Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus unto his fellow disciple, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Then when Jesus came, he was found that he had lain in the grave for four days already. Now Bethany was not, as of Jerusalem about 15 for long gone, and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.
Then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, whence and met him. But Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou will ask of God, God will give it thee.
Jesus stayed upon the earth. My brother shall rise again, Martha says unto him. I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at that last day.
Jesus said unto her, I in the resurrection, and the life he that lived in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believe his love is she said unto him, Gaylord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she has said Co. And so said, she went her way to call Mary her sister, secretly saying, The Master is found to call it for thee.
As soon as she heard that, she arrived quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but within that place where Martha met him. The Jews then, which were with her in house, and comforted her when they saw Mary, that she rose up peacefully and went out, followed her saying.
Then when Mary was gone where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, sang unto him, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother hath not died. When He therefore saw weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he growled in his Spirit and was troubled. He said, Where have you laid him? They set up example for his feet. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him.
And some of them said, Could not this man which opened the eyes to the mind, have caused that even this man could not have died? Jesus therefore, again groaning himself, cometh to grace. He must save. A stone may apply, Jesus said.
Take me away. The stolen Martha, the sister of him that was Martha, the sister of him that was dead, sayeth unto him.
Lord, by this time he stinked it, for he had been dead 4 days. Jesus saith unto her, That I not unto thee, that if I was to thee, thou should see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone from the place with a dead of blade, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father.
I think the Thou has heard me, and I knew that now here is me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken and cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
And heat up again. Came forward and found a family foot was very close and his face.
Yeah.
To die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad, and from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus therefore walked more openly among the Jews.
Went in under a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Israel, and there continued with its disciples. And the Jews passed over his die at hand, And many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
Then thought they were Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, was thinking that He will not come to defeat. Now both the chiefs, priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he were, he could go it, that they might take him.
Well, this is one of the very tender scenes in the life of the Lord Jesus. It's a portion that sometimes is read at the funeral and at a funeral and in connection with the loss of a loved one. And what a precious scene, what a precious glimpse we're given here of the Lord Jesus and this little home in Bethany. And I had this portion on my heart. And then when our brother George read a, uh, another account of a scene in that same home.
00:05:24
I trust the Lord has this for us. Just to go back for a moment before we comment on what took place here. You know, when the Lord Jesus was here in this world, there were very few homes where the Lord Jesus was really welcome.
The boxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. In fact, later in this very gospel we read, every man went to his own house. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Very few homes where the Lord Jesus was really welcome, but there was one home at least where the Lord Jesus was welcome.
And a home where on a number of occasions in his pathway, he turned his weary feet and sat down in the midst of those that he loved and those that loved him. And it's precious to trace those scenes Brother George read to us the One.
Where the Lord Jesus came to that home and those sisters, Mary and Martha no doubt were working together, busy of preparing for the arrival of their divine guests. And when the Lord Jesus entered that home, Mary said, oh, this is an opportunity that can't be missed.
I'm gonna sit down now and hear what the Lord Jesus has to say. And the Lord Jesus valued it. Not that he didn't value Martha's service. We don't want to make a mistake and say that it wasn't. He was discrediting Mars's service. But.
There was one thing needful and Mary had chosen that good part and that was to sit at Jesus feet. But that was a happier scene. Martha serving Mary, sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus. But sorrow to come into our homes, don't they?
And many of us, no doubt here in recent times have experienced real sorrows of one sort or another that come into our homes, you know, just because we seek to have a Christian home and a life and testimony in our neighborhood and community.
Doesn't mean we're immune to problems and difficulties and sorrows. We're in a world of sin. We suffer the same things as perhaps our ungodly neighbors, those down the street and those we work with and go to school with and so on.
But the wonderful thing is this, the sisters, Mary and Martha, who had enjoyed the Lord Jesus at happier times in their home. Now they knew where to turn when the sorrow came.
They had developed a relationship with the Lord Jesus so that when the sorrow came, they knew where to turn.
They weren't completely overwhelmed by it. And really, brethren, I know there's much in this chapter and there's the context we need to consider, but just by way of introduction, it's all our brethren have been going through and what we've heard this weekend, what is taking place at a funeral, it's perhaps this very moment. And it's wonderful that if we develop a relationship with the Lord Jesus and He is, as it were, an invited divine guest in our homes every day.
Then when the sorrows come, we don't need to be overwhelmed either. We have one that we can turn to. We're not to our heavenly home yet, brethren. We're not to the Father's house yet. But God has given us families and homes here on earth, and He desires that through the presence of the Lord Jesus, He would be an intricate part of those homes that He has established for our blessings while we wait so we're all safe in the Father's house.
It's important to see, just to get the context here a little bit, that by the end of the 10th chapter of John's Gospel, the Lord Jesus is the rejected 1.
He has been now fully rejected by those He had come to bless. It's the fulfillment of what we have in the first chapter. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, and it confirmed by the end of this 10th the 10th chapter.
That this is the reality of the situation. But it's interesting as you go on now in John's gospel, you find that God makes sure that though his Son has been outwardly rejected, there are individuals who have seen him for who he is, the Son of God, and that there is going to be glory brought to him in spite of the rejection of the Jewish nation as a nation.
00:10:18
And I say that not to skip over, but just to get the a little outline. In these two chapters, 11:00 and 12:00, we have His glory brought before us in three different ways as to His person.
If we were to just go down to the fourth verse for a moment, he speaks. When Jesus heard that, he heard that, he said this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. And then notice it that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now we can make some further comments on this later on, but here we find that there's going to be glory brought to Him in connection with His being the Son of God. But then just skip over to the 12Th chapter for a moment.
And verse 12.
On the next day, much people that were come to the feast when they heard that Jesus.
Was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him.
And cried Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
This is really glory brought to him recognized as to his title as Son of David. And uh, there's going to be a day coming when it will be fully recognized here. It was very temporary and the Lord had to say, this generation draws nigh unto me and praises me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But nevertheless, God made sure that this testimony of the one who had been rejected by the nation is, is brought, is brought out and then just dropped down again in the same chapter of the 23rd chapter.
Verse 23, I'm sorry, the 12Th chapter and verse 23. And Jesus answered them, saying the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. So here it is in connection with His title as the Son of Man.
And it's the subject that could be developed. But God, again I say.
Made sure that there was glory going to be brought to the Lord Jesus in these three different characters in spite of the fact that He was rejected. And This is why the great reason why He had allowed Lazarus.
Not only to be sick, but in his absence to pass away, so that in the going there and raising him from the dead, eventually there was going to be glory brought to himself as the Son of God.
I one time asked a brother what's the difference between the title Son of God and Son of Man and he answered me shortly. He said the title Son of God is what he was as God for man. The title Son of Man is what he was as a man for God.
That was a help to me.
The chapter before.
The shepherd dies for the sheep.
But not only did he die for them, he's going to raise them. A thinking of the 6th chapter of John. Just turn there for a minute.
And the 40th verse. The 39th verse.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me that of all which He has given me. I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. He's not just going to.
And we're just going to be there in spirit, but we'll be there body, soul and spirit, the next verse. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, And I will raise him up in the last day, and then down.
In the 44th verse No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day, 54.
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood.
Hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. I remember rather having a funeral, and he pointed to the coffin.
And he said our dear sister here lies in his coffin and is going to be lowered into the grave, but she's not gonna stay there. God's gonna raise her up again.
00:15:10
Now this is a wonderful thing.
Opens in a very touching way. Lazarus was sick and.
The Lord looks down today on this planet, and he knows everyone of his own, and he knows everyone that's sick.
And maybe there's someone here and you weren't prayed for in the prayer meeting because your sicknesses wasn't such to keep you from coming to these meetings. But maybe there's someone here and you're suffering. Not a lot of people know about it, but you're sick. The Lord knows about it. He looks down and he knows you're down sittings and uprisings. He knows what's going on with you internally. And so Lazarus was sick. And where was Lazarus from?
Well, he was from Bethany. Bethany's interesting place to trace through the, uh, Word of God, but wasn't a place of any great significant politically or economically.
But it was a little town that is mentioned several times, and one of the reasons it's mentioned is because it was the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. You know, I often think of this as I look around a crowd like this.
You know, there's some here from some very insignificant little towns, towns I would have never known of. They never heard of it if it hadn't been that you were from that town where there was a little assembly gathered to the Lord's name.
Probably never would have heard of Marysville, WA or Lowry, Minnesota, or some of the other little towns. Perhaps you would have never heard of Smith Falls, Ontario. You came to Smith Falls. If you've never been there, it's a very insignificant little town of eight or 9000 people. But we love those towns, those areas. We're familiar with them. Why? Because there are those we know and love there. There are those of like precious faith.
Those that we have concern and, and care for, and that's what makes those places geographically. Well, here with the little town of Bethany, here was this little home, as we've been saying, that the Lord loved to visit, and now there was a difficulty in that home. Did the Lord Jesus know about that difficulty before they came and told him? Yes, He did. Did He know how he was going to take care of the difficulty and bring comfort? Yes, he did. But as we go through these verses, we're going to see an unfolding of the ways and purposes of the Father and the Son.
As to a timetable that was perfect, Perfect as to bring out the glory of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, and perfect as to the comfort and the lessons that the Lord had for this little family as well as those that were there and knew them. And in their end, we find that there were many who believed as a result of how not only this event, but how the Father and the Son caused it to unfold.
And brethren, He causes things to unfold in our lives, not as quickly as we would like, not in the way we would often like, but if we're content and willing to submit, it will be, in the end, for His glory, for our comfort.
I suppose there's a number of things that we learned from this chapter.
One is that God's timetable is not necessarily ours.
We may make a prayer or an appeal to God for a particular trial or circumstance that we go through.
We learned anything from Martha. We learned what it is to be impatient. We learn anything from Mary. We learn what it is to be patient.
If we see the end result of the trial, we find that God is behind it and it's for His glory, it's for our blessing, for our encouragement, and He's not far from it. He feels it, He's identified with it. The Lord Jesus knows what it is to feel what we're going through as our high priest. He suffered and He knows what it is to suffer. So we really see all these things in this chapter, don't we?
00:20:19
It's certainly at the dispensational picture.
But it's really there's these practical things that as we follow through this chapter, we can learn to understand and to trust God and to realize He is in full control.
We are blessed people to be able to look at a picture where we can see that the things that were done in the order that they were done is not necessarily the way that we would have wanted them to be done, but they were the way that they were done in order that lessons would be learned. We would learn something about the heart of God and still He would accomplish what what his what was on his heart and what was for the glory of God.
Nature didn't control the Lord. Didn't look like the Lord didn't love Lazarus.
Like he said he did because he didn't move and he could have prevented it.
And.
But the Lord is waiting for a word from his Father. Of course, if we had that power, we'd have been down there and, uh, prevented him from dying.
It's also instructive, is it not, that when they sent word, they didn't send word for the Lord to come, nor did nor did they send word on the basis of what they had done or their love for the Lord. They just simply sent word to say, he whom thou lovest is sick. And they just left it at that. And I think that beautiful face, you know, sometimes the tendency of our hearts is perhaps to plead for some blessings.
Perhaps some healing of a loved one or in our own life on the basis of, well, Lord, look what I've done.
Or Lord, I've I've tried to love you and I've tried to serve you and I've tried to honor you. It's true they did love the Lord. They loved him very much. It's true they had entertained him as a divine guest in their in their home.
But that had no basis now for, for their for with their message they just sent. Lord, the one you love who he whom thou lovest is sick. Because they realized, I believe, that his love for them was far, far more than any response that had been by grace in their hearts. And that if there was going to be any blessing, it didn't depend on their response. And brethren, I believe that's a good lesson for all of us to learn. It's good for myself. Perhaps I better only point the finger at myself.
But again, to realize how much He loves us, He does desire our blessing and our good.
Not because of anything in us. Now, thank God He delights in our response, and He wants that response. My son, give me thine heart and so on. But look, when we come to the Lord in any difficulty or situation, how thankful we are should be that we can come with a sense of His love for us. If I come with a sense of my own love, that's going to discourage me because that's feeble at best. But if I come with a sense of His love toward me.
And toward my family and my brethren, that makes all the difference. That gives me confidence.
Hezekiah did that, didn't he? And the Lord allowed a test to him, and it turned out to be a wreck.
If we have the power of God, we would probably change a lot of circumstances, but if we had the wisdom of God, we'd change nothing.
I think it is good to consider this one hallmark of inspiration is that it's homely, if I can use that in a proper sense, that is. It does touch our affections, doesn't it? And we certainly can read this on that level. And yet it also has a broader scope. And so it has been briefly mentioned there is a dispensational picture here as well. Both are characteristic of the divine, divine inspiration, aren't they?
00:25:06
And so just to give a brief, uh, outline here, the 1St 11 Chapters of John.
In the 1St 11 Chapters we have the Lord in a certain sense in controversy with that which is Jewish.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. And so one thing after another, whether it's the failing waters of chapter four, he replaces it with the living waters of himself. Whether it's the tap piece of tabernacles, which was a dead feast to the Jews, he replaces with himself. One thing after another that was Jewish, He sets aside and replaces with that which is eternal in himself.
And when we get to the 11Th chapter, we get to the climax of that first section, and we see that as Martha says, Lord, if thou hast been here, he wouldn't, he wouldn't have died. But the fact is that man is seen as bankrupt. There's no hope. The only hope for men is in death and resurrection. And that's what we have here, isn't it? And it's good to keep that in perspective.
Uh, remember, uh, some years ago we had several funerals in our local area in Spokane. Several brothers passed away.
Just within, uh, three, actually just within a few months of each other. And we went to, uh, the same, uh, Funeral Home each time. It was a Christian man that some had known that was the funeral director there. And after seeing him the third time in just a couple of months, they said, uh, well, you see an awful lot of funerals. I said, I don't go to many non Christian funerals, frankly, I said, but there must be a difference between a Christian funeral and a non Christian funeral.
And he looked me right in the eye and he said it just like night and day.
Because for the Christian's resurrection, isn't it absent from the body present with the Lord?
What a wonderful truth that is. How could we? How could we want anyone back? That's in the Lord's presence.
And yet for the unbeliever, what is it? A leap into the dark. I remember where I grew up in Columbus, there was a Catholic Bishop that passed away. And those were his last words, a leap into the dark. He had no idea what lay ahead. And so as I say, the 1St 11 Chapters really give us that. Our brother Eric Smith, Bob, maybe you can give me the exact verses on this, but he used to mention that John can be divided into three parts. Life.
Light and love and I believe the 1St 11 Chapters are life, aren't they? But it's not continuation of our natural life but it's a resurrection life, new creation.
And that's the great truth that we have. Again, I just mentioned this because we like this look at the, the, umm, the, uh, affectionate side. And that's good. It has a place, but it's also good to get the scope of Scripture, isn't it? So I believe the 1St 11 Chapters we have life, but it's resurrection life and it's in the person of Christ. And then the next chapters through chapter 17, perhaps it's light. It's what's often called the upper room ministry. Some started with chapter 12, some with chapter 13, but.
Nonetheless, it's light. It's the budding of Christianity as it's often been mentioned.
And then in the last chapters we have the Lord Jesus accomplishing that work that makes it all possible. That's love.
Beautiful to see here and these verses to the different, uh, persons that it's talking about Lazarus, Mary and Martha and we are individuals, brother, and we're all different.
God has an appreciation for us in the way we are. Sometimes we don't like the way we are and we try to be somebody else. Don't do that.
Let the Lord work on you just where you are. And I, I find it very beautiful here at the Lazarus. I don't think we have any record of anything he said in life, do we? Don't remember anything.
That lies with a step.
And yet he is pretty prominent in this chapter.
Then it says the town was the town of and gets very first.
And her sister Martha. Why's that? I don't know for sure, but we learned, like it was said earlier, that in, uh, Luke chapter 10, the house was Marvin's house. She received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary. But there's no doubt rather than that, Mary was more.
00:30:19
Sensitive and understanding of the Lord's teaching in Martha. It was a matter of personality. Like he said, she was restless.
Like we are too.
But Mary, I don't know if I'm insinuating things, but.
It seemed like Mary understood the Lord's words, that he was going to be rejected and rise again because Mary listened to his words. And when it came to the cross or the tomb, you don't see Mary of Bethany there. She came beforehand to anoint his body to the burial.
Intelligence with that woman more so than even the 12 apostles. They didn't seem to capture what the Lord was saying and so often we listen to Scripture and we don't get it. And here is a woman who seemed to.
Understand. And I think it's beautiful the town of Mary and her sister Martha, but then notice in verse five it says now Jesus loves Martha. Isn't that beautiful?
Is there is love any different towards Martha because she was a little bit more restless in in Luke 10? She was the one that was not very happy with the fact that Mary was just sitting there.
Jesus loved Martin. I think that's beautiful. And her sister and.
And it's beautiful to me to see how God picks up each one of us and works out with us like we are and develops. Everyone is different. And so it's it's a beautiful.
Thing to contemplate how the Lord picks up each way and works with it.
I think this is the.
7th Miracle or sign that the Lord Jesus does.
There's seven of them, total of eight if you want to take in.
Chapter 21 But it's, it's very uniquely connected with Israel and their, uh, restoration and their salvation. And so we, we see that if we, we see how the Lord Jesus looks at us, you might say, when, when we were sick or looked at Israel when they were sick and he saw the end of what was going to happen and he loved them.
I was loved before I was ever saved. I was loved when I was sick and I was loved when I was dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus loved me and he died for me and the resurrection which was brought out is is the end result that I have life through his death and resurrection. He loves me, He loves Lazarus.
So when I got saved, did I always walk in a way that pleased the Lord Jesus? No, I don't. I'm sorry, I don't. But he still loves me. And I think that's the way it is with Martha. He says, Martha, thou art troubled about many things, but Mary has found the best, best part. And you should be here because it's it's there that you learn what is in the heart of Jesus. And that's where Mary learns.
And so, but he still loves her. He still loves me even though I, I, maybe I'm not what I should be, but I, is there those times when, uh, when maybe I am enjoying communion and I'm in the stream of God's thoughts, I'm thankful that that happened to me. I'm thankful to know he loves me then too. And so it's, it's really, it's, it's a comfort to me that, that during these times when there's trials and there's difficulties.
00:35:18
And I don't always enter into the stream of his thoughts that he loves me and he's still acting in a way that's consistent with his will and for my blessing.
It's different how each one of them.
Received this and Martha felt you know the Lord should have been there she kind of rebuked him and.
I I suppose that many of these thoughts are going through the minds of the Colemans.
I remember, and you're not supposed to use personal experiences, but I remember when, uh, I had a boy who's nine years old and we were on an island and, uh, where it was all right to, right, He had to step through, uh, Honda and I allowed him to, uh, ride that thing and we had people coming over. And so I thought I'd put this up and not allow them, but he wanted to go down and get his friend and bring him and he came down around the corner and he smashed into the back of a.
Of a vehicle.
And they had to carry him off in a helicopter. And that night they called and they said, we don't think he's going to make it. You need to come down to the hospital in Olympia.
Well, you, you can understand how one would feel. Uh, he didn't, uh, die that night. And I remember I was off that time and I was laying out in the, in the lawn thinking, I have to take this from the hand of a loving father.
And so I think that's what Mary learned. She learned to trust, not question God or Father. And and then she perhaps didn't know God as her father at that time, but there is that trust there. And we have to believe that it's coming from, even though it may seem that God doesn't love us, but it is all things work together for good. And I believe, you know, I can look back.
You can look back on that scene and know why the Lord allowed it.
But it does comes from the hand of a loving Father. This did, although it looked like, you know that the Lord Jesus just didn't care.
We see two with the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. He wouldn't do anything apart from a word from His Father either. And in the chapter before when he addressed those who spoke of stoning Him and so on, He brought out very clearly, I and my Father are one, and He worked the works of the Father and and so on. And He could not move without a word from the Father. He did always those things that pleased the Father. He did the Father's will perfectly.
And so why did he remain 2 days? Why did he allow Lazarus to die?
Well, he hadn't had a word from the Father to go when he received that word, and it was the Father's time then He did go in obedience. And there was as a result, as we said, glory brought to him as to the Father and to the Lord Jesus as the Son of God.
So wonderful to see the perfect submission of the Lord Jesus to the will of His Father. And as we understand this in our souls, then doesn't it help us to carry out in a practical way what you have just said, Brother Byrne? And that is for us to submit to the will of the Father in our lives, to see that He has not only circumstances lined out in our lives but has been said a perfect timetable.
And you know, this is the day, brethren, when perhaps this is more needful for us to be reminded of than ever. Why? Because this is a day of instant answers and remedies to everything.
And there's an 800 number and a penicillin and this and that to answer every question and help every malady.
And again, I'm not saying those things are wrong, where I'm thankful for medications when we're sick, I'm thankful for an 800 number we can call when there's a problem and get some advice, but sometimes we forget that God doesn't work instantaneously.
The Lord Jesus doesn't work as quickly as we see men would like Him to work, or as things sometimes work at school and in the office, the office, and so on. And one of the great lessons I believe God seeks to teach us, especially in the day in which we live, is submission and waiting his time.
00:40:18
The question of faith isn't it in.
I don't know. I have pondered over that too. Remember when we lived in Bolivia, we helped to bury a lot more children than adults?
There's just a lot of infant mortality, and I found that the people down there don't.
I wonder why do we question the lawyer? And I think it's because we're taught to have confidence in ourselves. And if something goes wrong, then you analyze it and you figure it out and you try to come to some conclusions. But when we're dealing with God and his purposes and his ways.
Brother, we need to bow to his hand, recognize he understands everything. He's not only head of his church, the body he has had over all things to the church, in other words, everything that affects them. He is in full control of that circumstance.
As dear and I think we can understand all the purposes and ways of God, we can't. And so like we say, like it was insensitive to the Lord to wait two days. There was the news that classes was sick, but there was another purpose. He was not going to move simply because there was a need.
He was going to waste the direction of his Father, and as a result, there was much more glory brought to God than the way it took place in this chapter.
We have. We don't know whether he lives with Mary and Martha in the same house.
I didn't mention here that he lived in the same town, the town of Maryland.
And her sister Martha. Now these two women were special.
Mary had in a spiritual way, significantly because she spiritually understood to the Lord Jesus or what He was going to do.
Because she was the one who had an eye for her speed and tried to speed with her hair.
Martha was also special because he had a spiritual understanding of the Lord's miserable because she acknowledged that.
Personally, he lost the Christ, the Son of the living God.
That is at that time a very special because they were very few who acknowledged to acknowledge that.
Even his brother's head with who grew up with him in the same family.
Were not disciples.
Also or Jesus after his death.
Acknowledged by the Spirit who he was, but these two women they acknowledge by the Spirit already who is lost.
Before he died.
And it makes in Las Vegas.
And what the Juan did.
00:45:03
That made her worry strangely, because she acknowledged that he was going to die for them.
And of Lazarus, we know another Lazarus.
Whether the rich man's gazed and he wrecked.
The head of the crumbs that fell from the richness table.
Was said Isaiah, and this dark lift his feet.
And of the rich men, we are not told to be lost.
His mind, but he had an inesco relaxed through his name and also.
That he, when he died, was an Abraham's also.
A special place also, and he was a poor man.
So it is significant here that.
What these people were and what they did for the producers.
That was getting especially drawn out and then also what they received a special technology.
Lazarus is 6/9.
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. Well, that's a term that has a technical meaning, doesn't it? If we can put it that way, in the New Testament, it refers to the state of the of soul of the believers after death. Now that doesn't mean that the soul sleeps per SE, but it's rather the thought that they passed into a different condition. And again, it's used over and over of.
Believers, we shall not all all sleep. We're not all going to pass through the throughout the article.
But it's only a believers, isn't it that it speaks of as sleeping? But then I wanted to mention in verse.
Umm verse 15 he states plainly that Lazarus dead in verse 14. And I am glad for your sake that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us.
Go unto him. Why does he say that to the intent that she may believe? Well, the grand issue here is that mankind is not only sex, but is terminal. And the only solution, the only remedy is death and resurrection in Christ. And that's such an important point for us to get a hold of, isn't it? Law keeping in a sense, was the desire to see if man was sick, not only that he was sick, but if he could cure himself.
And so the Lord let men undergo the articles of the law. That's part of what he waited for. But ultimately the conclusion is just what we have here. Man is not merely sick, but he's dead and trespasses and sins.
We need new life and that life is in resurrection and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's so important that we get a hold of this. This is Christianity, it it differs fundamentally from what went before.
There's many people today that want to mix up Christianity and Judaism, and that squad isn't it.
Because under Judaism the question is whether man is only sick or not, but under Christianity the issue is that man is not only sex, that's plain, I think to most people, but man is dead in trespasses and sins.
Just a little word on sleep because I think it's important to see it in the context you mentioned. And sleep is really taken up in three different ways in Scripture. There's physical sleep, of course, the Lord Jesus as a man was weary when he was in the back of the disciples boat on one occasion and he caught a few moments of sleep of natural physical rest of before, before he rose and rebuked the storm. And so there's there's physical slate.
00:50:09
And then if we were to go to another aspect, there's that which it has to do with being spiritually lethargic or asleep. And so in the end of Romans, he says it is high time to awake out of sleep for now. Is our salvation nearer than when we believe the night is far spent, the day is at hand. It's neither physical sleep or physical night he's talking about there. It's in a spiritual sense.
We can get into AI suppose a Laodicean, uh, spirit and attitude where we become indifferent or asleep to, uh, that which is ours in our heavenly calling and, and so on. And so this is a, there's a spiritual night darkness over this world and it's deepening every hour. And we want to be careful as believers, we don't become spiritually indifferent and asleep to those things. But then, as you say here, it's a little different.
And it's really in connection with the body that slates, isn't it? Sleep is a temporary state of things when we go to bed tonight.
We're going to lie down and sleep and in the natural course of things, it's only a temporary state of things. After a few hours, we're going. We have every expectation that we're going to rise up out of our beds, get ready and come back to the meetings tomorrow. It's temp, it's temporary. And I believe that's why those who died in faith are referred to as being asleep, because it's temporary. I remember when it first really hit me was when my father passed away some years ago.
And we stood at the grave, and I had the privilege and responsibility to speak at my father's grave side. But as I stood there and they lowered that coffin into the ground, what really swept over my soul and was a great comfort to me was that this is a temporary state of things. We're going to lay this body in the grave, as we say, asleep in Jesus. But this body is not going to remain in the grave. This body is going to rise again.
There's going to be a moment when everybody that has fallen asleep in Jesus from the beginning of time, from Abel down, is going to be raised, not with the same body that they went into the grave. Well, it's the same body, but not in the same condition, but it's going to be a changed body. Not necessarily a new body, but a changed body. And it's going to be a body of glory, like under His body of glory. But what a comfort that was then, and it's been a real comfort to me.
As I have stood by many grave sites of loved ones, family, brethren and loved ones. Everyone from a child still born to someone who was nigh unto 100 years of age. But it doesn't matter.
That person dies a believer in Christ or before the age of responsibility, like little Daniel they are. It's a temporary state of things. But again, I want to stress what brother Eric said, because we never want to give the impression there's such a thing as soul sleep. When a person draws their last breath, they are in a place of consciousness, either absent from the body and present with the Lord my Father and little Daniel. They are in the enjoyment of the Lord's presence now.
Or they are in a place of conscious torment. They neither one have their bodies yet, but they are in a place of either conscious bliss or conscious torment. There is no such thing as some have tried to propagate down through the ages that when we die there's an unconscious state of things until the resurrection or whatever other events are going to take place. No, everyone who's dead is conscious.
In one place or another, but those who died in faith is that the body is a temporary state of things and so it's referred to as sleep.
In fact, the believer and even the unbeliever is far more conscious on the other side of them. I think that we tend to look at their bodies and we think they are unconscious that we have that.
That impression, but it is true that far more conscious without the impediments of that we experience here in this life and Bob, they wouldn't want to come back. Those who are asleep in Jesus for 5 minutes even if they had opportunity when Samuel was called up, he said why is thou disquieted me to bring me up from the dead. And those who who are in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence if they had any opportunity, they wouldn't want to come back and if we had one inkling of what they're enjoying now.
00:55:11
We wouldn't wish them back for one moment if we could just understand what they are enjoying. They are in a better waiting place. They're waiting for the same thing we are. They're waiting for the resurrection and the glorification of the body and so on. But the change of the body. But rather they're in a far better waiting place than than we are. And we ought to be thankful for them. Yes, we sorrow, we feel it, but for them we ought to be thankful that they're there, waiting for that moment.
I wish you had said something about what that was like. I always wondered, you know, he came back, but he didn't say anything about it. I wish he had.
Yeah, I have a question about that that I hope some can shed some light on. What do we say about all these books that are being written on afterlife experiences, people that come back? I think there's some spiritual wisdom that we should apply to that, but I'd like to hear what others have to say on that.
Is there a danger there?
The danger of our imagination.
Insinuating things and impressions and we have to submit, subject everything to the word of God and the word of God does speak about the other side, but uh, we need to submit what is said to that.
That's good. We know that there are other supernatural powers besides God, aren't there? And we know that they act on the semi and unconscious state oftentimes. And so we have to be very careful, as you're saying, George, we don't look to people that come back out in the afterlife experiences or near death experiences for authority, do we? We have to be very careful about that. The word of God is our authority. Men are curious as to what lies on the other side.
But why don't they go to the word of God? That's just what you were Speaking of, weren't you? And I believe that's the path of wisdom because again, the, uh, demon powers certainly can act on the semi conscious and unconscious state and they do do that. And so we have to be very careful about these many books that are being written. They do not have the authority of God. The Word of God is written with God's authority.
01:00:05
Just one other comment on this too. Our time is gone, but the Lord Jesus when he was here.
Realizing the awful reality of a lost eternity, he did give some description and warning concerning it. You have to realize in the 16th of Luke, he's speaking to Jews and he speaks of things in a character that they could understand.
And when he speaks of Abraham being carried or Lazarus being, I'm sorry, the yes, Lazarus being carried into the bosom of Abraham, that was Jewish in character. But it's interesting when it speaks of the departed Saints in Christianity.
When Paul speaks of it, he says absent from the body and present with the Lord. That's all he says about it.
And I have sometimes wondered that though, with those who write books and pages on having gone to heaven temporarily and all that and give you these wonderful descriptions, I don't think, as we've been saying, there's any scriptural authority for that. I believe when my father got one glimpse of the Lord Jesus that eclipsed everything else. He is now enjoying the presence of the Lord Jesus. What else?
May be enjoying who else he may be enjoying. The scripture doesn't tell us and to imagine beyond that we are, as you say, simply using our imagination and it simply becomes fanciful things that we do not have the authority for the of the word of God. Those who died in faith in the Christian era are absent from the body and present with the Lord period. They are in the enjoyment of the Lord's presence. What else beyond that?
Is only our imagination.
Well, it wasn't really rich in hell, but he could see Abraham and Lazarus and Abraham's bosom and.
Rich man, and I take it rather than that it is so overwhelming glory that is before a person of his departure to be with Christ, that other things just stayed into the distance in comparison.
Uh, he little realized the glory that's there and I love to hear those that get close to the end and.
And when they're conscious and see something beyond them, the glory that shines on their face as they bath from this light into the other, it's it's beautiful to hear those those experiences. And there are experiences, brethren, and sometimes the experiences that are written about are not contrary to Scriptures. So let's not discount that either.
77 in the back. Speaking of the third stand up.
Emmanuel Mansion.