Will you respond when Christ calls you to meet Him? Nothing is impossible with God! John 11:28-32

So that’s detail oriented sister number one. Now we have Mary with Jesus. Jesus is going to call for her and Mary is going to come out to Him in this same place.

 

John 11:28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher [now she calls Him teacher because He has reminded her of doctrinal principles] is here, and is calling for you."

 

Up until this time Mary has been sitting in her room. Martha always worked in the kitchen, so when Lazarus died she kept right on working in the kitchen. There are hundreds of people to feed who have come to mourn. In a sense Martha did what she always did, she went and cooked bigger and better meals. But what does Mary do? Normally Mary listens to doctrine, but when Lazarus dies she doesn’t listen to doctrine. She sits alone in her room.

When a person who customarily listens to doctrine—and who is positive—hits some kind of a disaster and in that disaster cannot cope, that person sits alone and the function is called ‘operation over-think.’

 

We have already seen that Mary had chosen the better part when she sat at the feet of the Lord to hear doctrine, but there are occupational hazards for those who are positive toward doctrine and one of them is operation over-think.

 

She has been sitting alone. She has not been out; she is in her room alone over thinking the whole situation of the last several days.

 

We know this, because as soon as she is summoned, she is awakened out of operation over-think.

 

John 11:29 And when she heard it, she arose quickly, and was coming to Him.

 

“she arose” - aorist passive indicative of e)geirw. Mary loved her brother Lazarus dearly. There is only one person she loved more than her brother Lazarus and that is Jesus Christ. The passive voice here does not mean to get up, the active voice does.

 

The passive voice means to be aroused. It also means to be awakened. It means to be excited.

 

A person who loves doctrine the way that Mary loves doctrine is inclined under great pressure to get alone.

 

Often in this case instead of using doctrine such a person goes into operation over-think.

 

As a result they become bitter and resentful, and sometimes into self-pity; but always an infiltration of mental attitude sins which always accompany operation over-think.

           

 

 

As soon as she heard that Jesus Christ called for her it was like her lover calling for her.

 

Now I want you to think that Jesus Christ is your husband, and by that I mean your lover. Man or woman.

 

And I want you to go back to a time in your life when you were pretty disappointed in His action on your life. And if you are now disappointed in what’s happening in your life, this will be real time for you.

 

I know that you know, that you shouldn’t be disappointed at all, because the doctrine of the NT tells us that the timing of God is always right, and that God the Father took care of your life in EP, and that all the Trinity loves you like God the Father loves the Lord in hypostatic union, but I want you to think about, right now, exactly how you feel about some of the stuff that is really ticking you off.

 

If you’re not bitter right now I want you to go back to a place where you were bitter against God.

 

Think about how bitter you were or how bitter you are and then think about what you can do about it. Think about what you have done about it. I want you to think about your worst time when you were in the depths of self-pity.

 

And then I want you to remember when Christ called out to you and said, “come meet with Me.”

 

For us it happens in Bible class, “Come meet with Me.”

 

He loves you so much that He wants to talk to you about it. He has words that will fill your soul with freedom in the place of bondage.

 

He loves you and He’s calling you all the time.

 

When Mary hears that Christ is calling, she jumps like anyone who loves Him would… she jumps quickly.

 

No one is going to love you like this Christ. When He calls you’re either going to ignore Him or your going to become something that you never could have dreamed of through Him.

 

You’re outside the gates. The Gatekeeper calls. Are you just going to sit there or are you going to follow with everything that you have?

 

Will you take a risk? Will you stretch your legs out and take a chance on God’s above and beyond plan for you?

 

Or will you just go through the same motions of life that you have and just hope that you have enough entertainment to carry you through?

 

There is a calling on the ambassador of Christ to run the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give away his goods, and take a leap of faith.

 

It becomes a comfortable life when you know way more than the average man in this world and can rest on your improved knowledge, but our Lord has asked us to not sit in our rooms and ponder the wonderful salvation that we have, He has asked us to bring this awesome truth to the ends of the earth.

 

By your love for Him, serve Him in His word! Don’t be shy or feel embarrassment, or think you’re the only one, tell of Him, speak of Him, show His life in you. Be and ambassador!

 

 

She has been bitter against Christ, but as soon as she hears that He is calling for her, she is awakened from her mental attitude and is excited. She loved Jesus Christ.

 

Once she was aroused she came - “and came unto him.” The word came is the imperfect middle indicative of e)rxomai- imperfect tense, linear aktionsart, past time. She kept on coming.

 

For the first time since the death of Lazarus she moved out of that room; for the first time operation over-think was broken. For the first time she goes toward someone she loves because someone she loves is present. Projplus the accusative, she kept on coming until she was ‘face to face’ with Him.

 

   

John 11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.

 

Jesus had no intention of going to the house. He was going to go straight to the tomb. After He had straightened out the two sisters that He loved it was time to do what He came to do.

 

When you think about it, Jesus could have gone to the house, had some wine and food, taught some and then gone out to Lazarus, but the miracle must happen so that what He teaches has greater impact, and remember that this is more for the disciples than anyone.

 

John 11:31 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.

 

Notice that they don’t leave when Martha leaves. Martha is the cook and Martha doesn’t seem to need that much consoling, which is not because she’s applying doctrine, but because she just keeps busying herself.

 

And that brings up an excellent point. We can all ignore doctrine and busy ourselves with the details of life.

 

We’ll end up miserable and that misery will throw us deeper into the details of life.

 

People sublimate their emptiness with their jobs, their home life and family life, and then try to fill the void with busyness.

 

2 Tim 2:1-5

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

 

 

But Mary has been in her room. Many of these mourners have not seen Mary for four days, so when she leaves they follow.

 

They kept on staying there for one purpose: they all wanted to make their little ‘comforting’ speech.

 

All of them were unbelievers. Unbelievers attempt sincerely to say something that will give comfort.

 

Here is the fallacy of this principle: No one can stand up and look someone in the eye who has been bereaved and give them comfort. It can’t be done.

 

If the mourner is a believer, like Mary, she must draw upon her own resources of doctrine.  The only one who can bring words of comfort is someone like Jesus Christ.

 

When Mary ran out of the house all of these people followed her because they hadn’t made their speech yet and they are not going to leave until they do.

 

For four days Mary wouldn’t talk to anyone and when she runs out of the house they all follow her when the only one who is going to comfort her is Jesus.

 

Words can only comfort those who have equivalent words in their own souls.

           

Jesus talked to Martha; it didn’t turn out too well.

 

Jesus talks to Mary. Martha is minus doctrine; Mary is plus doctrine.

 

Neither one of them at this point has really shown much. Mary does have doctrine in her soul, she does have inner resources, and when she hits Jesus with that same phraseology - “If you had been here my brother would not have died” - Jesus can paramuqeomaibecause He has words in His soul and she has the same words in her soul.

 

The words of Jesus will strike a cord because out of her frame of reference doctrine will come out into the launching pad where for four days there has been no doctrine ready on the launching pad because of operation over-think.

 

There has been a short-circuit in Mary’s soul. Paramuqeomaicomes from the fact that there is already doctrine in the soul of those who hear.

 

So we can definitely comfort others, but if they are minus doctrine, it will do little good.

 

2 Cor 1:4

who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

 

God comforts us with doctrine. Others are comforted when you and they share doctrine together.

 

Trying to comfort someone who does not have doctrine or only has academic knowledge of doctrine can be extremely frustrating.

 

John 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

 

Mary has not lost her doctrine. An ECS doesn’t disintegrate in four days, but her bitterness has led her to judge Jesus like Martha did for not showing up on time.

 

Not to mention, maybe Christ wouldn’t have healed Lazarus anyway. He didn’t heal everyone. He didn’t come to earth to heal, He came to seek and save those who were lost and to serve mankind.

 

The principle is that when we over think a problem we will eventually get bitter and short circuit our flow of doctrine.

 

This is precisely the same remark made by Martha in verse 21.

 

However, there is a difference. Martha said it in ignorance of doctrine; Mary says it in cognisance of doctrine.

 

When Martha made this remark Jesus taught her doctrine - this was her need.

 

When Mary made this remark Jesus is silent because Mary knows the doctrine. She is not applying what she knows.

 

The mourners did not follow Martha out of the house but they did follow Mary.

 

This suggests the impact of doctrine in the life of Mary in the past.

 

Three times in this context human viewpoint is expressed: by Martha in verse 21 - a believer ignorant of doctrine; by Mary in verse 32 - a believer who fails to apply doctrine; by the crowd in verse 37 - unbelievers with human viewpoint. These are helpless people in their souls.

 

Principle: Jesus who delivers from death can also deliver through death.

 

All three groups express human viewpoint because to them death makes the situation hopeless.

 

The crowd can be excused on the basis of unbelief - 1 Corinthians 2:14.

 

The sisters were believers, therefore Jesus will demonstrate that what man cannot do God can do.

 

Therefore a principle will come out of this: Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity - Luke 1:37. There is no problem too difficult for God.

 

Any man can show Jesus where the tomb is but only Jesus Christ can bring the dead man back. But even greater than what we see in this passage is what God can do for us.

 

Luke 1:26-38

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. 36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

 

Elizabethis barren and Mary is a virgin. It’s as if God likes to do the impossible.

 

Naturally, Mary needed to be a virgin so that Christ would be born without a sin nature.