So it will be with flood came and carried them all away. many here. The door is wide open now. am the door: by me if any man enter in, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." say, I was, or I will be, but, I am the door. man may enter in. Soon Christ will come-like a thief like a snare-like travail on a woman with child—and you shall not escape. Enter in at the strait gate. They will pray in that day: "Lord, Lord, open to us." At present hypocrites do not pray, or not in earnest. They have a cold, formal, dull prayer; but in that day they shall cry in real earnest. At present many of you would be ashamed to be seen in earnest about your soul-weeping, or praying, or going to a minister; in that day you will lose all shame-you will weep and howl, and run to Christ's door in agony of spirit. At present many of you are sought after by Christ: "He is come to seek and to save that which was lost." He is the shepherd seeking the one sheep that was lost. He stands at your door and knocks-stands and cries: 66 Unto you, O men, I call" "Turn ye, turn ye"-Sinner, sinner, open to me. In that day it will be the very reverse. You will seek after the Saviour in that day, and not find him-you will stand and knock at his door-you will exert your voice, and cry, 'Lord, Lord, open to me." What a scene this parish will present in that day! Those who come not to the house of God-old men and old women, greyheaded in carelessness and sin-young persons, mad upon pleasure-children who live without Christ-you will be all in earnest on that day. May this not rebuke some of you that pray not, or pray in a cold, dull manner, or in a form? Ah! you will pray in that day when too late. Why not antedate that anxiety, and begin to pray now? 66 3. The disappointment: "I know you not." Christ will own his own people: "I know them." The poor despised believers he will own. Though the world knew them not, Christ will know them. Not one shall be passed over in that day. But not so with the foolish virgins, who have no oil in their lamps. Christ will not own them. Ah! it will be a fearful thing to be denied by Christ before his Father and the holy angels. "Watch, therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh." See that ye have true grace in your hearts-that Christ is your righteousness-that your soul is alive. LECTURE V. BETHANY.-PART. I. "Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”—JOHN xi. 1-4. "MAN is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." Sickness goes round-it spares no family, rich or poor. Sometimes the young, sometimes the old, sometimes those in the strength of their days, are laid down on the bed of sickness. "Remember those that suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." Some The The reasons why God sends sickness are very various: 1. In some it is sent for the conversion of the soul. times in health the Word does not touch the heart. world is all. Its gaieties, its pleasures, its admiration, captivate your mind. God sometimes draws you aside into a sick-bed, and shows you the sin of your heart, the vanity of worldly pleasures, and drives the soul to seek a sure restingplace for eternity in Christ. O happy sickness, that draws the soul to Jesus!-Job xxxiii; Ps. cvii. 2. Sometimes it is for the conversion of friends. When the Covenanters went out to battle, they kneeled down on the field and prayed; and this was one of their prayers: "Lord, take the ripe, and spare the green." God sometimes does this in families. He cuts down the praying child, the child that was half ridiculed, half wondered at, that the rest may think, and turn, and pray. 3. Sometimes it is a frown of judgment. When worldly people go long on in a course of sin, against the light of the Bible and the warnings of ministers, God sometimes frowns upon them, and they wither suddenly. "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."-Prov. xxix. 1. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among 4. Another case is and many sleep."-1 Cor. xi. 30. you, now before us -that of a child of God sick, that Christ might be glorified in him. I. The case the person: "A certain man was sick, named Lazarus." Lazarus was evidently a child of God, and yet Lazarus was sick. How he had come by his grace we are not told. His name is not mentioned before. If we may be allowed to guess, it seems probable that Mary was the first in the family who knew the Lord (Luke x.); then perhaps Martha left her "much serving" to come also and sit at Jesus' feet; and both prevailed on their brother Lazarus to come also. At all events, he was a child of God. He was in a godly family. All the house were children of God—one in nature and one in grace. Happy family at Bethany, going hand in hand to glory! Yet here the hand of sickness entered in-Lazarus was sick. He was peculiarly loved by Christ: "He whom thou lovest."-Verse 3. "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."-Verse 5. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth."-Verse 11. Like John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, so Jesus had a peculiar love for Lazarus. I cannot tell you why. He was a sinner, like other men; but perhaps when Jesus washed and renewed him, he gave him more of his own likeness than other believers. One thing is certain-Jesus loved him, and yet Lazarus was sick. 1. Learn not to judge others because of affliction. Job's three friends tried to show Job that he must be a hypocrite and a bad man, because God afflicted him. They did not know that God afflicts his own dear children. Lazarus was sick; and the beggar Lazarus was full of sores; and Hezekiah was sick, even unto death; and yet all were peculiarly dear to Jesus. 2. God's children should not doubt his love when he afflicts. Christ loved Lazarus peculiarly, and yet he afflicted him very sore. A surgeon never bends his eye so tenderly upon his patient, as when he is putting in the lancet, or probing the wound to the very bottom. And so with Christ; he bends his eye most tenderly over his own at the time he is afflicting them. Do not doubt the holy love of Jesus to your soul when he is laying a heavy hand upon you. Jesus did not love Lazarus less when he afflicted him, but rather -"even as a father correcteth the son in whom he de more lighteth."-Prov. iii. 12. A goldsmith when he casts gold into the furnace looks after it. II. The place: "Of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." Bethany is a sweet retired village, about two miles from Jerusalem, in a ravine at the back of the Mount of Olives. It is at this day embosomed in fig trees, and almond trees, and pomegranates. But it had a greater loveliness still in the eyes of Christ-it was "the town of Mary and her sister Martha." Probably the worldly people in Jerusalem knew Bethany by its being the town of some rich Pharisee who had his country villa there—or some luxurious noble, who called the lands after his own name; but Jesus knew it only as "the town of Mary and her sister Martha." Probably they lived in a humble cottage, under the shade of a fig tree; but that cottage was dear to Christ. Often, as he came over the Mount of Olives and drew near, the light in that cottage window gladdened his heart. Often he sat beneath their fig tree telling them the things of the kingdom of God. His Father loved that dwelling; for these were justified ones. And angels knew it well; for night and day they ministered there to three heirs of salvation. No wonder he called the place "the town of Mary and her sister Martha"-that was its name in heaven. So is it still. When worldly people think of our town, they call it the town of some rich merchant-some leading man in public matters-some great politician, who makes a dash as a friend of the people; or the town near which some wealthy nobleman dwelleth: but in heaven our town is known as the town of our Marthas and Marys. Perhaps some poor garret where an eminent child of God dwells gives this town its name and interest in the presence of Jesus. Dear believers, how great the love of Christ is to you! He knows the town where you live-the house where you dwell-the room where you pray. Often he stands at the door-often he puts in his hand at the hole of the door: "I have graven thee on the palms of my hands: thy walls are continually before me." Like a bridegroom loving the place where his bride dwells, so Christ often says: There they dwell for whom I died. Learn to be like Christ in this. When a merchant looks at a map of the world, his eye turns to those places where his ships are sailing; when a soldier, he looks to the traces of ancient battle-fields and fortified towns; but a believer should be like Jesushe should love the spots where believers dwell. 66 III. The message. 1. They "sent unto him." This seems to have been their very first recourse when the sickness came on- -"his sisters sent unto Jesus." They did not think a bodily trouble beneath his notice. True, he had taught them that one thing was needful," and Mary had chosen that good part which could not be taken from her; yet they knew well that Jesus did not despise the body. They knew that he had a heart to bleed for every kind of grief; and therefore they sent to tell Jesus. This is what you should do: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."-Ps. 1. 15. Remember there is no grief too great to carry to him, and none too small: “In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God' "Cast thy burden on the Lord." Whatever it be, take it to Jesus. trust Christ with their soul, but not with their body—with their salvation, but not with their health. He loves to be sent for in our smallest troubles. Some 2. The argument: "He whom thou lovest is sick." If a worldly person had been sending to Christ, he would have sent a very different argument. He would have said: He who loves thee is sick. Here is one that has believed on thy name. Here is one that has confessed thee before the world-suffered reproach and scorn for thy sake. Martha and Mary knew better how to plead with Jesus. Their only argument was in Jesus' breast: "He whom thou lovest is sick." (1.) He loved him with an electing love. Freely from all eternity Jesus loved him. (2.) With a drawing love. He drew him from under wrath-from serving sin. (3.) With a pardoning love. He drew him to himself, and blotted out all his sin. (4.) With an upholding love. "Who could hold me up but thou?" He for whom thou diedst—he whom thou hast chosen, washed, and kept till now-"he whom thou lovest is sick." Learn thus to plead with Christ, dear believers. Often you do not receive, because you do not ask aright: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Often you ask proudly, as if you were somebody; so that if Christ were to grant it. |