The Lord's Day Bible Message Outlines
April 19, 2009
Pastor Dana Johnson
"Lazarus, come forth!"
-John
11:43
Now when He had said these things,
He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come
forth!"
1. Using the biblical account of Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead as an illustration of
salvation, we may learn some important theological lessons.
First, man is spiritually dead.
a. Dead, because of sin.
Romans 6:23 - For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:1 - And you He made alive, who were dead in
trespasses and sins.
b. The term "total depravity" is
used to describe this condition: that sinful man is
unwilling and unable to seek and know God.
Romans 3:10-11 -
As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11There is none who understands; There is none
who seeks after God.
1 Corinthians 2:14 - But the natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned.
2. Some may object to the concept of
total depravity by concluding that, since the Gospel invites
men to believe, they must be "alive enough" to
respond.
a. Did Christ's instruction
to Lazarus make sense?
b. Death presents no challenge when
compared with the supernatural power of the almighty
God.
John 11:11 -
These things He said, and after that He said to them,
"Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him
up."
c. Because of His supernatural
power Christ can call the spiritually dead to salvation.
This effectual call enlightens, enlivens, and enables a
soul to respond to the Gospel invitation.
Matthew 11:25 -
At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden
these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed
them to babes."
Matthew 16:17 - Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed
are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not
revealed this to you, but My Father who is in
heaven."
John 6:44, 63-65 - "No one can come to Me unless the
Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at
the last day." 63"It is the Spirit who gives
life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak
to you are spirit, and they are life. 64But
there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and
who would betray Him. 65And He said,
"Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me
unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
1 Corinthians 1:23-24 - But we preach Christ crucified,
to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks
foolishness, 24but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God.
Ephesians 5:14 - Therefore He says: "Awake, you who
sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you
light."
d. An awareness of the effectual
call will help us to avoid the hyper-calvinistic logic
that we shouldn't invite the unregenerate to believe
because they are unable.
3. It is true, as with Lazarus, God
could have prevented humanity's fall from innocence into sin
and death.
John 11:37, 6, 21, 32
- And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the
eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"
6So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed
two more days in the place where He was. :21Then
Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my
brother would not have died. 32Then, when Mary
came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His
feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother
would not have died."
What is the
explanation:
a. The glory
of God.
John
11:4 - When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is
not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of
God may be glorified through it."
b. The glory of the
Son of God.
John
11:40-42 - Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that
if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
41Then they took away the stone from the place
where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His
eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard
Me. 42And I know that You always hear Me, but
because of the people who are standing by I said this,
that they may believe that You sent Me."
4. Along with the effectual call,
notice how the Lord chooses to use our participation in the
process of bringing people to salvation.
a. We bring Christ to
people.
John 11:34 - And
He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him,
"Lord, come and see."
b. Our testimony and witness helps
prepare the way for the miracle of grace.
John 11:39 - Jesus
said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him
who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a
stench, for he has been dead four days."
(All
Scripture quoted is from the New King James
Version)
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