August 1931
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hadst been here, my brother had not died” (vs. 14, 21). From a human standpoint, Christ de- dayed His coming too long. Lazarus was dead, and the situation was hope less. How often we feel that God is able to do only the little things 1 He can heal the sick, but death seems dif ferent. If He had only helped before it was too late! But is it ever too late with God? F. The Promise of Christ —“He that be- lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet, shall he live . . . Believest thou this” (vs. 25, 26) ? How wonderful are the promises of Godl In the midst of every trial and every sorrow, His comforting word comes to give hope. The only condi tion is belief. G. T he T est of Obedience —“Take ye away the stone” (v. 39). Faith without works is dead. We must learn that God’s promises are facts. Life had been promised for Laz arus. Then why should they wait? They were ordered to roll away the stone and to prepare the way for God to work. Even though the promise seems impossible, we must trust Him and do what He commands. Faith and obed ience go hand in hand. H. The Language of Doubt —“Lord . . . he hath been dead four days” (v. 39). Martha lost sight of the promise and fixed her eyes upon the difficulty. Af ter all, the problem was too great, and there was no hope. This is always the re sult when we lose sight of the power of Christ. I. T he T est of F aith Before Sight— “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God” (v. 40). What a challenge! Believe and you will see; trust and you shall have. We miss many blessings because we will not believe. “Lord, help thou mine un belief.” J. The Liberty of Life in Christ —“Laz arus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth . . . Jesus saith . . . loose him, and let him go” (vs. 43, 44). At the word of the life-giving One, the grave gave up its. dead, and Laz arus came forth to life and liberty. In much the same way, He raises us from spiritual death and liberates us from the bondage of sin. Let us praise Him for His power and His goodness. II. S ome S triking T houghts A bout J esus 1. The Tender Love of Christ—“Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” (v. 5).' 2. The Strange Joy of Christ—“I am glad for your sakes that I was not there” (v. 15). 3. The Righteous Indignation of Christ —"He was moved with indignation of spirit” (v. 33, margin). 4. The Tender Compassion of Christ— “Jesus wept” (v. 35). 5. The Omnipotent Power of Christ— “He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And he that was dead came forth” (vs. 43, 44).
III. T he B eloved of C hrist ‘‘Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick” (John 11:3). It is one thing to love a person. It may be an entirely different thing to be loved by that person. The message of Mary and Martha to the Lord is a mes sage which every Christian can send up to the throne of God in thé hour of dis tress. Some one has said : “It is not how much I love my Lord, but how much He loves me.” How can we doubt that He is willing to do “exceed ing abundantly” for us? IV. C oworkers W ith C hrist “Take ye away the stone . . . loose him, and let him go” (John 11:39, 44). Study the economy of Christ in the per formance of the miracle. He did by su perhuman power nothing that human hands could do. He could have rolled away the stone by a word. He could have removed the bandages with His own hands. But the work was divided. Christ honored His friends by allowing them to have part in the freeing of the prisoner of death. Today Christ is still allowing us to help in His service. We can roll away the stone and allow the voice of our Lord to penetrate the darkness of the sin. We can help to remove the grave clothes of the old life, the binding wrappings of bad habits, and to bring into full freedom the friends whom we love and seek to win for Christ. Lazarus could do nothing for himself. We cannot help God in the accomplish ment of our salvation. We cannot un wrap our own grave clothes. After we are free, we can help the next one; but our only part in freeing ourselves is to come forth when.we are called, and to stand still while we are being freed from our bonds. D iscussion 1. What was the purpose of this mir acle (vs. 4, 15, 42) ? In what way was it the crowning sign of Christ’s ministry? Would it cause you to believe in Christ as the Son of God? 2. What evidence can be produced to prove that the record of the resurrection of Lazarus is true? Does the story bear the marks of having been written by an eye-witness (vs. 6, 18, 19, 28, 30-33, 35, ,37, 38, 44) ? Study the fact that the mir acle was performed in a public place. The Pharisees did not question the fact of the miracle, but rather, admitted it (vs. 47, 48). If the crafty enemies of Christ could not find a flaw in the evidence of the miracle performed, how can we?
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