Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 452 from the Hartbeck hymnal, 452.
And let's all stand together. ["452"] I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me ? A sinner
condemned unclean ? How marvelous, how wonderful ? And my song shall
ever be ? How marvelous, how wonderful ? Is my Savior's love
for me For me it was in the garden He prayed, not my will but Thine
He had no tears for His own grief But sweat drops of blood for
mine How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. In pity angels beheld him and
came from the world of light. To comfort him in the sorrows
he bore for my soul that night. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows,
he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, T'will be my joy through the
ages To sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful
can my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. Please be seated. Thank you, Tom. A great hymn to begin this service
with tonight. I want to try to bring a message
on the love of God, the love of Christ for his people. We're going to begin by reading
a few verses in 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. God's love. Unsearchable, infinite. Verse 16, and we know that we
have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love, but we love him because
he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hated
this brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
thank you for the revelation of your love given to us here in your word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit
that inspired men to pin these words. Thank you for the same
Holy Spirit who opens the eyes of our understanding and gives
us faith to believe what you've said. Lord, we pray that you
would help us in our unbelief. We thank you for the hope of
salvation in the glorious person and in the accomplished work
of thy dear son. Lord, how we We hope and pray
that you would be pleased to lift him up in our hearts, that
we would be drawn to him in love, and that we would find our hope
and all our comfort in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 58 in the hardback temple,
58. Let's all stand together again. Jesus, the very thought of thee
With sweetness fills my breast, but sweeter for thy face to see,
and in thy presence rest. Nor voice can sing, nor heart
can frame, Nor can the memory find A sweeter sound than thy
blessed name, O Savior of our kind. O hope of every contrite
heart, O joy of all the meek. To those who fall, how kind thou
art, how good to those who But what to those who find, ah,
this, nor tongue nor pen can show, the love of Jesus, what
it is, none but his loved ones know. Jesus, our only joy, be
thou as thou our prize wilt be. Jesus, be thou our glory now
and through eternity. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to John
chapter 11, John 11. The love of Christ, John chapter
11, verse five. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. I want to try to answer three
very simple questions from this passage of Scripture. The first
question is, who does Christ love? Who does he love? The second
question is, how does he express that love? And the third question
is, what is the chief end of that love? Who does he love?
How does he express his love? And what is his chief end in
loving us the way he does? Martha and her sister and Lazarus. I looked up the names of these
three believers and Very, very significant. Martha's name means
she was rebellious. She was rebellious. And just
thought about how those whom the Lord Jesus loves, he has
brought them out of their rebellion against him. There was a time
when they shook their fist at heaven and when they said in
their hearts, we'll not have this man reign over us. There was a time when they were
unwilling to believe. And the Lord did a work of grace
in their hearts and fulfilled that prophecy that says their
swords will be beat into plowshares and their spears into pruning
forks. He causes those who were by nature
in rebellion against him and makes them lay down the weapons
of their warfare and causes them to participate in the planting
of the seeds of the gospel. What a demonstration of God's
love. They no longer argue with God
about being a sinner. He's convinced them that they
are. They no longer argue with God
about the authority of scriptures. They've been taught of God and
they believe that All scripture is given by inspiration and all
scripture is profitable to them. And that holy men of God wrote
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. I was speaking to a couple
men last night and we were talking about this very thing. And they
said, well, you know, the Bible is written by man and it's interpreted
by man. And I got to thinking about why
I've heard that statement made so many times. And I'm certain,
I think I know the answer of it. It's the way that men can
escape having to answer to the demands of God's word. It's just,
and I asked them, I said, well, what is the, What is your source
of truth? How do you determine what's true
and what's not true? Is it just your own feelings
about things? Is it the popular opinion of
the world? All that's been put aside. Martha's
no longer rebellious against God's word. When God speaks,
here's the people that God saves. When God speaks, All of his Martha's
say, amen, amen. We no longer argue with God about
his right to save whoever he wants to save and pass by whoever
he's pleased to pass by. We believe that God is God, that
he's sovereign. Here's the nature of what the
Lord does in the hearts of his people. Martha was rebellious
against God. And we come into this world rebellious
against God. Whatever bewilderment we might
have concerning our circumstances, you say, well, I still feel a
spirit of rebellion against God. And I understand that in that
often we We bow up under the trials and troubles that the
Lord sends us, but he always causes us. He always causes us
to confess, Lord, you're right. Whatever you do is right. The spirit of rebellion that
we have by nature that which we were born with, that spirit
of rebellion against God, he, well, here's what the Bible says,
he makes his people willing in the day of his power. You remember when in, I believe
it's in the Gospel of Luke, that is recorded about the Lord going
to Martha and Mary's house there in Bethany. And Martha complains
because Mary's not helping with the chores around the house,
preparing the food or whatever else Martha was doing in order
to provide for her guest. And the scripture says that Martha
was cumbered about with much serving. And when the Lord lovingly
rebuked her, he said to her, Martha, you're careful and troubled
about many things. And that described us. Though
the Lord has made us willing, We find ourselves careful and
troubled by many things. The Lord told Martha, Mary has
chosen that one thing needful. She was sitting at the Lord's
feet and listening to his word. And I know that sometimes we
might think that we're more like Martha or more like Mary, I hope
tonight at least that the Lord will see us in each one of these
characters because he brings his Marthas to sit at his feet. Though we by nature might find
ourselves troubled and encumbered with many things, good things,
things that we think are necessary and yet The Lord brings us to
that place where he causes us to be still and to sit before
him and to hear his voice. And so, Martha's are turned into
Mary's in their troubled spirit and in all the things that they
are cumbered about with in this world. Also, Even though we are made
by the Spirit of God to no longer rebel against what God says concerning
who he is and who we are and how it is that he saves sinners,
we still find ourselves falling back in our minds and in our
hearts into a works gospel. We find ourselves cumbered about
with these thoughts that, you know, maybe I can do something
to improve my position with God or maybe, you know, something
has happened because of, you know, because of something I
did. We find ourselves oftentimes
in our thoughts going back to the law, wondering if there was
something that we did or something that we can do. And so the Martha
who was rebellious now still finds herself cumbered
about and careful and troubled about many things. And what a
blessing it is when when the Lord brings us again and again
and again back to Christ, to whom coming? How oftentimes we
have to have him to do that for us. We oftentimes find ourselves
entirely too occupied with things, good things, necessary things,
And the Lord makes us to be still. Now, Martha's name translated
means she was rebellious. Mary's name translated means
rebellion. Rebellion. There's six Marys actually mentioned
in the New Testament. There's of course Mary the mother,
Jesus, there is Mary Magdalene, there's Mary the mother of John
Mark, there's Mary the mother of James, there is in Romans
chapter 16 when Paul is giving his farewells to the Christians
in Rome he addresses a Mary there and so there's a There's a Christian
in Rome that Paul addresses and then of course here we have Mary,
the sister of Martha. The Old Testament name for Mary
is the word Miriam. You remember her? In Numbers
chapter 12, when The Lord was using and speaking
through Moses and Miriam and Aaron became jealous and they
went to Moses and said, you know, God speaks to us just like he
speaks to you. And the Lord afflicted Miriam
with, Miriam was the sister of Moses, he afflicted her with
leprosy. And she had to spend seven days
outside the camp before the Lord healed her and brought her back. And in that passage of scripture,
the Lord says, I will speak to Moses face to face. And if you
want to know who I am, you listen to what he says. Now in that
whole picture, Moses is a type of Christ. And for us to think
that we can come before God and receive any word from God apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ is rebellion on our part. It's to
make us to be like Miriam. It's to make us to fulfill the name of Mary. Every time we come
before God Almighty, we have to come in the person of his
son. The Lord Jesus is the one he
speaks face to face to. And if we're gonna hear from
God, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to come to Christ. Lazarus, if you turn with me
to Psalm 70, Psalm 70. Lazarus' name translated means
one whom God helps, one whom God helps. So here we have one
who was rebellious, along beside her sister, and do we not have
a sister nature to that new nature that we have? that no longer
rebels against the things that God says, there's still that
old man that wants to do things the way we think they ought to
be done. And then we have this wonderful type in Lazarus, the
one whom God helps. How we need his help. We need him to help us to need
his help, don't we? The Lord responds to those who
cry for help, but he also gives to them that cry. And that's
where we are in the type of Lazarus. Look at Psalm 70. Make haste,
O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded
that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and put
to confusion that desire my hurt. Now we see time and time again
how in every one of these Psalms, these are the prayers of Christ.
But we have an enemy too, don't we? We have that old rebellious
nature. And we cry out to the Lord, Lord,
let it be ashamed, let it be confused, it's seeking my hurt.
Let them be turned back for a reward for their shame that say, aha,
aha. Let those that seek thee rejoice
and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, let God be magnified. For I am poor and needy. Make haste, O God. Make haste
unto me, O God. Thou art my help. and my deliverer. Oh, Lord, make no tearing. I
need you to help me now. Who does the Lord love? He loves
Martha's and he causes them to lay down the weapons of their
rebellion against him. He loves Miriam, though he must
afflict us. In our efforts to try to find
our way apart from looking to Christ, he always brings us back into
the camp. Always brings us back. And he helps us. It's like he
did for Lazarus. I want you to go back with me
to our text and notice something that I think is very significant. In chapter 12 of John, Mary,
the Lord is back in Mary and Martha and Lazarus' home and
Mary's the one that breaks open the alabaster jar and anoints
his feet. In another gospel, Mary is the
one who sat at his feet and was commended by him for choosing
that one thing needful. And in this whole story of Lazarus,
Mary is the quiet one who is waiting on the Lord. And when
John wrote his gospel, Mary certainly would have been the more popular
of these three. She would have been the one more
well-known by the ones who were going to read this gospel account. And she's named first in verse
1. Look at verse 1. Now a certain
man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and
Martha. Mary's mentioned first because
Mary would have been more, everybody knew who Mary was because of
those things that I've already mentioned. But here, the order that the
Lord gives us in these names is just the opposite of what
we have in verse 1. And Mary's not even mentioned
by name. She's not even mentioned. In verse 1, it's Lazarus, Mary,
and Martha. In verse 5, it's Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. The comfort that I get from this
is that God only has one kind of love. He doesn't have favorites when
it comes to his children. He can only love one way. We
might get the impression that perhaps the Lord had an affection
for Mary that he didn't have for Martha. But here the Holy
Spirit inspires the apostle John to leave Mary's name out altogether
and just refer to her as Martha's sister. And I'm so encouraged
by that because, you know, it's like what we read over there
in 1 John chapter 4. This is our boldness in the day
of judgment. There's no fear in love. There's
no fear that, you know, that God would love someone else more
than he would love me. He loves all of his children
exactly the same. And anytime we think like that,
we are fulfilling what the Lord said in Psalm 50 when he said
this, you thought that I was altogether such a one as thyself. You thought that my love was
like your love. And you can adjust your love and your love differs
depending on who you're loving and what they're doing. My love's
perfect. And I love Martha and Mary and
Lazarus and John. You know, we think
about John, John's the one who rested on the breast of the Lord
Jesus and there seems to be such a special affection between Christ
and the Apostle John. Is it possible that the Lord
Jesus loved one more than another? No, it's not. You see, we... We just show our
old nature when we think that God's love for us is somehow
determined by how we treat him and how faithful we are to him
and how much we love him. No, no, no. We love him because
he first loved us. And let's go back to 1 John chapter
4. I want you to look at this again
with me. 1 John 4, verse 16, and we have known and
believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is
our love made perfect, that we might have boldness in the day
of judgment. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. And when the Lord Jesus prays
for us in John chapter 17, he says to his heavenly father that
the father loves his people in the same way that he loves Christ.
God's only got one kind of love. It's perfect love. Look at the
next verse. There's no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear. Our love's not perfect. His love
is. And when we begin to fear that
maybe we've done something to change God's love for us, then
we're denying the very essence of of who he is and how he loves. And I do believe that this is
why the Holy spirit is popular as Mary was. And as much, as
much as a, uh, of, uh, an image of faithfulness that she had
even above Martha, that she's just called in this verse, the
sister of Martha. She just, she's pushed to the
back Martha and her sister and Lazarus. how we have thoughts of God loving
someone else more than he loves us. We are, in thinking that way,
ascribing to God our nature. It's not the way he is. His love is eternal. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. His love is very particular. It's for all of his people, all
those in Christ. And as far as that goes, though
we must experience by the power of the Holy Ghost the new birth
in order to find our hope in Christ, God has always seen us
in Christ, always. He couldn't have loved us with
an everlasting love if we weren't in Christ. This is God's perfect
love. And it's an effectual love. His
perfect love for us causes us to love Him. Look at verse 35 in this same
chapter, John chapter 11. John chapter 11. Verse 35, Jesus wept, then said
the Jews, behold how he loved him. These Jews saw the affection
of Christ in his tears at the tomb and concluded that the Lord
loved Lazarus. The evidence that we have of
his love is so much greater than that, isn't it? Go back with
me again to 1 John chapter 4. Let's look at a couple other
verses. 1 John chapter 4. Actually, let's look at chapter
3 verse 16, 1 John chapter 3 verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love
of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay
down our lives for our brethren. Here's how we perceive the love
of God. hearing his love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be the
propitiation of our sins. Greater love hath no man than
this. And he laid down his life for his friends. The evidence,
the greatest evidence of the love of God is the cross. The
love of Christ for his people is what he did at Calvary. When
he took our sin on himself, and suffered the full wrath of God's
justice in order to put away the sins of his people. When
God made him who knew no sin to be made sin for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him, he did this out
of love. This is the evidence of the love
of Christ for us. And now, Now, in all of his wise
providence, we know that his love is what causes him to do
for us what's best. You know, we see the evidence
of the Lord's love even in what he did in staying where he was
for two more days. before he went to Bethany. And the trials and Mary and Martha
were grieving over the loss of their brother and had to experience
that in order for the Lord to demonstrate to them the fullness
of his love. And brethren, here's our experience. in whatever the Lord does providentially
in our lives and whatever troubles and trials he puts us through,
it's all for the purpose of demonstrating his love toward us and bringing
us to that place where we can rejoice in and rest in that love. Not always easy. Not always easy,
but it's always good. A parent who loves their children
does not give to that child everything they ask for when they ask for
it. And oftentimes the love that
a parent has for a child will cause them to see the need of
bringing painful discipline into that child's life. And children oftentimes, because
of their immaturity, will resent that. They'll resent the fact
that they're not getting what they want when they want it.
They might get angry at the fact that their parent disciplines
them in a way that's not comfortable for them. But what a blessing
it is when a child becomes mature enough to be able to come to
a parent and thank them, thank them for that. Or, thank you,
thank you for loving me enough to not spare the rod. Thank you
for loving me enough to not give me what I wanted when I wanted
it. Thank you for using your wise judgment when I didn't have
any and doing for me what I needed rather than what I wanted. What
an incredible blessing apparent. Experiences if a child ever comes
to that place to say that sort of thing usually it doesn't happen
until they have their own children But you see what I'm saying And
what joy What joy Not only is it does the Lord have but he
gives to us when we're able to see and to believe to believe
Lord this This correction, David said it. David said, before I
was afflicted, I had gone astray, but now I've kept thy word. Lord,
this affliction has been good for me. These were necessary trials that
you wisely brought into my life in order for me to be able to
love you and trust you and to know your love for me. Thank you. Turn with me to Psalm 13. Psalm
13. The Lord always knows exactly what
we need in order to bring us to himself. And that's the answer
to the, The answer to my last question is what is God's chief
end in loving us, in the way he loves us and who he loves?
And the answer to that question is to demonstrate his grace and
his glory to us, to reveal himself to us. And he knows what we need
in order for that revelation to be made. But how oftentimes we find ourselves
like David. Look what David says in Psalm
13. How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
my enemies be exalted over me? Oh, consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say I prevailed
against him, and those that troubled me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation and I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt
bountifully with me. Oh, child, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, not thoughts of evil, thoughts of
good that I might bring you. that I might bring you to your
expected end. The Lord could have sent word
back to Martha and Mary that he was coming and that he was
going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He didn't do that. He let
them grieve for four days over the death of their brother. knowing
all along what he would do. When the messenger left, the
Lord said to his disciples, Lazarus sleepeth. And one of the disciples
said, Lord, if he's asleep, then he'll be fine. And then the Lord
finally said, Lazarus is dead. He's dead. The chief end. our Lord's love for us through
all the ways in which he manifests that love most importantly at
the cross and now as we walk by faith in his good providence
he demonstrates his love toward us in everything in everything
and the chief end of that is to show forth his glory Because
he knows that what we need, what we need more than anything else
is to see his glory. That's our greatest need. He
knows that. We think our greatest need is
to be delivered from this trial. Our greatest need is to have
this or not have that. And he knows that our greatest
need is to have him, to know him. to rest in Him, to believe
on Him and He knows exactly, He knew what Mary Martha needed. The greatest blessing that the
Lord can give to any of His children is to bless them with Himself. I am thy shield and I am thine
exceeding great reward." The greatest blessing that we can
have is to be able to worship Him, to believe on Him, to rest
in Him, to rejoice in Him, to have peace with Him. Now, Jesus loved Martha. She was rebellious, and the Lord
has made her willing. And her sister,
Mary, and Lazarus, the one who he helps, He loved them through their trials.
And in the end of the story, look at verse 40 and we'll close. Jesus said unto her, said I not
unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou should see the
glory of God. The Lord makes us to believe
that he might make known his glory. Our Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for all
the demonstrations and revelations
of your love towards your people. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us for our coldness toward
thee, and Lord, we pray that you would warm our hearts and
cause us to believe all that you have revealed. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number nine, number nine, let's
stand together. Okay. ? Is not that I did choose thee
? For Lord that could not be ? This heart would still refuse
thee ? Hast thou not chosen me ? Thou from the sin that stained
me ? Hast cleansed and set me free ? Of old thou hast ordained
me ? That I should live to thee ? Your love had no beginning
? No cause in me was found ? That you should choose to save me
? A sinner strongly bound But grace not earned or sought for
was purpose for my soul. For me salvation wrought, for
Christ paid the dreadful toll. T'was sovereign mercy called
me, and taught my opening mind. The world had else enthralled
me, to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns none before Thee,
for Thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.