(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now it's not, you know, just months and months that go by, but he does die, it's not just instantaneous. You know, tragedies can happen, you die on the road or something, but you're not going to feel that pain. It's going to be gone. But the way that God allowed Lazarus to die was pretty much a very painful way to die in order to show his glory. What we have to understand is sometimes in life God can allow us to go through trials in order to influence and help other people. Now turn to Philippians 1. You see, would God ever let his children get sick and suffer? Well, I mean, in John chapter 11 you see Lazarus, I mean, once again the health and wealth gospel is kind of a joke because in the Bible you see godly people that get sick. They have trials, they have tribulations. Look, you can be very right with God and also end up getting a disease or get some sort of sickness or ailment. You know, you're not going to necessarily be perfectly healthy just because you're right with God. Now in Philippians chapter 1, notice what it says in verse number 12, but I would each and understand, brethren, that the things which happened on me have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the gospel so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places, and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Paul the apostle ended up getting arrested. When he says he's in bonds, he's basically saying he's in jail. He's in prison because of the fact he was preaching the gospel. Now look, we don't have any persecution in our country. We're not going to be arrested for preaching the word of God. And here's Paul the apostle, though, the most bold soul winner that's ever lived outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he gets arrested for preaching the gospel. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think that he enjoyed getting arrested? Do you think he enjoyed being in jail, being in prison? It's not a great fun life, is it? No, I wouldn't want to get arrested. But the reality is that Paul the apostle, God allowed him to get arrested, and he gets arrested. You say, Well, why would God allow it? Because as a result of that, it's fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. You see, what happened when Paul the apostle got arrested, it caused people that weren't always out there preaching the gospel to be bold and basically make a decision. Hey, you know what? If Paul the apostle is willing to get arrested for what he believes, I'm going to decide to live for God. You know, it's the same sort of reality that we have today. I remember, you know, one of the like minded pastors. You know, I remember him saying that when Pastor Menes and Barry Baptist Church went through the trials in Orlando, that that caused him to decide to just go all in and say, You know what? I'm post-trip, too. You know what? I believe in soul winning, too. I'm against repentance of sins. It's work salvation. You say, Why? Because of the fact when people are mocking you for taking a stand for God, it causes some people to say, You know what? Enough's enough. I'm just going to serve God all out. I don't care what anybody thinks. And see, when Paul the apostle got arrested, that was kind of the thing that led a lot of people to say, You know what? If he's willing to get arrested for what he believes, you know what? I'll start going there and knocking the doors and be willing to get arrested if I have to. I'll be willing to stand up for God. Now, look, we don't have this persecution in our country today. But who knows 20 years from now? Who knows 30 years from now? I mean, the world's changed a lot since when I was a kid. It's changed a lot in the last 20 years. I remember just growing up, and I never in West Virginia, which is a small sort of town, you know, I never remember ever seeing a sodomite when I was a kid. Never one time did I see that. But now, I mean, they're everywhere. Not just in West Virginia, you know, here in the Philippines, in the US, anywhere you go, they're everywhere. Look, that's only 20 years. That is a big change that's taking place. Who knows what the world's going to be like in 20 years? In 20 years, it might come to the point where you have to be arrested if you're going to serve God. It's a possibility. We need to be ready for it. And see, Paul the apostle, he got arrested. As a result of this, it was made manifest in all the palace and in all other places. Probably what happened was the enemies of God mocked Paul the apostle for getting arrested, and it resulted in other people hearing about it and actually benefiting us. That's the reality. That's what we see in today's world. That's probably what happened here. And as a result, people were bold to speak the word without hearing. Say, that doesn't logically make sense to me. But isn't that what you see in the book of Acts? That because of the persecution, it caused people to be more bold. And look, you know, it could happen to us one day. Let's say I get arrested. Let's say I get arrested a couple years from now for preaching the truth or going sowing or something like that. The reality is there's a lot of people here in the Philippines that would probably be more bold to speak the truth. That's what we see in the Bible, and that's what would probably take place. Turn back to John 11. And look, when something like this happens in your life, you have a couple choices. You can either get depressed and just give up on God, or you can decide to serve God even more boldly. That's what Paul the Apostle does. And look, in our lives, you know, we don't know what's going to happen in the future. God might allow us to go through some sort of major trial in our life. And here's the thing. When you go through that trial, you must succeed in that trial. Because if you succeed, it can help benefit other people. If you choose, though, to just give up and fail, it's going to cause people to get depressed and feel like they can't do it. Verse number two, the Bible reads, you know, kind of a small example of this is as we go soul-wetting in the hot weather, it's difficult, isn't it? You know, we get tired. We get exhausted. And by all means, if you're really exhausted, you need water, you take a break. Look, you don't have to go out soul-wetting. Take a break. Just stay here at the church on Sundays or when we go out soul-wetting. But look, as we decide to go out and boldly preach the gospel while it's really hot outside, the result is, you know, that people can look at that and say, hey, you know, they're willing to preach the gospel no matter what the temperature is like. But the soul-wetting marathon, you know, yesterday was pretty exhausting. I mean, it was pretty hot, wasn't it? Going out soul-wetting all day, we're like zombies. You know, the last hour just kind of walking like, oh my goodness, I just want water. I'm so tired. But, you know, we're able to rejoice now because we did something that was hard and we were successful. Thirty-two soul-winners, 75 salvation. I mean, that's amazing. And look, people can mock us if they want. You know, go ahead and mock us. You know, that's fine. We don't need rewards here on earth. That's not where we're... We're not trying to get glory for men. We're just trying to do something great for God. We're excited about it. And so when we go through something that's tough, if you succeed in something that's tough, it's even more of a reward. I remember growing up and, you know, I used to play video games. I confess my faults one to another, you know, when I was a kid. And I remember some video games you play and you just finish the game in like an hour. You buy a video game and it costs like 50 bucks and one hour later you beat the game. Now you're happy you beat the game and you didn't die, but it's kind of like, is that it? I mean, it only took me like an hour to beat this game. But then you had other games like Metal Gear Solid where it literally took up like a month of your life to beat that game. But when you actually beat it, you're like, wow, you know, I accomplished something. Now you really didn't accomplish something, but as a kid, you feel like that. But what I'm trying to tell you is this. When you do something that's difficult and you succeed, it results in more joy than if you have something that's really easy. Okay, now verse number two, the Bible reads, It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, sisters sent on to him, saying, Lord, behold, he who now loveth is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. And so in verse number three, it's kind of interesting when it says he who now loveth is sick. Now, it's not that Jesus only loved Lazarus. Okay, but what that shows you is there were people that Jesus really loved and cared about. There was people that he looked at as being a close friend. Okay, now, you know, we look at a church like ours or, you know, people that are like minded. Obviously, we're all children of God here. You know, we believe on Jesus Christ. We're saved on our way to heaven. But obviously, there's certain people that you care about more than other people. Now, honestly, the number one determiner determination of whether or not you care about someone more is usually how like minded they are. Yeah, right. Now, obviously, you know, I love, you know, my wife and my son more than anyone else in the room. You know, it just says what it is. But outside of that, the people you really love and care about are people that are also soul leaders, people that believe the same doctrines. Now, look, I love all the same people here in the Philippines, even if some of them hate my guts. I don't care. You know, I still love them. They're children of God. But the truth is, I care more about the people in this room than I do the lame Christians out there that are doing that. Right. And look, Jesus was no exception. I'm sure one reason why I really love Lazarus is Lazarus was probably a bold soul winner. Lazarus probably really loved the Lord. And so the Bible makes it a point to say that he who now loves. Now, did Jesus love other people? Absolutely. But he had a special love for Lazarus probably because Lazarus really loved the Lord. Lazarus was a bold soul winner who loved the Lord. So it says he who now love is is sick. Now look at verse number five. And it says in verse number five, now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So once again, it talks about him loving Lazarus and it talks about him loving Martha and her sister. So there are just certain people that, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ really loved and cared about here on Earth. You know, he was, you know, God, and he's also man as well. But look, the reality is this. You know, I think God cares more about the people that are dedicated soul winners than people that are not following his rules and are lame Christians. Who do you think he's going to bless here on Earth? The people that are obeying his rules and doing what he says and going soul winning or the people that just disobey what he says. And he's going to bless the people here on Earth that are actually doing his will more than people that are not doing his will. And so it said in verse number four that this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. And so God allowed Lazarus to get sick. And I'm sure it was painful each and every day until he died and he gets sick. And then he dies. And you say, Why did God allow that for the glory of God in our lives? It is possible to allow us to go through trials and tribulations. Why? For the glory of God. Okay, you think of Joe, you can look at Joe. We all look at Joe as an example in our lives. Because, look, I've gone through trials, but I haven't gone through what Joe's gone through. And we can look at someone who actually succeeded. And look, you know what? That's a motivation for us. That's a help for us to live for God, because our trials are nothing compared to what he went through. The Bible even says in the Book of James that Joe is an example to us. Okay. And so God might allow you to go through some sort of trial one day. You say, Why? It's an example to all of us that see it. That if you go through a trial and you succeed, it's a great example to us. You know, one example I know of this is, you know, somebody I know. You know, I'm not going to name his name, but I didn't ask him or anything. He doesn't go to our church, but he's someone who loves the Lord and goes soul winning. And I remember that, you know, his brother died one morning. And guess where he was a couple hours later on that Sunday morning? At church. Nobody knew about it. You know, they found out later on, but he just was there at church. Guess where he was that night? He was at church. Now, I'm not saying everybody would handle something that well. But, you know, look, you know, I don't have a brother. I do have a sister. But when you're in your 20s and your brother unexpectedly dies at a very young age, it'd be very easy to just say, You know what? Whatever. But he was at church that day, and he just found out about it. And yet he still just was there. And I remember he was saying Amen during the sermon. And it's just like that showed a lot of maturity as a Christian to be able to handle that. And I can look at that. And other people looked at that and said, Man, that's an example to me that if he's willing to be in church immediately when he finds that out, that I should be willing to take a little persecution or trials or problems in my life. Now go down to verse number six. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. And after that, saying he knew his disciples, let's go into Judea again. And I'm sure to his disciples, he kind of looks like a jerk, maybe, because he's just kind of hanging out there for a couple of days, and he's making it a point to wait until Lazarus is going to die. He wants Lazarus to die because he's going to raise him again from the dead. That's going to show the glory of God. It's going to be a picture of Jesus Christ. One day he will rise again from the dead. But he's going to wait a couple of days before they go into Judea. Verse eight. His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again. And so like we see throughout the book of John, and this is why it seems like I've preached this a million times, is the Jews are trying to kill him in every chapter. OK? It's like they're saying, you know, hey, the Jews wanted to kill you. They wanted to stone you. And you're going to go again. Verse number nine. Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he says, I am not, because he seeth the light of the squirrel. But if a man walk in the night, he's not bled, because there is no light in him. These things said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I might may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Albeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. So we see that in the Bible when it talks about someone going to sleep. That could mean that they literally went to sleep, or it could mean that, you know, they passed on. It's sort of like in our modern day lingo, we say that somebody passed away. Okay, there's kind of a nice way to say, sir, there's a nicer way than to say, Hey, somebody died. You know, there's nice ways. A mean way would be so and so kicked the buck. That would be like a really mean thing to say. The normal ways kind of say, Hey, they died. But kind of a nice way to say that is, you know, he passed away. Okay, it's kind of a nice way to say that somebody died. Now, in verse number 15, the Bible reads this. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. The intent he may believe. Nevertheless, let us go on to him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us go also that we may die with him. Okay, now in verse number 15, he's saying he's glad he died. That way you might believe. Okay, if you remember when Jesus actually rose again from the dead before he rose from the dead, when he died, they really didn't understand the resurrection. You know, they didn't have that picture fully in their heads yet. Now, obviously, we on the other side of salvation, you know, Jesus rising again. Look, we can't be saved. We don't fully understand the Bible is very plain and simple about that. But before Jesus rose again, a lot of people were very confused about that. Now it's in the Bible. It's in the Old Testament. But, you know, once you actually see something take place, then that helps you understand this. And what he's saying is, you know, he wants Lazarus to die. That way they're going to be able to believe. Now, in verse 16, Thomas says, Let us also go that we may die with him. Now, Thomas, you know, he makes kind of a bold statement, although he really doesn't understand what he's saying. And you kind of feel bad about Thomas, because how do we remember Thomas in the Bible? Doubting Thomas. These are kind of his two big moments. This is kind of his good moment where he's kind of bold. He's kind of like Peter here. He's kind of bold, even though he doesn't really know what he's saying. But we remember him as Doubting Thomas. One of the big reasons why we remember him as Doubting Thomas is because of the fact that happens towards the end of the Gospels. Now, the reality is this, that people remember what you did last in your life. Look, if you are successful in your life for the next 40 years, you serve God, you go soul winning, and then when you're in your 60s, you get worldly, you know, you quit the church or whatever. You backslide on God and just, you know, fade away from the things of God. You know what people are probably going to remember about your life? So and so just gave up on God. How do you know this? What do you know about Demas? What's the thing you remember about Demas in the Bible? Demas hath forsaken, having loved the present world. Now, before that, he was a great soul winner. He loved the Lord. He served God. What does everybody know about Demas? Demas hath forsaken, having loved the present world. That's the reality. People remember what you last did. And look, obviously everything we do now counts serving God. But if you throw in the towel on God one day, you have to remember that people, that's what they're going to remember about you. They're going to remember that so and so quit the church, so and so quit being a pastor, so and so quit going soul winning. They won't remember everything good you did. They'll remember what you did that was bad. And so that's a reason not to quit church, not to backslide on God, because you don't want to just kind of fade out and everybody to remember that, hey, you know what? You're doubting Thomas. You're, you know, whatever. You quit the church, backsliding Timothy or whatever. And so turn to 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1. And so in 2 Corinthians 1, I want you to notice verse number three where the Bible reads, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. And see what the Bible says here in these verses is that God is the God of all comfort. And the way he comforts us is the way we'll be able to comfort other people. Say, why is it that God allows you to go through certain tribulations in your life? Well, it may be that you going through that tribulation, you going through that trial, you'll be able to help somebody else who goes through the same trial. You know, if you're someone who you have someone in your family who dies at a very young age, look, you're going to be able to relate to somebody else who's gone through that trouble. And you remember the comfort that God gave you during that situation, and you can kind of help somebody out who's going through that. Now look, you know, I don't know what that's like. You know, both my parents are alive. Both my parents, you know, are saved. Both my parents are on their way to heaven. And look, I don't know what the experience would be like if let's say you have a dad who dies, it's unsaved. Look, that's going to make some people pretty sad. If they have a relative that they're really close to that dies, it's unsaved. But if you've gone through that situation, you can help somebody else who's gone through that. I know of people that love the Lord whose parents passed away, and they're not saved. And look, you know, I can't honestly really help comfort them that much other than say, you know, I'm sorry. What else can I say? Because I haven't gone through that. I don't know what that feels like. I don't know what it feels like to have a close friend or family member die that was unsaved. Now, I do know what it feels like, though, to have somebody close to you that dies. I remember one of my good friends when I was in college was, you know, 19, 20 years old. I can't remember. I think he was 20 years old, and he passed away and went to heaven. Now, he was saved. But look, you know what? That's tough. When you have somebody that you're really close to that tragically dies, you know, when you're not expecting it, you know, one day you're playing basketball, just hanging out, and then just a couple days later there's a tragedy. You know, that's tough to deal with. But, you know, if somebody else goes through that, I can try to help them out with that because I do know what that feels like. I do know what it feels like to have a close friend that loves the Lord that's a sower and pass away. And so there's an example where, hey, God allowed somebody who loved the Lord to pass away at a young age, and some people got saved at his funeral. Maybe that's why God allowed that to happen because some people got saved that would have probably never gotten saved. But look, you know, when you've gone through some sort of trial in your life, don't look at it as God hated you. Look at it and say, you know what? If I've gone through this and God allows me to, and I'm able to get through this and allow God to come for me through this trial, one day I'll be able to use that to help other people. And I remember that when my friend died, you know, my pastor at the time told me that. He said, you know, Brother Stuckey, he's like, you know, I know this is tough, but you know what? This is something that you can use to help comfort other people with that. And you know what? Honestly, he was right. I've been able to use that and talk to people that, and look, people don't really know that about my life. I've mentioned it in sermons, but it's not like I sulk about it. This is something that happened over a decade ago. But when I've had that situation come up, I've talked to people and told them, hey, I know what it feels like. I know what you're going through. I've gone through the same thing before. And so if you go through a certain trial or tribulation, it might not be something I've gone through or other people, but I promise you, you'll be able to use that to help other people one day. But if you don't allow God to comfort you and get through that tribulation, you're not going to be able to comfort people in the same way that God's comforted you. You must last through that tribulation. Otherwise, you know, you're not going to be able to use that to help other people because you don't know what it's like to go through trials and stay a soul winner and stay serving God if you give up and you don't fight through it. Verse number five, for us, the sufferings of Christ abound in us. So our consolation also abounded by Christ. And so what verse five is saying is basically the more you suffered, the more consoling you can have. So you can either look at the glass as being, you know, half empty or half full. You can either look at it as like, oh, why does God have to make it so tough? But the harder it is, the more you're able to console someone. And look, if you've gone through a trial that's really bad, someone else who goes through something that's bad, but not as bad, but kind of similar, you can say, hey, you know what? I've gone through this and just help them out with the same way you were comforted. You can give them the words that you know will help them and comfort them. And so, look, you have to realize the more you suffer, the more you're going to be consoled by Christ. OK, verse number six, and whether we be afflicted is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. But whether we be comforted is for your consolation and salvation. And so Paul the Apostle, when he's writing this, you know, he's basically saying that the more you suffer, the more you're going to be comforted. And he's like, you know, you might be at a stage where you're enduring through it, or you might be at a stage where you've gone past that and you're comforted. OK, now turn back to John 11. Now, obviously, Paul the Apostle was a man who was being, you know, he was going through trials and tribulations his entire life. You know, it almost seems like a joke when he talks about being shipwrecked, stoned. I mean, he goes through everything. My friends and I used to joke, you know, I remember when we were back in West Virginia, you know, he got stabbed, shot and all these, I mean, it's like everything happened to him basically. He went through basically every single trial and tribulation. But he was still able to say at the end of the day, you know what, that my life is fine. My life's great. I'm serving God. It's not the end of the world. And so no matter what trial or tribulation you're going through, look, people have gone through worse than you before. People have gone through worse than what you're going through. I guarantee no one's going to go through what Job's gone through. I guarantee you're probably not going to go through what Paul the Apostle's been through. Look, if you look at the history of Christianity, not that you can trust history books, but look, you know, the Roman Catholic Church killed how many people? I mean, who knows how many countless of millions. You decide to get baptized, it's like, all right, good chance you're going to be killed if you do this. I mean, just getting baptized was taking a stand for Christ in the past because the Catholic Church used to just kill everybody for doing anything against what the church said. Look, we don't go through that sort of persecution. Our lives are really not that bad. They're actually pretty nice. John chapter 11, verse number five. And the second point I want you to look at is just simply this, that emotion is okay. John 11, verse five. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So here you see that Jesus says that he loves Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Go down to verse number 19, verse 19. So look, it's okay to really care about people. It's okay to love people. It's okay to have emotions. And look, we're going to see here in a little bit, it's okay to cry. It's not wrong. It's not sin. It doesn't make you weak. Verse 19. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Say, why is it they need to be comforted? Well, they're obviously very sad. Look, I mean, if your brother dies, guess what? You're going to be sad. That's the reality. And look, you know, the person I gave as an example, they were sad. You know, they held it together well. But then after the service, you know, it's like people are kind of comforting them. People that knew about the situation. Obviously, they were sad. They're going through the storms of life that day. Look, if you go through trials in your life, yeah, you're going to be sad. And so here's what we have to understand. If somebody at church has something tragic that happens to them, let them grieve. You know, if they have a brother die and it's several weeks later and they're still sad, hey, you know, don't tell them, hey, you need to just be in a better mood. No, just let them grieve. Because some people are going to be grieving for longer than other people. Some people can kind of shake those things off. And as men, we have to kind of play the man. The Bible says, you know, basically shake things off, do the best we can, especially if you're married, because obviously, you know, your wife's the weaker vessel. And so when you have tough situations, you must learn to handle it, okay? Because if you fall apart, your whole family is going to fall apart. You as a man, you as a husband, you must play the man and be strong in that situation, because your wife will be emotional. Women are emotional. Hey, it's just reality. This is this good lesson for the young guys here that are going to be married one day. You have to realize that when you go through trials, not if you go through trials, when you go through trials, when there's problems, you must play the man. You must be tired. You must keep your emotions under control, okay? But look, you know, it is okay to be emotional. It's not a sin to be emotional. It's not a sin to be sad sometimes. Here, Mary and Martha, they have to be comforted because their brother died. If my sister died, if I found that out or my parents died, look, I would be sad. I would probably need people to comfort me and help me out, because honestly, you know, even though I do the best I could to not be emotional and to play the man, you're still going to be sad, obviously. Verse number 20, then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. And so as I've mentioned before, Mary's probably sitting in the house because she's probably a little bit frustrated. She's emotional, probably a little bit upset. Verse number 21, then said Martha on to Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou would ask of God, God will give it thee. And so she's saying he had been here. He never would have died. Okay, now she doesn't understand that Jesus is going to resurrect Lazarus here from the dead. Verse 23, Jesus saith unto her, thy brothers shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this. Now, verses 25 and 26 are very famous verses that probably all of us know. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this. What is he saying in verse number 26? He's saying if you believe in me, you will never lose your salvation. Amen. Okay. Then it says, believeth thou this. Now, why is it he makes a point to say this? Obviously, he knows she's saved, but he's making a point to say this. You know, this is the reality of what we believe. This is the difference between heaven and hell. Do you believe once you're saved, you're always saved? If you don't believe that, you're not saved. Do you believe this? I've said this before to people at the door. You know, I've explained the gospel, and then I've kind of ended with when they've been kind of on the fence about believing it, I'll show them this verse and say, hey, Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this. Do you believe what I just showed you that you're never going to die, that you never lose your salvation under any circumstance? Because when it comes to salvation, you either accept it all or you reject it all. That's right. Look, you can't say, well, I believe Jesus died for 99% of my sins. That's ridiculous. Either it's 100% or it's none. You either believe he's a Savior or he's not. You believe he's a Christ or he's not. It's not, well, I believe that you won't lose your salvation as long as this one thing doesn't happen. No, it's either. It's eternal life or it's not. Do you believe what the Bible says that you'll never die if you don't believe that you're not saved? There's no in-between position to take on this. This is not something we'll ever be watered down. The reality is this, that when people come sowing with us, look, they need to learn to preach the gospel the right way. Now, I'm not saying they have to preach it like I preach the gospel. Look, you don't have to use the same verses I do. There's lots of great verses in the Bible. There's so many verses you could use, but you have to explain the same points. Look, when we had our sowing marathon, we had an example. Someone came, and I was sowing with them, and they were new. They're not part of our church, and they weren't preaching the gospel. And look, the reality was that I started over from the beginning, and I did it the right way. You say, why? Because there's two kids whose souls are in the balance of heaven and heaven. That's not something where it's like, well, just walk away. No, but you know it's a big deal because those kids are saved and on their way to heaven now, and they wouldn't have been saved and on their way to heaven. We started over. Here's one thing I've thought about kind of recently, and this is something that I don't think people have stopped to think about. When it comes to the Philippines, most people, they preach the gospel. Whether or not they're part of a real religion, a true religion, or a false religion, they're preaching some sort of form of the gospel, some sort of evangelism. And see, people have to understand. One of you guys want to check on that and see what's going on? Here's what we have to understand, though, okay? That when people come to being part of a church like this, and you start listening to the preaching, you change your mind on a lot of stuff. You change your mind about the rapture. You change your mind about maybe the angels being sons of gods, things like that. You change your mind on a lot of doctrines. But here's what people don't stop to think about. If I've changed my mind on all these different doctrines, doesn't it make sense I'll probably have to change the way I preach the gospel? Because if I didn't know all these other doctrines and I had to change on this and this and this, then maybe this two-minute method of preaching the gospel isn't the right method, okay? And see, that's something I think we need to stop and help people understand when they're new to our church. And look, that doesn't make them bad people because I used to preach a very bad version of the gospel because the methods I taught were wrong. And it was something I had to understand that, hey, you know, if I learned all these new things, just maybe the way I was preaching the gospel wasn't the best way either. And in the Philippines, when it comes to all of these churches, they all do some sort of form of evangelism, okay? The reality is if you're going to change your mind about the rapture, you're going to change your mind about whether or not the sons of god are believers or fallen angels, you're going to change your mind about Abraham's bosom, you're going to change your mind about this and this and this, about children's ministries and all these different things. Doesn't it make sense you're probably going to change the way you preach the gospel a little bit? Makes sense, okay? And look, we do want to be long suffering with these people. I'm not saying be rude to them at the door. You know, when we're going soul winning, they're your soul winning partner. The reality is when people are new, they're probably going to have to change the way they preach the gospel to you. Because the reality is most people, the way they've been taught to preach the gospel is one, two, three, repeat after me or repent after me. One of those two things. It's one or the other, one, two, three, repeat or repent, okay? But it's not one, two, three, believe, right? The reality is that, you know, most presentations of the gospel are these like Pentecostal type methods. They're using the same thing that's under five minutes. Under five minutes is too short. Way too short. It's not even close to being enough time. Look, you know, I don't preach the gospel in less than 10 minutes unless it's a situation where they have very little time and you're rushing through it. And then you get to the end and what do you think afterwards? I hope they got it, but I wasn't able to be as thorough as I wanted to. You cannot accurately explain all the points in less than 10 minutes. Now sometimes we're forced to. Sometimes you only have a short amount of time. But when I have enough time, I spend a good 15 minutes. At least, at least. And that's if things are going well. That's if they're answering everything correctly. Now I'm not saying we spend an hour at the door, but look, you know, you spend more than five or 10 minutes on a normal conversation. Unless things are perfect and they answer before you've been asked the questions. Look, you know, you need to spend more than 10 minutes on a normal conversation. And so here John 11 is an example of this. Basically, he's just saying, do you believe this? And so the reality is this, that when we preach the gospel, guess what we need to mention? We need to mention that once saved, always saved. And they need to believe that if they do not believe that. I don't care how much they pray and you get saved. That's the reality of that verse number 27. She said 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 has come and called for thee. As soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came on them. Let me just say one more thing. Maybe I didn't think about was, look, if our preaching the gospel just leaves out eternal security, what is the difference between what we do in the Pentecostals? Literally, what's the difference? Because the Pentecostals are born against. They're out there preaching the gospel. There are other version of the gospel. What is the difference between the words I say? Because they started in Romans three. I started in Romans three. Don't we both start in Romans three? We both show that, hey, you know, you're guilty. You need a savior. You know, they don't spend enough time on that, but they do the same thing. They show them they're guilty. We show them they're guilty. We go through the points. What's the difference? Well, see, the difference is they don't make it clear that it's belief only because they don't believe that, and they don't make it clear it's once they've always saved it's they don't believe. But look, if we leave those things out and just kind of generically go through it, like, hey, you know, if you believe, then they'll save you. Do you believe that? Well, sure. If you call them right now, we say, sure. And then you just leave out eternal security. You leave out being clear. What's the difference between your gospel and their gospel? I mean, are we trying to show them something different that they believe? We need to be thorough. We're preaching gospel verse number verse number 30. Now, Jesus was not yet coming to the town, but was in that place where Martha met the Jews in 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 under the grave to weep there. Now we say, why are the Jews comforting her? Because weren't the Jews bad people? Well, not all the Jews were bad people. There were some, especially during this time here. This is kind of the transition phase, right? I mean, they had the right religion at this time. Okay. Now, obviously, the Pharisees would believe in a false gospel, but the Jews religion was the right religion. Obviously, they kind of went astray and they're adding works to salvation and things like that. But it's not like Jesus has already risen again. So a lot of those Jews weren't bad people, and a lot of them do end up believing on Jesus Christ. Now, today you're not going to find a lot of Jews that are going to believe on Jesus Christ. Okay. But during this time, you would find a lot that would not all of them were really bad people. Verse number 32. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was in song, she fell down at a speed, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. So basically the same thing. Verse number 33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and said, Where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Be old how he loved him. And so you say, Why is it that Jesus is weeping? Well, there's a couple possibilities here, and it's kind of up to you to decide what you think. One possibility of why he's weeping is because of the fact he sees friends and people he cares about weeping. And, you know, you turn to Romans 12. Actually, Romans 12. I'll show you this first. This is one possibility, and I would say this is probably the most likely reason, but, you know, it's possible it's not. But one reason he might be weeping is this. You know, Romans 12 verse 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. We're called to rejoice with those that are rejoicing when somebody comes in and they have an exciting story. Let's say, for example, somebody comes to church on Sunday, and they just got let's say, for example, you lost your job on Saturday night, and one of your friends at church just got a promotion. Okay, they come in here, and they're all excited. They're telling everyone, Hey, I got to raise you. I got a promotion. Look, you know, what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to rejoice with them to rejoice. Now you don't feel like rejoicing. You feel like weeping. You're not too happy, but you're supposed to rejoice with them. And you're also supposed to weep with them that week. So when people are going through trials, even if you're in a great mood and everything is perfect in your life, you mourn in comfort with that person. And so Jesus saw these people weeping, and, you know, he probably felt really bad for them. And as a friend of theirs, he also starts to weep. I would say that's the most likely thing. Now turn back to John 11. And so another possibility notice what it says in verse number 37. 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, but was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. And so what you're seeing in verse 37, which is the same sort of thing, is all these people are saying, hey, if he had been here earlier, he wouldn't have died. And so what are they doing? They're showing their unbelief. Okay. It's possible Jesus is weeping because of their unbelief. Maybe that's what makes him sad, because all these people are coming here and saying, hey, you know what? You know, you could have saved him. And basically they're not having enough faith. So it's possible he's weeping because they're unbelief. And I'm not really sure, but, you know, it could be one of those things. Maybe it's a bit of a combination. I'm not sure. Now let's look at verse 39. Verse 39. And the last point we're going to see here is kind of the final straw. Okay. And in verse 39, the Bible reads, Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Marketh the sister of him that was dead, saith unto the Lord, by this time he's thinking, for he hath been dead four days. And so what we're seeing is that Lazarus had been dead for four days, and his body starts to decompose. It's obvious he's dead, and this is exactly why he waits this long to resurrect him from the dead. And because he allowed him to go through suffering and die and be dead for four days, it's going to make the miracle even greater. Remember, the Jews already wanted the stone out. Okay. When he resurrects Lazarus from the dead, this is kind of like the nail at the top. I mean, they wanted him dead before. They hated him before, but now they really want him dead. Now they're really going to put in effort to basically kill him. This is really the moment in the life of Jesus. I mean, they tried to kill him earlier, but this is really the moment where it kind of ramps up. This is kind of the moment where they really want to kill him. They want to do everything to destroy his life and end up killing him. Verse number 40, Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe then thou shouldst see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou wouldst hurt me. And I knew that thou hearst me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. When he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. This is one of the most epic moments throughout the entire Bible. If it were not for the resurrection of Jesus himself, then this would probably be right up there with the biggest miracles and the biggest events that ever takes place. They always have this in Christian movies, this moment where Lazarus is rising again, coming back from the dead. This is a huge moment, and it results in a lot of people believing on Jesus Christ. Verse number 44, And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loosen and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him. And so when the Jews see this take place, many of them believe on him. Many of them end up getting saved. Now, does that mean that these people never heard the gospel and they just saw a miracle and got saved? No, that's not what that means. You say, how do you know that? His faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They had already heard the gospel. Look, when Jesus was around, his message was going around to everybody. It was preaching the gospel, and people were repeating it everywhere. You see that throughout the gospel of John, which we've seen. He's preaching the gospel, and other people are getting saved. And think about John 4. And the woman just goes and tells everybody that she knows. Everybody's hearing the gospel. And so these people have obviously already heard the gospel. You say, well, it doesn't mention them already hearing the gospel. Well, the whole Bible mentions that they're hearing the gospel. Because you cannot get saved without the seed of the word of God. You have to hear the gospel to end up getting saved. We're not Calvinists. You must hear the gospel. Look, as I've said before, we cannot get anybody saved without God. We cannot get anybody saved without us because they must hear the gospel. And when Jesus was here, he was preaching the gospel, but he's not here anymore. And if we don't preach the gospel and they don't hear the word of God, no one's getting saved. They must hear the seed of the word of God to end up getting saved. But when you've heard the word of God, not everybody gets saved immediately. Some people hear the word of God, and then you can just tell the Christianities the true religion as time goes by. These people, they heard the word of God, and when they see this miracle, it's kind of like, wow, the gospel made sense already. And it's like, that's kind of, yeah, OK, I believe that. OK, it makes sense, right? I know people that have heard the gospel and they got saved a couple of weeks later because you hear the gospel and just kind of in your mind and just maybe things happen, you're like, yeah, that makes sense. Nothing else makes sense. Makes sense that the reason why Jesus died was to pay for my sins, not to just die, and yet I still pay for my own sins. Makes sense that he died to pay for my sins, so I just believe on it. Makes perfect sense, right? But sometimes people hear the gospel and it takes them a bit of time. These Jews, they had already heard the gospel, but they hadn't gotten saved yet. And when they see this, they end up believing on it. Verse 46, but some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. And so this is a division that always occurs with Jesus Christ. Some people believe on him, some people are kind of in between, and some people want to kill him. That's the way it always breaks down. Those three groups of people, and they're going to the Pharisees. Verse 47, then gathered the chief priests of the Pharisees and council said, what do we for this man do with many miracles? If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on it. And the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. Now verse number 48 has a shred of truth to it, but honestly what they say is not really true, because all men will never believe on Jesus Christ. You know, our country is a very receptive country, but look, the majority of people in this country would reject the gospel of the Americans. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, that doesn't make sense to me, because most people that listen to me preach the gospel get saved. But most people that you preach the gospel to do get saved. The reason why they're listening to you is because they're already interested in hearing these. But the people that do not want to hear the gospel, they probably wouldn't get saved if you gave them the gospel. And you say, well, how do you know that? I preached the gospel to a lot of people that didn't want to hear, because it was someone like, you know, a brother or sister or somebody, and they listened out of obligation, and look, they very rarely get saved. There's a reason why they didn't want to hear the gospel. There's a reason why they rejected hearing the gospel over and over again. And yes, they sat through it, but if you're going to be closed minded to begin with, you're not going to end up believing in Jesus Christ. If you're going to walk into that conversation and say, hey, I'm a good person, and just kind of put your feet in the ground and say, I'm a good person, I've done enough, I'm better than those other people, you're not going to get saved. You first have to humble yourself, and if people don't even want to hear the gospel, usually they're not going to get saved. Most people we talk to that are older don't want to hear the gospel. Look, most people that are older wouldn't get saved if they gave their gospel. That's the reality. Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And it's not just simply a matter of everybody hearing the gospel. People will hear it and reject it. It's just the way it works. Now, it's hard for us to understand that, because it just makes perfect sense to us. And we heard it, and why would you reject it? A lot of people do. They just choose not to believe on it. And you say, well, are they choosing not to believe? Yeah, because you know what? It's actually a lot easier just to believe on Jesus Christ. You have to make an effort to just reject the truth when you're hearing it. Because it's so simple. I mean, it makes perfect sense that it's a gift. You have to just choose to just say, you know what? I don't care what the Bible says. Because the Bible is just so clear on itself. Verse 49. And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest, that savior, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this faking out of himself, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. And so Caiaphas is not an example of a godly person, but it is an example of someone God uses to prophesy and to say something. And so, you know, sometimes in the Bible you see people that are not saved be poor, ungodly people that God is using. You know, you look at the story of Balaam. That's a very famous example. But Balaam was a false prophet. You say, well, how do you know that? Because the New Testament lists him as a false prophet. And you can read the book of Numbers after he's on the scene, and you get to see how he was not a good guy. He was a bad guy, but, you know, God used him, obviously, for those chapters. Now, you know, I don't know why God chose to use him, but that's what he chose to do in verse 53. Then from that day forth, they took counsel together for to put him to death. And see, what you're seeing in verse 53, this is the nail in the coffin. This is the final straw that after he resurrects Lazarus from the dead, this is when they really decide they want to kill him. Okay? That's what you're seeing in verse 53 when it says from that day forth, they took counsel together for to put him to death. When it says they're taking counsel together, they're actually getting together and saying, hey, how can we put him to death? What's our plan to put him to death? Look, when we went to the Cavite Soul-Witting Marathon and we get together, we have a plan for preaching gospel. These people are literally getting together and planning out how are we going to kill this guy. Say, why is that difficult to do? Because Jesus caused a lot of division. A lot of people hated him. A lot of people loved him. A lot of people supported him. You know, some people loved him. Some people hated him. And so it's not simply as easy as, hey, let's just put him to death. So they're taking counsel together and they're making a plan up for how are we going to kill Jesus. Verse 54, Jesus, therefore, walked no more openly among the Jews, but went thence onto a country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. And so obviously the persecution is really strong and they're trying to kill him. So he no longer walks openly among the Jews. Verse 55, we'll finish up here. And the Jews Passover was nigh at hand and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem for the Passover to purify themselves. Then saw they for Jesus and spake among themselves as they stood in the temple. What think ye that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he were, he should show it that they might take him. You see, why is it that they wanted to take him? Because they're planning to put him to death. And so what we're seeing in this chapter is really the impact that Lazarus had on the world. Because, yes, Jesus Christ had preached the gospel and many people believed on him, but it's because of the resurrection of Lazarus. And after this chapter, what you see is that Lazarus is a bit of a celebrity. When Lazarus rose again from the dead, they didn't just want to see Jesus, they wanted to see Lazarus in the Bible says. And so because of Lazarus here, you say, why did this happen? Well, this all starts back to a man who got sick and went through trials and went through tribulations and God allowed him to go through that and he ended up dying and resulted in rising again from the dead and one of the greatest miracles takes place. Look, in our lives, God might allow us to go through tribulations. Why? Because the glory of God could end up being revealed. Let's close the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me in your house this evening and ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives. God, help us to remember this. When we go through trials and tribulations, that if we last through this, God, you know, we can use that consolation to help other people that go through the same things as this. God, help us to always realize that you love us, you care about us, but you do allow us sometimes to go through trials and tribulations. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.