Address—E. Wakefield
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Saying 186.
Jesus of Thee, we never would tire the new and living food can satisfy our hearts desire and life is in Thy blood 186.
And you're living for them.
By our hearts desire.
And life is in life.
If such.
That happened Midnight Song.
Our.
Presence spirits raised.
What are the joys that?
'Cause they're they're long.
Eternal.
1St.
The luck within?
And.
Say no staying.
I brought no purse to Trace.
They said no tears to feel, no pain.
But see the.
Face.
To face.
The finding of.
Glory again.
Fulfill the.
Precious word.
And.
Fully.
On to have a Tinder.
Yeah.
Of our Lord.
This morning in the Barber shop there was a there was a copy of Time magazine, which the Barber drew our attention to and it said Is God coming? I think it's sad. Is God coming alive again? Well, there's a there's a verse that I was reading in the 13th chapter of Acts. It says, but God raised him from the dead. What a wonderful thing tonight it is that we have.
A living savior, but God raised him from the dead. I'd like to speak tonight on the three persons that the Lord Jesus raised from the dead in the Gospels when he was here on earth. Three persons that the Lord Jesus raised from the dead. Each of these incidents we have, I believe, many valuable lessons to learn. I think they're very blessed to see.
How God teaches us and these three occasions, many truths in connection with you and with me and our Christian lives. First one, of course, is in the 5th chapter of Mark's Gospel. We will not read the whole thing because we know. I'm sure we all know this very well.
But it's really the end of the chapter.
We start reading from the 35th verse.
On the 35th verse of Mark chapter 5.
While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead, Why troubleest thou the master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he sat under the ruler of the synagogue. But you're not afraid, only believe, and he suffered no man to follow him.
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Say Peter.
And James, and John the brother of James, And he cometh to the House of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult.
And then that wept, and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he said unto them, Why make ye this a do and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. And when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him and entereth in with a damsel was lying.
And he took her by they took the damsel by the hand, and said into her, till I Thea Kumai, which has been interpreted damsel, I say unto thee, Arise. And straightway the damsel arose and walked where she was of the age of 12 years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straightly, that no man should know it.
And commanded that something should be given her to eat what I believe just quickly to look at the earlier verses there. In verse 35 we have man's reason why. Trouble is, thou the master any further, As far as this world is concerned, death made it impossible for anything to be done. They thought, Why trouble us, thou the master, any further? That's what we bring before us. Man's reason then, in the 40th verse.
And they laughed in the scorn that would bring before us man's unbelief. And we notice what the Lord Jesus did. He put them all out and tells us.
And the 40th verse, they laughed into SCORM. But when he had put the mall out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel and then were with him and entereth in where the damsel was lying. Here we have the Lord Jesus in the presence of death. You know, it's a wonderful thing to think of this. Many of us here have conducted Funeral services, but the Lord Jesus never conducted a funeral service.
There's no record in the scriptures of the Lord Jesus ever taking a funeral service because death could not be in his presence. He never conducted a funeral service. And here was the Son of God in the presence of death. There he stood, the Son of God. All those who with unbelief were put out. They were all put out. You know, maybe as Christians we have unbelief, don't we? We think?
That God can only do certain things. We sometimes limit God, don't we? I'm sure there's maybe mothers and fathers here, like many of us, whose hearts ache over our children and we just wonder what will happen to these children. What is going to happen? Maybe we limit God and we think how hard it is to see our children going off into the world, giving up and throwing everything overboard and going out into the world. And the devil uses these things to discourage each one of us. Isn't it a fact?
Aren't their parents here? And I speak for myself too. We're discouraged about our children. Maybe.
Some of them don't live up to what we think are the standards, and we get very discouraged. And the devil uses these things to bring more discouragement into our lives if we can. How nice it is to know that Jesus is with us, that he's able to bring blessing to our children if we will, but believe and trust him. And so we noticed this girl was dead.
And all each one of us were Christians. This was our portion, was it not? Once we were dead.
We were dead spiritually. We had no life. But Jesus crossed our pathway. How blessed that was. And our experience that Jesus came where we were, came to the very place we were, where we were in our death. And it tells us here in this first verse. And he took the devil. I took the damsel. Pardon me by the hand. What a wonderful thing this this was personal contact with Christ.
He took the damsel by the hand. Oh, now we have something different. Here was a called hand. A hand that was called in death. And the great hand of Jesus takes that hand. Oh, what a wonderful thing. Now we have a personal contact with this poor dead girl. This is what happened to us, beloved. We were dead. And the blessed Savior reached forth his great hand of power and took our hand.
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And we had personal contact with Christ. Now maybe there's some young person here.
The night Who says what? I don't enjoy the Christian life. Why, when I was a boy in Sunday school, I accepted the Lord. I believe these things, and I haven't got this kind of joy. I don't enjoy the Bible. I don't enjoy prayer. I don't enjoy being at the prayer meeting or the Bible reading. Maybe you've never had personal contact with Christ. Now I speak with respect, and I'm sure you'll forgive me for saying these things, beloved.
But there's many young people, I'm sure, that come to our meetings who've never had personal contact with Christ. They have a sort of a head belief. They were brought up with only natural that the human mind, you know, we know can't enter into these things as we can who have the spirit of God. We know that. But the human mind can grasp certain things like John 316. They can quote that verse in John 524. But have you had personal contact with Christ? Has Christ touched you?
As the Lord touched your heart, as the Lord brought you in the blessing, and so he took her by the hand. And he spoke to her, and said, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise, he was speaking directly to this girl. Oh, beloved, how wonderful the Lord Jesus has spoken to us personally. He said, I say unto thee, Arise, I notice what happened in this 42nd verse. And straightway the damsel arose.
And what this is the first thing we have and this first instance of.
A resurrection from the dead. We have life and we have walk. This is exactly, I believe, what follows the Christian the Sinner who's who's brought to Christ, the Sinner who's brought to the Lord Jesus and has life in Christ. The first thing he does is he walks. The Lord said to many whom he gave health and raised up from their sickness, take up thy bed and walk. Wasn't that nice? Take up thy bed and walk. He gave that person the power.
That was hopeless and helpless and weak. He gave them the power to stand up and to walk. And saw this dead person who was raised from the dead. He gave her power straight length. Oh, we believed in straightway conversions. We believe a man can be saved instantly. One simple look at of faith, the Christ brings instant life, salvation instantly. Straightway the very voice of Jesus reached her soul.
I say unto thee.
Arise, and straightway the damsel arose and walked where she was with the age of 12 years, and they were astonished. With a great astonishment he charged them straightly, that no man should know it, and commanded that something should be given her to eat. This is exactly the Christian life, beloved. Notice death.
Then life. First life, second walk and the third food. What a wonderful thing. Life.
Work and food. Isn't this exactly what happened to each one of us all? I remember in my own case, the Bible became a new book. The Bible despised. Oh how I had no use for this book. This was a dead book. But I was dead. The book wasn't dead, but I was dead. But all. How wonderful was the Bible. I can see it now in my early days when I first came to Christ.
The Bible beside my bed, waking up in those early morning, that early morning.
In the month of May, when the sun was streaming in the window and reaching for the old book, the wonderful book, the word of God, and each one of us as Christians, we need this. Not only we have the life, but we really know the Lord. We have the life and we can walk for the Lord, but we also need food. And I want to speak to the young Christians in connection with this food. We must have this food just as a baby. There's many young people in this meeting here, I understand.
With young children.
You have to feed those children, and God's children must be fed. And if you don't read your Bible, you'll never groan. Oh, how few have time to read the Bible, you know?
In the days of Pharaoh, if you read the book of Exodus, you know what Pharaoh was a picture of the devil did. He took away the straw from the children of Israel. He took away their straw and said, I want you to make the same number of bricks, but no straw. And why did he say enough? Because he said they are idle.
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They are idle, and that's why they want to go three days into the wilderness to worship their God, their idol. They have nothing to do. This is exactly what the devil has done in this age. And beloved, there's nobody in this room can deny this. There's nobody here in this room can deny what I'm going to say now. There's never been more time for man. There is today. The business hours are shorter. The holidays are longer, 3 weeks a month.
All kinds of long weekends, Saturdays, no business. And yet there's no time to read the Bible. Why? Because the devil says they're idle, they're idle, take away their strong, they have no time. We said this in the Montreal meeting and after the meeting three young men came to me and they said, brother, that's true, we have no time. One of them went so far as to say this, the boys in the college where I go unsaved, young men who curse.
And swear and drink and attend all night parties. They have time for their all night parties. But we have no time, no time to read our bibles. We have no time because the devil is taken away our straw. Isn't this a fact? The devil has taken away our strong There's no time for food, but the Lord commanded that something should be given her to eat. And we have something in this book which is food for our souls, young Christians.
Read your Bibles. Put the Lord first. Now I'm going to say something else that I've been.
A sometimes challenge for saying, but I believe that you put the Lord first, You'll never lose.
You'll never be able to stand before the Lord and say to him, I put you first. When I was down in that world, I put you first. I read your word first, I prayed first, and because of that I lost. I lost a life. God will never, under any circumstance, allow one of his children to ever say those words. He will bless us in the beginning, the first words of the Bible in the beginning.
God seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteous, and all these things shall be added unto you. Young people, you have to study. You go to school, you must do your studies. But put the Lord 1St and your studies 2nd, and God will bless you in this world of reason, this world of doubt, and this world of unbelief, Man's reason. Put it aside and put the Lord 1St and he will bless you. He commanded her to get something to eat.
So we have here life, walk and food. Now let's turn to the 7th chapter of Luke, where we have the second. I think it's very wonderful to see how we advance here in connection with this second man, the young man here, verse 11 of Luke Chapter 7.
And I came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out.
The only son of his mother. Isn't this a beautiful expression? The only son of his mother. Now who does? Who does? This young man, Dead, Of course. The only son of his mother meet at the gate of the city. Beloved. He met the only son of his father. Wasn't this beautiful the only son of his mother? A dead young man comes into contact with the only son of his father. And what happens?
And she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not here was a woman, a widow. You know, Clarence Lundin, our brother, points out that the widow speaks of dependence and the woman speaks of weakness. Here was a woman weak, a woman of dependence. What was her dependence? Her boy, her son. But her son was dead. She had lost her dependence and how weak she was.
And the Lord said to her, weep not. What a strange thing for the Lord to say to a broken hearted widowed woman, her boy lying dead in his coffin, being carried out to burial. Weak knot. Well, is this reason? Will this be a reasonable thing to say? No, But oh, how blessed it was when the Lord came and said to that woman, Weep not. And then it says in the next verse. And he came and touched the beard.
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Say, I suppose the coffin that held this young man its prisoner, he was held in that that coffin. Oh, what is holiness? The unsaved. Maybe in our own families, they're unsaved. What is whole? There's something that's whole in them prisoner. And the Lord touched that. He touched the very thing that held this young man.
Isn't it nice when the Lord touches those things that hold us down, that hold us prisoner? The Lord touched that very thing.
And then it said, It says here in the 14th verse, And they that bear him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, arise now what happens? It says in the 15th version he that was dead sat up and began to speak. Well, here's another step. First of all, there was life, and then there was a second there was.
Now walk. And 3rd there was the food. And now he began to speak. What is this? This is so important. Beloved, he confessed and speaks to us, to my soul, or rather of confession. And how many there are among us, I suppose. Right in this room tonight there's young people who've never confessed the Lord. I suppose there's this many who attend our meetings who never confess. The Lord people say. Is that young man saved? Oh, they say. Oh sure, he's saved. He must be saved. He comes to all the meetings.
He's always at the meetings. He's at the conferences. There he is. But he never confessed to the Lord. Here was a young man. He began to speak. Isn't that nice? When the Lord gives us life to speak. Oh, the Devil hates this. The Devil will contest this. He'll fight this. He'll demand that we keep our mouths closed. He'll say, you know you're nervous, You're a nervous type. Just keep quiet. God knows if you're saved or not. But how nice it is to confess the Lord I like to suggest to any young man.
A young lady in this room who have received the Lord Jesus as their savior, and who have got life, and who know they're saved and who have never confessed the Lord to bow your head and ask God to give you courage tonight to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and your Savior. Young boys and young girls, confess the Lord. This young man, He sat up. He had a life. He had been dead, but he had a life. And he began to speak.
And these beautiful words. And he delivered him to his mother. Oh, doesn't this touch our hearts? What a wonderful savior. He doesn't say to this young man. Follow me. He doesn't say to this young man come after me. But he delivered him back to his mother. He gave him back. He knew the Lord knew this woman's aching heart. He knew her dependence on this young man. He knew that this woman, this dear, what a woman needed her boy. And he graciously delivered him back to his mother. What a wonderful savior.
He gave them back to his mother. How gracious, how good, how kind, how loving and how faithful the Blessed Lord was. He began to speak. Oh, isn't it nice when we see a person and we have a case down in New Brunswick down in McAdam. NB If a man it was a drunkard, the village drunk he was called.
All he the Lord met him, the Lord saved them, the Lord delivered them from drink, and the Lord delivered them from tobacco.
And he began to speak, and the very men in the town of Macadam who were afraid of Dave McKay.
Are now still afraid of them, but not for the same reason they're not afraid of them knocking them down with his big fists anymore.
But they're afraid that he might speak to them about Jesus. They're still afraid of them. Oh, he began to speak. Now you began to speak, yet you began to speak about Jesus. Have you had that joy in your soul? Some of us have that today, as we met the Barber in the Barber shop, we found a child of God. And our brother introduced me to a postman who belonged to Christ. And we stood there on the lawn with his mail back there, and we spoke about the Son of God. Oh, this man.
This postman, he was rejoicing on the Lord. He was Speaking of Christ. Or do we speak about Christ that we speak about Christ? What did we speak of? What is our conversation based on the politics of the land? How to make the United States a better country? How to make Los Angeles a cleaner city? Is that our ambition on life? No, beloved, we're not here for that. The Lord has called us out of darkness, into his marvelous light to be a testimony.
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To a rejected Christ, to a Christ, this world is cast out.
You and I are to be a testimony to him to begin to speak. Young boys, young men, you young gospel preachers here speak well of Christ, preach Christ. I was so happy the other day at the conference when they mentioned this, and I say this with respect for not to speak unkindly, to work many of our beloved brethren who use that expression of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior.
How nice it is to give them as full title that he's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath made that same Jesus whom he crucified, both Lord and Christ. And I'd like to encourage the young man here. You know the devil is a real person. The devil is a real person and he tries to keep young men with their mouths closed tight. Has God-given you a gift? What an honor it is. What I say, what an honor it is.
To be able to stand up and speak well of Christ in this poor world. What an honor.
Is there a higher honor? Supposing we had a dozen degrees after our names? That's nothing compared to the honor that God has conferred upon some by His grace to speak well of the man this world cast out and spit upon and crucified. What an honor are we saying? Young men, young brothers, May God help you.
As the older brothers are taken away, if the Lord doesn't come, May God give you courage and faithfulness. Not the soft pedal, the gospel, Not to put the soft pedal on. Some are putting the soft pedal on. Oh, how nice it is to preach the gospel of God's wondrous love. To speak well of Christ. This young man, he got life. He began to speak. Oh, how nice. Maybe there's some young man or some young boy or some young girl in this room tonight.
Who will begin to speak and confess the Lord Jesus Christ.
As their own savior. Now the third is this blessed story in the 11Th chapter of John's Gospel.
And here we have life again, and this time liberty, life and liberty.
We'll start reading with the 34th verse.
The Lord is speaking, and he says, John, 1134 Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved them all. Beloved, isn't this a wonderful thing? Behold how he loved us.
Isn't this a beautiful thing? Behold, the Jews said. Behold how he loved him. They knew that the Lord loved this man, Lazarus. And now each one of us who belonged to Christ tonight can say of ourselves, Behold how he loved me. Behold how he loved me. Isn't that blessed? Now these things are not new. But the Bible is such a wonderful book. We can speak about these things. Time again. Behold.
As we look into that looking glass in our homes and look and see ourselves in that mirror, to be able to say, behold, behold how he loved me, or doesn't touch our hearts, behold the wonderful love, the love of Christ, behold how he loved me. 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, Jesus therefore again grown in himself.
Cometh of the grave was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone, Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he had been dead 4 days, that is, he was dead past the resurrection thing. One day passed, the third day hopelessly dead. This man was really dead, even the soul.
From the order from that grave would show it was a dead man. He had died. He was really dead. He had gone beyond the resurrection day. Jesus said unto her, Verse 40 said, I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou should have see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee, that thou hast heard me.
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And I knew that thou hearest me always because of the people which stand by. I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
And when he has thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus come forth in the first case he said, Damsel, I said to the arise. The second case he said, young man, arise, but now he mentions his friend's name. Oh, isn't it wonderful to be a friend of Jesus and all he knows our names. Lazarus, I say unto thee, Come forth, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth bound.
Hand and foot with the grave claws. Now here was a man who had life.
This man had life the very minute that word of Jesus notice he called his name to, I believe, because if he had just said in that cemetery come forth all the graves would have opened. So he distinctly calls this man by his name Lazarus come forth And he that was dead came forth bound notice. Now it tells us here hand and foot. Well, maybe some of us tonight in this room are bound hand. What does this speak of service for the Lord.
Bound hand and foot. We can't walk for the Lord. How many Christians there are like that? They don't even know they're saved. Have you asked them? Are you saved? They say I hope so. If you ask them. Are your sins forgiven? They say. I certainly hope they are. But they never come to the place where they know they're bound hand and foot. How many dear Christians, how many dear people of God tonight are bound hand and foot? Bound by the systems of men?
Bound with the grave clothes. That's what Lazarus was. He was bound hand and foot. I know that we noticed that everything that men could do, the Lord allowed them to do, There was only one thing that they couldn't do, and that is they couldn't give life. He gave life. They could roll away the stone. A man can roll away a stone. A man can undo grave claws. But a man can't give life. And how nice this is And encouraging for we who are Christians in connection with.
Serving the Lord. Maybe there's a young man tonight in this room who's maybe discouraged. Maybe we don't see very much blessing. We read and the press a great blessing. Some preachers get great blessing. Maybe we get discouraged and say we don't see this kind of blessing. There's only one who can give life, and that is the son of God himself. He's the one that gave gave life. He gave Lazarus this life. And he says to he says to them loose him and let him go.
Now where do we get loose, beloved? Well, I believe in the assembly meetings. I believe in the assembly meetings where the Lord Jesus is in the midst. Now do we believe this? Do we really believe? Is this is only a doctrine? It's very easily to take Matthew 18 and 20 and coke that 100 * a year. Do we really believe it? Is it an established fact that when we come into this room on Wednesday night and Friday night, is it a real, true, honest fact that the Lord is in the midst?
There's this only a doctrine that we have some idea we have in our mind that's really not true. We like to say it because it encourages Is it a real fact that when we come together, we come to meet a person, we come to meet the Lord, and if we could really see him as a man in the room, like the disciples did in the 20th chapter of John. And we walked in through that door and looked into the very midst, as it were. We saw the Lord Jesus.
There personally, and we looked at his hands and we saw the nail prints. We looked at his feet and saw the nail prints. We looked at his side and we saw the spear market as we walked in. He raised his eyes and smiled and said, I'm so glad you've come tonight to be with me for this hour. Wouldn't that be a compensation? Wouldn't our hearts rejoice if the Lord Jesus met us and spoke to us like that? Well.
I believe he is in the midst, beloved. I really believe that when we come together, the Lord is in the midst, the Lord is here, the Lord is here in the midst. Do we believe that if we really believe that? Now I know there's mothers and fathers, we all we had children too. We had to have our turns going to the prayer meeting and the Bible reading. One of us had to babysit. Well.
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You have to do that too. And some people have to work at night. But I mean to say, generally speaking, those that are free to refine ourselves, gathered around the person of Christ at the prayer meeting. You know, you go to a Bible reading. There's generally a lot of people there. But when you go to the prayer meeting, the powerhouse, how many missed the powerhouse, the time of prayer? So few seem to come to the prayer meeting and sometimes the prayer meeting lags on and.
I don't say this to be critical, but sometimes at a care meeting, a dozen brothers can all speak. And he was so late there and we're so tired waiting to go home to go to bed. And they talk and talk and talk. But the next night is prayer meeting night. And they're mysteriously quiet. They have nothing to say. Oh, isn't that nice to pray, beloved, We come together to pray, to pray and to lay our requests before our Lord. And to pray. There's so much to pray for, so many things to pray for, Well.
The Bible reading, where the grave clothes are taken off, where we find. I remember, if you'll pardon a personal reference, when I was a young Christian, the boys in the office used to go to the next room, where there was a man who led me to Christ and who knew much more about the Bible than I did. And they said to him, we want to ask you a question if you commit a sin today and you were killed by a car.
Where would you spend eternity? And he said I would spend eternity with the Lord Jesus. Now, I didn't know anything about this. Then they came to me and said, if you were to commit a sin today and die, where would you spend eternity? And I said in hell. Well, they said you fellas better get together. He tells us the next room he'd go to heaven. You tell us you'd go to hell. What's the matter with you? Well, this dear Christian explained to me then.
That if I really belong to the Lord Jesus, I possessed eternal life. I was a child of God. I was saved for eternity and the grave clothes were taken off. How wonderful it is to have those grave clothes taken off. We stood on the street corner in Montreal one night by the grace of God, preaching the gospel, and we said, and we trust the Lord LED us to say it. We'd like to quote tonight from the Roman Catholic Bible John V 24 of those that wonderful verse.
Where the Lord Jesus was speaking when we got back after the after the meeting was closing up, it was a young couple came, I suppose they were in their 30s, young married couple. And they said, oh Sir, we were so glad to hear you quote from our Bible tonight. And I said, isn't that a wonderful verse? And we caught it again. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has eternal life.
And shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life, they said, Serve.
Those are wonderful words. And I said to them, have you got eternal life? And they said, we hope so. Do you really believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins? On the cross of Calvary, they said, why, of course we do. We certainly do. Then we said listen to the verse against. And we caught it again. And we said, I can say I have eternal life. Why can't you say that if you really believe in him? And they said, we can't say that, Sir. We prefer to say we hope so. Well, they had the grave claws on them. Maybe there's somebody in this room tonight has the grave claws on. Still, you've received the Lord Jesus. You know you have.
You know you love him. You know he's your savior. You know if he walked into this room, you'd arise out of that chair and say, beloved savior, you died for me. And you'd bow down on his presence and worship him and praise him. But maybe you say, I don't. I can't say I'm saved. I can't say my sins are forgiven. Oh, the Lord tells us and his word that the believer has eternal life. The believer has it. And my sheep hear my voice. And I know that isn't that blessed? You know, there's many of us say these words.
Isn't it good to know the Lord Jesus? And it is wonderful. We can praise God for that. But there's something better than that, something better than that. What is that? You're saying that the Lord Jesus knows me? Isn't that far better than I know him? It's wonderful to know him, but it's more wonderful that he knows me and knows all about me and loves me just the same. What a savior. And so this man, Lazarus, now he gets liberty. He gets liberty. He gets liberty from the very words, the very mouth of Christ.
00:40:14
And let him and let him go. Now if we just turn to the 12Th chapter, we have another thing.
We we go on now from the from the beginning. And we had death, then we had life, then we had walk, then we had food, then we had the young man speaking. And now we have this man set loose. Now he's loose. And notice what he does in the 12Th chapter of John, this well known chapter, verse one, Then Jesus, six days before the Passover came to Bethany.
Didn't, didn't go to Jerusalem, didn't go to that great city. He went to that little place called Bethany. There he was at a place called Bethany, a place where he was welcome, a place where his friends were. And it tells us again where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. Again it's mentioned this man's name is mentioned in connection with one.
Who was raised? All beloved Saints of God. Do we believe this? We have been raised from the dead, that is to say, spiritual death.
Each one of us have received life through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been raised from the dead and honest what it says in the next verse. There they made him a supper. I like that word. They they were all of one mind and one heart for Christ. There's they made him a supper. Mary and Martha and Lazarus, they were together. They were one mind for Christ. How nice it is to see brethren with one mind for Christ. There they made him.
A supper, And that tells us.
But Lazarus, there, they might have a Martha serve, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with them. Isn't this encouraging? This is very encouraging. I think it's very encouraging for the sisters especially and for those who never take part in the meeting. Here was Martha serving. She was serving in the 10th chapter, Luke, in the wrong way, But here she's serving. What was Lazarus doing? He was sitting at the table. What was he doing at that table, beloved? He was enjoying Christ. That's what he was doing.
He was just sitting there and he was looking on that blessed one and he was just enjoying his company. There's many don't take part in the meeting. There's many. Never give out a hymn. There's many. Probably never stand up to prey on the Lord's day. Morning. And the sisters, of course, don't. But you, dear sisters, can't you just be like Lazarus and sit there at the table and enjoy Christ? That's what Lazarus was doing. He was enjoying the company of Jesus. There he was. He had been raised from the dead. I can see him almost.
As he sat there, and his eyes riveted on that blessed man, he had raised him from the dead. He had brought him under the grave. Well might he look upon him an adoration and praise. And well may we, beloved, who have been raised out of a spiritual death on the way to hell, well may we gaze with wonder on that blessed man who loved us and gave himself for us. Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him, Then took Mary a pound of white with a spikenard. Very costly.
If you just notice now the fifth verse Judas is speaking. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor all that? Notice the difference? What? How? God valued it very constantly. What did Judah say? 300 pence. That's what he said. Worth 300 pence. Why the Lord had been was soon to be sold for 30 pieces of silver. That's what this world thinks of Christ. 300 pence.
Oh, a young man or young sister here tonight. If you live for Christ, you can't expect the world to clap and applaud you. They'll say you're a fool. They'll say you're stupid to spend your time serving the Lord. The world never puts any value on Christ. 300 pence, that miserable Judas said. Why was not this this ointment sold for 300 pence? But God shows he's a hypocrite. In the very next verse, he said he didn't care for the poor. Judas had no respect or no desire for the poor.
Or do you have any respect for Christ and these people in the world that say, what are these missionaries going to China for?
And Africa for an India for wasting their time. Do they care about the people wasting their time? No. What is their object of enmity? It's Christ. They have no use for Christ. They have no time for Christ. Everything that's done for the Lord Jesus and this world, to the man of the world is a waste of time. It's just a pure waste. They think, oh, how sad this is. But isn't it nice that God said it was very costly? And he tells us?
00:45:24
Then took Mary a pound of ointment. Why, the Lord has even measured the weight of that ointment, he tells us. It was a it was a pound. It was a real pound of ointment. I read someplace. I passed it on. I enjoyed it. About the women in the East, they used to They didn't have hope. Chess like the girls have today. They had a box of ointment, and they kept it beside them wherever they went. And when they found the man who won their heart, they took the ointment and they put it on their head.
As she as Mary did in the in the book of Mark. I think it is the 26th of Matthew.
And on his feet. And when they did that, they showed to that man.
That he had won their heart. Isn't that beautiful? And when Mary did that to the Lord Jesus, she said as much as this. Here's the man who's won my heart, beloved. It's only an illustration. I read it and I enjoyed it. Has he won our hearts? Has he won our hearts? Very costly.
Oh, this dear woman. I wonder what she paid for this ointment. Very costly. God said he appreciated, He appreciated this. God appreciated it, and he's recorded in his word. And the Lord said, wherever the gospel is preached, What this woman's done shall be told. Tonight, in 1969, nearly 2000 years after the Lord said these words were saying it again tonight. The story of this dear woman devoted to Christ who took this very costly ointment.
And poured it upon.
Him. His feet. Notice what it says in this third verse.
Anointed the feet of Jesus. She had to get down right to his feet. Isn't it nice to be at his feet? Mary's always at the Lord's feet. She was there in the 10th chapter of Luke. She heard his word. She heard his word. You know, the Lord made a remarkable statement to Mary that day. Or to Martha. He said that good thing shall not be taken away from her. You know, in glory. When we get there, we're going to meet Mary at Bethany and she's going to be able to tell us.
Exactly what the Lord told her in the 10th salute. It was hers. She was never going to lose it. She was never going to lose it. And I believe from that we learned this, that everything that we really enjoy of Christ down here, we'll never lose it. It's ours for eternity. That was Mary who sat at his feet. And here she's down again at the blessed feet of the Lord Jesus, and it says she wiped his feet with her hair. What does her hair speak of her glory?
And she laid her glory at those blessed feet. She laid that glory of hers that was her glory. But on the presence of that blessed one she found one more glorious. And she laid her glory at those blessed feet, how beautiful those feet were belonged, how beautiful, and marks gospel, to see those blessed feet. And they took that precious Savior through this land, unwanted His path unheard by earthly smiles.
LED only to the cross, those lovely feet of the Son of God, which man dared to nail to the cross of Calvary as much as to say we'll stop those feet, we'll nail those feet to the cross. They won't be able to walk anymore. But all beloved he was raised from the dead, and that blessed one now still walks, and he talks with us, does he not? He walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.
How glorious. They couldn't stop him. He lives, our savior lives. She wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the order of the ointment. How blessed that was. I suppose as those people walked out of that house that day and the door opened and that order went out into the street, they said, what's going on in this house? What's going on here today? These people that walk out, what is this odor that's on them all they would say Jesus is in the house.
Jesus is there, and Mary has taken the ointment and poured it on his feet in his head, and the house is just filled with the order of the ointment. Oh how beautiful this is, and how nice and Lords, they mourning when the breaking of bread meeting closes for us to walk out and have with us that order of the person of Christ still on us. So the world will say, who are these people? They're so happy, they're smiling, they're rejoicing. Who are these people?
00:50:20
In this poor, sad world with sickness and death all around, who are these happy, smiling people?
Or they they're just a few Christians and they've been with Jesus. They've been there for an hour and a half in the company of Jesus, remembering him in death. The house was filled with the order of the ointment. Well, this is very, very precious, is it not? Now we have, we have here worship life, a man who was raised from the dead, a worshiper. Now here we have another step in the Christian life. He's a worshiper. Oh, are you a worshiper?
Are you found here in the Lord's Day Morning? Is that you're accustomed to sleep in Sunday morning?
Are you found here remembering the Lord and death? Are you found here gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to remember Him and death? Are you a worshiper of the Son of God? He's worthy of our worship. How blessed it is. And the last point we have is, is testimony. Here was a man who went from his worship. We have last His testimony. Notice the ninth verse. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there.
And they came not for Jesus sake, only they might see Lazarus also. Again God repeats this whom he had raised from the dead. It's always comes back to this. It reminds the children of Israel how many times God reminded those people that they be delivered from the land of Egypt. And in this case Lazarus again is mentioned whom he raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they may put Lazarus also to death.
Because that by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Here was a man who had life and a testimony. A man with a testimony. How blessed This is why they said let's get rid of Lazarus 2 Isn't that what the world would like to do? And the world is going to soon get rid of us. The Lord's going to come. The Lord's going to come. Men are reaching out for the moon. I was thinking of.
Man is reaching out for the moon. The lesser light. The lesser light was to rule the night. The moon is connected with the night. And you and I are the children of the day. We're not going to the moon, beloved. We're going to the SON. The sun. We're going to the sun. We're going to pass that moon so fast we won't even see it. We're going to the sun. We don't belong to this world. The moon belongs to the world. The lesser light to rule the night. But God says here not of the night. You're the children of the day. Not of darkness, but children of the day.
We're going to the sun. And so the people said, let's kill this fellow. Let's kill this man. What was Lazarus then? He was associated with Christ. What an honor, beloved. He was associated with Jesus and the same world. That said there's no place for Jesus said there's no place for this man. Lazarus, let us kill him because by reason of him, what a testimony or we would covet that testimony, that man would say because of that man, people are going away and believing on Jesus. Is it true of us?
Is it true? Does the world see Christ in us? A hungry, dark, dismal sin, cursed earth with death all around us, War and destruction and misery and man getting darker and darker and the world collapsing all around us? What is the world looking for in Christians? Christ. That's what the world looks for. And you and me and we went to God. They could see Christ. Not religion, not people, sanctimony. It's the long faces, but something in our souls.
Something in our lives, something in our lives that they'll say, these people are real. They belong to Christ. They belong to Christ. He's won them. He's captured them. They're sincere people. They belong to Jesus. He's won their hearts. And so this man was a man with a testimony. And so we have to go back before we stop. We have death. The three of them were dead. They're all dead. But they met Jesus, and they got life, life with a walk.
Life with food, life began to speak of confession. Speaking of confession, then we have liberty, then we have worship, and then we have testimony. The whole Christian life is wrapped up. And these three glorious resurrections from the dead, each one got harder. The 12 year old girl, she had just died. The young man, he was being dead and was carried to the grave. But the last man was dead for four days.
00:55:19
And maybe there's somebody in this room. You were 12 years of age. You were young.
Your mother and father spoke to you about the Lord. And they said, I feel that this heart is getting soft. Oh, you know, I want to say this. Our time is just about up. You know, some of us, when we get older, we get harder. Oh, let us, let us, beloved, get soft. Let us be soft for Christ, That the love of God may touch our hearts, our children. When they're young, their hearts are tender. We tell them the story of the nails.
We tell them the story of the crown of thorns and they weep. Their little hearts are touched. But when they get older, it's a sad thing. We're ashamed to cry. We're ashamed to have tears in our eyes for the melting story of the love of Christ, the melting story of the love of God. And so these little 12 year olds, when they're young and tender, then they get to be like the young man, 18 years old. If they're not saved, their hearts are getting harder and harder and it's harder to get them up to the Gospel meeting. They say I'm too big to go to Sunday's, so I'm not a kid any longer. I don't want to go to Sunday's school. They're beginning to kick over the traces at 18.
But then when they get to be like Lazarus, Ah, they're dead 4 days. Nothing seems to move them. You tell them the story of the love of Christ and they just walk away. Their hearts are hardened. Is there a boy tonight in this room just like this? Or a girl? You've never received the Lord Jesus. You've come tonight. Oh, what have you got in this world? What have you got? Nothing. Absolutely nothing if you haven't got Christ. And so May God bless his word and may he exalt that blessed one.
Whom we try to present tonight, that blessed Savior, that lovely man who loved us and gave himself for us, might we sing in closing?
#256 Praise the Savior. Ye who know him who can tell?
How much we all am #256?
Can tell how much we owe.
Gladly let us render to him we have.
And arm Jesus is the nameless.
Fits and arms us nothing.
More than nothing harms us.
While wait for us in him.
In him ye sang forever.
He is faithful.
Changing never.
Therefore.
We shall be where we would be.
We shall be what we should be things that.
Are not known are cozy.
Soon shall be.
Our own.