JOHN 11:39, C. H. Cayce Take ye away the stone. It seems to have been the custom in those days that a stone be placed over a grave or sepulchre. A stone was placed over the sepulchre where the Saviour was buried, and the women who went to His grave early in the morning of the first day of the week said, “Who will roll away the stone?” The stone over the grave of Lazarus has no reference whatever to a stony heart. It simply shows that Lazarus was dead, and that he was buried according to the usual custom. In the resurrection of Lazarus was a wonderful display of the power of God. He could have raised Lazarus just as easily without the stone being rolled away as after it was taken away. The stone being over the grave did not hinder His ability to raise Lazarus. But if He had raised him without the stone being first taken away then those unbelieving Jews would have said it was all a “sham” and that Lazarus was not dead. Then the question might be asked, Why did the Saviour not roll the stone away Himself? We answer, It was not necessary that He roll it away. They could do that themselves. They could not give life to Lazarus, but they could roll away the stone. The Saviour did what they could not do. So He tells them to roll away the stone, and when it is taken away, they Can see Lazarus lying there now dead, and “behold he stinketh.” Now, the Saviour cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth,” and he obeyed, the Saviour imparting life with the command. They have seen Lazarus was dead, and they have seen that life was imparted to him, and he came forth. There is absolutely no room to dispute the fact that the dead was raised. Hence this is a wonderful display of the power of Christ, showing that He had power to raise the dead. Even so now He has power to raise the sinner out of a state of death in sin to state of life in Christ.
The sinner is not commanded to take the stony heart away, or to take the stony heart out of the flesh. In Ezek. 11:19-20 the Lord says, “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Here we have the positive promise of the Lord, the God that cannot lie, that He will take away the stony heart and that He will give a heart of flesh. He does not tell us to do what He has promised to do for us, and He does not promise to do for us what He commands us to do. Having the stony heart taken away, and a heart of flesh given, is equivalent to being born again, and sinners are nowhere commanded in God’s word to be born again. This taking away of the stony heart and giving of a heart of flesh is something the Lord will do “that they [pg 206] may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances and do them.” Then the stony heart must be removed in order that acceptable obedience be rendered to the Lord; then the stony heart must be removed before the sinner ‘obeys. So, if the Lord commands the sinner to remove the stony heart, and the sinner cannot render acceptable obedience until the stony heart is removed, and the Lord cannot or will not save the sinner until the stony heart is removed, it looks to us as though there is no hope for the poor sinner. They do get it somewhat mixed, sure enough. But the Lord takes away the stony heart and gives them a heart of flesh and puts a new spirit within them. The Lord thereby qualifies them for His service.
But someone might ask, “Does not the Lord somewhere command somebody to purify their hearts?” Certainly He does, but He is not talking to alien sinners. James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” James is not talking to unregenerate sinners; he is talking to the brethren, to children of God, those to whom the Lord has given a heart of flesh. In the eleventh verse he says, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren.” He uses the term “brethren” all along in different places, so it has no application whatever to the unregenerate. Some brother, then, might ask, “How are they to purify their hearts?” Peter tells us how. 1 Pet. 1:22-23: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which [pg 207] liveth and abideth forever.” They purified their souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. To obey the truth through the Spirit, one must first be in possession of the Spirit, or must have the Spirit before they obey. Then they do not purify their souls unto eternal life, but unto the unfeigned love of the brethren. They are in possession of the Spirit before the obedience is rendered; and the Lord promised to put a new Spirit within them, and when the Lord puts that Spirit within them they are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” All the Lord’s dear children, to whom the Lord has given a heart of flesh, should endeavor to “purify their souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.” The Primitive Baptist, Jul !7, 1917.