The Too Far Gone Club

When Jack Nicklaus arrived in Augusta, Georgia in the spring of 1986, his best days of golf were behind him. The middle-aged champion was being discounted in the local papers as having very little chance at this renowned golf tournament. In fact, a local newspaper columnist wrote an article about the aging golfer, commenting that Jack Nicklaus had little hopes of winning any more majors, for his waistline was thick with middle age and his clubs were rusty.

Jack Nicklaus read that article, for a friend had posted it on the refrigerator of the house that Nicklaus was staying at. And as the champion golfer read that article, it bothered him to the point of making him mad. He looked in the mirror and said, my clubs aren't rusty.

And this was the impetus needed for the 46-year-old Nicklaus. He cemented his legend by shooting a 30 in the final hours of that Master's Sunday. That changed the game and made grown men cry as they watched one of the most exciting sport performances in history, as Nicklaus won his 18th major.

I watched that golf tournament back in 1986, and it was one of the most exciting golf tournaments I've ever enjoyed. But I had completely forgotten about the story about the golf journalist who wrote that Nicklaus was washed up and his clubs were rusty. A recent conversation I had with a pastor brought that story back into my memory.

This pastor was an older man, and he did not know me personally, but he'd become familiar with the difficult financial situation I'd been in. And this pastor gave me a lecture and told me that I should just admit my mistakes and give up for my financial situation was hopeless and too far gone. And then this man prayed a very casual prayer for me over the telephone to dismiss me and to satisfy himself that his counsel was the best, and he asked God to agree with it.

And when I hung up the phone with this man, and I thought about how he had practically wrote me off as a hopeless case, his comments got me to think about Jack Nicklaus and his rusty clubs. And then I got out my Bible, and I turned to the Gospel of John in chapter 11. And I reread that familiar story about Lazarus, and it became very fresh for me.

You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. It's the old familiar story about Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. But more importantly, it's a story about God.

I'd like to pick up the story in verse 20. Allow me to read that portion of Scripture to us at this time, friends. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him.

But Mary sat still in the house. Let me pause there, friends. Over a decade ago, I preached a sermon to a group of pastors, and the title of my message was Martha in His Face and Mary at His Feet.

I spoke about busy bossy Martha, who was too busy in the kitchen preparing a meal that she forgot herself and began to boss Jesus around, saying in so many words, Master, don't you care? I'm working so hard, and my sister's doing nothing. Tell her to come and help me. And I made a contrast between busy bossy Martha and quiet, reflective Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus and realized her need of the one thing needful.

And a pastor from New Orleans ran up to the pulpit when I was done preaching, and he wouldn't leave me alone until I gave him my sermon notes so he could preach that message to his congregation that coming Sunday. But I want us to notice or text the difference between these two sisters, Martha and Mary, before I proceed, because in Luke's gospel, it says of that little family in Bethany, now Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. He loved them despite their faults.

He loved them. And do you know what, dear friends? Despite my faults, Jesus loves me. Despite your faults, Jesus loves you.

Let us now proceed in our passage from John chapter 11. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died, but I know that even now whatsoever thou will ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, the brother shall rise again.

Martha saith 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. He that believeth in me, though we were dead, yet shall live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believe thou this? She saith unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary, her sister, secretly saying, the master is come and call it for thee.

As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 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 unto him, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And he said, where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept. Then said some of the Jews, behold, how he loved him. And some of them said, 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, cometh to the grave.

It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.

I will stop there, friends. As I reread the story about Lazarus dead in the tomb for four days, I reflected on my conversation with that pastor who basically wrote me off as hopeless, just like that golf journalist wrote Jack Nicklaus off as not having any chance of winning the Masters. Funny at how some experts can be proven wrong at times.

Here is Lazarus dead in the grave for four days, and by now he stinks. His corpse is rotten in decay. All hope is gone.

He is too far gone, too far gone for even God to work a miracle. So many thought as they stood at the mouth of that cave. And many who know me have said and thought lately the same thing, that my situation is too far gone.

But do you know what, dear friends? God is still the God of the too far gone. The title of my message this evening is The Too Far Gone Club. You see, God didn't heal Lazarus of his fatal illness.

Rather, God waited until he was too far gone in the grave four days and already in decay. I am too far gone. So that means I have a better chance for a mighty God given deliverance than I ever have had before.

Praise God I'm too far gone, too hopeless in the eyes of men, just like old Lazarus. But I have more hope now than ever before. My God is the God of the too far gone.

I fall into the category of those whose record stands out in my Bible of being members of the too far gone club. Abraham was too far gone to have a child, and so was Sarah. They were the first members of the too far gone club.

Then came along Isaac, who when he was tied to the altar of sacrifice and the knife was raised over his heart, he then became a member of the too far gone club. Then like father like son, along comes Jacob, who's trapped at the brook Jabbok. And while he waits his doom, he just stands there and he wrestles there with an angel.

For Esau's already on his way, riding fast with 400 men with blood in their eyes, so Jacob becomes a member as well. Then his son Joseph gladly inherits the key to membership in this exclusive club, for he is wasting away in an Egyptian prison, and his case is too far gone. Then comes along Moses, who's 80 years old and on the backside of Midian, and all his hope is gone.

He now becomes a member of that club, and his initiation rites occur at the burning bush. Then as the centuries pass along, a child of Abraham by the name of E.A. Johnston comes along, and his situation in the eyes of all who know him is too far gone. Hallelujah! Praise God! There is now more hope for me after all.

I'm in the club for sure. I am a bona fide member of the too far gone club. What a high privilege it is.

Why, I wouldn't have missed this for all the world. For those who are members in this exclusive club get to see God move with his resurrection power, for he does his best work when things are too far gone. Listen friends, things were too far gone in the days of Wesleyan Whitfield.

Why, in London every fifth house was a gin house. Most every pulpit had an unconverted minister in it. Yes sir, in those days England, both in society and in her church, was in deep decay, rotten to the core, just like old Lazarus in the grave.

But God came along in a powerful revival of religion that gripped the entire country. In Moorfields, outside of London, at six o'clock in the morning 30,000 people would stand in the rain to hear George Whitfield preach the gospel. God saved thousands in that powerful revival of religion just when things seemed too far gone.

In America, right now, at this sad and tragic hour, society is in moral decay and the church is in spiritual decay. Good is called evil and evil is called good. There is a famine of hearing the word of God in the land.

Many are lining up and saying that things are too far gone. Hallelujah, praise God, the time is ripe for revival. Things are so far gone now in this country that the time is ripe for God to send a mighty spiritual awakening that can shake this nation from coast to coast.

For my God, friends, is the God of the too far gone when things are the darkest, when things are the hopeless, the most hopeless in the eyes of men. That's when God begins to work to show himself strong and to reveal his bear arm and display his mighty power so he alone may receive the glory. Listen, friends, I'm proud to be a member in the too far gone club in a too far gone country and a too far gone church.

Let us now go to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Let us call upon the mighty God of the Bible who cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And my Bible says, and he that was dead came forth.

Let us go to that God in prayer. Let us pray.