John chapter 12. This message should not take
very long this morning. I only want to do a running commentary
of a few verses here. But since everything is significant,
I don't want to leave anything out. We've got to go back to
chapter 11. We didn't deal with the last
three verses of chapter 11. So go back there, chapter 11,
verse 55. Again, right there where we left
off. Now, the Jews' Passover was nigh
at hand. And it says, many went out of
the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. The Jews' Passover was nigh at
hand. Now again, let me repeat this. What God had instituted or set
forth over in Exodus 12, the Passover. He called it the Lord's
Passover. And again, we see here how it
had degenerated into the Jews' Passover. And the same is true in religion
today. What is supposed to be the worship
of God has degenerated into a man-centered form of entertainment. Now, every time I deal with the denunciation of religion
in our day, I kind of almost feel apologetic about
it, because I don't want my preaching to primarily consist of tearing
down religion. But I want to be one who builds
you up in the faith. However, these things continually present themselves. The state
of religion from the beginning was so bad, and it was so apparent, so evident. Scripture makes it so clear what
a sorry state religion got into in every generation. And now
in our day, I don't think it's ever been as bad as it is now.
I really don't. I really don't. Not even in a
time when there was no Bible, so-called dark ages. Because
our Lord said, if the light that is in you be darkness, oh, how
great the darkness. Men who have this book, which
is light, and yet have turned it into darkness. That's double
darkness. It's worse. And I'm sounding apologetic,
but I'm not really. Because things have degenerated
now to such a point that I don't see how the Lord will tarry much longer, or I don't
see how it can go on. I really don't believe He's going
to allow himself to be blasphemed much longer the way that he is. The religion now, you know it,
you see it, has degenerated what is supposed to be the worship
of God. I mean, from start to finish, that's what these gatherings
are supposed to be all about. From the songs that we pick out
and sing. to every move we make, every
gesture, every means that we employ in the church is supposed
to be to glorify God. It's supposed to be in an attitude
of fear and reverence and respect and worshipful. If I'm not careful, I could really
stay on this, but that's the reason I disdain, I detest, I
despise all this so-called contemporary worship. Contemporary means like the world. That's what it means. And I want
worship to get as far back as it can get, as old-fashioned
as God himself. I want it to be just like this
book says it ought to be. Well, the Jews Passover, and
it says here in verse 55, they went out of the country up to
Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. In other words, there were some
ceremonies, there were some purification rights and laws which God himself
instituted for the people. And these people
were very careful to go through these motions of religion, these
outward ceremonies. They were very careful. They
would go through the ceremonies of religion in order to purify
themselves, but these very people would be shortly crying out for
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the only thing that
can purify. And isn't it so in religion today?
Many are so careful about ceremony and tradition when they hate
the gospel, which is the only thing that can purify. I read over in 1 Peter One, where
he says in verse 22, seeing you have purified your soul in obeying
the truth. The only thing that purifies
someone is the blood of Christ. Obeying the truth means believing
the gospel. That's what cleanses a man's
soul. And you know, really, the gospel
is the only thing that will cleanse a man's walk, too. We got in. Strength of sin is the law. The
law is not the believer's rule of life. Strength of the sin
is the law. The gospel is the believer's
rule of life. And I'll not go into that. However, he says you
have purified your soul in obeying the truth and your walk, too. It's the gospel that makes someone
like Christ. Not the law. Christ in me is what makes me
a good husband. Not the letter which tells me
I ought to be. Right? See that? All right, read
on here. Verse 56 and verse 57. Then sought
they for Jesus. Were they really seeking Jesus?
No, they were just curious. Listen to what they said. They
spake among themselves and they stood in the temple. They were
all standing around the church service, so to speak, and they
were saying, What think you? Do you think you'll come up to
the feast? Do you think you'll come or won't you? Verse 57. Now, both the chief priests and
the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he
were, that he should show it that they might take him. Chief
priests generally were made up of Sadducees. And Pharisees,
they both got together on this thing. Now normally Sadducees
and Pharisees hated one another. This would be like saying that
the Methodists and the Baptists have given a commandment. And
if anybody knew where this fellow was, tell them they wanted to
take him and get rid of him. What it was, they were placing
a bounty on Christ's head here. A bounty was placed on Christ's
head. When I wrote that down, John, I thought, you know, there
is a great bounty if Christ is your head. But they were placing
a bounty on Christ's head, and everybody was curious, and some
people, I believe, they wanted in on this. Judas obviously did,
didn't he? Obviously. And the point here also is that
these fellows got together, these fellows who were normally enemies,
got together against the Lord and against his anointed, wanting
to take him, and they told the people to turn him in. And our Lord one time said about
the Pharisees, he said, they don't go in the kingdom of heaven
and they won't suffer you to go in. And the religious leaders
in our day, they don't know the true Christ and the true God,
nor bow and worship Him or love Him, and they don't want the
people doing it either. And anybody runs across the truth or hears
somebody preach the truth, they will readily warn them, won't
they? They say, don't believe that.
I've seen it happen. I've heard it happen. People
go to their preacher after hearing a true gospel preacher, go to
him with questions And the man absolutely just tear down the
scriptures and say, it doesn't say that. Don't believe that
fellow. Well, it's for money and hatred
toward the truth. Chapter 12, this is the account
of a supper, as the title of the message is, a supper for
Christ. Six days before the Passover
came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom
he raised from the dead. The Lord came back to where he
had raised Lazarus from the dead to eat supper with these believers,
with these loved ones of his. Now, all of this story here has
a spiritual application. All right, stay with me. All
of this is a picture of salvation, a beautiful picture, if the Lord
will paint it for us. The Lord of Life. It made a point
there to say how Lazarus was dead twice, didn't it? He's dead. He was raised from the dead. He was dead. There's no doubt
about it that Lazarus was dead. And the Lord of Life came to
the tomb of this dead man and called him forth to life. This is a picture of how Christ,
who is life, must come to our tomb. We are dead in trespasses
and sin, double deadness. He must come to us, come to where
we are, and call us forth by the same word of his power, by
the gospel, in order that we might pass from death unto life. Then where do you find this man?
After the Lord called him to life, after he was raised from
the dead and given life, where do you find Lazarus at? Look
at verse 2. There they made Christ a supper,
and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the
table with them. After this man is raised from
the dead, where you will find him, is seated at the table,
eating with the Lord Jesus Christ and those, his other brethren
and sisters. It reminded me of the story of
Jairus' daughter. When Christ raised Jairus' daughter,
do you remember what the first commandment he gave? When the Lord raised Jairus'
daughter, the first thing he said to them was, that's right,
give her something to eat. She's hungry. She had no hunger
before she was dead, but now she has one. She's alive. You
see, this is the evidence. This is the first evidence, the
chief evidence of spiritual life, hunger and thirst after the gospel. the righteousness of Christ. Hunger and thirst. Where there's
no hunger, there's no life. Where there's real hunger, there's
life. I can't emphasize this enough. This is the evidence of life
from the dead. And not having this hunger is
evidence that someone is dead. Right? You take a cancer victim. person who has cancer who is
slowly dying, they have no appetite. They lose their appetite for
food until finally they quit eating, and they can't hold anything
down anyway. That's the evidence of death,
but the chief principle evidence of life. And that's the reason
I worry when I see people who profess to be believers begin
to lose that hunger and thirst for the gospel, I worry, I think,
are they going to be apostate? It's the first sign. I hope not. You can only hope and pray that
the Lord will give them back that appetite. It happens now. We all go through it for various
reasons. Evil communications corrupt good
manners, and we all get a taste of the world, and that's what
takes away our taste for Christ, a taste for other things. But
if we're one of God's own, he'll bring us back to where the gospel
and the gospel only is what's sweet to our taste. Make us lose
our taste for other things and come back to where the gospel
is sweet all over again. I pray that it might be so with
you. Verse 2, now, it said, They made
him a sufferer. They made him a sufferer. right
before the Passover. And it says that Martha served,
but Lazarus sat. They made him a supper. Six days
before the Passover, it says, he came to this house. Now I
want us to look at these three things. They made him a supper.
Six days before the Passover. Fourth thing. Martha served,
Lazarus sat. Okay? Six days before the Passover. Does anyone know what day the
Passover fell on? Passover, when Christ was crucified,
was the Sabbath. All right, what is six days before
Saturday? Some of you are going to catch
this. the significance of it. Six days before the Sabbath,
which the Jews were so careful to keep, his people were meeting
together the first day of the week. They were with the Passover. They just didn't meet on a day
called the Passover, they were with the Passover. Many are so careful to purify
themselves, to keep the Sabbath. Do you see the significance of
this? Do you see this, Ed? Do you see this? Many are so
careful to observe and keep the Passover when Christ, the true
Passover, meets with his people. Many are so careful to keep and
observe the Sabbath when Christ, the Sabbath, his people rest
in him. I've said this before, we have
men in here who work on Saturday and Sunday. Choose whichever
Passover day you want to call the Passover day. We have men
who work on both days, either day. But they're resting the
whole time. There's Brother John. It's usually
sometimes he has to work on Saturday. If you're a seventh-day Sabbatarian,
you work on Saturday. Are you resting, John? Have you
ceased from your works on Saturday and resting in Christ? There's
a man who works but yet rests. What about Sunday? If you're
a first-day Adventist, You have to work on Sunday sometimes,
don't you? Well, are you resting in Christ? You're not in here,
but you're O.J.P. Stevens. Are you resting in Christ?
Well, there's a man who rests on the Sabbath, yet goes to work. I said this is going to be short,
didn't I? This is exactly what Paul is
talking about in Hebrews 4. He that hath entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works." You see, God
didn't quit working on Saturday. Did He? Did God quit working
on Saturday? If He did, this thing would have
just gone. Oh no, God went right on providing
this and that and the other. What He did was He quit adding
to everything. It was all complete. Oh, he had to maintain it, keep
it, take care of it, but it was finished, nothing to be added.
Do you see the picture there? That's why we worship a person
and not a day. A day. Well, six days before
the Passover. Every word is significant, isn't
it, John? Do you see the significance of that? Christ came six days
before the Passover when all those religious Jews were going
to be there and kill Christ. He came six days prior on the
first day of the week and met with his people, and they had
a worship supper. The next thing, it says they
made a supper, verse 2. They made him a supper. The whole supper was centered
around Christ. This whole thing was in his honor,
for his honor. I want you to look back at Exodus
12 now. We're going to dwell there a
little bit. Exodus chapter 12. Is it a mere coincidence? Well, isn't that something? That
the translator just happened to make Exodus 12 and John 12
synonymous concerning the Passover. John is an accident, I guess. Wasn't it lucky? Oh, the Lord orders all things,
doesn't he? I bet you the translators didn't
sit down and say, well, here's John 12 dealing with the Passover. Let's make chapters. Let's make
this one chapter 12, John, to coincide with Exodus 12. They
didn't do that stand, did they? It just failed. The lot was cast. All right, Exodus 12. It says
they made us suffer for him. You see, the Passover feast,
back here in Exodus 12, had one central object around which the
whole feast revolved. What was that one thing necessary
to have this Passover feast? One thing was important. Christ. Somebody is with man. It was
a lamb. The whole thing revolved around
this lamb in the midst of the throne. This lamb. Look at Exodus 12, look at verse
3. Exodus 12, verse 3. It says,
Speak unto the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth
day of this month, the tenth day of the month, They shall
take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their
fathers." A lamb for a house. A lamb for a house. Mary and
Martha and Lazarus had a lamb in their house. The Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. The Passover was going
on six days before it was supposed to. The lamb was in the house
with these believers. The lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. Do you understand the significance
of a lamb? Patrick, do you understand? Young
people, everybody. I'm picking on you again, Arnold
Patrick. Sorry about that. Called his name before. Stephen,
let him, you be in on it with him. Stan, do we understand the
significance of needing a lamb? I don't want to take it for granted
everybody in here knows why you need a lamb, or how that Christ
is the lamb. God's the one that started this.
When Adam and Eve fell in the garden, sinned against God, it
wasn't just eating an apple. It was that man and woman saying,
we will not have God reign over us. We want to be little gods. Free will. That's what they were
saying. And God said, you rebel against me, you'll die. Man started
dying right then, spiritually and physically. And God said, now for me to forgive
this sin and put away this sin against me is going to take blood.
Why? Is God bloodthirsty? Is God cannibalistic? Oh, no. Blood means death. He said, the soul that sinneth
must surely die. You see, God should have snuffed
Adam and Eve out right then. Wouldn't you? If you'd have created
something and they just, who do you think you are? Snuff them
out. Kill them. Do away with them.
God should have done that to Adam and Eve. And he said, the
soul that sinneth must surely die. They deserve it. They needed
to. God said there's only one way
I can spare you, let you live, and yet kill you at the same
time. It's somebody be killed in your
place. And God represented that. The
one who was to come and take the place of a sinner. The Christ. The substitute. God represented
that by a lamb. He took an innocent creature
over here who had not seen like Adam and Eve, an innocent, spotless,
beautiful lamb, and slit its throat and poured out its blood.
There was no blood left in that animal. It was dead. You see,
the innocent died for the guilty. And then God split that animal
and skinned it and covered Adam and Eve in that skin. And that's
the righteousness we need, because we're still sinners. And God
must see us as righteous. That's Christ. All that's a picture
of Christ. We've got to have a Lamb, but
not just a Lamb of beasts, because that won't put away sin. Behold,
the Lamb of God. God sent his Son. And it says
here, look at verse 5 here, in Exodus 12, Your Lamb shall be
without blemish. A male of the first year. A male.
Yes, a male of the first year. Firstborn. You'll take it out
from the sheep, from the goats. It'll be taken out of the rest
of the flock. It'll be a lamb like the rest of the lamb, but
without blemish, and the firstborn lamb. And you'll keep it up and
watch it and observe it to make sure it's without blemish. Isn't
that wonderful? Smile if you think it's wonderful.
This is a picture of Christ, the Lamb of God, without spot
or blemish, who was observed by men, by God, by devils, and
found to be without sin, without blemish, making him a perfect
man, making him a perfect sacrifice for God. For God. Yes, for God. and making him
a perfect substitute for me. A lamb of God who would be killed. Christ would shed his blood for
the remission of the sins of the people. The innocent died
for the guilty. Do you see why we need a lamb?
Do you see? Patrick? Steve? Who else did I call? Dan? I see. I see. You know, very few people
see. Preachers all the time talk about,
Jesus died for your sins, when most people don't have the foggiest
notion why. They say he loves you, God loves you, and Christ
died for you. Why? What does that prove? Him dying
for me. Couldn't he show his love better
by living? No greater love hath no man than this. Well, you see
why you need a lamb. Christ, you must need a lamb.
You must have a lamb. is the only land, the Passover
land. Why does he call it the Passover? Look at Exodus 12,
verse 13. The blood shall be to you for
a token upon the houses where you are, the tabernacle where
you dwell, the tent in which you are pitched. When I see the
blood, he says, I'll Passover you. Passover lame, when I see
the blood, I'll pass over you when God sees the blood on your
soul. Pitched, like the ark, in the
ark, and it's covered with pitch, tar. He said, I'll pass over
you. His judgment, the overflowing
scourge of His wrath won't come nigh to you. Why? You're pitched. Joe, that's what propitiation
means. God didn't just use a big word
to impress people. It means pitch. Covering. His judgment will not come nigh
you. The death angel, when he comes
through to annihilate human beings, if you're under the blood, there's
no condemnation. If the lamb is in the house. Look at verse 14. I said that
they made a feast unto him, didn't I? Or the Word did. Verse 14,
this day shall be unto you for a memorial. You'll keep it a
feast to the Lord. See that, Jerry? They made a
supper for Him. What's this all about, what we're
doing this morning? See, that's what I said earlier,
didn't I? This whole thing. What this is all about. Every
jot and tittle of what we do here. Every move the preacher
makes, the song leader, the piano player, every scripture we read,
the song we sing, should work toward the glory of our God,
should be toward worshiping Him. This is a supper. We were sitting at that fireworks
the other day, and you know, they just had this big group
of singing, and boy, they were good. But they just have to get
religious. I remember when we sat down and
I said, I hope they don't start singing these so-called gospel
songs. Just sing, you know, Tony Bennett. Sing these fine, I like it, but
don't start getting religious on us. And they did, and boy,
it was a big shenanigan. People just clapping. Who are
they clapping for? That's what all this is about
in religion today. They're not clapping. They're
not giving God the glory. They're getting entertained.
There's no room for entertainment. Let me tell you something. You
know what entertains God's people? Oh, sure you do. I'm entertaining
you now. It's the gospel. It's the preaching
of the word. That's what entertains people.
The less flesh, the more we like it, don't we? And that's the reason we have these
pulpits. You know where a pulpit came from? And they used to be
real high. Why? You don't need to see the
man. He's not worth seeing. The less
flesh, the better. The more word. Maybe I ought
to raise, I lowered this pulpit, maybe I ought to raise it. So
the only thing you hear is the word. Get lower! Behold the Lamb! Huh? Isn't that what this is
all about? John, who argued nothing, he's something. Look at us singing
here. Get down! Let's see the Lamb. That's what Isaac said, wasn't
it? Crawling up the mountain. We've got wood, hay and stubble. We've got fire. We've got the
Holy Ghost fire. Where is the land? I don't see
any blood in all this. I see entertainment. Do you see
that? Here I go again. Why do I renounce
religion? Because there's no blood in it.
It's a bloodless religion. And it's a godless world we live
in. And therefore, they're not saved. With all the religion
we have today, men aren't saved. No fear of God before their eyes. God says, when I see the
blood, if God passed by this world right
now getting ready to destroy it, this little place right here
on top of the hill would be like those Jews of old sitting in
those tents. by us. Why? There's lots of blood
going on in here. We've got a Lamb in this place. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, in the heart, spirit, and truth, there am I in the
midst, and you can't perish where the Lamb is. Go on, carry on your Passover.
Go on, get down there. Purify yourself. Make sure it's
on the Sabbath. You'll miss the lamb. The lamb
met six days before. Oh, my, when God sees the blood.
A feast to the Lord. Well, they fixed him a supper.
You're going to like this, Nancy. Look back at the text there. All you women are such good cooks.
You're going to like this. Sherry, Jeanette, you ladies
You see, all our gatherings are in his honor. They fixed him
a supper. It says, Martha served and Lazarus sat and ate. There was a time in the Scripture
where we see that the Lord gently upbraided Martha for being carried
about, cumbered about with many things, while Mary sat at his
feet. But not now, not here, no. He
does not upbraid her here. This is a good thing. You see,
believers are called to do both. Believers can serve and sit.
They must, they will, they do. This is a picture of how the
believer serves the Lord, yet he is seated in him. This is a picture of how we serve,
yet we are served. He serves us. Do you remember
reading that in Revelation 7? He says, They serve him day and
night, yet they sit down and he feeds them. Now listen, what an honor it
is to do both, isn't it? You ladies who entertain honored
and beloved guests, the brethren. You entertain the brethren. Don't
you delight to serve them? I know you do because you won't
sit down. I go over to some of their houses, you know, and they're
just scurrying around here bringing taters and bringing this and
bringing that. About 104 courses, you know. Somebody like Joe or Stan and
I say, that's enough, there's more, there's more, but wait,
here, and they're still bringing it out, you know, slop, drop,
cake, and that's between Nancy and I. But keep waiting, waiting,
and finally, I don't know how many times I've said, would you
please sit down, just sit down, we've got enough, sit down, I
want to visit with you. You see, it's her delight to
serve someone she loves. It's her delight. Nancy, wouldn't you just love
to wait on the Lord someday? I mean, up in glory, it says
there's going to be some people serving at the table. Would you
like to serve Him some potatoes? This is going to happen! The
Lord is going to be sitting there, Nancy! A supper! An actual supper! This ain't figment of our imagination!
This is going to happen! Let me do it! And who wants to
take in his bread? Let me! Wouldn't it be one fight
in heaven? Who can serve the Lord? Won't that be wonderful? A honored
guest. You love to serve me. I'm nothing.
Oh, now he's something. Let me serve him. We'll serve
him together. Tell you what, Nancy, we'll serve him together.
You're on one side now. Don't that be wonderful? I'll
tell you what's better than that. You know, after you get through
serving, then it's all served. Then you sit down And if you
have a distinguished guest in your home, like my pastor or
something, don't you just love to sit there and talk and fellowship
and listen to someone like that? Don't you? I do. Don't we, men?
Don't you? It's all the servings done, and
then you get to sit down and eat dinner with that beloved
person. We're going to sit with Jesus
Christ. When Phibosheth was sitting there
at the table, I bet his taters got cold. Don't you reckon, Henry? His chicken went cold. He didn't
touch a bite. Why? He's sitting by David. This is the greatest king on
the earth. We're going to sit with the Lord Jesus Christ. You think about that. That's
the reason you're not jumping right now, shouting. I hadn't
seen, neither had I heard, neither have entered into our heart.
But, boy, when we see him, though, we get to sit with him, serve
him, wait on him, get to sit and listen to him as he speaks
to us. Oh, my, think of the joy on sitting
with Christ. You see what a blessed picture
this all is, huh? Just two verses, two verses.
Let me rehash it with you. Christ is the resurrection and
the life. That's what he said just prior
to this, didn't he, in that chapter just before it? John, he just
said, I am the resurrection and the life. So Lazarus was dead,
and Christ came to him and raised him from the dead and then sat
him down at the table. Now, buddy, that's living. He's
alive! He's not only alive, he's sitting
by Christ! Now, that's living. It truly
doesn't get any better than that. He's the resurrection. He not
only raised Lazarus from the dead, but seated him with him,
seated with Christ. Blessed with all spirituality,
and there sat Lazarus. Life more abundant, Barbara. Oh, it would have been wonderful
if he just sat down and had a meal raised from the dead. He sat
with Christ. And what a meal. Not just food. That's really not what makes
a meal, is it? It's a company. It's a company. And food can be mediocre, but
all the company is grand. That's abundant life, and that's
what happens to a believer. Christ comes where we are, calls
us from the dead, calls us by his gospel, sits us down where
the gospel is, comes to us with fellowship. He said, If any man
open the door, behold, I stand at the door and knock to the
church. If any man open, I'll come in
and sup the thing. Sup the thing. Now, that's life.
Life more abundant, and so have we. So shall we. Scripture says,
so shall we ever be with the Lord someday. People, this is
no fairy tale. Jesus Christ is very real. There
will be really a Lamb's Supper in his
honor. All for him. Married Supper of
the Lamb. And to some people will be granted
to sit in on that supper, to serve and sit in on that supper. I mean to sit with the King of
kings and Lord of lords and have him talk to you and eat the food
of kings. It's going to happen. I want
that. I want it on. All right. Let's sing number 505. I believe there's a fitting hymn
where Joe can come up and lead us in singing however many verses,
a couple. I think this is the one I want. Oh, yeah. Stand with me. Sing the first
and the second. When all my labors and trials
are over, Save one that's beautiful sure
That beauty dear, that dear Lord I adore Will early ages be glory for me Oh, that
will be glory for me When by His grace I shall look
on His face, And will be glory, be glory for me. When by the gift of His infinite
grace, for it is ever the place, just to be there and to look
on His face, ever leading His people before me. When by His grace our children
go His ways, That will be glory, be glory for me. you know what