John 11:33-12:11 - Skip Heitzig

welcome to expound our verse-by-verse study of god's word our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational so there were three sisters elderly sisters who lived together their ages were 92 94 and 96 respectively they were old gal's they had survived and they were sharing a home and as they were getting older they were getting more frail and the 96 year old was upstairs she was running a bath and she put her foot over one side of the tub and then she cried out she yelled out to her sisters downstairs now was I getting in the tub or was I getting out of the tub and the 94 year old sister answered and she said I don't know I'll come up and I'll see so she was going up the stairs she paused and she said now was I going up the stairs are coming down the stairs she yelled out and her other sister the 92 year old was sitting at the kitchen table downstairs and she shook her head and she said man I hope my mine doesn't go like that when I get older and she said and then she went like this knock on wood you know just to reassurance and then she said I'll I'll be up to help you gals in a minute but first let me see who's at the door so these things happen to the best of us we have been looking at a household in Bethany of two sisters and a brother Mary and Martha and Lazarus adult children all sharing the same home don't know what their situation was presumably all unmarried all living in that home probably a family plot of land passed on to that generation they were all sharing that home they were Friends of Jesus not just friends but close friends it was Jesus home away from home when he was in Jerusalem Bethany being just on the other side of the Mount of Olives facing the East they would have had a commanding view of the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley but Lazarus came down with an illness and Mary and Martha knowing that Jesus had a special love for Lazarus sent him a message the one that you love is sick expecting that Jesus would show up and prevent him from getting sick and he further certainly from death didn't happen he waited until Lazarus was dead and then he went up to Bethany Lazarus was a man that Jesus loved but he was still a man and being a man even if Jesus loves you as a man or a woman men and women that Jesus loves gets sick and they die just because you are loved by God doesn't mean that you won't experience the lot that everyone experiences in this earth you say can't God heal yes God can heal no question never an issue will God heal sometimes he will sometimes he won't he will answer all your prayers sometimes yes sometimes no last time I checked that's an answer so they were expecting a yes answer they got a no answer but they were about to get something better but I want to frame it so that you realize once again that we're dealing with humanity and humans get sick as Elif as said in the book of Job chapter five as surely as a man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward so trouble has entered this home Lazarus now has died of the disease whatever it was we're not sure Jesus comes as the funeral is taking place in those days and at that time because of the warm climate Mediterranean climate in the region and because the Jews never embalmed their dead they buried them immediately they buried them the same day they died that was their practice so Lazarus by this time has been dead for days by the time Jesus hits town he's been in the grave for days according to Jewish custom mourning took place for a full month I'll never forget a tour guide that I had in Israel when his father died down in South America he was off the grid for a month because the Jewish mourning is 30 days the first seven days of those thirty days are intense mourning intense grieving and that's typically if you were to go to a Jewish home you would see that they they look disheveled they don't shave they don't wear shoes they let you know they just sort of let themselves go for seven days they kind of hover around the house as a sign of mourning and grief Jesus steps in to this situation Oh something else a Jewish funeral unlike an American funeral you go to an American funeral it's hello I'm glad you could come hushed tones and weird music and I've always thought I told you last week I always been spooked out by funerals I just I would do them a little bit differently you know and and I try to but you know you the family wants what the family wants and so it's usually spooky but in those days it was very demonstrative they thought that if you love someone and they're dead you should show it and so they would give full vent to their feelings loud mourning the ripping of clothes the wearing of sackcloth the throwing up of dust and putting ashes on their head and I mean just a demonstration in fact in those days they would hire professional mourners who would just in case you were in a in a mood not to really get loud you're just in a very very sorrowful depressing mood they would keep the atmosphere going by loud mourning and wailing look you know it was put on they were hired to do it but they wanted the neighbors to know sort of like running the house alarm all day long you know it's like okay they're still in grief over there you can hear those professional mourners out there they're getting paid a bundle and and they did it for that reason now there there were some superstitions about death and I have discovered that superstitions about death still persist to this day an oddly people who are Christian people who go to churches and who read Bibles and who you would think would know better have some of the oddest superstitions I've been at enough funerals I've conducted enough funerals to listen to eulogies given and so I've heard people at funerals say of their beloved well now we know they're angels in heaven that's where they've turned into an angel I guess God needed another angel and I remember when I first heard that I'd look at i'ma go I wonder if they really think that's what happened to their loved one they became an angel but apparently judging by what he or she is saying they actually believe that that happens that does not happen does not happen I've been at funerals where somebody gets up a buddy died who loved to play golf and he'll stand up here and I'll say you know George is up in that big great fairway in the sky right now teeing off shooting it straight down the fairway as if Heaven is a golf course boy would I be disappointed and I grew up playing golf but I'm telling you if that's heaven there's gonna be a lot of disappointed people or you know she's up there playing cards right now she loved to play cards she's up in heaven playing cards and some of the goofiest things or they'll eventually be in heaven but they have to go to a place called purgatory and burn off their sins further all of these superstitions about death that are not biblical teachings at all but I find them at church funerals and it's quite disparaging there were superstitions in that day and age one of them is that the spirit of the departed the spirit of the dead hovered over the grave hovered over the tomb of the person who died for three days seeking to re-enter the body on the fourth day when composition had begun in full swing at full measure the process was now considered irreversible so the spirit would flee for good all of that was superstitious now I'm not saying that Mary and Martha believe that but I'll bet you there were a bunch of people who did so I say that because the fourth day was considered irreversible Jesus shows up on the fourth day he's been dead for days now he's gonna rise that person raised Lazarus from the dead it's going to be unmistakable that it's a resurrection not the fulfillment of some superstition so that's just sort of a little bit of a background to this let's pick it up in verse 33 therefore when Jesus saw her weeping Mary at this point and the Jews who came with her weeping he groaned in the spirit and was troubled we commented on that last time and he said where have you laid him they said to him Lord come and see Jesus wept then the Jews said see how he loved him now notice that it says Mary was weeping and the crowd was weeping then it says jesus wept two different words when the crowd wept the Greek word is a wail of grief an audible wail clio is the word to cry out when it says jesus wept it was a silent weeping you need to picture here Jesus standing there and tears welling up in his eyes and he's standing there silently as tears flood down his cheeks jesus wept does that strike you as odd is Jesus weeping because Lazarus is dead I mean he knows he's gonna raise him in a few minute 10 minutes it's party time right I don't think he's weeping coz Lazarus has died necessarily I don't think it's like I'm missing him right now and you mean you would think Jesus would come in passing out the Kleenex he's about to raise Lazarus up and he knows it so why does he why is he standing there weeping it's a touching scene it's one of the two shortest verses in the Bible the other one is first Thessalonians chapter 5 rejoice always this is just Jesus wept first of all Jesus was entering into the experience of humanity fully he was deity but he was also humanity fully God but fully man and as our great High Priest what does the writer of Hebrews say we do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin so he fully immersed himself to show himself relatable by weeping like they were weeping weep with those that weep the Bible tells us rejoice with those that rejoice yes Jesus was about to raise Lazarus from the dead but don't you think it'd be weird if he came in and went ah I'm rejoicing because I know it's gonna happen no he fully enters into it I love this our great high priest well they interpreted that as Jesus loved him and they said see how he loved him and some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying it's an interesting thing to say it seems like the crowd at the funeral has picked up the attitude of Martha and Mary Lord if you had been here my brother wouldn't have died both of them said that it seems like this crowd has picked up this attitude saying you know I I'm remembering what happened back in Chapter 9 of this book and of course they're not thinking that but they would be thinking I know what happened a few months ago at the feast of dedication in Jerusalem jesus healed a blind man that made an impact on the people of Jerusalem they're still remembering that and they're thinking if he could do that why couldn't he keep a man from dying now parents you answer that because you know the answer to that how many times growing up did your kids misinterpret one of your actions for your lack of love you don't love me well why would you say that because you thanked me oh yeah I did because I love you the discipline proves that I love you it's not because I don't love you well I don't I don't feel it today well it's not how what you feel today and see me in 18 years and let's see how you feel then or they'll weep and they'll wail and they'll accuse you of not loving them because you deny them something they want so they're not being gratified immediately or they're being disciplined immediately and they misinterpret that as a lack of love well couldn't this one if he loved him kept him from dying yes but he's about to demonstrate how much he loves him by raising him up from the dead and giving them back to these sisters Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb it was a cave and a stone lay against it jesus said take away the stone now at first our Lord simply said take me to where you've laid him why is that because graveyards in those days typically unmarked owned by families were outside of town you don't have them inside of town because to be in a cemetery defiles a person touching a dead person defiles a person so cemeteries were in caves in those days where they were cut out of rock hills and go to Jerusalem and you'll see they're everywhere there's rocks everywhere there's Rock Hills everywhere so Jesus verse says take me to where you've laid him but what surprises Martha is Jesus take the stone away why would that surprise Martha funeral is over he's been dead for days no embalming fluid that means one thing stank big time stank well Martha the sister of him who is dead said Lord by this time there's a Stan I love the King James I mentioned to you last week by now he's stinketh for it has been four days and Jesus said to her did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God I wish I could right now March you into a tomb in the Middle East so you could see it for yourself but just imagine going up to the side of a rock Hill there is a cave natural cave that has been further hewn out into a common area where several people could stand and then you would look around in different places and you would notice that there is a burial place a little shelf where you could lay a body and then another niche where you could lay a body typically a family tomb had about eight of these little ledges where you could put eight human bodies then there was a shelf where after the decomposition ran its course after about a year you would enter the tomb again by that time the flesh has been dissolved and you just have a skeleton they would collect all the bones of their loved one and put them into this little box called an ossuary the ossuary met a stone box or a a bone box that's what an ossuary was you would put the bones lay it down the skull on top close the lid and there's uncle George and there's aunt Frieda and you would have the family and then now you have made room for more people to die and be buried in their place and pretty soon you can collect a whole family in there very convenient then the tomb was sealed with a stone it was a large two to three ton stone again I wish I could show you one right by the King David hotel if you go out the back door turn right by the garden and go down to the park you'll see one of them so just remember that next time you're there and you'll see one of these stones at the mouth of a tomb they found it's 2,000 year old tomb the stone was rolled into like a wheel rolled into a little ledge that was carved into the stone and it was rolled downward why was it rolled downward to keep grave robbers out and to keep animals up for obvious reasons to move a stone out of the way took several people and it took leverage it took tools to be able to do it so Jesus says get the guys out here take the stone away probably Martha was thinking oh my goodness he wants to view the body because he loves him so much by the way this is why there are open caskets it's so I know it seems creepy and gross to some people to actually look at a dead corpse but the idea is that it's the last point of contact to see your departed one and probably Martha is thinking that's what Jesus wants but at the same time she's repulsed because she know it's gonna stink I don't know if you've ever smelt a decaying corpse but you know if you have you'll never forget it when I was in radiology training in the early days its San Bernardino County Medical Center we worked with the County Coroner who would bring in corpses or parts of corpses legs torsos heads arms and have us x-ray them to find the cause of death well if you bring in a corpse or a body part that's been decaying for a couple months the entire department radiology emergency room the whole bottom floor just it's an unforgettable smell it's horrible decomposing flesh sorry to UM get into that but I do want you to get the flu you know we read through this and we have our coffee and it's not the same jesus said to her did I not say to you that if you would believed you would see the glory of God then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and even though they just held their noses and turned away Jesus lifted his eyes and said father I thank you that you have heard me and I know that you always hear me but because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe that you sent me nobody had said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them loose him and let him go question why did Jesus have to pray out loud and say what he said to Lazarus out loud did he do it first of all so God could hear him no he did it so they could hear him he wanted them to listen to what was going on because he's authenticating the relationship he has with his father so he prays aloud and then he cries out with a loud voice he didn't have to he could have whispered it he could have fought it in his mind but he vocalized it loud for a few reasons number one he was about to do a mighty act and you want to use mighty speech when you're about to do a mighty act the speech corresponds to the act second reason he did it Wizards and mediums whispered and muttered when they gave their incantations and their spells Jesus to counteract any thought of that spoke loudly and third he wanted to get their attention this is under what they're about to see is utterly amazing something that they will not forget ever so he calls him out now notice something in verse 43 he says Lazarus come forth why did he address him when he why did he just say come forth to limit the response right we're talking we're talking a graveyard setting if he would have just said come forth he would have had an army come for he would he would if go to the Mount of Olives and you'll understand the entire Mount of Olives is to this day in necropolis it's a place where dead thousands upon thousands of dead or bury you'd had more dead people than he would be the Walking Dead so the limited response Lazarus only Lazarus nobody else come forward and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth that gives you a little insight into New Testament burial practices okay you have here aside from the resurrection site from the miraculous you have a picture of salvation we were born what the Bible says dead in trespasses and sins so you were born dead you were born DOA dead on arrival you can't improve your condition you know the the idiocy of saying I'm gonna work hard to get saved is like a dead person saying I'm going to improve my deadness I'm gonna work really hard and get Undead one day and I'm gonna get myself alive dead people cannot improve their condition it's a picture of salvation you were dead in trespasses and sins and the Bible says he quickened you he made you alive it's his act it's his grace it's his work that did it something else what you have here is what they would call in movie jargon a trailer you know what a trailer is right when you go see a movie and the first 30 minutes of the movie you see will show you what's coming next month and next month next month and the trailer is the best usually a lot of times you see the trailer I've seen the move you don't need to see it because why pay 150 bucks to see that movie when I can see the best parts and sometimes it's even better than the movie but it's a preview of coming attractions I digress it's up it's a preview of coming attractions this resurrection of Lazarus was a preview of coming attractions what Jesus did to Lazarus that day listen carefully he's gonna do to you one day and I want you to hear this unmistakably he's gonna so to speak walk up to your grave and say come forth when is that gonna happen at the rapture of the church 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 it says the Lord will descend from heaven listen with a shout with the voice of the archangel and the dead in Christ will rise that's resurrection rise first then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air what happened with Lazarus will happen to you if you're alive you'll be caught up instantly if you're dead you will be raised in resurrected life like Lazarus on that day the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout what will he say what will it shout be don't know but it might be come forth or it might be like Revelation chapter 4 come up here or come forth up here remember revelation 4 there was a trumpet and suddenly John heard that voice come up here and he was in the presence of God instantaneously so this is a preview of coming attractions what he did to Lazarus he's going to do to you and to your loved ones who know Christ that's why death never has the final word Jesus always has the final word and his final word has come for you will live again now people will ask i hope they will ask i hope that they're inquisitive enough to say and then i got a note one time when we were teaching on this why would the lord want to resurrect the dead body of a christian see some people get the idea that that's our body no big deal it dies it perishes then we get a whole new body no you don't the body that went in the ground is the body that gets raised up I think it's gonna look dramatically different so just you know it's relaxed because you don't want to be 92 94 and 98 like those or 96 like those gals it's like the could I'd have died like when I'm 20 then but that's that's a whole nother study which we have taught in depth we did a whole series on the resurrection of the body for the Christian what you will be able to do what it will look like etcetera etc done that already but why would the Lord feel it necessary to resurrect the body and by the way it truly is an extreme makeover I want you to just go home and look in the mirror and take comfort in the fact that it gets better not in the short term but in the long run it gets better and the older we get the more we need to remind ourselves of that all the makeup all the stretching all the whatever you do to fix it up the extreme up makeover is coming why would the Lord need to resurrect the Christian body how about if I leave leave that for home work for you and you can chase that down so we can get through this then verse 45 and verse 46 I have to say is one of the hardest parts of the story for me to believe not the resurrection but this and I'll show you why then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him but some of them went away to the varices and told them the things that Jesus did verse 45 is placed there by John because that is his theme the theme of John is faith is believed 98 times he uses the word believe in this book that is his theme he's telling you this so that you would believe he's showing you why and how people believed so he closes his book saying many other things Jesus did in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and believing have life in his name that's the theme of his book so it's natural that we would find this verse many when they saw a dead dude get out of the ground they believed the hard part for me is the word many it should read everyone who saw the dead dude get out of the ground all of them believed every stinking last one of them believed that would make sense to me but it says many of them believed which in first some did not believe and indeed the very next verse bears that out but some of them went and tattletale went away to the Pharisees and they told him can i you want to know what Jesus did listen if this were a crusade an evangelistic crusade I would understand if it said and some believe in some didn't I get that if this is a church service and an ultracal happen it always happens some believe some don't but a resurrection of a dead dude from the ground should say they all believed but here's what I want you to see this shows you the hardness of the human heart and people say well if I could have a miracle I believe not necessarily a dead dude got out of the ground a lot of people didn't believe it in the Old Testament miracles happen in the in the wilderness in the desert water came out of Iraq manna came out of the sky a Red Sea opened up a lot of people had hardened hearts and did not believe in John chapter 6 Jesus fed the multitudes and yet after Jesus sermon because it was so tough to hear it says in many of his disciples turned away and walked no longer with him really after seeing a miracle like that but that is the human heart some believe and some don't then verse 47 the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said what shall we do for this man works many signs if we let him alone like this everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation now what's wrong with this I'll tell you what's wrong with it you have two groups of people that hate each other but they agree that they hate Jesus more than any of their differences did you see the words in verse 47 chief priests chief priests belonged to a group called the Sadducees you've heard of them yes Sadducees and then under that is the group called the Pharisees so you have chief priests Sadducees and Pharisees they're having a meeting together that's weird they never met together they hated each other the Sadducees were the theological liberals of the day they really weren't religious they were political they wanted to appease Rome so that they could maintain their wealthy positions paid for by the Jewish nation and the Roman government they did not believe in a resurrection they did not believe in the supernatural world they did not believe in life after death they did not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible that the Bible was the Word of God they only held to loosely the first five books of Moses the Pentateuch that's the sad you see party the pharisees on the other hand believed in miracles believed in a resurrection believed in the afterlife believed in spirits and demons believed all of the Old Testament the Tanakh was the inspired Word of God and they also believed that the oral law was to be considered almost on a par with Scripture itself not so the Sadducees so they fought one was a highly legalistic religious group one was very liberal and more political in nature they didn't get along they hated each other with a passion but they hated Jesus more and their hatred for Jesus was the only thing they had in common and that was the mutual element that brought them together so they have a little conference here in the midst of their discussion comes an interesting prediction verse 49 and one of them Caiaphas he's the son-in-law of the of Anna's he's the high priest that year I won't go through all the history of that I've done it before said to them you know nothing at all nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish now he said this not on his own authority but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for that nation only but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad now what what a Caiaphas mean by this he was really a pragmatist he was simply saying look it's better that he dies then we die we better curtail this we better think of a way to kill him because he's going to cause a riot and if he causes a riot in an insurrection they're gonna they're gonna come after us and kill us so it's better that he dies instead of us that's what he meant by it but John says he did not know he was unwitting to the fact that he was actually prophesying that year that God used his position as the high priest to give one of the clearest predictions of vicarious or substitutionary atonement one death is sufficient for all that's what John means by this now he didn't know he was speaking truth but God used him to speak truth which is interesting to me because some people say I can't believe that you know God could speak through anybody except a premillennial dispensational theological dis or that everybody else is wrong listen listen God can speak through a donkey Balaam was riding a donkey and the donkey spoke because he wouldn't listen to God so God said he'll listen to a donkey talking so I just want you to hear that because God in heaven is able to give truth it always has to be compared with Scripture but he's able to get truth through a number of sources I've been to university I've been to colleges there have been some fabulous donkeys that have given me truth much of what they say is wrong but there'll be that nugget of his like yeah I was awesome I was true so just because they don't believe everything you believe God can still use him to speak truth so here's Caiaphas unbeliever unregenerate and he speaks God's Word as being in the position of a high priest that year a clear declaration of substitutionary atonement then from that day on verse 53 they plotted to put him to death therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews but he went from there into the country near the wilderness to a city called Ephraim 15 miles to the north and the hills of the area and there he remained with his disciples and the Passover of the Jews was near and many went up from the country up to Jerusalem for the Passover to purify themselves then they sought Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple what do you think that he will not come to the feast both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where he was they should report it that they might seize him so now the gears the machinery of the crucifixion are put in place let's find him let's seize him let's kill him why to save our nation it's better that one man die then we die let's save our nation all of the steps they made says William Barclay to save the nation would ensure that they destroy the nation Jesus predicted what would happen if they rejected him that the Romans would come and destroy that place and in 70 AD that's exactly what happened in seeking to save their own lives they destroyed their whole nation but the machinery is set in place this is now the final week of Jesus on the earth and we'll only be able to read a portion of it but it really belongs in in Chapter 12 verse one six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany so he was up in Eve but in Bethany went to a little village 15 miles to the north now he's back in Bethany it's Passover six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus who had been dead whom he had raised from the dead there they made him a supper now watch this and Martha served don't be surprised at that right because likely up that's Martha but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him and then Mary took a pound a very costly oil of spikenard anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil now let me piece something together for you we know what happens in Bethany we know that Mary and Martha and Lazarus are there we know that Jesus is there with his disciples the other Gospel writers add an element that John does not they say that this meal took place in Bethany but it was at the home of not Lazarus and it doesn't say it's at the home of Lazarus here there says there's a supper it was at the home of a leper who was healed a guy by the name of Simon who was a guy with leprosy and Jesus cured him so it was a thank-you meal from Simon and probably Mary Martha and Lazarus just a show of appreciation bring Jesus and the gang over the disciples over now I try to imagine what the conversation around the table was like I mean Simon was a leper he could have said you know I just got to tell you being a leper was extremely painful but then there came that day when I lost all feeling and I didn't feel the pain any longer I didn't feel my fingertips and fingers fell off and I was wasting away but then one day jesus healed me and I can't describe what it was like to suddenly have fingers again and feeling and reach up and feel that I had eyebrows and I could be with my family and then of course he would be saying this and Lazarus is sitting there and Lazarus is a dude that's a good story but I was dead I saw Abraham and I saw David and then I get called back here must have been wonderful conversation Martha is serving please don't fault her for that please don't say oh there she goes again she's always on her feet I love people who volunteered to serve the Lord this is her love language folks she'd love to do that she was a one who works of service was the way she showed love and here's what I like about it she's serving but this time she's not complaining back in Luke chapter 10 that famous story of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and Martha serving Martha was complaining Lord tell my sister to help me here there are about 20 people in that house there's Jesus all of his disciples Mary Martha Lazarus Simon probably a few family members or friends there's probably about 20 people she's feeding him all not complaining she's learned her lesson she's grown in grace it's interesting Lazarus is there at the table Martha is serving Lazarus is witnessing you go witnessing he's not saying a word yeah that's a very interesting fact you will never find in any of the four Gospels Lazarus uttering a single word but he was witnessing so how is he witnessing look at verse 9 a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not only for Jesus sake but that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead Jesus was doing all the talking Lasser just sitting there he was exhibit a he didn't have to say a word he was witnessing by his life listen listen witnessing isn't something you do it's something you are and if you say something that's great you should but it first must begin with who you are Jesus didn't say and I will have you go witnessing in Jerusalem Judea said you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the ends of the earth Acts chapter one so Lazarus is witnessing just sitting there smiling I'm the dead dude I'm alive hi guys then Mary verse three then Mary took of a pound of very costly oil of spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil Martha's love language was serving or if I can alliterate this a little bit Martha's love language was perspiring Mary's love language was perfume giving a gift she must I don't know how she acquired this because if you go by Judas's calculation and the next few verses of how much this was worth it's about $10,000 worth of appointment ten thousand dollars loyalist spikenard came from India North India it was the fruit of a fibrous plant the fibrous roots were between three and twelve inches that anchored it to the ground it shot up between 30 and 40 of these spikes out into the air from which was X routed a very earthy spicy scented oil and because of it coming from such a distance and being so rare it was a great value she wanted to just show Jesus how much she loved him Jesus will say this is for my burial I want you to see this verse four it says but one of his disciples Judas Iscariot Simon's son who would betray him said why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor the other gospel authors do not tell us who it was just as the disciples complained us you know John rats him out John tells you it was Judas what Judas said sounds so good he has a good mouth and a bad heart its own so spiritual and he wanted it to make it sound so spiritual you know I'm concerned about the expenses around this place I think that this money could have been given to missions or to poor or this or that why are you wasting it on this Judas's view was bitter because his heart was bitter a man sees with his eyes what is in his heart that is in his heart his heart is wicked and so he misinterprets every act is wicked you know what it's like if somebody likes another person they can do no wrong if somebody hates a person they can do no right it is just it's they've made the decision verse 6 tells us this he said routing him out further not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and he had the money box and he used to take what was put in it jesus said leave her alone love that about Jesus it's a good memory verse leave her alone just quote that one my my life versus Johnson 12 verse 7 lever land leave him alone now I'm not saying it is my life verse but she has kept this for the day of my burial for the poor you will have with you always but me you do not always have leave her alone she is showing me kindness before I die in other words she's giving the roses before the funeral there's some wives that never get flowers from their husband until they're dead then it's all theirs as well whose display rose dude that would have been really cool if you had given that many flowers to her before that happened Jesus giving the she's given the flowers before the funeral not at the funeral now don't misunderstand what Jesus said when he says the poor you have with you always he is not advocating poverty he is not being aloof from poverty he is simply quoting Deuteronomy chapter 15 and in quoting that he is applying that to say generous activity is one thing and it's good but the priority is personal worship you have an opportunity here with me I'm here to show kindness and to show love and this extravagant love is poured out you have a personal opportunity for intimate fellowship with me but me you do not always have now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus sake only but that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead but the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the Jews who went away become many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus so these guys are unreal they saw Christ as a threat to their power they saw Christ as a threat to their nation the high priest said is expedient for one man to die instead of all of us to die but now they think - you think it's expedient for two men to die they'd become the mafia at this point the jerusalem mafia let's kill them both let's kill Jesus and exhibit a I want to close but you know poor Lazarus he not only died once he had to die again there was a resurrection but he didn't keep living I mean he will have a final resurrection but he had to go through it again so I imagine at the table he's saying yeah I'm glad I'm alive and stuff but I just know what it was like to die and I know I'm gonna have to face that all over again so here you have an exception to the rule it's appointed for every man to die once and after this the judgment this is the exception because he died twice every resurrection is an exception to the rule but the rule still stands it is appointed for every man to die once and after this the judgment well we are celebrating is the glorious truth that Jesus took our judgment and so when we die we never really die we just move into heaven into glory because our punishment has been taken so we're gonna take these elements as we close the service tonight would you take your communion cup it's tricky sometimes to get the first layer off but try to peel just the clear off and get to the bread portion and let's bow for prayer father we remember that the night Jesus was betrayed at the Passover he took bread and he broke it telling his followers that it represented his body which would be broken soon for them that spikes would break through his flesh that his body would be abused by men treated shamefully by humanity the very ones he came to save but it was in that breaking it was in that death that life would come for jesus said unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it abides alone Lord we are holding in our hands a piece of bread but the piece of bread to us symbolizes our connection with each other and our connection with you and that we by faith believe we who take this that Jesus is our Messiah our Lord the one who bought our sins so we take this Lord in remembrance of him let's take together and then peel the second layer do you get the juice exposed and father here we hold a symbol of bloodshed dark red and Jesus setting it was wine the Passover wine the fourth cup of redemption in our setting it's the fruit of the wine the juice of the grape but it's a symbol that blood had to be spilled in other in order for sins to be forgiven without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins Lord before we drink this some of us are holding on to our failures we feel ashamed we feel unworthy when all the while we stand forgiven once the gavel has gone down in heaven as it has and once you have declared us non guilty who are we to say that we still are guilty who are we to say that the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough for not sufficient we would do you a grave injustice and so father we simply by faith take this making the declaration that our sins though they might stain like scarlet are as white as snow that we are totally absolutely and utterly forgiven by one act of one person in history and that is Jesus for us on our behalf indeed it is expedient that one man died for the nation for the world behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and we who are a part of that world who have added our fair share of sin to the bunch we take this saying we're forgiven the past is the past you see us white you see us brand new let's take this by faith in Jesus name if you've missed any of our expound studies all of our services and resources are available at expoundabq.org

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 18,923

Rating: 4.7657657 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, John

Id: YKGIFf7EQPk

Length: 58min 25sec (3505 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 03 2016