CA366 The Divine Summons - John 11 - Baptismal Service

This is from verse 18 of John chapter 11, and whilst you're finding it, I'll just fill in the contents of the first seventeen verses for those who may not be entirely familiar with the story. Now, Lazarus was sick. He was the brother of Mary and Martha, and his sisters sent unto Jesus, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

We are told that Jesus loved Mary and her sister and Lazarus, but when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. And instead of rushing to Lazarus's bedside, he abode two days more in the place where he was. And then he said to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again.

The disciples said, Lord, if he, the Lord then said that Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. But the disciples said, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. But Jesus spoke of his death, not of taking rest in sleep.

Then he said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

We take up the reading from the 18th verse. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem about fifteen furlongs off. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The master is come and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him.

Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then, which were with her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then, when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold, how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave.

It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.

Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. For the people who do not know me, I come from France, from Paris, and I am here for learning English.

I would like to say to you how I become a Christian. I was visiting an exhibition, and I saw a Bible store. I was very interested, and a lady invited me to go to her church.

One Sunday, I went quite a few times, and I felt out of place, because nobody wanted to speak to me. So I decided not to go again. But one day, on the ground, I saw a boy from this Christian group.

He was traveling the same way as myself. We spoke a lot, and I explained to him I wanted to go to a different church with my parents. This was a Jehovah's Witness.

I was made to go, but I did not enjoy it, as I did not feel part of it. I explained I felt left out at his fellowship also. He said to me, I must go to a Bible camp with many young people.

It was for three weeks, and he thought I would enjoy it. The following Sunday, I went to his group, and Olivier gave to me a Bible. It was this one I have now.

It was at this Bible camp in 1977 that I discovered the beautiful mountains and many friends. Every evening meeting was very special to me, and one evening was very important. When a song was sung, it had these words, too young, too young to think of it, was the answer to Jesus who was calling him.

Seventeen, I am seventeen, I said, I have plenty of time and many years in the future. I want to enjoy myself and to have lots of fun. Happiness, happiness, I find it, no time, no time to think of it.

Too late, too late for him, for without warning death fell upon him. Lost for eternity is he, stop and think of it. You, my friend, that is listening to me, come and give your heart to Jesus and don't wait.

I was really challenged in my heart, and afterwards, I spoke with the pastor, and I asked Jesus to come into my life and to forgive me for my sin, because he stayed for me on the cross. The last day arrived, and I packed my luggage to return to Paris. I was very sad to leave, but now I was no longer alone.

I had strength from him to help me in the future, and that was a comfort to me. I told my parents they are not Christian. I had become a Christian and said I no longer wish to go to their church.

I said I can't serve to master, that's impossible. Every day I cried because the atmosphere was so bad in my home. I didn't understand why my mother slapped me so much, and my home life was very difficult, and this is part of the reason why I have come to work in England.

I am very happy to come in this church with real Christians. Last Friday, a boy came to see me in my store. He's not Christian, and he said, I heard from my mother you'll be baptized on Sunday.

I won't be here, but why do you want to be baptized? Yes, that is a very good question. If you want to be married, you have to make a decision to leave everything and love all your life. And that is the same with Jesus.

I love Jesus, and I want to obey him. It is the instruction of God to be baptized. He is a friend of mine, is the answer, and the way, nobody can be better.

It is very simple. Thank you. Looking back, I was brought up to go to Sunday school, which by the time I was around 12, I rebelled because this was held on a Sunday afternoon, and I felt I had better things to do, especially when the sun was shining.

I also went to a church school where we had religious instruction, but I obviously did not take this matter in. It had been many years that I had not attended services regularly. In those years, I had thought my life complete.

My God was my hoover. If my carpets were clean, that was my fulfillment. This year, my daughter came to the tab.

When she came home after her first visit, she said, Mom, you ought to come. I'm sure you would get something out of it. You don't want to be left on the other side.

She was so enthralled, I wondered what the tab had got and what she had found. From the moment she came, she was being handed booklets, which, while she was out, I borrowed. I myself started coming early March.

On my first visit, I felt very emotional, and inside, there was half of me trying to get off and go. How glad I didn't. Although from that moment I enjoyed coming, I felt I was still on the outside, and hadn't got what so many people had got, the Lord Jesus.

My daughter bought herself a living Bible, which every night was missing from her room. In the daytime, the Bible overtook my hoover, as once I got my hands on it, I found it hard to put down. Needless to say, I do have my own now, and I'm still trying to catch up on those lost years of not knowing the Lord as my Saviour.

I put my trust in the Lord and made my commitment, and it was when I attended the service of the Lord's Supper that great warmth came over me and emotion, and from that moment I knew I had peace and the Holy Spirit inside me. So many times I have read in the Bible, repent and be baptised, but I thought, how could I get up and testify and be immersed in water, which I have always been frightened of? But if Jesus could be nailed on the cross for my sins, I could do this for him, and I am here tonight to say, Pastor, I wish to be baptised, and thanks to the Lord for taking my daughter's hand and leading me here. When I look back over my life since I've been a Christian, which is about four and a half years now, I realise that there have been many occasions when, if I hadn't known the Lord, if I hadn't had his protection, I'd have just been in a right mess, and I don't really know what would have happened.

One such occasion was the first day that I went to college at Lampeter. It was about a year ago now. About a month or so previously, the Lord had finally confirmed to me that it was right for me to go to this college.

Before then, I'd spent many months worrying about it, praying, and just wondering whether it was right to go to university. But about a month beforehand, he'd finally given me this assurance, and I knew that it was right to go. But in the final panic, before I left to go to college, I tended to forget that it was the Lord's will, and I tended to just worry about it all and get very nervous.

The day that I went was really horrible. It was pouring with rain, and it was cold, and I just didn't feel like going at all. But Dad made me get in the car, and he almost locked the door on me so that I couldn't jump out as we drove up the road.

And we eventually arrived in this mist-covered, horrible little town, as I thought then, called Lampeter. And when I got into my room, it was really horrible and gray, and all the furniture was falling to bits, and there were spiders on the floor, and I hate spiders. And I thought, oh no, this can't be the right place.

Take me home, Dad. But he wouldn't. So he left me and went home, and there was I in my room.

And then I realized what a twit I'd been that day, and what a twit I'd been over the past two weeks. The Lord wanted me to go to Lampeter, I knew that for sure, but I just had stopped trusting, really. And I got down on my knees and started praying.

And first of all, I was just complaining to God. But as he just led me in prayer by his Spirit, I became so aware of his presence with me that day, and I was so, I was just so pleased, and so glad to be there, really. And I asked him for confidence to go and speak to people as they arrived, because I was so nervous about making friends, and I thought I might not make any at all.

And as new people came into the block where I was living, I went and talked to them. Anyway, over this year, I've just had confirmation after confirmation that I'm right at Lampeter, and that God is with me. He's been so close to me.

There have been times when I've been disillusioned, but he's just pushed me right through, and it's been the best year of my life. The first time I heard the Gospel was about five years ago now at a boys' rally in London. And after that, I began to attend a local evangelical church where the father of one of my school friends was the pastor.

He preached the Gospel every week, and very soon I came to realize that I was a sinner, and that because of my sin, I was not able to enjoy the relationship with God for which he created me, and that because I was so rotten and he was so pure, there was nothing that I could do to get right with him. But he provided the remedy. He sent the Lord Jesus to live among men and then to die that awful death on the cross so that by that I could get right with God.

And on the cross, I saw both the justice of God being sorted out because God had to punish sin. He hated sin, and he punished sin. He punished it when he crucified his son.

But at the same time, I saw his love because he sent his son to save rotten people like me. So soon afterwards, I asked the Lord to come into my life, to take control. And so since then, I've known the Lord and I've walked with him.

I'm being baptized tonight because the Lord commanded that we should, after we've believed, be baptized. And so that's why I'm here tonight. I thank the Lord that I was brought up in a Christian home and I've always been coming to church and went to Sunday school as well in Gloucester.

I didn't like church when I was young and I wished I could be playing with my friends back at home. I used to play around in Sunday school and church and didn't concentrate on anything that was being said. But when I grew older, I thought more about Christian things and realized that I had a wrong attitude towards them.

One Sunday, we had a visiting preacher who came to our church and through his message, I was convicted and I first realized my need of a saviour. But after the service, I just went out and forgot all that was said. Just over a year ago, I went on a camp with 30 or 40 other boys and girls from our church.

On the last night, one of the helpers spoke. I can't remember what was said, but I was convicted. With many others, I realized again my need of a saviour.

This time, I put my trust in him. That was a great experience because I could really feel the presence of the Lord in that room. But when you first become a Christian, the devil attacks straight away, as he did with me, telling me I was not a Christian.

I became very unhappy because I believed this. I kept praying and asked God to show me if I was a Christian, but I got no answer. Then we moved to Worthing, and I went on a camp with the boys' club.

While we were there, some of the boys gave their testimony. I felt as though I ought to go to the front, so I did, not knowing what I was going to say. I quickly asked the Lord to help me, and he did.

It was at that point I felt as though I was really a Christian. I know I'm a Christian now because I believe Jesus came down to this earth to die on the cross, to be my saviour and take away my sin. He is with me always, and I have faith in him and trust him.

It's my prayer that many others may come to know Jesus as their saviour too. I'm now being baptised because the Lord commands us to be baptised, and I want to obey him in his command. John 11, 28 And when Martha had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come and calleth for thee.

Father, we ask your blessing upon our meditation around your word this evening. As you've already spoken, underline what has been registered in our minds about the urgency of the gospel and its effectiveness. Amen.

My time is limited, so let me come straight to this text. The Master is come and calleth for thee. To the tragic day, indeed, the truth of the matter is, it had been the bleakest three days in the lives of two sisters who lived in a village called Bethany, just a bus ride away from Jerusalem.

It was a happy home theirs. Two unmarried sisters and, as far as we know, an unmarried brother all living together as a very happy family until death changed the situation. It's a paralyzing thing to lose somebody you love.

Many older friends would testify that to young people who have yet to go through the experience. And bereavement is sweetened by the fact of Jesus' presence and by the knowledge of the salvation of the loved one. But in this particular instance, Jesus wasn't present and perhaps he could have been.

Or so, at one level, it seemed. He did come, but he was too late. They wanted him there when Lazarus was in his extreme condition because Jesus could have made him well.

He'd done that hundreds of times and Martha and her sister Mary were well aware of as to Jesus' competence. And when he did come, Lazarus, as I say, was dead. Martha engages in conversation with Jesus.

Mary is not present. And after that conversation is terminated, a conversation which has to do with not only ordinary life but eternal life, not just physical life, spiritual life, she gets a message through to her sister and the message is my text. A little telegram sent from one broken-hearted lady to another.

The Master is come and calleth for thee. It was a divine summons. He wants to see you, Mary.

Do you know something? I believe that I can lift that text right out of the context of the story and apply it to this congregation this evening and in no way do injustice to Scripture. The Master is come and calleth for thee because I reckon that the problem of eternal life, that Jesus was going to address himself to in the company of both these sisters, is a problem that concerns you, if you're honest enough to admit it. And I also believe that God speaks to us through his word in the 20th century and the words of Jesus have a contemporary ring.

So let me play my text before you. As though one was part of the promenade concert last night, an instrumentalist following a score, pressing a key, putting a string across a violin, ensuring that each stanza is clearly sounded so that it blends with the rest of the instruments and an anthem of clarity and acceptability is produced. Let me play upon this text and show you what it means.

The Master is come and calleth for thee. That's a lovely word to describe Jesus, the Master. You don't get it in the NIV.

It uses the term teacher. It amounts to the same thing and I prefer in this instance the old-fashioned concept of Jesus Christ as the Master 61 times. Check my arithmetic if you like.

I'll be honest, I didn't count them myself. I cribbed it from a concordance. 61 times Jesus the Lord is referred to in Scripture as the Master and I can think of no title more suiting for our Lord Jesus.

He was. No. He is the Master.

The Master of every situation. He has a masterly mind. Are you aware of this? Have you ever read what he has to say? Have you ever read the Gospels? So many people reject Christianity as a load of mumbo-jumbo and they haven't even done the claims of the faith credit by reading at least one of the four Gospels.

And when you read what Jesus taught, if you're unbiased, you come to the conclusion that he was a masterly teacher. He used little parables to convey divine truth in such a brilliant fashion that those who deny the historical existence of Jesus are left with the literary problem as to where these parables originated because we don't have the like in historical literature. Jesus had an ability to convey truth in such a way that left ordinary folks in the land dumbfounded.

We've never heard anybody speak like him. We've often gone to church. But our vicar has got nothing on this man.

We don't understand what he's saying. The vicar, the priest, the Pharisee, the teacher of Scriptures in the first century, but when Jesus speaks, it's so different. And what's more, he's masterly in the way that he seems to understand people.

When he talks, he seems to penetrate your heart and he's got some inkling of what thoughts are passing through your mind. He's absolutely masterly. He grasps the nature of the human dilemma.

He tells us on occasions that he understands that there's an evil principle in our hearts and we just can't seem to dwarf that principle and live in the good way that we want to live. He says that often we choose to remain in darkness and refuse the light because we get embarrassed if anyone else saw what we were doing all the time. Jesus has a masterly mind, but not just a masterly mind, a masterly manner.

He can do things that no one else can do. The storm on the Sea of Galilee is an instance already referred to in the singing of our first hymn. The disciples on another occasion were absolutely amazed when Jesus got up and calmed the storm.

And when Jesus walked on the water, they said, what manner of man is this? Masterly. Can rise to every situation. He has a masterly composure.

He knows that he's going to die. Most people, when they've got some inkling of that, are absolutely scared. The philosopher Rousseau said, he who pretends to face death without fear is a liar.

He who pretends to face death without fear is a liar. And I believe outside of the Christian faith that statement is generally true. But Jesus, he knows he's going to die.

He goes to Jerusalem expecting the executioner's block to be round the corner. And he's not afraid. He's masterly in retaining his self-composure.

And not only so, when he talks about his death, he says that his death is going to have value for other people. He's going to give his life as a ransom so that those who put their trust in him may be benefited by the fact that he died. What a masterly concept.

You don't find that anywhere else in human literature. What's more, he's got a masterly influence. Jesus has caught the imagination of so many brilliant people.

You take that man Saul of Tarsus. No one thought that he'd ever become a Christian. But when Jesus encountered him on the Damascus Road, he bowled him over.

When Saul started to think through the Gospel, it won him intellectually as well as emotionally. And down the centuries, believe you, me, I could keep you here for a long time quoting you examples of brilliant brains that came under the influence of Jesus Christ. The master.

That's a good title. But there's another note in this sentence, in this musical score, so to speak, that needs to be sounded out. The master is come.

That's a present tense. Mary is told that Jesus has arrived. Martha says, come along.

Come quickly. Jesus has come. It wasn't for any pure emotional reason that I had us singing at the beginning of the service tonight.

He is here. My heart tells me Jesus is here. You see, Christians believe, and there are hundreds here tonight who would testify that this is true, that Jesus Christ presences himself with ordinary people in the 20th century as they gather together in worship, where two or three are brought together in my name, says the Savior, there I am in the midst.

I believe that Jesus has come. Is come. Is present in this sanctuary now.

I believe that spiritually he releases his presence into the company where there are those who want to worship him or those who are seeking after him. You see, the presence of Jesus has been known by people down the centuries. He doesn't have to be here physically to be present really.

There's a great man of God by the name of Richard Wurmbrand. Still alive, still preaching today. He was imprisoned in Romania and he has a book that I often quote from because it made quite an impact on my life.

A book of sermons he preached to nobody. That seems rather stupid, doesn't it? He was in a cell in Romania and there were only the rats for his companions on many a long occasion. But Wurmbrand said he was so sure of the presence of Jesus in his cell that he could have danced for joy.

Jesus makes himself known to people spiritually who are prepared to seek after him. I believe that the Master has come to the tabernacle this evening. I believe the Master's presence is in the world.

What a terrible, terrible world if Jesus didn't involve himself in the affairs of some people when they cry out and ask that he might come into their lives. The Master is come. It's a good title.

It's a rather wonderful thing that he's present here in the tabernacle this evening but stay with my text as I play it a little further along the line. The Master is come and calleth for thee. One of the first pictures you get of God in the Bible is when Adam has sinned and the Lord God comes down onto the earth in the cool of the day and he cries out, Adam, where are you? God calls men and women.

He calls sinners. Throughout the whole of the Old Testament and on into the New Testament the record is maintained that God is concerned to call men and women to himself who desperately need him. Do you know in the book of Jeremiah that's an Old Testament prophet there are about ten references to God getting up early in the morning and doing something.

God gets up early to speak to people. Now of course God neither slumbers nor sleeps. God's not mortal like you and I but the Lord is so concerned says Jeremiah that people respond to what he has to say that Jeremiah uses this metaphorical language of a man getting up early because he's got a great important task to do that particular day.

He gets up to call people to himself. I believe that he's calling men and women to himself right now. You see, man is valuable in the eyes of God.

Man's not a piece of junk to be thrown overboard, jettisoned like some valueless cargo. Man is not just a conglomeration of chemicals whose body would sell on the chemical market for about 75 pence. Man is made in the image of God.

There's something wonderful about man. The travesty is that man doesn't realize how wonderful he is. But God knows.

And so God comes and he calls. He calls to the world. He calls through the prophets.

He calls through Jesus. He calls through preachers today asking men and women to show concern for God who has such concern for us. There's a story I've told before at the tab, but it's an interesting one and bears repetition, of a Quaker.

You know, the old-fashioned Quaker with his square hat who refused to address anyone but in terms of thee and thou. And on one occasion, down the cobbled streets of London, a horse and cart came rushing down and some poor man was knocked down. And a crowd gathered because it was obvious that the man had sustained terrible injuries.

And the crowd said, what a dreadful thing to happen. We're so very, very sorry. The old Quaker took off his hat and he used it as an offertory bag and he passed it round the crowd and he says, how much is your sorrow worth? How concerned are you? Does it touch your pocket? How concerned is God for you? How concerned is God for me? So touched, he gave all he had.

He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross of Calvary. And that's the gospel call. This is God saying, I rejoice not in the death of a sinner.

I've made it possible for everyone to come to me who will exercise saving faith in what Jesus Christ has achieved on that gibbet. How much is God's sympathy worth? A great deal. he's demonstrated its value by sending Jesus to die for us.

And Jesus comes, therefore, with a call. The Master is come and calleth. But there's two more words for me to emphasize and then I'm through.

The Master is come and calleth for thee. Mary, he's come for you. And he'll call you by your name.

You see, the point is this, and it needs to be said in these days when we have a mass response to so many issues. At Brighton, they were voting by the hundreds of thousands. Blot votes.

Trade unions, Congress. One man able to manipulate one and a half million votes. What power.

How you express the opinion of one and a half million people by one man. It just eludes me, the whole notion. But I'm told it can be done in industrial relationships.

It's probably why we're in such a mess. But as far as the gospel's concerned, there's no such thing as the mass production principle. God deals with us on an individual basis.

The Master is come and he calls for you. He came to Mary and Martha and the subject matter was the death of Lazarus. And Jesus used the occasion to spell out to them very clearly that physical death itself wasn't so important as spiritual death.

But spiritual death needs to be experienced by nobody. Because if they've trusted him as Lord and Savior, then spiritually, they can never die. Martha, do you believe this? Mary, do you believe this? In a few moments time, Jesus will stand by the grave of Lazarus and he'll bring him back to physical life.

But an even greater miracle was when Mary and Martha and Lazarus so trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior that he granted them salvation. He granted them assurance of eternal life. And he did that by dying on the cross and being raised again for their redemption.

Listen to Malcolm Muggeridge, if you'll bear with me for a moment or two. In a sermon he preached on Jesus Rediscovered, he talks about the value of the cross. I find it more difficult to recall and recount the feelings I had about the cross even before it meant anything to me as such.

It was, I know, an obsessive interest, something I avidly sought out as inflamed senses do erotica. I might fasten bits of wood together myself or doodle it. This symbol, which was considered to be derisory in my home, was yet also the focus of inconceivable hopes and desires like a lost love's face pulled out and gazed at with sick longing.

As I remember this, a sense of my own failure lies leadenly upon me. I should have worn the cross over my heart. I should have carried the cross, a precious standard never to be wrested out of my hands, even though I fell still born aloft.

It should have been my cult, my uniform, my language, my life. I shall have no excuse. I can't say I didn't know.

I knew from the beginning and turned away. The lucky thieves were crucified with their savior. You called me, Lord Jesus, and I didn't go.

Those empty years, those empty words, that empty passion. There's a man who, when he wrote his own autobiography, entitled it Chronicles of Wasted Time. I ask you, my friend, have you heard the voice of Jesus calling you? The master has come.

He calls for you. Won't you respond? Acknowledge that he died on the cross to save you and commit your life into his care and keeping as these baptismal candidates did and have. Amen.