I invite you to take your Bibles tonight and turn to John chapter 11. For those of you who are visiting here tonight, on these Sunday evenings when I switch or swap with Nate, I've been walking through John 11 and the story of Lazarus, the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. We've come to Jesus having arrived in Bethany, and he's had a conversation with Martha, and we're now in verse 28. Hear the word of the Lord. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, The teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? Thus ends the reading of God's Word. The grass withers and the flowers of the field fade away, but this is the Word of God. God's Word stands forever. We'll be giving our attention tonight to verses 28 to 32, not the whole text which we just read. 28 to 32. Will you join me as we pray now and ask God's blessing on our hearts, our souls, and on the preaching of the Word of God? Let us pray. Oh, Lord, our God, we bow again before you and we confess we are needy people. Oh, Lord, we need you every moment of every day. Not a second goes by that we need you, Lord. You're the one who keeps our heart beating. You're the one who provides our food, our daily bread. You're the one who gives us strength to work that we might provide for ourselves. You're the one who's given us a place to sleep each night and the clothes that we wear. You're the one who's given us our friends and our families. In fact, every single blessing has come by your hand of mercy to us. Oh Lord, we would say along with David, who am I? Who am I? What is my house? that you would bring me this far. Who are we, Lord? We're sinners who don't deserve anything, but you have poured out blessings upon us. You have brought us to yourself. You have opened our eyes to see our need for a savior. You've opened our ears to hear the good news. You opened our heart to believe and you drew us to Christ. Lord, tonight we pray that you would equip us for life before you. Help us, Lord, to believe and this week to be ambassadors of the King. Help me tonight as I open your word to rightly divide it and proclaim it faithfully. Lord, give us humble, teachable hearts. May Christ, the risen Savior who sent his spirit, be among us tonight. He would be the one proclaiming this word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. I'm almost sure that if we took a show of hands here tonight, don't worry, I won't do that. But if we did have a show of hands, it would probably be unanimous. That is, if I were to ask these questions, is it an absolute truth that the Bible is the word of God? I think most everybody, if not unanimously, would say yes, the Bible's the word of God. Is there such a thing as evil and sin, wickedness in the world? Oh yes, you see that every day. Raise your hand on that one. Did God send his son into the world to save sinners? We believe that. That's a definition of a Christian. That I need a savior and God did it. God sent his son. That Jesus died on a cross, bodily, as a substitute, was buried and rose again bodily from the grave on the third day. Oh yes, that's what makes a Christian a Christian. I believe the gospel, the good news, that Jesus died for sinners and rose again. That Jesus is coming again, visibly, on the great day of the Lord. Well, that's our hope, right? That's our hope, that our great king is coming, the judge, to set things straight. These things we believe, these are absolutes taught clearly in the word of God. But how about these statements? Every Christian has been perfectly gifted to do ministry in the name of Christ. Do you believe that, each one of you? That you have been gifted to do ministry in Christ's name? That every Christian has been divinely placed in this world at such a time as this. that you're here for a purpose. You've been divinely placed here for such a time as this, just like was said of Queen Esther. God placed her there at such a time as this to preserve the Jews, to preserve the line of the Messiah, that every single Christian has been given the Holy Spirit. with this purpose, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. Do you believe that? That God has called you to be a witness for him to the ends of the earth. Do you believe that? That you, not me the pastor, Nate the intern, the elders, the deacons, but every Christian has been gifted to be light and salt in the community, as we read this morning in our call to repentance. Do you believe that? Tonight's text, I think, brings this home for us as we find Martha going and bringing a message to Mary. Tonight's text has an invitation brought by a messenger. Now this is the time of year when we see all kinds of invitations, right? Many invitations go out, holiday parties, neighborhood get-togethers, special events. Some you read, you just set aside. Christmas Eve services, like what I've asked you to take with you. New Year's Eve events, dinners, community events, neighborhood events. Some are notices that aren't particularly directed to an individual. Some are verbal messages, invitations. Some come with special cards, right, and envelopes with, Pretty stickers on them. Tonight's text has an invitation brought by a messenger, like the message that you and I have been called, commissioned, to deliver. There's a number of invitations in the Bible that come from the lips of Jesus himself. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. We read that earlier this evening. Jesus gives the invitation, come and follow me. to his disciples, and I will make you fishers of men. Or this one, let the little children come to me. Don't hinder them. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Jesus said to the woman at the well, whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. Whoever, he said, that's an invitation. Whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. I am the light of the world, Jesus said. Whoever follows me, whoever follows me, will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Tonight's passage of the scripture concerns an invitation that Jesus made, but it's not an invitation that's recorded or written down. It doesn't have a card, doesn't have a fancy envelope with Christmas stickers on it. It's an invitation that's sent by way of a messenger. Now we have This story, the story of Lazarus, just a little background. This is a really long chapter, chapter 11. John takes a significant amount of time and space and the length of the whole gospel to record this for us. It's a long account because it's a significant miracle. It's a culmination of signs. The whole gospel of John is about signs, that Jesus does these signs pointing to who he is. In fact, John says at the end of his gospel, there's many other signs that Jesus did that are not recorded here. But these have been recorded that you might believe, and that by believing you might have life in his name. The chapter begins with Jesus on the other side of the Jordan River, at least a day's journey away. A messenger comes. to Jesus, sent by Mary and Martha, saying, the one you love is ill or sick. Not just a little bit sick. The word that he uses there is gravely sick. Sent by Mary and Martha. They don't really ask him to do anything. They lay this before Jesus, the one you love is sick. It's implied that they want him to come. They know him. They know him well. They know that he would want to come, that he'll know what to do. They believe that he'll come to Bethany to heal Lazarus because they know he loves them. And they know that he loves Jesus. The one you love is sick. So Jesus sends the messenger back with a message. This sickness will not end. in death. That is, the final result of this sickness will not be death. By the time the messenger gets back, Lazarus is already dead. Jesus waits, and then he finally goes. Jesus delays. The disciples are actually kind of happy about the fact that Jesus doesn't immediately go because they said, you know, the last time we were back in Judea, they tried to kill you. I don't think it's such a good idea to go back. Jesus finally says, let's go. You see that there in verse 6. When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. That's an amazing verse. Message comes that Lazarus is sick and Jesus says, great, we're going to stay here a while. He stays. He doesn't do what the sisters want. He doesn't do what we think he ought to do. He stays two days longer. Then Lazarus dies, Jesus heads out, and when he arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb already four days. Now Jesus comes, he's outside the village of Bethany. People have obviously run ahead, or people have come outside the village. They've said Jesus is on the way. He remains outside the village of Bethany, and Martha comes to see him. She hears the news that he's there. We looked at that a few weeks ago. the conversation he has with Martha. Remember, he says to Martha in those verses before verse 28, your brother will rise again. I told you he's gonna rise again. She goes, yes, yes, yes, I know he'll rise again at the last day, yes, yes, there is a day of resurrection coming. And Jesus says, listen, Martha, the resurrection is standing in front of you. I am the resurrection and the life. He presses that truth home to her. But she won't believe it for herself. And there in verse 28, he sends her to go and get her sister, to get her sister Mary. She went back and called her sister Mary aside, that is, in private. Now, there's four things I'd like you to see from this passage. If you look at your outline, you can follow along with me. Who's bearing the message? Who's calling? Who's responding? And who's watching there on verse 10? So who's bearing the message? Who's taking this message to Mary inside the house? Well, one who takes, what we know about her is she's one who's loved by Jesus. She has experienced his love, agape love, self-sacrificing love, verse five. She's also one who has shown hospitality to Jesus, obviously more than once. She knows him well, he knows this family well. When they've come to Jerusalem for the feasts, this obviously is one of the places they stay, perhaps the main place they stay. She has seen him in her home regularly. That's something to think about. having the Son of God, the one in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily, as we heard this morning, in her home, the one who is love himself. She's seen his expressions, right? She knows his gestures, his personal comments. He's expressed his appreciation to her. She's watched his body language. She knows him well. There's something you could think about all evening, right? What would that be like to have someone like him in your home? She's known his gentleness to her in her home. All those attributes you think about what the scripture says about Jesus. She knows him well. But this one, her faith isn't perfect. We've just read, just before this, that she didn't apply the promises of Christ to her own life. She knew, yes, Lazarus will rise again on the last day, on the great day. She believed that he was the Christ, the Son of God, but she failed to apply that to her situation right then and there. She comes to him and says, if you'd been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died. She's not thinking about what he could do right now. What's encouraging, I think, is that Jesus put her to work. Jesus put in service one who had doubts. She had doubts. Do you ever struggle with doubts? Think, I'm not worthy to do anything for the Lord. She's also one who tried to keep Mary from Jesus. She tried to pull Mary away. Remember when they were in Luke chapter 10? when Luke records that Mary and Martha and Lazarus had Jesus in their home, that Martha got all worked up because Mary wasn't helping. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Mary was spending too much time listening to Jesus. Mary wasn't helping out. Martha got all distressed. Mary left Martha alone to do all the hospitality. But Martha's grown now. She's not the same. Martha's not the same. She's still Martha. But she's not the same Martha. She doesn't say to Jesus, when Jesus says, go get Mary, or yeah, go get Mary, Martha doesn't say, well, you know, she's kind of occupied back at the house. She's got a bunch of guests there. We know there's people there. They've come to console her. You see, Martha's changed. She doesn't say, ah, no, that's not gonna work. She doesn't say that. Verse 31 says she has guests. She has learned since Luke chapter 10. We don't know exactly how long that is, but it's probably more than a year. She has learned since the time that Jesus taught her about. She's learned about priorities. She's still Martha, but she's not the same Martha. You know, sometimes Jesus calls us to do things contrary to our nature. Jesus calls Martha to go tell Mary to do something When Martha would probably rather say, you know, she's kind of occupying back there. She is Martha, but she's not the same Martha. Can you see that in yourself? Could you say that about yourself? I am who I am now, but I'm not the same as what I was. I think of my 40th high school reunion, which was just a couple of years ago. Those reunions are so strange, you know? It really was interesting. I'm still Rick Hausler when I go home to Iowa City. Everybody called me Rick up until college and I went, you know, to Eric because it's more mature. I'm still Rick Hausler. In fact, when I go to my family, I can be Ricky if it's my older sister. But I'm not the same Rick Hausler that I was when I graduated 42 years ago now. And I'm not the same man I was when I came here eight years ago. It really was wonderful to sit with friends from high school and talk about high school days. But you know, they look at you like you were back when you were then, 42 years ago, you know? At least some people do. It was encouraging to sit and talk with some guys from the football team who never would have sat and talked with me in high school. No, I was one of the nerds, you know? No, they would never have talked to me. Time has a way of changing things. Time is a way of changing things. It was hilarious at our dinner table. We sat with folks. There was a woman. I would call her a girl because she's still in my mind in high school. She leaned over to my wife and said, I was married to your husband two times in high school. One says Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, and one says Mrs. Torkelson in I Remember Mama. I'm not the same as I was in high school. I still like to do some acting, but I'm not the same. I'm not the same person. Praise God, I'm not the same. You can say the same thing, right? Praise God, you're not who you were 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or more. Martha is one who's grown in the knowledge of God. She's not arrived. She's not there yet. She's not perfect. She still does not have total assurance. She has issues, right? She practically scolds Jesus. If you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. And Mary will say the same thing, which tells you what? They've been talking about this. How many times did they say in their home, if Jesus had been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died? She still has issues, but, Jesus still uses her for his service. That ought to encourage you, right? Secondly, who's calling? Who's calling? As Martha comes to the house, she says, the teacher is here. The master is here. He's asking for you. He's calling for you. Martha is the one bearing the message, but behind the scenes, the Lord Jesus is the one who's calling Mary. Martha's on assignment from the master, from the teacher. She's just the messenger. Jesus is the one calling. There's some profound truths here as we think about the Lord sending us as messengers of the hope of the gospel. We're all on assignment from the master, from the teacher, from the Lord. Right? Go and make disciples of all nations. You shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. What happened when the Jerusalem Christians were scattered because of the persecution that came after the stoning of Stephen? Wherever they went, they started telling people about Jesus. And those weren't the disciples. Those weren't the apostles. Those were just the ordinary peoples in the pew who went out all over. Jesus said, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. The end of Revelation, it says, let him who hears, that is, he who hears, she who hears, the word of God in Revelation, or the book of Revelation, let him who hears say, come, come, come to Christ. It's not an assignment just for those who've been in seminary. We're all to be light in the darkness. We're all to be the salt of the earth. Think if God can use a little slave girl who was assigned to Naaman, the head of the army of Syria, to send the king or the commander to go see the prophet Elisha. If you ought to go see the prophet Elisha, he'll help you with your leprosy. God can use a little girl. He can use any of us. We all have marching orders from Jesus. Go, go to the highways and the byways, compel them to come in. Go invite them. We're all an assignment from the master and we're representing him. The Lord of love is sending you. You think about that. The God of all grace is sending you. We're to represent the king of love. We're to represent the one who is the God of all grace. His gracious invitation should be seen in us, even though we are, as it were, jars of clay. But Jesus flung open wide the doors. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Then say, come, you who are worthy. and Jesus will give you rest. No, it's all, come everybody. Come to me, all you who are thirsty. Everyone who comes to me, I will never cast out. He's flung open wide the door with the gracious, loving, free offer of the gospel. We're the ones who often put limits. Oh no, they won't wanna hear it. They probably won't see it. It'd be a waste of time. You just never know. Why would you doubt God's power? and his design, he flung open wide the door. We're representing him. Martha didn't go to Mary and say, you know, I think you might want to go give Jesus a try. I think it would be best if you go out and see Jesus. She didn't say, I think you might find some relief from your grief out there on the edge of town. Just a hunch, you might want to give it a try. This little picture is a window of all our lives. If we've met the one who is the resurrection and the life, if we have heard and believed and trusted in his promises, we're to be ones calling people to him. The Lord Jesus says to you, come to me, all you who are thirsty. That's a word to say, come to Christ. When people say to you, my life is a mess. Oh, the Lord says, come to me, all you whose lives are a mess. The living Lord Jesus says to you, come. Come to me. I will never cast you out. You are welcome to come. That's what we should say. He's calling you. Don't be afraid to say that. There is a general call. There is a broad call to everybody. Come. Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. We don't know those who God is effectually or effectively calling. We use the wide open door as Jesus says, come. Don't be afraid to say it. And then thirdly, who's responding? Who's responding? It says in verse 29, when Mary heard this, what'd she do? She rose quickly and went out to him. Martha is a picture of the faithful servant who goes with the good news. Mary's a picture of a godly response to the call of Christ. She got up quickly and went to him. She left what she was doing, right? She didn't care what other people thought. I sent out in my weekly email this quote from R.C. Sproul. Sometimes we behave and perform with our lives not for God, but for an audience. Mary didn't care what the people there thought. In fact, they got it wrong. They thought she was going to weep at the tomb. She didn't care what other people thought. She went quickly. She didn't delay. She didn't hesitate. She didn't have to think if it was the right thing to do. She didn't care if it offended those who were with her. She was living before an audience of one. Jesus was calling. He was asking for her, and she obeyed. Mary's response is a picture of the response that's pleasing to the Lord. Whether it's one coming to Jesus for the first time or The one like Mary, who's already a believer in Christ, already loved by Christ, already loves Christ herself, and Christ is calling her to come and serve Him, to obey Him, to do a new work for Him. Or who's wandered away and is coming back to Him. When Christ opens your eyes to see new truth in His Word, something you've never seen before. And you think, I've never seen this before. I never saw this in God's word before. I didn't know God expects this of me. This is what Christians are supposed to be doing? What does the Lord desire? What do you do with this new truth when you learn something new that God is calling you to do? Do you suppress it? or bury it or get busy and forget about it and hope that it'll go away. What does the Lord desire? I've got to follow him. He's calling me. I have to leave what I'm doing. I must go. I can't delay. I don't care what other people say. I need to go quickly. I can't hesitate. Jesus is calling. I must follow him. I must serve him. I must go to him. And notice what Mary does when she comes to Jesus. What does she do? She doesn't come and give him a high five. Jesus, man, you should have come earlier. What does she do? She falls at his feet. She falls at his feet. There's reverence and awe and worship. 100% submission. She bows down to him. She cries out to him. But she also comes with the same imperfect faith. She fell at his feet saying, Lord, if you have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Weeping? Why is she weeping? Why is she weeping? Because of what could have been? Brokenhearted? Disappointment? Who knows why she's weeping? She misses Lazarus? Maybe she's disappointed that Christ didn't come as fast as she thought he should have come. She's got imperfect faith, misconceptions about Christ's power. She loves the Lord Jesus like Martha. She trusts him like Martha. She sat at his feet listening to every word. She's a disciple, she's a follower of Christ, but her faith is not perfect. She says the same thing her sister said because they've been talking about this at home. She is not applying Christ's word to her situation. She believes, yet in this one area she's lacking. She knows Christ has the power. If he had come, he could have healed him. But she doesn't apply it right now. She doesn't say, Lord, you're here. Let's go. I'll show you where the tomb is. I know you've raised people from the dead. Let's go. She's only thinking about what could have been. She's got this if only in her prayer. Are your prayers often filled with if-only's? Oh Lord, if only you had done, if only I had done this. We often come to God with a long list of if-only's. If only I hadn't gone out that day, if only I hadn't gone there, if only I hadn't taken that turn, if only I had said this. Doing so forgets the sovereignty of God. She comes, she bows down, she honors him, with her imperfect faith, but Jesus still accepts her. And lastly, verse 31, who's watching? Who's watching? It's the crowd. Notice the response of the crowd, those who are watching. They're surrounding Mary, those who are part of her life. Verse 31 says, when the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her. That's an interesting scene to picture. She goes running to Jesus, and this group of people who had consoled her followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to weep there. Their response is revealing to us. Their response in this narrative is very telling. First notice, Martha's message from Jesus is obviously told to Mary personally, quietly. She takes her aside. She doesn't say this to her sister in front of everybody. She doesn't say this in front of all the gawkers, the onlookers. I think that's instructive for us as far as personal evangelism. We don't press people in front of other people. It shows a measure of respect, right? She takes her side. And secondly, those who surrounded Mary were, they were completely wrong in their assessment of what was going on. Verse 31 isn't there just fill in space. They thought she was going to do something else. They misunderstand. Because they don't know, they don't believe, they don't see Christ calling Mary. They don't know what's going on in her heart. They've got it totally wrong. They think she's going to the grave of a dead man when she's really going to the one who gives life. I would say don't be surprised when people all around you do not have a clue about what's going on in your life. Don't be surprised. They haven't got a clue about your desire to follow the Lord, right? You can't do that on a Sunday because of what? You're going to talk to your pastor? A pastor? You have a pastor? I remember standing with someone that I'd known in the jail at a McDonald's one time and saw one of his old druggie friends and he said, who is this? He said, it's my pastor. And this guy was like, he didn't twirl around. You're what? He said, now say that over again. I've never turned around in the pulpit before, by the way. You're what? He says, my pastor. He didn't have a clue what's going on in his life. You've been nominated to be a what? A deacon? What's a deacon? You're going to a Bible study? You've got to be kidding me. You're getting up early on a Tuesday morning to go with other men to study the Bible? You're not hanging out with us anymore because of what? Don't be surprised when people all around you don't have a clue of what you're doing to obey the call of Christ. The world often miscalculates and misunderstands and has the wrong assessment of the priorities of Christians. As we close, I want you to see. the response of Christ. We'll look more closely at this next time we come back to John 11. Mary comes obeying the call of the Master. She comes with haste. She comes weeping with all her grief. She comes with an imperfect understanding of the promises of God as they relate to her. But she comes and falls at his feet. And what does Christ do? What's his response? He doesn't cast her off. He doesn't rebuke her. He doesn't tell her that her lack of assurance disqualifies her when she says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. He doesn't say, Mary, go get your act together first and then come back, OK? Go clean this up. His heart is full of compassion for her. This is the living word of God, the one in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is the one who is the truth. He loves her. I just want you to know, don't believe the lie of the evil one who whispers in your ear that your imperfect faith disqualifies you from being a witness for Christ or from serving him or that your lack of assurance bars you from Christ or that anything keeps you from his grace and the forgiveness of your sins. Look at Mary, look at Martha, they're pictures of us. And Jesus had something wonderful in store for them. They were about to see their brother rise again. The Lord Jesus is calling you today. Come to him, run to him, fly to him, and then follow him as he sends you out to a lost and dying world that has no hope. They can't discern their right hand from their left hand. They call what is good evil or what is evil good, but God has called us to go to them, to tell them the good news. that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief of sinners. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for the God of grace. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, have mercy on us tonight and pray your blessing on us as we leave from here to be your servants. We who are often forgetful and lack assurance and lack hope and are weak and weary, oh Lord, use us. Use us this week to serve you and bless our evening offerings as we come before you and give a portion of what you've given to us. We give in faith, believing that you use our gifts and tithes and offerings to bring others to know the risen Christ. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.