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I suggest we to pick up the thoughts start at verse 14 on John 11.
John, Chapter 11.
Verse 14.
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
And I am glad for your sakes, that I was not there to the intent you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus unto his fellow disciples. Let us go also, that we may die with him.
Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about 15 furlongs off.
00:05:01
And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.
Then Martha said, 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 hadst been here, my brother had not died.
But I know that even now, whatsoever thou would 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 eye, and 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 style 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 called Mary her sister, secretly, saying, The masters, 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 goeth under 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 had been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her.
In the Spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have you lain him? They said unto him, Lord, Come and see. Jesus wept. Then said 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 lay upon it.
Jesus said, Take you away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.
Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou it's believed, thou should 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 think thee that thou served 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 had thus, when he thus had spoken, he cried the loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead came forth, found hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Should we continue to the ender? Yeah.
We spoke of it a little this morning, but I'd like to just.
Go back to a thought in connection with why trials and difficulties are allowed in our lives.
Because I think sometimes the tendency is when something comes into our life, that the trial, the difficulty of sorrow, the tendency of our hearts is to think that it's the chastening hand of God upon us.
And it may be, I'm not saying it isn't. Sometimes when we get into the presence of the Lord, we find that there needs to be chastening and correcting, and no chastening, for the time seemeth to be joyous but grievous, and so on. And whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son that he receiveth. But that isn't the only reason why God allows things in our lives and in the family circle. Sometimes, too, the tendency of our hearts is.
When we see a trial in another person's life to say, oh, the Lord is chastening that person, there must be some sin in that person's life. And brethren, I believe we need to be very careful of that if we were to back up a couple of chapters.
We would find that the disciples did that in the 9th chapter. They brought the blind man to the Lord, and they said, Who hath sinned, this man or his parents? And the Lord immediately told them that neither this man nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him.
00:10:09
Again, there was going to be glory brought to the Lord Jesus, glory brought to God, and blessing for the man.
Through a circumstance that seemed otherwise hopeless. And so there are a number of reasons why God allows these things. It may be chastening. It may be in his schooling. It may be so that we there will be fruit produced in our lives and more fruit. We get that in the 15th chapter of John. It may be simply because he's going to bring glory to himself through the trial so that either we or others may see the glory of his person. It may be simply so that there's more faith and trust.
Developed in in our souls and it's good in our Christian pathway when the Lord allows something in our lives to be exercised as to why he allowed it. Not only that when, but when he allows something in another's life that we know that we might be exercised, why he allowed it for us, not so much for them. They ought to be exercised in their own soul. But Lord, why have you allowed this in our little assembly?
Why have you allowed this in my The family circle might be not our immediate household, but some other relative. Why have you allowed this in my with my Christian acquaintance at work or whatever it might be? What do you have for me? The tendency is to look at someone else. But I believe, brethren, we get the blessing when we look at our own souls. We get into the presence of the Lord individually and say, Lord, what are you teaching me in this?
What do you have in this for me? That's when the blessing is going to arise or going to take hold. And so we find here in this chapter. Again, we alluded to it this morning, but the Lord allowed this for a reason. It wasn't necessarily that there was sin in that home or with those sisters or with Lazarus, but there was going to be glory brought to himself as the Son of God, as we said earlier.
And they're at the end of it. We're going to find there were a great many who believed when they saw the faith, particularly of Mary, but of these two sisters, and saw the power of the Lord Jesus to raise this one from the dead.
Yeah.
And, uh, sometimes when I read that, I think, uh, Paul, this flash is no better than ours.
And this trial here in this chapter was for the disciples as well. It wasn't just for Mary and Martha. It wasn't just for those who were their acquaintances there in Bethany. But if you notice the verse we are in verse 15 to the intent that ye may believe he had something to teach the disciples in this as well. And that's why I say the disciples might appointed to this and that and thought the the trial and the experience was for somebody else.
But it was also for them as well, and I say we need to examine our own hearts whenever we are in a situation or brought into contact with some trial or difficulty in our acquaintances.
Some people have suggested that there's at least four reasons for, for, uh, trials, aren't there? And one way to remember that is the four PS, Right? I think we've mentioned a couple. Maybe we should mention the others. Bob, you mentioned preventative in the case of the apostle Paul. Jim, you mentioned purgative in the case of John 15, that we might bring forth fruit, more fruit and much fruit. And then there's some others too, aren't there?
There's preparative. We get that in Second Corinthians chapter one. Just read a verse there.
Speaking of the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Well, there was prepared of He was, He was.
Preparing them through a certain trial so they could comfort another one down the road. And then there is the last. We often speak up. That would be punitive, wouldn't it? We get that in First Corinthians 11 for this reason. Summer sick and weekly and some sleep. There is such a thing in our lives and we particularly need to examine it in connection with our own lives, don't we? Uh, brother Ernie, you've mentioned a number of times how the chapter Brown used to say the older correctly, if I'm not getting it right.
00:15:22
The older I get the more I fear the government of God and there are those that say well it's not punishment but its chastisement. But one thing we do know there are consequences of.
Disobeying God and going our own way. So that much we do know.
So there's four peas that are easy to remember.
Purgative, preventative, uh, punitive, as we mentioned, and uh, pardon, preparatory, preparatory.
Hebrews, chapter 2.
And verse 14 for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death for all their lifetimes subject to ******* barely. He took not on him the nature of angels, but He put on him the seed of Abraham.
Therefore in all things, that if you fooled him to be made like unto his brethren, he might be merciful and faithful high priest, and thanks for pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted or tried, he is able to sucker them that are tempted.
2nd place uh, chapter 4 towards the end.
Let us therefore come boldly after the tone of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of peace.
Well, that's others of you comments on that either.
So just as the sisters had the Lord Jesus come to their home to sympathize and emphasize with them in their trials, well, we don't know the Lord Jesus on earth as they did. We have one, as these verses that Brother Darrell has just read to us show that he still sympathizing and empathizing with us as a man.
As our high priest at the right hand of God and I've taken great comfort from the scriptures that Brother Darryl read in realizing that the Lord Jesus in becoming a man sin a part of course, but becoming a man and remaining a man.
He fully enters into what each of us passed through and when it says he was in all points. Tempted like as we are, there isn't anything that you and I pass through.
In the path of faith and service that the Lord Jesus as a man doesn't feel. You say nobody knows what I'm going through, nobody understands me. Oh, there's one that does. As far as some other earthly person, maybe there isn't anyone that really feels it, no one that shares it with you. But just look up, come to the throne of grace. There's one who was in all points tempted like as we are. He knew what it was to be a child here in this world.
He knew what it was to be a young person, to suffer reproach, to be in contact with death, to see him. He whom thou lovest is dead. He. He felt this very keenly. There's a him in the little flock that perhaps sums this up as good as anything.
281 And I think it's the second verse says he, in the days of feeble flesh, poured out his cries and tears. And though ascended, feels afresh what every member bears. And so just as he felt it with these two sisters, he feels it keenly with you and me. He empathizes with the family that lost the little one. He knows what they're what they're going through. Maybe they feel like no one else understands.
00:20:20
They can look up and there's one whose arms of love are about them, and one who fully understands. And isn't it nicer, brethren, to have someone with us in a trial who's gone through a similar circumstance than one who can come and maybe sympathize?
But can't really empathize. You can't empathize with someone if you haven't gone through it yourself. A brother who lost his wife was telling me one time he said, Jim, you wouldn't believe. But he said after my wife passed away, more people called up and said, I know what you're going through. He said that was no comfort to me until a brother called up who'd lost his wife in a similar situation. And that brother called up and said, I know what you're going through.
He said that was a tremendous help to me because he did understand, and he said we had a wonderful talk together and comforted one another in the Lord. Well, we have one who as Darryl read to us, He was made like his brethren. He understands in all points, and his hands are uplifted with forest and sympathy and love. Is it necessary to say with this verse that it's infirmities, not sins, because not sympathize with our sins, infirmities He was.
He was hungry, He was he, he need to sleep. Those things are infirmities. He does not sympathize with your sins. Some have read that into this verse. He was tempted in all points like we are even our sins. No, it's not right. That's why and Darryl read, he's faithful and merciful when it comes to our high priest in sympathizing with our infirmities and our weaknesses in first John where it's a question of sin and his advocacy.
I'd like to just add one more verse in Hebrews to what we've read in Hebrews 11 and verse UH-12 and verse 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son, despise not the chapter thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.
So some people have suggested that anytime we have a trial, we should know immediately or figure out why we're having that trial. But I think that's going too far, isn't it? Sometimes we do know. Sometimes there's something in our lives that we need to deal with and we know it. But more often I think we don't know. But these are two things that we're encouraged to about, aren't we? One is there's a danger of despising the chastening of the Lord. The Lord brings something into our lives we need to.
Get on our knees before the Lord about it. It's a daily occurrence, isn't it? Sometimes bigger than others. But we need to be careful not to despise the chastening of the Lord. And then secondly, there's a danger of feigning under the chasing of the Lord. We say, like Cain, my burdens more than I can bear. I just can't do it. Well, the Lord won't give us a trial if He doesn't give us the strength to bear Him.
00:25:28
He went up to Jerusalem that he might get killed, right? So they thought that perhaps, I suppose they thought that's the reason he didn't go up there because, uh, he was afraid. They just stoned him. They say here, seventh verse. And after that, saith he to his disciples, let us go unto Judy again, his disciples saying to him, Master, the Jews of late sought to Stony and ghost. Thou hit her again.
And then when he decided to go, when they decide to go, then Thomas says, well, let's go and we'll die with him. So there was a lack of faith on the part of Thomas and a lack of understanding. But there was devotion. Sometimes we sometimes we shake our heads. But he was willing. But he really didn't understand. Thomas is a person who seemed to not always have the faith he ought to have had.
Because he's the one that later on said, we know not whether thou goest and how can we know the way in the 14th chapter and then at the, in the, in, uh, resurrection, he said to the disciples after they'd seen the Lord, he said, except I see, I will not believe. You know, we need to be careful, brethren, that in the trials and difficulties and circumstances of life, we don't allow our hearts to become full of unbelief.
When I was growing up, I used to hear from ministry of an older brother. It's possible to be unbelieving believers. What did he mean? Well, we speak about being believers in the Lord Jesus and we're thankful that there was a work of God in our souls. Some of us many years ago, some here a few years ago or a little time ago when we came to know the Lord Jesus. But while we have put our trust in him for salvation, so often there can if we are not watchful.
Be that sin of unbelief that comes into our lives. We often talk about doubting Thomas, but it was really more than doubt with Thomas. Except I see I will not believe. That's a pretty strong language and it seems to have started back earlier in the the Lord's pathway or his pathway with the Lord here. There's really a lack of, they might have been devotion, we'll go and die with them, but there was a lack of understanding and a lack of real trust.
In the power of the Lord. And that can creep into our lives when bitter circumstances are allowed if we're not careful.
And we need to mention that Thomas did die for the Lord, didn't he? History tells us that all of the apostles saved one were martyrs. That one was John. They through history says they threw him into a VAT of boiling oil one time and he was miraculously saved from it. But, uh, so they tried to murder him.
But all the apostles were murdered for the Lord's sake.
John.
And the 44th 41St verse says Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee without 30. I was thankful.
Well, if we look at the broad scope of this chapters, we have some again. Perhaps there's a hint there in that verse, UH-17 When Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
Perhaps that's a hint that man had been on the earth for 4000 years. And then we have what Martha says to him in verse 21. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. Well, that was the great issue. That was a question, wasn't it? Was man only sick, or was man dead in God's sight? That was a great question.
And so we know as we find out soon that he was indeed dead and he needed a resurrection life, a new creation, part of a new creation. That's a fundamental truth of Scripture and we need to get a hold of that. I just was mentioning to some between meetings about some fairly well known preachers have denied that, even though they're sound in many other ways, but they say that the gospel, the Kingdom, the Lord and and the apostles taught.
Before the Lord's death is the same as the gospel of the grace of God we have now. That's not true.
The gospel of the Kingdom, the Lord taught was a gospel that was really preaching to sick men. If they could respond, they would respond. But they didn't, and it proved that they were no longer sick, but dead. The gospel of the grace of God is preached to men who are dead in a certain sense and need a Savior.
And they stun he stunt is that man is natural moral state you stink of.
And you have to face that issue and it's not what it stakes.
And to deal with that is so important. And I really think in our gospel preaching, it's important to deal with that issue of sin because sometimes it's just glossed over. I have been rather impressed in Latin America where they don't embalm people when they die. They have to be in their grades about 24 hours later.
It's.
Beautiful odors in the room, though nothing fixed up on the body.
We we tend to try to make death not so awful bad as it really is. It is bad.
Is that and that's why we.
I was just wondering is that why today we always feel celebration of life? It's not a celebration of life is to take the edge off death that people do that it should not be.
00:35:37
14 Or as much then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
10 Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death is I think the word is a null to hit that aknow that and that brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Death is swallowed up in victory, so he that had the power of death, as they don't know, death itself has been annulled, and death will be in that coming day in resurrection. Swallow thy wonderful, but you don't enjoy that if you don't face the reality of what it what it really is.
The wages of sin is death. That's a solemn thing. And we have to be reminded that every founder of every religion in this world except one is still in the grave. There's only one who's triumphed over the grave, and that's our living Lord Jesus. Everyone else has been defeated by death.
I was gonna say that we've we're we're looking at this in a little bit di different character than we did the first meeting. First meeting, we looked at Lazarus as though he was one who has died, knew the Lord Jesus is enjoying his presence. And there's a suffering of of knowing that Lazarus has died and there's a missing of them and being thankful for the resurrection that will happen in the future day. But this is taking up a little different character that we're talking about now, isn't it? It's it's we're talking about someone with that we love.
Someone that's valuable to us. Brother. A sister.
Water and so on we work with and they don't know Christ as their savior and they're hurting and they're talking about the condition that Lazarus is in or mankind is in that for 4000 years that man has proven even though God worked with him to see if was there anything in man that God could accept.
And in the end, what did they do? They crucified God silent, they stink, they're in wrap in in filthy garment. And so this is this is really it's the emotions of of two people and others that love someone that is dead, not just asleep, but dead.
00:40:07
In trespasses and sins.
And so we, we see that, that Christ identified his heart in connection with those who are sorrowing and praying and longing and looking for that, that time. This is not a gospel meeting, but I believe that this, this is a gospel message. And I think it's a good opportunity for, uh, to at least touch on it in this aspect because there may be somebody in this room that is lost and there are those that, that.
Person that's lost.
One of the hardest things I've ever done, and I've had to do it on more than one occasion, is take the funerals of unbelievers.
And I still remember a man in his 80s who had hardened his heart to the very end, and his ten children asked me to take his funeral. They were all on the front row and they were all the Lords. Every last one of them were the Lords.
But they had no illusions as to where their Father was. But what they wanted was that the dead in trespasses and sins that were going to be attending that funeral was spiritually dead, would hear the gospel and that through it the Spirit of God would work. And they would hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that were dead would live. That's the spiritually dead who hear the Word of God. The voice of God through His Word and in divine life is imparted to them.
But what I've done in those cases in connection with what we've said is I've always turned to the book of Ecclesiastes, to the 7th chapter, where it says it is better to go into the House of mourning than to the House of feasting. For this is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. That is the physical living. And I've stressed in those cases that the person who's dead, this funeral is not for them. They're dead. They're beyond anything now, hearing my voice or any other voice.
Their eternal destiny is now fixed.
But we are brought into the presence of death, or, as Scripture says, the House of mourning.
To solemnize our hearts as to the reality of eternal issues.
And when we come to a funeral, that funeral is for two things, to comfort those who mourn if the person was the Lord, and to warn those who are still alive if they don't know the Lord. Whether the person in the coffin was the Lords or not, there still should be a warning. We talked about a celebration of life. It's a way of trying to gloss over the reality of death. We go out to a memorial garden instead of a cemetery or a graveyard. Again, it's man's attempt.
To gloss over things, to make things nice, to put a nice veneer over things. But God brings us into the presence of death. Just as he brought this family and those who came to mourn with them, He brought them into the presence of death for a very specific reason. He wanted them, on the one hand, to understand the reality of what sin had brought into the world.
I think Eric Prep quoted the verse the wages of sin is death. That's the consequences of sin having come into the world. We forget that sometimes. I need that reminder as a believer, I need that reminder when I go into the presence of, of, of death, when I go to a, a funeral. And certainly the unbeliever, the law needs that solemn warning and reminder as well. So that was one reason, not the only reason, but that was one reason why he had allowed this to take place.
And this not only affected the little household, but we find it affected the community as well in verse 19. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Again, we kind of lose the sense of this in our fast-paced, Western style, cold formality society we've we've are immersed in. But you know, when I go down to the Caribbean and South America and other places, when someone passes away, it's a community event.
Brother Kent Clawson, who's here, he was with me at a funeral couple of years ago. And that funeral was, most of the community was at that funeral. And that funeral went on at the, uh, building where the funeral was for probably 2 1/2 hours and another hour at the grave. We were brought into the presence of death. It's a reality. And the whole community, uh, uh, knew it. And so this too, was really in a sense, a community event. It was to speak.
Not only for Martha and Mary to learn some lessons, but this was to speak to the community as well. And God often allows this in communities and circles of perhaps work and school acquaintances and and neighbors and so on. And we need to be faithful brethren when those opportunities arise. We need to be faithful in presenting the realities of life and death.
00:45:29
Just say this too, about this nineteenth verse.
And I I know there's different thoughts and mourners in those days were sometimes paid and so on. But let's just take this little verse that face value the way it appears many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them. Aren't we thankful at times of loss and sorrow for the comfort of family and and loved ones? Thankful for the comfort of brethren? You know, sometimes we attend a funeral and maybe we come away and say, well, maybe they didn't even hardly know I was there or whatever.
But that's a comfort. I I've been in situations where people have come to my dad's funeral, my mom's funeral, other loved ones. And it's just the fact that they made that trip and the effort to maybe take the afternoon off work or whatever it was, that has meant a lot to me. To know that they cared and sympathized. And I'm sure those who had friends and family and brethren around them this morning appreciated. Jeff and Heidi no doubt appreciated everyone. We've missed some here because they were there.
I'm glad they were there. I'm very thankful. I commend them for that. That will be more of a comfort in the days to come to the family than they or we realize. And when there are those losses, brethren.
I think it's very good for us to be exercised to go and seek to be a comfort. Yes, it's the Lord who can reach down in the soul and give that real soul. It's in comfort. But I believe even if we haven't been through the similar circumstance, it is a comfort to be with one another and to share the scriptures.
He fell deeply because rather than we should never feel it lightly, we too should feel it deeply and wet. And a little later on in verse 38, Jesus therefore again roaming in himself, comes to the grave. He groaned. He felt the awful consequences of sin. You look around in the world, brethren, and see what's going on in the world. We really need to feel it. Thank you.
Over in Syria over 100,000 people slaughtered. I don't mean men, but women and children.
Well, there's a contrast then in verse 20 between Martha and Mary. Let me just read the verse again. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary sat still in the house. I love that.
You know, Martha is a person that seems a bit like me, always seems to need to be doing something. Maybe we consider her a multitasker. Maybe it's the kind that always had to be trying to help the situation. And what can I do to make things better?
And let's get on with life, that kind of thing. And as soon as she heard that the Lord Jesus was approaching Bethany, she ran to meet him. But I love what it says about Mary. And Mary sat still in the house. Was Mary indifferent to the situation? Not for one bit. She loved her brother just as deeply as Martha. She felt the loss just as deeply as her sister. But as we mentioned this morning, Mary had learned first of all, to sit at the feet of Jesus as a learner.
00:50:07
And having sat at his feet as a learner, she entered in more in a deeper way to his thoughts and purposes, and with perfect confidence that the Lord would come in his own time and in His own way.
And would take care of the situation. She even at a difficult time, could sit still in the house. We won't do it, but I'll just give you a little homework. Go through the scriptures sometimes and look at the various expressions such as be still, stand still, and sit still.
They're very instructive. Again, for us, in the day in which we live, the busyness and activity of life, there doesn't seem to be much time to stand still, be still.
And to sit still. But if we're going to learn the lessons in the trials and sorrows of life that we spoke of earlier.
We're going to have to learn, brethren, to do those three things. And again, I haven't arrived. It speaks to my own soul.
But there's a very beautiful verse about another lady in the Old Testament and the encouragement she got in connection with sitting still.
It's Naomi's words to Ruth. There was a difficult situation, and Naomi, who had learned some, began to learn some lessons. She said to her daughter-in-law. Ruth, sit still, my daughter, until they'll see how the matter will fall, for the man will not be in rest until he accomplished the thing this day. How could Naomi encourage Ruth to sit still at such a difficult time?
Because she knew there was a man in control, her Boaz, a picture of Christ was in control. She says Boaz is going to work it all out. He's going to bring it to fruition according to his purposes. And brethren, if I could just learn that in my own soul a little more.
It would help me to sit still even at difficult times. Now it is true. When they came and Martha came, and whether it was right or not, she came and said, The master called. There was immediate obedience. As soon as Mary heard those words, she rose up.
And she goes and falls down at his feet, but until she gets that word that the master call.
She sat still in the house and I believe it was a tremendous testimony to those who were in the house. I don't want to jump ahead, but I do want to notice in verse 45 what it says.
It says that many of the Jews. I want you to notice that which came to Mary.
And had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him. Now in verse 19, it was the Jews that came to Martha and Mary to both of them. But not in verse 45, it was the Jews that came to Mary that believed. I want to make this little suggestion, brethren.
That those who came when they saw the quiet testimony of Mary.
Sitting still at such a difficult time, that had more effect. That was more testimony to those who came and observed than Martha rushing about and trying to help the situation.
And I know in my own life, as I have observed, dear Saints of God, brothers and sisters in Christ.
Who'd gone through tremendous circumstances, things I've never been called on to pass through in the path of faith and service. And I have seen their quiet testimony, not so much what they said or even what they did, but as I have seen their quiet testimony of faith waiting on the Lord. That's what's been a blessing to my soul. That's what has taught me, at least in some measure, to learn to trust the Lord a little more. And so it was not only a blessing to Mary.
It really doesn't say that the Lord pulled Martha that called from here. It seemed to me that Martha fence that Mary could understand a little bit better and that's probably what I should say calls for varying. Another thing that's interesting here is when Martha went to meet the Lord doesn't say that the Jews followed her, but in verse 31 The Jews then.
As people were married.
00:55:15
When the 20th verse can, would it be surmising too much to say when Mary sat still in the house that she was praying in the Holy Spirit that she was? And sometimes we feel like that's treading water. You know, if one can speak for others, but you know to do something. And Martha, if you're going to do something. But you know, sometimes prayer is the most profitable thing we can do, but we kinda.
If if I'm just saying, if one can speak for others, you kind of feel you're treading water. I don't wanna spend too much time here. So. So, Barnes, sometimes we say all we can do is pray. Yeah, but the best thing we can do is pray. It's not just all we can do. It's the best thing. Whatever Mary was doing, one thing's for certain, she was trusting. And cast not away. Therefore thy confidence for us. Such as great recompense of reward.
But do we have platinums enough for?
We sang 252 five Oh.
From various cares are part 3/5.
The deep and bound and very deeply.
With no good 1.
Heavy for me shall fall.
With him in all our business now.
And all that.
When these are happy, long and kind.
Of our world, desert run and ways.
Weather.
Probably.
Have to find a place.
I'd find me all over there.
Oh my God.
Away.
And forth and prevalent.
By the day.
And.
01:00:02
Distracted me.
Ours always.
Do safely.
Now our God and our Father, that's so nice of thee to, uh, feed us these, uh, thoughts about the Lord Jesus. And so we thank thee for it. We think of what an encouragement it is and the day in which we live to have the word of God opened and to learn more about him in his less ways. So we do thank thee, our Father, and we just ask that thou would continue to bless us and.
You know, have when we have the word of God open, and may we take these things to heart. And we do thank you that we have thee in this wilderness to go with us. We thank you for this. Thank thee too, Lord Jesus, for the work that has brought us in to all the blessing that thou hast won as a man. And they're going to share it all with us.
We thank thee and thy name. Amen. Amen.