This is going to be a pretty in-depth study, going from scripture to scripture.
We're going to be studying all the basic facets of denying self.
You can title the study Self-Denial or Death to Self.
And it's important that you realize we're going to be going quickly through many
scriptures.
You're to write the scriptures down and then go back at another time and look them
up and study them and pray over them.
Some of these are very good memorization scriptures, although I don't believe in a
lot of scripture memorization.
I think you can clutter your head up with too much of the scripture without
meditating on it, without really...
I mean, I've seen people that memorize chapters and chapters and chapters and
they can recite it to you, but so can a parrot.
It doesn't matter how much of the scripture you have memorized.
It's how much of the scripture you have digested in your spirit.
I know there's many people that would disagree with me, but I started memorizing
scripture and I was more into the memorization of it than the practice and
assimilation of it into my life.
But there's some great scripture here for memorization.
1 Kings chapter 17, verse 12.
Let's start at verse 8.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, Elijah, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath,
which belongs to Sidon, and stay there.
Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.
So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city,
behold, a widow was there gathering sticks, and he called to her and said,
Please, get me a little water in a jar that I may drink.
And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, Please bring me
a piece of bread in your hand.
But she said, As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour
in the bowl and a little oil in the jar.
And behold, I am gathering a few sticks, that I may go and prepare for me and my
son, that we may eat it and die.
Now this is in the middle of a famine.
It hasn't rained in three years.
I mean, at this point, it's probably two years, because he stays with them for a
year or so.
Maybe it's only one year, but it's an incredible drought.
No water, and she's living in a landship.
All she's got left from her stores is a little bit enough to make a meal for her
son and her, and then that's it.
They don't have anything else to eat.
Then Elijah said to her, Do not fear.
Do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake first from it, and bring it out
to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.
For thus says the Lord God of Israel, The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted,
nor shall the jar of oil be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain on the
face of the earth.
So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her
household ate for many days.
The bowl of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jar of oil become empty
according to the word of Elijah, the word of the Lord, which he spoke
through Elijah.
Now, how rude can you get, right?
Now God has already told him, I have commanded a widow to provide for you,
in verse 9.
And he comes to her, and this is the way God is going to provide for her,
by giving him the first cake from the last meal that she has.
I find that when we are exhausted, that when we have nothing left to give,
when we have absolutely the last bottom of the jar, that's when God will ask us for
peace.
When you're just about to fall asleep, that's when the counseling call will come
in.
That's true.
When you have no more room, then God sends the people.
When you have no more money, then the bills come in.
This is the test of the Lord.
We're going to end, this is real interesting, we're going to end this Bible
study with an Old Testament test, and we're going to start, I'm sorry,
we're going to start it with an Old Testament test, and we're going to end it
with an Old Testament test, with a lot of New Testament scripture in between.
This is an Old Testament test.
You want to be provided for, widow?
She's ready to die, what's she got to lose?
You want to be provided for?
God's going to use you to provide for me, but I'm going to do miracles in your
midst.
I think it's incredible, God says, I have commanded a widow to take care of
you.
I have commanded a widow to provide for you.
Dig that, verse 9.
The widow isn't going to provide for him.
He goes there, she's got one bit of flour left, and he says, alright, you can
provide for me out of a supernatural bowl of flour and a supernatural jar of oil,
that always only has one serving left.
First you must deny yourself and give it to me.
Then I will eat.
Every day will be a day of faith.
You'll only have enough left for that day.
But he swears to her.
In verse 14.
For thus says the Lord God of Israel, the bowl of flour shall not be exhausted,
nor shall the jar of oil be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain on the
face of the earth.
Now there's a lot of New Testament scripture on this that we're going to go
through.
I think the amazing thing for us in the scriptures is that the only way for us to
have anything is to give everything away.
The only way to be exalted is to humble yourself.
The only way to increase is to decrease.
The only way to receive love is to give love.
The only way to grow is to get smaller.
The only way to be taken care of is to take care of somebody else.
It's the rule of the kingdom.
Somebody once said that hell was a place where there was food.
There was a big table and all the people, there was a feast in front of them.
And their arms had no joint at their elbow.
They couldn't bring it to their thing.
And there's this thing and they could carve the turkey and everything but they
couldn't get it to their mouth.
And they said heaven was the exact same scene with people whose arms couldn't bend
either but they were feeding each other.
The same situation that they were saying here, you feed me, I'll feed you.
The only way, the only difference between those two things is selfishness and
giving, sharing.
The situation is exactly the same.
You can have hell in a situation by having two people who are afraid to love and give
to each other.
By having people who are afraid to give themselves up.
And that's hell.
That's selfishness, that's hurt, that's anguish.
And the same situation with the same amount of love and need.
And they give to each other.
Here is two people who have nothing to eat at all.
She's got enough to live and he's got nothing.
She's got just one last meal.
Well, he says the only way you'll be provided for is if you give me a meal from
that last meal first.
And that's the rule of the kingdom.
Okay, turn to Matthew 10, verse 37.
You have that on the middle speed, right?
Four hour speed, right?
The middle one.
Okay, Matthew 10, verse 37.
He who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me.
He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
He who has found his life shall lose it.
He who has lost his life for my sake shall find it.
He who receives me, he who receives you, receives me.
And he who receives me, receives him who sent me.
Okay, the key there, he who has found his life shall lose it.
That means he who tries to save his own life shall lose his life.
Again, back to the widow.
Do you want to be saved?
Give away the last bit of your substance.
Now, how this reads into our life is that we need to be continually laying our lives
down for each other.
Continually thinking about how we can make the other person in our lives life better.
And if we're always worried about what's in it for me and why, I mean, even reading
it into our life here, whether it be the schedule or the job, you know,
why is it that I'm always making the salad?
Why do they have me cutting the onions all the time?
Well, that might be the nastiest job in the kitchen.
Be grateful that you're able to do it.
So somebody else doesn't have to do it.
You're benefiting somebody else.
If we would think of the body instead of us, if we would think of the whole,
we would be glad to do the nasty job.
I'm sure you're glad when the grease is on your hands instead of your face.
You know, when you're working with something greasy and all of a sudden
somebody says, Hey, you have grease on your nose.
And you look down and you had it on your hand and you rubbed your nose.
And now you can't see your nose, but you can see your hand.
I'm sure your whole mind is grateful when you realize you didn't rub your face and
you see the grease and you catch it first on your hand.
Now, if your hand had a mind of its own, it wouldn't be grateful.
It wouldn't be grateful that it had grease on it.
Boy, I'm sure glad.
Well, I'm not.
I've got grease on me.
Well, that's the way the body has to be acting.
I'm glad I got the grease instead of the more honorable part of the body,
whatever that is.
They said there's some parts of the body to honor and some to dishonor.
We walk on our feet.
It gets the brunt of weight.
If we step on something, it gets hurt first.
Our feet, if they had a mind of their own, wouldn't be grateful.
They wish that we'd walk on our hands.
So it could be up and you could shake feet with people.
You could wave to people.
But which part of your body gets more honor?
Your feet or your hands?
Your hands do.
You cook, you sew, you work with it.
You don't cook, sew, and work with your feet.
You don't love with your feet.
You don't go up to somebody and give them a foot rub with your foot on their back.
The reason I'm saying this is that there is parts of the body that are supposedly,
the Bible calls it, parts to dishonor and parts for honor.
There are parts of your body that are covered up.
No one ever sees, except your husband or wife.
And those are for intimacy, those parts of the body.
There are parts of the Christian body that no one ever sees.
Only in the bridal love between the body and the Lord do they get exposed.
Only when God is being worshipped and only when God is blessing and anointing are
those parts of the body lifted up and shown.
And God sees them only in private.
That's why Jesus said, when you do your giving, give in private.
For your Father sees thee in secret and rewards thee openly.
Anyone who is married will tell you that there is intimate moments between a
husband and a wife that they don't share with anybody.
But it beams from their face during the day when they are doing other things.
That love, that intimate fellowship between a husband and a wife.
It's not sex that I'm talking about, it's the intimacy that's a part of it.
That makes a man, a husband or a wife, at ease.
He's not alarmed, he's thinking of his beloved or he's thinking of his mate.
And he has a peace and a joy about that person, even though he's not with them.
That is the way it is with Christians.
And you probably, whoever you are, are probably a part of the body that's not
getting as much honor as Billy Graham.
Or not getting as much honor as somebody in the spotlight.
Or an elder, or a group leader, or a team leader, or whatever it might be.
And everybody sees them and they're the hand that's always getting shaken.
And they're the hand that's always getting patted on the back.
And they're the people that are always getting written about and talked about.
And you're just not noticed at all.
But if you remain intimate with God as part of the body, then God will honor you
openly at the proper time.
And it has to do with this losing your life.
It has to do with this... the only way to find your life is to lose it.
And I think that there needs to be...
This Bible study is not a rebuke.
This Bible study is a remembrance.
And it's for me... it's more for me than any of you.
As I read through this, as I'm teaching this, nobody needs to be humbled more than
those that are in the public eye.
Nobody needs to be at the foot of the cross more than those who are being given
honor, or being given esteem, or being given attention.
Those are the people that need to be the humblest.
Because if they're not, they're doomed to fall.
And everybody that's depending on them is doomed to fall with them.
Matthew 13, verse 44.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and
hid.
And from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls.
And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and
bought it.
Now, what is it that you seek from the Christian life, really?
I mean, a lot of people that are Christians were losers.
In fact, most Christians today were losers in the world.
And they traded in a losing life for what they hoped would be a winning life.
That's not salvation.
That might be something that will spark you to get saved.
That might be something that will put a desire in your heart to meet the Lord.
But that is, I think, the bulk of the testimonies you hear.
I had nothing.
I was down and out.
I was this and that.
And my testimony is very much like that, too.
And that's really not serving the Lord.
That might be meeting the Lord, but it's not serving the Lord.
I didn't have any happiness.
I was unfulfilled.
And I met Jesus, and since then things have been wonderful.
That's the attraction between a man and a woman.
That is not a marriage.
I was lonely, and I met her, and my life has changed.
She has just thrilled my heart.
That is not a marriage.
That's attraction.
That's the spark that might bring two people together.
That is not commitment.
That is not relationship.
People today are so emotional-minded.
People today are so... they need to be fulfilled.
They need to have all their goodies.
And it's just not like that in a man-woman relationship, and it's not like that
between Christ and the Church.
You can be attracted to Jesus.
I have nothing.
Now I can have everything.
Alright, that's valid.
Then he's going to say, alright, you really want everything?
Give up everything.
A man found a treasure hidden in the field.
He sold all that he had so he could get it.
He gave up everything to have it.
Well, it's easy to give up.
As Winky Pratt, he says, you know, you say, I gave up smoking, I gave up
drinking, I gave up fornicating, I gave up drugs.
It's easy to give up your wrongs.
But have you given up your rights?
Giving up your wrongs is easy.
Those things are killing you anyway.
You didn't do God any favors by giving up things that are sending you to hell.
God is impressed when you give up the things you love.
It was one thing for Abraham to send Ishmael away.
It was another thing for him to put Isaac on the altar.
He had to give up his wrong by getting rid of Ishmael.
Then he had to give up his right by getting rid of Isaac.
Put him on the altar.
Offer him as a burnt offering.
There couldn't be anything more distasteful to a father to do.
Nothing could be worse.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing could have been worse.
He'd rather cut his own head off with a machete than to burn his own son.
Giving up the things that are killing you is a favor to yourself.
Nobody ever did God a favor by getting saved.
Nobody.
It's when you are saved and you are beautiful Isaacs that God has given you
your talents, your riches, your future, your images of what you should have as a
human being.
Your rights.
What I could be.
I could be making such and such.
I could be a so and so.
I have the talent to do this and that.
I could be writing books.
I could be making records.
I could be a great chef.
I could be married by now.
I should have married that guy instead of coming to this place.
Or whatever it was.
I have four kids.
Do the lot.
I'm glad I'm here.
Your rights is what God gives you.
Your wrongs, you can get rid of those yourself.
If you are smart enough.
There are people in the world that use self-hypnosis.
In Eastern stuff.
They gave up drugs.
They gave up fornication.
They knew those things were killing them.
You can give those things up without the Lord.
You can't give up yourself without the Lord.
You can't.
It's impossible.
Because all you do is benefit yourself.
Unless you give yourself up for the Lord.
The man found a treasure and he got rid of everything he had to possess this
treasure.
What is the treasure?
What is it?
What's the treasure?
Jesus is the treasure.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way.
I am the truth.
I am the life.
He is the bridegroom.
Who is the treasure?
Jesus.
You can't have him.
If you have any of yourself.
You can have part of him.
You can be on your way.
You can be growing.
You can be going step by step on the Christian installment plan.
But you better, you'll always be making payments until you have that experience
where God karate chops you behind the knees and you're on your face.
And the best thing to get you there is to give up the things you love the most.
Your dreams.
Your ideals.
The things that you always wanted out of life.
Throw them away.
You know, I always wanted to live in Colorado.
I don't know why, I just always wanted to live in Colorado.
And I wanted to have a ranch up in Colorado with a recording studio and a
Learjet.
So that I could go up there and do all my records and I could fly to LA or fly out
and do concerts and come back.
That would be a little paradise away from everything else.
Just my family and my friends.
This was in B.C.
days.
Just going up there and partying and so on.
That was my dream.
And then when I became a Christian, all I had to do was get rid of the drugs
and the party and put the Bible studies in.
And I could still have the ranch in Colorado and the recording studio and the
Learjet.
And everybody would say how blessed God had blessed me if I did it.
It would be totally acceptable in the body.
That's the crazy thing.
We have a Christianity where you can have anything you want to and just put
Christian labels on it.
That's not Christianity.
You can have anything you want to and put Christian labels on it.
You can say I have a burden for this and I feel led to do this and whatever.
And you can still Christianize your selfishness.
You can stamp a dove and a fish on it.
You know?
And God is not impressed with your dove and your fish.
He is impressed with nothing more than the heart.
A heart after Him.
A heart that when finds the pearl, sells everything He has.
He sells everything He has to buy it.
That's self-denial.
That is everything.
It doesn't say He sold most of what He had.
There is a story that I read once about a guy.
I think Winky tells this.
A guy comes into the pearl shop, right?
He is a pearl collector.
And there is a pearl the size of a globe in the front.
And the guy goes, I have been looking for a pearl like that all my life.
I have collected pearls.
What does that pearl cost?
Oh, it's very expensive.
Well, how much does it cost?
You probably couldn't afford it.
Well, how much is it?
Everything you've got.
Is that all?
Is that it?
Well, that's great.
What have you got?
Oh, I don't know.
Open up my wallet.
$117.
All right.
What else have you got?
Well, I've got a check here in my bank account.
There's $40,000, $50,000 I've saved in stocks and bonds.
All right, write a check.
$40,000.
Sign over your stocks and bonds.
Okay.
What else have you got?
Well, that's all I've got.
I mean, you know, I don't even have much left to make my house payment with.
Oh, you have a house.
Yeah, I have a house.
All right, we'll take that.
Where do you want my wife and I to live?
In our car?
Oh, you have a car.
Yeah, two of them.
Two cars.
Well, where do you want my wife and children to go out in the cold?
Oh, you have wife and children.
One wife.
How many children?
Three.
Three children.
Oh, you expect me to live alone?
Oh, yes, you too.
That's the whole thing.
People, when they think God wants everything, they stop short.
They think He wants my money.
They think, well, He wants this and that.
But He wants everything.
It has to be under the blood.
Everything has got to be committed.
You can't think of just money.
You can't think of what I could be doing.
You can't think of who you could be or what you're hoped to be or any other
thing.
It's got to be everything.
Okay.
Luke 12.
36.
Starting at 35.
Luke 12, 35.
Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight.
And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding
feast.
So that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes anock.
Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the other when he comes.
Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at
table and will come up and wait on them.
Now, this goes with the scripture in Luke 17.
I just want you to read that first.
It says that when we're with Jesus, it says that he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and will come up and wait on them.
Now, this might just be a parable.
It also might be literal.
At the wedding feast, Jesus might come up and say, what would you like?
That's incredible.
The king, the master, will gird himself to serve and have them recline at table and
will come up and wait on them.
Now, this goes with Luke 17.
Turn to Luke 17.
And we'll come back to this.
Luke 17, verse 7.
But which of you having a slave plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he has
come in from the field, come immediately and sit down to eat?
But will he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat, and properly
clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will
eat and drink?
He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded,
does he?
So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded, you say, we are
unworthy slaves.
We have done only that which we ought to have done.
Now, that is the attitude when you serve God.
I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do.
Remember Paul said, I don't have any reward for preaching the gospel.
Woe is me if I don't preach the gospel.
My reward is that when I preach the gospel, I offer it without charge.
But think of that, think of that.
It's like, whether it be Kevin on the press, or whether it be Julie Lynn in the
track department, or whether it be Carol up in the office, or Terry in the art
department, or whoever you are in this ministry.
If that's where God has you, you don't get a reward for doing those things.
Not at all.
I don't get a reward for playing the piano and singing.
Woe is me if I don't.
Woe is you if you don't draw pictures.
It's not that that gets us a reward.
It's serving God in everything we do with a proper heart.
It isn't the deeds.
God isn't going to give art points for him, and car points for him, and music
points for me.
God isn't impressed with my songs.
He's got better music in heaven.
God isn't impressed with any of us and what we do.
He's impressed with how we do it.
He isn't impressed that this guy is out tending sheep.
He isn't impressed.
He isn't impressed that he comes in and cooks him a meal.
He's impressed that the guy says, I'm doing all I'm supposed to do.
This is wonderful.
He isn't patting himself on the back.
I'm just an unworthy slave.
That's the best slave there is.
And yet, to tie it into Luke 12 that we just read.
I'm sorry, yeah, Luke 12.
It says, He is going to wait on us.
The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.
And to prove it.
In John 13, turn to John 13.
Verse 3.
John 13, verse 3.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had
come forth from God and was going back to God.
That's an interesting start.
Rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and taking a towel, girded himself about.
Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to
wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
He dressed as a slave.
He took off his clothes and put a towel on, the way a foot slave would be girded.
And then used the towel that was around him.
I mean, it's a pretty big towel.
To start wiping their feet with.
Not only did he say he's going to serve, but he showed his disciples he was going
to serve the night he died.
He says, Now the hour has come for me to be glorified.
Not until I wash your feet.
He goes on.
So he came to Simon Peter in verse 6.
And said to him, And Peter says to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?
Jesus said, What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand later.
Thank you.
Peter said to him, Never shall you wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, If I don't wash your feet, you have no part in me.
Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not only my feet, but my hands and my
head.
He's the guy that opened his mouth and changed feet all the time.
He came to serve.
Yet our attitude, he says, must be...
And when we do what we are commanded, we are to say we are only unworthy slaves
doing what we are supposed to be doing.
We don't deserve to live.
With what we have done against God.
With the lives we have lived for selfishness.
We do not deserve another breath.
We deserve only hell.
It's only God's grace that we're saved.
We did not do anything to get saved.
We did not turn around and go, Okay God, I promise I'm going to be a good
boy now.
And God says, Okay, I'll save you.
It was that God saw that we were lost in our sins and He made provision for us.
And then He offered us a way out.
And we said, Come and get me.
And He saved us.
We didn't save ourselves.
He saved us.
And we've got to remember that.
That we are on borrowed time.
It's just like a man... You've heard this expression before.
A guy, he gets healed of cancer, you know.
He has an operation, they take out half of his lung and he says, I'm living on
borrowed time.
I should have been dead a year ago.
All the time that I've had since then is borrowed time.
You've all heard that expression, I live on borrowed time.
Who did he borrow it from?
From God.
We're all.
As they say, as Lenin said.
Lenin, from the communists, said that communists were dead men on furlough.
They were dead men on furlough.
And I tell you that Christians are already to be living martyrs.
They're already to be dead.
You're already crucified with Christ.
You've already been destroyed.
There shouldn't be anything left in me of, you know, trying to build Keith's kingdom.
Or trying to build up Keith Green.
Or in you, trying to build up you.
There's all got to be building up Jesus.
There shouldn't be anything left in John the Baptist of trying to build up John the
Baptist.
He says, no, I shall decrease and he shall increase.
There shouldn't be any looking to what we can gain from being in last days
ministries.
Or we can gain from being in this department.
Or being the head of this, or the tail of that.
It's got to be.
We're trying to build up Christ.
We're trying to expand his kingdom.
We are serving him.
I don't care if it's washing toilets.
I want to be the best toilet washer in the universe.
I want to clean the parts of the toilet no one will ever see, that God sees.
I always remember that somebody told me that they were...
He says, I was in a C.S.
Lewis book.
Has he ever thought about the wildflowers that are in the crags in the hills that no
one ever sees?
That just bloom, they're beautiful flowers that no one ever sees?
He says, I meditated on that once.
And after that, when I had bathroom duties, I used to polish the bottom of the
toilet.
The behind the toilet, I'd polish it.
Sounds ridiculous, but it's...
God sees the bottom of the toilet.
Who are you polishing the toilet for, anyway?
God sees everything, you know?
And I've never forgotten that.
And when I make the bed, my wife and I make the bed together, it drives me crazy
when the sheet underneath isn't totally straight.
If there's a wrinkle in it, you know, I still remember, well, God sees the
wrinkle.
We're not really making the bed right, because his eyes are under the blanket.
Who do we make beds for?
Who do we wash dishes for?
Who do we clean toilets for?
Is it so that people will go, boy, she's a great toilet cleaner?
Well, they're never going to look behind the toilet.
I think Wayne can tell you, in the service, they have what's called white
glove inspection.
You put on a white glove and go to the place behind the footlocker and run a
white glove behind it and see if there's any dust back where nobody can look.
They want everything spick and span.
They do that at McDonald's, too, I hear.
It's important that we realize that it's God who sees the back of our minds,
the back of our toilets, the back of everything.
And when we're given a job to do, we're to do it that he's the one we are to
impress.
And we are not to try to impress anyone but him.
And if you can impress God, who else do you have to impress?
And he, like any loving father, wants you to impress him.
Not by impressing others, but just by impressing you.
Okay, this is getting exciting.
John 12, verse 24.
Back a chapter.
This is beautiful.
Truly, truly, verse 24, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remains by itself alone.
And if it dies, it bears much fruit.
He who loves his life loses it.
He who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
If anyone serves me, let him follow me.
And where I am, there shall my servant also be.
If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Now, look at verse 25.
That's a good memorization verse.
We ought to write that up on the wall.
He who loves his life loses it.
This is different than, he who finds his life loses it, and he who loses it finds
it.
This is, he who loves his life, not just finds it, but loves it,
loses it.
He who hates his life in this world shall find it to life eternal.
That's getting right down to it.
Remember it says, he who loves father and mother more than me.
He who does not deny father and mother.
He who does not love me more than son.
And then, even his own life.
In another place it says, he who does not hate his father and mother, or his son and
daughter, or his wife or husband, even his own life.
The word hatred there means by comparison to God's love.
Comparison for your love for God.
What's important to you?
You know, we had to go through a time.
I went through a time when the newsletter was important to me, believe it or not.
There was a time when opening the mail was important to me, two and a half,
three years ago.
And now I find that I've got to keep my interest in the newsletter up.
It's not so much that God is so important to me.
It's just that I have had my heart and my treasure in so many things in my life.
I think the hardest thing to give up my treasure right now is my kids.
I treasure my kids a lot.
First it was music, and then it was fellowship in Bible study.
Anything but God is wrong.
And then it was ministry and concerts, and then it was the community and the
newsletter.
And then it was administration and so on.
Now it's the children and...
I guess it's the kids and indecision about what to do in the future.
But after a while you kind of get the hang of it.
After a while you get something in your hand and God slaps your hand and you let
it go.
And then you get something else in your hand and he slaps your hand and you let it
go.
And then you get something else in your hand and before he can slap you,
you let it go.
You get used to letting things go.
It becomes a habit.
You see your heart loving something and you immediately know there's danger
because a hand is going to come out of the sky and slap you.
And he slaps you lovingly, like you would if your kid had a scorpion in his hand.
You'd slap his hand, get rid of that scorpion.
You wouldn't say, please let go of the scorpion.
Why daddy?
Well, here's a book.
Read this book on scorpions.
I can't understand these parents that have children that are six months old or eight
months old or nine months old and the kid only understands one thing.
And they pick the kid up and they start explaining to this nine month old why they
can't touch the wall socket.
That can really hurt you.
The kid doesn't understand.
He just understands pain and rebuke and encouragement.
That's about it.
And it's even more the tone of voice than what you're saying.
The greatest thing was when Josiah hit the age of reason, when I could sit down and
explain to him why he's not supposed to ask why when I say no.
So it was wonderful.
And it was just wonderful when I realized I didn't have to keep dealing with,
at that point, when if I said no, you can't do it, and he asked why he got a
spanking.
And another time, he asked me...
He says, can we go somewhere or something?
And I said, yes.
And he turned around and said, why?
He says, I can say why when you say yes, right?
But I can say why when you say no, right?
I said, yeah, you won't get a spanking if you ask why when I say yes.
And he said, you can ask why about anything.
You just can't ask why when I say no.
You can't question me when I say no.
Because I'll tell you why when I say no.
You can't do that because of that, and that's it.
So it was real.
When they reach the age of reason, it's not any more pain, rebuke,
and encouragement.
It's explanation.
And in the Christian walk, there's a time when God doesn't explain because it
doesn't make a lot of sense.
It doesn't make sense to give up something you love.
It's easy to give up something you hate.
It doesn't make sense to give up something that is benefiting you.
Except it's competing with God.
God is more jealous than you know.
Because he's jealous for our good, and the best thing for us is to have God
one and only.
And that's the whole thing.
He's not as jealous in a selfish way.
He's jealous with us the way a Godly husband is jealous of a wife.
Or a father is jealous over his children.
That he doesn't want anybody hurting his children, or deceiving his children,
or misleading his children.
So he's jealous for their good.
And God knows the best for us is to love him with everything that's in us.
Therefore, whenever we start loving something else, he's jealous for us
because it's harming us.
Not because he ain't getting all the glory.
It's because it's not for our benefit, it's not for his benefit, which is not for
our benefit.
And when he doesn't get the glory, it destroys us.
We think it feels good for a while when we get the glory, but it kills us.
Memorize that scripture.
He who loves his life loses it.
He who hates his life in this world shall keep it till life eternal.
Okay, Luke 17, verse 7.
Oh, we've already gone there, sorry.
Luke 21, verse 2.
Verse 1.
Luke 21, 1.
And he looked up and he saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.
And he saw a certain poor widow putting in two small copper coins.
And he said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of
them.
Now, can you imagine that?
Here comes, you know, Mayor Sadie's, you know, the mayor of Jerusalem.
He's coming down there and he's writing out a $40,000 check, you know,
putting it in.
Hi, I have a $40,000 cashier's check.
Oh yeah, the next guy comes in, he writes a $60,000 check, you know.
They're all standing in line.
Yes, yes, I've paid 25% this year.
I pledge it to the temple treasury television fund.
Okay, and then here comes, you know, this little widow.
She's dressed in rags and she's got two cents.
She puts it in.
Get out of the way!
You know, we've got more important gifts today.
And Jesus turns and says to the disciples, She's put in more than all of them
combined.
Why?
For they all out of their surplus put into the offering, but she out of her poverty
put in all that she had to live on.
Now, that's self-denial.
They didn't deny anything.
Do you know how...
I do this all the time to Melody.
You know, we go out to eat and I don't like something, you know, that she likes.
I'm very generous with it.
Here, you can have this, you know.
I don't like pickles and I don't like tomatoes, you know.
So I'm always giving her my...
She's grateful.
She likes tomatoes.
She likes extra tomatoes.
It's great.
But it wasn't a gift.
It's garbage to me.
It is.
It's just garbage.
It's cluttering up my plate.
I don't want those little gooey seeds all over my hamburger.
You know, pickle juice on my mayonnaise.
It's just...
To her, it's a gift.
She goes, thank you.
It's great.
I have more.
And I'm saying, I have more without it, you know.
Really, I have more to eat without that stuff on my plate.
And so many people...
And the other time, this was our first Mexico outreach that we had in L.A.
We didn't really have a...
The first Christmas, we were going to put together clothing to take down to an
orphanage.
And we knew this Mexican brother that knew some people in Mexico, and we were going
to take it down.
And Melody had Josiah.
And when she was pregnant with our first child, Josiah, she was...
We were very well known around the area, and people started giving her maternity
clothes.
And we had about four or five pregnant girls in the ministry.
And so we put in the newsletter, you know, we have pregnant girls,
and if you could send us...
We are clothes for our guys, and you can send us shoes, and you can send us
maternity clothes and baby clothes.
We could appreciate it.
Anything left over, we will send to Mexico.
Well, she went out, and I bought her some maternity clothes, and some people had
given her some really neat maternity clothes.
So she had about five or six really neat, like, you know, maternity blue jeans and a
blue jean skirt.
And really nice, you know, maternity plaid this.
And then she had all these goofy maternity stuff.
I mean, the stuff that she wouldn't be caught dead in Tijuana wearing,
you know.
And she was going to give that all away, you know.
And she had all the good stuff put away for when we had our next child.
And she had all the other stuff ready to go to Mexico.
And then we had the revival.
And lo and behold, the week of the revival, the guy comes to pick up the
stuff from Mexico.
And she is in the back going through it.
Well, Lord...
She goes out, and she goes, guess what I just did?
I go, what?
I gave all the prize stuff that I was saving to the Mexican orphans,
you know.
And I knew it wouldn't matter to them, but it really mattered to God.
I knew that they would be grateful to get the big polka dot bow tie maternity pass.
The stripes with the dots on it.
She goes, I knew, and I knew it really mattered to me that I wanted those.
But I knew it mattered to God that I gave something away that was really giving.
That's denying self.
When the person works so the other one can eat.
It's not, okay, you work, and I'll eat, and then I'll work and you eat.
It isn't... that's a trade.
That's not giving.
I'm not saying you should not eat and only work.
I'm not trying to lay any of those things on you.
I'm just saying that giving is a final...
Giving is painful.
Real giving is painful.
That was painful for Melody.
For weeks and weeks after that, she kept kicking herself.
She didn't grumble.
She just kept going, how am I going to wear those clothes, you know?
And she kept saying, well, you know, I know it's the right thing.
And, you know, she gave it up to the Lord and finally got through.
But it was like, it was painful.
It cost her.
Real giving... that widow could have gone out and I bet you two cents would have
bought a lot in those days.
I bet you she came to follow Jesus.
I mean, it doesn't say she did, but I bet she became one of his disciples.
And was there when he split the five thousand, when he fed the five thousand.
I bet you she... you know, she's probably one of his followers.
Because she had a right heart after God.
Okay...
1 Peter 4
1 Peter 4 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also
with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has sinned from sin.
So as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lusts of men,
but for the will of God.
Self-denial is suffering in the flesh.
Self-denial is putting to deeds the lusts of the flesh.
Self-denial is putting away the appetites of self.
It's saying, God is more important.
You are more important.
Others are more important.
Spiritual things are more important.
And there's nothing wrong with eating, and there's nothing wrong with joking,
and there's nothing wrong with playing games and recreation.
But those are some of the things that are fun, that are also beneficial for us to
give up, in part at least.
And sometimes, like when we fast, in totality, for the sake of arming
ourselves with the purpose of suffering in the flesh, because he who has suffered in
the flesh has ceased from sin.
I'm not talking about, you know, becoming a sage, you know, with a long
robe on and living in a cave, and so that then you become spiritual.
I'm talking about putting aside your own selfish and physical lusts and desires.
And it makes it conducive for prayer, and it makes it conducive for fellowship.
Because you're a lot easier to live with when you're not hard to please.
Can you write that down?
That's important.
You're a lot easier to live with when you're not hard to please.
And somebody who's willing to suffer in the flesh is very easy to please.
And they're very hard to wrong.
You're a lot easier to live with when you're not hard to please.
Okay, Revelation 12, verse 11.
Starting in verse 10, Revelation 12, verse 10.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation, and the power,
and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come.
For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our
God day and night.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of
their testimony.
And they did not love their life even to death.
Now this is an after... this is the end of the world.
Here's the testimony of God concerning the testimony of his saints.
They overcame him by these things.
By the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and the fact that they
did not love their life even to death.
That's pretty important for you to understand.
The blood of the Lamb, that's the death of Christ.
The word of their testimony, that means the explanation of praise to God,
and telling of the deeds of God, which helped them overcome and build up
their faith.
And their hatred of their own life.
Their inconsiderateness of themselves.
You know the great saints we read books and biographies about.
Hardly ever considered themselves personally.
Okay, finally we are going to end the study in Jeremiah 35.
I'm going to read the whole chapter.
Incredible story.
Jeremiah 35.
The test of self-denial, you can call this part.
This is an incredible story of God testing the self-denial of a group of people.
God testing, not the devil.
I love the parts of the Bible that don't fit in with our concept of God.
Those are my favorite parts of the Bible.
Because I love having my concept of God expanded, twisted, stretched.
That God is much bigger than I can put him in a box.
I love when parts of the Bible, when God does things, says things,
reacts to things in ways that are inconsistent with our 1981 church western
United States concept of God.
Anything like that in the Bible alerts my attention, flags my view.
Because it shows me that God is bigger than we have allowed him to become.
In reality.
Okay, chapter 35.
Let's just read it through.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim,
the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, Go to the house of the Rechabites,
and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the
chambers, and give them wine to drink.
There's the test.
Why is it a test?
You'll find out in a minute.
Then I took Jezeniah, the son of Jeremiah, son of Habeziniah, and his brothers,
and all his sons, and the whole house of Rechabites, and I brought them into the
house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Haman, the son of Igdaliah,
the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the
chamber of Messiah, the son of Shalom, the doorkeeper.
Just in case you don't know where it is.
Then I set before the men of the house of Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups,
and I said to them, Drink wine.
But they said, We will not drink wine, for Jonadab, the son of Rechab,
our father, commanded us, saying, You shall not drink wine.
You are your sons forever.
And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall
not plant a vineyard or own one.
But in tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the
land where you sojourn.
And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father,
in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we our wives,
our sons, and our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in, and we do
not have vineyard or field or seed.
We have only dwelt in tents and have obeyed and have done according to all that
Jonadab, our father, commanded us.
But it came about, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against the land,
that we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem, before the army of the
Chaldeans and before the army of the Assyrians, that we have dwelt in
Jerusalem.
In other words, the Babylonians came to occupy Israel, and they rushed ahead of
the occupying army to find shelter with the people of Jerusalem.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Thus says the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction by listening to my words,
declares the Lord, the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, which he commanded his
sons not to drink wine or observe?
So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father's
command.
But I have spoken to you again and again, and yet you have not listened to me.
Also I have sent you all my servants, the prophets, sending them again and
again, saying, Turn now every man from his evil way, and amend your deeds.
Do not go after other gods to worship them.
Then you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers,
but you have not inclined your ear to listen or listen to me.
Indeed the sons of Jonadab, the sons of Rechab, have observed the command of their
father, which he commanded them, but this people have not listened to me.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Behold, I am bringing on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster
that I have pronounced against them, because I spoke to them, but they did not
listen.
And I have called them, but they did not answer.
Now as I read this, I was hoping that God would somehow give a nice word to the poor
family that could not live in houses and so on.
Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says the Lord,
the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Because you have obeyed the command of
Jonadab your father, kept all his commands, and done according to all that
he commanded you.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not lack a man to stand before me always.
Test passed.
Who tested them?
God.
Now God wanted to use them as an example.
He said he looked all over the land.
Let me find a righteous family around here.
He sees them.
Well, before I use them as an example, I better give them one last test.
So he has Jeremiah, the heaviest righteous man, most righteous man in Israel,
bring him into the house of God, set wine before him, and command him to
drink it.
In the church, here is a righteous prophet, who is never listed as sinning,
in the house of God, asking him to drink wine, which is commanded in the law of
Moses for people to drink wine, except for the Nazarites.
It wasn't against the laws of the land.
It wasn't against the laws of the temple.
They can drink wine in the temple.
They said, uh-uh, our father said it, and we are not going to do it.
And you can see it wasn't, would you like to drink wine?
It was, drink wine!
There will come a time, like with Balaam, when God will say, go ahead and go.
There will come a time when God has made it clear to you not to do something,
and God will tell somebody to come to you and say, do it!
There will, there will come a time in your life that is consistent with the word of
God, and you will jump at the chance.
Because it's something you always wanted to do.
This family always wanted to drink wine, especially the kids that weren't around
when Grandpa said, don't drink it.
You know, all my friends drink wine, the priests drink wine, even Jeremiah
probably drank wine.
It was part of the culture, it was part of the religion.
How unreasonable for our father to make us outcasts and weirdos.
There will come a time when God says to you, deny yourself.
Don't raise your standard of living, raise your standard of giving when God
blesses you.
And some other man of God will come through and say, feed yourself,
bless yourself.
Some other man of God will come through and God will say, and then God will say,
okay, what did I teach you originally?
What did I teach you about not raising yourself up?
What did I teach you about not dressing yourself up?
Bringing attention to yourself.
Don't ever change that.
God never changes his principles.
Sometimes he changes his ways, and sometimes, as in the case of,
you know, Paul says, I've learned the secret of abounding and abasing.
I've learned the secret of having much and enjoying it, having little and enjoying
it.
Some people like that.
I'm not talking about money, I'm not talking about anything.
I'm not talking about there being any benefit in giving up things.
I'm talking about there being a benefit in worshipping God through putting down
everything else but God.
You must understand there is no benefit in giving up food and giving up sex or giving
up money or giving up anything in its proper place.
There's only benefit in worshipping God above all else and denying him nothing and
denying yourself everything so you can have him.
Okay, any questions?
Yes.
In the scripture John 13, 6-10, we talked about Jesus washing the
disciples' feet.
Something's a little confusing to me about the symbolism of washing the feet because
Jesus says later on after verse 10 that anyone who has had a bath needs only to
wash his feet.
So apparently the way I read the symbolism is that Jesus has washed our entire bodies
and we're clean in him because of his sacrifice.
Yet our feet have to be... we're touching the ground with our feet.
We take a bath and we walk around and our feet get dirty but yet you're still clean.
And he had to keep washing our feet.
There's a lot of different interpretation of that.
Can you?
No, I wouldn't expound on it.
All I would say, it also has been explained as just being his reaction to
Peter saying, wash my hands and my head.
He says, no, your hands and head are clean.
You took a bath earlier.
Your feet, you're walking in the dust.
That's what needs to be washed.
I don't need to wash them.
I mean, it could just be a practical, physical thing that he was telling Peter.
I'm not saying it couldn't be spiritual.
I wouldn't want to get into it, especially now.
Yes, Laura.
When you were saying about there coming a time when God told you something and then
he'll send someone or allow someone to come and ask God for something,
it looked like it's really okay to not do what he said.
I thought about that prophet that prophesied about Josiah and prophesied
against the altar.
Right.
That's a heavy story.
God told him not to go and the other guy said, well, God said you could go,
you know, you could come into my house and eat.
God had told him.
All right.
Can you turn to John chapter 11?
Gospel of John.
This is a study that I prepared for our own ministry last night and I got sick
yesterday and didn't feel up to presenting this.
As God works together for good in everything, I know that possibly there are
some here that needed to hear the principles that Jesus lives out and
presents in his life through this chapter.
And this morning I felt the Spirit united me to call Dale and see.
I knew that Leonard was out of town and that possibly I was to teach this here
tonight.
He said, no, there wasn't any plans for anybody to be here to take Leonard's
place.
And I always feel kind of strange sitting in Leonard Reagan's chair.
I don't feel that I have his years or anything that he has, except the same God
and the same Bible, which is a lot.
And so tonight we're going to look at, I think, one of the most exciting,
dramatic, It's more dramatic than anything that ever happened on a soap opera or on a
Hollywood screen.
It's the death and resurrection of Lazarus.
And this chapter is peppered with...
There's several verses in here that you could teach on for a week if you have one
of those teaching mentalities.
I never could get into people that took a verse and went a week on it.
I've never been able to do that.
The Bible is sort of like a love letter.
And there's stories.
There is a couple of books in the Bible that you can spend weeks on verses.
The only two I can think of, really, is Romans and Hebrews.
They always kind of stump the stars in the theologian field.
But the Gospels, I think they're meant to be read.
Read them, go through them, pick out the good parts and expound on them.
I don't know how you would feel if you'd written a couple of letters to somebody
and they took a week to go on each sentence.
Dear Fred.
Look at the way he said dear.
Look at that semicolon there at the end of Fred.
He spelled the date out.
I have trouble with spending a lot of time on one little part of the Scripture
because you tend to forget the whole story.
So we're going to go through this.
There is a couple of places where we need to stop and say a few things.
And to point out some things that aren't necessarily obvious on the surface.
But I think you'll agree, taking a look at it, that Jesus' emotions are not what the
people in this chapter thought they were.
Okay, let's go from the beginning.
Chapter 11.
I'm reading from the New American Standard.
Now a certain man was sick.
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
You can remember Mary and Martha.
Remember, Martha was the busy one.
She wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner for Jesus.
You know, the turkey and the stuffing and she was running around.
She had her hands in the microwave and everything.
And Mary was kind of sitting in a gaze-indy.
But that's another whole story, another whole principle.
But that's the same Mary and Martha of the, hey Mary, how come you're not
working, thing.
Okay, verse 2.
And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her
hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is
sick.
Now, let's stop there.
I think that Jesus had a special relationship with his family.
Now it's true that Jesus had a love for all mankind.
But let's face it, as Leonard says, he had some favorites.
Nobody likes to think of things like that, but he had favorites.
Not according to, like it says that God is not a respecter of persons.
That means that he's not impressed when you have big gold rings.
He's not impressed that you have a big house, or that you've got a pretty face,
or a wonderful personality.
He's only impressed with one thing, the state and attitude of your heart.
Remember, here is a family, a man, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.
That impressed Jesus.
It impressed David, a man after God's heart, a man after my heart.
Have you considered my servant Job, a man righteous, upright and blameless.
Those are the things that always impressed God in the Bible.
There must have been something about this family that impressed Jesus.
But we already have an example that he was impressed with Mary, his devotion.
Lazarus also, now there are a lot of things in the Bible, in fact it says at
the end of this book of John, that if everything Jesus did were written,
the world couldn't even contain books.
Now I used to look at that and go, that's not a literal statement,
but it really is.
You know why?
What has Jesus done?
Well, brought the earth.
What if they wrote down every single thing he did while he was on the earth?
That wouldn't fill the earth, would it?
No, probably not.
I mean, if they wrote down everything that John Paul Gideon did, you know,
he took a breath.
He digested his spirits.
He blinked his eyes.
I mean, that wouldn't even fill the earth.
What else did Jesus do?
He created the earth.
Imagine all the books it would take to talk about how he created the eye of a
fly.
What else does he do?
He runs the universe.
Are you getting the picture?
How long has he done it?
Forever in both directions.
Now you can find out why the earth could not contain all the books of everything
Jesus has done.
That's a literal statement.
But back to Lazarus, Lazarus must have done some incredible, had an incredible
heart.
He must have really impressed Jesus with his spiritual depth and character.
For him to be called by his own sisters, the one whom you love.
And another place in this chapter, it says, look, see how much he loved them,
he's weeping.
The people, he has, Lazarus was one of his best friends.
He wasn't like one of the twelve, but he was one of his favorite
missionaries, if you will.
One of his favorite people that were supporting the ministry on the outside.
Somebody he liked to hang out with when he was in town.
Now there's another thing in this verse.
Lord behold, he whom you love is sick.
It's almost like they're saying to him, they don't say, Lord Lazarus is sick.
They say, Lord, this guy is sick, and remember how much you love him?
Like they're trying to say, they're trying to talk Jesus into coming.
They're trying to add a little bit of human ingenuity and human pull to get him
to come.
But when Jesus heard it in verse 4, he said, this sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.
How does Jesus know that?
Jesus knows that Lazarus, through the spiritual realm, he knows that Lazarus is
not going to stay dead by this sickness.
This is not unto death.
Now, you have to understand what his disciples... you guys can come on in.
There's plenty, there's room here on the couch, and there's more chairs around.
Do you have to understand what this sounds like to his disciples?
Now remember, Jesus had the kind of disciples that would open their mouths to
change feet.
Especially Peter.
He had disciples with 6 inch skulls.
Imagine the night before you die, you know you're going to be crying on a
cross, you know you're going to be beaten to a pulp.
Here's your 12 disciples, 3 years of intense discipleship training.
3 years of Bible study.
3 years of Old Testament in-depth teaching.
3 years of miracles.
I'm the greatest, oh yeah, well let me get into the kingdom, I'll sit at the right
hand, oh no, I'll sit at the left hand.
I would have gone out and gotten 12 new disciples.
Not Jesus.
He got down and washed their feet.
Shows you the heart of God.
So he's got these numbskulls for disciples.
Now you have to understand how this sentence sounds to the disciples.
How does it sound?
This sickness is not on the death.
That means, very literally, vipers ain't going to die.
How do you think it looked to the disciples?
When he went there and they found him dead.
It looked like Jesus gave up all prophecy, didn't it?
On the surface.
You have to understand that when Peter said, is that you Lord out there?
Jesus said, uh-huh.
If it's really you, bid that I come.
And the disciples said, I've got to see this.
Jesus said, alright, I've got to see this too, come on.
Peter starts walking on the water, all the disciples go, I wish I would have
done that.
He starts to sink and I go, boy, I'm glad I didn't do that.
Peter was eager to jump to conclusions.
All the disciples were too.
He says, beware of the eleven of the Pharisees.
Maybe it's because we didn't take bread.
I'm not talking about bread.
I'm talking about their teaching.
They're always taking everything literally.
So how does this sound to the disciples?
This sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God, that the Son of
God may be glorified by it.
Well, maybe he's going to heal them from afar.
He did that before.
Maybe Jesus will just go around the bush and wave his hands and the Lazarus will
get healed.
And it's for the glory of God.
Also, you have to understand, you'll find later in the chapter, they had just come
out of Jerusalem, where Jesus had almost been killed and been taken, according to
the disciples' view of it.
So they don't want to go down to Bethany, which is a rite of stone served in
Jerusalem.
Verse 5.
Now here's one of those verses that gets the Christian socialists very mad.
I'll explain that in a minute.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
And therefore he heard that he was sick.
He stayed then two days longer in the place where he was.
Verse 5.
The people that say that Jesus loves everybody equally, they say, well of
course he loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus and Fred and Mary and Ethel and so
on.
But that is one of those verses of special.
Jesus had a special love for them.
You better believe it.
Jesus had a special love.
It doesn't mean that he didn't have...
That means that because he loves more, it doesn't mean he loves others less.
You have to understand God's love.
God can love you with his whole heart.
And then the guy next to you, he can have a special love for him.
And it doesn't mean he loves you any less than he can love you.
You won't notice it.
Remember Joseph?
His father gave him a coat of many colors.
Remember how jealous it made his brothers?
His father gave them good things too.
Their father was a rich man and shared among his brothers.
But he desired to give a special blessing to Joseph.
Remember the parable of the guy who worked in the vineyard?
He said, can I do what I want with what is my own without you getting jealous and
covetous?
I want you to realize that because it is going to be an important story.
Jesus loved Martha and his sister and wife.
He had a special love for them.
How many of the disciples were in the inner circle?
Three.
He had three disciples that only got to do certain things.
Nobody else got to do.
They were there on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Jesus took those three to...
There is a special place in Stone's Throw where he took those three to pray and
disseminate.
There is another place where he just took them to.
I can't think of the guy's name.
Rahiel, the daughter of Jairus.
He just took those three too.
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Six.
When therefore he heard that he was sick, he got on the next plane and went to
Bethany.
No.
He stayed.
Premeditatedly didn't go.
That's what that says.
He premeditatedly said, Hey, he's sick.
Let's stay here.
Now, that doesn't sound like a very loving thing to do if you have the power to heal
somebody.
God works in...
in a mysterious way.
God will withhold from us a blessing so that we can get a greater blessing later.
God will withhold a small miracle so that he can do a greater miracle and get more
glory.
God always does the thing that gives him the most glory because it's the best thing
for his universe and his kingdom for him to get the most glory.
It's the healthiest thing for you, for God, to get the most glory.
Therefore, God will withhold from you pennies so that you can get quarters,
spiritually speaking.
God will withhold from you those little things sometimes.
He will premeditatedly not give you what you ask for immediately so that he can
give you more than you bargained for later.
Things that we have not heard or seen or even imagined in our hearts as God
prepared for them in life.
His sisters weren't thinking that Lazarus was going to die.
They weren't even considering it.
Now, we all know the end of the story, right?
Lazarus is going to get raised from the dead.
Every Christian in here knows that so I'm not going to act like you don't know the
end.
We're going to go through it as if we know the end already.
From God's point of view.
God knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.
He says it right there in verse 4.
Jesus is planning God is planning to do something big.
They just want him to get healed of the flu or the cold or the acne or whatever he
had.
They wanted an easy, quick, God gets a little glory, way out.
God had other plans which caused them to doubt.
Which caused them to fret and you'll find out later caused them to be a little
bitter questioning of God's wisdom.
At the end, nobody questioned God's wisdom.
At the end, no one had a thing bad to say about Jesus and how much he loved or
didn't love Lazarus.
Then after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again.
The disciples said to him, Rabbi, here, his board of directors came by.
We really don't think this is a wise idea.
Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you.
And are you going there again?
Have you flipped your noodle?
I mean, can you imagine?
You're the teacher, they're the students, they're the followers, and they're
questioning your every move.
Are you sure this is the right thing to do, Jesus?
Last week, he told this wind to shut up and it did.
And they're questioning him.
A week before that, it made food stamps look crazy.
He's just passing food out and five loaves of bread.
They're questioning Jesus.
They're giving him a political and social statement.
They're giving him the ABC World News Tonight report.
This is not good, Lord.
It's not safe for you to go.
He just saved them from drowning with the word out of his mouth and they're
questioning him.
Can you believe that?
What God allows people, what God puts up with, what God allows people to go into in
his presence and still very quietly says, nine.
Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in the day?
Speaking of parables here,
the light of this world.
But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in
him.
What does all that mean?
It has a whole bunch of different meanings.
One of the meanings is, of course, the mystical or spiritual meaning is there
is a time when I can walk and not be taken.
Remember, he says, my hour has not yet come.
He talked about a time when he will be allowed to be taken.
He says, no one takes my life from me but I give it willingly.
They can't take me.
I don't have to worry about it.
I'm going to walk in the day.
This is the daytime of my ministry.
There will come a night, the night of Gethsemane, when they'll come and take us
like thieves and robbers.
That's the other meaning.
You don't have to worry, we're going to travel by day.
When I get taken, it will be at night.
Verse 11.
Then he said, and after that, this he said, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep
but I go that I might awaken him out of sleep.
Isn't that a nice way of putting it?
Do you know why Jesus said that?
Why did he say, Lazarus kicked the bucket, let's go raise him from the dead.
He cast in his chips.
The reason he said Lazarus has fallen asleep is because there is something of a
finality in the word death.
He died.
You don't have any hope that someone is going to come back in your lifetime when
they use the word die.
Jesus was trying to explain spiritually to them, this is a temporary situation,
kids.
He's fallen asleep, I'm going to wake him.
He said, it's going to be as easy as going and shaking your brother.
He had to wake him up for school.
That's the way Jesus looked at it.
He was giving them a glimpse at the way he sees things.
He was giving them a glimpse at what true faith is.
He was giving them a glimpse of the vision of what resurrection really is to God.
It's no great feat, it isn't even a miracle.
It's natural to God.
The disciples therefore said to him, now here's their medical advice to the
Lord Jesus.
First they gave him a political report, now they're giving him the American
Medical Association opinion about Lazarus here.
Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover.
He's just a little tired.
Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of
literal sleep.
Thank you John.
Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, Jesus therefore said to them plainly,
Lazarus is dead.
Thank you Lord.
Sometimes God will just say, shut up.
And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there.
I can see the Lord smiling through that.
And I wasn't there.
So that you may believe.
Come on, let's go.
But let us go to him.
Thomas therefore, a man of faith, who is called Davidimus, which means the
twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us go also, that we may die with him.
Come on, he's going to get killed, let's go die too.
There's a faithful man to have around.
For your treasurer, you've got a thief.
For your encourager, you've got a cynic.
For your leader,
you've got a thief.
Verse 17.
So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
Which probably means now, I don't know really where he was there, but they say
it's a two day journey from there to Bethany.
He waited two days, which means he probably died the same day they sent the
message.
Which means he probably couldn't even have gotten there before he died anyway.
So Jesus probably knew that his sickness was not of the death, but he possibly had
already died.
Because you remember, if it took him two days to get there, how long would it take
the message to get to him?
They didn't have air mail.
It took somebody just as long to get to you as it took you to get to them.
So most likely, the message had been given to him two days before Lazarus died.
When he got it, it was the day Lazarus died.
So he couldn't have gotten there anyway.
It took him two days, and then it took a two day journey to get there.
He's been in the grave four days.
Now the thing, it's probably obvious to everybody that he couldn't have gotten
there before he died.
But everybody here is going to be all bummed out that he didn't at least make an
effort to get there.
Because he didn't know that he died, but Jesus did know, and they don't trust
him.
They worship him, they hosanna him, they say oh lord, they call him master,
but it's obvious by everybody's attitude, including his own disciples, that they
didn't trust him.
You can sing praise songs, you can raise people from the dead, you can do all kinds
of miracles, you can go to church until your face is blue, until the church is
gorgeous, you can give all your money, but if you don't trust God, your religion
is like all these people.
Funny.
It's really, it's either sad, it depends on which way you look at it.
I mean, you can look at this and weep, it really is funny when Jesus falls in the
water, I mean when Peter falls in the water, and he tries to walk.
It's also kind of sad.
Jesus didn't laugh.
Jesus said, be a little faithful.
Why didn't you laugh?
Everybody's attitude here is judgmental, critical, untrusting, unbelieving,
and they are all sounding so religious.
It's a picture of you and me.
It's a picture of Christians, who trust God a little bit, who believe because
something that God did for them a long time ago, even last week, that's a long
time in God's kingdom.
Because remember, the manna only lasts one day.
And I think it's real important you understand this.
This is a picture of us.
Every person in this chapter.
This is an incredible story.
17.
So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their
brother.
Have any of you ever been to a Jewish funeral?
It is the loudest.
The voice...
They had professional mourners in Israel.
They still do.
At a synagogue, or at the doc's funeral.
You can hire people to weep and wail and cry at your funeral.
Or at your wife's funeral, your kid's funeral.
Really get the tears flowing.
You know how when people are crying, everybody else cries too?
If you see somebody crying, it makes you...
it's a chain reaction.
They had professionals.
They hired people that were so authentic in their tears.
Because it was just...
Remember when Jesus went to heal Jairus' daughter?
And they were wailing.
Why don't you guys leave?
She is always asleep.
We all sit in our laps in our sleep.
Where did you get this clown?
Okay.
Many of the Jews, verse 19, come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their
brother.
Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him.
But Mary still sat in the house.
Martha, therefore, said to Jesus, First words.
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Hi, Lord.
How have you been?
No.
Gee, it's good to see you.
No.
Hey, come over and raise my brother from the dead.
No.
How's the miracles been going?
Leave more people to yourself?
No.
How's the kingdom of God doing?
If you would be here, my brother wouldn't have died.
No.
Her sister didn't even come out.
The one that was gazing at his feet, that was so enraptured in Jesus,
she's sitting in the house.
I hope this guy's a colony.
She's so bitter, she won't even leave the house.
Martha's so bitter, the first thing is, if you, if, if, if, what's this if
business with God?
If you would do this, if you had done this, then my life would be the way it
was.
Jesus wouldn't have died.
That's what the whole world does with God.
If God, if God is so good, then why does he allow this to happen?
Jesus, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
22.
And here's her, I told you, here's her even sounding religion.
Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.
Now, do you think she means?
Do you really think she means?
You'll find out in the next few verses.
Jesus is a little hopeful, that's what she means.
Now, this is a little complicated here, but check it out.
She says to him, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.
That is just a bunch of religious hogwash that she's saying.
You'll find out two verses later.
So Jesus replies to that statement with, your brother shall rise again.
You're right.
She says, even now, whatever you ask, I'll give you.
So Jesus is saying, okay, I'll raise him from the dead.
That's what she's saying.
So she says to him, I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
I've got my doctrine right.
I sat under the best teacher, you.
I know all the theological points of doctrine.
I know there's going to be a resurrection.
Martha, Martha, listen.
I'm the resurrection and the life.
The resurrection day isn't a part for me.
Hey, here I am.
I'm resurrection day.
Who do you want me to raise from the dead?
Your brother?
Here I am.
He who believes in me shall live even if he dies.
And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?
Here's her catechism question.
That's the way she's taking it.
She says to him, yes, yes, Lord.
I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.
I believe in this and that and everything.
I've got my doctrine down.
And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying
secretly.
Why secretly?
The Lord is here and he's calling for you.
Because Mary was stewing.
Mary's in the house and she's stewing.
So she takes her aside to talk to her.
Listen, man.
Jesus is here.
He's calling for you.
She can't say it out in the open because she may turn around and say, so what?
He should have been here.
You know how if somebody is in one of those moods, you've got to take them aside
and talk to them privately?
Jesus, the Lord is here and he's calling for you.
The teacher is here and he's calling for you.
When she heard it, she rose quickly and was coming to him.
Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where
she had met him.
The Jews then, who were with her in the house and consoling her, when they saw
that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going
to the tomb to weep there.
Part of the Jewish custom.
Go to the tomb and you weep.
Therefore Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him, fell at his feet,
saying to him, hallelujah, saying to him the exact same words Now, have you ever
heard a story about yourself with two different people?
Same words, guess who's been talking?
The two people that told you the same story about yourself.
Gossip, backbiting, bad mouth, bad attitude.
Well, I heard that you said this.
And the next person to next, I heard that you said this.
Well, guess where they heard it?
From each other.
How do people come out with the same exact words?
They get together and grumble together.
Guess who was grumbling together?
She says the same exact words.
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her,
also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.
Does anybody have a footnote on what deeply moved in spirit is?
No?
What?
Troubled.
Troubled himself.
Where?
Here.
Oh, here it is.
What do you think deeply moved in spirit means?
It was troubled.
You think he was touched?
If you know you are about to raise somebody from the dead, you are not going
to get all caught up in the fact the guy is dead.
Right?
Say you know, say somebody is blind.
He has just been struck blind.
A battery blew up in his face and battery acid has made him blind.
He was such a great father and he is such a great husband and he is not going to be
able to do his job.
And you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are going to touch his eye and he
is going to see.
Does it make any sense that you are going to walk in and start wailing and crying
that he is blind?
That deeply moved and troubled Jesus is disappointed.
He is extremely hurt that though he has come with good news telling them your
brother is going to rise again.
They ask me and I am going to heal this guy.
I am going to raise him from the dead.
They are still weeping.
They are still crying.
They don't see five inches in front of their nose that the Lord of life the
creator of human bodies is right in front of them.
And he has come on the earth in a human body to come and touch them from God from
heaven with resurrection with healing with new life
okay and he said the first thing he said he is not trying to talk some sense into
Mary like he did Martha hey look the brother is going to rise again he is just
verbulative he realized words are not going to do any good they failed last time
I am just going to go raise him from the dead and stop all this stuff.
They said to him Lord come and see verse 35
he is sweating
I believe it is the shortest verse in the bible because it is like a bullet and
Jesus is really he is weeping his heart is broken they look at him and say oh behold
how he loves you he is weeping for Lazarus I wouldn't weep for somebody I am going to
raise him from the dead in five seconds who is he weeping for the people around
him He is coming to bring resurrection.
They are still holding funeral services.
Don't you realize, folks, I'm going to raise this guy from the dead.
He said it plainly in verse 23.
Your brother is going to rise again.
Rejoice!
Verse 36, And so the Jews were saying, Behold how I love him.
Set up 37.
But some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of him who was blind
and kept this man also from dying put salt in the wound?
They keep blaming him for something beautiful that God has allowed to happen.
He sees the end.
They are just blaming him, rubbing it in.
He saved others.
Could he not have saved himself?
They are doing the same thing they did to him on the cross, right there.
He is carrying his cross all the way through to the grave of Lazarus.
They are making fun of him as he does a good deed.
They are putting a knife in him and turning him.
They are blaming him.
They are making him sound like a bad friend, a poor steward, an uncaring
person, when he is the most caring, compassionate, loving, planning to do a
wonderful deed to glorify his Father.
And meanwhile they are putting blame and putting a false impression on his deeds
and motives.
Verse 38, Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, that is what they
said, came to the tomb.
Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it.
Jesus says, remove the stone.
I think Martha and Mary ought to get the picture by now of what he is going to do.
Martha, the sister of the deceased said to him, Lord by this time there will be a
stench for he has been dead four days.
Does that leave any doubt that Martha does not have any idea of what he is planning
to do?
Either that or maybe she wants to have a sanitary resurrection.
One without smell.
Why don't you raise him first through the stone and then we will spray some blade
air freshener and he can come out.
She has no concept.
He says, if your brother is going to rise again, show me where you laid him.
Remove the stone.
What does she want?
A drum roll?
I mean what does she need?
Everything is being set up for a most incredible miracle and she is still
talking about stink.
They think he just wants to see him one last time.
Poor guy loves leather.
So what?
Did I not say to you, if you believe you will see the glory of God?
Didn't I tell you?
So they removed the stone and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father I thank thee
that thou hurtest me.
And I knew that thou hurtest me always, but because of the people standing around
I said it.
That they may believe that thou didst send me.
Now what Jesus is saying is one of the most odd prayers.
It is a very interesting and odd and unusual prayer.
God I thank you to hear me.
Now look, I know you can hear me, but because of them I said it,
so they will know it is believable.
I mean that is what he is saying.
I am not praying to you for my sake.
I am praying to you for their sake.
So they realize that you sent me and that you are doing this and that you are
getting the glory.
Before he did one of the greatest feats on earth, he brings his father into it in the
people's eyes.
And he says why he is doing it.
He doesn't have to be reminded it is his father doing it.
He doesn't have to be reminded who is getting the glory.
He says I am not doing this for me.
And he said that in front of them to make a point.
I don't need to give my father glory.
I live to give my father glory.
I don't need to say I am giving him glory or point to him, but I am doing it for
your sake.
I don't need to be reminded of what Jesus is saying.
I don't need to be humble.
I am humble.
And when he said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come forth.
Now Leonard Raimond always says that the reason he said Lazarus come forth is
because if he would have just said come forth everybody in the cemetery would have
come out.
You have to take responsibility for that.
Lazarus, this great great great grandfather comes out.
And he who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings and his
face was wrapped around with cloths.
He looked like he was in a cocoon.
Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.
Leonard also points out that people that don't believe So this is the proof that
there needs to be a second blessing.
Because new life is not enough.
New life isn't enough.
You have to be unbound and let go too.
He was alive, but he was still all wrapped up in his grave clothes, his stinky grave
clothes.
All they could need, he couldn't move, he would have died again.
If they would have said, Halleluiah, here's a man that's got a party,
and left him, he would have died again.
That's how come so many new believers, when Jesus touches them, and they get
saved, everybody goes, Halleluiah, and they just rejoice, and they forget to
unbind him from the world, and unbind him from his sins, and unbind him from the
effects of a life lived to serve self.
People come out of the grave of the old life all bound up like that.
And this is a type of that.
They need to be let go, and unbound, and unwrapped, and washed off.
Don't think they sat down to eat with this guy while he took a bath.
He did a great commercial, he did one for Dial Soap.
Many, therefore, of the Jews who had come to Mary, and beheld what he had done,
believed in him.
But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them, Can you imagine
having such a hard, satanic heart?
You see this, and you go and tell on Jesus?
That to me, I've never met any.
Well, maybe I have.
I've met very few people that have that much evil, that they can see a
resurrection of a guy that's been dead four days, and the first thing they think
of is, Oh, I've got to go tell Caiaphas.
What would be the first thing you'd think of?
Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were
saying, What are we doing?
For this man is performing many signs.
If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him, and the
Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
In other words, if he keeps doing stuff like this, they're going to crown him
king, and the Romans are going to get all upset, because people are going to make
him king.
Which they do in another chapter, they go riding in Hosanna and the whole
thing.
And the Romans are going to take away our place and our nation.
But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,
said to them, You know nothing at all.
Nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die
for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.
Now this he did not say on his own initiative, but being high priest that
year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation.
It's a very interesting narrative by John, isn't it?
John finds good in everything.
I think it's a very interesting narrative, because the guy is saying, Hey look,
let's grub him out and save our nation.
John is saying, but even though he was high priest, the Holy Spirit still is
going to give some meaning to that.
Some spiritual meaning that he was going to die for the sins of the whole nation.
And not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one.
This is John still speaking.
Might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
So from that day on they plan together to kill him.
So one resurrection produced one death plot.
Jesus therefore no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went
away from there to the country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim.
And there he stayed with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the
country before the Passover to purify themselves.
Therefore they were seeking for Jesus and were saying to one another as they stood
in the temple, What do you think?
That he won't come to the feast at all?
Everybody always came to the feast.
Is he going to be that chicken?
Because you know he comes to the feast on donkey back with crowds cheering as he
walks through the town.
Now the sheep, I mean think about that.
Is he going to sneak in?
The king of the zoo, here he comes.
Who thinks he is going to come in like that?
Who thinks he is going to come in with floats?
Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where
he was, he should report it and that they might seize him.
Then he had his big week before his horrible couple nights.
Ok, so this chapter is so incredibly simple.
It is a very simple chapter.
I mean it is hard to read it and not understand that Jesus is interested in one
thing, giving his father glory.
Everybody else is interested in blaming him for the death of his friend.
Grieving his holy heart.
And this created of course the beginning and the end for him.
The Jews began their horrible plots because of this.
In fact in another couple of verses it says that people were starting to believe
in Jesus, they had come to see Lazarus.
And the Jews were planning on putting Lazarus to death because he was living
proof.
They were planning to put Lazarus to death.
So imagine that being one of Jesus' resurrectees.
People were trying to kill you so they could prove you never did it.
Get rid of the evidence.
Alright, any questions?
Questions or comments?
Yes, is there anything more in the scriptures about what happened to Lazarus
after that?
I mean did he die again?
I think he did.
I guess the scripture on the second death didn't apply to him though.
Yeah, I think he did.
He might not have, he might still be around hanging out in Bethany,
I don't know.
Only one resurrection, right?
Just waiting around.
He runs a Bible bookstore in Jerusalem.
He sells tickets to all the crash concerts.
Any other questions?
There is one other place where it says that Jesus went and had dinner there and
Lazarus was at the table.
It's in John, I think.
Next chapter.
People are coming to believe in Jesus by seeing Lazarus.
Are you the guy who raised him?
Yeah, in four days.
He said come forth and all his stuff was all around him.
The whole thing is stuff.
Yes?
After three days, his body started to decay.
So Jesus would have to do two miracles.
To bring him back to life and to restore what part of his body was decayed.
Well, I think the greatest miracle that has ever been done was Joshua commanding
the Son to stand still.
I don't think Joshua realized what he was bargaining for.
Because he didn't realize that telling the Son to stand still meant telling the earth
to stand still.
Because the sun doesn't move.
How about the sun backing up?
Yeah, that's a nice idea.
It has to revert.
Everybody knows if the earth suddenly stood still, we'd be in Milwaukee.
Sitting in your chair.