These days we'll be able to bring
glory to him the way he's worth it. Now I want you to look back
here in chapter 11 with me. I'm going to preach the next
few weeks out of John chapter 11. John chapter 11. And this whole chapter here is
about our Lord raising Lazarus from the dead. And we don't get
down to where he raised Lazarus from the dead until you get down
to verse 43 and verse 44. When Lazarus had been dead four
days. Four days. And he stunk. And his sisters told him that
he did. But he raised him from the dead. And that's what he says in these
first four verses again. Let's read them again. Now a
certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary
and her sister Martha. It was that Mary, he distinguishes,
that Mary, which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped
his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore
his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. When Jesus heard that, He said,
This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. The enemies of our Lord
Jesus Christ, I just read it to you, how they hated Him, how
they despised Him, picked up stones to stone Him, called Him
a blasphemer. They had great enmity towards
Him, hatred toward Him. And he met with great opposition
and undying hatred from lots of people. But the greater, the
greater the hatred and opposition, the greater the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ was manifested. I tell you, the more they opposed
him, the brighter his glory shone. And I tell you, He had glory
upon glory, our Lord Jesus Christ did. God was fully revealed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That was, that His purpose was
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. So who could enter it? Everything
that God is, He said, I and my Father are one. So He says, whatever
the Father is, that's what I am. Whatever attributes the Father
has, so do I. Whatever the Father's will is,
that's my will. Whatever the Father's purpose
is, that's my purpose. And God, that's why He said,
why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
They're just wasting their time. And man's rage, his hatred against
Christ only served as an occasion for the manifesting of his glory.
He says he caused the wrath of man to praise him. And I tell
you, you just look what happened at the cross and you'll see how
the wrath of man praised the Lord Jesus Christ and praised
God Almighty. Man done just exactly what they
wanted to do. Peter says, you with wicked hands
took and crucified the Son of God. You did it. And it also
said he was delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge
of God. They didn't know God's purpose. They didn't know God's foreknowledge.
They didn't know God's will and didn't care about it. They had
one purpose in heart to slay this Jesus of Nazareth. And I
tell you what, the wrath of man praises it. and man had fully
revealed himself and light had shined in darkness and the darkness
comprehended at night but the darker the night the more he loved the daylight
to come the more depravity the more enmity that's manifested
in the Jews towards the Son of God the brighter the testimony
he bore to the glory of his Son Lazarus is going to die Lazarus
is going to die. But you know why he's going to
die? What it says in verse 14, why
he's going to be in sickness is going to be under death. It's
not under death, but for one reason. for the glory of God. You mean people die for the glory
of God? And here's the second thing,
that the Son of God might be glorified there by His death.
He's going to die but it's not, He said it's not but for one
reason, for God's glory and my glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ He did
six miracles in the book of John. Six miracles had already performed
in this gospel. But here at Bethany, his power
and his glory would be seen as it's never seen before. And the
fact that there'd be a dead man, corrupt, dead four days, I mean
he was stinking he was he was he was corrupt he's already the
worms already started on and I tell you and I Lord Jesus Christ
they said Lord Lord Lord don't take that stone away said we'll smell him he'll stink he said just take
it away I've done perfumed the grave I'm the resurrection and
I'm the life and oh my but all these miracles that he did tell
of our conditions and his glory the first one is as you know
in John chapter 2 when he was at the marriage of Cana of Galilee
and they had six water pots great old big water pots six of them
And our Lord Jesus Christ, they was looking for some wine and
they said, he said, get you some out of these pots. It had been
water. They turned everything down in
there and poured them some out and they said, boy, that's the
best wine we've ever had. He said, everybody sets out their
best at the first, I mean, and then everybody gets well drunk
and then they give them the good. He said, you started out with
the best. Could our Lord ever turn water into wine? Don't you think it's the best
wine that's ever been made in this world? People pay outrageous prices
for wine. There's wine that goes for $10,000,
$12,000, $15,000 a bottle. But our Lord made the best wine
that man ever drunk. And you know what wine speaks
of in the scriptures? It speaks of joy. That's what
it does. It speaks of joy. And I don't,
you know, our Lord didn't make that wine for people to get drunk
on. No, it's not what he done. No, no. But I tell you most people,
and that's what wine represents, is joy. And that represents happiness
and joy. And I tell you what, there's
so many people stranger to the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're not strangers to His
joy. I tell you, the wine of His gospel,
the wine of His blessed gospel, what joy it breaks to our heart. What blessed joy it breaks to
our souls and our minds and our understandings. Here's the second
thing. The second miracle they did was
healing the nobleman's son. Our Lord Jesus Christ, they sent
word to him, a nobleman. Not many mighty, not many noble
are called, but here was a nobleman. And he said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, my son lies sick at the point of death. Would you come
and heal him? And this shows us that sin is
a disease. It's an awful disease. It's a
disease that we can't heal. And the condition of the sinner's
soul is he was sick. This boy was once healthy. Now he's sick. And men are sick
because of sin, deathly sick because of sin. But you know
what our Lord Jesus Christ did? He said, you come heal my son.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said, how often am I going to have to deal
with you? He sent His Word and healed them. And if He don't
send the Word and heal you of your sinful disease, you'll die
with that disease. It's in your blood. It's in your
mind. It's in your heart. It's in your
soul. It's in your actions. It's in
your words. It's in your eyes. It's in every
part of your being. Sin is soul disease. It permeates
our very being. And the only person that can
heal it is the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does He do that? Sends
His Word. Sends His Word. And then there's
the impotent man. Remember in John 5, they had
this big pool there at Bethesda, and everybody's laying around
it, and they said, oh, if one person could get into what's
moving, they'd be healed. And our Lord Jesus Christ walked
up there and saw just one man, one impotent man, a man that
couldn't do nothing to help himself, powerless, helpless, without
strength. And this is a sovereign act of
Christ. Sovereign act of Christ. There
was people everywhere around there. But there's one there that our
Lord Jesus Christ looked at. And everybody there couldn't
do anything for themselves. He said, would you be made whole?
You know what the first thing He said? Well, I've got nobody
to pick me up and put me in the water. nobody to pick me up. That's
the first thing he thought of. I wish somebody around here was
strong enough to pick me up when the water's trouble and throw
me in there. I'd walk out by myself. But our Lord looked at him. Everybody
else was around there in the same shape. Everybody's the same
shape, but he looked at one man. Will you be made whole? I got
nobody to do anything for me. I got nobody to help me. He said, I say unto you, arise
and take up your bed. And I tell you what, that man
was completely helpless, unable to do anything or better his
condition. And you know who did something
for him? The Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, it's not
only sin and disease, but we're helpless. Our Lord says no man,
no man, no man can come unto me except the Father which sent
me drawing. Men think this idea, and this
shows you how enmity and how hateful men's hearts are towards
Christ. The fact that you think, and
men and women think, and preachers preach, that all you've got to
do is God wants to do something, wants to help you, and Christ
died for you, but you've got to do something to make his death
effectual. That shows you enmity towards
God. Whenever men take the glory of Christ and bring it down and
make it easy for men to get to Him, that's enmity towards Christ. You know what? How in the world
does He get the glory when He's got to cooperate with you? Where
does men get the powers to come to Christ? Where does men get
the will to come to Christ? Where does men get the eyes to
come to Christ? Where does men get the faith?
Where do they get the ability to come? Where do they get it
at? They born with it? And all those preachers got to
do is just convince them to do something? No, no. If that fella could have got
up by himself, he would have got in that pool. But he couldn't do it. And I
say without equivocation, that's one of them big words these people
on TV use. Without equivocation, I say that
all men are helpless, impotent, no power, no ability to do anything
to help themselves or better themselves in the sight of God.
Only Christ can say, rise up. Only Christ can say, get up.
Only Christ can give life. Only Christ can cause a man to
get up and do what has to be done. Only Christ can do that.
And if you sit, and men sit back and oh, it makes man feel good
about himself. Oh, he feels so good about himself.
I'm the one that's got the power. I'm the one that's got the ability.
I'm the one that's got the will. I don't know why people make
such a big deal about this bin of salvation. All you got to
do is just tell a man to get out down here and pray through.
And tell him to accept Jesus. You find anywhere in the Bible,
anywhere in the Bible, where that happens. And I tell you
where it does say, we're accepted. We're accepted. Christ is not
put out here for a man to be offered to people accept or reject. Men rejected God, rejected Christ
in the Garden of Eden, and they've been doing it ever since. And I'm telling you what, if
Christ does... They say, if you're the Christ,
tell us plainly. Alright. He said, I told you, and you
believe not. Why in the world don't you believe?
Because you're not my sheep. That's why. He said, you know, I'm going
to tell you the difference between you and my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And they follow me. And you know
what I do for them? I give them eternal life. And
you know what else I do for them? Ain't nobody and nobody under
no situation or circumstances going to get them out of my hand.
Nobody. I heard a fellow say, well, a
fellow would get out himself if he wanted to. Who in the world
would, if he ever got into Christ's hand, would want to get out?
Huh? Oh, that don't even make sense.
But all right, let me go back to the next one. So he, the water
and the wine, the hill, the nobleman's son, the impotent man. And then
the fourth miracle that he did in this book is he fed the multitude
in John chapter six. He looked up and a great big
bunch of us following him. And I heard thousands of them.
He said, we only got 200 penny worth of bread. How are we going
to feed this bunch with them? He said, tell them to all sit
down. Make them sit down in cutleys. Make them sit down in lines.
He said, what do we got here? I said, well, we got five bottle
of loaves and two fish. He said, start passing it out.
Start passing it out. And he took five loaves of bread
and two fish and fed all them people. And not only that, they
only started out with two baskets. And you know how many baskets
they had when they got done? Twelve. How do you start out
with two and end up with twelve? When Christ is feeding. And I'll tell you what, it took
a miracle to feed that bunch. And you know what it does? It
takes a miracle for Him to feed us. Oh my. And you know what? He made those people to sit down.
And you know He feeds us when we sit down. He leads us beside
the still waters. He makes us to lie down. And when we sit down, oh He feeds
us. Oh how He feeds us. And we can't
provide our own spiritual food. We can't do it. And that manna
that they got from every morning, they went out and got that manna.
And they ate what they had for that day. And they had to get
up and start all over again the next day. And that's the way
we have to deal with Christ. What we get today is not going
to do us tomorrow. We got to continually come back
for Him. And I'm going to say something
here. I don't want to be, I don't want to be, I want to be as kind
and gracious as I can. That any of your husbands, when
your wife fix you a good meal, do you get up and just grunt
and go back and sit down on the couch and don't thank her for
it? Don't tell her how much you appreciate it and how good it
is and oh, I really love, oh, thank you so much for that. Shirley
fixed us steaks last night. Oh, just melt in your mouth.
Oh, that's so good. Oh, she can listen. You buy the
steaks. I'll have her fix them for you. But anyway, I said all that say
this, not one of you. You just do not your wife fix
you something deep. And you get up from the table.
and don't say thank you, I appreciate that, that was a good meal, it
was wonderful. What do you want for supper tonight?
How many wives say that? What do you want to eat today?
You know they ask you. Because they care about you.
Well listen, and that's the way it is with the gospel. I've tried
to get something to set the table with every time I get here. Do you appreciate it? Do you
appreciate the table being Some are and some ain't. Some
are and some ain't. I don't understand that. I don't
understand people being fed and not being grateful for it. I've
never ate at any of your... I've ate at a lot of your tables
here. And I've never sat down at your
table and I didn't say, boy, I sure enjoyed that. That was
good. Oh, Jack Shanks, wherever he ate, he said, I believe that
was the best meal I ever had. That's what he'd say. I believe
that's the best meal I ever had. Jack, that's what you said the
last time. Well, this time it was. Oh, well, let's go to the
next. So all feeding the multitude
and then walking on the sea. Oh, walking on the sea. Those
disciples got in the ship and it was dark and they started
over to Capernaum. and a great big storm come up
in the night and all they were just being tossed and turned
and going about is a stormy dark dangerous night and they looked
up and they see the Lord Jesus Christ walking towards them on
the water and the scripture says they willingly
received him into the ship and beloved And what that tells us
is that we're in a stormy, we're in a dark, we're in a danger,
we're in a soul-destroying world. This world is dark, it's stormy. Some of you go through storms,
some of you went through storms, and you're going to go through
some more. It's going to be dark, and it's going to be dangerous,
and it'll destroy your soul. And here's something that happens.
When it gets stormy and dark and dangerous, guess who comes
walking? Has he not never walked to us
and come to us in our darkness, in our danger, in our storms? Oh, come walking on the sea.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll perish if the Lord Jesus
Christ don't come. And He came walking on the sea
and He walked on what would have destroyed them and He walks on
what would destroy us. He controlled that storm and
the storm would destroy us and He controlled it and saved them
from it. And I tell you what, they willingly
received Him. Don't you willingly receive Him
in them storms? Oh my, here's the sixth miracle. He gave sight to the blind. You
remember the man born blind in John 9? They said who did sin? This man or his parents that
he was born blind? He said neither. He said this
is for the glory of God. Man born blind and I tell you
something he is incapable of seeing his own wretchedness or
his own danger or even seeing the one who alone can save him. He couldn't see. Here's another
thing about man. People say all the time, I just
can't see that. I just can't see that. They're
telling you the truth. They can't see it. You know why
they can't see it? They're blind. You try to describe
the scriptures. You try to describe Christ. You
just try to describe salvation and how God saves a sinner to
a person that don't know God, don't know Christ. They'll just
stand there and look at you. It's like trying to describe
light to somebody that's blind. And that's the way it is. You
try to describe it to them, they just stand there and stare at
you. Well, I can see that. I just
don't hardly believe that's right. I just don't think that's just
not the way it is. But I tell you what, this is
a miracle that we need. God's got to give us the miracle
of sight. Every one of us was born blind.
And here's the thing about it, we're blind to God. Shirley and
I talked about it on the way here. I didn't know God from
a goat when I first started preaching. Not anybody, I didn't know Him. I was blind. I was alive. I could see self-righteousness. I could see works. I could see
free will. I could see man doing his own
holiness. I could see a man living right. I could see man falling away
and falling back into sin. But I couldn't see Christ. I
couldn't see my sinfulness. I couldn't see the glory of God.
I couldn't see my inability. I couldn't see Christ's ability. But one day, one day, the light
come on. I was sitting in darkness. I didn't see the light. Christ's
the light. I didn't see light come on. What do I see? I see Christ to
be all in all. I see Christ to be everything.
I see my need of Christ. And not only from then, now,
and all the way till I get to glory, I need Christ. Got to have Christ every minute
of every day. I wake up in the morning and
say, Lord, what in the world would I do without you today? Woke up in the morning thinking,
God, how in the world could you be, have anything to do with
me? And I started to imagine, how
could you have anything to do with me? I still marvel at God
doing something for me. I still marvel at God having
any consideration of me whatsoever. Oh my. And then I gave sight
to the blind. And I tell you what, when Christ
opened his eyes, he said, who opened your eyes? Jesus. He said, do you believe on him?
He said, who is he Lord that I am he? So I believe, I believe. You got to give you sight even
before you can believe. You know, sight is the same as
faith. All right. And then here's the
seventh miracle that he's going to perform when he raises Lazarus
from the dead. And oh my, our Lord Jesus Christ
said in verse four, and look what he says here. Jesus saith
unto her, to Martha, said I not unto thee if thou wouldst believe
that thou shouldst see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone
from where the place where the dead was laid and Jesus lifted
up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard
me. And I know that thou hearest me always, but because of the
people which stand by said it, that they may believe that thou
hast seen. And when he said thus, he spoke, he cried with a loud
voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with great clothes. And his face was bound
about with a napkin. Jesus said to him, loose him
and let him go. But this is more solemn. This
is more awful. than any condition described
of us in the scripture. Every one of these things described
us in our spiritual condition. But this is the awfulest. Dead. Stone over our grave. No way
in the world. Dead in trespasses and sins.
Spiritually dead. You can't get any lower than
that. You can't get any worse than that. And I tell you what, you take
the wisest man, the richest man, the mightiest among men. They, when death comes, death
shows us how utter, utter helpless we are. Utterly helpless. We just as well, and I read this
the other day in somebody's bulletin, we just as well expect a man
to get out of his coffin and walk in the kitchen and turn
on the water and get him a drink of water as for a dead man to
get up and come to Christ who is the water of life. Well how in the world does a
dead man live? Christ says, I say unto thee, live. When He says live, you're going
to live. And you can't live until He says
He does. You know, Lazarus laid
dead. If tears could have got him from
the grave, his sister's tears would have saved him. If all those Jews standing around
that love Mary and Martha, if they could have saved them, what
happened? There's only one person could bring him out of that grave.
Only one person can save us from the death of our sins, save us
from our wickedness, save us from our sinfulness, save us
from our utter helplessness, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we see the glory of God here as the resurrection. He said,
we know that in the last days, we know that He's going to be
raised from the dead. He said, listen, listen Martha, I'm the
resurrection. It's not a day. I'm the one. And not only am I the resurrection,
but I'm the life. And I tell you what, He's the
resurrection that raised us up, ain't he? He's the resurrection
that gave us life, didn't he? Do you think you stunk any worse
than Lazarus did? You think you're any less corrupt
than Lazarus was? You think there's a greater stone
in front of you than Lazarus? You think there's more obstacles
in your way than Lazarus had? No! You're just as dead, you're
just as stinking, you're just as corrupt. And that's what, you know, you
tell the Lord about your family and dress it this way, dress
God this way. Say, Lord, my son, my grandson,
my daughter, my children, they're as corrupt and stinking as Lazarus
is. And Lord, they got stones in
front of them and they can't come to you unless the stones
removed and you call. And would you be telling the
wrong on your sons or daughters? Would you be saying the wrong
thing? I wouldn't be lying. I wouldn't
be lying on mine. They are stinking. They are corrupt. And the very fact that they don't
have any idea how corrupt they are, that shows you how corrupt
they are. They don't even know their own
stench. But they stink full of self-righteousness. They stink
of their own ability. They stink of their accomplishments. And all we see the glory of Christ. This is the last miracle recorded
in John. Now let me go back here. Let's
go back here in verse 1 and start all over again. Talking about
His miracles. But look at the family now. Let's
look at this family. Now a certain man was sick named
Lazarus. Lazarus. This is the object of
our Lord's resurrection power. Lazarus. He was sick. He was
sick. And I'll tell you what she said,
Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. There's two Lazarus in
the scripture. Y'all know the one that was a
beggar. Sit outside the rich man's gate.
He was a beggar. This Lazarus here is a man of
means. He owned his own home. And his sisters lived there.
And he could fix a meal. He could have people into his
home. One was uncared for. That one, that was the beggar.
He was uncared for. In fact, he was in such a miserable
condition, the scripture says the dogs licked his sores. This
Lazarus had a loving family. Two loving sisters. A loving
family, sisters who loved him and cared for him. Oh, to have
people love you and care for you. Oh, what's it worth? And that Lazarus over in Luke
16, he depended upon the crumbs from another's table. This one
here, raised from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ sat at his
table and ate with him. One of them remained in the grave
and the other was brought from the grave. And then look at these
two sisters. A certain man sick named Lazarus
of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. Two sisters. You know this is not the first
time that they've been mentioned to us. You keep John 12 and look
with me over here in Luke chapter 10. It's not the first time we
hear about these two women. Luke chapter 10. It's not the
first time we hear about them. Martha was the eldest. Mary was
the youngest. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
welcome in their house. There's not very many homes open
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look down here in verse 38. Now it came to pass as they went
that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha, listen to this, received him into her house. Oh my, ain't
you grateful that the Lord's welcome in our houses? Welcome
to our table, welcome to everything we got he gave to us so he certainly
ought to be welcome. And she had a sister called Mary
which also said at Jesus feet and heard his word Look at the
difference in these two women Martha was covered about much
serving and came to him said Lord Does thou not care that
my sisters left me to serve alone bid her therefore that she helped
me and all my She received him Mary The scripture said, sat
at his feet. Ain't that what it said in verse
39? Mary, Martha was cumbered and redeemed in the house. Mary
was sat at his feet and heard his word. And Edmund, let me
tell you something about Mary. Every time you find her mentioned
in the scriptures, you know where she's at? She's at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single time. John 12, you know keep that and
I'll show you we'll get back over and Matthew and in in verse
26 32 over there I think it says there that she when Christ when
she went the Lord Jesus Christ first thing she did she got down
at his feet She washed his feet with her. She's every time you
see her. She's at his feet. Huh? She has such an apprehension
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such an apprehension
of it. And it said here, but Martha
was comforted. That means she was weighted down.
That's what that word comfort means. Weighted down. Now I'm
going to tell you something about us. We get weighted down over
things that absolutely don't amount to nothing when it's all
said and done. When it's all said and done, it absolutely
don't mean nothing. I'm comforted about this remodeling
thing here. And when it's all said and done,
it don't amount to nothing. It's going to get done. You know, but we do. We get things
on our mind. We get weighted down with them.
And we have to ask the Lord to forgive us. Oh my! Martha was comforted, weighted
down, and she done much, much suffering. Oh my! She was covered about much serving. Worried about serving everybody.
Worried about doing something. And that's much serving. It's
like being in church today. Being in Christian service. Doing something for Jesus. Let's
meet at the church. Let's all go out and do something
for Jesus. And then they get out and do
something for Jesus, they forget to worship. They forget the reverence
of our Lord Jesus, to spend time with Him. There was a fellow
who used to come here, and he didn't stay very long, but he'd
come to me one time and said, you know, we need to start doing
something for the Lord. And I said, well, what do you
got in mind? He said, well, we ought to just, you know, get
out and do something. I said, what do you want to do?
And he said, I don't know, do something. I said, well, whatever
you want to do, why don't you just go do it? He didn't even
know what he wanted to do, but he wanted to do something. And
he stayed about another month and he left. You know, I don't
understand that. Every time you open your home,
you open it up to a believer. Every time you give a drink of
water to a believer, you're giving it as if you give it to Christ. Every time you say an encouraging
word to somebody. I mean, we're always, what in
the world are we living for? But for the glory of Christ.
Why do we love people? For Christ's sake. Why do we
do things for people? For Christ's sake. Why do we
serve one another? For Christ's sake. I don't have
to go out there and knock on doors and tell everybody I'm
a preacher and I'm a Christian. God knows where His elect's at. Oh my! But our Lord answered,
look what our Master said to her. In verse 40, Martha's cumbered
about much serving. And she came to Him. That's one
good thing she did, she came to Him. She was worried, she
was troubled, she was weighted down, and she came to Him. And
said, Lord! Oh boy! She addressed Him right. Don't you care? Are you not interested
that my sister sitting here doing nothing but worshiping you? Doing nothing but sitting at
your feet? That she's left me to serve alone? Lord, tell her
to get up and start helping me. Tell her to get up and start
helping me. What did our Lord say to her? Our Lord, He said, Martha, you're
careful. Martha, you're just absolutely
full of care. You're just absolutely full of
care. And He didn't commend her. He did not commend her. Martha,
for her much serving. He didn't do it. Rather, He reproved
her. You're distracted, Martha. That's
what He's saying. You're distracted. You're worried. You give attention to many, many
things. She was attempting more than
our Lord called her to do. Attempted more than our Lord.
And he said, bid her to get up here and help me. But what did
our master say? And I love this. One thing is
needful. One thing. Everything in the
scriptures boiled down to one. One Mediator, One Savior, One
Gospel, One God, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. This one
thing I do. One. And that's what our Lord
said. One thing. One thing is needful. He reproved Martha, but He commended
Mary. Commended Mary. One thing is
needful. And that's Christ. One thing
needful, to hear the word of Christ. One thing needful. And
how do you hear the word of Christ? Set and still at his feet. Set
and still, here's what he has to say. And I'll tell you what,
she sat at his feet and heard his words. He commended Mary.
He said, Oh, listen, she's chosen that good part. And I tell you
something, I'm not going to take it away from her. I'm not going
to tell her to get up and start doing something else as long
as she's happy and contented to be right here. I'm not going
to make her get up. She felt a deep, deep need and
only he could meet that need. And I tell you what, we got to
receive before we can give. The difference between these
two sisters, one ministered unto Christ, the other Christ ministered
unto them. And then look back over here
in chapter 11 again with me. Look what it says there in verse
2. Talking about this Mary now. It was that Mary St. Mary which anointed the Lord
with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus
was sick. That's St. Mary. That's St. St. Mary. And then on and look
where they're at. They're at Bethany. They're at
Bethany. Bethany. That word Bethany means
house of figs and house of affliction. And here's why this is such a
blessing. God, this little bitty village,
this little bitty village, a man and two sisters. You know, God
makes this little village here and these three people. He marks
them out in his eternal councils as the place to exhibit the glory
of his dear son. The presence of God's elect was
the only reason that he went to Bethany. And the only thing
that puts a place on the map is because God says, I got some
elect there. Who in the world knows anything
about Crossville, Tennessee? But God's got some elect here.
Rock Valley, I was just a spot in the road. But God's got some of that up
there. I'm going to tell you something. I don't mean to preach
too long, but you know, I lived in Ohio. We had a wonderful house
up there. And there's an 11 room house. I mean, it's a nice house, big
fireplace in it and everything. I wasn't interested in coming
to Tennessee. I'm going to tell you a true story. First time
I come down here, I was a hippie. My hair was down, you know, way
down there and I had a long beard and I smoked that wacky weed. I was a mess. I was really a
mess. I come down here and I got down
here and fell in love with this place and I told Mary, I said,
we ought to move down here and buy some land and start us a
commune. We'll start us a commune. And
we'll raise that stuff and we'll all stay just as happy and relaxed.
That was my intention. That's the only reason I thought
about Tennessee. Well later, later God began to deal with
me. And he brought me to Tennessee.
You know why he brought me to Tennessee? First to save me. Brought me all the way from Ohio
to Tennessee to save me. To cross my path with the gospel.
The second reason he sent me to Tennessee is because he has
some elect here and I was the one that he's going to use to
call him out. There would be no other reason
for me to be here or you to be here than that. Is that not right? My way was to do this way. God's
way was this way. And God took Bruce Crabtree,
born and raised in Tennessee, right out here in Banner Springs,
and send him to Indiana to save him because he has some elect
there. One goes from the south to the
north and one comes from the north to the south. Only God
can do something like that. And I tell you that's the only
thing that puts a place on the map. It's God's elect, ain't
it? That's the only thing. My neighbor
yesterday was telling me. He would come from Wisconsin.
Do you know how he decided to get to Tennessee? He told his
dad, he said, we gotta leave here. It's just too cold up here.
And he laid an atlas out in front of him. This is why he told me
yesterday. He said, I closed my eyes and I said, wherever
my finger lands, that's where we're moving. He closed his eyes
and done like that on that atlas. Looked down, it's Tennessee.
And that's why they moved to Tennessee. God moved me to Tennessee. God moved you here for one reason,
to save you. Is that not right? And then look
at this touching word. I've got to hurry on. I've taken
way too much time. Look in verse 3. Therefore his
sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, he whom thou lovest is
sick. Oh, what a touching word. Look
what it says, therefore his sisters sent unto him. You know what
they're not doing? They're not arguing with him.
They're not protesting him. They're not complaining against
Christ for letting their brother fall sick. You know what it was? It was an appeal to his heart. Lord, they said, this is the
one whom they trusted. This is the one they trusted.
They didn't tell the Lord Jesus Christ what He should do for
Lazarus. They didn't ask Him to hurry and come over to Bethany. They didn't ask Him to heal their
brother. They left it up to Him to decide
what to do. And look what a precious word
they said, Lord. Oh Lord. They sent somebody.
Somebody to say. Each word is so touching. This
is these sisters acknowledging our Lord's deity, His authority. and expressing their humility.
And then the next word is Lord, behold. Lord, we want your attention. We want your attention. Express
their earnestness. Psalm 62 and 8, you all look
at it and mark it in your Bibles. It said, all ye people pour out
your hearts unto him. Pour out your hearts unto Him. That's what they did. They poured
out their hearts unto Him. And listen to this. Oh, listen
to this. He who thou lovest. He who thou lovest. They didn't
say, He who loves you. Lord, you know He loves you.
No, that's not what they did. You know what they pleaded? They
pleaded His love. Not theirs, His. His love is
unchangeable. You know how our love is? It'll
go from 100 degrees hot to zero. Just about that quick. And then they didn't say, now
our brother or thy disciples But they said, He whom thou lovest. And I tell you, the world just
can't accept one for whom Christ loves to be sick. Oh, they say,
well, I tell you what, God would heal them if they had faith.
Well, don't you think these people had faith? He whom thou lovest
is sick. There are some people that God
loves right now, sick. And this sickness is unto death. And I tell you something, beloved,
we cannot measure God's love for us by our outward circumstances. We cannot do that. If we're healthy
or if we're sick, whether we're poor or whether we're rich, it
doesn't make any difference. It doesn't make any difference. He whom thou lovest. We cannot
judge our circumstances. If we judged our circumstances
by how much God loved us, we'd say, God must not love us, must
not love these people that's got cancer, that his people's
got cancer, must not love them very much. Those people that are going to
die, must not love them very much. I tell you what, you know how
they acted in their hour of need? They sought the Lord. They unburdened
their hearts to Him. Look unto the hills from which
cometh our help. And let me tell you something,
how people act, and this is truth. I know this is so. I know it's
been my experience, your experience. When we get in trouble and when
our people we love gets in trouble, we got no place else to go but
to Him. When the people murmured against
Moses, you know what he did? He cried unto the Lord. When
Hezekiah, surrounded by the Syrian army, and they sent him a letter
telling him to surrender, you know what he did? He took that
letter and laid it out before the Lord. He said, Lord, look
what they're saying. Look what they're saying. And
when John was beheaded, his disciples went and told Jesus, look in
Hebrews 4, and I'll quit. Hebrews 4. Oh my! He whom thou lovest is sick. And ain't that the first thing
we do when we hear about people that Christ loves sick because
we love them. We start crying out for them.
We start praying for them. We're interested in their condition.
We're interested in what they're going to go through. Hebrews
4.15 For we do not or have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities.
Our high priest, we don't have a high priest that cannot be
touched. The high priest on this earth, the Pope can't be touched
with people's infirmities. These priests in these churches
can't be touched with the infirmities of God's people. But our high
priest can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. And all, but was at all points
tempted like we are, yet without sin. Here he was acquainted with
grief, he was acquainted with sorrow, but oh it says, you know,
he could be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
Oh my, He feels deeply for His suffering children. When He stood
outside Lazarus' tombs, He cried! He cried! And He tells us to
pour out our hearts unto Him, tell Him our anguish. And look
what He says, So let us, let us, therefore, come boldly, boldly,
under the throne of grace. Oh my! Ain't you grateful it
says a throne of grace? Not a throne of judgment. And
we come to this throne of grace just like Mary and Martha did. He whom thou love, Lord, he whom
thou love, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help. What? When? In time of need. Oh my. Thank God. He whom thou lovest is sick.
We got somebody to go to. Our Father. Oh, our Father. Precious, precious Father. In
the name of our Lord Jesus, thank you for your great and abundant
mercy given us in Christ. before the world began. Lord,
bless the word to the heart, to the understanding, and to
the mind. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.