Shake Off the Grave Clothes

Praise God for this opportunity to worship him this morning there’s a church here in the United States and there’s two pastors there and they have a mutual understanding and so if they have announcements the the lead Pastor will tell the other pastors so uh the associate pastor present you and then the associate pastor will present that and things operate in a mutual understanding and here we don’t have that Mutual understanding Pastor will say things directly and let me say that final thing one more time he said don’t give gifts when you when I come to your house but when he comes and prays at your house when you buy a big big things/item such a house or a car and when he prays for that you need to give him something and especially if it’s a birthday celebration you need to give him something he is not telling me anything I am Telling You Hallelujah and it will be a blessing always for us hallelujah many times when we see beautiful clothing we are it makes us happy we wear good clothing and when we see beautiful clo clothing or good clothing we say that is beautiful in my younger years in school or college if someone comes with a new shirt the first thing we ask him is where did you get this cloth from then we’ll give them the name of the store and the next question we ask where was it sewn or stitched and that time there’s no readymade shirts and so you know my relative came from the Gulf after waiting I got a shirt also the press and so it’s like one almost like one rupee for one button at that time and so I would come to school and these kids had the fun of pulling all the buttons off at once and so since it was my desire uh someone who swed clothing nearby SED such a shirt for me rose color then white whsh color and I use that shirt as a very well put together shirt with a variety of colors and I wore it for many years many times when we come to church we want to dress in in a good way sometimes people come with wrinkled clothing to church but our wish is always to walk in a proper way Hallelujah so the Bible talks a lot about the specifications of wearing clothing and many times we go to someone’s room you see pants put up in a c you can see piles of clothing in people’s rooms Hallelujah some rooms you cannot even enter because of the mess weeks of clothing is all over the floor and so many people have good intentions but I believe that their character comes out and how their room is arranged when we look at the life of Jesus we see something very specific in the life of Jesus John 11: 44 loose him and let him go Hallelujah and when we are tied up we cannot get up on our own this time when I went to India for treatment they gave me a specific type of treatment 10 m uh uh long length of cloth and so this piece of cloth had medication into it and it was wrapped around my back and so because the tie on that piece of cloth was behind my back I could not untie it [Music] myself only if you tie it a specific way will that not be in the back and they tie it that way so the patient cannot untie it themselves and so when that cloth is uh tied on correctly that medication comes into our body appropriately and so it was a linen cloth of good length this is a very familiar verse that we read Hallelujah it’s the story of Jesus raising up [Music] Lazarus this dead man is coming out Hallelujah [Music] his body was wrapped in grave clothes and Jesus said untie his clothing Hallelujah when you read John chapter 11 you see the life and the situation of Mary and Martha and Lazarus when Jesus received the word that Lazarus was sick we see that Jesus after receiving the news stayed two more days in Bethany before moving on [Music] Hallelujah and when he said he was moving on there was a little discussion among the disciples Thomas is telling the other disciples let us also go with him that we may die with him and the background of that is that there were people gathered to throw stones at Jesus so Thomas is thinking we’re all going to die with Jesus and that will be the end of it all but what was in the Heart of Jesus and so that you are not there I am very happy Jesus is thinking if I go do a miracle the disciples will believe me even more but the disciples are thinking this is going to be our end and we see see that Jesus is coming to Bethany [Music] Hallelujah and when Mary and Martha found out that Jesus came to Bethany we see Martha come to the town to approach Jesus and verse 21 says uh [Music] Lord if you had been here my brother would not have [Music] died and it would have been another way to say it is if you had been here it would have prevented my brother from dying now my brother has died you are here there’s no point [Music] Hallelujah and so no matter what words we say it’s how The Listener interprets what we said what we say on how it’s understood and so there’s this teaching in in the study of uh in Malayalam Mal grammar in Malayalam grammar there’s many ways grammar and language is interpret Hallelujah and so the way we think say things listeners may not interpret it that way one a movement of a comma changes the meaning of a line and so there’s a story I’ve said once before a man is uh on top of a tree to capture an animal a wild animal the sentence is the book is written if even if I sit all night I’m not bothered and all the children laughed and and so he’s thinking he’s just sitting there all night and so the writer ERS he’s saying that he’s sitting up there all [Music] night so we need to understand and interpret things in the way the preacher or the writer is saying those things but I know that whatever you ask of God God will give you3 [Music] Jesus said your brother will rise again many times we see the story when Jesus came to the home of Lazarus and Mary and Martha that Martha had no time to sit and listen to Jesus and we see that Martha is complaining about Mary to Jesus that she’s not helping and but we see that Martha is also listening and hearing those things was one that was knowledgeable in the law Jesus said to her your brother will rise again Hallelujah Jesus Is Telling Martha your brother will rise again ver 24 verse 24 she said I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day we see that Martha is repeating what she understood from the law Hallelujah and so the verse the next verse is what angelene said in her memory verse verse 25 Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life [Music] and Jesus said I am the resurrection and the [Music] life they belied that someone who was dead would raise up and or be resurrected and so Jesus is revealing himself again to Martha didn’t you say in the resurrection he’ll come back and that Resurrection is me itself and so that means that if I am the resurrection and the life your brother who is dead can now become life again through me I’m not just the resurrection but I am also the life Hallelujah verse [Music] 26 whoever lives and Believes In Me shall never [Music] die Martha do you believe this dear Martha do you believe that I am the resurrection I am the one that gives life Hallelujah listen to the response of Martha she said yes Lord but she takes it one step further believe you are the Christ the son of God who is to come into the world Hallelujah we see this affirmation this belief there Hallelujah so now we see Jesus approaching the grave three things Jesus is saying there verse 38 Jesus said move away the stone verse 43 he cried out Lazarus Lazarus come forth and the third command loose him let him go and Jesus said let him [Music] go many scholars talk about the resurrection of Lazarus in in various ways Hallelujah Jesus came to the grave [Music] site and now Mary is also there and we read there it says in 35 Jesus the Jewish people are saying look how much he loved this family and so some people in that same crowd who said didn’t he Open the Eyes of the blind why didn’t Jesus attempt to keep Lazarus from dying why did he not keep him alive and Jesus is hearing all these things John gives a give a big detailed uh explanation on the tomb there was a great Stone in front of this tomb Jesus said take away the stone doesn’t say specifically who moved the stone away but they moved the stone away but we know there’s more than one person [Music] involved and we see that the same situation when Mary comes to the gravite of Jesus and they are saying amongst themselves who is going to move the stone away from for us and so they believe that they in their weakness could not move away this large Stone Jesus said move the stone and if Jesus had commanded that stone could have moved on his but Jesus didn’t say that so we see that Martha is standing near the tomb and and Martha knows logically it’s been four days the stench of a rotting body is there and once that tomb is open that smell of the corpse is going to fill the [Music] area and so now the community may come with a complaint and people do not want to see a decomposing body and especially in Jewish law they believe that is unclean to touch a dead body so many of these type of thoughts are going through their head so now Martha is coming with this concern dear Jesus it’s been four days we know the Jewish [Music] tradition and for three days after death the spirit is roaming that area [Music] and if that Spirit does not return to body within three days then that body will not live again and now that hope is also gone and Martha is saying he is truly dead so now what is the use of moving this Martha thought there’s no point of moving the stone besides here hearing the complaint of the local people now we see a Martha who believed just a few verses before that Jesus was the resurrection and the life now she is saying and so we see Jesus reminding Martha again did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God hallelujah in the next few verses we see a prayer of of Jesus [Music] Hallelujah and he said and I know that you always hear me because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe that you sent me Hallelujah how we bury a body here in our tradition is not how the Jewish tradition is hallelujah let’s go to John Chapter 19 Verse 39 verse 39 [Music] and we see that when Jesus is buried he’s buried with strips of linen from his neck down all the way to his feet and his body was covered with about a 100 pounds of this mixture of [Music] myrrh and Joseph placed Jesus like this in his [Music] grave and we understand that the body of Lazarus was wrapped this way but we don’t know if these type of aromatic spices were applied to lazarus’s body but perhaps because Joseph of arthea was a wealthy man he applied this much spices to the body of [Music] Jesus one thing we do understand is that Lazarus was bound very tightly in that linen cloth from neck down and so understanding this Jesus is giving his second command and he called Lazarus out by name to come out we know that when we die our name becomes no more but once we die we don’t say we’re going to see by our name we say we’re going to see that dead body we lose our name Hallelujah when we die our name becomes no more but we see here that Jesus calls Lazarus out by name Lazarus this way out come out and he calls him and says Lazarus come out and we met heard this thing other preachers have said if Jesus had not called Lazarus by name perhaps all the other Graves and those in those Graves would have come out also [Music] Hallelujah if he’s calling Lazarus by name here at what point does that life come back into him Hallelujah he calls him out and says Lazarus come out and then the Dead the man who had died came out and many many scholars explain this in different ways and and there’s people that say because he was bound tightly he didn’t have the chance to walk on his own and some people say he kind of slipped or glided out hallelujah [Music] hallelujah but whatever uh way it is Lazarus came [Music] out and the man who had died came [Applause] out and his hands and feet were bound with grave clothes and his face was wrapped in with the cloth [Music] Hallelujah and Jesus says this last command to him loose him and let him go Hallelujah and why I have wondered many times why did not Lazarus come out already Unbound why didn’t Lazarus just come out freely but when why didn’t when Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out his his linen cloths were bound ing him were not loosed why did he command those around him to loose him and understand the Jewish law that there for them a body is unclean and purification un Holiness is explained in their law [Music] hallelu and and and Jesus may have done this because he knows the Jewish people the leaders are [Music] looking and so when Lazarus came out those around don’t know is this a dead body or does he have life Hallelujah many times back in the day the preachers would preach this as a spiritual concept and and a man is born again and so even though he’s born again the stains of this world stick on to him so the church or Society has a responsibility [Music] Hallelujah the old time preachers would say it’s the responsibility of the church or the society to take off his remaining grave clothes now but I believe this way what is impossible to man is what Jesus did because from a human sense there’s no man there that can raise a Lazarus but there are certain things that man must do and there’s things that they have to do and those things man must do and I believe that is the the interpretation of the the clothing that wrapped his body the people need to see that Lazarus came back to life and he needs to tell the people it’s not a regular body but it has life and you can touch him and I believe Jesus wanted to make that clear to them that’s why he said it this way let’s come back to John chapter 19 chapter 20 and we see in verse one on the first day of the week the the women are going to the tomb and they are telling them the other disciples that the tomb the stone has been moved [Music] and we see that Peter and another disciple are going to the tomb and they have taken they said they have taken him away from the tomb we do not know where they have laid him and we see that Peter and this other disciple go running and so they run to the tomb to see this and that was the first song that we sang the English song We sang today in verse four they ran together and this other disciple who is known to be John ran above or further than Peter and reached the tomb and so this second disciple John comes to the tomb and looks down into it and he saw the clouds lying there but he did not go in standing outside he’s looking into this Cave of a tomb verse six and then Simon Peter came and saw the tomb and the clouds there but Simon go Simon Peter goes into the tomb and sees one more thing this an important verse seven and he saw the handkerchief that had been around his head not lying with the linen clothes but folded together in a place by itself L and when the linen cloth is what his body was wrapped in but there was another cloth that covered his face and the the cloth that covered his face [Music] we see that this cloth was folded and put to the side verse eight verse eight and then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also and he saw and believed what was John’s first belief and what was John’s second belief [Music] now when John saw that cloth that covered the face of Jesus he truly [Music] believed and what were the thoughts that they talked about at that time and the thoughts that were being spoken at the time is the disciples took the body of Jesus or someone had stolen it [Music] and this cloth that we said before that had all these SP spices 100 pounds worth of myrrh on it this cloth and so you can imagine the condition of this cloth after three [Music] days and without cutting it it cannot the the body cannot be released and if someone is stealing it they will take that clo and take it as quickly as possible you can imagine how hard and uh rough this cloth may have become after three days sitting there in the grave so you can imagine this cloth is like the the Cocoon or the crystallis that a caterpillar after it comes out becomes a butterfly and there’s no cut in it so when you see that there’s no cut in it you realize no one stole the body of Jesus so that’s why the disciples believed there that Jesus was resurrected and so so that’s why they they thought if someone was stealing the body of Jesus they’d take the clothing and everything how many of you organize your bed or clean your room in your hurry to go to school or work as I see said early on if you go into some people’s rooms there’s piles of clothing everywhere what did Jesus do but we see that the the cloth that covered the face of Jesus was neatly folded and put to the side and that example done by Jesus something we should follow and so he folded that there to show the people no one has stolen my body but he put that neatly there to the side Hallelujah someone who’s stealing is going to steal very quickly they don’t have time to fold things Hallelujah we see that this other disciple after seeing this folded cloth believed fully at that time Hallelujah yes and we see the cloth of Jesus and the cloth of Lazar and the Jesus who is the resurrection when he resurrected by the power that is within him no one had to tell him to take the clothing the grave clothes off of [Music] him but when Jesus who is the resurrection had to show people and rais someone from the dead he had to tell those around him to lose his grave clothes Hallelujah when a dead man has come out of the grave and we come also out as a new man through salvation when we come through baptism when we come I’m not talking about the the bondage said Often by prophets many times the stains of this world stick to us and it is necessary to take those off and we can’t just do it on our own that’s why we have a fellowship that’s why we have prayer that’s why we have worship that’s why we are here as a community that’s why we take accountability or responsibility for each other and what Jesus commanded the crowd is what I want to tell you today [Music] Hallelujah loose him and let him [Music] go even though we’re resurrected and Alive the things of this world many times stick on to us [Music] Hallelujah I’m not talking about the type of bondage that other prophets or pastors talk about that Jesus on Calvary already has broken but Jesus what was bound on him he already took it off and when he took off his grave cloth all our bondage is gone but there are other stains of this world that can stick to us so what Jesus said I’m telling you again let him go and let him go take off his grave cloths and let him go after taking off his grave clothes Hallelujah let us pray that those grave clothes that are stuck to us may go Hallelujah and he gave us life and renewal and made us a new man Hallelujah Jesus is our example Jesus life is our example Hallelujah and Jesus even though he’s commanding to loose the the grave clothes through prayer through supplication through fasting we can remove those stains that to us let go let him go may God bless you with these words