Well, it's good to be here, brethren.
I am thankful. I am very thankful to our God
for His grace to us and to this people here. And I thank the
Lord for you, and I appreciate you all and love you dearly. All right. Take your Bibles and turn to
John chapter 11, our text It's a bit long, it spans verses
28 through 46. And it concerns the raising of
Lazarus from the dead. And what I see in this, what
the perspective I want to come at this text from is in beholding
our Lord raising Lazarus from the dead. And the details which
are recorded for us here, we see a picture in our salvation,
in our being raised from spiritual death and being raised unto spiritual
life, of whom He, that is, our Resurrection and life. Christ, we come to a person.
We are raised by a person. We're given life and salvation
by a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I've titled the message,
Christ, the Resurrection and Life. And I want to begin with
Martha. I'm sorry, with Mary. I want
to begin with Mary. So after our Lord spoke to Martha,
We're told in verse 28 that Martha went away and called Mary, her
sister, secretly, saying, the Master is come and calleth for
thee. Now Mary is a believer. Mary is a child of God and her
faith is in her Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. She knows and believes
that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ sent of God. And she believes him unto salvation. And this is witnessed to us in
the next four verses. The next four verses. Let's take
each one. Verse 29, as soon as she heard
that Christ called for her, she arose quickly and came unto Him. Now this child of God, she heard
the voice, she heard the call of her master and she was obedient
to his command. This is Mary, a believer bearing
fruit in the spirit. She hears Christ speak to her
and she's not disobedient but rather obedient to the word of
her Lord to come to him. Now, no man can resist the will
of God. We know that no one can resist
the will of God, but we see this testimony that God makes his
people willing in the day of his power. Mary loved the Lord. She was willing to come to the
Lord. Verse 30 and 31. Now Jesus was not yet coming
to the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The
Jews then which were with her in the house and comforted her,
when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out,
followed her, saying, she goeth unto the grave to weep there. Well, in reality, Christ was
of more comfort to Mary. We don't know much about the
comforters that she had in the house, but Christ was a good
comfort to her. He was the comfort that she needed,
and she went to her Lord for comfort, and he called her. Verse 32, then when Mary was
come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet,
saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had
not died. You know, wherever we meet Mary,
when she's in the presence of her Lord, she's always at his
feet. She's always at her Lord's feet. Whatever the case is, she worships
her Lord, and she loves him, and she's devoted to him, and
she believes him. And that, brethren, is worthy
of our notice. You that believe Christ, take
note of what we see here worked in our sister Mary. When the Lord taught his disciples,
she sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. In her distress of
having lost her brother, whom she loved, when she saw Christ,
she fell down at his feet. And because he did so much for
her, and sacrificing for her, she sacrificed to him that which
was very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped
his feet with her hair, in John 12, 3. So Mary is always found
faithful to her Lord. If we could be like any of the
disciples of Christ, wouldn't it be good if we were as faithful
and devoted and loving of our Lord as we see testified here
of Mary? So we see that Mary is a believer. I bring that up to show you Mary
is a believer. But what about the Jews who were
with Mary? What about those Jews with Mary
during her time of mourning? There's clearly, we're told as
we read this text, that there's a mixed group there. Some chosen
unto salvation and some left to themselves who do not believe. They will not believe the Lord.
Look at verses 45 and 46. At the end, after Lazarus has
been raised from the dead, then many of the Jews which came to
Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on
him. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. So those chosen of God, described
in verse 45, who believed on the Lord, these must be brought
out of darkness. These must be brought into the
light. These must be born again of the
Spirit of Christ. and given faith and life to behold
Him and to trust Him the way Mary was brought and given life
and brought to faith to trust in her Lord. These must be given
a living faith. So looking at these verses which
describe the miracle in which Lazarus was raised from the dead,
we see here a picture of what our Lord does for all his children
and giving all his children life. This is a picture which traces
out the work of our God for his people and giving them spiritual
life and raising them from spiritual death and giving them living
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this brethren is a picture,
an account, a true story of what your God has done for you that
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So first of all, all men Our
Lord declares to us in his word, all men in a state of nature
are ignorant and blind of the Lord. We're in darkness to the
things of our God and to a knowledge of him. We don't know him in
spirit and in truth. We don't worship him in spirit
and in truth by nature. And so when looking at a believer
that we see in Mary and looking at the Jews that were with her,
We see a great difference between the two. There's a great difference
that's immediately pronounced and made known to us. Mary heard
the word of her Lord, and Mary obeyed. She went to her Lord. Look at verse 29. As soon as
she heard that Christ called for her, she arose quickly and
came unto him. But the Jews that were with her,
they heard no such command. They didn't know what Mary was
doing. They didn't know what drove Mary. They didn't know Christ, whom
she loved. They didn't know that he was
near. Look at verse 31. The Jews then, which were with
Mary in the house and comforted her when they saw Mary, that
she rose up hastily and went out, followed her saying, she
goeth unto the grave to weep there. So we see here a picture
of us by nature, blind, ignorant to the presence of our God, to
the presence of the Lord. We have no knowledge of Him. They saw Mary rise with haste
and go out, but they didn't understand that she was moved by the Lord. They're looking upon one who
was saved and have no idea what's going on, have no idea that the
Lord is near. Mary's heart was set on the living. Their heart was set on the grave. They saw in Mary one who was
just going to the grave just like they are. dead in trespasses
and sins. They didn't understand the things
of God. They didn't understand the grace
of God, which reveals Christ to a sinner. They're ignorant
of his presence. Their understanding is in darkness,
and their minds are set on the grave, on death. That's us by
nature, ignorant of God, and our hearts and minds set on the
things of death. Paul sums it up when in 1 Corinthians
2 verse 14 he tells us the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. And he doesn't have the Spirit
of God by nature. He's spiritually dead. And there's
none, Isaiah tells us, none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth
up himself to take hold of thee. There's none by nature that stirs
themselves up and goes after God and seeks after God. None
righteous. Second, if the Lord does not
come and save us, we will perish in our sins. We will die in our
sins and die without hope. will die without hope. The scriptures
reveal to us that man cannot save himself. Man cannot work
a righteousness before the Lord to recommend himself, to justify
himself, to sanctify himself, to do anything to earn God's
notice, his favor, his merit for us. By the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. So there's no sacrifice,
no religious sacrifice, no religious work, nothing that we do that
can recommend us or save us with our God. We need a Savior. We need a Savior. We need the
Lord, the Lord of glory to come and to save us, to do for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. And so the Savior, is the one
who humbled himself and became flesh to lay down his life for
his people. Now this humbling of the Lord,
this work that our Lord did in taking upon himself to be our
surety and our savior, it's described in verse 33. But before we get
there, let's just go to verse 32. Verse 32. Then when Mary
was come where Jesus was and saw him, She fell down at his
feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died. Brethren, it's because of our
sin and rebellion in Adam that we die. When Adam rebelled against
God in the garden, he died spiritually, and all his posterity, all his
seed, all his children yet in him were corrupted just as he
was corrupted. That's why we come forth in darkness. That's why we come forth having
no knowledge of the true and living God or how to approach
unto him. That's why we cannot keep the
law with this flesh. We cannot work a righteousness
for ourselves because as Adam died, so we died. In Adam, all died, the scriptures
declare to us. And so we're helpless. We're
helpless to work a righteousness for ourselves. We cannot save
ourselves. We need Christ to come in the
flesh. We need the surety. We need the
Savior, the Christ whom God has provided for his people. And
so Christ came, and that's described in verse 33. When Jesus therefore
saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with
her, He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. Now, the margin
there says that He troubled Himself. Our Lord, knowing our brokenness,
our death, our weeping and our sorrow, and our inability to
save ourselves, He troubled Himself for you. He troubled Himself
for your salvation, so that in the appointed time of our God,
in order to save his chosen people ruined by the fall, all of Adam's
race being plunged into condemnation and darkness, God sent his only
begotten son, whom he loved, to take upon him this flesh,
the likeness of this flesh, yet without sin. And He came in the
weakness of this flesh to lay down His life, to be a perfect
sacrifice for His people, to save them from their sins, to
save us from our sins. that were ruined by the fall
and to give us life and to deliver us out of the kingdom of darkness
in which all of Adam's sinful race lies and to bring his chosen
seed, to lead them out of darkness and bring them into the kingdom
of light where all of Christ's race dwells, where his seed dwells,
where his people dwell and live in him. He troubled himself by
taking to himself the flesh." You can see there, if you have
a King James Version in the margin, it's also interpreted, he troubled
himself. And so by becoming our shorty,
and becoming our mediator, our Lord troubled himself. Next,
our Lord brings his people, when he comes, his coming brings us
to know our end. He makes us to number our days
and to see our, where we're going, left to ourselves. And he does
this to deliver us, to deliver us from our Pride and vain self-confidences
and self-thinking that we can work it all out and we got this
and God will accept this. No, we won't. No, we cannot.
And Christ makes us to know that in grace. You know, the very
coming of Christ by him coming in the flesh declares plainly
to us that there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. If
there was, Christ wouldn't have come. He wouldn't have troubled
himself. and did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Now, verse 34, he said, where have ye laid him? He knows where
they laid him. He knows right where Lazarus
is. Where have you laid him? And they said unto him, Lord,
come and see. And in that, we see a picture
of the child of God who is brought to know our sin, to know our
Don't you know you're ruined? You that believe on Christ, he
makes us to know what sinners we are, how defiled we are, how
corrupt we are, how unable we are to save ourselves. Lord, come and see. I cannot
hide my sin from you, Lord. You know all things. Lord, I
confess to you that I'm a sinner, broken, Undone, sick, dead, filthy,
vile, ragged, corrupt. Lord, come and see. Lord, I cannot
hide it from you. Now in the next verse, we see
a most mysterious word which is given to us. Jesus wept. Jesus wept. What does that mean,
that Jesus wept? Well, let me just take a break
from what we see here, this picture that we see here of our salvation,
and let me just say for a moment that it definitely confirms to
us the humanity of our Savior. Fully man, fully God. God come
in the flesh. And so it shows his humanity. It shows a side of him that confirms
to us what we read in Hebrews 4.15, where it says, we have
not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities. That's a double negative, so
it might be confusing. So we'll just take out the negative
and read it in the positive where we're told we have an high priest
which can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. and was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. And so we see the tenderness
of our God. We see the tenderness of our
Savior who came. You know, his disciples loved
him. They loved him for a reason, because of how tender. and loving and kind and gracious
and generous he is to his people. They knew him. They dwelled with
him for over three years. They loved him. They loved him.
They didn't look at him as some harsh man, some indifferent man. They loved him dearly. They loved
him. And so we're comforted by our
Savior who enters into our trials, who meets us where we are, and
who comes and comforts us and gives us aid and comforts us
in our sorrows and in our trials and our difficulties. But in
the context of the sinner's salvation, What does this mean, Christ wept,
Jesus wept? What is it saying to us? I believe
it's a picture. It's to bring us to that pinnacle
of what our Savior wrought for us when He went to the cross,
bearing the sin and the shame of His people as our sacrifice
before His Father, whom He loved. He bore that shame. to bear the
wrath and judgment and penalty of God against our sin there
on the cross. Hebrews 5.7 describes him this
way, saying, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard
in that he feared. And so all his suffering for
us, all his interceding for his people, and all that he endured
for us, the spitting, the shame, the mocking, but more so the
wrath of God being poured out on him. that we should go free
from that wrath and punishment of our God. It's most, it's summed
up most preeminently in those hours when our Savior hung on
the cross as our substitute, as our shorty to make an atonement,
a covering for our sin, to put away that sin forever before
our God. And so he bore our sins and infirmities
on the tree in order to put that which separated us from our God,
to put it away, that God may be just and justifier of them
which believe on Christ. Now turn over to Psalm 102. Psalm
102. All that we've looked at so far
are summed up in Psalm 102. are retraced again in Psalm 102
beginning in verse 16 and we'll work our way down to verse 24. Psalm 102, 16 it says, when the
Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. So this is describing our Lord
in the days of his flesh. It says, he will regard the prayer
of the destitute and not despise their prayer. You know, you behold,
consider again, there's all those Jews before Christ and they're
weeping, but especially Mary, who's lying at her savior's feet
and she's sobbing and she's crying. and what a picture it is of us
before our Lord, where we're brought to know our brokenness,
to know our sin, and to confess our sin before the Lord, and
what we are in ourselves, and the frustration of our helplessness. because we can't make it right.
We can't undo that which we've done willfully against our Savior,
against our God, who is faithful and kind and just and holy in
all that he does. And we are there lying before
him in weakness, in our shame, in our sin, in our undoneness
and our inability. And it says now in verse 18,
It says that he won't despise that prayer. This shall be written
for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created
shall praise the Lord. Here we are as part of that generation
to come beholding the glory of our Lord. Verse 19 For he hath
looked down from the height of his sanctuary, from heaven did
the Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners
to loose those that are appointed to death, when our Lord stirs
them and awakens us to a knowledge of what we are before the Lord,
to declare the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem,
when the people are gathered together and the kingdoms to
serve the Lord. And then we read in response
to all these details, in response to all that we are, we see these
next words spoken by Christ, by our substitute and mediator. He says, he weakened my strength
in the way, he shortened my days, so that Christ gave himself for
your salvation And that prayer which was brought in us, the
destitute, and we see that that prayer which he gave to us, he
doesn't despise it. He didn't despise it. He worked
it in his people to bring us to see our need of him. so that
he both prays as our intercessor, and he answers that prayer. He
brings that prayer's fulfillment to pass as our shorty, as our
savior. It says in verse 24, I said,
oh my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Thy years
are throughout all generations. And so, by doing the will of
God for us, we know that he was cut off out of the land of the
living, for the transgression of his people was he stricken."
Isaiah 53, 8. Even so, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53, 10. So by dying our
death to propitiate God, and what that word means, when we
read that Christ is our propitiation, it means that he died as our
substitute to turn the wrath of God, which was justly against
us, which was going to be poured out against us for our sin and
our iniquity, he propitiated God by turning the wrath and
anger of God away from us and by bringing it upon himself. He took to himself our sins and
bore the wrath of God. So Jesus wept and thereby he
obtained eternal life for you, his people. Pictured there in
that verse, in those words. Now verse 36, then said the Jews,
behold how he loved him. The Apostle John writes in 1
John 3.16, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid
down his life for us. And John 3.16, For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So our God having children of
promise among Jews and Gentiles scattered throughout the world.
our Lord came to save all his chosen people. And so he came
and made satisfaction unto God for the sins of the people that
we would be made partakers of the glory of our Savior, that
we too will with these eyes, being raised from the dead, will
behold the glory of our Lord. So we see the love of our God
in him laying down his life for us. Verse 37, and some of them
said, could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind,
have caused that even this man should not have died? Now, we're
to read that as them mocking. There were some Jews there that
mocked, that hated Christ and took occasion here to try and
discredit Him and say, Couldn't this one have saved this man
and kept him from dying so that we see the sin, the enmity, the
rebellion that is in man by nature. It's in man by nature. It's in
us by nature. We in ourselves, we're not pretty. We're not pretty. We need the
blood of Christ to cleanse us, to wash us, and to make us whole
before our God. There were some, when Christ
hung on the cross in Mark 15, 30 and 31, who said, save thyself
and come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priests,
mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others. Himself he cannot save. Those were true words. Those
were true words, though they didn't understand it. We understand
it. He stayed on that cross. He didn't
deliver himself in order to save his beloved bride, to wash her,
to robe her in the precious white robe of his righteousness, to
adorn her with all his grace and blessings. that she would
be a beautiful bride adorned for her husband, who loved her
and gave himself for her. And so our Lord endured the spitting,
he endured the shame and the mocking for his people. Verse 38 now, John 11, 38. Jesus
therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay
upon it. Now we saw when we looked at
Jesus wept. that was a picture of our Lord's
work for us on the cross to atone for our sins, to remove the sins
that God may be just and justifier of them which believeth on Jesus.
But we for a time, are yet in our sins. We're yet in darkness
and in enmity and have no knowledge of what Christ has done for us.
And so in our sin, we're still rebels against God, fighting
and warring against the truth, hating and hating one another,
and walking in utter darkness and unbelief. And so this picture
here in 38, where Christ himself cometh to the grave, Beholding
that cave with a large stone upon it, it pictures the grace
of our Lord coming to us as individual sinners to bring to us a knowledge
of our salvation, to deliver us out of darkness and death,
and bring us to a knowledge of Him so that He comes to where
we are. Beholding the dead sinner lying
there, helpless, dead in trespasses and sins, having nothing but
enmity and anger against the true and living God. And like
Lazarus in the tomb, we're shut up in a cave of darkness with
a heavy stone upon it that we cannot set ourselves free from. We don't even know we're in darkness.
We don't even know that we have no life. And so we're there in
the tomb which describes us in our flesh in spiritual death. And spiritual death cut off and
separated from our God. And so Christ comes to deliver
us from the bondage of this flesh, the bondage of our spiritual
death and our being separated by our God. And he comes to bring
life and light and liberty to his people. And so it begins
here in verse 39, where our Lord sends laborers to preach the
gospel to his people. Verse 39, Jesus said, take ye
away the stone. Preach the gospel to my people. Preach the gospel to them. Take away the stone. Reveal to
them God's will and purpose for you his chosen sheep in his son. Declare to them the truth of
God. Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for
he hath been dead four days. So Martha cries out, reminding
us of the natural state of man. Lord, he's been dead spiritually
a long, long time. About 4,000 years to be exact
from the time of the garden to this point in time right here
at the grave of Lazarus. It had been about 4,000 days,
4,000 years. And a day, one day is as 1,000
years with the Lord. Lord, he's rotten. Man is rotten. Lord, man stinks. Lord, man's
corrupt. He has no righteousness. Lord,
for 4,000 years he's laid in darkness, a sinner. a rebel,
having nothing but enmity in his heart against you, the true
and living God. How can he be saved now, Lord? But here's where we see the glory
of our God, witnessed in the grace of our God, revealed to
us, brought to us in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Look
at verses 40 through 42. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, Thou shouldest see the
glory of God. You know, this word of promise
traces all the way back to the first promise of our God to us
in the garden, when he promised that Christ should come, that
he would crush the head of the serpent, though he bruised his
heel. Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. They preached the gospel,
and Jesus lifted up his eyes where we behold our intercessor,
he lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest
me always, but because of the people which stand by I said
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And so we
see our Savior prevail for us as our intercessor, pleading
his blood and his righteousness for the people. not for any merit
of our own, but for his merits. We are given life. We are delivered. We are called forth out of darkness. Look at verse 43. And when he
had thus spoken, when he thus had spoken, when he had interceded
for us, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And so we see him calling Lazarus
by name. He uses his name and calls him
forth from death into life. And so this miracle in raising
Lazarus from physical death is a picture of us being raised
and given spiritual life, being delivered, raised up from spiritual
death and given spiritual life. So that it's a picture of the
sending of the Holy Spirit who comes and regenerates the child
of God, who comes and drives out the darkness and drives out
the enmity, giving us light and life, being born again of the
seed of Christ. We all were born of Adam's corrupt
seed, but his people are born of Christ's incorruptible, precious
seed, because we're the children of promise and born of the child
of promise. the promise of God to save his
people. John 10 3 says, to him, to Christ
our good shepherd, the porter openeth. Spirit of God opens
the heart, regenerates the sinner, and the sheep hear the voice
of Christ. And he calleth his own sheep
by name. Lazarus, come forth. Claudia,
come forth. Come forth to your Lord and Savior. And he leadeth them out. He leads his people out of that
cave of darkness, out of that tomb of our death, and he gathers
his people into his sheepfold, into his churches, he brings
them. Verse 44, and he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Now when our Lord saves his people,
we come forth with many infirmities in this flesh. We still have
infirmities and weaknesses. We don't have great movement. Like Lazarus, we're bound with
grave clothes, as it were, and we struggle to do that which
we are given life to do in the Lord and our sight is darkened
as with a napkin. The veil needs to be removed
that we may behold the glory of our God in the face of Jesus
Christ. And so our Lord says to his ministers,
he says to them, loose him and let him go. Preach the gospel. You preach the gospel and removing
the stone, you keep preaching the gospel to my people because
that's how The grave clothes are removed. That's how the napkin
is taken away. That's how all our difficulties
and struggles are accounted for in the blood of Christ who delivers
us and sets us free that we may serve him in newness of spirit
and newness of life, not by the law. That's not our rule of life.
We serve him by the spirit. where Christ dwells in our hearts
by faith, being set free of fear and worry of being destroyed
because Christ has set us free in himself by his blood. And
so the result is that all the chosen seed are saved. and get a little action there
from the sirens. But all his chosen sheep are saved, and the
others are left to themselves. They go on furthering their works
of darkness and evil and death. And it shows us how great an
evil we have been saved from by our Lord. All right, verse
45 and 46 again. Then many of the Jews which came
to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on
him. And so that's how you'll be saved
and be brought to faith in your Lord, as we see pictured here
in what's been described. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. And so having seen all the works
of Christ, Having seen the glory of our Lord in doing this incredible
miracle in literally raising Lazarus from the dead, they didn't
see Christ, they didn't believe, they didn't hear Him. It did
nothing for them. And so they did not believe that
they might have life. So that, brethren, you that do
believe, it just makes it all the more evident of the grace
of our God. Because that's us by nature.
We're unbelievers. We're deniers. We're haters,
just like them. but God's grace working mightily
in you has separated you out of them from them unto himself
that you might have life that you would have life and believe
the Lord of glory unto the salvation of your souls so rejoice in him
I pray he blessed that word to your hearts brethren amen Let's do something a little different.
Brother, why don't you come and close us in to him, and then
I'll come up and close us, and if I think of any announcements,
it'll be a good time for me to say them then. So, Joe, and then
back to me. We'll just remain sitting for
the last one. Let's sing number 63. Take the
name of Jesus with you, 63. ? Take the name of Jesus with you
? ? Child of sorrow and of hope ? ? It will joy and comfort give
you ? ? Take it then wherever you go ? ? Precious name, oh
how sweet ? ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Precious name,
oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Take the name of Jesus ever,
as a shield from every snare. If temptations round you gather,
breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven
? ? O the precious name of Jesus ? ? How it thrills our souls
with joy ? ? When his loving arms receive us ? ? And his songs
our tongues employ ? Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. At the name of Jesus bowing,
falling prostrate at his feet. King of kings and heaven will
crown him when our journey is complete. Precious name, oh how
sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. I did remember. I knew there
was an announcement, so that's why I did that. It gives me a little
time to think, but I just wanted to say that we did put the, the
message, uh, that we sponsored, uh, one in particular from John
chapter nine site to the blind that went up on Tuesday and it
was, it was a good, it was a good response. There's, there's over
300 downloads altogether from when it first went live at the
beginning of November. but mostly now with it going
live. So it was good. And one of the
things that stood out to me, it's hard to know from the U.S.
because there's always downloads, but sometimes there's downloads
in a country that are just unusual. So this time in Zambia, which
I don't think I've ever seen any downloads from Zambia, but
there was one. And then it was a couple days,
and then it was again, and again, and then again, and again, and
again. So it seems, usually what that
says to me, when I don't ever see much and then I see a little
pop like that, at least I like to think that it's someone who's
hurt. the word and is, is, wants to
hear it again, is, is, has heard Christ sweetly preached and,
and, and has a hunger given to them so that they want to hear
it more. And so I'm thankful for that. And there was a good
bump in South Africa, which I, I see once in a while, one from
South Africa. So, but it was a good 10 there
and about eight when I maybe it was 10, no eight when I last
looked at Zambia, I didn't see it this morning, but, It was
good. Actually, I did look this morning.
There was two more today. So that's why it jumped out to me. So thank the Lord for that. And
I'm thankful that if anybody is blessed and fed by the labors
that we all are partakers of here together as a body, it's
encouraging. And I'm thankful to the Lord
for that. I have a little summary here. Do you want to just focus?
This is from December. Maybe it'd be nice to look at
those numbers, Eric? Yeah, so, yeah, if you go on there, there's
a few on there, I guess. There's a number, wow. Yeah,
it's hard to know, but it does show the ones that were downloaded. Is this one more recent? It shows
those numbers, right? That's kind of nice to. Yeah,
so in December, there was 1,041 downloads. And well, this is
December 2020, though. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it looked
a little bit, yeah, so 2020. I'm sorry, yeah. Well, anyway,
you got 2020. Yeah, so yeah, there was, I think
there was about 900 or so in December of this last year. But
this one will have over 1,000 again for sure in December. So it's just encouraging. Let's go to the Lord in prayer
and we'll be dismissed. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace to us and revealing just the wonders
of your mercy and grace to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you should be so kind to such undeserving sinners as we are,
and that you should do so much with this little body, Lord,
where Here we are all weak and lowly and having nothing to boast
of in ourselves, but we see Your grace and Your glory shine all
the more gloriously in Your Son, Jesus Christ, and how thankful
we are for Your kindness and Your grace in us and toward us
in Him. Lord, we thank You for this body
and we ask that You would continue to bless us here for your glory,
that you would use us as you see fit, and that, Lord, we just
thank you that we are made partakers of your work here by your spirit,
by your grace, that we may sound forth the glories and the praise
of our Lord and Savior who did everything for us, that we might
know you and be partakers of your grace and light in him.
Father, continue to grow us in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior. Lord, help us, keep us healthy and well and
able to come and hear this gospel. Lord, overcome all our obstacles
in ourselves and defeat every foe that your word would be established
here, that you would set up your banner of Christ and that we
would be gathered under him and unto him. And Lord, as it pleases
you, we ask that you would call out your sheep out of darkness
around us and that you would bring your people here and that
you would cause them, that you would open the door to our Savior
in their hearts and that they would hear the voice of Christ
and that you would call them by name and lead them forth out
of darkness into the sheepfold of your people. Lord, that you
would be pleased to settle their hearts here and knit their hearts
with our hearts. Father, you know our weaknesses,
you know the pains and the sufferings and the trials that each of us
is going through, those here with us and those that couldn't
be with us. Father, we ask that you would strengthen your people,
that you would help us, that you would comfort us and dry
our every tear and give us rejoicing evermore in our Savior. Bless
the word which we heard today to our hearts, and give us joy
in it, in our Savior. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.