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As we come to look in the word of the Lord, I remind our heart that there is an indispensable principle when you come to study the Bible, and that is total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. He’s the One that inspired the Bible and now He must open our hearts and eyes and our understanding so that we can see the Lord Jesus in the Bible. So, let’s go to prayer and then I’ll share a verse and then we’ll begin our study.
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we can trust You to unveil the Lord Jesus in a fresh way to our heart. We know that it’s Your ministry and heart and pray that we would be open and respond to the revelation of Christ. Thank You that You are meeting with us, and we trust You and we know we don’t deserve anything, but Jesus does, and it’s in His name that we pray. Amen.
Here’s a verse I’d like to share, Nehemiah 1:6, “Let Thy ear be attentive and Thine eyes opened to hear the prayer of Thy servant.” The interesting thing there is, “…let Your eyes be opened to hear the prayer of You servant.” His ears are opened but He also searches our hearts, and He looks for the motive, so His eyes are opened to hear the prayer of His servant.”
Welcome again to our meditations on the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. We’re studying the gospel of John, but not to learn the gospel of John. We’re here to behold the Lord Jesus and to join ear to Him. Our gathering will be eternally worthless if we don’t see the Lord, and that’s why we gather.
We’ve been meditating on John 11; let me try to bring us back. We aren’t quite finished with chapter 11, so I want to look at that again. It’s the great chapter on the raising of Lazarus from the dead. We believe that every word is literal. We take everything about this event to be actual; there was a place called Bethany. Bethany had a family, and that family had two sisters and a brother. It’s literal; Mary and Martha and the brother’s name was Lazarus. Lazarus literally got sick, very sick, and he really died, and he was in the grave corrupting for four days when the Lord Jesus came and raised him from the dead. That is actual history, but it’s also, because it’s in the Bible, redemptive history. That means that it tells a spiritual story. We can read the literal facts, but then what does it mean spiritually? There’s a spiritual reality.
John 11:25, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live.’” Jesus was the resurrection in verse 43 when He said, “Lazarus, come forth,” when He called Lazarus out of the grave, he was the resurrection.” Then He was the life when He commanded those who were present, verse 44, “He that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes; his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, “Loose him and let him go.” In other words, unbind him. That’s the spiritual reality. Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth,” and one day in your life and in mine, you heard the voice of Jesus and He raised you from the dead. You were dead in sin and trespasses and the Lord was the resurrection. And He also reveals Himself as the life, and I know in my own life there were seven years; I had trusted the Lord and I was saved, but I wasn’t free from my grave clothes. I was alive but I was still in my grave clothes. When He reveals Himself as the life, He uses His people to help set us free from all the bondage and the grave clothes. That’s the spiritual reality.
We’ll begin our new material, and I want to remind you of this great truth that this miracle, raising Lazarus from the dead, was not only for Lazarus; it was for everybody. It’s always for everybody. This is illustrated by the prayer He prayed, verse 41, “They removed the stone, and Jesus raised His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that you always hear Me, but because of the people standing around, I said it, so they may believe that You have sent Me.’” I’ve often wondered if it was right to use a prayer in order that those standing around could hear the gospel. I’ve been asked to lead in prayer at certain times, and I knew that there were unsaved people in the sound of my voice. So, when I prayed, I would pray the gospel, “Thank You for dying for us; thank You that it’s not by works; thank You that it’s a free gift.” I was talking to the Lord, but I was really talking to everybody around, “Thank You that it’s by simple faith that we can accept You.” Jesus clearly said in this chapter that He prayed, so those standing around could hear and know that this was a miracle from the Lord. There’s a wrong way to pray to be heard of men. You remember Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, Matthew 6:5&6, because they prayed to be heard among men. So, there’s a wrong way to do it.
The point I’m making in chapter 11 is that when God deals with you, it’s bigger than that. He’s not only dealing with me, but He’s dealing with everybody in my circle. When he deals with you, He’s dealing with everyone in your circle. When He deals with you, He’s dealing with your wife, He’s dealing with you husband, He’s dealing with your kids, He’s dealing with your grandkids, He’s dealing with your great-grandkids, He’s dealing with your neighbors, He’s dealing with the people you work for, He’s dealing with the people you work with, He’s dealing with your coach, He’s dealing with your teacher, He’s dealing with everybody at the same time. Even strangers that hear your testimony, He’s dealing with them.
In this story, Jesus deals with Mary and He deals with Martha and He deals with Lazarus and He deals with the messengers that Mary and Martha sent to the Lord Jesus. In those days if somebody died, they would hire mourners, and they would mourn for a week. Professional people would come as cheerleaders in sorrow, just to cry with you. John 11:31, “The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to weep there.” Jesus was dealing with those professional mourners. Verse 36, “And the Jews were saying, ‘See how He loved him.’” There were Jews present. He was dealing with the Jews at the same time. In verse 46, “Some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done, and then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees and a counsel and said, ‘What shall we do? This man does many miracles. If we let Him alone, all men will believe on Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’” He was even dealing with His enemies, with the Pharisees, and all future generations, because this is in the Bible in chapter 11. He’s dealing with you and me. Here we are two thousand years later, and He’s still using this story of Lazarus. The principle is that when the Lord deals with anybody, He deals with everybody at the same time. We don’t have a clue when something comes into our life how God is going to use that.
Before I develop this, let me ask this question, “Are you willing do trust the Lord for anything that comes into your life, that it’s not only for you but it’s for all those around you within the circle of your influence? Are you willing to be sick for somebody else because they are looking on? Or for some nurse or for some anesthesiologist or some doctor? Are you willing to become dependent so that you’ll need caregivers. That’s a hard thing for some people to be dependent on somebody else, but that’s not just for you; that’s for them. Remember Elijah who had to depend on that widow and what a hard thing that must have been for him to obey, especially when he was told to, “Give it to me first,” and she’s on her last meal. That’s not easy, but sometimes God uses those who are dependent to deal with those who are taking care of them. They need to be challenged and they need to have their patience tried, and sometimes they need to have their finances drained and they need to have their energy drained. When God is working for us, He’s working for everybody. Are you willing to have Him do that through you? Are you willing to die for somebody else? “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, but He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” You are expendable. If God uses our death to win someone to the Lord, then it’s worth it.
Let me illustrate it this way. I have hearing aids. I don’t wear them; they drive me crazy because all around me are these other sounds, and I haven’t learned, yet, how to adjust them or have them adjusted, so my wife is always on my case, “Put on your hearing aids,” but I don’t. So, if somebody is talking to me and someone else starts talking, I get confused. I want you to think about the Lord who is the One who hears prayer. How many people do you think are praying to Him at the same time? How many people do you think are praying to Him at the same time in different languages? How many people do you think are praying to Him at the same time in different languages at different speeds? Some people talk fast and some people talk slow. How many people aren’t even able to get the words out, but they’re just sighing and groaning and moaning, and the Lord is listening to that?
He’s intimately acquainted with everyone in every language who is talking at the same time at every speed and He hears every moan and every groan and He knows all about it? He always deals with everybody at the same time. You can talk in English and German and French and Spanish and Russian and Romanian and whatever language you can come up with. I looked it up in Google, and it said that there is at least seven thousand known languages. Imagine talking to the Lord seven thousand prayers coming into His ears at the same time. God has an infinite mind and He is not distracted by that. Every one of those has His undivided attention twenty-four-seven and so do you. It’s an amazing thing to think about.
That’s the large truth, that God deals with everybody at the same time. I want to home in on that and dive down on that and make it a little more narrower, and illustrate it from John 11, from Mary and Martha. Let me state the principle; I’ve stated it many times, and you’ve probably heard it before, and this is the principle I hope the Lord burns into your heart in this session. God always deals with us as we are and where we are in order to bring us to the place that He would have us. There is never an exception to that. The reason that is so wonderful is because we’re all different. I’m not you and you’re not me and we’re all different.
In this story we have two different people, as different as different can be. Martha is Martha and Mary is Mary, and they are different people, but they have the same problem at the same time; both Mary and Martha lost a brother at the same time, so they both lost a loved one and they’re both grieving. How does the Lord Jesus deal with two different people who have the same problem at the same time? The big answer is that He deals with each one as he is, where he is in order to bring him to the place that He wants them. Even though they have the same problem, when He deals with Martha, it’s a lot different than when He dealt with Mary. That’s what we’d like to look at. They are individuals and they’re different.
This chapter illustrates that great truth, and I’ll keep pounding it home, that God deals with us as we are, where we are to bring us where He wants us. He’s not confined and He’s not restricted. Just because He meets me one way in a certain problem, that doesn’t mean He’s going to meet you the same way. I feel sorry for counselors because Christian counselors are supposed to be able to tell you, “Here is what you can expect God to do.” I wouldn’t want to be in that position. God is a God of infinite variety, and He may not do it the same way at all. So, He not only deals with everybody at the same time, but He deals with each one of them as if they were the only one in the universe. I hope you can see yourself that way. With your situation, I don’t care what it is, you have His undivided attention; there’s nobody else.
This illustration is made stronger because it’s an illustration of death, and death, as we pointed out, is man’s most unsolvable problem. If the Lord can solve the most unsolvable problem, He can solve any lesser problem. So, He deals with two different people in terms of the most unsolvable problem in different ways, to illustrate the great principle that God will always meet us exactly as we are and exactly where we are. If you are serious, and I know you are, you wouldn’t be here, nobody forced you to come, if you are serious about going forth with the Lord and advancing in a heart knowledge of Christ, don’t try to be somebody else. Just be who you are. God wants to meet you the way He made you and redeemed you. He wants to meet you. He created you with that personality that you have. He created you with the temperament that you have. If you try to be somebody else, you are going to miss the blessing that God has intended for you.
Remember the story of Jacob. I think he’s the grand illustration of that. Jacob did not like who he was. He wanted to be the first born. He didn’t like who he was, so he tried to be his brother. He tried to be Esau in order to get the blessing. When he tried to be somebody else in order to get the blessing, he lost at least twenty years of his life. You remember the struggle. Finally, in a great wrestling match with the Lord at Pineal, the question was asked, “What is your name?” He had to say, “My name is Jacob; I’m the deceiver and I’m the supplanter and I’m the liar,” and he walked away from that wrestling match crippled, but he got the blessing. He stole the blessing, but then he said, “I’m not going to let you go unless you bless me,” and God said, “I thought you had the blessing and I thought you stole it and tried to be somebody else.” He said, “I’ve learned that anything I have that You didn’t give me, I don’t really have, so I want the blessing.” That’s another whole story.
Anyway, you might say as I said in my early life, “I don’t like me; I don’t like being me.” I didn’t like the way God made me. I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. I didn’t like my personality, I didn’t like my temperament, I wanted God to change me. I’ll say this and I’ll illustrate it later. I don’t know what temperament you have and I don’t know what personality you have, but I know this from the Bible, that God is not going to change you. You’ll never have a different personality and a different temperament. He’s going to liberate it and He’ll set you free in your personality and temperament, but He created you in that skin, and He went to the cross for you knowing that skin, and He died for you, and He redeemed you, and now He’s come to live in that skin, and He wants the world to know and others who have that personality and temperament like you, what He can do through somebody like you. The whole point of everything is that God wants to put Himself on display in your life and through your life. He’s working for you, in you, through you, and it’s not just for you; He’s working in everybody at the same time. So, we need to let Him do that. Proverbs 14:31 convicted me one day because it says that if you mocked somebody the way God made them, you mock their Maker, and that applies to yourself; if you don’t like who you are, you have a controversy with your Maker because He made you that way.
God desires two things; He wants to be God and He wants you to be you. We’ve taken a great forward step in life if we just let God be God and we just be ourselves. Stay out of the Godhead and let God be God; don’t try to be God. Just be yourself and don’t try to be somebody else. God knows you intimately. He’s acquainted with all of your ways. He knows the depths of your heart. He loves you and He died for you, and He chose you. You are the one that He decided to come and live inside and you are His temple and you are His residence and you are His dwelling place, and all He wants is to meet you where you are, as you are, and He’ll bring you where He wants you.
I want to illustrate that from chapter 11 in His dealing with Martha and Mary. Even though they’re different, they have a lot in common. They both love the Lord Jesus, even though they’re different. They both love their brother, Lazarus. They have different ways of showing their love to the Lord Jesus. Martha looked at Him as the guest, and Mary sort of looked at Him as the host, and that He would serve her, but they both loved the Lord. Both of them agree, John 11:3, “The sisters sent to Him saying, ‘Lord, behold, he who you love is sick.’” They agreed to send to Jesus and tell Him that our brother is sick. Both Mary and Martha agreed in this, that they were grieving over their brother’s death. That hurt; that’s somebody in the family. Their hearts were broken, and they were grieving. It’s not easy to lose a loved one, even to the Lord. You know they’re going to heaven, but it’s still very difficult. They were grieving. They both had this in common; they both struggled with faith; they both had trouble trusting the Lord.
In this connection it’s interesting that they both said the exact same words. John 11:21, “Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’” Verse 32, “When Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet saying to Him, ‘Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died.’” Like Mary and Martha, when our faith is tried, often we have a tendency to blame second causes. “If only, if You had been here it could have been different, and it should have been different.” There is that suggestion that if only such and such took place, then things would have been so much different. Maybe Mary and Martha thought, “If only we had sent for Jesus earlier, it might have made a difference.” “If only the messengers went faster, it might have made a difference.” “If only we had the right medicine.” “If only the right doctor was here.” “If only they had buckled that seat belt, it could have been different.” “If only they took their medicine, how different this could have been.” “If only I had forbid those kids not to go and stay home, and not to get involved with that group.” If, if, if only, it could have been different. “If only I hadn’t fallen into that temptation.” “If I only didn’t get mixed up with those people.” When something bad happens, sometimes we forget that the Lord is still on the throne and is still ruling. We think it should have been different.
That might be true before it comes to pass. In other words, before it happens, maybe it could have been different, but by the time something reaches you, dear brothers and sisters, that has become God’s will for your life and it can’t be different and it can’t be changed. Nothing less than this event that came into your life could help you know the Lord more than what He has allowed in your life, I don’t care how ugly and I don’t care how bitter and I don’t care how tragic that situation is. You can name circumstances and my background and I wasn’t nursed as a baby, and I was brought up and beat up and all that stuff, you are where you are now, and that’s where God wants to meet you. Where you are this moment, it could not have been different, and it should not have been different. According to Lamentations 3:33, where you are right now as you sit before me and I sit before you, that’s the shortest route you could have taken to bring you to the place where you are right now. In God’s high and wise purposes, He allowed the accident, He allowed the sickness, He allowed the divorce, He allowed the terrible sin. One of the most thrilling truths that any Christian can ever believe is this, that a Christian is never at the mercy of any circumstance; you are at the mercy of the Lord. A Christian is never at the mercy of a circumstance. If a Christian suffers loss, he’s not a victim. If he’s in a fire, or if it’s in a storm, if it’s by some act of violence, if it’s even (it’s so wonderful that even this is true) you aren’t even a victim of your sin anymore, because He can turn that curse into a blessing. Where you are now is where God wants to meet you.
I’m not suggesting that there’s not a heavy price paid if you rebel against the Lord. There is. There are consequences for sin, but He can turn that into a blessing. Both Mary and Martha had that in common. It could have been different, and I think they were thinking that it should have been different. They not only blamed second causes, but if you read into their comment, I think they were blaming God, as well, “If You were here… and You weren’t…it could have been different. If You were here, and You weren’t… it should have been different…” That tendency to blame the Lord goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, “The woman Thou hast given me… It’s Your fault, Lord; You are the One that gave her to me.”
Anyway, in this statement, there is that mild rebuke to Lord, “Where were You, Lord, when we needed You? Where were You when we were going through this painful situation? We called on You and You didn’t come. We called on You and You delayed. You didn’t answer. Where were You? If You were here, it could have been different, and it should have been different. It’s Your fault.” We need to really remember that a Christian is never a victim of any second cause or any circumstances. So, these girls had many things in common. They loved the Lord, they loved their brother, they sent for Jesus, and they struggled in their faith. They both felt like the Lord disappointed them.
I hope you know that the Lord is in charge of everything; He’s on the throne. He can avert any calamity, no matter how many obstacles are in the way, and He can allow any calamity, no matter how many obstacles are removed. He is sovereign and we need to trust Him. It would be such a miracle if from this moment on until the time you stepped into heaven that you would believe that under no circumstances are you a victim of any circumstance. What comes into your life could not be different. What comes into your life could not have been changed. If you had all the information that God has at His disposal, and if He asked you to choose a path for your life, you wouldn’t change a thing. It’s perfect; He rules! So, these sisters had a lot in common, but they were different, and that’s where I want to go. God deals with each one differently.
I’m not going to take a lot of time sharing about the differences between Martha and Mary. Luke 10 is the great chapter that people go to. Luke 10:38, “It came to pass as they entered into a certain building, and a certain woman named Martha received them into her house.” She had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. Martha welcomed Jesus as a guest, and Mary sat at His feet, as if Mary were the guest. You remember Martha got upset, Luke 10:40, “Martha was distracted with all her preparation. She came to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?’ Tell her to help me.’” How did Jesus respond? Luke 10:41, “The Lord answered and said, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, and only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her.’” I’m only quoting this passage to show that the girls, the sisters, were different. Martha is Martha and Mary is Mary. Martha’s problem was not that she didn’t attend the Bible study with Mary. That wasn’t her problem. Her problem was that she complained that Mary was not Martha. She wanted her sister to be like her, and she was serving. That was the problem that she had. She’s not corrected for serving. We’re going to see her again in chapter 12 where there’s another feast, and Lazarus is now alive and he’s at the table, and it says, “Martha was serving,” but she wasn’t complaining. The Lord had done a work in heart.
I love literature, so I sort of divided Mary and Martha into two groups. I think Martha was prose and I think Mary was poetry. Martha was prose because everything is written out. She’s eager, she’s domestic, she’s active, she’s demonstrative, she’s very anxious and she wants everything in right order and she’s a little bit fretful, and she wants to get things done and done on time. She’s sort of an extrovert. She’s a worker; she’s a servant. That’s as different from Mary as the day is long. Mary is poetry. She sits at His feet; she’s silent. She’s emotional and she’s devotional. She’s contemplative, and she’s passive and quiet and meek; they’re different. One was an extrovert and one is an introvert. Martha comes to feast Jesus, and Mary comes to be feasted by Jesus.
How does the Lord Jesus feel with two people, one is prose, and one is poetry and so different? How does Jesus deal with two different people facing the same problem at the same time? Let me take it one at a time. I’d like to look at Martha first. Martha is not Mary; she’s swift to serve, and she’s active and she welcomes Him to her home. When she heard that Jesus was there, she went running out to meet Him. No doubt, Mary also knew at the same time that Jesus arrived. John 11:20, “Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.” They’re different. Martha comes running. Martha is not swallowed up in grief the same way Mary was. Mary was overwhelmed. Mary is still in shock because her brother died and Jesus didn’t show up. Mary is not able to function; she just sits there and cries. That’s Mary. She couldn’t stop crying; she’s broken hearted and she lost a loved one; she lost her brother. When Martha left the house, no one suspected anything. No one said, “Oh look, Martha is leaving. I wonder where she is going.” They just said she was going to make a sandwich. She’s going to do something, wash dishes, that’s Martha. But when Mary left, everybody said, John 11:31, “The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her when they saw Mary got up quickly, they went out and they followed her supposing she was going to the tomb to weep there.” Of course, because that’s who she was. She’s weeping. That’s Mary.
Martha is not in shock; she’s in self-control. She’s so glad to see Jesus, and when she runs to Him, it’s amazing to read the chapter, she wants to talk; she wants a discussion, a conversation with the Lord. So, they did talk. They talked about the immortality of the soul, they talked about the resurrection of the body, they talked about the future, they talked about the hope that believers have. Martha needs a theological discussion. How does Jesus deal with her? He gives her a theological discussion because that’s where she was. Martha is hyper, so she needs to talk. So, the Savior carries on a theological discussion. How tender He turns her from her theology to Himself. Listen to Martha in verse 22, “’Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give it to You.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ And Martha said to Him, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’” So, Martha is clinging to a doctrine, “I know the truth; I’m a believer, I’m orthodox, I know the doctrine says some day he’s going to rise again. I believe in the resurrection of the dead.”
That’s true, Martha, but why is it true? It’s true because the Lord Jesus is going to be there in the future and those who are in the grave will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. But the One who is going to be there in the future is here right now to do the same miracle. It’s not something called “resurrection”. It’s not a doctrine, Martha. So, He leads her to this truth that I am the resurrection, and I am the life.
I’ve known some dear Christians who haven’t understood, “My glory I will not give to another,” and they’re looking to death to give what only Jesus can give, or they’re looking to heaven to give what only Jesus can give. “I can’t wait until I die and get rid of this old sin nature. Death will rid me of this sin nature.” No it won’t. Heaven won’t rid you of the old sin nature either. I’m not saying you are going to have one, but I’m saying that according to 1 John 3:2, “When we see Him, we’ll be like Him.” That’s what gets rid of the old sin nature; one view of the Lord Jesus in the glorified body, and the sin nature is truck forever dead. It’s seeing the Lord; He’s not going to give His glory to death or to heaven. Only Jesus can do that for you and me.
So, Jesus, dealing with Martha, has a long conversation with Martha and in great tenderness He takes her eyes off the resurrection as a doctrine, verse 25, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’” “Martha, Martha, the last day is not going to do it. You need me now; I need to meet you now as the resurrection and the life. There’s far, far more to knowing Jesus as the resurrection and the life, and Jesus is now taking them forward. The point I’m making is that Martha is Martha and she needs to talk; she needs a Bible verse, she needs scripture, she needs doctrine, she needs theology, and the Lord turns her to a present Savior. How patiently Jesus delt with Martha.
Look at Mary. She’s not like Martha. It’s not going to help to give Mary a Bible verse. It’s not going to help to say, “Let me pray with you.” It’s not going to help to give her a theological discussion. She can’t talk; she can only cry. That’s Mary. She can’t carry on a discussion; she’s all choked up with emotion. When the Lord Jesus comes, she just stays in the house. She had to be sent for. When she was sent for, she finally came and fell at His feet weeping, and she could only get one sentence out and that’s verse 32, “If You had been here, we wouldn’t be going through all of this,” and then she dissolved in a flood of tears.
How does Jesus deal with somebody like that, who is so emotional and so full of sorrow, “I lost my loved one; he’s a member of our family. It hurts.” She’s so wrapped up in sorrow, she can’t even talk. So, here’s what we read. John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” The point of that is not what’s the shortest verse in the Bible. That’s not the point of Jesus wept. He doesn’t give Mary a theological discussion. She’s weeping. So, what does He do? He weeps with her. Martha needs the Savior’s ears and Mary needs the Savior’s tears. So, Jesus meets them both exactly where they are.
I speak as a fool; if I were Jesus, you wouldn’t be reading it this way. I would say, “Mary, hang in there. In about three minutes you are not going to believe what is going to happen. If you would only trust, in three minutes or less your brother is going to be alive again. I know the victory that’s coming. You don’t. I know what’s down the road, and it’s going to happen.” I would encourage her, “Don’t weep; in a moment you’ll be singing and rejoicing. Hang in there, Mary.” That’s what I would have done. But even though Jesus knew what He was going to do, He walked with her where she was until He got to what He was going to do. So, He weeps with her along the way to a great victory. He knows what He’s going to do, and yet He meets her right where she is. She needed someone to cry with her, and Jesus cried with her. He wept, and it’s the most beautiful thing. I would have said, “You have every reason to smile because I know what’s coming.” Jesus deals with us where we are. In our lives, you might be going through some problem; I don’t know what’s going on in your life. Those who follow by tape, you might be going through something right now, and maybe tomorrow it’s all going to be solved. Jesus is going to change it. That won’t change the fact that He will walk with you today to take you to tomorrow. He’ll deal with you exactly as you are and where you are to bring you to the place where He wants you.
Hebrews 4:14-16, I want to call attention to the high priest who sympathizes with all of our feelings; He’s touched with the feelings of our infirmities. That principle is powerfully illustrated I think at every Christian funeral. God is not going to rebuke you because you cried. We weep, but not as those who have no hope. We weep and He weeps with you. He doesn’t want you to be some stoic, and say, “I’m a Christian and they went to heaven and I’m going to be happy.” Spurgeon had a graphic way of saying things, “I’m not like Grampa’s picture over the fireplace who keeps on smiling when the house burns down.” God didn’t call us to keep on smiling. He’s called us to be who we are, so He can meet us where we are. If that is meeting us in doubt, that’s where He’ll meet us. If that’s meeting us in sorrow, that’s where He’ll meet us. If that’s meeting us in unbelief, that’s where He’ll meet us. If that’s meeting us in a backslidden condition, Jesus will show up at the witch’s house to meet with Saul. It’s amazing, brothers and sisters in Christ.
I was planning to focus on the high priest, “You have such a high priest,” but I’m departing from that now, and I want to give just a little part of my own testimony, because Jesus met Martha as and where she was, and Jesus met Mary as and where she was, and I want to tell a little story about how Jesus met Ed Miller as and where he was.
I was a young man twenty-three years old and a student at Columbia Bible College, and I had already been saved for seven years, and now I am a married man, and you would think after seven years as a Christian, that I would be free of my grave clothes, but I was not. I was still in my grave clothes. I was a mess, and I hated who I was. The only joy in my life was that I was married; I had my Lillian, but she didn’t really have me at that time. I wanted to be somebody else; I hated who I was. So, I heard a testimony, very dramatic of a gang leader, and I said, “Wow, that’s a great testimony; I think I’ll steal it,” and I stole it, and I became quite well-known under the guise of that. I was invited to many places. Have you heard of “Unshackled”? They called me and wanted my testimony, my lie that I was a gang leader. I was no gang leader; I grew up a sissy among five little girls. I stole that testimony. I’ll tell you how bad it got. Even my Lillian didn’t know the truth when we got married, and her family. She believed that great dramatic conversion was truly mine, and it was not mine. That’s how I got into Moody Bible Institute; I wrote it on paper, the lie. And that’s how I got into Columbia Bible College; I wrote that lie on paper. There’s a lot more to that story.
But one day in 1965 as I sat in chapel, a man named Bron Carlisle, because God tells others to help to get the grave clothes off. Bron Carlisle was from New Zealand, and he was at our school as a teacher. He was with the Open Air Campaigners; later I actually joined for a while. He was preaching and he gave this wonderful story and I’ll give the story he gave. A custodian of a famous church in Freiburg, Germany, where the church had just purchased a pipe organ. In the 1800’s that was a big deal to have these pipe organs. One day, people would come from far and wide to see this wonderful organ in this cathedral, and one weekend on a Saturday a stranger came and got hold of the custodian and asked if he could view the pipe organ. So, he came and said, “Stand back; there it is.” And he looked all around and saw all the pipes and all, and he said, “Would I be able to sit at the bench and play.” The custodian said, “No, I’ll lose my job. I’m not even going to roll it up and unlock it. You can just look at it.” So, he kept begging and begging, and finally he made a promise to the custodian that he would never tell anyone that he had allowed it. So, the custodian handed him the key and he unlocked it and rolled it back.
This is the testimony of the custodian. He said, “I’d never heard anything like it. For over an hour that cathedral was filled with the most beautiful music that he had ever heard. After about an hour he said to the man, “Who are you?” And the man said, “Felix Mendelsohn.” Later, the custodian gave a testimony, “The master was here, and I almost didn’t give him the key.”
Well, Bron Carlisle took that story and told the students, and I was one of them, that the Lord made you as a mighty pipe organ and there is music inside of you and you will never know what it is if you don’t give him the key. I was such a mess at that time. He said, “You don’t even begin to know; you’ve been faking it.” I thought he was talking to me. There was nobody else in the room; there were a thousand people in the room, but he was talking to me. He said, “You’ve been faking it; you’re a hypocrite; you’ve been lying and you’ve been trying to be somebody else. Give Him the key.” I broke down that day and I gave the Lord Jesus the key. Twenty-three years old in 1965, and I thought the most honorable thing I could ever do was to divorce Lillian because she married a lie. She had other thoughts.
That was the hardest thing in my life. I had to make in right with Moody, I had to make it right with Concordia, I had to make it right with Columbia Bible College, and I had to write letters, and I had to stand up before the whole student body and confess. It was a terrible time in my life, and it was the most wonderful time in my life. He met me where I was; I gave the Master the key, and he brought some music out of my life.
Let me close by saying that the Lord always deals with us as we are and where we are to bring us to where He wants us. He dealt with Mary where she was, and He dealt with Martha where she was, and He dealt with Ed Miller where he was. I don’t care if you are a choleric, or a melancholy or a sanguine, or phlegmatic, He’s going to meet you as you are and where you are, to bring you to the place that He wants you to be. Give Him the key.
Father, thank You for Your precious word with this illustration that You deal with us as we are and where we are. You had a long conversation with Martha and You wept with Mary. Thank You that You are a high priest that can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Thank You for making us the way You made us and redeemed us, and then choosing to live inside of us, so that the world could know what You can do through someone like us. Make these things real in our lives. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.