Gooding, David: 15 - On the Road with Jesus

Welcome once more. It is very good to see you. With that, we come to our se- se- two sessions this evening, and in the first session, we return to chapters eleven and twelve of the Gospel by John. On our last session, we introduced ourselves to the whole of chapters eleven to twenty one, noticing that these chapters comprise the last journey that our Lord Jesus made to Jerusalem on the occasion of a Jewish national festival. The last journey then that he made to Jerusalem and back again to Galilee. The peculiar thing about this last fourth journey to Jerusalem and back again is the length of the book that John devotes to it, no less than eleven whole chapters. And we naturally ask, why does John give such a large portion of the gospel over to this last journey? Two reasons come to mind at once, surely. It deals with the topic of death. Death is man's final and greatest problem and challenge. Unless we mortal men and women can come to terms with the fact that we are mortal, and most of us will one day die, then we shall not come to terms with the true significance of life. People who try to live by putting their head in the sand and forgetting that one day they are, they shall die, are unable to come to life's chief. It is therefore for this reason, among others, that the last journey in the gospel by John, insofar as John deals with human need, deals with the ultimate problem of human life, and that is death. Secondly, of course, John spends these large numbers of chapters on this final journey that our Lord made to Jerusalem and back, because these chapters deal with the greatest and most significant event in all the history of mankind, the death, burial, resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Who, by that very death and resurrection, has rendered ineffectual him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and thereby delivers them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. Blessed freedom indeed. He delivers us by his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. He delivers us from those terrible bondages which the prince of this world had brought us into. And tonight, once more, in our imaginations, we shall stand by the grave of Lazarus amidst all its sorrow. Catch a whiff of the stench that comes from that dead body when the stone is rolled away. See Lazarus called by the majestic, life-giving voice of the Son of God. See him called from the grave, but not only so. We shall hear the command of the Lord Jesus to his friends and neighbors. As Lazarus came forth, bound still with his grave clothes, we shall hear our Lord's command, loose him and let him go. You'll see our Lord delivers people from the bondage that comes through fear of death. I grant you that Lazarus's raising from the dead wasn't the full resurrection that Lazarus one day shall know. Some people use the term resuscitation because Lazarus, though raised from the dead, would one day die again. But I beg you observe that the next time he died, it would be with a very different attitude, wouldn't it, from the first time? The first time, perhaps along with his sisters Martha and Mary, when they concocted their letter to the Lord and sent it saying, he whom thou lovest is sick. The first time he came to die, perhaps he hoped against hope, against hope, against hope that the Lord would come and he wouldn't have to die. But through his tremendous experience of our Lord as the resurrection and the life, when he came to die the second time, do you not suppose that he would come to death with a very different attitude, confident in our blessed Lord? And what is more, from the time that he came out of the tomb to the time when he died again, that bit of his life, he wasn't to be hampered with the grave clothes all the time. Not to go around saying, well, I died once, I think I'll keep all of these rags around me now because I shall need them again, you know. It'd be a funny way of going through life, wouldn't it? With grave clothes hanging around you in case of eventual need. No, no, no. Lose him and let him go, said Christ. So the rest of his life might not be spent in fear of death, but might be spent in view of a glorious resurrection and the eternity that lies beyond. Hence then the, uh, length of the record that John devotes to this last and final journey dealing with the topic of death. Tonight we look more closely at chapters eleven and twelve, and first, perhaps a good place to begin would be to look at the raising of Lazarus as one of signs in the Gospel of John. Very early in this, uh, session, when the snows of January were around us, we, uh, thought about the series of signs that we come across in this book. Here is the seventh of those signs, and some people think the greatest, the raising of Lazarus. We have to ask the simple question, what was the raising of Lazarus a sign of? You'll see, if we take some of the other signs, for instance, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was a miracle. It multiplied literal bread and fish and fed people's literal stomachs. But it was a sign of something bigger, wasn't it? The multiplied literal bread was a sign that pointed to the bread from heaven, something infinitely more important. Similarly, the giving of the blind man's sight in John chapter nine was a physical miracle, but it pointed to the greater miracle, the impartation of the faculty of spiritual sight to people that have never had it before, that impartation taking place when they come to believe in the Savior. These miracles, then, are signs of bigger things. The raising of Lazarus was a sign, then. In itself, it was a miracle because it brought back Lazarus from the dead. But it was more than that, wasn't it? It was the sign of something bigger, and the answer is easy, of course. Lazarus's raising from the dead was, as we have already noticed, uh, a resuscitation to life, ordinary life in this world. One day he would die again. His raising, however, becomes a sign of the great resurrection of the dead. That shall happen in a coming day, when people shall not be raised simply back to life on this world, eventually to die again, but shall be raised with glorified human bodies, able, of course, to visit the physical world, themselves still physical in some sense, like our Lord's risen body, in which he was able to eat honey and fish. A body that could be felt and handled, a body composed of flesh and blood, yet a glorified body, and not any longer restricted to the limitations of life on earth as we know it. The raising of Lazarus, then, a sign of the bigger thing. We have to ask then tonight how many of the details in the actual miracle are meant to be significant. And here I tread, uh, upon very thin theological ice, or if not theological ice, exegetical ice, you'll see, and hermeneutical ice, and all other such perilous things, you'll see. Aware of those who affirm that one must not be fanciful in the first place, and secondly, uh, that a story in the gospel has one meaning and one meaning only, a parable has one meaning and one meaning only, and a miracle ought to have one meaning and one meaning only. Only many miracles don't obey the rules for which I am not responsible, you'll say. So, in the first place, as we have already noticed on previous occasions, one very big signifi- uh, one very big detail in the miracle is exceedingly significant at the higher level, and that is that in order to raise Lazarus from the dead, our Lord had to come to Bethany. Why is that significant? Well, cast your mind back ages ago when we were considering the second sign in the gospel, which was the healing of the nobleman's son, and that one of the major points of that miracle was this, that our Lord could heal at a distance and save a man from dying, and he could do it at a distance, you see. So when we begin the story of Lazarus's illness and eventual death, our Lord, we read, was elsewhere, and the sister sent him a note saying, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick, expecting our Lord in love to respond and to come to Bethany and, and heal Lazarus so he didn't die. And we, with our expert knowledge of the gospel behind us, say, well, Martha and Mary were good souls, but they didn't know what we know, of course, that our Lord could heal at a distance. He didn't need to go to Bethany. He could speak the word, and Lazarus would be. Well, he didn't anyway. He stayed where he was, you'll see. And they say, well, uh, that's very good. Presently he'll say Lazarus is healed, but he didn't. Presently he said, our friend Lazarus sleeps, meaning our friend Lazarus has died. And then added those disconcerting words, I was glad I wasn't there. And we say to ourselves, well, what difference would it have made if he, that he wasn't there? I suppose he, I thought he could heal at a distance. What does he mean? I'm glad I wasn't there. And that problem is reinforced when we come to the story of our Lord's arrival in Bethany and Mary and Martha, one after the other, come to our Lord and repeat the poignant phrase, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. Why wasn't he there? And we say, how funny, when he could have healed at a distance, but didn't. In fact, he could have raised Lazarus from the dead, s- simply by speaking of the word and remaining at a distance. He didn't do that i- i- i- either. And we gather the big significant point of this detail. When it came to the raising of Lazarus as a sign of the great resurrection to come, then our Lord had to come to Bethany, and did so come. He neither healed at a distance, nor did he raise the dead at a distance. That is surely significant. For we have the plain statement of other parts of the New Testament, that when it comes to the resurrection of the dead, our Lord will not remain upon his throne and simply speak the word and summon the dead to arise and come to greet him in his father's home. No, the Lord shall come. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. He will raise us at his coming. That also preaches us a subsidiary lesson. When our sick, when our loved ones grow sick, like Las- like Martha and Mary, we naturally send a message to the Lord. He whom thou lovest is sick. Thinking that our Lord may feel it right to hear our implied request and save our sick from dying. Sometimes he does. Now then, this story must tell us that in the end he doesn't. And I have to remind you tonight that, uh, in another seventy years, most of you will be dead as well, unless the Lord comes. This sign is here to remind us of that, so that when it happens, we know it may not be disturbed, nor our faith in Christ and in his love be undermined. He did this sign to prepare us in all its details. He is the Lord of history. Other generations wait perhaps to be saved. We would like the Lord to come tomorrow, perhaps. Hmm. Then others of us wouldn't. You'll see. We think of those we love and know that are not yet saved. And have we no concern for what future generations there may be? And if saving a few more generations means that I have to be allowed to fall asleep in Jesus, does it really matter? So that detail too is significant. Of course, when the Lord comes, he will find some believers still living, won't he? And for my part, though most theologians do not agree with me, be warned. For my part, the word that our Lord spoke to Martha seems to me to be interpretable in the following sense. He said to Martha, this chapter eleven, verse twenty five, he that believeth on me, though he die, even though he die, says the Greek, yet shall he live. And you say, what do you mean, Lord, he that believeth on me, even though he die? Do we not all die? No. I show you a mystery, says Paul, we shall not all sleep. There will be some that alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. In the last chapter of this gospel, and therefore of this section, we shall find our Lord remarking apropos of one of Peter's erratic statements, eh, concerning John the Apostle. He said, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? The saying went abroad that John should not die until the Lord came. That isn't what the Lord said, of course. He simply said, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? John didn't. There will be some who will be alive when the Lord comes. Which are you wishing for, my brother, my sister? For my part, sometimes I- I- I'm in doubt. Some Tuesdays, Wednesday afternoons, and Friday mornings, I hope the Lord will come when I'm still alive. Oh, joy and delight, should we go without dying. No sickness, no sorrow, no death, and no dying. Ah, marvelous. And then, on the other hand, I think, well, it would be interesting, you know, if you're going to fill up eternity with every possible and conceivable experience. Our Lord went through death, so why shouldn't I? It's not left to us to decide, is it? You'll say. So, he that believeth on me, even though he die, yet shall he live, the Greek verb being used in the sense of rise again. And whosoever liveth and believeth on me. The second group, those that live until the coming of the Lord, are limited, of course, to those that live and believe, not just anybody who happens to be around when the Lord comes, shall never even die. Shall be translated to the Lord's presence without dying. How much more of the sign and its details is significant? Here comes the thin ice, and therefore I put my suggestions in forms of a question. The raising of Lazarus preceded, closely preceded the coming of Israel's king, as we saw on the last occasion. Lazarus is raised in chapter eleven. The king comes in chapter twelve, riding on an ass, the foal of an ass, comes to Jerusalem as Jerusalem's great king at his first coming. And what is your mind about the resurrection, the real resurrection? Shall that not come at his second coming? At his first coming, he came, so we're told, first to Bethany, and there they made him a supper. And at that supper, there was Lazarus, who had been dead and raised. There was Mary and Martha, who hadn't died, now reunited. And they made him a supper. Ha. You say, here you go with your fanciful interpretations. Well, forget the Gospel of John completely. Scrub it out of your mind. There shall come the marriage supper of the Lamb. Oh, what a joy it will be. The dead raised, and the living changed and caught up together with them to celebrate the beginnings of eternity with the bridegroom of our hearts. Mm. You say, but that that was spoiled anyway because of old Judas and his criticism. Oh yes, at best it would only be a prototype, wouldn't it? And you're not bound to accept that bit. And perhaps you oughtn't to go to the stake for belief in it, but just to ponder it in your quieter moments. And anyway, after, after that, uh, supper, Jerusalem was all agog, you see, because they'd heard there'd been a resurrection. How not? They came out in their thousands, so there were already hundreds coming with the Lord Jesus down from Galilee and over the mountains into Jerusalem. There was that great throng, and they came with him as he ascended the, the mountains over the top and down towards Jerusalem. And then a great crowd of people came out from the city, says John, to greet him because they'd heard there had been a resurrection, and the king came. Ah, yes, and may I not say his first coming was but stage one of the great coming, prototype of it too, when the king comes back again. And I like the exasperation of the old Pharisees. I suppose that's not a Christian thing to like, but yes, it does warm the blood sometimes, it will say, to see a few Pharisees getting frustrated. They said in dismay, you avail nothing. The whole world has gone after him. Well, yes. So it seemed to them for five minutes. Uh, the popular enthusiasm for our Lord at his first coming soon waned, and with a day, within a day or two, they would shout for his crucifixion. Ah, but, ah, but, that first event foreshadowed the second, and when he comes, God's glorious king, then it shall be true that not only shall Israel welcome her Messiah and look upon him whom they pierced, but the whole world shall be his. So then, we've done our duty, have we not? By the story of the raising of Lazarus as a sign. Now, just a closer look at the detail of chapters eleven and twelve, and for that you may care to consult the second sheet of paper that you were given. This piece of paper is entitled Gospel of John, some leading ideas, chapters eleven one to twelve fifty. You will notice that central to it, after a column of preliminaries, we have the journey to Bethany and the departure, the departure being explicitly mentioned in the text. And then there comes a column of analysis standing over against the column of preliminaries. Think for a moment, will you, with me of the functional relationship of the journey to Bethany in the departure to the story of the journey to Jerusalem and the departure. What is their functional relationship? It surely is this, among other things. The death and raising of Lazarus in chapter eleven demonstrated that Jesus was the resurrection and the life before chapter twelve tells us how Jesus came to his own death and resurrection, chapter twelve, where he announces that he's going to fall into the ground like a seed. Jesus' announcement of his own death in chapter twelve is preceded by chapter eleven, in which our Lord not only claims to be the resurrection and the life, but demonstrates it by the raising of Lazarus. Now that is historically important at the ground floor level. This history, the facts of history are these. It was not that Jesus died before any claim was ever made that he was the resurrection and the life. We don't first hear of our Lord's claim to be the resurrection and the life after he was raised from the dead. John gives his word of honor in the presence of God before he closes his history book, that he is telling us the historical facts. If it were true that no claim of Christ had ever been made to be the resurrection of and the life, if it were true that that claim had not been demonstrated to be true before he died, and nobody ever heard of it until after he died, then you might have grounds for concern that this claim that Jesus was the resurrection and the life was something invented by the apostles after they were disappointed by, to them, the unexpected death of their Lord. So historically then, it is important. Historically, it's important for another reason. The Jerusalem authorities did not execute our Lord without knowing that he could raise the dead, or had claimed to raise the dead. And that, of course, is important, as later we shall see. It is historically important, therefore, that our Lord both made the claim and demonstrated it by his la- raising of Lazarus before he himself died. But secondly, the order of events is theologically and practically important, for it raises the question very vividly in the text itself. Why would the Lord, who has just demonstrated himself to be the resurrection and the life, why on earth would he go and die? Isn't that, when you first meet it, a bit odd? He could raise Lazarus from the dead. He was the resurrection and the life. Why then would he choose to die? And the answer is this, among other things, first, because it was by his dying and rising again that he broke the power of him that had the power of death. We come back, you'll see, once more to the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus, being raised from the dead, returned to mortal life in this world. Yes? It was only a sign. If that is all our Lord could do, to raise people to life back into this world and then let them die again, that would be a poor thing, wouldn't it? Resurrection is not simply raising people to life so that they continue living in this world as they lived before. That isn't resurrection either. Resurrection, if it is going to follow the pattern of our Lord's resurrection, is resurrection to life in that other world, and in that other dimension. True, our Lord in resurrection could visit our world, and did. True, he could partake in its affairs. He could be handled. He could eat food. He could visit our world. But we have missed the point of the resurrection if we do not see that resurrection for him was resurrection not simply back to the life he had had before. It was to life in that other world, that other dimension, with a glorified human body. And resurrection tells us that there is another world. Death is not the end. It tells us too that death is not a question of going to some abode of disembodied spirits mumbling away in their ghostly manner, as the ancients thought of old, you know. The ancients had the view that the dead went down below somewhere and were like a pack of leaves blowing in the wind, all dried up. And if you could, so their legends go, if you could get down to Hades yourself to have a word with them, you would have to give them a pint or two of blood so that they could, um, start coming to life a little bit and talk instead of gibbering away in a ineffectual ghostly manner, you'll see. That was the best notion of, um, o- o- o- of many a pagan. Not so in Christianity. It is resurrection of the body to another dimension of living, though connected with this one. So now let's move on to a brief, uh, survey of the thought flow of these chapters. I have called your attention to structure and to some extent to symmetry on this page. Let's spend now some moments dealing with us, uh, conducting a survey of the thought flow. And observe how chapters eleven and twelve are filled from end to end with a discussion of attitudes to death. So now, if you care to take a Bible in hand and begin at chapter eleven, we shall move rapidly through as we can. My point in this exercise is to show that the details that now follow are not just incidental details. The various, uh, paragraphs that now come will deal successively with a number of questions relating to attitudes to death. And first of all, eleven one to six. Death as a challenge to faith in the love of Christ. That is evident, and we needn't dwell on it too much. The phrasing of the sisters' message, he whom thou lovest is sick, suggests that they thought, of course, that Christ's love of them and of Lazarus would bring Christ to heal Lazarus and to stop him from dying. And when it didn't bring Christ to stop Lazarus from dying, then it led to very understandable bewilderment on the part of the sisters and of Mary in particular. Lord, if you had been here, you know, we did send you a note, and we did think you loved us, and if you had been here, but then you weren't, and you didn't come. Where stands the love of Christ now? Is that is sometimes a difficult test even for a believer. Of course, it stands as one of the biggest obstacle for unbelievers that stops them from believing in God completely. I suppose it is true to say nowadays the majority of physicists and cosmologists have come to the view that there is an intelligence behind the universe. But most of them persist in saying it can't be a personal intelligence. Why can't it be a personal intelligence? Because they say, look at the natural disasters and death. How could a God of love allow it? And so they often pose their problem in this way, do you see? That either God is almighty, but not all-loving, and therefore, because he lacks love, he doesn't use his almighty power to save people from suffering and death. Or else, God is all-loving but not almighty. So though he loves people and would like to save them from sickness and death, he can't always do it. What they find impossible to believe, so many of them say, is that God is both almighty and all-loving. And it is extreme honesty, isn't it, on the part of the inspiring Holy Spirit to move John to raise this basic human question right at the very beginning of this section. We'll see, my dear brethren and sisters, it may not trouble you. You may be so grounded and rooted in the faith that come what may, your faith in the love of God and Christ would remain unshaken. But we're none of us finished the race yet, are we? I remember an elder coming to me at one stage, why he came to me at those years ago, I wouldn't know. He told me how his dear wife had taken cancer. And when she first took cancer, they prayed together that the Lord would save her and heal her, and he said he didn't. The cancer got so bad, inflicted such terrible indignities on the good lady, that together they prayed the Lord would take her home swiftly, and he didn't do that either, he said, and she lingered on. And now she's gone, David said he, I don't know where I am. We're not finished yet, are we? And God, in his honesty, points this out. Lazarus' death and resurrection was so that we might come to believe. And their sorrow, the cloud that passed over their faith in the love of God when Christ didn't come, and how that cloud was dispelled is written for our comfort and the strengthening of our faith. Sort of thing, a similar thing before us. And anyway, you evangelists, well, if you preach to Christian folks, that's okay, but if you preach to hard-boiled atheists and agnostics, and if you preach to folks who had no faith much, but would like to believe in God, but um, before they suffered some terrible bereavement, then you will know that all your talk of God's love seems to them very often to add to their difficulty and trial. How can God as some dear lady in, in one of the letters I, we got from Russia, how can God love us? My child was ill, I told him to put his trust in Jesus and that Jesus would save him, and God didn't. How can you talk to me about the love of God? What do you say, my brothers? If God raises the problem here, it is because God has his answers, surely. And if tonight we don't, uh, examine them all in full, yet let's observe how the passage starts. We now next observe John's statement that it was the Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment. Yes, she did that subsequently. After Lazarus was raised from the dead, then she showed her gratitude and devotion and anointed the Lord Jesus. I don't think she knew at this stage in chapter eleven that one the heart sore and ache would be over. And not only so, but she would thank Christ for the very experience. It would have been that experience above all that would lead her to break her box of alabaster on the Savior's feet. And therefore, our Lord says, when Jesus heard it, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. And if you are an atheist, you'll say, so God, uh, rides to his glory, does he, on the backs of human suffering. That's what atheism says. You'll know different, of course. What does it mean that sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God? Well, to start with, of course, if Christ had healed Lazarus, they would have been very glad, but one day he would have died. So what ultimate help would that be? How much better, as we thought at the beginning, that he should allow Lazarus to die and raise him from the dead, that there might be thus born genuine solid hope for life beyond the grave and a glorious resurrection. And secondly, not only would the Son of God be glorified by his, the demonstration, uh, that he is the resurrection and the life, but they would see the glory of God that day. You'll see, or at least a, a foreshadowing of the glory of God. We stand once more by the tomb of Lazarus, and our Lord eventually says, roll away the stone. And Martha, good soul, says, but Lord, spare us that, Lord, please. By this time he stinks. And our Lord replies, said I not to you that if you should believe, you should see the glory of God? What, God bring glory out of the stench of a dead corpse? Yes, he will, sirs. That is our Christian gospel. And when we allow the sign to point us to the great coming resurrection, what a marvelous thing it is. For now, we tie the ends together a little. Resurrection at the great resurrection will not be just returning people to live here a mortal life, bound once more for the grave. God has his answer, his supreme answer to death and its stench. You'll see when Jesus came to the grave of Lazarus, he groaned. He well might, mightn't he? To see what death had done to his dear friend Lazarus, reducing him to this corruption and stench. Why death? Death is a stain on God's universe. Death is a stench where God intended nothing but fragrance. Death is the resultant work of the enemy. And what will God do about it? Oh, just not save us from dying and prolong our little lives for another twenty years. God has a bigger answer than that. See his glory. If in Adam all die, so God has an answer. In Christ, all shall be made alive. The beginnings of a new race, a new kind of human being. And that is the wonder of it, is it not? They should see the very glory of God. Oh, Martha would see it in that prototype raising of Lazarus, and Mary would see it, and her tears would be dried as they found in Christ the conqueror of death and grounds for hope in the glorious coming great resurrection of the dead. And we who have caught sight of that glory and the glory of God's program here foreshadowed in Christ. We can sing it with truth, can't we? O death, O grave, I do not fear your powers. The Lord's on high, and we in him are raised to endless glory and ne'er shall die. Death in God's universe has been the occasion for God's display of his marvelous glory. Then it is followed, uh, there then therefore because our Lord was going to use this occasion to demonstrate himself as the resurrection and the life, and help them to see a little of the glory of God in advance, so to speak. When he received their letter, he stayed in the same place. And John is careful to put it, isn't he? Now Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. When he heard that Lazarus was sick, therefore, he stayed where he was, because he loves, he loved him. And that was a bigger love, wasn't it? Daring to risk their misunderstanding in order to lead them into the greater glories of God's salvation. You'll say it was hard, hard, hard going for Lazarus nonetheless. Uh, said our Lord, do you see, to his disciples, I was glad I, he's dead, you know, I'm glad I wasn't there, so that you may believe. Lazar- uh, uh, Christ was going to use Lazarus' dead, death to lead to the faith of the other believers and disciples. You'll say that was rather hard on Lazarus, perhaps it was. Uh, my dear brother, my sister. Listen to the words of our Lord Jesus right at the end of this gospel to Peter. When you were young, Peter, he said, you girded yourself and went whither you would. When you were old, another shall gird you and lead you where you wouldn't necessarily want to go. This he spake, signifying the death by which Peter should glorify God. Peter, who was so afraid of dying that in the high priest's court he denied the Lord Jesus three times over, would one day win his battle against the fear of death, and by his death glorify God and lead to the confirming and increasing of multitudes of the people of God. Oh, listen to him in his old age. He says, I must soon put off my tabernacle. I want you, after my departure, to remember so, so, so, so, and so, so. My dear brother and sister, would you allow this apprentice old age pensioner? Just to slip in a word. If the Lord doesn't come, and he calls you by way of death, what a marvelous death thing it would be if you're dying as a Christian, unmoved Unmoved through through li- life's elderly weaknesses and infirmities, firm in your faith in Christ, if by your death you should set us younger ones an example and strengthen our faith by showing us how Christians ought to die. Wouldn't that be an added benefit? As something you could be glad of. It is not only martyrs in foreign countries under the despots of this world. It is not only missionaries getting swallowed by lions or bitten to death by mosquitoes in the ordinary home, in the indignities, are dying. My brother, my sister, we have opportunity to glorify God and lead to the strengthening of the faith of our fellow disciples. So next there comes a lesson for the servants of God in particular. Chapter eleven, verses seven to ten. Uh, after this he said to the disciples, let us go into Judea again. The disciples say unto him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbles not because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. Attitude to death. Here, the apostles felt that if our Lord did actually go again to Judea, he would incur the risk of death, and the risk was a very real one. In fact, eventually he was put to death by the authorities. Why would he go to Judea again, therefore? Notice what our Lord does not say. He doesn't say, oh, be quiet, I am the resurrection and the life, and I don't mind dying. No, no. He taught them a lesson here and graciously joined himself with them. And the lesson was this, that if through fear of death we avoid doing the will of God, we shall find ourselves walking in darkness, and we shall stumble. You'll see an example of that in this very part of John. Peter, the high priest's court, should have got up on his two feet and confessed the Lord, shouldn't he? He's so afraid of dying that he didn't. Ah, into what darkness he plunged himself by that act. That, of course, may not, uh, may not affect us in our situation. Millions of our fellow believers have had to face it. And our Lord calls his apostles' attention, therefore, to the lighting system of this world. Interesting, a lighting system of this world, is it not? Granted that God could have made it anyway, isn't it interesting to notice the way he's made it? That light that we need through which to, uh, by which to live and walk and work is not in us, is not in our world. It is ninety million miles or so outside of our world, and our world is so arranged that, uh, uh, we get twizzled around, you know. We have roughly twelve hours in the daylight, and then when, whether it's convenient or inconvenient, uh, we get no choice, we're twizzled out into the dark for another roughly twelve hours. And that it is day by day, so that every day of our lives, if we had sense to see it, and the corporation didn't light our streets, she'll say, we should see that we are helplessly dependent on God for light, to see how to walk and how to work. And when the dark comes, we are taught to trust him. Uh, the darkness will not be forever. The light will shine again. We are to learn from creation to dare trust our creator. And if he calls us in his will to go into a situation where life must be risked, then in trust in his light we must go. If we refuse and try to go outside his will, we shall find there's no innate light in us, and the light disappears, and we are plunged into darkness. Let them therefore that suffer according to the will of God, says Peter, talking of the persecution that was about to fall on the early Christians. Let them commit their lives unto God as to a faithful creator. He made our lives. He asks us to trust him in doing his will, even if it cost us life itself. Very good, we may hasten over the, uh, next stories. Their message is obvious, and I do not now take time, uh, to talk about them. We mentioned last week, when our Lord came, on our last session, when our Lord came to Bethany at length, the different reactions of the sisters. How lovely it is to see it. Christ is aware of our different personalities. Martha was made of the kind of stuff that even in these grievous circumstances, she could come and meet the Lord and discuss theology with him. True great soul, wasn't she, what ho? There are some who vote for Mary, and they commend, like the Lord did, her sitting at the Lord's feet and talking doctrine and Bible and things, shall say, and have a second place for Martha. On this occasion, it's Martha that gets the, the big place, isn't it? She must have been some woman, don't you think? Wow. Coming and talking to the Lord Jesus. Uh, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother hadn't died, you know, Lord. Uh, yet on the hand, uh, Juicy, says she, uh, I know even now that whatever you ask, God will give you. What tremendous faith in the face of death. Yes, says our Lord, your brother shall rise again, Martha. I know he'll rise again, said Martha. It's nothing new to me. I am I not a good Pharisee or an Essene or something? I, I know he shall rise again at the last day, but Lord, I was observing that's a long way off, do you see? I mean, you could have, uh, raised him pro tem, couldn't you, Lord, or- or stopped him dying, do you see? I know he's going to raise at the last day. Jesus said, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. What do you mean? I am the resurrection and the life. Not merely I will raise Lazarus, but I am the resurrection and the life. Why? Because now the great marvel of the gospel unfolds itself. It's not merely that Jesus has the power to raise the dead. If you want to be at the resurrection of the just, you must be in Jesus. It's in Christ shall all be made alive. And Paul repeats the phrase, doesn't he? When the Lord comes, it's the dead in Christ that shall rise first. Do you see we're in him? And he's risen. And we're in him. Marvelous and mysterious phrase, isn't it? But he who counts the very hairs of your head knows every gene in your body. And the marvel is we're in him. When our loved ones pass in death, they're still in him. We haven't lost them, have we? They are asleep, says our Lord. If a mother puts a tired child to bed at night, mm-hmm, because they can't stand him anymore, the rough and tumble of day, even the joys, let alone the sorrows, and the babe has got beyond its powers of endurance, and mum puts it to bed, you don't say, well, we've lost the babe. No, no. The child is about asleep. The child's brain even hasn't died. It's thinking all sorts of things in its sleep and dreaming and what have you, as is necessary. All it means is he he is no longer able to communicate with us or we with it, and our loved ones in Christ. They're not lost. They're in him. And they may hold converse with Christ, though we cannot hold converse with them, or they with us. What a lovely thing that is, isn't it? It's not merely that I will raise your brother. I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this, Mar- Martha? And she said, yes, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world. Faith undimmed in the sight of the grave. Marvelous. It's not given to all of us to be May- Marthas. Some of us are Marys. And the experience was so overwhelming, she collapsed into tears, and our Lord joined her in her grief. There's nothing wrong in tears, is there? We mustn't tell people that if they're true Christians, they wouldn't weep at the death of their loved ones. When Jesus saw Martha weeping, Mary weeping, and the Jews who came to comfort her weeping, he didn't start talking little inanities, all cheer up, and uh, after a while you'll feel better. No, none of that. His answer, where have you laid him? And he came to the tomb. Only the raising of Lazarus would eventually erase the last shreds of their grief. And so it will be. We grieve, we sorrow not as those that have no hope, but we grieve. And sometimes years afterwards, the memories bring back the tears. It will only be when the Lord comes to the graves and opens them that the last tears shall be wiped away. Then our Lord groaned again, didn't he? Because some of the Jews said how, see how he loves him, and others of the Jews said, hmm. I don't know. Well, they say this man was able to give sight to a blind. Well, how could it, how comes it that he wasn't able to stop Lazarus dying then? And they were inclined to doubt the whole claim of Christ. And Christ groaned as he came to the tomb. For the doubt that has been placed in the human heart about the love of God through the dastardly work of the devil. What a tremendous, I nearly said, heartbreak it must be for God to feel that millions of his creatures don't really trust his love. And now, as I said earlier, he comes to the grave and raises Lazarus and shows a foreshadowing of the very glory of God. Standing by the tomb, we remember the words of one Corinthians fifteen. By this time he stinks, yes. Says Paul in Corinthians, it is sown in dishonor. Death is a dishonor, you know. It is raised in glory. Let's be careful how we speak. I remember going to a funeral once. A young man in early life had been killed in an accident. The parents were heartbroken, of course. As we stood around the grave, the preacher pointed down to the coffin and said, this is victory. Surely not. Surely not. It is sown in dishonor. Death is an enemy still. It's a stain on the creation of God. God one day will demonstrate in full his answer for the coming of Christ, that the resurrection of the dead, uh, raised in incorruption, raised in glory. The raising of Lazarus caused so many multitudes to believe in Christ that the authorities held a council and determined to execute the Lord Jesus in order to stop faith in Christ going, uh, growing. They were afraid that if they let our Lord carry on doing miracles like this, all would come to believe him. It would lead to an insurrection. The Romans would come and take away their place and nation. They decided, therefore, that they must execute the Lord Jesus. And Pa- uh, Caiaphas gave the, uh, word, it is expedient that one man should die for the people and the whole nation perish not. But he spoke more than he knew, for he was high priest that year. And unbeknown to them, so far from the death of Christ stopping belief, it would be the very means by which Christ would draw all men to him. Why the ladies have just wisely disappeared to make the tea, and you can therefore be assured that tea is coming, or coffee to your toast, let's use up the, uh, five minutes of their absence by thinking very briefly now of what follows. When the council decided to execute Christ, he departed, for he wasn't going to have the council de- decide either the manner or the timing of his death. He was going to choose the time at which he should die, and the time would be Passover. Let us notice, therefore, how the, uh, uh, next part of this, the- this section, the journey to Jerusalem and the departure from Jerusalem. Let's notice how that begins. Begins at eleven fifty five. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. They sought therefore for Jesus and spoke one with another as they stood in the temple. What think you that he will not come to the feast? Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment that if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might take him. So now, let's fasten on to that, uh, little phrase. Multitudes had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. I wonder, would you remember why they had to be purified? Let me refer you to Numbers chapter nine verses six to twelve. Regulations about the Passover, and I read them to you. Numbers nine six to twelve: And there were certain men who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, unclean through death. And they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day, and those men said unto him, We are unclean by the dead body of a man, we are where- wherefore we are kept back that we may not offer the oblation of the Lord in its appointed season among the children of Israel. And Moses said, Stay you, and as I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet shall he keep the Passover unto the Lord. In the second month, on the fourteenth day at even, they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone thereof. So the reason why these people went up to Jerusalem early to purify themselves before the Passover was, among other things, they had to be careful not to be contaminated by any dead bodies, you'll see. And seeing the way up to Jerusalem was full of sepulchers, full of dead men's bones, if you accidentally, uh, knocked against a bone, you would be defiled and disqualified from eating the Passover unless you were purified in good time. That's why they went up, to cleanse away any stain caused by contact with death. And we come back to our point, don't we? The significance of death in God's universe. Why did God teach the ancient Israelite that contact with death defiled a man, and defiled him such that he could not come immediately then into the temple and worship the Lord until he first was cleansed. We don't hold that view now, do we? The doctors amongst us, if they're called out to a patient on Sunday morning early, and the patient has a heart attack and dies while the doctor is there, the doctor doesn't say, well, I can't go to the Lord's Supper this morning because, uh, somebody's died suddenly by me, does he? Well, why not? And why did is God teach Israel that death defiles, and contact with death defiles? We come back to the point I was trying feebly to make a moment ago. As far as God is concerned, death is a stain and defilement in his universe. Death is an insult to God the Creator. Death is a stench obnoxious to God, and it is God that made man in his own image. A dead corpse going to corruption is ob- as obnoxious to God, and more so than it is to us. God isn't going to have death in that sense forever in his universe, and they who approach God must be cleansed from every stain and smell of death. So he taught them in the Old Testament. And now we've come to the great Passover, and they're going up to Jerusalem to purify themselves from the stain of death. And all unbeknownst to them, here comes the great Passover, and they're going up to Jerusalem to purify themselves from the stain of death. And all unbeknownst to them, here comes the great Passover lamb, that by his death shall rema- shall remove every stain of death and grant all who believe him new life, life in Christ, the very life of God, a life that shall never die, and enable them to come to God in spirit and in truth and approach into the very presence of the incorruptible and immortal God. That is going to be the setting of these chapters. So then, let us think of the incident in Bethany. The crowds were saying, what do you think? They'd heard that the authorities had commanded that if anybody knew where Jesus was, they should, um, indicate it to the authorities so that the authorities might come and take Jesus. So the crowd stood there in Jerusalem, and they said one to another, what do you think about this Jesus then? Do you think that after all he won't come at all? That is the force of their question in Greek. Do you think he'll not come at all? Because he's afraid of dying. But when he came, an extraordinary thing happened. They made him a supper, and there at the supper, like a bombshell to his disciples, he announced he was about to be buried. So far from being afraid to come because he might die, he announced he was going to be buried himself. And that, except for Martha and Mary, maybe, was news to his disciples, for though they had been told many times, they just couldn't get it into their apostolic heads that Jesus was going to die. Nor till they actually saw him dead could they take it in. Thought he was going to, to reign immediately as king. And here was him announcing, even before he came as king, that he was coming to die and be buried. Not only to die, but to be buried. Mary has kept this ointment for my burial, says he. That's a lovely part of our gospel, isn't it? Do you preach it, my brother, my sister? Do you see? The gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Oh, but not only that, the gospel is that he was buried, as literally as you may be one day. And the gospel is that he was raised again the third day according to the scriptures. He announced he was going to be buried, and buried very soon. For when Jesus objected, our Lord said, give to the poor. Why, said he, you have the poor always with you. Me, you don't have always. He was soon going to die. And on that ground, he justified Mary's spending the ointment on him. First justification was this. Mary had put, uh, given him an anointing with nard more than three hundred pennies worth of it. A day laborer got a penny a day. Three hundred pennies, therefore, was the wage, the yearly wage of a day laborer, seeing they didn't work on the Sabbath. And she spent it all in one go on Christ. Wow. Let's put it in modern terms. I, I, I don't know how, uh, much day laborers earn these days, to see, perhaps some will inform me. Mm, uh, ten thousand? Mm, some of them earn fifteen thousand. Yeah? Fifteen thousand pounds. What? Spent on Christ all in one go. Wow. I mean, we all ought to put a bob or two in the collection, didn't we? Just imagine spending a whole year's wage on Christ at one go. Wow. But Judas said that was, that was irresponsible as anything he ever saw, you'll see. That was religion gone fanatic, you see. Or, I mean, a whole year's wages that ought to have been sold, the stuff did, and given to the poor, you'll see. What kind of a testimony will this be to the world, said Judas? You'll see, they see us wasting this when there are poor folks outside theirs hungry and haven't got enough money to buy the next crust of bread. Well, uh, there are modern Judases that talk like it too, you'll see. Actually, he didn't concern himself with the poor, really. He was a thief and held the bag and was looking to pot some of the interest, if not the capital, out of this, uh, the proceeds of this ointment, had it ever been sold. Our Lord's justification in the first place, because he was about to die and be buried. Now come, sir. I put it to you gentlemen who are expert in these things. If your darling wife were to demand a holiday in Spain in January, a holiday in Portugal in February, holidays in the Azores in March, and a holiday in South Africa later on June, and uh, various other dresses suitable to go with it, you might in the end be say, well, my dear, you know, I, I, I, I, I mean, I do love you, but um, I mean, isn't this just a bit extravagant, you see? I mean, dear me, got to make our pennies last, haven't we? But if your dear wife had terminal cancer, and you knew she would be dead in a year, and you said, my dear, is there one last wish? She said, yes, I'd like a world cruise. And the doctor said it would be okay. My good sir, what would you say then? Oh, that's too extravagant, my dear. Would you? Now, if this was the last, uh, opportunity to show your love and respect to your darling wife, you would give every penny you could lay your hands on, wouldn't you? And if the apostles had woken up to the fact that Jesus was about to die, this the last attempt they would have to show their gratitude and love and respect for the Lord, how could they have found it in their heart to criticize him? Second, she's kept it for my burial. This was going to be the death, the burial that should wipe out death forever. Now come, sir, you, I appeal to you. I appeal to you this time, madam. Hm. Suppose you have a million in the Northern Bank, yeah? Sum total of your worldly wealth, one million. But, uh, you're diagnosed as having some fatal disease, and along comes somebody that can cure you and says, well, I've got the medicine in this bottle that will cure you absolute guaranteed, you see. Um, but it's expensive medicine, and I should have to charge you one nine hundred thousand for it. If not, you'll be dead in six months. What would you say? Oh, I can't afford that. Would you? I'd say, well, what's money to me if I'm dead? I mean, but if this man can cure me and it takes nine hundred thousand, well, here you are, so I'll write you a check right now. What is money compared with life? And if those apostles had woken up to the fact that Jesus was dying to deliver them forever from death, there wouldn't be anything too big but what they should give him. Isn't that so? And it has its implications for us too, doesn't it? She's kept it for my burial. Martha had begun to understand what that burial for Christ would mean and what it would do. Allow her to keep it for my burial. You say she didn't actually use it in his burial, she wasn't there. Well, no, wise woman, she wasn't. Of course she wasn't. Because instead of giving it to the poor, she now came and gave it to Christ while he lived. He wouldn't need it when he was buried. You'll see the custom of using perfume to anoint the body of your departed loved one was, in practical terms, done to overcome the stench. When Jesus, when Lazarus was put in the tomb, after a while, corruption did its ugly work. But when Jesus was laid in the tomb, he would see no corruption. That will be the end of the whole process. He will rise again. Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. He would need no ointment to mask the stench of his death. Mary, wise woman, along with Martha, had proceeded, and instead of waiting till he actually died, she used her money while she had the chance to show the living Lord how much she valued him. And in the face of all her detractors and critics, our Lord issued a command, allow her, let her. He had used the same Greek verb, or th- that's what John uses, of Lazarus. When Lazarus came forth out of the tomb, bound with his old gray clothes, ha, says our Lord, loose him and let him, let him go, no longer to be bound even by the smell of death, nor the fear of it. Now he says of Mary, let her. Take your hands off. Let her be free. Let her, that she kept it instead of giving it to the poor against the day of my burying. Here is the command that tells us to get our values in life the right way round and in due proportion. We have a duty to the poor, and no amount of hymn singing will compensate for it if we neglect our duty to the poor. But pray, ladies and gentlemen, let us get our values right. My dear brother and sister, you really believe that Jesus died for you, to break the power of death, to bring you out of the very grave, to give you a glorious eternal life? You believe that? Of course you do. What would you not give him? What value would you put on Christ? Would anything be too extravagant? My brother, I could give you and myself some advice at this moment. I shouldn't wait too long, for now you might be dead, and then you couldn't give anything. If you're proposing to the Savior, the advice would be do it now, while life gives the opportunity. So may we get our proportions right. But there let's break off and leave it for a moment while we refresh ourselves.