John 12:10-11, "But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus."

This morning, the world we live in likes to "tamper" with the evidence.  When evidence mounts to oppose someone's opinion or position, they sometimes pull out all the stops to extinguish the flame of opposition to their position.  However, whether evidence is tampered with or not, one thing man cannot change is the truth.  Truth remains the truth regardless of circumstance or situation.  Consider all the injustices that have occurred in human history.  Some we are aware of (after enough time has elapsed) while others perhaps go unnoticed and uncovered perpetually.  Yet, the truth is that the Lord rights every injustice.  Whether in this world or the next, the Lord will avenge that which is right and just. (Romans 12:19) Since truth will stand fast, upheld by our Lord's righteous character, we should seek to honour the evidence of truth and earnestly contend for it as testimonies ourselves to the truth of God and His holiness.

In our study verses, we are afforded yet another glimpse into the life of our Lord as He interacts with a precious family.  The previous chapter clearly states that Christ loves these people, and we are afforded many insights into His intimate conversations and experiences with them.  He is in Bethany in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  Previously we read where Christ raised Lazarus from the grave, and though this magnificent display of power was of the same caliber of His other miracles of healing, it made a huge impact on those that witnessed it and testified of it.  To man's perspective, raising the dead is the most powerful display of ability and might that we can imagine.  Death to the natural perspective is so final, total, and complete.  Therefore, a reversal of the finality of death amazes and mystifies the natural perspective.  It cannot be explained away or passed off as phony.

As a brief aside, I am always amused when I see "faith healers" on television or read about them in the news.  They draw away huge swells of people that are taken in by their production.  If these people really do have the power to do what they claim, I would like just once to meet them in a cemetery somewhere and watch them raise the dead.  Scripturally speaking, one would expect a man of such power and might to be able to do the one as easily as the other.  In other words, if a man can heal a cripple or take away a physical disease, why would he not have the same power over death?  Christ in His ministry showed no such lacking distinction.  His efforts to heal the sick were equally seen and displayed when He raised the dead back to life.  Lazarus' case was the most definitive of the three we have recorded in Scripture.  With the widow's son and Jairus' daughter, both of them had been dead a relatively short time, but Lazarus was dead for four days and manifested it by the odour of death that came from his tomb. 

Because Lazarus' death was so manifest and plain to all, the raising of him back to life was equally manifest and plain to those that testified of it.  No gainsayer could logically or convincingly sway those that saw it that they really did not witness what they witnessed.  Lazarus was now a living and breathing testimony of the power of Christ over death and the grave.  By his very presence, people could see him and be reminded that the man called Jesus brought him back from the icy grip of death's cold hand.  Since Lazarus is now "evidence" and proof of the power of God, Christ's detractors now seek to rid him as well and tamper with the evidence.  While not changing the truth of what happened, removing Lazarus from the picture removes credible evidence that could sway people into believing in the Jews' enemy: Jesus.

The mindset truly is remarkable!  Consider that Christ has the power to raise the dead.  He has already proven it with Lazarus.  What if they killed Lazarus?  What is there to prevent Christ from raising Him again?  What if they kill Christ?  What is to prevent Him from raising Himself?  No doubt, they failed to consider these things in their thirst and desire to rid themselves of the Man that endangered their position with the people.  His presence condemned their actions and turned the hearts of the people, and He must be stopped before they are left without any followers.  In this quest, they stooped to levels that do not even logically make sense.

Today we find a relevant correlation.  As Lazarus was a living testimony of the power of God over death and the grave, so the Lord's people today should stand as towering lights and testimonies to the power of God over sin and depravity.  Every time we observe a child of the King act honorably and nobly in this world, we see a living testament to the hand of God that has quickened from death in sins to life in Christ.  Nothing else or short of that could effect such a grand and marvellous thing.  Since men – by nature – love darkness and hate the light, these towering testimonies will condemn them just as the Light condemned those in His day by His presence and testimony. (John 15:18-27) We should not marvel if the world hates us (I John 3:13), for it hated our Master before us and is verily not our friend either.

Consider the apostle Paul.  Whenever he engaged in life as Saul of Tarsus, no greater threat or enemy to the people of God could be found.  No greater passion for his purpose could match him.  Yet, God's work upon his heart and call into his service turned his life around 180 degrees.  When people observed this changed man, they observed a living testimony.  When God today takes us as sinners vain and wild and makes us like a little child, we see the same evidence.  What did they try to do to Paul?  Same thing they tried to do to Lazarus.  Their lives stood in jeopardy for trying to do the right thing. (II Timothy 3:13) We should expect nothing different in our lives today.

In that day, their avenue to put people to death was easily navigable.  In many countries today, that is still the case as God-fearing people are slaughtered by their enemies for seeking to be shining lights in their communities.  In our country in America, we have been amazingly blessed to not stand in fear of natural death for following the Lord.  On the weekends when we go to church, I never worry about someone banging the door down and arresting or killing us.  Yet, there is another method to kill living testimonies besides natural death.  If someone can tamper with the evidence in this way, it can sometimes have a more significant impact than natural death.

What if Lazarus had been convinced to declare, "I don't think Christ really raised me from the tomb?"  What kind of impact would that have had on those that believed in Jesus?  How many that believed because of Lazarus' personal testimony would have had their faith, belief, or trust in Christ overthrown?  Someone might say, "Preacher, that is such a foolish analogy."  Indeed, it might be, but consider that many today do something similar.  After God calls us from nature's darkness into His Divine Light, He does not chart our every step, action, and thought.  We are required and commanded to honour Him in our lives, but we many times do not.  Just as Lazarus was capable of later denying what happened to him, so we can today begin to deny things that we know to be true but fail to honour them as we should.

When a child of the King fails to shine as a living testimony of God's power over our sin and death, we find the correlation to our "foolish" Lazarus analogy.  Sometimes the pattern of life is not so much marked by what is done or said but by what is not done or said.  For example, most denials of Christ are not found in the statement, "I know not the man," though it sometimes happens as it did with Peter.  Most of the time, denial of Christ occurs when people say, "I think or I would rather…." when posed with the idea of going to church, reading their Bible, or praying.  When other things get in the way of the fellowship of the Master, we are denying Him in our lives and failing to stand as living testimonies to His power.  When our natural lives look and sound like those around us in the world, we appear or sound dead like this old world.

Lazarus here was sitting and eating at the table with Christ.  This type of intimate fellowship and association with the Son of God only further manifested his testimony of devotion to this One that had done so much for him.  Our lives of godliness and obedience serve as further witness and testimony to the devotion we have for Him who hath quickened us by His grace.  A child of the Master today denying Him in action or inaction is akin to Lazarus failing to admit the truth of His raising from the hand of Christ.  That death of godly living and obedience is a death that the enemies of the Master seek to elicit from us to kill the evidence of His work in this old world.  Every time we cave in to temptation and fleshly desires, we are allowing the enemy to – in a sense – kill the evidence.  As Lazarus' reversal of testimony would have injured those that believed on Christ because of him, so our ungodly lifestyles can harm those that look up to us as examples of the walk: like our children.  May we stand as living testaments to Christ and His power.  May our feet continually find rest under His table, and may we not forget what He has done for our souls by His personal victory over death, hell, and the grave.

In Hope,

Bro Philip

John 1:47, "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"

This morning, we see Scriptural prophecy and testimony being manifested and confirmed over and over again.  When certain things occur in our world that the Bible told us would either come or remain here, we should not act surprised when we see them.  Paul told Timothy that evil men and seducers would wax "worse and worse." (II Timothy 3:13) These perilous times that Paul told Timothy of are most certainly upon us today, for all of the warning signs in that passage from II Timothy 3 are flashing brilliantly today.  However, did Paul mean to convey to the young minister that men would become worse in the sense that the depravity of man would increase and be worse than it was before?  Are men today in these days worse in the sense of heightened depravity than they were in yesteryear?  Since mankind was completely and wholly condemned by the act in the Garden of Eden, he was already wholly set in the deeds of wickedness.  You cannot push beyond what is complete and total.  But, friends, man's depravity will always manifest itself to the fullest extent that it can under the current circumstance it is in.  For example, man's wicked nature wants to do more than is perhaps feasible for a certain setting or situation.  A man cannot commit adultery on his wife with her right there with him.  Though he might have that desire, he cannot act upon it under the present circumstance.  Yet, as evil men wax worse and worse, the text makes a prophecy that days are coming when the circumstances are such that man's depravity becomes worse and worse in manifestation.  He will have circumstances available to him to push the envelope further than it was pushed before.

In our study verse, we see a statement made by the Master that should make us sit up and take notice.  Sadly for me, I passed over this verse quite often in my reading of it, though this passage is quite special to me personally.  My name comes from verse 45 (Philip findeth Nathanael), which makes this passage a personal one.  Still, before we get to the famous "fig tree" discussion that Christ has a little later with Nathanael, He makes a statement that shows us something not only about the man but also about our Lord.  Notice the word that Christ used: guile.  The same word is used by Peter in I Peter 2:22 to state the same thing about Christ.  Peter says that there was no guile found in the mouth of Christ, and here Christ Himself says there is no guile in Nathanael.  Are these statements equal?  Certainly the men were not, but are these equal statements?

Above we mentioned that men today are not more depraved in their nature than they ever have been but the circumstances are such that it is manifested more and more.  Without bounds and checks upon the world, man will fulfill more and more in manifestation of those things that his hearts conjures to do.  When no guile was found in Christ's mouth, He manifested what was already the underlying quality of His character.  The word guile means "craftiness or deceit."  Furthermore, the word stems from a family of words that implies the tactic of baiting someone dishonestly.  In other words, guile is one of the worst forms of falsehood and dishonesty because there is absolute malice and destruction at the center of it.  When someone tries to bait someone else in conversation or otherwise, there is the sense of delight that they try to fulfill by seeing someone else "fall for it" or "fall into it."  Christ not only was completely honest, but there being no guile in His mouth, He did not then nor does He now delight in seeing people fall into things.  A man filled with guile delights when other people "get it" while he is left unscathed.

Knowing then that Christ's character and purity was fully displayed by His righteous conduct and behavior, what does Christ's statement to Nathanael mean?  Was Nathanael as pure as Christ?  Certainly he was not!  However, Christ says that his behavior and action show something else about him.  Not only does he have some quality of goodness – that He Himself put into Nathanael – but it is fully evidenced in his life.  Nathanael was known as an Israelite of the highest moral integrity.  What you saw was what you got with him.  He did not try to trap anybody, nor did he take delight in watching others stumble.  This tells us a lot about the man.  How much/little guile someone has speaks volumes to their character.

When I was growing up, there were levels of punishment in my parent's home based on the level of transgression.  Certain sins were punished more severely than others.  The hardest consequences were reserved for matters of falsehood.  When I lied about doing something and was discovered, I would get a few licks (spanks) for what I did initially that was wrong, but I got many licks for then lying about it.  Dad always stated why lying was so abominable, "Son, no matter what you have done wrong, honesty about your behavior at least allows us to keep talking to one another about it.  When you lie to me, I can't trust anything you tell me, and it kills our conversation."  Furthermore, the hardest spankings for lying in the house came for those lies that were told with more malevolent intent (guile).  For example, if you told a lie to save your hide, that was still a grave offense, but a graver offense came when you lied either to hurt someone else or seemed to delight in your own falsehood.

When Christ Jesus told the people gathered around that Nathanael was without guile, He spoke volumes about him.  Those standing there that might not have known who he was would immediately get a good impression of him and feel able to trust him.  However, this statement not only tells us something about the man, it also tells us something about the Master.  Doubtless, Christ was the reason that Nathanael was good at all, for short of the grace of God in regeneration, Nathanael would have never done anything that was good, and instead of having no guile, his mouth would have been full of the poison of asps and like an open sepulchre. (Romans 3) Still. God's children can develop a reputation of being habitual liars.  Jacob – though loved of God – lied on numerous occasions in his life to try to get ahead – his very name means supplanter or deceiver.  Nathanael's life was not known in such a fashion.  To people that knew him, they thought of him as honest and full of integrity.  But greater still, so did his Lord.

Too often, we can play the dangerous game of thinking of ourselves as worthless.  By nature, we are.  By His grace, we are not.  Further still, a godly and faith-driven walk is not worthless either.  Christ's very statement shows that He thought of Nathanael in a positive light.  Christ commended his behavior and course of life.  When you read through those godly characters in Hebrews 11, you are not reading a record of perfect people.  Nor are you always reading a record of people who always acted faithfully in the matters recorded about them.  For example, Sarah is mentioned as having the faith to conceive and bear a son in her old age.  Yet, the Genesis account records her laughing about having a son in her condition.  Did God get it wrong when He inspired her to be spoken of in such a glowing fashion in the New Testament?  No friends, it shows that even though we fall so short of perfection, we do not always fall short of His commendation.

Good advice for a young preacher is to never undervalue his sermons and ministerial efforts if they bless those he serves.  Surely, they are not perfect, but that does not mean that they do not bless anybody.  Good advice for young parents is to never undervalue their efforts in bringing up their children.  Again, they will not be perfect, but God has and does bless us when we seek to go the right way in that regard looking to Him and His Book for the answers.  Nathanael was a sinner, and I have little doubt that he had told a lie(s) at some point in his life.  Perhaps he even had delighted in baiting someone else just to watch them fail.  However, his manner of life was known more for honesty and uprightness.  Christ smiled on his behavior and plainly and unequivocally stated it.

Today friends, we are going to fall short of the mark on a daily basis.  Thank God His grace has been given us to have the capacity to serve Him with reverence and godly fear.  May our lives be known as Nathanael's was.  May people see in us an honest people that do not delight in what the evil men and seducers delight in.  Though their manifestation of sin and carnality may increase and get worse and worse, may our sense of moral integrity shine brighter and brighter than at any other time.  Since these men are not any more depraved than anyone else but manifest it more, I am convinced that we are no more righteous than any other of God's children that have ever lived (we were all saved completely and equally by Christ), but may we manifest that righteousness more than any others that have gone before us.  Just as Christ was pleased with Nathanael's conduct and efforts, I feel certain based on His immutability that He will be just as pleased with us if we try to follow a similar course.

In Hope,

Bro Philip