Because the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the coronation of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, there could not be a Resurrection Sunday. Many of us want the power of the resurrection, but we don't want the pain of the cross.
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us on this Good Friday. Really a fitting message today entitled Resurrection Power.
You can't keep a Good Man down. And as we reflect on what we celebrate this weekend, as we think about Resurrection Sunday, I think it is good for us to first reflect on what happened on Good Friday, because it was Christ going to the cross, laying down his life, choosing to give it up there That allowed him to pick it back up again. And for us to be able to celebrate the resurrection like we will just a
few days from now. But, you know, before Jesus picked up his own life, he raised another from the dead. And that's what we've been looking at in our broadcasts as he resurrected Lazarus from the grave. Now, there were five elements of this resurrection celebration, and that's part of what we're going to be looking at in today's broadcast the compassion of Christ, his commitment, his prayer and his praise,
his commands and the coronation of Jesus. So if you can open your Bible and join us in John chapter 11 as we continue the message resurrection power. You can't keep a good man down. Here is Pastor Ford.
There are three commands. Notice what he says. Roll the stone away. Wait a minute. Jesus. You didn't have to ask him that. You got power over death, so you can say stone be obliterated and it become pebbles. Why don't you do it that way? Because don't miss this. Because I won't do for them what they can do for themselves. I will only do for them what they can't do, for they can roll the stone. I don't need to do it. They can't raise him from the dead.
That's where they need me. So he says, roll the stone. Its participation with Jesus. There's the first command. Participation with Jesus. He won't do for you what you can do for yourself. So here's what he's saying. I want you to do some things to help Lazarus get to me. Amen. Oh, man. You know what our response was? And their response was, she went to Jesus and said, man, he been dead for a days. That boy got an odor. He stinks.
You know what? Let me just say this. One of the number one reasons why we as believers don't evangelize the way God wants us to is because we don't want to rub elbows with stinking sinners. Alright. They stink. And so we are repulsed. But boy, if 50 gangbangers walked in here with their pants on the ground with their hats turned to the side, displaying their colors for everybody. Be looking for those who got conceal and carry in here today. Yeah. Here's what I'm saying. Are you lighting
the way or are you in the way? Alright. Yeah. You know what? Uh, let me tell you what happened. Food pantry gave out, uh, food last week. And so they always give me a bag. So they gave me a bag and it had chicken in it. And so I put the chicken in my car and forgot about it. Monday is my off day. So Tuesday, when I was getting ready to come here, I opened up the door and there was a foul odor from. I took it out, threw it in the garbage and from Tuesday to Friday
I'm struggling to get that smell out. I couldn't get that smell out. I'm telling you, every time I open the door I say, man, I preach somewhere every night, every night. And so, you know, I go places now, now here. You know, I don't do armourbearer, I don't do that stuff. And I just my personal preference. I ain't saying nothing against anybody. Got em. But I could
carry my own Bible. Thank you. Amen. And so they have the I pull up and they have the Armourbearer parked my car and I say, I say, now look, when you get in my car, they're going to be a smell man, you know? And I say, man, the smell. No, it ain't bother me. Only one guy told the truth. He said, man, it was funky up in there, Jack. So here I am. I'm trying to find something. I'm struggling to get the stink out. I can't get the stink out. So then I go and I'm walking past
in my garage, in my window. I have all of my automobile products. And then I saw this just spray and walk away. I said, oh, wait a minute, it said, arm and hammer, carpet and room, odor eliminator. Just spray. And I got it. And I went and I sprayed everywhere. That thing was and the smell was gone. I said, look at this. Look how this thing worked out for a sermon illustration. Because you you, there's your problem. You think it's your job to get the stink off of folk.
So you tell them, don't don't wear earrings, don't wear this, don't wear that. Don't do this, don't do that. Don't they. And they still stinking because you could tell them not to do it. But you can't give them the power not to do it. But Jesus is just like the stuff in this plan. While you struggling and trying, all you gotta do is say, Jesus, take my hand while I run this race. And Jesus says. And just walks away. The stink is gone. Because you got the right stuff
on it. Yes. Howard Thurman's mom really helps us to understand this. You say what happened with her? She moved out in the country. He bought her a house. Howard Thurman, Google him. Great theologian, great man of God. With the Lord now. And she moved next to a lady of the lighter hue. And this lady had chickens. And every day she would she wouldn't speak to her. And every day she'd take chicken poop and throw it over her fence. She did that for over a year. Then this lady
got sick with cancer. Howard Thurman's mom made her chicken noodle soup. Took it over to her. Told her I heard you were a sick neighbor. I want to pray with you. And for the next couple weeks, she kept bringing stuff and praying with her. And finally she couldn't take it anymore. The neighbor said, why are you being so kind to me? She said, Because Jesus was so kind to me, and as bad as I was to him, he was good to me, and I'm going to be
good to you. Well, that lady accepted Jesus Christ. And on one day, Howard Thurman said his mother brought her over a bouquet of roses. She looked at him. She said, oh, how beautiful. Oh, I've never seen roses like this. How in the world did you get them so beautiful? She said, every time you throw that chicken poop over my fence, I use it as fertilizer. I came to tell you. Listen, somebody's putting poop on your job. Poop in your neighborhood,
somebody's hating on you. They're putting stink in your game. But you know what? Use it as fertilizer. Every time that ball's coming. Dum dum dum dum dum dah. And you know. Praise the Lord. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Amen. Fertilizer. Yeah. Every time you. You're berated and bashed and you didn't do anything. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Every time somebody's hating on you. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Somebody's come up, girl. You don't look good in that dress. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Now,
she just heard the greatest declaration. You know what her problem is? Problems don't die of old age. Alright? No. What do you do when your seed doesn't match his. Say. Oh, let me say that again. What do you do when what you see doesn't match what Jesus said? Here's what you do. You stand on it, expect it, speak about it and wait on it. You stand on it, expect it, speak about it and wait on it. You stand. They listen to me over here. Maybe you will listen to me.
You stand on it, expect it, speak about it and wait on it. You stand on it, expect it, speak about it. And what I said. You stand on it, expect it, speak about it and wait on it. Man, I remember when I had hair, I had hair, I used to go to Major's hair care and major have me up in there like two hours. Man. I say, major, first of all, I don't have that much hair, man. You got me in here, man. It's too long, man.
It's too long. We got to cut this short. He said, pastor Ford, he said, fill your hair because I didn't have an afro. I mean, it was air conditioned. I had holes in my head and everything. You know what you did when I finally cut it off and quit painting it? Gave me a standing ovation. I said, they ain't never gave me a standing ovation for any sermon I ever preached. And give me a standing ovation because I cut off that hair. And so here's what he said to me. He said, feel it. And it was
softer because I had real coarse hair. It was softer. He said, yeah, it looked like curly. I ain't never had curly hair. I'm too dark for that. And I said, okay. He said, conditioner did that. You're sitting up there for that hour so that the conditioner can go down in the roots, and it could start in the roots and soften up your hair. And that's why it's as soft as it is. And he said, that's it. And that's
the missing ingredient for many of us. God is in the conditioning business and we just don't want to wait. Here it is, the participation with Jesus. But then notice here we come. Now he coming out of the tomb. Lazarus come forth. And theologians tell us that it's a good thing he called his name. Because if he had not called his name, everything that was ever dead would have got up and came out of the tomb. Because when the rapture happens, what's going to happen? He's going
to say, come forth. And everybody that ever died before he gave that call is going to get up out of the grave, ascend into heaven, and their body that's been made for them temporarily in heaven will be reunited with their soul, and they will have a spiritual body. And then we who are alive will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air for the power of the resurrection. Yes. I'm not waiting for the undertaker. I'm waiting for the upper taker. I'm going up. Mortal
shall put on immortality. The natural shall put on the supernatural. The terrestrial shall put on the celestial. The earthly shall put on the heavenly. And I'm going to be with Jesus around the throne of grace. You ought to be praising him. Mhm. Lazarus! Come forth.
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message called resurrection power. You can't keep a good man down. And what a fitting theme for us to be thinking about on this Good Friday. We'll get back to the message in just a moment. You know, maybe as you're listening to this program, somewhere along the line, a question has come to mind about something Pastor Ford has said, or about how to apply this to living out the Christian life. We can always ask Pastor Ford your questions
when you come to our website. It's Treasure Truth radio.org. Click on the contact link and ask your question or give us some feedback. Who knows, if you ask a question, we might even answer that on a future broadcast. And while you're there, you can click on the Books by Pastor Ford link on the left side of the home page, and check out the different titles available as a paperback or an e-book format. Again, it's Treasure Truth radio.org. Once again, here is Pastor Ford.
And then notice and I just skip this. But he says help him with the grave clothes. It's the same thing. The stone and the. Now remember, they wrapped them like a mummy. Which means then since they didn't do individual legs, they generally did them together. That means Lazarus floated out of the grave as he floated out of the grave. Now get this. Can I just say this? Hope somebody get this. I don't have to try to get you to understand it. He's resurrected, so he's alive, but he's
still bound. Amen. Alright. Preach, man. Alright, you say, but you still fornicate. You say. But you're still cheating. You say but you're still lying. You say. But you're still buying bootleg videos. You say you're still buying lottery tickets. You say Amen. Amen. Saved but bound. Yes. So? So what's going on here? He. He says, listen, I want you to understand there are some things that you gotta help people with that help them get free. Some things
you gotta do. Remember what Jesus did for men? Carried him. Remember? We had a message. Well, four messages and we entitled it. Tear the roof off the sucker. Remember that? These four guys said he's paralyzed. He can't get to Jesus. So we're going to take him to Jesus. And Jesus saw their faith. In other words, we talked about the fact that Jesus didn't heal him because the man on the palace faith, he told him, go and sin no more.
Here's a man that needed deliverance but couldn't get to Jesus for deliverance, and for his friends carried him and he got delivered. Sometimes they don't need faith. If you have it, can you believe for somebody else's blessing? Can you believe for somebody else's deliverance? Okay, now notice give us four and five. Let's just let's just drop em. Let's not push em. Next thing we see is the coronation of Jesus. Why do you call it that? Now? Let me just read this. Listen. Lazarus came forth. This
was said, verse 45. Many Jews believed on him, but some of them went their way to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees the council, and said, what do we do for this man who does all these miracles? If we let him alone, all men will believe, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place
and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said, you know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish. He was prophesying and didn't even know it. You know what he was saying? He was saying, listen, somebody's gotta die for the nation. And he didn't know that that he was fulfilling the prophecy of the Old Testament.
Now here's the. Here it is. They meant it for evil. God means it for good. How could the condemnation be his coronation? Let me just let me just do it so I can give you the last one and get on out of here. Remember when we talked about the fact that Jesus said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan? Yes. And he said to Judas, friend, betray me with a kiss. Why did you call that coronation and not condemnation? Because the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the coronation
of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, there could not be a Resurrection Sunday. Many of us want the power of the resurrection, but we don't want the pain of the cross. That's right. And so what happens here when you begin to look at what's going on? Here it is Jesus called a friend and enemy, and Jesus called an enemy a friend. You want to know why? Come on, help me get you out there. Say you are.
Because if your friend does not want the will of God for you, then your friend has just become your enemy. And if your enemy pushes you to the will of God, then your enemy just became your friend. Peter didn't want him to go to the cross, so Jesus said, get behind me, Satan! Y'all, Satan is not the things that be of God. And Judas kissed him so he could go to the cross. And Jesus says, friend, Amen. Maybe your haters are your elevators. Here's the last one. Chapter
12 Lazarus is alive. And notice what happens. He goes from the tomb to the table because in chapter 12, he's sitting at the table with Jesus. He's a silent witness of the power. Now notice what Jesus did. All of this because he didn't come when they wanted him to, but he came when he knew he ought to. And the bottom line was he wanted to commune with him. I sure hope today is not the only day you celebrate resurrection, because every day is a celebration of resurrection.
Let me read this true story to you real quick, and I'm going to take my seat. You've been so gracious. It's a true story. It's told by Professor Bruce Riggins of McCormick, right downtown. There was a very dedicated Christian woman working with underprivileged people in London. He. This professor asked her what inspired her faith in action. This the story she gave him. She said she was a Jew fleeing the Gestapo in France during World War Two. She knew she was close to being caught and wanted to
give up. She was hiding in a home in France with a widow who hid Jews. She said it's time for me to flee. It's no use. They're going to find me anyway. They're close. The Christian widow replied, yes, they will find someone. But it's time for you to get with the people who are escaping. She said, give me your identification. So she gave her her Jewish identification and she gave the Jewish woman her French identification. When the Gestapo came, the woman, who was French but had
the Jewish woman's ID, was taken into custody. Six months later, she died in Auschwitz. And this woman said, I came to know Christ as my personal savior because of that woman's sacrifice for me. And now I spend, and I will spend the rest of my life helping other people. You see, what happened over 2000 years ago is that the devil was coming because we are destined to go to hell. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so we were there like that woman, waiting, knowing the inevitable was going to happen. Death would knock at our door and we would go to hell. But Jesus changed IDs with us and he gave us the ID of deity through his death, burial, and resurrection. And we accepted that. And he took our identity in Adam so that he was able to die for all of us so that we could live with him. And so Jesus died in agony so that we could live abundantly. He went through hell for us so we could go to
heaven with him. And so we have resurrection power. I'll tell you what it does. It puts wisdom in your head and rejoicing in your heart, and hallelujah on your lips, and clapping in your hands and standing in your feet and praises Phrases out of your mouth. What should we do? How should we respond to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ? We ought to look back and thank God. We ought to look forward and believe God. We ought to look
around and trust God. We ought to look within and praise God, and we ought to look up, and we ought to praise God. Is there anybody in here who came today? Because Jesus got up, and now we can wake up and we can get up, and we can stand up and we can lift him up. Throw your hands up. Say amen. Hallelujah. Praise his holy name.
Well, that is a fitting conclusion to the message. Resurrection power. You can't keep a good man down. This is treasure truth with Pastor Ford. And you can always find us online at Treasure Truth radio.org. You know, these daily programs are brought to you free of charge by the generous support of our listeners. Increasingly, people are choosing to automate their gifts on a monthly basis. We call them our monthly partners because we view them as more than just donors.
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