John 11 — John 11-12

0:00 All right, John chapter 11. I'm gonna read quite a large portion of John chapter 11 about the first 44 verses and then the first three verses of John chapter 12. But don't worry, I'm not going to go through every single verse in the message. But reading through it all for context. So just, as we read through this, I don't know about you, but definitively it's true for me, especially as somebody else is speaking and reading.

0:29 I can find it so easy to think about everything else other than that which is being spoken or that which is being read. So just take the time to almost envision as though you were there experiencing this as the disciples experienced it, as Martha and Mary were experiencing the conversation that they had with the Lord, as the people that were gathered around the tomb with Lazarus to just imagine the environment, the setting that they were experiencing this in as though you were there. And then let the word of God just speak to each one of our hearts. So John chapter 11 beginning in verse one. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

1:23 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to him saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

2:04 Then after he said this to after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

2:35 These things he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up. Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe.

3:05 Nevertheless, let us go to him. Then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

3:44 Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

4:18 He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world.

4:38 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister saying, The teacher has come and is calling for you. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her saying, She is going to the tomb to weep there. Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet saying to Him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

5:35 And some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.

6:02 Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was laying, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go.

6:49 Chapter 12 verse one. Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Thank you.

7:26 Let's pray. Our gracious and loving God and Father, we do thank you for the word that you have given to us. We thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and for this account that we can read of him and to learn so much about your heart toward us, about the reality and the desire of what you would have for us. And Father, we're thankful that your word is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. So Father, we pray that you would speak to each of our hearts this morning, that we would see the Lord Jesus Christ for who he is.

8:08 The one that as he himself said that through this, God would be glorified and the Son of God would be glorified through it. Father, we pray that even this morning as we consider these things, that you would receive all the glory. In the Lord Jesus' name, amen. So a long passage. Like I said, I'm not gonna go verse by verse, but hopefully at least kind of thought by thought to kind of bring us through it.

8:44 But three main points on this passage. Number one, Jesus Christ came in order to give new life because he is the resurrection and the life. So Jesus Christ came in order to give new life. The second point we're going to look at is the process in which the Lord Jesus has in order to bring about new life. Okay, so he came to bring new life.

9:17 And then we're going to look at the process in which He uses in order to bring about new life. And then lastly, we're going to look at the harmonious relationship that results because of new life that has been given. Does that make sense so far? Okay, so based on that, just a very simple outline. He came to give new life.

9:40 He's going to show us the process in which He brings about new life. And then there's harmonious unity in new life. Do you see that in the passage? Does anything strike you based on what we read through? And if not, that's okay.

9:54 Hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on that by the work of the Holy Spirit to be able to do that. Does it make sense? Do you see it yet? Now, can you imagine just how Martha and Mary felt in this time of need? That Lazarus, I mean, just go back to the very beginning of the chapter, he whom you love is sick.

10:19 Now, which is just a very, very precious statement in and of itself. Didn't need to mention that it was Lazarus, he whom you love, Lord, behold he whom you love is sick. This is how it was presented to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a beautiful impressionist thing it is because it could be said of every single one of us that he whom you love is sick. And you can imagine Martha and Mary and the perspective that they had in this moment, they felt distraught.

10:57 They felt like they couldn't do anything about this situation because he was sick and they thought the sickness was nigh unto death that what was going to result they had no control over. But they knew the one who could do something about it. And you see that this is exactly what this whole passage is about. It's about going from death into life. That which is beyond our comprehension and understanding to what God is really trying to communicate.

11:26 In every single thing you see when Martha came and then when Mary came, it says, Had you been here, my brother would not have died. Like literally in the New King James translation, I have not gone back to the Greek, the New King James translation word for word Martha and Mary said the exact same thing when they came to the Lord. Lord, had you been here, my brother would not have died. The people around the tomb, as they stood there and the Lord Jesus had come, and now again, they're all essentially operating in this worldview of being without hope, not knowing. They're grieving, they're weeping, they're crying, they're looking at the Lord Jesus when He weeps and saying, See how He loved Him.

12:08 And their response was, Could not this man who caused the blind to see save this man from dying? What's the answer to that? Could this man, the Lord Jesus, have saved this man from dying? Yes. Right?

12:26 Do we all agree with that? That the Lord Jesus could have saved this man from dying? I mean, it so reminds me of all of the experiences of the disciples. One of my favorite one, and you've probably, I don't know, but some of you may have heard me say this before, but I'm always so struck by the experience that they had on the waters with the boat in the storm. And they were frightened.

12:47 And they go to the Lord Jesus. Do you not care that we're perishing? And he goes up and he says two words or three words. Peace be still. Three words.

12:57 And what happened? Great calmness, right? Think somebody said this or prayed this in the Lord's Supper this morning, the power that He has to speak in order to be able to just do these things. This is who He is. And then they would look at him on the boat and what did they say?

13:18 What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? What manner of man is this and that all he does is need to speak the word and whatever is spoken, even as Martha would say to him, I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you. So the people and their perspective is all about death, which leads to separation, and they don't know how to resolve that. So Martha and Mary send the messengers to the Lord Jesus, and they say this, Lord, he whom you love is sick. So it says the Lord Jesus stayed for two more days.

14:26 In other words, we want Him to fix all of our problems, not demonstrate to us His power that is going to be truly revealed in what He wants to do. Murray and Martha, all they were concerned about at this point is that Lazarus was sick, and had you been here, he would not have died. He would have been healed. All the people said, surely this man who caused the blindness, he could have healed him. I mean, like all of the perspective was death is the end in the separation and then there is no hope.

14:59 What we want from you, God, from the Lord Jesus, is to fix our problems. For Mary and Martha, their present problem was the fact that Lazarus was sick. But what are your problems that you go to God for and you just want him to fix? Let me just... Not that anybody in this room has any of these sort of problems, but just to give some examples of things that I know happen out in the world.

15:31 Right? God fixed my marriage, which usually means fix my spouse because nothing is wrong with me. God fixed my children if they would only be obedient and do the things that I tell them to do, everything will be fine. It has nothing to do with me as a father and how I've led them. God fixed my finances.

15:58 If you could just take care of the situation that I'm in and remove all of my debt and take care of all of these bills and give me a better job, all of my problems will be fixed. God, fix my job. My boss my boss is just the worst guy in the world. Fix. Fix.

16:17 Fix. Can you relate to that? A little bit, maybe? I mean, you know people. I realize it's not you, but you know somebody who's...

16:30 Right? Fix. Fix. Fix. This is this is how we tend to look at the Lord Jesus Christ.

16:36 And here's the problem with that perspective of who God is. The problem with that perspective is you've removed the very core of who God and Jesus Christ is, and now it's all about what He's going to do for you rather than what He has done for you and wants to accomplish in you. I've seen so many people, I've asked testimony when I talked to various ones and this one young man said, When did you get saved? When did you first trust Christ? And the answer was, I decided I needed God in my life when?

17:14 And then filled in the blank. Now if I can be so lovingly clear, that is not salvation. That is God. I want you to fix my problem. And in light of this situation, I need you in my life.

17:33 But if we don't come to the place of recognition of the reality that we are dead in our sins and our trespasses. We are without God and without hope in this world. We have no ability to enter into the goodness and grace of God in and of ourselves that it's only through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Until we come to that place, we cannot get saved. And it's not about just receiving.

17:59 Well, you do this. I need you in my life because of this situation in my life. Well, soon as you do that, you've removed the fact that you're dealing with the fact that God is good. Because now when that situation is not resolved. What happens?

18:19 God's not good. God's not good because I asked him to fix this problem. Whatever that problem was, we went through a list of them. Whatever that problem was, we asked God to fix it. To show his power and his majesty and his might through it and he didn't do it.

18:35 Therefore, God is not good. Therefore, God is not faithful and there's no reason for me to follow him. But in reality, the gospel of Jesus Christ needs to bring us to the point where we recognize that we are dead and that his whole purpose and point of coming was to give us new life. And I believe at the very core that that's what this entire passage is about. He did not come to solve and fix problems and to heal things, heal people.

19:33 And then it immediately says, so the Lord stayed there two more days. Because he had a purpose. He had a purpose. And then you see the whole argument. So you want to go back there now, Lord?

19:46 You're ready to go? But they want to stone you as you go. In other words, they were fearful. Even the disciples were fearful of what? Death.

19:55 You want to go? You're going to die if you go there. They don't have the eternal perspective that God is trying to show them through this. Except of course, Thomas. I'm not sure that Thomas had an eternal perspective, but I'd just like to point this out as almost just a side comment.

20:13 But Thomas, the one who is known as the what? The doubter. Right? Poor Thomas. I'm also a defender of Martha, so we'll come to that in just a few moments.

20:23 So I'm a defender of all those that we like to just kind of set aside. So Thomas is one of those ones. He's just known as the doubter. But what does Thomas say here? Well, then let us go with you and we will die with you.

20:37 Now is that because Thomas had an eternal perspective? I don't know definitively. But to me it kind of shows the heart and mind of Thomas that perhaps that's what he was thinking. If you're gonna go, I'm just gonna go and fight with you. I mean, it could very simply be that Thomas is saying, Listen, man, whatever it is, I've got your back.

20:55 I'll fight with you. And if I need to die die with you, I will gladly die with you. And perhaps did not fully understand the new life that is given. So of course Martha, in this experience and the demonstration of Jesus Christ showing to them how his interest is bringing about new life, Martha, when they hear that Jesus is coming, Martha is the first one to run to the Lord Jesus. Now, how many of you have read the book, Having a Mary's Heart in a Martha's World?

21:26 A few of you. So I've never read it. So if I sound critical, forgive me. I'm only going off the title and how Martha usually gets kind of, you know And it sounds like she's... You can tell me later, Nancy.

21:40 I want to hear more about it. I've never read the book, but we always have this... I've heard lots of people talk about, I need to have a Mary's heart. I'm so much of a Martha, like that's a bad thing. I very much look at Martha and Mary like Peter and John.

21:59 Have you ever thought about that? Like Martha and Mary are the female versions of Peter and John. Martha sometimes just does not know when to keep her mouth shut. Yes? What do we say about Peter?

22:16 Peter doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. I mean, who else in scripture did the Lord Jesus say, get thee behind me, Satan. Right? Just not totally maybe thinking through all of the implications of what they're about to say. But yet their heart was to do what?

22:34 Run to the Lord Jesus. When you think about Peter was the first one that ran there. Sure, John came up afterward and the first one to go into the tomb. But Peter arrived at the tomb first. On the boat in John chapter 21, as they were there and they realized it was the Lord Jesus.

22:54 Now, of course, John, because he's like Mary, when he heard the voice of the Lord said, It's the Lord. It's the Lord. But then what happened? Did John dive into the water? No.

23:08 Peter did. Plunged. I love the New King James Version there. He plunged into the water. Part of me thinks that Peter actually thought he'd be able to walk on water to get the Lord Jesus that day.

23:19 But it says he plunged, so I'm going to assume he just dove right in. But this is what Peter did, and Martha did the exact same thing. Ran to the Lord Jesus and then had this exchanged. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

23:58 When Martha was grumbling and complaining to the Lord Jesus saying, See, you see I'm doing all this work, are you not gonna tell my sister to come and help me? Martha, you're so encumbered about with so many things, you're so busy, but she's chosen the better part, the needful thing. One thing is needful right now, and she's chosen the better part. What was she doing in that moment? Mary, what was she doing?

24:25 Listening. Sitting at his feet, listening. Right? Now, our minds, I think we often immediately think that's when Mary was at the Lord's feet worshiping and pouring the perfume and all the rest on His feet. But that wasn't.

24:38 She was listening to His word. Yes? I don't know. I don't know about you, but when I read verse 24, this shows to me what? That Martha also was listening.

24:55 Martha was also listening. Your brother will rise on the last day. Oh, know brother, or I know that my brother will rise on the last day. Or your brother will rise again. I know that he will rise on the last day.

25:06 To me, shows up Martha, though encumbered about with so many things, yet she was in fact listening to the Lord so that she could say that. Let's not be so harsh on Martha and let's not be so harsh on the Martha's that we know in this world, and we'll come back to that when we get to John chapter 12 in those first few verses. So this experience that we go through in time is escaping us. So here, this is what he's saying. Now Martha is still missing the point, though, so he kind of wants to bring it down to real clarity for her.

25:40 Your brother will rise again. I know that he will on the last day. Martha. Now listen to these words. Like each one of us, listen to these words.

25:54 This is what he says to each one of us. Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. The embodiment of this idea of resurrection, embodiment of new life is all centered in the person of Jesus Christ. This is not just some future event that would happen, but you trust in Jesus Christ and you now have new life.

26:27 Why? Because he is the resurrection and the life. And he goes on to explain, Though he may die, he will live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

26:40 Now another example of Martha being just like Peter. What's her response to this? Do you believe this? Yes, Lord. I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world.

26:51 Does that sound familiar? Matthew chapter 16, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter's testimony of who Christ was. Thou art the Christ. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.

27:09 Next week we will be celebrating that whole idea on Easter, the celebration of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came into the world to go to the cross for sinners, to take the penalty that all of us deserve, the wrath of God that we deserve because of our sin against a holy and righteous God. But he did not stay in the grave, he rose from the dead because he is the resurrection and the life. God did not come to this earth in order to just fix all of our problems and make this life better. God came to this earth through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to give us new life. If there's anybody in here this morning that has not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for new life, for the forgiveness of sin, for salvation, this is the message for you.

28:10 But for those of us in this room who have trusted in Christ, who have received forgiveness of sin, who do know what it means to be saved and in a right relationship with God, this message is for us. That he has given us new life. The purpose of our life now should be totally holy up to him. We are to die to self, die to sin, die to our past in order to be holy and totally given over to him. He wanted us to die, to die to self, to die to sin, to give us new life so that we can live unto God.

28:51 Galatians two twenty. I've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And now the life that I live in this flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Christ came to give us new life. Now, how does He go about that?

29:30 The first one was remove the stone. The second one was Lazarus come forth. And the third one was let him loose or what was it? Loose him and let him go because he was wrapped up with a grave clothes, right? This is the process that is used to bring about new life.

29:52 Now, we all would agree, I don't know if you've ever heard a testimony, somebody will say, So and so saved me. Now, what they mean by that, they didn't articulate it very well. What they mean by that is so and so led me to the Lord. But we can get confused sometimes. So and so saved me.

30:13 So Bob, I'll just use Bob because he's there and he's so handsome. So I could say Bob saved me because Bob led me to the Lord. And say Bob saved me that day. Well, no, Bob didn't save me. There's only one person that can save, and that's God through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

30:34 Right? You're with me? The question is then, what part do we play in the process of those being saved? So the first command was remove the stone. And to me, this is a picture of the work that we do in evangelism in order for people to be able to be saved.

30:56 Does that make sense? Remove the stone. The Lord Jesus, I think, could have in some way called the stone to just be rolled away. He could have somehow gotten Lazarus out of the grave without the stone being moved. I have no idea.

31:11 But he chose very specifically to have the people that were standing by to remove the stone. And to me, this is the part of the process that we play in evangelism. Our goal, our role is not to save anybody because we can't save anybody. The only thing that we can do is make it possible for people to hear the call of the Savior in order to come forth. So the first command, remove the stone, the work that we do in salvation.

31:46 And even Martha, poor Martha, again, I mean, really, I'm a defender. But again, she speaks without thinking, Lord, do you really want to move the stone? By now, after four days, it stinks. I think the King James says stinketh. It stinketh.

32:06 And unfortunately, I think Martha's heart's not much different than yours and mine. That perhaps the reason that we have a hard time getting involved in the work of evangelism is because we're afraid of the stench that might come from those who need to get saved. Does that make sense? Like we don't wanna go into different cultures and experiences and into different neighborhoods than we're comfortable and familiar with because it's going to bring a whole host of problems. And quite frankly, if we were just like Martha, we'd say the same thing, it stinks.

32:41 Why remove the stone? Well, why remove the stone is because Christ came in order to give new life. And that goes to every single person on this earth. And he wants us to be part of the process. Remove the stone so that what?

32:57 The second command could be heard by those who are dead. Now you know, you've heard it said before when Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. He didn't just say come forth because had he just said come forth, the whole multitude of dead people would be coming out. But it was very specific so that Lazarus would be the one to come out. And likewise, I dearly beloved, I say that this is exactly, I believe how the Lord Jesus calls.

33:24 He knows every single one of us by name. As I said at the very beginning, they did not need to say that Lazarus sick, he whom you love is sick. And yet he knows us by name and he will call us by name and say, come forth. I have come, the Lord Jesus says, to give you new life. Come forth.

33:47 You can know that life and that experience and come out and come unto God. So Jesus Christ, the voice of God, calling him out brings about salvation. And the third command in front of this tomb, after Lazarus comes out, he's completely, how he walked out, I have no idea being completely wrapped up in those grave clothes. But now the part that he has us play is the part of discipleship and sanctification in the new person that's been given new life. Loose him, let him go.

34:22 He's got grave clothes on him. He's still gonna stink a little bit when he comes out of the tomb, even though he's been given new life because he responded to the call of the savior. But each one of us have a responsibility as brothers and sisters in Christ to this new creation, to be part of the discipleship process, which includes loosing the grave clothes, getting those things off. The question that you can contemplate a little bit for yourself is do you have any grave clothes on still? Like I do.

34:54 Like I would expect that we all have some that we haven't been completely perfectly sanctified yet because in that day when we shall see Jesus, we will be perfect. We will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. Until that day, there are some grave clothes that are still coming off. And that process that the Lord Jesus tells these people around to remove those grave clothes is I think the process that you and I play in discipleship and coming alongside. I think too often we can look around at people and we can see where they're at and maybe we get frustrated.

35:36 We see new young believers, maybe older believers that are immature. And we just wanna go and like bang them on the head and say, what's with you? What's going on? Instead of having the heart of the Savior and recognizing that in reality, these are just grave clothes. They need help to bring them off.

36:05 This is why He came. The process in which He brings it about new life includes us both in the evangelism and the discipleship. And the third point is you have harmonious unity when new life is given. Now, I'm personally, I can't sit here and give you a chapter and a verse to be able to prove my next statement, but I don't think Lazarus is the only one that was given new life that day. Like Lazarus literally definitively physically received new life.

36:36 But I think Martha and Mary received new life. They finally came to a recognition of who Jesus Christ really was. No longer just sitting at the feet and listening to the words that he said and saying, well, this is a great prophet who can do many mighty things and whatever he asks of God he can do. But in reality, recognizing him for who he is, which is the giver of life. So now when they do this and they're gathered together six days before the Passover in their home, and what does it say?

37:02 There, they made him supper. Lazarus sat at the table with the Lord, Martha served, and Mary was at the Lord's feet worshiping. But there they made him supper, but who was serving? Martha was serving, right? But there, they have, have I emphasized that enough?

37:30 Harmonious unity in the body of Christ when new life is given. Now Martha's not complaining and saying, well, Lord, why don't you tell Mary to come and help me in the kitchen to get this done? There they made him supper, even though in this case Martha was the one that was serving. But even more beautiful than that, many of you I'm sure have heard these stories or these thoughts around Larry Lazarus. Larry is probably a better nickname than like lazy, but you know, although lazy might fit here.

38:07 So each one of them, you have Lazarus, you have Martha, and you have Mary, each one of them doing a different thing in this little account. Each one of them just being a beautiful picture of a witness of who Jesus Christ is and the testimony that we can have and really an example to us and what our life should look like. Now with Lazarus, I know what several of you are thinking that, oh, yep, typical man just sitting at the table while the women do all the work. I don't know, maybe Lazarus helped clean dishes afterward or something. You have Lazarus, the one who was just physically resurrected from the dead, what's he doing?

38:46 He's sitting at the table reclining with the Lord. Just being with the Lord. So if I'm gonna give Ws, which is what I do for this particular thing, it's Lazarus is just walking with the Lord. The other day I'm driving to camp. This isn't a side story, so you can show me some grace.

39:08 And I'm like, you've probably heard this before. It just became a much bigger reality to me as I was driving to camp the other day. Like if we lived our whole lives assuming the Lord Jesus was literally sitting right next to us, how would it transform the way we talk, the way we act, the way we do all of these things? When we have to make a decision and we say, well, I'll pray about that. And what we mean is, well, later when I go to pray, I'm gonna pray about that.

39:35 Mean, wouldn't it be better to like, I gotta make a decision. Almost like, Lord, what would you do? Right? And if we're being like Lazarus and just reclining at the table, sitting with the Lord, we're walking with the Lord daily, that that's part of what we're doing. It's just this very natural relationship.

39:53 It would just be like the Lord was sitting there with us in every situation. We could just turn and say, Lord, what would you do in this situation? I wanna know more about you. I wanna become like you. I want to experience this life through you.

40:26 The demonstration of who God is through this worship. The beautiful thing about that, of course, as she's doing that, she's putting out this fragrant perfume. It goes on to talk about Judas wanting to sell it and all the rest, but ignoring that passage for right now, like the whole room is gonna smell of that fragrance. Like even as we gather in the Lord's Supper and we share these thoughts and we sing these songs and we pray, the whole room is smelling of the fragrance of every thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. But even better than that, she used her hair to wipe his feet with the fragrant oil.

41:08 What happened when she went from that place as she walked through the town? The fragrance of the oil in her hair would go with her, and everybody would know the result of the worship that she was experiencing. All three of these, our walk, our work and our worship, every single one of those three things is our witness of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done in giving us new life. All of us as believers in Christ should be striving in this very Holy Spirit sense of striving, not in this fleshly sense of striving For all three of these things, to walk with the Lord, to work for the Lord, to worship the Lord, to have each of these aspects of our relationship with the Lord in our lives. That being said, some people will be more like Martha, and they're gonna be more of a worker.

42:08 Some people might be a little bit more Lazarus, some more that they're walking with the Lord. You could just see it in how they interact. They're abiding in Christ in that sense, and you just see this. Some are gonna be more like Mary where they're just having this heart of worship. So when we say that I'm living in a Martha's world and I wanna have a Mary's heart, well, I wanna have a Martha's heart too.

42:30 I wanna have a Mary's heart and I wanna have a Lazarus heart, if you know what I'm saying, right? I want all three of these things to be evidence in my life of the new life that I've been given in order to be a witness of who Jesus Christ is. And sometimes we think, okay, well, nobody else is really gonna know. You go to camp work day, nobody knows that. And like everybody's, you're just preaching to the unbelievers, right, by going there.

42:55 When you go to camp for the summer, you're just going to camp. What do you do for your vacation time? Oh, I go to camp. What do you do when you go to camp? I cook for the week.

43:06 Or I scoop up horse poop. Or I clean toilets. Or I'm a counselor for kids. That's your vacation? That's not a vacation.

43:33 Our worship is a witness in this world of who Jesus Christ is. And our walk is a witness in this world of who Jesus Christ is. Christ did not come to fix all of our problems. He came that we might die in order to give us new life. He's asked us, commanded us to be part of the process of bringing about new life, making disciples.

43:59 And we can experience harmonious unity in new life through Jesus Christ, in our walk, in our work, and in our worship. Let's pray. Our gracious God and Father, we do thank you for Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself, who loves us and gave Himself for us, that we may know new life. Father, if there's anybody in this room that has not yet trusted in Christ for forgiveness of sin, I pray by your Holy Spirit that you would speak to their heart and bring them to a place to recognize their death apart from Christ and that they can have new life in Christ. And Father, for those of us who have trusted in Christ, perhaps we still need to die to self.

44:52 There's areas of our life that need to be put to death in order to fully live for you, to walk with you, to work for you, to worship you. And help us to see those areas in our lives where we can remove the stone so that your gospel can be proclaimed, that we can come along the side of other believers, those that have come to new life and remove the grave clothes and disciple one another. So Father, we just thank you for these very practical truths from your word. And we pray that you by your spirit would continue to do your work in each one of our hearts. We pray in the Lord Jesus name, Amen.