[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] I know we do want to make much of Jesus and he has done much in our lives and we want to thank him and praise him. Amen. Take your Bibles if you would and go to John chapter 12. The wildest thing has just happened.
[0:26] You got to imagine living there and being in those days and times and realize that somebody died. And if you've ever had anybody die in your life, you have an idea that those are very tragic times.
[0:38] I can still remember when my cousin Dave died and I was a young boy. He was 15. I was probably 10 or 11 and I showed up at my grandmother's house. We got the phone call. Our families all rushed to my grandmother's house.
[0:50] And my cousin had died at the age of 15. I didn't really understand everything going on. I knew my cousin. I loved my cousin. I missed my cousin. The family was there because he was young.
[1:01] Everybody was broken up. Everybody was crying. It was a horrible time and we buried him. And you know, the family still talks about him and he's got to have been dead 45 years.
[1:11] And the family still talks about him. Lazarus is sick. He is on his way to dying. And they send word to Jesus and Jesus waits two more days and he doesn't show up.
[1:23] And Lazarus is dead. And when he finally gets there, Lazarus has been dead for four days. I mean, that's dead. I mean, real dead.
[1:34] Four days dead. And when he arrives, you know, Jesus talks to him and he says, do you not know who I am? I have power over life and death. Do you not know that I am the resurrection and the life? Do you not know that he that believeth in me shall never die?
[1:47] And though he were dead, he will yet live again. Oh, we know that, Jesus. We know that you're in charge. And we know he's going to live again someday. But he's dead now. And if you'd have just been here when we needed you, he wouldn't have died.
[2:01] And Jesus said, well, show me where you buried him. And they go down to where they buried him. And when they get there, he says, hey, y'all just go ahead and move that rock back. Get the rock out of in front of the tomb. And the girls say, Lord, that's not a really smart idea.
[2:15] Do you understand? He's been dead four days. And we don't do anything besides rub some perfume on their body. We don't embalm. He's been dead four days. I mean, by now the maggots are there.
[2:26] By now his body's starting to sink. And by now it's too late to do anything about it. And Jesus said, just move the rock. And they moved the rock. And Jesus said, Lazarus, come on out of there.
[2:36] And Lazarus stood up and walked out. And he was all bound up in his death clothes. And how they'd wrapped him up, kind of like a mummy type deal. And he walks out. And he says, loose him and let him go.
[2:47] And then you saw with Micah on Thursday night, man, they were having a meal. And Jesus and Lazarus are sitting at the same table. And they're having a conversation.
[2:58] And Martha and Mary, one's worshiping by pouring oil on his feet and ointment on his feet. And the other is worshiping by serving. And you saw the wild thing. But everybody knows.
[3:09] You can imagine. You didn't need Twitter. And you didn't need Facebook to know what happened to Lazarus. I mean word has spread.
[3:19] Can you imagine if that had happened in the days of Twitter? The trending topic of the day. Lazarus, dead four days, raised again. Can you imagine what's going on? Are you going to believe this?
[3:31] Everybody's headed over. You don't only need to see this guy named Jesus. He's been the talk of the town now for years. Two to three years. He's been like big stuff. But I want to go see Lazarus. They claim he was dead.
[3:42] And he's alive. And they show up. So I want to talk to you today about a gospel spreading life. I want to talk to you about Lazarus. It's a wild story.
[3:53] The religious crowd has really gotten angry. You know, they have religion. They have a list of do's and don'ts. And they're kind of a society controlling group.
[4:04] They're in charge of keeping everybody in line. They don't really know God. They're just a bunch of moral rule keepers. And here's Lazarus who's been raised from the dead.
[4:15] And they say, man, we've got to kill him. If we don't get rid of him, everybody's following Jesus. Because of this guy, we've got to do something. We've got to do something about this. And I love the phrase.
[4:25] I hope you'll mark it in your Bible. In chapter 12, verse 11, it says, Because that by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
[4:38] Now, I want that to happen. How many of you want many people to believe on Jesus? Say, amen. How many of you have lost family members that do not yet know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior?
[4:50] If you've got anybody lost in your family, anybody you're concerned about, a friend, would you raise your hand? Of course we do. We're all hurting. We've all got people that we love. And we want the gospel to spread.
[5:01] This is the story of gospel spreading. This is the story of telling the story. This is the story of one life changed that impacted many lives.
[5:12] And I want you to listen to that today. And I want you to take heed to it and see what you might apply to your life. Number one, write this down somewhere. They make a lot of noise.
[5:24] They make a lot of noise. Look, if you would, at verse 9. The Bible said, much people of the Jews, therefore, knew that he was there. And they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
[5:40] So people are coming to Jesus, not because of Jesus, but because of Lazarus. People are coming to Jesus because of Lazarus' testimony.
[5:51] And so I would like to challenge you today to make a lot of noise about Jesus. I would like to challenge you to tell people about Jesus and what he's done.
[6:02] And if you'll take your Bible and go, we're going to look at some Bible stories. And the first thing I'd like to challenge you to do is to use all of your influence that you have over other people and tell them that Jesus is the very Son of God.
[6:14] Look, if you would, in John 1, 29. John chapter 1 and verse 29. The Bible says, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
[6:28] John is using his influence to announce to everybody who Jesus is. Would you look this way just a second? Now look this way. See, sometimes we're too interested in being the center of attention.
[6:40] And sometimes we're too interested in everybody knowing who we are and seeing what we've done and seeing what we've accomplished. And we don't want to point at somebody else.
[6:51] We don't want to give the spotlight to somebody else. We don't want to focus on someone else. But that's what happens in this story here. John, he's the preaching sensation of his day.
[7:02] Everybody knows who he is. The newspapers are writing about him. The Twitter feed is alive with John the Baptist. John the River baptizing people. And John sees Jesus coming.
[7:12] And I can imagine John down in the river. I can see him standing there in the water. And I can see all these people lined up wanting to get baptized. And John looks up and sees Jesus coming. And John says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away this sin of the world.
[7:28] Don't look at me. Look at Jesus. Don't look at me. Look at Jesus. Now God's done a lot of work in your life. How many of you would say Jesus has changed my life?
[7:39] Say amen. How many of you would say, Man, I was lost. But now I am found. I was blind. But now I see. Say amen. But you see what we like to do sometimes is like, Man, you see how I've turned my life around?
[7:52] Have you checked out what I've been? I mean, I used to be like that. But I'm not like that anymore. And we almost turn it into a pride thing. But not John the Baptist. He said, I'm going to use my influence.
[8:03] You need to make noise. You need to tell people, Jesus changed my life. It's like this. Lives that are changed ought to give testimony about how great Jesus is.
[8:15] Lives that are changed ought to give testimony about how great Jesus is. Look at John chapter 2 verse 29. John chapter 2 verse 29. This is the story of the woman at the well.
[8:26] Do you remember what happened? They were meeting there. Jesus met her. They began to talk. The woman at the well will become a believer. But I want you to look at what happens in John chapter 2 and verse 29. This woman runs back into town and she says in John 2 verse 29.
[8:42] She says, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto him. You see what happened?
[8:53] She got changed and she ran to tell her friends and her associates and other people that she knew. Y'all need to come find out about Jesus. You need to come find out about Jesus.
[9:03] I want to tell you I met Jesus and he changed my life. And they went running to tell it. In verse 39 chapter 2. In verse 39. The Bible says that many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him.
[9:15] For the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did. You see what happened? They believed because of the woman. Now look this way just a second. Are you using your influence?
[9:27] Are you telling your story? Are you sharing with people who Jesus is and what Jesus has done in your life? Are you sharing what Jesus has done in your life?
[9:40] I challenge you. I challenge you to make noise. Share your testimony. In chapter 5 and verse 15. The impotent man. This guy has been laying there for 38 years.
[9:52] And Jesus came back. In chapter 5 and verse 15. The Bible says. The man departed and told the Jews. That it was Jesus. Which made him whole.
[10:04] You know what? He didn't say I crawled over there. He didn't say some man came and changed my life. He didn't say I finally worked up the courage and jumped in the water. He didn't say I. He didn't take any credit.
[10:15] He says hey guys. It was Jesus. That made me whole. It wasn't AA that got me over my addiction. It wasn't Dave Ramsey that got me out of my financial problem. It wasn't James Dobson and focused on the family that did it.
[10:28] It wasn't Austin Gardner and Vision Baptist Church. Jesus changed my life. And I want to tell everybody. It's Jesus. We're making noise about Jesus and what he did. Matthew chapter 8 and verse 33.
[10:39] You make noise. You share your testimony. You tell people about Jesus. In Matthew chapter 8 and verse 33. There was a man possessed with demons. And Jesus cast the demons out.
[10:49] And you know what happens? Everybody that sees it happens. They run off telling what Jesus has done. In chapter 8 verse 33. They that kept them fled.
[10:59] And went their ways into the city. And told everything that happened to the guy that was possessed of devils. In verse 34 the Bible says. And the whole city came out to meet him.
[11:11] And you know what happens? Jesus ends up telling that guy. He said now look. Go on. I've healed you. And look what he does. As soon as he's healed. Mark chapter 5 and verse 20.
[11:22] Mark chapter 5 verse 20. A parallel story. He says. And he began to publish. He began to publish in Decapolis. In the ten cities. How great things Jesus had done for him.
[11:33] And all men did marvel. I want you to imagine this. This guy's been bound. They've bound him up with chains. They've done everything they can to control him. They've. They have. He's been on the front page of the newspaper.
[11:44] Remember. He has been. Everybody's watching him. Everybody's checking out who he is. And all of a sudden. This guy gets healed. And when he gets healed. God doesn't work in his life.
[11:55] He goes into town. And people are saying. Aren't you? He said. Yeah I am. Well what happened to you? Jesus happened to me. Jesus changed my life. And he began to publish it.
[12:05] He began to make it known. I mean it was on Facebook. It was on Twitter. It was down at the county square. It was down at the well house. Where he talked to people. Jesus changed his life. Jesus changed his life.
[12:19] Are you sharing what he did? There was a ruler's daughter that was raised. From the dead. In Matthew chapter 9 and verse 26. And the fame hereof went abroad. Into all the land.
[12:30] Everybody's talking about what Jesus did. In Matthew chapter 9 verses 30 and 31. His fame spread abroad. After he healed some blind men. He healed those blind men.
[12:41] And those blind men went around. Like crazy. Telling everybody. Jesus changed our lives. He did a work in our lives. In Mark chapter 1 and verse 45.
[12:52] He healed a leper. In Mark chapter 1 and verse 45. He healed a leper. And the Bible says. But he went out and began to publish it much. And to blaze abroad. Publish it much.
[13:02] And to blaze abroad the matter. In so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city. But he had to hang out away from town. In desert places. And they still came looking for him.
[13:13] This guy went around and said. You ain't going to believe it. I'm telling you I was messed up. I needed help. And Jesus showed up. And he did a work in my life. And he changed me. And he did great things.
[13:24] So much so that when Jesus tried to walk down the street. Somebody walked up to him all the time. And as they walked up to him. They were asking him for help. And so finally he says. Man I can't go to town. We don't get a chance to breathe.
[13:36] And he stayed outside the city. And the city still came to him. They were making noise. About what Jesus had done. In Mark chapter 7 and verse 36.
[13:46] He healed some deaf guys. This deaf guy gets healed in verse 36. It says. And he charged him. Don't you tell anybody. Don't tell anybody. That they should tell no man.
[13:57] And the more he charged them. So much the more. A great deal. They published it. They're like. Sorry Lord. I know you don't want me telling anybody. But I'm just going to be honest with you.
[14:07] Ain't nothing like this ever happened to me in my life. And I just can't help it. I'm not going to tell a soul. I'm going to tell you. Don't tell anybody. I told you this. But I'm telling you. I'm not supposed to tell. But I was deaf. And I met Jesus.
[14:18] And he changed my life. And I'm not supposed to tell anybody this. I'm not supposed to. Everybody keep it quiet. And the whole world knew about what Jesus had done to him.
[14:30] In Luke chapter 5 and verse 29. Matthew gets saved. Matthew is going to follow Jesus. And so he throws a big party at his house. And he invites all of his friends. He invites the publicans and the sinners.
[14:41] The tax collectors and the guys that aren't doing right. This isn't the religious crowd. This isn't the people that have good things going on. He invites them all over to his house. And he brings Jesus.
[14:52] And he tells them what Jesus had done. Now, Jesus has been working lots of miracles. Every story I told you is about a miracle that he worked. Every story I told you is about a miracle that he worked.
[15:05] But can I remind you that you are the result of a miracle? Can I remind you that you were a lost person and he saved you?
[15:15] Can I remind you that he rescued you from sin? Can I remind you that he made a difference in your life? I think it's so easy for you to forget who you are.
[15:26] Or where you were. Or what would happen to you. But Jesus made a difference in our lives. Is that a fair statement or not? You know, some of us were raised up in church all of our lives.
[15:38] And we don't really sometimes have this big drastic testimony. But my daddy was raised in the home of a bar owner. And his mama died when he was six of an illegal abortion.
[15:51] And his daddy owned the bar in town. And my daddy was raised literally on the streets and in children's homes and orphanages. And aunts and uncles taking care of him. And by the time he was a grown man, he had stolen and lied and cheated.
[16:05] And he was a drunk. And he was a drug addict. He had messed up his life horribly. And he showed up one day at a Bible preaching church. Just a little bitty country church that no one would ever take into account.
[16:17] And as the gospel was preached that day, my daddy heard the gospel. The Holy Spirit of God convicted him of his sin. And my daddy got saved that day. And in one day, he quit being an alcoholic.
[16:29] He quit being a drunkard. He quit all of his old lifestyle. And in less than 24 hours, his life was completely, totally, radically changed. That's a miracle. Some of you might have experienced that.
[16:42] Some of you might have been there. People who had problems in Jesus' day rapidly learned that Jesus was where you needed to go. Look in Matthew 4, verse 23, if you would.
[16:54] And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing. In verse 24, and they brought all sick people.
[17:05] In verse 24, the last part, and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes. Jesus still helps hurting people. Jesus still helps hurting people.
[17:18] He helped you. I'm afraid that much of the problem today is that we don't share Jesus with others. I'm afraid that we fail to remember what Jesus did in our lives.
[17:32] We have become embarrassed about what he did. We're ashamed to tell others that we found the answer in Jesus. We are afraid to tell people.
[17:43] We don't noise it abroad. It kind of goes against the grain of our pride to say, I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind, but now I see.
[17:54] We got it all together. In fact, is there are people that have come to our church and made the comment. They didn't feel very comfortable at vision because they said everybody that church has got it all together. And I'm like, oh, if you only knew.
[18:06] We don't have it all together. We don't have it all together. And if we do, it'd be Jesus who got it together. Say amen. But sometimes prideful religious people won't act like we got it all together.
[18:17] We want to forget our past. We want to forget where we were lost in sin. We want to forget where we were messed up. We don't want people to ever know that we had that past, but the truth is this is a room full of messed up people that God saved and changed.
[18:32] And we ought to noise it abroad. Lazarus has been dead for four days. Word is spread. In Mark chapter two, verses one and two, the Bible says, and again, he entered into Capernaum.
[18:45] And after some days it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway, many were gathered together. Right after this, four friends come bringing a friend to Jesus.
[18:57] They're the guys that climb up on the roof, cut a hole in the roof, and let their friend down. I wonder what would happen if we made more noise about how good our God is and what he's doing in our lives.
[19:09] This guy, Lazarus, has been raised from the dead. Something wonderful has happened in his life, and everybody's talking about it. Now, before I go to the second thing I want you to look at this morning, I want you to realize God has done great things in your life.
[19:25] And I want you to realize that, you know, my daddy's testimony might be radical and different. And my daddy's testimony might be from somebody who was really bad off that got right with God.
[19:36] But the truth is there's a whole lot more of that in this room than you might like to admit. And we ought to be willing to say, man, Jesus changed my life. We ought to be able to bring it up.
[19:48] One of the men sitting in this room today stopped by a business. He was working this week, and he went by a business. And when he went by that business, this guy who's a wild man, he's a dad of one of our mysteries, Will Hill.
[19:59] This guy immediately began to witness to him and tell him about him. And he made a comment that one of his friends said, well, I've driven by that place. It kind of looks like it's dilapidated. And I didn't know anything was going on, but there was a bunch of prisoners out there.
[20:10] And there was this guy out there. Looked like he was preaching to them. And Ryan said, yeah, that's him. You see, tell people about Jesus. Noise abroad that Jesus did something in your life.
[20:24] It's time to quit being secret agent Christians. It's time to quit being 007. Your name's not James Bond. Huh? Your name's not James Bond.
[20:36] Hey, we don't have a concealed weapon permit for carrying our Bibles and our testimony. We want to flash it. We want to show it. We want people to know Jesus died for us and saved us and changed us.
[20:49] And we want to make a lot of noise about it. We want people to know about Jesus. Number two, they'll give you one at verse 11. Spread the name, spread the name and truth of Jesus.
[21:01] Spread the name and truth of Jesus. Because that by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on him.
[21:12] You see, I mean, the religious crowd, by the way, listen to me, they're wicked. It's a wicked religious crowd. And they're having a meeting over there.
[21:22] Why do you say wicked? Well, because they had morality, but they didn't know grace. They had works, but they didn't know grace. They had a form of religion, but they denied the power thereof. They were religious, but they were lost.
[21:34] And they're having a meeting over there saying this is ridiculous. Things are getting out of hand. People are going to do stuff that we don't approve of. What are we going to do about this? We got to kill. We got to kill Lazarus.
[21:45] And the reason was, is because he was spreading the truth of Jesus. It was Jesus that raised Lazarus from the dead. It was Jesus that raised Lazarus from the dead.
[21:56] That's a picture, by the way, of exactly what God did in your life. Do you know that? Do you know that the Bible says that you were dead in trespasses and sin? Did you know that the Bible says you were condemned already and on your way to hell before you came to know Jesus?
[22:11] Did you know that you deserve to go to hell, but Jesus did something to save you and rescue you? Do you know you have no more right to go to heaven than the guy in the darkest part of Africa or the Muslim man who's never heard the name of Jesus?
[22:26] You have no more right, but God did a work in your life. You should be grateful to God. Oh, Lazarus is sitting at the table. Can you imagine walking in the room?
[22:37] Can you imagine there's Jesus sitting at the table and there's Mary. Mary comes in with her and Martha comes in with the food and Jesus and Lazarus are talking. Can you imagine as Lazarus looks at Jesus like, man, I love you.
[22:50] I was in a grave and I was dead and my family gave up on me and nobody believed it could happen. But you raised me from the dead. Can you not imagine what must have been going on? Can you not imagine what must have happened?
[23:03] We were without hope and without God. But Jesus saved us. What is the truth about your life? Where were you when Jesus saved you?
[23:15] Where were you? Think back real quick. Where were you when you heard the gospel? How was your life before you came to know Jesus? How has God blessed you since you got saved?
[23:29] Where is it that you go and learn more about him and get more blessings? Does your church make a difference in your life? Would coming to your church get them to the truth where they could hear the gospel and get saved?
[23:45] The truth of the matter is, Lazarus, you can imagine Lazarus' family, Lazarus' friends, his sisters, anybody kin to them, everybody's talking.
[23:56] Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Word spreading. Everybody knows. What verses has God used in your life?
[24:09] Like Lazarus, you should be quick to show people where you got saved, the change that happened to you. When people see the blessings that you enjoy, do they hear that Jesus made the difference in your life?
[24:21] I want to stop just before I give you a couple of more. Just let me say to you, some of us are culturally saved. And by that I mean, since we're born in the South and we were born basically with a preacher, even if you don't go to church, your family knows a preacher, somebody knows a preacher.
[24:40] Everybody talks religious and everybody talks Christian. Everybody knows Jesus and people don't know Jesus. And maybe that's the reason you're quiet. Another thing that might be the reason that you're quiet is because you were saved as a young man like me.
[24:54] I was saved at the age of seven, a couple of months before I turned eight. The truth of the matter is I've not really ever lived the life my dad lived. I've not ever lived that life outside.
[25:05] And so the change in my life hasn't been radical in my life like it was in my dad's life. I mean, I've only known one woman. I've never been an alcoholic.
[25:16] I've never been an addict of any kind. I don't have that lifestyle. But when I read the Bible, I found out who I am. When I read the Bible, I find out that my daddy was no worse off than I was.
[25:31] When I read the Bible, I find out my daddy was going to go to hell because he was a wicked sinner. And I read a little bit further and I find out I was going to go to the same hell for the same reason. Because we're all condemned without Jesus Christ.
[25:45] And though I didn't have those changes he had like that that you could see, my name was passed from the list of death to life. I was passed from condemnation to approbation to being approved by him.
[26:00] I was dead, but now I'm alive. Jesus changed my life and my destiny. I should tell people what he's done.
[26:11] Third thing, if we want to spread the gospel wildly, if we want to spread the gospel wildly, we ought to noise it abroad. If we want to spread the gospel wildly, we ought to spread the name and the truth of Jesus.
[26:24] And I say that really for this reason, because so often we don't spread Jesus's name. We spread our own abilities name.
[26:37] I pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I used to be a drunkard, but I'm not anymore because I'm good. I used to be, but I changed. And you take credit for what Jesus did in your life.
[26:50] Third thing, have a testimony of a radically changed life. A testimony of a radically changed life. Look at verse 9.
[27:03] Much people, John chapter 12, verse 9. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there. And they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
[27:17] You see, they came. Not because Jesus, hey, it's been three and a half years. He's about to die. We're within the last week of his life. Jesus is on his way to die.
[27:27] Tonight you're going to see them cry, Hosanna, Hosanna, King. And throw their coats in front of him. And he comes riding on a donkey. And everybody's going to worship him. But we're just hours away from him being crucified.
[27:39] They didn't come because of all the miracles that Jesus had worked. They didn't come because he walked on water and turned water into wine. They didn't come because he'd raised other people. They came because this story of Lazarus was radical.
[27:52] Four days dead. They came. They came. Lazarus had been dead and now is alive. There's no way you can explain that. You can't explain what happened to Lazarus except for God.
[28:07] Do you tell your story? Do you try to make your past look better than it was so people will think well of you instead of being honest and letting people see the greatness of God in your life?
[28:19] I'm always shocked about how many Christians they want to make themselves look good instead of Jesus looking good.
[28:32] And if you said anything to Lazarus, he just said, nope, I did. Nope. Maggots were eating my body. Nope. I was already stinking. Nope. I was in pretty bad shape. Nope. There wasn't any hope for me. Rock was rolled on in front of the thing.
[28:44] Cement was there. I was a goner. And Jesus came by. That ought to be our testimony. Jesus came by. We're here to praise Jesus, not us. Where would you be if it weren't for Jesus?
[28:58] Where would you be if it weren't for Jesus? If you don't know what he's done in your life, you sure can't tell people what he's done. And that's our real problem. You see, can I just tell you that you don't tell people about what Jesus did in your life because you don't realize how much he did.
[29:14] So I would like to give you a basic rundown on who you were before Jesus real quick. And if you'd open your Bibles to Romans chapter 3 and verse 10, well, let's just look at who we were, all of us.
[29:27] In Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through 23, look at who we were before Jesus. Look what he did in our lives. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 10, you know this by heart, but I don't know if you ever really pay attention to it.
[29:40] These words almost become like not important words. And they become like, you know, it's stuff you don't pay attention to. Look what he said. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
[29:55] There is nobody right, not a one. Now, everybody in this room could easily look at the drunkard of Charles Gardner and say, well, he needed to get saved. Drunk, alcoholic, abusive, thief, liar, drugs, bad guy, wicked family.
[30:16] Thank God Jesus saved him. But here's what the Bible said. You ain't no better off. There is none righteous, no, not one.
[30:27] How about verse 11? Hang on. Y'all ready to get mad? Just go ahead, put your fist up. Let's get ready. Because I'm going to read to you what he said. You ready? He said, there's none that understands and none that seeks after God.
[30:41] I can hear you now. That ain't true. I was seeking after God. No, you weren't. That ain't true. I was a good guy. No, that ain't true. I understood. My mommy told me.
[30:51] No, there is none that understands. There's none that seeks after God. Verse 12. Look at it. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
[31:02] There is none that doeth good. No, not one. I hear you now. No, that's cute. Not true, but it's cute. That's a fairy tale. That's hyperbole.
[31:13] That's exaggeration. No, that's an accurate description of you. That's your police record. That's when they pull up your previous, your priors, and they look at it.
[31:27] Your priors are you wasn't righteous. You didn't understand. You didn't seek after God. You're all going out of the way, and you never did any good. Verse 17. Skipping around. And the way of peace they've not known.
[31:39] You didn't even know peace. You didn't know peace. Verse 19. You need to read verse 19. Now we know that what things forever the law saith, it says to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped.
[31:55] Shut up. You were a sinner. Shut up. Quit trying to defend yourself. Quit trying. Oh, but. Oh, but. No.
[32:05] Shut up. Shut up. You were a sinner. Shut your mouth. That's what he's saying. Every mouth may be stopped, and all the world, all the world may become, would you say the word with me out loud?
[32:20] All the world may become what? Guilty before God. That's Austin. That's a description of Austin Gardner. All of us are looking at it and say, boy, that's Charles Gardner's testimony there.
[32:32] None righteous, no, not one. None understands. None seeks after God. All are going out of the way. None do as good. No, not one. They don't know peace. He ought to realize he's a sinner and he's guilty.
[32:42] But that's not what it said. It's talking about all of us. All of us. Verse 20 said, I gave you the law and all the Ten Commandments so you could figure out the knowledge of sin.
[32:53] You'd realize that you have sinned. Then he ends it up in verse 23 and he says this. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now listen to this.
[33:04] If you got saved, you still have a radical change in your life. If you got saved, you did get radically changed. If you had known Charles Gardner.
[33:18] If you had known Pastor Daniel in Arequipa. I can still remember talking to a guy. His name was Daniel. And we were talking and I said, you know, Daniel, you're one of the few pastors that I know here in Peru that just never really had a bad life.
[33:33] You've always been a really great guy. You know, you were a good guy. You were a moral guy. Then you got saved. He said, where did you get that? And I said, I'm just looking at you. I've known you for years.
[33:45] I've known you for a long time. He said, oh, I was a drunkard. You just don't know. And he began to tell me who he was before Jesus saved him. But we don't want to admit that. We don't want to admit Jesus made a difference.
[33:58] Lazarus can spread the gospel because Lazarus knows Jesus made a difference. And you can't spread the gospel because you don't really face that Jesus made a difference.
[34:09] The church has become dead. The gospel is losing its power. It's not the gospel that's lost its power. It's that you've forgotten the gospel. The gospel can't lose its power.
[34:21] You've forgotten that he made a difference in your life. Go with me to verse 10. If you start witnessing, you can expect persecution. Verse 10 says, but the chief priest consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death.
[34:37] They're going to get Jesus. And now we're going to knock out this Lazarus guy. There are only two means of salvation. Two plans of salvation in the entire world, no matter what the religion is.
[34:48] One is grace and the others works. Every other religion in the world will tell you how to work your way to God. They will tell you, do this, do this, do this, do this.
[34:58] And God came and said, don't do. I did. God, Jesus will come and say, I paid the sin debt. You were a sinner. You deserve to go to hell. I did it all. And you're saved through him. Those that believe in works will always be angered by what grace is and does.
[35:14] Satan is fine with you, with anything you want to do or be, as long as it is not truly saved. Now you listen to this.
[35:25] Did you know that Ford wants to sell you a car? But they don't care if you buy an SUV, a Lincoln town car, a Crown Vic, a Fusion, or an Escort. All they want to do is sell you a car.
[35:38] So when you go down to talk to Ford, they're like, all right, let's start. Would you like this one? And you say, no, I don't want that one. I can't afford it. Not a problem. We have a car that fits every budget and a plan that will meet your needs.
[35:52] How many of you realize that they're like that? If you think that's the way it is, say amen. Do you know that's the way the devil works? Satan comes to you and he says, hey, I don't mind what you do as long as you don't get saved. Fact is, I'd like it if you'd be religious.
[36:05] As long as you're religious, I want you to be a good moral guy. Go to church all the time. Treat your neighbors right. You do good. Be the best guy on the planet and go to hell too. And another guy comes to you and says, oh, you don't want to be good.
[36:18] Well, good. Be a drunk. Be an immoral man or be a moral man. Buy the Fusion or buy the Escalade. Escalade, who makes that one?
[36:29] Buy a Cadillac. I don't care which one you do. Just buy one of them. You buy one of them. You plug up and drive. You buy one of those cars that look like little toy cars. Two people get in them and they probably drive two miles an hour down the road.
[36:41] You know. He said, I don't care which one you buy. Just buy one. Satan wants you to be whatever you want to be. Except saved.
[36:57] He's happy to see you be part of the Christian religion. Or the Islamic religion. Or the Islamic religion. Or the Buddhist religion. Just don't trust Jesus.
[37:12] Don't believe that your salvation was bought and paid for on the cross of Calvary by Jesus. Look how many people believed. Verse 11.
[37:23] Because by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. What a thrill to know that you led someone else to Jesus. How can you help them get saved?
[37:36] Well, you can start by showing them what a changed life looks like. It's amazing that people from AA are more willing to admit that they have an alcoholic problem than Christians are.
[37:50] I've been sober 432 days now. I got my 12-year button. But you're a born-again Christian and you're like, I never did sin.
[38:02] I'm a Baptist. Well, you're going to go to Baptist Hill. Because you get saved when you know you sinned against the Holy God.
[38:15] And you trust Jesus. Worship him instead of using him to get a better life. God wants to see you make a difference. Can I ask two questions and I'm done? Has your life in ministry waked up the forces of hell yet?
[38:33] You see, I can just see the devil and his cohorts getting together and saying, we're going to kill Jesus, but we better get that Lazarus guy while we're at it. I wonder if today they're saying, I've got to get that guy out of the way because he talks too much about Jesus.
[38:50] If you lived where they tried to get rid of those that make a difference. If you lived where they tried to get rid of those that make a difference, would you make a blip on the radar screen?
[39:02] Just a few minutes. We'll close our Bibles. We'll close our Bibles. We'll close our Bibles. Stick them in Bible covers.
[39:13] Take them home. And hide them. We will take off our Christian face. And we'll put it away till next Sunday. Or some of you will come back tonight so you'll get it out again.
[39:26] But all week long, no one will know that Jesus made a difference in our lives. He probably won't come up.
[39:37] We won't give out a gospel track. We won't invite him to church. We won't tell people about Jesus. But we ought to live gospel spreading lives.
[39:52] And if you're here today and you've never accepted Christ today, you could be saved. You can be saved. He will save you. He died for you and he paid your sin debt. And he does. And he wants everyone to be saved. He cares about you.
[40:03] He paid your sin debt. All you got to do is accept the gift. And if you're a Christian, maybe it's time you came and said, God, I'm coming out of hiding. I'm going to let people know.
[40:17] Jesus made a difference in my life. Father in heaven, I love you and I praise you and I thank you for what you're doing. And I pray that your name would be honored and glorified today. And I pray that you'd show your power in a real way.
[40:30] And I pray that you'd make a difference and make a move in our hearts and lives. And we'll give you great honor and glory and praise for all that you do. God saved someone today that's not saved. Don't let them go home without knowing you.
[40:42] And God helped Christians today make up their mind that they will share the gospel message around the world. And I will give you great honor and praise for all that you do. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[40:59] For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com.