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Day 5.
Through waves, through clouds and storms, God gently clears the way #55.
Through ways, through water and storms.
Every day we lay hands on the soil.
And again, where the swords and.
When he may experience his arm.
Who shall win his world?
When we have been.
Friends.
1St and shall stand.
Isaiah 54 and verse 11.
Oh, thou afflicted, tossed with Tempest, and not comforted.
Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
Particular verse in mind, Brother Dawn, where you thought we should start.
11 to verse. 40 through verse.
45.
John's Gospel, Chapter 11.
The Gospel of John, Chapter 11, beginning at verse 11.
These things said he, and after that he saith unto them.
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus speak of his death. But they thought that he had spoken of ticking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there.
To the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless let us go unto him.
Then said Thomas, which is called Didamus, and to his fellow disciples let us also go, that we may die with him. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had laid in the grave four days already. Now Bethany was knight unto Jerusalem about 14 furlongs of, and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.
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Than Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha, unto Jesus, Lord, if thou didst come here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection.
At the last day Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believe us thou this.
She saith unto him, Yeah, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ.
The Son of God which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way.
And call Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and call it for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then, which were with her in the house, and comforted her when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying.
She goes onto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her?
He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, Come and see. Jesus wept. Then set the Jews, behold how he loved him. 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 groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone laid upon it. And Jesus said, Take ye away The stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he had been dead 4 days. Jesus saith unto her, said, I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst 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, and I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it.
That they may believe that thou hast sent Me. And when he thus hast spoken, he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus come forth, and he that was dead came forth, and bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Lose him, and let him go.
Oh.
There are many things we don't understand.
And when we're in trial?
We're in pressure and quite often the things that we don't understand in the trial become a great and increased burden to our souls because of the pressure of the trial itself.
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And when we don't understand, we often tend to misunderstand.
And so it's a, it's something that we need to be conscious of that we would learn through the trials of our lives to always have a confidence in God that doesn't depend on understanding. Because if there's a lack of trust in our hearts toward our God when we don't understand, we put ourselves in a place of perhaps misunderstanding him.
And here these not Martha and Mary in this case, but the disciples who were with the Lord Jesus.
They didn't really understand at that point in their history until after the resurrection and New Testament teaching concerning the difference of sleeping and death and so on. And so the Lord was going to go and they thought.
Lord, that's not a wise thing to do. But Thomas, so they asked him and Thomas says to them, even though we get an answer from the Lord and they don't understand the answer really, Thomas says, well, let's go and we'll die with them.
It shows a desire in his heart and so on not and yet to me it's a precious thing. One more thought connected with it and that is even when we don't understand the Lord understands our perspective. Sometimes it's not a proper one really. But one other thing that's a precious thing of this chapter to my own heart is that the Lord Jesus with every soul in which he interacts here his disciples, Martha, Mary.
He always understood their perspective on the matter and he ministered to their need according to that perspective. So in the matter of sleep and death and so on, he he realizes they don't understand and, and yet he sees them. And so he just says to them, well, he's dead. And from another perspective, he was dead. He was truly dead.
But it's a wonderful thing for us to appreciate that the Lord.
While we don't understand, the Lord does understand and for our own benefit with one another to try to learn when a soul is in pressure to be able to enter into their perspective on the matter and seek to be a help from that standpoint rather than necessarily trying to force them to see our own view of it.
Chapter 3 The Lord speaks to Nicodemus, and he says in verse 12, If I have told you earthly things, and you believe me not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And so here in John's Gospel, Chapter 11, I've enjoyed in my own soul the thought that the Lord was here speaking to them with a heavenly language.
And heavenly thoughts. And as we read John's gospel and as we read the word of God, he brings before them and before our own souls that which is heavenly and a heavenly perspective. And they hadn't had that perspective before. And so in kindness and grace, he just explains things the way that they could understand them. And he speaks to them as friends. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. And it just brings before us, doesn't it? How in James chapter.
2IN verse 23 it says that Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. So Lazarus was one of those that was there and Bethany that was characterized by having faith in God and believing what the Lord Jesus had told him. And the Lord Jesus could refer to Lazarus as a friend.
It might be helpful to to just explain why the Lord Jesus speaks of it as sleep. Here. As Brother Dawn said, he makes it very clear what he's referring to. Our friend Lazarus is dead, but sleep is taken up in three different ways in the Word of God. There's physical sleep. The Lord Jesus, weary with his journey, put his head on a pillow in a boat one day and went to sleep. Physical sleep. There's also sleep, which describes the lethargic or indifferent state that a believer can fall into.
Spiritually, and so in Romans we're told now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. That's not an exhortation to wake out of physical sleep. That's an exhortation to wake up as to the reality of where we are spiritually and in our history and so on. And there are a number of exhortations to believers to wake up in that way. But then sleep is referred to in connection with the.
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Death of a believer and it's important to realize that in scripture, whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament, it is only those who died in faith who are referred to as being asleep and when it refers to being asleep, it is the sleep of the body. You know there has there's a sect that has propagated what is called soul sleep through the ages and that is very wrong we know from the 16th chapter of Luke that when a soul dies, when a person dies, they are in the conscious sense either of.
Torment or the conscious sense of enjoyment for the believer, it's absent from the body and present with the Lord. Our loved ones who've died in faith are in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence. Those who've died in their sins are in the conscious sense of torment. And so it's not soul sleep that it refers to, it's the sleep of the body. When he says our friend Lazarus sleepeth the body, He had been laid in the tomb. His body had died. He was asleep. Now why is it referred to?
Asleep, because sleep is a temporary state of things. And so tonight, in the normal course of things, we're going to lie down and go to sleep. And again, in the normal course of things, we have every expectation that it's only a temporary state of things. We'll sleep for a few hours and then, all things being well, we'll wake up, we'll get up out of our beds, and we'll go on our way. And so when we laid my father in the grave, what comforted my heart was to realize this was only a temporary state of things.
This was not the end of the story. And as we stepped back from my father's grave with tears, we knew that our comfort was that we knew that that body was laid there only till the resurrection. And so This is why he refers to Lazarus being asleep. His body was laid in the tomb, and it was more temporary than these sisters and others realized. He was going to raise him. But even if he hadn't been raised on this occasion, it was still a temporary state of things waiting.
For the for the resurrection.
Want to bring in my thoughts here. It's not in this chapter, but it's connected with.
Going through tribulation in our lives.
In Luke 24.
Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, went on the road to Emmaus with two of his disciples.
And.
He draws near to them and he starts down the road with them. They don't, as we know, we know the story. They don't recognize the Lord Jesus and they ask him, don't you know what went on in Jerusalem? And he says what things? And then they go on to explain to him all that had taken place.
The point I want to make out of that story, in connection with the subject before us, is there are times in tribulation when the need of a soul is to be listened to.
It's not necessarily always to say something or explain something at first in it, but there is often a need in a soul to have a sense of someone listening to them. And then afterwards, according to the Lord's direction, there can be that answer to the need of what it is. But it's a well for us to remember in seeking to help one another in our tribulations, that we.
Recognize that need.
And the Lord Jesus, not so much in this chapter as there, but the Lord Jesus perfectly doesn't ignore the questions that are raised here in the chapter, but as they come up and are presented to him concerning the things that were bothering or distressing or not understandable in connection with Lazarus death, he has an answer from God for them. We're not always that way. Sometimes someone asks us a question about something and we have we should be.
Willing to be honest with the soul and say I don't know.
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I don't have an answer. What the Lord does. We can always point them to the Lord. We're thankful though, in contrast to ourselves, as in this chapter, there was never a question in the Lord's life that he didn't know the answer and he didn't know how. He always knew exactly how to to meet that need. I will also mention it sort of beside there were times when people answered the question, asked the Lord a question.
And He chose not to answer it, or He chose to give an answer that had nothing to do directly with the question. And we can be thankful for that as well, because the Lord always knows our need and He ministers to our need. And if He sees that an answer to a question is not going to meet our need, He doesn't always give us a direct answer to it, but He always knows perfectly what we need and will give us, if we look to Him, that.
And so sometimes we need to say to the Lord, Lord, meet the need.
Without necessarily saying Lord give me an answer to my question.
Maybe in that regard, Don be helpful just to turn back to a little incident in First Kings 10 that I've enjoyed in this duck connection in connection with the Queen of Sheba. Because we often speak about the Queen of Sheba and how she saw Solomon's wisdom and the things that she enumerated in connection with the court of Solomon. But when the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, there was something standing in the way, something that had to be taken care of first.
And we know Solomon is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. Let me just read a verse or two here, verse chapter 10 of First Kings and verse one. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. It's interesting that as this story begins to unfold, there were these hard questions. Those were the first things. And those things were sort of standing in the way. And maybe there's someone here and you've come to this conference this weekend and you've got a lot of hard questions.
You say there's a lot of things I don't understand from the Bible, a lot of things I don't understand about how to follow the Lord and what He'd have me to do, and a lot of things I don't understand in the circumstances that He has allowed in my life of late. And you say I've asked people and I get an answer, but it's really not what I'm looking for. And then I ask someone else and they kind of build on it, but I'm still not satisfied. Well, the Queen of Sheba had these hard questions.
But she came into the one who figures to us, the Lord Jesus in type. And I believe there's a great lesson for us to learn, brethren, and that is, it's wonderful to have people that we can go to with hard questions. Wonderful that we have loved ones and brethren that we feel have discernment and will give us an answer. But there's nothing like getting into the presence of the Lord with those questions. And you know what's interesting, in the history of the disciples in walking with the Lord, they often asked what seemed like questions they should have known the answer to.
And questions that almost seemed like they were strange questions to ask, almost out of context sometimes. But they asked those questions and to see the patience and grace of the Lord Jesus in answering those questions. Nicodemus asked questions. The Lord finally said, Art thou a teacher in Israel and knowest not these things? And yet the Lord patiently went over those questions with Nicodemus.
And so graciously answered them. But she asked these, she had these questions and then just notice.
The last part of verse two. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. You know, there's very few people you can do that with, very few people. You can tell them or ask them everything. You know, there are things perhaps on my heart today. And if I went to you and asked you or I started unburdening my heart, you'd say, whoa, whoa, whoa, just a minute, Jim, that's enough. I've got problems of my own and my family, problems and problems in my own assembly. I can't take any more.
But you can go to the Lord with everyone of those hard questions, with everyone of those burdens. And brother, sister, if it takes five hours, he's still willing to listen. And he doesn't keep office hours. You know, the Lord stayed up one night to talk to Nicodemus. Nicodemus waited till night, but never mind. He came with those questions. And the Lord was willing to stay up at night with Nicodemus. The Lord doesn't keep office hours like some people do. And so she communed with of him with all that was in her heart. And then what? I love this.
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And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. You know, when she got into the presence of Solomon with her questions, every question was answered to her satisfaction. And when she eventually turns away and goes back into her own country, her heart was satisfied. This book we hold in our hands is sufficient in the presence of the Lord and the power of the Spirit to answer every hard question, every difficulty, every enigma that rises in your life and mind today.
If you and I are willing to get into the presence of the Lord, you're going through some trial. You asked people about it. Get into the presence of the Lord, ask Him about it, and all your hard questions will be answered and your heart will be satisfied. And we're going to find with Mary, when she got to the feet of the Lord and she unburdened before the Lord, that's when her heart was satisfied. She got the answers really quicker than Martha. Not that Martha didn't have words from the Lord, but the answers were solidified in the soul of Mary, I believe quicker than Martha, because Mary knew where to turn.
The.
Maybe I could just add another comment too, not to get away from our portion, but just go to Matthew 14 for a little expression in connection with trials and being able to accept trials and difficulties from the Lord and so on.
I won't read this, but just to give the context before I read an expression here. The last part of Matthew 14 you have the disciples in the ship constrained by the Lord Jesus to get into the ship and go to the other side. As they're in the ship, the Lord is up on the mountain praying. The wind is contrary, the waves are high. This was a real trial and difficulty in the lives of the disciples. If I'd been there, I probably would have been wondering if I was going to the bottom too.
But I want to notice.
When the Lord comes to them in verse 27, Matthew 1427, but straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. I want you to notice these three next words. It is I.
And brethren, I just want to stop for a minute and meditate on those 3 words. To me, these are some of the most precious words.
In the Word of God, in connection with trials, why were the disciples afraid?
Why were they troubled? Because they didn't see the Lord Jesus in the trial. But to me it's just as if the Lord Jesus says, I've brought you here, I've allowed the circumstance, I'm above the storm, I'm in control, I'm with you. And I believe as we go through the trials, yes, the wind may be contrary, the waves may be high.
But just to stop over the roar of it and hear his voice say it is I.
That's what's going to give us comfort. That's what's going to give us courage. That's what's going to help us to submit. Not to look necessarily to be delivered from the trial, but that's what's going to help us to submit to his will in the trial just to hear him say.
It is I, I say. There's no more comforting words hardly than these.
There's a principle in God's Word that we really see even in this gospel, in this chapter, that we're taking up, and that is that God always reveals Himself to faith. He desires to enter into that which that communion with his creature man. And so it says in Hebrews Chapter 11. Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. And then what was read yesterday?
In James chapter one, verse six, let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. And so we have, you know, that principle brought out here in this chapter. And the confidence that these ones had as they were in His presence, they had the faith that he had the answers, that he knew the answers, and they had the confidence that they could go to him and ask the question and would receive a plain answer. And it's the kindness of our God to desire us to just come as children.
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And to as those that are perhaps defenseless and perhaps as simple in faith as a child to come in the circumstances that we have and that we face in life and don't understand. Yet if we come in faith with that simple desire to know the answer and to have an answer from himself, from his heart of love, He reveals himself to faith. He may not give us the answer that we want to hear, but He gives us an answer. He gives it to faith.
I.
Back to the little something we had in the first reading meeting on this chapter at least the same general point that has to do with we say sometimes, why doesn't the Lord act now? And we get it, concerned with the timing of actions.
Notice.
Verse six it says when he had there, when he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode 2 days still in the place where he was.
And now down to verse 17. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
Suppose the Lord had, the instant he heard the news, gone.
Immediately.
Would it have made any difference? Absolutely not. He would have only been dead 2 days less, but he would still been dead. And that was the issue anyways, was death. And yet the Lord remaining for two days had nothing to do with God's dealings with respect to His power and what He would do.
Because it's important, I think, in my own soul to recognize that God is outside of time completely.
God deals with us in time because we're creatures, but God himself is outside of time, and he orders everything according to the counsel of his own will. And there's never ever because of timing considerations.
Any difference in how God will resolve what He purposes to do? We often in matters of time say, if only I had done this or done that sooner or later or whatever.
And it's true in human responsibility, it's now is the time to seek the Lord, and we are within time and we have responsibilities connected with time. But it's also well for us to see our God is outside of all those considerations. And when He purposes a certain outcome, it's going to happen without regard to the clock, if you will.
It's always appreciated in my heart the thought that did anything happen today or will happen today that catches God by surprise.
Is there going to be any trial or tribulation coming to life that today that God?
I'm surprised about or or was unexpected or something like that. Brethren, God lives on a throne of rest and peace that is never touched by any circumstance of what's going on in this world at this time. There is no event, there is no aspect of time that God suddenly says, oh, what am I going to do now? I hadn't anticipated that.
I didn't realize that was going to happen, and now I'm going to have to change something. Not so God. When we look up to God, we are to learn to know him as a God who changes, not a God who in his own counsels and will is always at rest, never disturbed by anything. And he controls and he controls everything according to the council of his will.
And peace does not come in the absence of trial and difficulty. It comes in the presence of God, in the measure in which you and I are living, in the presence of God and the conscious sense that the Lord is with us, holding our hand. That's where peace is going to come. Sometimes we think, oh, if we could just get the trial behind us, if we could just get out of this circumstance. But what was it that gave confidence to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
It wasn't the absence of the trial, it was the fact that they enjoyed a special sense of the Lord's presence in the trial, because when they spoke to the king, they didn't know if they were going to be delivered out of the furnace or through the furnace. They said that the Lord was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, but they didn't say he would. And they said no matter which way, he'll deliver us out of your hand, O King. But they had to go through it. It wasn't very nice to think that.
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Because of their faithfulness, they had to go into the fiery furnace. But don't you think that was probably the best experience of their life because they enjoyed a special sense of the Lord's presence? And so sometimes we look back on those severe trials in our lives and we say, oh, that was when I had a special sense of the Lord's presence. That was when he was made dear to me in some way that I would have missed otherwise. And I think Mary experienced this, perhaps in a deeper way here in this chapter than even her sister Martha.
And I want to notice in what connection with the comments Don made a moment ago, the 20th verse.
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him.
But notice this. But Mary sat still in the house. Now Martha. When we read of Martha, she seems to be a person that I can perhaps relate to. She was a doer, always liked to be busy, maybe even trying to help a situation in the 10th of Luke. She was careful and troubled about many things, cumbered about much serving, and so on. A person that always seemed to need activity and beyond the go. And as the Lord approaches Bethany, Martha runs to meet him.
But Mary sat still in the house. You say, how could Mary do such a thing? Was Mary indifferent to the situation? Did she feel the loss of her brother Lazarus any less than Martha? No, she felt that she loved her brother Lazarus just as deeply as Martha did. But Mary had sodded his feet as a learner and perhaps entered into his heart at this point, at least in their history, in a little deeper way than Martha. And Mary knew that the Lord Jesus was coming.
In his own time and in his own way, she also knew that when he came, he was able to take care of the situation according to his estimation of what was right and proper and best for them in the situation. And having entered into the heart of the Lord Jesus, having sat at his feet as a learner, she could sit still in the house. She could she could have peace and rest, not in the absence of trial, but because she entered into the heart of the Lord Jesus and she had been in his presence.
And at his feet on a previous occasion. And brethren, what is it that's going to give us the peace and confidence to sit still amidst the difficulty?
Not to be trying to help the situation. It's true. Later on when they said the Master calls for you, she immediately rose up and goes and falls at his feet. She knew where to go when the time came. But I loved this little expression. And Mary sat still in the house. You know there are three expressions in Scripture that go so well together. Stand still the children of Israel on the banks of the Red Sea. They were to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Samuel told them the same thing in connection with the failure that had come in among in Israel when they chose a king. He again told them to stand still and hear the judgment of the Lord on the matter. Sometimes that's all we can do brethren just.
Stand still.
Then we need to be still. Those 46 Psalms says be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. In other words, there he's encouraging his people that there's a day of deliverance coming. It may not be as quickly as they desired, but there's a day of deliverance coming. Be still. Well, we need to learn that for our own souls as well. And then to sit still, you know.
Naomi said to Ruth in a very difficult situation. Sit still, my daughter, until they'll see how the matter will fall.
For the man will not be in rest until he finished the thing this day. That's the end of the third chapter of Ruth, and it's in connection with Boaz. In other words, Boaz being a picture of the Lord Jesus, Naomi understood that there was one in full control of the situation.
And knowing there was one who was in full control of the situation and who would not rest until it be brought to fruition according to His purposes of blessing, she could encourage another to sit still even at a difficult time. Brethren, Arboaz is in full control. Brethren, the Lord Jesus, like in John 11, is in full control. And Mary understanding this, Naomi understanding it, could encourage Ruth to sit still. Mary understanding it could sit still.
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And wait until his time.
Expected as well as seen back in verse 2 with respect to Mary.
It says of her it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
A soul that has learned to worship.
Is one who has learned to appreciate the person in what they are even more than what they do. It's often been said, we worship the Lord. We worship our God for who he is. We thank Him. We praise him for what he's done.
And Mary, in her own soul's experience, had gone somewhat beyond her sister Martha. Martha understood the Lord in matters of service, but Mary understood His person more, and His heart and the greatest comfort to a soul in such needs as they had. Mary was better equipped, if you will, in her own soul for the trial because she had learned to know and worship.
The Lord Jesus.
There are ways, brethren, that we can't estimate the importance of what we did this morning.
We came together in the presence of the Lord Jesus that the Spirit of God might produce in us.
A response to what the Lord did for us, and also that the Spirit of God might fill us with worship as to His person.
And such things are preparatory at times in our lives to what the Lord will pass us through.
And if we don't walk with the Lord?
Such as were an opportunity to be together to worship. We weaken ourselves in the very matter when the Lord brings a trial into our lives.
That's one aspect, another aspect of preparation if you will, that is often necessary. That the Lord would give us if He sees that he's going to bring a trial into our life is seen in the Garden of Gethsemane. And in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord Jesus sought to prepare the disciples for the trial that was ahead of them. He told him, He said watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.
The Lord Jesus Himself was being prepared for what was going to take place to Him the next day. He was in agony in His own prayer with His Father over the matter of what was to take place ahead, and He, as we often mostly do not, but He could see.
And he saw the need for them, and he gave them an opportunity and he gave them instruction to be on their knees in prayer. And so it was that when the testing came, they weren't up to it. They hadn't been in a state of dependence ahead of time. And so when it comes, Peter acts in nature.
The acts and the self-confidence of the flesh. The acts in a sense of his own love for the Lord.
And it all fails him and he's not able. He can't go through it and he feels it and he goes out. And as we know his own history, so it is with us too, the Lord.
Sees what's ahead in our lives, sees what we need. And He will. If we are walk with him, He will. He prepares and then he provides and he. He doesn't fail us. He didn't fail Peter just because Peter failed.
Passed the test in the trial that through which he was going to the testing to which he was going to pass. The Lord didn't say, well, Peter, I told you and you didn't do what I said. And now this has come on you. You know we're that way sometimes, aren't we, brethren? We see something in somebody's life we think that's going to cause trouble down the road. So we tell them, we warn them if you will. And then our natural hearts, when the problem, if it does come, comes, we're ready to say didn't remember I told you.
And.
You got what's coming to you. We might not use those words, but sometimes the heart says that not so with the Lord. His love is perfect. And when he anticipates Peters going to fail, he laborers for Peter along with his own. What a night for the Lord. He wasn't only before God as to his own what was before him, but he was before God for the disciples as well. And so.
00:45:29
For the people and the next day we have beautiful examples of how the Lord acts in grace.
In the very midst of the greatest trial that a man has ever gone through or ever will go through in the Gospel of Luke, there are beautiful examples of how the Lord Jesus on the cross is ministering to others in the spirit of grace.
We look at Luke chapter 10 together for reverse.
Luke chapter 10 together for a verse. That'd be verse 39 of Luke 10.
Speaking about Martha and she that's who she would be, had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word. Our passage today in Chapter 11 verse 32. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been there, my brother had not died when Jesus therefore saw her weeping.
Chapter 12, Verse 3.
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house is filled with the odor of ointment.
I know that this has been explained to us here, I'd just like to briefly cover just again.
Three different positions.
The hymn writer wrote the words.
Beneath the feet of Jesus.
Would take my place. I believe the words are.
The positions and where have we been at the feet of Jesus?
Mary there at the feet of Jesus.
As our brother said, was learning.
She owned him as a prophet.
And she sat and learned.
From the Lord Jesus Christ at his feet.
Here in verse 32.
She was crying when Jesus therefore saw her weeping.
She said, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died.
She was craving for sympathy.
And she acknowledged him.
As her priest.
Craving for sympathy.
In chapter 12.
She has an expression of love.
And gratitude.
And she acknowledges him.
As the Lord.
She takes her glory, her long hair, after she's put on this costly ointment and wipes his feet with her glory.
And positions herself out of gratitude and love.
This morning at the table, we was there out of gratitude and love.
We were at his feet.
Today our topic is sympathy.
And those here that have had.
Times of sorrow and times of trouble and tribulation.
And we have to be able to go to the feet of Jesus.
Craving for sympathy.
To our high Priest.
That knows what we're talking about. Turn with me to please to Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews chapter 4 in the very familiar verse 15.
For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched.
With the feelings of our infirmities.
It has the word not in there twice, so it's never saying. We do have a high priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities is what that means.
But in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
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He's the only one who could set.
On the seat of grace.
And we come to him.
At his feet to have him.
Feel our feelings.
Wanted him to sympathize with us.
Our great high priest. Why can he do that? Because he's been there, hasn't he?
He's experienced it and he's up in heaven and he understands our weeping and our tears here on earth.
And so we see the latter part of verse 33 in our chapter.
He groaned.
In the spirit and was troubled.
Loud lamenting.
He groaned in the spirit.
Because he saw her weeping.
And he felt what she felt.
Later on in verse 35 when it says Jesus wept, it was a quiet silent weeping with tears flowing down.
But in verse 33, he groaned in the spirit, was troubled. He had compassion.
Loud lamenting because he understood the one who was at his feet.
It's beautiful to see the Lord graciously answer Martha's questions, isn't it? Martha should have, perhaps if she had the quiet confidence and entered into the heart of and purposes of the Lord Jesus. More, she should have perhaps sat still in the house with Mary and waited for the Lord Jesus to come. She perhaps shouldn't have. Seems almost like a rebuke she gives the Lord. If you've been here, my brother had not died.
She perhaps was a little out of turn or out of line, not in the right spirit. In saying that, I think it's so beautiful to see the Lord Jesus so graciously speak to Martha. He loved Martha and He took her up where she was in her soul. And first of all, brethren, I believe there's a great lesson for us to learn in a practical way in this. Sometimes souls come to us and maybe we feel they should have entered into things a little more.
You see, that person's known the Lord for many years. They should understand things and they should know the Scripture. And haven't they been through these things before? Not the way we tend to feel sometimes. And maybe even rebuke souls who are going through a real struggle. Lord Jesus didn't do that. And again, so often you find in situations like this in the gospel is when precious truth comes out for our learning and instruction.
Again, to go back to Nicodemus, we use in the gospel that verse John 316, one of the perhaps the best known and well used gospel verses of all time. But it was the result of Nicodemus asking some questions and the Lord taking time to graciously answer them. When the Lord Jesus said in the 14th chapter, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. That was the result of a question from a disciple who really perhaps should have known the answer, but he asked the question and because of the Lord's gracious answer.
Another precious truth is brought out with Martha here. There's some precious truth brought out too, in connection with death and resurrection and so on.
I want to just point out in connection with the Lord's answer here, that we spoke about sleep being taken up in three different ways, but death is taken up in three different ways in Scripture too. And if we don't understand that, we might be confused as to what the Lord Jesus was saying to Martha here. Death sometimes is taken up in connection with the physical. As the Lord had said, Lazarus is dead.
That he physically died and death in Scripture always denotes the separation of two things, and physical death is explained to us in the body without the spirit is dead. When the spirit leaves the body, the body is physically dead and it's buried usually. But then there's also just to skip over there's also.
There's the second death, that is, there's.
Eternal separation of a person in a lost eternity from God. So awful will it be after the Great White Throne Judgment to be eternally separated from God in the lake of fire. It's called the second death. But then there's also one who's dead in trespasses and sin. There's spiritual or moral death. Your iniquities have separated from you, from your God. Sin separated man from God, and man is viewed as dead in trespasses and sin with no ability to take one step toward God.
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And so those who hear the voice of the Son of God, they hear and they live here in your soul shall live. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so this is these aspects of death are here in our chapter. There's physical death. There's one who's dead in trespasses and sin, and they hear and they live. But then there's one who.
Is going to rise again at the third day, that rise again at the resurrection, one who's physically in the grave, they're going to hear the voice of the Son of God and they that are dead are going to rise.
The Lord explained earlier on in this gospel, so it doesn't mean that a person who's saved isn't going to physically die. They may physically die, but they're.
They're going to live again, they're going to live in, they have eternal life and they're going to be raised. The body sleeps. It's a temporary state of things. And as he explained to Martha, they're going to rise again in the end of the gospel when he said.
Of John if or to Peter, of John if I will, that he tarry till I come. What is that to thee follow thou me. Some of them thought that he wasn't going to die, but it tells us very plainly there that's not what he said, that John wasn't going to die. And we know John did die in the natural course of things in exile for his testimony. So a believer dies physically, their body sleeps, but they have eternal life and they're going to hear the shout and they're going to be raised again. That body is going to be raised again at the resurrection. So it's helpful to see these different contexts and perspectives, perspectives, perspective of things.
I just want to go back to a couple of the comments that you made about sitting in the house. And I just point out that in Mr. Darby's French translation that he renders it that she continued sitting where she remains sitting. And so it reveals her character and it reveals her confidence in the Lord. And so sometimes there is that which comes into our lives in connection with trial and instead of continuing.
In the path of confidence with the Lord there may be that tendency to arise and to try to.
Just to change our circumstances, but you'll notice and as often being noticed that Mary didn't rise up until it says in verse 31, when ** *** knew that the Lord had called her. It says Mary that she rose up hastily and went out. And so she was waiting for a call as it were from the Lord. She was going to wait.
In the house, and she remained seated, and when she got the call, she understood that the heart of the Lord had met her in her need, as it were, and had called her to comfort her. Perhaps we know that she asked the same question that Martha did, but the difference was that she wept, she wept. The heart was really engaged and it touched the Lord, and she came, and perhaps a different tone of voice, a different.
Way with the heart touched with Christ. And so, you know, we just take that for a lesson. We often would come into circumstances and we pace back and forth. We pace back and forth, we make phone calls, we do all kinds of things, but to just remain in the place of faith and confidence in Christ is really what we need.
Also needed to in this trial God saw need in her heart.
We saw that Martha needed to know himself better.
And so he what he's doing isn't just with Lazarus.
It isn't just to restore to them a brother into the household and make them happy in doing so and so on, but he had a purpose of love in his heart toward them that was going to enlarge them.
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Was going to be to their everlasting benefit. And in the case of Martha.
His conversation with her when he talks to her first and alone, her thought is, well, even now you're here now he wouldn't have died, but now you're here. And well, Lord, whatever you ask, God will do it. She didn't have the confidence that God do it for her, but she did that God would do it for the Lord. And so you can ask God for me and he'll do it.
And his answer to her, He says.
Thy brother shall rise again that satisfy her, no.
No, that didn't satisfy her. She wanted action. She wanted it now. She wanted a specific and certain result.
That's what would satisfy her. She had an agenda, if you will, as to the right solution to the problem. She just didn't have the power to carry it out.
And so she turns to the Lord and said, well, Lord, if you've been here, you would have, you could have asked God and it would turn out differently than it has. So the Lord says to her.
Your brother will rise again. She says, well, I know that the Jews knew that there was going to be a resurrection, but that was a long time in the future. That was in the last day that wasn't going to be today's solve today's need. They wanted Lazarus now and so that wouldn't that wasn't a satisfactory answer to her and the Lord says to her in the next verse.
He says I'm the resurrection.
And I'm the Light. And that's what she really needed. She needed to know who he was, as she hadn't known him before. She needed to know that the Lord himself was really the answer, not something only that He might do. And often I believe in trial. The Lord is drawing us to himself, that we might know himself better.
And to know him, to learn his heart, to learn confidence in his person.
Is often a better answer than what our natural hearts would.
Crave in a solution.
And so the Lord often gives us something better than we wanted.
In the sense that we really wanted something else, but as it was for her.
He says whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die, and yet he has to push the point home to her, he said. Do you really believe it?
Do you really believe what I say to you as to who I am? And sometimes the Lord has to push on our hearts sometimes and say to your heart, Donald, do you really believe it?
Do you really believe it? Do you really believe in me?
Do you have confidence in me regardless of when or how or what I choose to do?
And do you see me as the resurrection? Here's death, the kind of the ultimate separation as to this light?
And yet, he says, Do you believe in me? It's the resurrection.
The always ultimate answer to everything himself.
Of life. But she didn't know Him as the source of life, and she needed to know both. Not the grace of God to just bring us into that knowledge and to enjoy the person of Christ in that way, both ways.
So both Martha and Mary knew where to turn in their extremity. They may have had different understanding and intelligence as to what was happening and as to the purposes of God and the person of Christ and so on. But isn't it beautiful to see that they both knew where to turn? And isn't it wonderful you might see a believer and maybe they have very little understanding of the deep things of God or the person of Christ and.
The Bible, but they know where to turn in their extremity. And I'd rather see a Christian who is very simple in the things of God or the things of Christ. And yet when the problem comes, they know where to turn. And so Martha and Mary, they both go to the Lord Jesus. And maybe there's someone here and you say today, well, so again, there's a lot of things I don't understand and I wish I could enter into, but what we want to encourage you is to go to the person.
Maybe you don't have all the answers and maybe you won't even get all the answers in that way, but your heart will be satisfied in the presence of the person. And not only that, but I'd just like to say this too, in connection with our comments in this reading, that we will never have peace and rest of soul in the circumstances of life without submission. Remember, one time because of a very tragic event, I had the solemn responsibility.
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Of standing up and taking the funeral of a young brother in Christ.
And as I stood up to take that funeral, I looked into a sea of several hundred faces and a good percentage of them where this young man's peers, young people from all over North America.
And I said to these yet to those in the audience, I said, I realize that many of us have come here today looking for answers. And I said I don't have the answers as to why this was allowed. But and I said, even if God came in and gave us all the answers now as to why this event was allowed, I said without submission.
We still wouldn't have peace even if we had all the answers.
To why God allowed this circumstance without submission to his will and a sense of His having allowed it.
We wouldn't have peace and I believe, brethren, sometimes we even get the answers. The Lord allows us to see why.
He allowed this trial in our lives and we still wonder why we don't really have settled peace in our soul. As to the circumstance, well, I suggest, at least for my own soul, that it's often because I haven't fully submitted to his will. You know, it's interesting in the life of the Lord Jesus that the only time you read of him rejoicing is in Luke's gospel, and it's at a very difficult time in his pathway. It's a time when he had to look around at the cities he'd come to bless and pronounce judgment on them.
Because they'd rejected him, Did he feel it? Indeed he did feel it. But he says that same hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit. You say, why? How could he do such a thing? Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Perfect submission to His Father's will brought a joy and delight even at a difficult time, because He could. He knew the import of that verse that says joy. Us weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
He knew there was a purpose and that God had it all in control, and submitting to that to His Father brought a perfect joy and delight, even though he felt it so very keenly. And brethren, if there's going to be joy in our circumstances, if there's going to be peace and rest in our souls, it is not going to necessarily come with just the answers. It's going to come with submission to His will.
She was singing #9 in the appendix #9 in the appendix.
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Sainsbury's.
Congress, your heart.
Read a couple of verses in Ephesians chapter one.
Ephesians chapter one and verse 10.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of poems, he might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him.
Verse 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory.
And then in the second chapter of Ephesians.
In verse four, but God, who is rich in mercy.
For his great love wherewith he loved us.
Even when we were dead, and sins have quickened us together with Christ, by grace are ye saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places.
In Christ Jesus.
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace.
In his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.