Chapel Service

Orange Show Speedway

May 20,2017

“Lazarus & Us Today”

www.BeyondCheckeredFlags.com

Bob Butcher

Pretty much everyone knows the Lazarus story in the Bible.

If you remember last time we said the Bible is eternally relevant and historically particular still today and has four goals:

(1) To provoke us to stop and think.

(2) To warn us

(3) To encourage us

(4) To lead us to the Gospel of Christ.

Let me begin by saying We’re ALL Lazarus’s! Yes, that sounds weird but let me explain. Let’s look at John 11:1 through 12:11 and compare ourselves today in just a couple of the actual many ways this account points us too.

The deal is that Lazarus was dead. When Jesus came He raised Lazarus to life again. We were dead in our sins and now we are alive. When we chose to believe in Jesus as our Savior we were raised from death by the same power that Jesus raised Lazarus. We were just like Lazarus.

There is a direct correlation with Baptism here, however, that’s for another time, or come talk to Kathy or me if you have questions since we only have a few minutes here now.

Next, please note that Lazarus came from the tomb still wrapped in grave cloth. Jesus commanded those there to set Lazarus free of his grave cloth. (John 11:44)

The truth is that ONLY Jesus Christ can let us out of our grave clothes of sin, however. Yes, we may be alive from the dead now, but we still battle with sin and find ourselves still in grave clothes.

There is a bit of difference here now, however. With us today nobody but Jesus can take off the grave cloths of sin and death.

Not a counselor not a school, not attending church.

Only Jesus!

We may be alive now, but if we don’t let Christ free us from our sins now, in this lifetime, they will entangle us again and we will stay wrapped in those grave clothes the rest of our life.

But also note: While Jesus must remove our grave clothes we can compare His command to those around Him to help loose Lazarus from his grave cloth to us today also because we need to stand like a U.S Marine who sticks his bayonet into the ground and refuses to back up from it as we help those fighting sin to be free of them.

(In another chapel we can go into the prophetic and symbolic actions that can be done by us to remove that sin.)

It doesn’t matter what kind of sin it is either! We’re not to judge. We’re there also or just were there. Sin is sin, period. In God’s Holiness there is none worse than another!

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Also remember that when Lazarus was raised that was when the Pharisees decided Jesus and Lazarus had to be killed. (Luke 11: 45-47 and 12: 10-11)

So our choice to be free will cost us …and often from those we know as friends and family around us! That’s one reason without realizing it that most of us are afraid to share our faith with others face to face.

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Also note that if you read Zechariah 3 you will see another matching reference where God removes the dirty clothes of sin from a high priest and makes him clean. There are 45 other places in scripture where garments are cleaned (sin).

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Hopefully you have taken the opportunity to look into the incredible new ways to learn about the Bible, It’s Books, and the completely free videos and reading plan are available at these addresses:

The Bible Project