Our Friend Lazarus

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel.]

Prayer Meeting Address given at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Buss on Wednesday evening, 29th January, 2020 

“Our friend Lazarus.” John 11:11

Much has been said over the years about Martha and Mary, but very little seems to have been said about Lazarus. In fact we are not told one word that he ever spoke. That does not mean that he did not speak, but the Holy Ghost has not seen fit to record any of Lazarus’s words. He is rather like what one good man called a ‘mute Christian.’ Yet, he was not mute in the best sense, because, as I hope to show you, this man’s example was one that has left a lasting record on the page of Scripture to the end of time, as to what grace can do.

Firstly, how wonderful that the Lord Jesus Christ should call a poor sinner, born in Adam, fallen in Adam, yet nonetheless should call him a friend! You choose your friends as those who are of like mind to you. Where, among the sons of Adam, was the dear Son of God to find a son of Adam of like mind? Well, in their natural state, He never would find one. We are told (Scripture tells us) “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” So, in choosing His friends, it was not because He found some among the fallen sons of Adam who were as the same mind as He. Rather, the ones whom He has chosen to be His friends were, by nature, at enmity to God and Godliness before He put His sovereign, effectual love upon us. And Lazarus was one of those. We read in John 15 (I may refer to that chapter again in a moment): “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” God is always first in everything that concerns His honour and glory. So, where you see a sinner choosing Christ; choosing His ways, choosing His people and choosing the ways he once abhorred, then you have a sweet evidence: there is one whom Christ hath chosen. One said:

“Chosen of Thee ere time began, 

I choose Thee in return.”

A.M. Toplady

We have many examples of this in the Word of God, Moses being a prime example, and Ruth also. They were like Mary, Lazarus’s sister, who chose that better part; “that good part, which shall not be taken away from” them.

We read in the Book of the Proverbs: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly.” How did the Lord Jesus Christ show Himself friendly? In Romans 5 we read those words: “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,” yet at enmity, yet without God, yet without Christ; “Christ died for us.” Elsewhere in the same chapter it says: “for the ungodly.” And that is how the Lord Jesus Christ loves His people. It is how God sets His love upon a sinner. While they are yet dead in sins, yet fallen creatures, yet of this world, unbelieving, impenitent, arrogant, proud, lustful and corrupt, yet that secret love of God, ordained in the Covenant of Grace is set upon them.

“The appointed time rolls on apace, 

Not to propose but call by grace; 

To change the heart, renew the will, 

And turn the feet to Zion’s hill.”

J. Kent

The Lord Jesus makes friends by giving a heart for Himself. We may say, without presumption, that if you have a heart for Christ tonight, it is because Christ has a heart for you. Look into your heart tonight and see if it is so. Examine yourself on that point. I know you have an old nature, and so have I, which has not heart for Christ. I am not talking about that. I am speaking about the new nature which is called in one place “the Spirit of Christ.” And, where that blessed Spirit is in evidence, there is one who has a heart for Christ. That is why we read in the Book of Samuel, when the Lord sent Samuel to anoint the future King over Israel: “the LORD hath sought Him a man after His own heart,” young David. What a wonderful testimony to have a heart like that! David was one of the Lord’s friends, in that sense.

So, Lazarus, we may say with a blessed confidence, was one of those who had a heart for Christ. We are told twice in this chapter that the Lord Jesus “loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” When Lazarus fell sick, the sisters sent a message to the Saviour: “He whom Thou lovest is sick.” Not: ‘He whom we love.’ They could have said that. “He whom Thou lovest is sick.” That is a far stronger handle for prayer. Sometimes God’s friends are sick. Sometimes they come into affliction. Sometimes they come into deep waters. Sometimes they come into fiery trials, and Lazarus certainly did. Yet, he was among that blessed number that the Lord Jesus Christ called His friends.

Just two more thoughts on that, before we pass on to Lazarus’s faith. The first is this; we read in John 15: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Lazarus was one for whom the dear Saviour laid down His pure, holy, harmless, undefiled life.

Secondly, what are the marks of the friendship? There are two sides to it. On the one hand, even in natural things you tell your friends things you would not tell others. There is a confidence, particularly in a close friendship. We read of Moses. God spoke to him “face to face.” Abraham was called “the friend of God.” Those two eminent, Old Testament patriarchs were those who had much sweet communion with the Lord. He told them His secrets. He revealed things that He was going to do for them. That is a mark of the friends of Christ. “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant.” And He had showed that to Lazarus; there was no doubt about it. The Lord had showed His covenant. Soon it was going to be sealed with blood on Calvary’s cross. The Lord had showed it to this dear man. “Our friend Lazarus.”

The other side of it is, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” I quoted that word just now: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly.” The Lord Jesus Christ has showed Himself friendly to the uttermost degree by laying down “His life a ransom for many.” His friends must show themselves friendly.

“Ashamed of Jesus! that dear Friend, 

On whom my hopes of heaven depend! 

No; when I blush, be this my shame,

That I no more revere His name.”

“If ye love me,” the Lord Jesus Christ said, “keep My commandments.” How far short we come! Those of us who profess His dear name: what poor professors we are! What little light shines through our poor, sin-forfeited lives to show our love to the best of all Friends! How badly we treat Him!

“Could we bear from one another 

What He daily bears from us?”

What a question! We need our profession to be washed in the blood of the dear Friend of sinners, do we not?

Now, we come to Lazarus. “Our friend Lazarus.” I want you to notice two or three things about Lazarus which may be rightly inferred from the chapter. You can be sure that when Martha and Mary sent the message to the dear Saviour that their brother was sick, I am sure that Lazarus was one with them in it. We can almost imagine the dear sisters saying: ‘We have sent a message to the Master. He knows that you are sick.’ Then what? No answer, except a message that needed interpreting. And some of the messages God has for His friends do need interpreting, and only God can interpret them. “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” No doubt, immediately, Lazarus heard it, he might have thought: ‘I am not going to die.’ Martha and Mary; perhaps their hearts began to leap with some precious thought, that soon the Saviour would come, or the word would be sent, and their brother would be healthy again.

But friends, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” If God has given you a word from His own lips, beware of interpreting it in your own light. You need the Lord to give you light upon it. Sometimes, you will find He waits to shed light on the word He has given. It was so with Joseph over many years; between the age of seventeen and thirty years, he was a man who was under a cloud. He had a word from the Lord, but he could not interpret it. He could interpret the dreams of the butler, the baker and Pharaoh. But his own word he could not interpret, until God interpreted it.

“Blind unbelief is sure to err, 

And scan His work in vain; 

God is His own interpreter, 

And He will make it plain.”

But, friends, wait until He does. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

Well, Lazarus grows sicker and sicker. What must have been this dear man’s thoughts when no word came, and no Master hastened to his bedside? Eventually, nature expires. The soul departs. Where did it go? What a question! I thought about this a little during the day. We read of the Apostle Paul being taken up to the third heaven. He got a glimpse within the Celestial City Gate. He could not even speak of the things he had seen; they were so glorious. And, if indeed, (and I believe it must have been so) Lazarus’s soul did enter, in some measure, into that blessed place called Paradise, he never spoke about it afterwards. Not that there is no such place, but rather, no human language could describe what he saw, if indeed he did see, as I think. I would not be dogmatic on making that point. But his soul was in the keeping of his heavenly Father; in the keeping of this blessed Friend, you can be sure.

“Safe in the arms of Jesus, 

Safe on His gentle breast.”

F. Crosby

Whatever Lazarus was experiencing, we must not conjecture. But this we can be sure: he was in the keeping of His covenant God. The best of Friends had not deserted him, though his soul departed from his body.

But now think again of Lazarus. Here was a man, who for the honour and glory of the Son of God was called to pass through the valley of the shadow of death twice. You think of it. You and I expect to pass through it once. Lazarus passed through it twice. And why? For the glory of God. Strange path! Yet it was true. When you think of those years between his resurrection and his second passing; what he must have thought! What must have passed through his mind? Every time, perhaps, there was that exercise of faith about it, he would remember what his Saviour said about the trial: “That the Son of man should be glorified.”

Friends, the Lord sometimes leads His people in very strange ways; very peculiar paths, paths that no one else ever seems to have walked. But be sure of this: He is just as present in those paths as any other. “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” What a man Lazarus was! Coming back to that poor body! It was raised in health again, I have no doubt about that. But mortality was still stamped upon it. It would show its signs of age later on in his days, and once more he would pass the same way, this time never to return. His redeemed soul has been among the “spirits of just men made perfect” many centuries now. But, nonetheless, it was a path he had to walk.

Another thing about Lazarus. When he was raised from the dead, the Jews were so jealous we read that they wanted to kill him. He was a persecuted man for Christ’s sake. Think of it! Why should they want to kill him? Because they were jealous of the honour and glory coming to the dear Son of God whom they hated. But Lazarus was willing to bear that reproach. The Lord put a shield about him; they did not kill him. They could not break through the shield that had been put around this dear servant of God. What a path! To know the Jews were conniving to remove him from the earth! But, it was “for Christ’s sake.” This was a cross he had to bear, “for Christ’s sake.” “Marvel not, My brethren, if the world hate you.” “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.” “The servant is not greater than his lord.” Oh! for the grace that Moses had! He esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” He found it a mark of blessed satisfaction to believe he was bearing that reproach “for Christ’s sake.”

When the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin as we read of in the Acts of the Apostles, they were scourged and beaten. But they went forth from that sad and difficult experience praising God. Why? Because they were “counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Friends, there is not much of that religion around in our day, is there? Not in our land: put it that way. How far short we come! What grace! And friends, if the Lord has laid a cross on you for His name’s sake, that is a blessed honour. It is a sweet, sacred privilege. The disappointment and discouragement that these two sisters passed through, and Lazarus himself dying, yet it had this written over all of it: “That the Son of man should be glorified.”

And, we may always add this: whatever is to the glory and honour of the Son of God, is for the good of your never dying soul. You need not be afraid, poor, trembling child of God of the outcome. Whatever is for the honour and glory of God is for the good of your never dying soul. Then, trust Him.

“Trust Him, He will not deceive us, 

Though we hardly of Him deem; 

He will never, never leave us; 

Nor will let us quite leave Him.

“Our friend Lazarus.”

And notice something else. This friendship did not end at death, did it? Yes, Lazarus had died, but the Lord still called him His friend.

“At death, beyond the grave, 

He’ll love; In endless bliss, 

His own shall prove 

The blazing glory of that love 

Which never could from them remove.”

W. Gadsby

What a mercy it will be, if spared; what a miracle it will be to get safe home to glory, and then see, face to face, that Friend who did so much for such wretches as we! “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” As good Samuel Rutherford said:

“The bride eyes not her garment, 

But her dear Bridegroom’s face; 

I will not gaze on glory,

But on my King of Grace;

Not at the crown He giveth, 

But on His pierced hand; 

The Lamb is all the glory 

Of Immanuel’s land.”

Friends, what a privilege to one day behold the hands that were pierced, the feet that were pierced, the head that was crowned with thorns and the visage once marred more than any man’s! Why? Because His love for His friends was so great.

“Who rather than lose us would shed His heart’s blood.”

“Our friend Lazarus.”

One last thought. “Our.” This Friendship is that which binds God’s people together. This one Friend, with a capital ‘F.’ It is He that unites the brethren. If He were not there, there would not be friendship, would there? There would be no unity. But, if He is there, it is He who binds His dear people together.

“Love is the golden chain that binds 

The happy souls above;

And he’s an heir of heaven that finds 

His bosom glow with love.”

J. Swain

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” You love what you see of Christ in them. You can see their faults: there are plenty of them. But do you see Christ in them? Do you love what you see of Christ in them? That is the test. That is what unites God’s dear people together. “Our friend Lazarus.”

“There’s a Friend for little children 

Above the bright blue sky,

A Friend who never changes, 

Whose love will never die;

Our earthly friends may fail us, 

And change with changing years, 

This Friend is always worthy

Of that dear Name He bears.” 

May God add His blessing.

A. Midlane Amen.