John 11:38-44
38So Jesus, again being deeply moved in Himself, comes to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus says, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one having died, says to Him, “Lord, already he stinks, for it is the fourth day.” 40Jesus says to her, “I said to you that if you believe you will see the
Glory of God, did I not?” 41Then they took away the stone from where the one having died was lying. And Jesus lifted His eyes upwards and said, “Father, I give thanks to You because You heard Me. 42Now, I knew that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd, the ones having stood around, I said, so that they shall be convinced that You sent Me.”
43And having said these things, with a loud voice He cried out, “Lazarus...come out!” 44And the one having died came out, feet and hands having been bound with grave-clothes, and his face had been wrapped around with a facecloth. Jesus says to them, “Loose him, and allow to be going.”
Good Day Child Of God! "Father? Hear our prayer so that you teach and mold us into Children that would have you say, 'Well done good and faithful servant'"
The last two Studies could be made into a nice comedy skit if the subject weren't so serious. Maybe in Heaven when the Father has everyone recalling their lives He will bring up how some of the mourners may have been doing their best acting job possible, really never believing Jesus could do a thing to help Lazarus. And Lazarus! Standing at the cave entrance hardly able to walk with all the grave bandages on, and for all the world looking like the first mummy.
A smile aside, this is really a serious moment, second only to the time leading up to the death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus. How can this be? Let's see what the Holy Spirit has in mind for us in this lesson.
Today's easy lesson: What do we have here in comparing the Gospel that Jesus is spreading, the Gospel that the eventual Apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul, will teach, compared to what was being taught by the Jews then, and the traditional Christian Churches now. Christian Independents or Protestants and those of the Roman Catholic Church and similar persuasions?
Let's take a quick, short list of the differences in the two Gospels. One, the One Jesus intended to be the Good News-the Gospel of Grace, and the other we will call simply Religious. For one thing, the Good News-Grace does not claim a Gospel of works by mankind to please God enough to earn a place by His side. The Religious most certainly includes works by mankind to get to Heaven. In the Good News, Jesus did not take away worship, days of Spiritual Holidays and Remembrances, nor the time for the good of mankind to rest and to build on that important relationship with the Father. In a similar way, the Religious also takes note of the importance of tradition, rest, worship and so on, but not in a personal relationship, but in the way of obedience.
However, the Good News-Grace does put aside sin, the Ten Commandments, which are for the good of mankind, not a test to see if you are measuring up to the Father's Standards, and other minor Laws within the larger Law. Yet the Religious did no such thing, as it sees as part and parcel for our good in God's eyes to be obedient, serious, and when they see that someone is not doing as they might consider an action or inaction, incorrectly they take their understanding and start a similar but new style of Christianity. All that did was create tens of thousands of Christian Churches, so called. Who is right by God's Standard?
This will help you in understanding your Father. God wants to lead us. Not just now, since Adam and Eve. He didn't tell them what they had to do, He warned them and in that way, they with their Free Will as we have today could follow Him or not. They decided not. They wanted to become like God and lead. So it is with how we think today. We want something, anything from a larger sanctuary to a new pair of shoes, we go and get it started before having the money or a plan to be sure everything is just right, and then ask our Father to Bless our great plan. Something often goes wrong in life, or so it seems, and our leadership doesn't seem to be getting that Blessing from God we expected. I know why! God just says no to prayer sometimes. Or, maybe He says yes all the time, but we are outrunning His ideas where something better that He had in mind but was never given to Him to do. Jesus never once took the lead. He only said what he heard the Father say, and did what the Father told Him to do. Are you and I better, smarter, or closer to the Father than Jesus? No, we in fact are Children from God, born of Adam and Eve, who died when they took a bite of the fruit, deciding they could do as good as God. What did God say to them if they would not follow but lead? "You will surely die," and they did, Spiritually. Right there and then. They were allot like God at first, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, able to walk and talk with the Father, but upon their decision to go it their way, the Holy Spirit was taken from them and they died Spiritually. Yes they lived a physical, earthly life, but no Spirit. Eventually dying physically, all along Hidden from seeing God, and there mistake caused all mankind to become children of Adam and Eve. That is why Jesus is called the Second Adam. Adam had the Holy Spirit just as Jesus did, and thankfully, Jesus did not quit on us so we could acquire the Holy Spirit too. Only this time by Faith, Trust, not works-that was Jesus' Job.
Jesus came, took our sin that separated us from God, took the punishment for it, He defeated death by coming back to Life, tearing the Curtain in half top to bottom in the Temple allowing mankind to once again the opportunity to walk and talk and be with their Father without an intermediator. Not only after physical death on earth, but Living now as the Holy Spirit indwells you the moment you accept Jesus' works on your behalf, and Trust Him which is greater than just understanding the reason. Trust meaning putting Him first, and you following His lead.
Lazarus is an exact example of what the Father wanted Jesus to accomplish. Once you were dead, the walking dead, but now you Live if you Trust in Jesus' Works. You Follow your Leader, you never Lead the God of God's, the God of Love, He Who Does for You, and You Benefit from His Agape' Love as it was always intended to be. Your will is rightly given to the One Who is so superior to us in every way, that it would be silly not to allow Him to Bless His Children. "Thank you Father for Lazarus' example, and thank You for being the ever loving leader we need in our Life at every moment." Have a Grace Day!
Brother Glenn
Complete New Testament Grace Studies link: http://gracehouseministry.blogspot.com/
This blog link: http://askgodsword.blogspot.com/
