GRAVE CLOTHES
By Pastor Jim May
It seems that most of this week God has been bringing this message back to me over and again. I have thought about it and prayed about it and I am convinced that the Lord would have me to tell you what He has been telling me.
Let us begin by reading from the Gospel of John, Chapter 11 and verse 1.
While all of you are turning in your Bibles let me say that all through this chapter there is a richness of material from which we could preach this morning. Every Word in this Book carries such a powerful message. Every word is alive and glorious and seems to literally jump off of the printed page and go through your eyes, through your mind, right down into your very heart and soul. The more you read it, the more you want to read it. The more you read it and hear it and meditate upon it, the more it comes alive to you. This Bible is not just a book – It’s a living word. It’s not just ink on paper for there is a living power, inspired by eternal God and penned under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. I pray today that God’s Word will perform its work in your heart as we read. I’m going to take a little extra time to read a little more than usual because I love this story and I never get tired of hearing it.
There are a number of occasions in the Bible where Jesus used parables, stories and analogies to make a point while teaching His disciples. Some have said that Jesus was a good storyteller and that most of the parables were simply stories that He made up. I’m not convinced that this is true for He is eternal God and He has the entirety of human history and billions upon billions of true stories from the lives of people from which to draw his illustrations. But be that as it may, we are assured that this story of Lazarus’ resurrection is true – it actually happened just as the Word of God says, and I’m so glad it did because if Jesus resurrected Lazarus, and God is no respecter of persons, then I know that He will also resurrect you and I to eternal life.
But today I want to bring your focus down to the last verse that we read - John 11:44, “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, Loose him, and let him go.”
Lazarus’ story is a true story and has been an inspiration for an innumerable amount of sermons down through the years. I know that you have heard it time and again. This man Lazarus, a personal friend of our Lord, died and was buried. This family, Lazarus, Mary and Martha had no doubt entertained, provided lodging and had extended their hospitality many times to our Lord. I believe that Jesus always made it a point to visit with them and commune with them over dinner every time he passed close to Bethany.
I know that Jesus loved them and I know that their love for Jesus was just as real.
In fact, if you read in the very next chapter of John, after the resurrection, you will see Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and wiping his feet with her hair, while Martha is busy about the house preparing the meal and making things as comfortable as possible for Jesus and his disciples.
But step back in chapter 11 and you are stricken with the fact that no matter how much Jesus loves this family, there came a time when tragedy struck and the power of death prevailed.
If there is one enemy that we cannot defeat, it’s death. The rich and the poor, Kings and Presidents, saints and sinners, young and old, weak and powerful – all of us, will eventually lose the battle with death for death reigns invincible until the day that Jesus puts an end to his power. When death stalks the land, all men tremble in fear and wonder if it is coming for them. Jesus told us that all men are appointed their destiny with death and none of us will escape. Some may only experience death in a “moment and a twinkling of eye” but nevertheless, this body of flesh must die. It must go to the grave in corruption so that we can be raised incorruptible with a new glorified body. The scripture says that the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Thank God, in Heaven death will be no more and we shall all live eternally!
The story of Lazarus’ death reminds me of the story of another man’s death as well and that’s the death of Adam. I know that Lazarus’ death was a physical death and Adam’s death was a spiritual death but don’t ever forget that it was Adam’s spiritual death that brought about Lazarus’ physical death.
God created man that he loved in God’s own image and breathed the breath of life into him and man became a living, eternal soul, but Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, brought death to his eternal soul and by proxy to every man, woman and child that would ever be born into this world.
Just as God’s love, mercy, grace and goodness did not keep Adam from tasting death, neither did it stop Lazarus from dying too.
If death were the final step in this grand scheme of life, then we would all be left with a feeling of absolute hopelessness.
For those who refuse to serve the Lord, who will not allow Jesus to be the Lord of their lives, and won’t fall before Him in repentance, accepting Jesus’ blood that he shed upon the cross for their sin and recognize that Jesus died for them – DEATH IS YOUR FINAL STEP. You will die in your sin, and then you will experience something far worse than physical death. You will experience what the Bible calls, “the second death”! That second death, eternal death, ever in a state of dying but never really dying at all – forever and ever while you suffer in the Lake of Fire and brimstone. I can think of nothing more horrible than to experience the moment of dying over and over and over, forever, but never finishing the pain and suffering. It just goes on and on. And no one will care, no one will be able to help, God won’t hear your cries, Satan will only laugh at your suffering; mom, dad, sister, brother, preacher or friends will not be able to help you in that day. Either they will be in the same place trying to deal with their own suffering equal to or maybe ever greater than yours and they won’t have time for you, or they will be in Heaven, enjoying the wonders of God’s presence, and will have long forgotten that you ever existed because God will wipe your memory from their minds.
But death doesn’t have to be the final step for any of us. If we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and live for Him, then death will only be a steppingstone into a glorious eternal life. Just as He did for Lazarus, Jesus will call you by name and you will come forth from the grave, alive forevermore by the resurrection power of God!
All of us were like Lazarus at one time in our lives! Oh we weren’t dead physically, at least not yet. But we were all spiritually dead, with one foot in the grave and the other on a slippery step, just one quick slip and it will mean death forever as I have already described.
I’m reminded of a movie that came out a while back called “Dead Man Walking”! It was the story of a convicted murderer who was on Death Row, waiting for his execution for his crimes. The day finally came and as the guards led him, bound in chains, from his cell to the execution chamber, one of the guards would shout, “Dead Man Walking”, to let all the other prisoners know that this man was as good as dead already.
How many of you know that everyone you see, every man, woman and child, no matter their age, or their health, are “dead men walking”?
No, we might not have experienced physical death like Lazarus, but we all were dead in trespasses and sin. We were all dead spiritually.
Mary said that Lazarus had been dead for four days and that he was surely beginning to smell terrible. How many of you had a smelly, sticking, nasty attitude when you were spiritually dead? Did you curse the very God who created you? Did you hurt the people in your life that you thought you loved most of all? Did you love the deeds of darkness and shun the things of God like a plague? Did you have stinking thinking and a heart full of sin? WELL, DON’T THINK THAT YOU DIDN’T BECAUSE WE WERE ALL GUILTY OF SIN! The Bible says that there is none righteous, not even one! We were all dead in sin and we were all corrupted by unrighteousness and bound for the hell just as fast as we could get there. It’s only by the grace and mercy of God that we aren’t all there right now!
The good news is that Jesus is still calling people to “come forth” just like He did for Lazarus! How many of you have been called forth this morning? I pray that all of you have heard God call you by name. I hope that all of us have been lifted out of that miry clay of sin, out of that grave and brought back into a place of light and life in Christ.
If you haven’t heard Jesus call you name yet then get ready because He is going to call you this morning, before you leave this service. It will be up to you to come out when He calls you!
All of us who are here this morning, who have been called forth by Jesus, just raise your hand and say, Thank You Jesus for calling my name. Thank you Jesus for bringing me out of my grave of sin! Thank you Lord for giving me eternal life!
Now let’s look at what happened to Lazarus after he came forth from the grave for a moment. This is where God wanted me to take you this morning. This is where each of us, who have been born again, is living right now. We are living in the new life, after the resurrection.
Thank God that I’ve been born again! Thank God that you have been born again! Thank God that He called us by name and brought us out – but the story doesn’t end there.
Don’t forget that when Lazarus came forth, he was already resurrected, he already had a new life, and he was already delivered by the Word and power of God. Death had no hold on him now, but he still had a problem – and it’s the same problem that all of us have too – he was still bound in grave clothes!
There was only one who was resurrected who came forth from the grave and left the grave clothes behind. Do you know who that was? IT WAS JESUS!
In Luke 24:12 and John 20:5-7, we see where the disciples ran and looked into the grave where Jesus had lain and there were the grave clothes, left behind. Jesus wasn’t walking around naked. He was clothed in robes of pure white and robes of righteousness. He didn’t need those grave clothes anymore. They were a thing of the past for Jesus. They were there for a moment and then he put them aside and left them behind because they couldn’t hold him anymore. He didn’t need grave clothes now! They were meant for the dead and Jesus was alive. He left that which was meant for the dead, in the place of the dead, for dead things cannot stay where life reigns, we have to leave them behind. There was nothing of Jesus’ past that had a hold on him!
But that wasn’t the case with Lazarus and it isn’t for you and I either, mainly because we have a hard time releasing ourselves from the grave clothes. Lazarus was bound hand and feet and could barely move, but he was alive. He could take very small steps and follow the light that came through the napkin that covered his face, but at least he could see some light and he “walked in the light as he could see it.
Are you beginning to get the picture of what God is trying to say to us this morning?
After you have been resurrected to eternal life in Christ, after you have been called by name and you have come forth by the power of God, and after you have had the light of the gospel come alive in your heart – there is still more work to be done!
Lazarus couldn’t get his grave clothes off without some outside help! Jesus commanded his family and friends to unwrap him and set him free.
Does that tell you something? It tells me that you can’t be set free sitting at home alone! It tells me that we need each other, steel sharpening steel, brother helping brother and sister helping sister, under the direction of the Holy Ghost to help one another be free in Christ! That’s why the 5-fold ministry is in the church! That’s why God has ordained that we come together, and don’t forsake coming together, as a Body of Christ, to help one another get unwrapped from our grave clothes.
Can you see it? Do you understand? We are hear to help one another get unwrapped, untangled, to remove the things that keep us from seeing clearly, to help us walk better, talk better, and experience real freedom in Christ.
I don’t have any power to forgive sins! I don’t have the power to resurrect you from the dead! I don’t have the power to give you new life! But we all have the power, under the anointing direction of the Holy Ghost, to unwrap one another from those things that bind us. God will do the resurrecting, and God will do the delivering and God will do the setting free, but we have to help each other unwrap!
What do I mean by “unwrap”? It’s simply this – all of us have things in our past, and things in our lives that are holding us back, limiting us in our ability to move and work for the Lord, and limiting us in having a vision for the work that God has called us to do.
We are walking in the light as we see it, but there’s more than what we see, and God wants us to have a greater vision! We are walking under the power of the Holy Ghost, but there’s always a greater walk, where we can make bigger strides in serving the Lord. We are working for the Kingdom of God with our hands, but God wants you to have a greater work to do and that requires more freedom for your hands and your arms as you put them to work in His calling upon your life.
All of us need some unwrapping. The grave clothes of our past, when we were dead in sin, are still hanging onto us, binding us up, keeping us from having real freedom in Christ, limiting our walk with the Lord, limiting our vision of Calvary, and limiting our vision for the work ahead.
Some of you are wrapped in grave clothes of unforgiveness to someone else for the way they hurt you or treated you in past. It’s time to get unwrapped this morning.
Some of you are wrapped tightly because your heart has been wounded, your spirit has been broken, and your heart is broken this morning from the hurt and pain of past experiences. This morning we are all going to help you get unwrapped if you want us to. We are all going to pray for you, and believe God with you, and pray that God releases those grave clothes off of your heart and spirit and sets you free today.
Some of you have grave clothes of an injured faith because you just can’t seem to get an answer to your prayers and you wonder if God is listening. We are going to help you get unwrapped this morning too. Let me just catch the very end of that wrapping right now and let you know that you are blessed even while you doubt. Remember that God has given every man a measure of faith and He gave you enough faith to make it all the way!
You are here this morning – that’s proof that your faith is alive and well!
God is blessing you right now – that proof that God is honoring your faith in Him!
You aren’t in the gutter, you are starving to death, you aren’t lying in a hospital – you are blessed. God will answer the rest of your prayers in His time so don’t give up now!
Some of you are wrapped up in past sins and the devil keeps throwing them back into your face and you keep letting him do it. As long as you let the devil keep bringing them back, you are going to keep feeling guilty and always be in danger of repeating them. It’s time to kick the devil in the teeth and tell him to be quiet. God washed away those sins and threw them as far as the east is from the west. Why do you keep traveling so far just to bring them back again? It’s time to get unwrapped from those past sins. If God can forget them, then we should forget them too and not them have power over us anymore.
Some of you are wrapped up in guilt and shame for some secret sins in your life, or some habit that you just can’t seem to break. We are here this morning, and God is here this morning, to unwrap you and set you free from those bonds that hold you. You can get unwrapped from those grave clothes of death and walk in freedom in Jesus this morning if you will believe God!
All of these things, and so many more, have us bound up tightly, wrapped up, tied up, and some of them keep us from “seeing” what God has in store for us!
The Holy Ghost is here! Jesus is here! Your brothers and sisters in the Lord who have experienced many of the same bonds that you have are here! It’s time to be free! It’s time to get unwrapped from your grave clothes and leave them in the past. Leave them in the place of the dead and move on into a new life in Christ!
Let’s all stand in prayer! Are you still wrapped up in grave clothes this morning? Do you feel bound up in your spirit? Do you feel tied up and unable to really serve the Lord the way you want to? Is your vision limited by the burial napkin that’s over your eyes? Are you unable to work for the Lord and do a work for Him because your hands and feet are bound in grave clothes?
Come to Jesus this morning, come to this altar, come and let us help you get unwrapped! JESUS WANTS TO SET SOMEBODY FREE RIGHT NOW AND IT COULD BE YOU IF YOU WANT IT!
If you haven’t even been called forth from the grave of death and sin this morning, Jesus is calling you right now. He is calling you by name to "come forth" in repentance and give your life to Him. You can’t come out of that grave until Jesus calls so don’t ignore his calling. It takes a resurrection power of the Holy Ghost to bring you out for something dead cannot decide when it will hear and can’t deliver itself. It has to be called and delivered by something alive and that’s the Holy Ghost!
The living God is calling you forth right now, so come out of that tomb of death and let us help you get unwrapped too. Jesus wants to give you a new life and set you free right now!
(Suggestion for Song – “He Set Me Free”)
