wife. Maybe it's somebody at work or whatever.

And you find yourself in an incrossable situation where you're locked into some strife with another individual. And you can't get along with that person and you can't get along without them. Maybe you're married to them.

Maybe it's your boss or whatever, but you're just locked into it. It's one of those divine cul-de-sacs. It's that dead-end kind of situation.

Or maybe you're seeking God's will for your future and you have no sense of direction. There seems to be no clear way. And every option that you think of is no option at all.

You see, these tests and these trials and these tribulations are the very points at which Christians build graves and build tombs. It's the very point where some fall apart, they come apart. Now some who enter the tomb of despair, they go inside, but they hope to come out again.

They don't roll the stone over the door right away. They sit in their tomb and they wait for help and they wait for God, but he seems to be distant. Job was in this situation.

Listen to what Job said. In 9-11 he said, Were he to pass me? Now again, picture Job in this grave, this tomb. It says, Were he to pass me, I would not see him.

Were he to move past me, I would not perceive him. In other words, because I'm so cast down, I can't see God in this situation. Or there is the other person who sits in their tomb and every day they go deeper and deeper into despair and doubt and fear and the stone over the door rolls another inch every day.

Little by little the stone gets worse and finally they feel themselves closed into this tomb of defeat and they don't know what to do. Job also described this tomb of despair in these words. He said, Behold, I go forward, but he's not there and backward, but I cannot perceive him.

When he acts on the left, I cannot behold him. When he turns to the right, I cannot see him. In other words, Lord, where are you? And that's exactly what Mary and Martha said.

And that leads me to the second tomb. And David preached about it Sunday night. It's called the tomb of delay.

The tomb of delay. Often the tomb of despair is brought about because of the delay in finding a way out. Mary and Martha blamed the death of Lazarus directly on the delay of Jesus in responding to their cry for help.

Turn again. I hope you keep open there to the 11th chapter of John. Verse 21.

Look at verse 21. It says, Martha therefore said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Look at verse 32.

Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and feathered his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not noticed the similarity. In fact, the language is exactly the same. And you know what the scripture doesn't tell us about Martha and Mary, especially Martha? One thing that you don't get when you read the Bible is the tone of voice.

I'd love to have known the tone of voice of Martha when she said, Lord, if you had only been here. Now, I believe her tone probably was a lot sharper or different than Mary's. I believe Mary's was a broken one, but I believe Martha's was probably a complaining tone.

But why were the reason their words were exactly the same is that they had had four days to rehearse the words. Four days they had looked out the window, waiting and wondering, where is he? Will Jesus come? Why does he not come? Now, they knew that when Jesus, they knew Jesus, or they knew when he got the message. They sent a messenger to him.

They knew when he got a message, and I believe the messenger came back and gave them the words that Jesus said. Look at verse 6. It says, Jesus deliberately, intentionally delayed going to see Lazarus. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed there two days longer in the place where he was.

Now, you see, Mary and Martha expected that Jesus would surely come. At least, at least he could have sent his word and healed Lazarus. They knew that he did things like that.

They knew that he possibly could just say the word. But instead, Jesus simply says, don't worry, Lazarus is only sleeping. And they figured, well, he's talking about death and that he is going to, he's saying he's sleeping, but he's really dead and he's going to wake up in the resurrection.

And of course, Mary and Martha were saying at that time, Lord, we don't need a theological statement. We need healing. Now, it was during the delay of Jesus that Lazarus dies.

And as they place a tomb in the body, the sisters have to contend with two things. There was the tomb of death and there was the tomb of delay. Over and over again, they asked the question, why? Why did Jesus not respond? In fact, other mourners came and they said, he opened the eyes of the blind.

Why could he have not healed this man? Now, the reason they said that is that that blind man who had healed was there as one of the mourners. He lived in that very area and therefore it's no accident. They turned and they saw him and they remembered how Jesus opened the eyes and they said, if he healed this man, surely why could he have not healed? Why could he have not done something about Lazarus? And so they have to contend this.

And if was another word that was on their mind. If Jesus had only been there, if he'd only come when he was asked, if, if, if only Jesus had been there, Lazarus would be alive instead of dead. That's what's going over in their mind all the time.

What blaming fire must have burned in the hearts of Mary and Martha towards the Lord. You see the hardest trials to deal with in our lives are those ones that keep getting worse. The more we pray, the worse they get.

And Jesus seems to be nowhere in sight or too late to do anything. Jesus even said, I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you might believe. Now listen, if Jesus had said that to me and I heard him say, I'm glad for your sakes that I wasn't there so you might believe.

I wouldn't have heard the end of it. All I would have heard is him say, I'm glad for your sakes, I wasn't there. And I want to tell you, I would be confused.

I would be distressed. I don't know what I would be going through. Now, if you call up one of the pastors and you say to us, you know, last night I was real, real sick.

And we say to you, well, I'm sure glad we weren't there. Or you call us up and you say, you know, I was robbed last night. And we'd say, well, I'm sure glad we weren't there.

If we did that to you, you'd be looking for another pastor for another church somewhere. But how often I've been in situations where I really needed the Lord. I needed an answer to my prayer real, real soon.

But instead, Jesus seemed to stay right where he was for two days, for two hours, for two days, for two months, for two years sometimes. And then when he did show up, my Lazarus was dead. And let me tell you what a dangerous time it is during the delays of Jesus.

That can be the most precious time or the most perilous time. It can be a time of learning or it can be a time of backsliding. Beware of going into a spiritual tomb during the delays of Jesus in your life.

Because it's during this testing time that we fail, that when we fail the test, we begin to talk the language of defeat and despair. We begin to say things like it's all over or what's the use or I quit or I give up. Why is it? Is it worth it to serve the Lord? And we build these tombstones and then we write on the tombstone these words, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

In other words, this tomb would not have been necessary. This situation would need not happen if you had come to my rescue. Let me talk to you about another tomb.

And please listen to it very carefully. It's a tombstone of another person's sin. The tombstone of another person's sin.

Flip over a few chapters in John. Go left to John chapter 8. There is another tomb that we have to deal with. This is not one that we go inside, but it's one that we put other people in.

It's the tomb of somebody else's failure and sin. John 8 is a picture of it. It's a familiar story to those that are familiar with the Bible.

They bring to Jesus this woman who is caught in the very act of adultery. And the religious leaders want to find out from Jesus what he's going to do about what his opinion as to what should be done. Look at verse 2. Excuse me, it is verse 3. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and having set her in the midst.

And they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in the very act. I also picture in my mind that some of them had stones in their hands. Literally they were ready to build a tombstone for her.

And they asked Jesus, what do you say? And they figured that they had Jesus on this one. They figured they had him. You see, whenever there was a difficult situation like this would come up, they would always bring the matter to the rabbi.

And in this case, they're treating Jesus as a rabbi. In fact, they said, Teacher, what do you say? And they figured they had him. Because if he said the woman ought to be stoned to death, two things follow.

First of all, he would lose the name he had gained for love and mercy and never again could he be called the friend of sinners. They knew that was his teaching. That was his doctrine.

And secondly, if he said the woman should be pardoned, it could immediately be said that he was teaching men to break the law of Moses and that he was encouraging and condoning people to commit adultery. But with great wisdom, he solved the problem and ministered to both the accusers and the accused. But that's not why I bring this out.

The story speaks to me in another way. That there are tombs that we build if we're not careful to put others in because of their sin. You see, sometimes we deal with an adulterous woman or an adulterous man in our lives.

Somebody that we're living with, somebody that we're ministering to. It may be a husband, it may be a wife, it may be a brother or sister. It may be a relative or a friend.

Somebody that you have been reaching out to. But they keep messing up. We keep catching them in the act of sin.

And all in that situation, how we're prone to write that person off and commit them to a tomb of condemnation and damnation. I've had those share of my cases. I've had the share of them in my time because I've worked most of my life with people with life-controlling problems.

And I've seen them come and go and come and go. And I've seen them make progress and I've seen them fall and I've seen them getting caught in the very act again and again. And many times I've confined them to a tomb and I've said, it's no use, they'll never change.

A week ago, Sunday night, there was a young man at this altar. I had known him for many years. He had been a Teen Challenge staff worker.

And about five and a half months ago, it all came apart on him and he went back to heroin, back to drugs again. His wife had to put a restraining order on him to keep him away from the house. And his situation came to my attention.

And he came to the altar on a Sunday night. And that very night, we put him into the Timothy house. On Monday, he left.

On Tuesday, he came back. And Mike let him back in. And I told Mike, I said, Mike, I'm glad he saw you.

It's a good thing he saw you because if he had come to me, I would have not let him back. But I said, God's given you a burden for him, fine. All right, he's back.

Stayed another day and left and he's still gone. And so I know what I'm talking about. Now there are some people that may end up in a tomb of death and damnation because there are some people that cannot be helped because they refuse to be helped.

But remember in the story of the adulterous woman, remember every situation like this that you may have on your hands. The story, what blesses me in this story is that Jesus had the last word. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Look again at the verse. It says, now in the law of Moses commanded us to stone such a woman.

But what then do you say? Oh yes, the law says put her away. Bury her. She was under the sentence of death.

Prepare the grave, pick up the stones and throw them. Put her away. Roll the stone over the door.

Seal her fate. But Jesus had a better idea. Jesus had the last word.

And remember that Jesus always has the last word in such cases. What then do you say? Jesus is what we need to know. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you.

Go your way from now on. Sin no more. You see, I may say that so and so's case is impossible.

You may give up. You may have had your patience worn out by an unsaved loved one or a friend or a person that you're working with. But it's not what you say.

It's not what I say. But it's what Jesus says. Hallelujah.

What do you say? Jesus had the last word at the tomb of Lazarus. He had the last word with the adulterous woman. And he will have the last word with those that you deal with as well.

Hallelujah. Some of your unsaved loved ones or whoever it might be. I've seen young men come into the church.

I've seen them come over the years at Teen Challenge. And I've looked at them. And I've judged by outward appearance, and rightfully so.

And I've said, they'll never make it. They'll never make it. And every time I say that, God seems to look down over the portals of heaven and say to me, I'll show you.

And I want to tell you, if it were possible, I could line up a whole stage full of young men who I would have said, they'll never make it. They'll never make it. And they'll stand here as a testimony that Jesus always has the last word.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The Lord wants to turn every tombstone experience into a living stone experience.

Listen to 1 Peter again, 2, verses 4 and 5. It says, And coming to him as a living stone, rejected of men, but choice and precious in the sight of God. Then he says, You also, as a living stone, are being built up, are being built up a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You see, my friend, every Red Sea, every Lazarus, every adulterous woman is an opportunity for the glory of God to be manifested and for the growth and the strengthening of his church, of his people, of his living stones.

When Jesus heard of Lazarus' sickness, he said this situation is not unto death. He said this is not a tombstone experience, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified by it. At the Red Sea, when the people were writing their own obituary, and they were building mental and spiritual tombs, Moses said to the people, And tonight, if you have written your own obituary, like the children of Israel, and you find yourself at the Red Sea, take heed from the word of God tonight.

Let the promise leap out to you. Moses said to the people, Do not fear. Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you have seen, He said, you know those tombs that you have been building to bury yourself in? He said, I'm going to bury the Egyptians in them. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

The very tomb that you thought was for you is not for you, my friend. Hallelujah. It's for the enemy.

Glory to God. He said, I'm going to bury Pharaoh and his chariots there. Hallelujah.

And Jesus enters and has the last word. He said, You'll never see them again forever. Hallelujah.

What about the tomb we build and we put our unsaved loved ones in? That person you prayed for, you've been working with for so long with no results. Just about the time we pick up the first stone to begin using to build a tomb in which to bury that person and give up on them. It's then that Jesus enters the scene and he has the last word and he says, Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.

You see, God uses tombstone experiences to fulfill his purposes in us as living stones. And that purpose is expressed here in 1 Peter 2 and 5. It says, You also as living stones are being built up. Being built up as a spiritual... You see, he doesn't want you to build up tombstones.

He wants to build you up. And the key words here are build up. And as in the natural, so in the spiritual realm there are different qualities of stone.

And you see, God wants to so strengthen the quality of our faith and our character that he does take us through tombstone experiences. Not to bury us there, but to manifest the glory of God. Hallelujah.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians, flip over quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 12. It says, Now if any man builds upon the foundations with gold, silver, or precious stone, or wood, hay, and stubble, such man's work will become evident.

For the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. Now note the words, For the day will show it. For the day will show it.

In fact, would you repeat it after me? For the day will show it. What day? The day that we either build tombs, or the day that we stand the test and believe that the situation is not hopeless, it's not unto death as Jesus said, but it is a situation in your life for the glory of God that the Son of Man may be glorified by our tombstone experience. That's the day that he's talking about.

You see, through the trials, through the tests, through the sickness, through those Red Sea crossings, our living stones are being built up. According to Ephesians 2, 21 and 22, it says, The Lord wants a people in whom the whole building, being fit together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. You see, God wants to come into your tombstone experience and reveal his glory to you.

Hallelujah. And it's when we understand the built up principle, then we will not see our trials as tombstones, but as stepping stones. James expresses the same thing when he says, The testing of our faith produces endurance.

And endurance or patience enables us to be complete or mature. Or in other words, being built up as a spiritual house. Zephaniah 3.12 says, I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people.

Why? That they might trust in the name of the Lord. Psalms 119.67 says, Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy statutes. A few verses later it says, It was good for me that I went to the Red Sea.

It was good for me that the Lord took me through that tombstone experience. It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Hallelujah.

You see, it's by reason of our afflictions and helplessness that the Lord gets our attention. And he reveals unto us the glory of Jesus. This is why Jesus delayed his visit to Bethany.

It's also why he says to you and I, I'm glad I wasn't there. Imagine what was going on at that moment when Jesus said that. Mary and Martha were weeping their eyes out.

They were a close, loving family. Lazarus, no doubt, was the only man in the house, perhaps the only breadwinner. And as they sorrowed, their friend and Lazarus' friend Jesus says, He is glad he's not there.

But listen to me, when we understand, look again at John 11 and 15. In fact, King James brings it out better. You see, when we understand the motive and the purpose and the intent of Jesus in our hour of test, what a difference it makes.

He said, I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. King James says, to the intent. The New American Standard says, so that you may believe.

But I like the language of King James better. It says, I was glad for your sakes that I was not there. To the intent.

Remember the motive of Jesus for what you're going through. Christ is not glad to see his children fearful at uncrossable waters. He is not glad to see a sorrow over a Lazarus that dies.

Or over a fact that there is an adulterous situation that tries our faith and tries our patience. But Jesus is glad on the account of the trial. Because his delays are delays of love.

He has a wonderful purpose in mind. He says, to the intent that you might believe. Jesus said to Martha who complained that the situation stunk.

He said, did not I say to you, if you believe you will see the glory of God. Jesus knew that as a result of that two day delay. Or that four day difference.

He knew that the situation would get worse. But he also knew that this temporary trial would help his disciples to a greater faith. And he so loves them and he so prizes their growth in faith.

That he's even glad for the sorrow that we go through. In order that in the end he might reveal his glory unto us, hallelujah. Verse 39, I close in verse 39 chapter 11.

And Jesus said, remove the stone. Remove the stone. Verse 41 it says, and they took away the stone.

And tonight the Lord wants to remove the stone of unbelief from your heart. And resurrect a dead Lazarus in your life. Verse 44 simply says, and he who had died came forth, hallelujah.

And if you're going through a tombstone experience tonight. Jesus wants to bring resurrection to that. Remember the intent.

Remember his thoughts towards you in the midst of it are good thoughts. His thoughts are that you might know him and see him and see his resurrection life. Praise his wonderful name.

Shall we bow in a word of prayer. Glory to God. Glory to God.

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Lord, we thank you.

We thank you, Lord. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your promises.

We thank you, Lord, that you are sometimes late, but you're always on time. Hallelujah. You know what you're doing, Lord.

Thank you for your delays, your delays of love. Lord, we thank you. That is where if we find ourselves tonight at that uncrossable river.

Lord, I think of the old time Pentecostal course. It says there are rivers that seem to be uncrossable. Many, many rivers that seem to be uncrossable.

But Lord, that you are able to carry us through. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

And Lord, where there are some here tonight that find themselves at that river. They find themselves at that Red Sea. They find themselves in a situation where the answer seems to be delayed.

Lord, out of their tombstone, let resurrection life come. Hallelujah. Minister to some needs around us all that we pray.

In Jesus' name. Amen. The Holy Spirit is looking for a people who will say, as Rebecca said, I will go.

I will go.