The Power of Resurrection

John chapter 12, verse 1. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of quickener, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the order of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had to bag and bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let her alone, against the day of my bearing has she kept this.

For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom they had raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.

Chapter of this same Gospel of John, that the Lord Jesus performed, we believe, an outstanding miracle, in that he raised a man from the dead who had been dead for four days. He had passed the resurrection day, and yet the Savior, the Lord Jesus, had the power to call him out of his grave and restore him to his sorrowing sisters. And we find in the eleventh chapter, in verse fifty-three, then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

Verse fifty-five, And the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, As they stood in the temple, what think ye that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that if any man knew where he were, he should show it, that they might take him. So we have here now in this fifty-fifth verse, the Jews' Passover.

This was the feast of the Passover, Leviticus chapter twenty-three, was now in the Gospel of John, disowned by God. God disowned this feast, as he did the other feasts that are mentioned in John's Gospel, and he calls them the Jews' feast, the feast of the Jews. Here he calls it the Jews' Passover, because Christ was rejected.

When Christ was rejected, God disowned absolutely the feast that he once owned in the Old Testament, because the Lord Jesus is the delight of God's heart. It's always interesting to remember that Christ is the delight of his Father's heart. And so this Passover now meant nothing to God at all.

It was only a Jews' feast, empty, nothing in it. And beloved, isn't that so today in Christendom? The death of Christ, the cross is put up on the different buildings and different places, but you know, that's not the cross of Christ. That is not the cross of Christ.

Those crosses are men's crosses, because the cross of Christ separates the Christian from the world. You know, the blood of Christ puts our sins away, and the death of Christ puts us away, and the cross of Christ separates the Christian from the world. That's what God believed God's order is.

But here we have the Jews' Passover. We notice that they were all going up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. These were the very people among them who wanted to kill Christ.

They wanted to destroy the Son of God. Such is the world, religious. Oh, beloved, I often say in preaching the gospel, God hates us.

This empty Christ-rejecting religion that's all around us tonight, right in this country, the country is just alive with religious people who absolutely reject Christ. And I believe that we can see it increasing all around us, this form of an empty Christ-rejecting religion, where we have social clubs and our young people come together to form clubs and societies, and the whole thing is without Christ. How sad this is, the Jews' Passover.

Up to Jerusalem. You know, in the 2nd chapter of Luke's gospel, the Lord Jesus himself, when he was 12 years of age, he went up to Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph brought him there.

You remember that interesting account in the 2nd chapter of Luke's gospel where they brought the Savior to Jerusalem, and then they started home again, and they went a day's journey, and the scripture says they supposed, they supposed that Jesus was in the company, but he wasn't. He wasn't there. But they went that day's journey, and they just supposed that Jesus was with them.

And there's many people going through life today only supposing that Jesus is with them. And after they'd gone that day's journey, and they found him not, they turned back to Jerusalem seeking him. And the Bible tells us it took three days to find him.

They had to go all the way back, and where did they find him? In the temple. And he was in the midst of the doctors. That's a remarkable thing because we always find the Lord Jesus in the midst.

I was enjoying that. I think in the 1st chapter of Genesis, you know, on the 4th day, when God is speaking about the creation, on the 4th day he turns to the heavens, which I believe would be the midst of the week, of the seven days. And there we have the sun in the very heavens, which is Christ himself, the sun shining in all its brightness.

A picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps the moon, though we believe it would speak of Israel too, might bring before us the one body of Christ and the stars individual believers. But it's noticeable that on that 4th day we're turned from earth to heaven, to the heavens, to gaze up to the heavens.

And then we have the Lord Jesus in the midst at Calvary. We have him in the midst after his resurrection. We have him in the midst of those who are gathered to his precious name.

We have him in the midst, in the heavenly scene in Revelation chapter 5. But now Jerusalem is about to cast out the Son of God. Isn't that a strange thing, religion? Starts with Cain, you know. Cain was a very devout religious man who heard the story, no doubt, from his father and mother of the fall, and he rejected it.

He didn't believe it. And he has thousands of followers today. Thousands who say, we don't believe in the fall of man, but I do.

And I know that every Christian in this room believes it because God teaches that. But now I notice something here. They were seeking for Jesus.

They wanted to put him to death. And here in the busy time when the people were going to purify themselves for the feast, all heading for Jerusalem to keep that empty Passover feast to the Jews, our 12th chapter, so wonderful, so blessed. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, notice he came not to Jerusalem, but he came to Bethany.

He came to Bethany. Isn't that wonderful? And there was in that little place, that little place, I believe it was north, probably east of Jerusalem, or north of Jerusalem at least, there he came to that place because there was a home there where he was welcomed, a home where they loved him. And they had good cause to love him because in their time of sorrow he was there.

In the 10th chapter he was there in Bethany. In that little home. Do you remember how Martha was cumbered about much service and Mary sat at the Lord's feet? And Mary heard words that day that she's never going to forget.

And the Lord Jesus said those words that she heard that day will never be taken away from her, never. They're hers for eternity. And I think we learn in that, beloved brethren, that what we enjoy of Christ down here, that which we really enjoy of Christ will never lose us.

It's ours for eternity. Isn't that wonderful? But you know then we have another scene in the 11th of Genesis, in our 11th chapter of John, where death came into that little home and the two sisters were left alone. But you know in their sorrow they had a resource and that was found in the Lord Jesus.

And the Lord Jesus came to Bethany. But you know it's remarkable that we find that he carried two days. After he received the message that his friend Lazarus was sick, he stayed two days and waited and then Lazarus was dead.

And the Lord said to his disciples plainly, Lazarus is dead. But he said we're going to go, we're going to go awake and one of us sleep. Well we won't go over that chapter but at last he came and the only thing that man couldn't do, he did.

That is to say he said Lazarus come forth. They could roll away the stone and they could take the grave clothes off but they couldn't say Lazarus come forth. The Lord did that.

But now he comes to this very place. He came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead whom he raised from the dead. Now this is a wonderful picture isn't it? You can see that little home in Bethany and they were so happy.

There with them was Lazarus, the one who had been dead, the one whom they placed in the grave. You know the stone was put at the grave. The stone was put there to keep out that which speaks of what man is.

You know Martha protested rolling away the stone because she said by this time he's sick of it. He's been dead for four days. Well isn't that picture what man is? He turns back to the dust.

But the Lord was there and he called that man out of the grave and here we find him in this home in Bethany and in the second verse notice now there they made him a supper. That's nice isn't it? It says there, it doesn't say there Martha the server made him a supper. In the 10th chapter of Luke Martha was comforted by much serving.

I suppose maybe she was preparing a supper in the 10th chapter of Luke. But she was doing it all by herself. But here everything is in order.

There they made him a supper. In other words each of these three had a heart for Christ. Each of these three.

Maybe this home was an unusual home because so many homes today are not like this. Our homes are divided. Maybe there's one in a little family circle that has no heart for Christ.

Maybe there's two. Maybe there's somebody tonight in this room that has a Christian father and mother and a Christian upbringing. Maybe you are dividing that little home of yours because you just haven't got any heart for Christ at home.

Or you come to the meetings. Occasionally you come. Maybe you come to the gospel meeting.

Down deep here there's little light. You know that's what God looks at. He doesn't look at activity.

God doesn't look like man looks. Man looks for activity. He likes to see action.

But God doesn't look at that. He looks at the heart. This is where God looks, at the heart.

If there's no heart for Christ we may be very active in Sunday school work, active with young people, active in writing letters, active in visiting people, but if there's no heart for Christ it's worthless to God. But if God looks, the Lord looketh on the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

So here they had a heart for Christ, the three of them. There they made him a supper, and Martha served. Now everything here is in order in John's gospel.

Martha is not rebuked by the Lord here for serving. She served. Now I'm told that's what it says next.

But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with them. Now I've often meditated on this verse. It's very beautiful because here's a man that there's nothing mentioned in the Word of God as to what Lazarus said.

No mention that he spoke to the Lord. There's no mention here of anything that he said. He didn't ask the Lord any question.

He didn't make any statement. He just sat there at the table with them. I like to think of this as a little picture of a Christian who enjoys Christ.

A Christian who enjoys Christ. That's what Lazarus did. He was just sitting there at the table, and I suppose his eyes were resting on the Lord Jesus.

That's where his eyes were. He wasn't looking at Martha serving. He wasn't looking at anybody else in the room.

He was just enjoying Christ. And I like this because I think it brings to the fore a little picture of the Lord's day morning meetings. When you go to assemblies, you'll find that there are certain brothers who give hymns out.

Other brothers get up to pray. And some brothers, when they praise the Lord on Sunday morning, you'll notice the whole meeting is changed immediately because they seem to pray from their very hearts as if they really and truly were addressing a person and that they really saw somebody in the midst. I remember Brother Corbett of Montreal.

I remember many times I saw this happen. We used to sing those worship hymns, and we'd sit up to sing them. Jesus, thou alone art worthy.

I noticed that old brother, he didn't have his head down. He didn't look as if he was thinking about what was going on outside, but he had his eye on the center. And sometimes I caught a little smile on his face.

It was as if he saw somebody there. He really knew the Lord was there. And you know, that's nice, isn't it? Because there was Lazarus sitting at the table, and he was enjoying Christ.

And there's many of the sisters who come to the meetings. Well, no, they never take any part, but the Word of God forbids it. But nevertheless, they're there.

And what are they doing? They're sitting at the table with Jesus, and they're enjoying him. They're enjoying the Lord, maybe more than even the brothers. And so, again, we have to remember that the Lord looks at the heart.

I like to say to you young people here, you young Christians, don't waste your time with the young men and the young women who are going to lead you astray and bring unhappiness and untold sorrow into your life. The world can never make a man happy. Never can make... I can tell you stories that I've heard and read.

Millionaires... Why, you think, you know, if you were a millionaire and I was a millionaire and we could go down and we could buy two or three Cadillacs and two or three great big motorboats and we could buy several country estates and we could have maids and servants looking after us, you'd think that would make us so happy. But if we read that they commit suicide, they blow their brains out. Because all the money they have doesn't make them happy.

In fact, tonight I believe that many of the rich people in the United States are living in a continual fear of their lives. Oh, how good to be rich in heaven. How good to have our riches where moths and ruts and where robbers can't get through and where kidnappers can't steal it away from us.

It's buried up there, it's hid up there. Our riches are in Christ, in the glory, where no power, even the devil himself, can touch our riches because they're safe in Christ. Now, in the midst of all this, in verse 3, notice, Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard.

Now, we notice this because it's the word of God. Nothing is put in the word of God, just like men put things in their books. But God weighs this ointment.

He tells us exactly how much it weighs, a pound. It doesn't say about a pound. He says, Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus.

Oh, that's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Think of this woman. You know, in the, I think it's the 14th or 15th, the 14th of March and probably the 26th of Matthew, she anoints his head. She takes the alabaster box.

I believe it's the same person. And she opens it up, and that precious ointment coming out of that box she had, the spikenard box, on the Lord's head. Now, I remember reading a beautiful story about that.

Maybe I told it here before. It was very succeeding. And they say that the girls in the eastern countries, they didn't have what we call today a hope chest, but they had an alabaster box of precious ointment.

These young maidens kept that box of precious ointment close by themselves. And they kept it, they reserved it there for themselves until they met the man that won their hearts. And when they met the man that won their hearts, they took this box of ointment and they opened it up over his head and the ointment fell down on his head and that man knew I'd won her heart.

I'd won that lady's heart. And that's what Mary did. Oh, she had that box of ointment that was very precious in the eyes of God.

And she said, this is the man that's won my heart. And she opened up the box of ointment on his head and they all knew that this is the man that had won her heart. And I suppose that each one of us who are Christians here, the Lord Jesus has won our hearts.

The world can't understand this. They don't understand this. We can be religious and the world understands that.

They say, so are we. But the world can't understand any person who says, Christ has won my heart. They don't understand this.

No use trying to tell them because they just don't understand it. It's beyond them. They can't understand how men and women will devote their lives to the service of Christ.

They just don't understand that. It's beyond them. They can't, they can't fathom that.

But here we have this woman. She took a pound of ointment, a fleck of iron, another, the next word, very costly. Very costly.

Now, everything that's done for Christ the world says is a waste of time. But everything that's done for Christ, God says, is very costly. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? The wise men, when they came to Jerusalem with their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, it's recorded in the book.

And when Egypt protected the Lord Jesus, why, it's mentioned in the book. And God's going to bless Egypt. And a later day, Egypt's going to be brought in the blessing.

Why? I believe because Egypt was a haven of rest and safety for God's beloved Son. Everything that's done for Christ in the eyes of God is very, very precious and very costly. And so she anointed the feet of Jesus.

Now, to get to his feet, she had to go down. Had to get down to his feet. Down to his feet.

You know, the Lord, in the next chapter, he's down at his disciples' feet and he's washing their feet. Here's a woman now who finds herself at the feet of Jesus. And each time, I believe, we find Mary, is at the feet of Jesus.

In Luke 10, John 11, and John 12, Mary is always at the Lord's feet. That's nice, isn't it? That was the place where Mary went. You know, the world doesn't teach us.

The young people tonight in the room will never learn this in college or university or school. They don't teach that. This is not what man teaches.

Man never teaches to go down to the feet of Jesus. They always teach you to go up. They always teach you to exalt yourself.

They always teach you to make a man of yourself. Make yourself to be somebody. But God teaches us to make ourselves nobody.

And to make Christ everything. That's what God teaches his beloved people. To make much of Christ and so we find that she wiped his feet with her hair.

Now the woman's hair is her glory. The woman's hair is her glory. And we find that this woman laid her glory at the feet of Jesus.

And you know, today we find that people say we don't have, the women don't have to wear their hats. They don't have to have their heads covered. When they read and when they pray, you know, it's not necessary.

But the word of God teaches this. Because when we enter into the presence of the Lord, we enter into the presence of a person who is all glorious. And so anything that speaks to man's glory must be covered up in the presence of the one who is all glorious.

You know, we often enjoy in Luke's gospel how Theophilus refers, the doctor who wrote the epistle, the gospel of Luke, refers to, oh, excellent Theophilus. But not so in the book of Acts. He didn't say Theophilus.

He leaves out those words, most excellent. And this is a thought that I have enjoyed about this, I pass on to you, that after he wrote the gospel of Luke, he said to Luke, who wrote the book of Acts too, you know, leave out those words, most excellent. I have read your gospel about that glorious man.

And when I read of his glory as to who he is, why, there's nobody most excellent but him. He is the most excellent one in his majesty and his glory. Now, we notice that Mary wipes his feet with her hair.

And her hair, again, I say, speaks of her glory. We were speaking to a gentleman who came after the tent meeting last summer down at Thomaston. He tried to tell me that women's heads are covered.

And I asked him, well, I see you've brought four ladies tonight. I don't see one of them with a hat on. And he said, well, haven't they got their hair in their heads? Well, I said, but the Bible doesn't mean that.

And he said, yes, it does. It means their hair. I said, all right.

What about the men then? He said that they're to pray with their head uncovered. So if the woman's hair is her covering, then the men's hair is their covering. So if a man has hair in his head before he prays, he has to get it all shaved off.

Well, he didn't know what to say. You see, when you try to change the word of God, you end in confusion. A multitude of people tonight are changing the word of God.

They're trying to change the word of God to fit into the thank you that you sent your son into the world, and that your son came into the world, and that you have blessed us. And they refer to God like that because I don't believe it's right. We don't address the Queen like that.

And they say that's old-fashioned language, but it's old-fashioned language to go to the Queen and say, Your Majesty, that's old-fashioned too. But you see, men and women want to use their reason. And young Christians don't pray like that.

We address God in respect. He is God, so we say, Thy goodness. And never mind what they tell you about the old language of the English dating back 500 or 600 years ago.

Never mind that. The word of God has how we should pray. And let us not try to change it to respond to poor man, fallen man, sometimes to his reason.

Let us respect the Lord and give him his place. Like they did with the Ark, they stayed with it 2,000 feet behind the Ark. They stayed behind the Ark, we believe, because of God's presence and the Lord himself.

So they stayed back. They didn't get close to the Ark and look into the Ark. If they did, they came under judgment.

So let us remember that God is God. And let us not contribute to these, to the argument of men that we're living in a new age when we're advancing when we have to be up-to-date. Let us be up-to-date like the Bible is.

Let's stand by what the word of God says. And so it tells us here, as a result of what she did, the house was filled with the order of the ointment. Isn't that nice? Everybody in that house was affected by what Mary did and how true it is that some brother in the assembly, in your assembly here in Vancouver, some brother may be used to be a great blessing to all the assembly.

The devil is trying his best to discourage us. He's telling us that we're a lot of failures, and so we are. And we have failed probably more than all the Christians in Christendom.

Most responsible people because we have the most truth we believe. By the grace of God we say that. By the grace of God, not because of any goodness in our part, not that we're better than other Christians.

Indeed we are not. We embrace in our prayers the whole church of God. We pray for all God's people and all God's servants.

And when we hear that souls have been saved in the gospel, we're glad to hear that. And may God grant that we'll be glad. Even if the Apostle Paul said, you know, even though Christ is preached through strife and vainglory, he said, I rejoice that Christ is preached.

Yea, and I will rejoice. So when we hear men preaching the gospel and preaching faithfully of Christ, maybe they don't come or are not gathered to the Lord's name, but if they speak well of Christ, let us rejoice that Christ is preached. And so the whole house was filled with the order of the ointment.

They were all affected by the devotion and the worship of this woman and her love for Christ. And those first four. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which did betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? You see, Joseph, I mean Judas, put a value on that ointment.

God never. God said it was very costly, but Judas put his value on it. That's what man always does.

Judas was an ungodly man. He was going to betray the Lord and it tells us he was a thief too. But he put a value on that which God couldn't value.

God couldn't value it. It was very costly. Judas said, all it's worth is 300 pence.

Let's give it to the poor. Verse six. Now the Spirit of God tells us about Judas.

This he said, not that he cared for the poor. He was a hypocrite. He was pretending that he was caring for the poor, but God says no.

But because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein, he would have liked to have sold that ointment for 300 pence or he could have stolen that $300. He wasn't going to give it to the poor. But he didn't want Christ to get the praise and adoration of his heart.

This is exactly what the devil does today. The devil tells people that to come to break bread on Sunday morning is a waste of time. The devil tells us that.

He says it's an hour and a half wasted. Why not preach the gospel? Why not have a very quick service at 9 o'clock and break bread from 9 to 9.20 and then have a big gospel meeting at 11 o'clock? Because the devil will do anything to distract from the person and the glory of Christ. And so Judas made that suggestion.

And notice verse seven. Then said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my burying as she kept this. Now the woman that stood for Christ, Christ stood for her.

Isn't that beautiful? The woman that would get down on her knees and pour that ointment on his feet and wipe his blessed feet with the hair of her head, lay her glory at his feet. In other words, she took a real devoted stand for the Lord Jesus. And he stood for her.

And beloved, if we stand for him, we know he already has died for us. He gave himself. But if we stand for the Lord, then he's going to stand for us.

He's going to be with us. When the world tries to laugh at us and sneer at us, or they try to persecute us, we always can know that the Lord Jesus will stand by us. Let her alone against the day of my burying as she kept this.

Now it's very remarkable that in reading about the resurrection, we never read that Mary of Bethany went to the tomb. She was never there. And you can't find that in either one of the four Gospels.

Then he mentioned that Mary of Bethany went to the sepulcher on the first day that she wasn't there. Why wasn't she there? You would have thought such a devoted woman as Mary of Bethany would be the first one there. But no, she wasn't there because she knew he wouldn't be there.

Mary knew that the Lord Jesus would not be there. And she knew she was going to anoint his body. She would have to do it before he died because she wouldn't be able to do it after he died because death couldn't hold him.

Now I believe we can apply this today in connection with those who belong to Christ breaking bread. We're never going to break bread in heaven. There'll be no such a thing as a breaking of bread in the glory land.

Because the Lord will be with us. This is exclusively for this world. Have we got a verse for that? We have.

We have a verse for that. As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shall the Lord's death till he comes. There'll be no breaking bread we believe in the glory land.

Those who want to break bread have to break bread in this world not in the next. You know there's many Christians who don't break bread. When you ask them why they say well we do it four times a year or we do it once a month but they have no authority to break bread once a month.

But those who break bread 52 times a year we have authority from the word of God to do so. And that authority is found in Acts 20 verse 7 on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread. You know the Apostle Paul in the 20th chapter of Acts after they had remembered the Lord and death which they did first then he preached to them till midnight.

You remember what happened? Eutychus whose name means I understand fortunate was sitting at the window looking down into the world and he fell out. And he fell right down he fell right down to the street. And how many there are of Christians who come to the meeting with no heart for Christ they just come there and all the time they're in the meeting they're thinking about how they can make money and how they can get on in business the next day and about their education and about their homes and there they are and they fall down and when they fall down they fall down to the world's level.

And how does that young man get back again? Well he had to come into the embrace of the Apostle Paul. And when the Apostle Paul embraced them then he was revived and went back again to where he came from. Well I believe we learned a lesson in that 20th chapter of Acts because tonight in Christianity and I'm talking about real Christians born again Christians the reason they are confused is because they set aside the Apostle Paul's ministry which was not given to Paul by Peter or James or John or any other Apostles but was given to him directly by the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God.

He gave Paul's ministry. That's why he calls it my gospel. In Romans 2 verse 16 when he says my gospel he doesn't just mean sinners getting saved he means his whole gospel that he received not only concerning the Lord Jesus Christ dying for sinners that we have in Romans 5 but also a glorified Christ at God's right hand a rejected Savior and that you and I don't believe belong to this world.

That's what the Apostle Paul's ministry is the Lord's coming, the breaking of bread and the truth of the one body and so on. That's the Apostle's ministry which is so unpopular with many tonight of God's people. God's people.

So it says in our verse 8 for the poor always he hath with you but me he hath not always. Now let's look back at the 41st Psalm a minute. 41st Psalm I believe in the 40th Psalm we have something to do with the sufferings of Christ.

But in this 41st Psalm in the first verse. Blessed or happy is he that considereth the poor. Well the Lord Jesus was a poor one in this world he had no place to lay his hand he had to say show me a standing.

When the disciples went to their own homes they went to the Mount of Olives. How nice it is that you and I as believers in the Lord Jesus consider this poor one he was the poor one. Here he says for the poor always he hath with you but me he hath not always.

You see the Lord is no longer poor he's gone back into the glory gone back into the glory of God. That very man who was down in this world as a poor man is now the glorified man. Never again will the Lord Jesus be spit upon.

Never again will man deck his blessed head with a crown of thorns. Never again will man take those hands and nail them to Calvary's cross or his feet. No he's the glorified one.

Now it tells us in this ninth verse much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only that they might see Lazarus also whom he raised from the dead. Well I believe some of these people that came they came for a double purpose they came to see Lazarus and they came to see Jesus. See there were two objects who not only to see Jesus they came but they came to see Lazarus also.

Isn't this what you and I as Christians often do? Don't we find that sometimes maybe there's just a few at the meeting, the prayer meeting, just a few at the prayer meeting a few at the Bible reading and then sometimes we find a preacher comes and we find that many come to hear that preacher. Now I know this happens in the tent down near Brunswick because brethren have told us you know when the tent comes down and the tent goes away there's no more interest. The tent's gone there was a double object there, they came to see the tent, they came to hear the preacher but when the tent was taken down the preachers all went to the different homes in Canada and the United States there was no more interest.

They didn't come to see Jesus. But it says here that they came not for Jesus' sake only. Now this is what God says, this is the word of God they came not for Jesus' sake only and I believe beloved brethren that those who come to our meetings they must come for Jesus because we have no organ here, we have no piano to play, we have no great choirs, we have no great preachers we have no well-educated men who can stand up and speak you know as they do with their great education.

We have nothing like that. We have nothing to attract but Christ. People come on Lord's Day morning, they come to meet the Lord we trust each one of us.

There's nothing to attract but Christ. Just these rooms here for which we're very thankful but how do they compare with the great cathedrals all around us with all the display they have that really satisfies the flesh and men. And the great choirs with their wonderful singing that the flesh can rejoice in.

They can enjoy it. But you know the flesh can never enjoy Christ. The flesh can never enjoy Christ.

Let's never forget that. Now it tells us in the 10th verse, but the chief priest consulted, they might put Lazarus also to death. Oh here now was a man who was associated in the enjoyment of Christ and the priest, notice the chief priest, these were men of religion.

Here we have Cain again. If you trace through your Bible you'll find that Cain and Abel are brought before us down through the ages. The Cains and the Abels, the Cains are always against the Abels.

They want to kill the Abels. They want to destroy the Abels. Because Cain came his own way without death and without bloodshed.

While Abel came with the death of a sacrifice. And in that sacrifice God is careful to tell us, Abel was accepted. He wasn't accepted because he was Abel.

He was accepted, Hebrews 11 verse 4, he was accepted in that sacrifice which spoke of the death of the Lord Jesus and his precious blood shed upon the cross of Calvary. But you see the chief priest didn't like this. These chief priests were jealous of Christ.

They hated him. They were determined to get rid of him. And you can trace their history all through the life of Christ in the Gospels.

They were always opposed to the Lord Jesus. And here now they're going to oppose this man who enjoyed Christ. And beloved brethren, the world has never changed.

Let's not believe that. Let's not believe the stories that civilization is improving and that there's a change over in opinion now towards what they call Christianity. Maybe there is in regards to Christianity but not in regards to Christ.

Not in regards to Christ. And if you and I stand for the Lord Jesus and we stand for Christ we can never expect the world to applaud us. They can never expect the world to pat us on the back and call us good fellows if we stand for a rejected Christ.

The world doesn't want Christ. And so they're going to put Lazarus also to death. Now why? Because of by reason of him.

What did he do? We don't read of a word he said. What did this man do that drew this attention? Many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. What did this man do? God doesn't tell us what he did.

God doesn't mention anything except that he sat at the table with him. That's the only thing he did but he had a testimony. He was a man who had been dead.

And he was a man who was alive again. He was a man who was raised from the dead by the very voice of Jesus. That was the very voice of Jesus that called this man out of his grave and there he came out alive and he was a testimony to Jesus.

Are you and I a testimony to Christ? Are we a testimony in our lives that we were dead once? We were dead. Dead in our sins, dead in our trespasses but we've heard the voice of Jesus and we've come out. And is it true of you and me that because of our testimony many go away and believe on Jesus? This is the testimony that you and I have to carry with us today.

That is to say what the grace of God has done for us. Oh dear Christians, we can't boast. We dare not say one good thing about ourselves but we can speak well of our blessed master.

We've often said we're a bad lot but we have a good master. Let us never forget that as one brother said not only is he a good master but he's the best master. So today you and I can rejoice in these glorious truths that here was a person a person, not a religion.

Oh beloved let us get away from that word religion. We know a person and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ the son of God, the one who is going to come very very soon. Don't we see what's happening around us today? Can't we see? Even unsaved men ungodly men, speaking to them about the world's conditions they say well we know something has got to happen.

A man down in California, California was telling us and he was an ungodly man by the language he used. He said something's going to happen for sure. Yes my friends, something is going to happen for sure.

Jesus is coming again. Coming in the air to call away every blood-bought child of God. Oh what a wonderful day that's going to be.

I was speaking to a brother he seemed to be rejoicing in the Lord. Well I wanted to find out what he thought about the Lord's coming and I said brother does your preacher preach about the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said brother he sure does and he said I believe with all my heart and I'm looking forward to that.

What a day that's going to be. Well this is the day that the Christians, those who belong to the Lord Jesus and look forward to when he comes and takes it to be with himself. Not only to be with himself but like himself.

Now I'd like to say this before I close because I believe there are many Christians who are troubled about the judgment seat of Christ. They're really troubled. They say what's going to happen to me at the judgment seat of Christ? Well first of all before we stand at the judgment seat of Christ we'll have seen the Lord.

In second place we'll be like him. Exactly. Now I speak with reverence.

If the judgment seat of Christ took place in this room how sad we would be. But you see there we'll have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ and every believer will be happy to know that all his life is brought out by the Lord himself and that the Christian will never be judged for his sins.

Never. The sin question will never be mentioned at that judgment seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. But the believer will be judged for his works. Another illustration I like is the criminal who was arrested for a crime and brought to trial, he himself his body is judged for the crime and he's sent to prison because of his crime.

He is judged himself but the gardener who works in his beautiful garden with his lovely flowers and they're put on display and the judge comes what does he judge? He doesn't judge the gardener. He judges the gardener's works. And the gardener is rewarded for his works.

But he himself is not judged. His works are judged. And at the judgment seat of Christ dear Christian, it will be our works that will be judged, not our sins.

Our sins are forever gone. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, has cleansed us from all sins. God says your sins and iniquities will I remember no more forever.

But the Lord is going to judge us in connection with our conduct and our works with a view of rewarding his people. How blessed that is to think that we'll be not only with the judge but like the judge. We'll have the judge's mind, the mind of Christ.

Now I believe we have that today. We can exercise that as the Word of God says, but then totally to have one mind with the Lord and to be able to enter into his presence and enjoy his company forever.