John 12:1-11 (Teaching)

[0:00] I missed you all last week. I missed being here. I missed teaching.

[0:11] I do appreciate everybody's prayers, not only on my behalf, on Mrs. as well, neither one of us are 100% yet, but we're getting there with the grace of the good Lord.

[0:24] Last time I stood, we finished up John chapter 11, which of course was the account of Christ raising Lazarus from the tomb.

[0:46] In John chapter 11, Jesus makes the wonderful statement that he is the resurrection, and that he is the life. And we see Christ go with Mary and Martha to the tomb.

[1:00] And of course he says, Lazarus comes forth, and Lazarus comes forth, and he tells the onlookers to remove his grave clothes. The Bible teaches that when he came out, he was still in his grave clothes, still had the napkin over his face that he was buried with.

[1:19] Christ gives commandment to remove these things. And of course some people were at all of what happened. Others, we read, went to the chief priests and the Pharisees.

[1:34] They went back to Jerusalem to tell the higher-ups what had happened. And we read about this priest named Caiaphas that actually made a prophecy or prediction.

[1:50] However, you'd like to say that one man would be designated to die for the sins of the nation. Now, whether or not Caiaphas knew exactly what he was saying or not is debatable.

[2:05] If he knew it to a T, I don't think so. But nevertheless, he did speak truth when he said that, when he said the things that he did.

[2:16] And we see Jesus and his disciples retire on out. They kind of disappear off the scene for just a little bit. Now, I'm going through all this, one to recap what's leading up to the beginning parts of verse 12 or chapter 12.

[2:33] But there's a lot of things that happen. I mean, the last verse that we read in chapter 11 is now both the chief priests and Pharisees and give them commandment that if any man knew where he were, he should shoe it that they might take him.

[2:46] This last verse that we read in the 11th chapter of John's Gospel, between this verse and John 12, 1, there's a lot of things that go on that we don't read about in John's Gospel, namely the account with Zacchaeus that we're all familiar with, that takes place.

[3:05] The account with Zacchaeus takes place, the healing of the blind man Bartimaeus, that takes place in Jericho. Both of these things take place between the end of John 11 and John 12, 1.

[3:19] So it's not like Jesus just retired off to the side, went and found a hammock somewhere and knapped for a while. Jesus was busy during this time. He was busy doing what Jesus had done for three years up to this point.

[3:33] He was ministering to people. He was ministering to the public. But we know that he didn't walk in jewelry as the Scripture puts it.

[3:46] He didn't go back to Jerusalem until it was time for him to die. And we know this, but he was busy on the outskirts of Jerusalem and in towns far away, towns a little bit closer in Bethany, which was less than two miles from Jerusalem.

[4:05] Jesus wasn't just biting his time before he went to Jerusalem. He was still busy doing the work that Almighty God, God the Father, had sent him to do.

[4:19] So keep these things in mind. We're all familiar with the account of Zacchaeus. We're all familiar with the healing of blind Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is the very one that said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me as Jesus was passing by.

[4:34] And the crowd and the disciples themselves told him to hold his peace. But then we know that they also said to Master Coloth for thee.

[4:45] And Jesus healed Bartimaeus. All this happens between John 11 and 57 and John 12.1. So just keep all that in mind as we read here.

[5:00] So picking up in John chapter 12 and verse 1 says, Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

[5:15] There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. So back to verse 1, then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany.

[5:27] So folks, we're inside of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ. And it's only John chapter 12. Keep that in mind as well because there's 21 chapters in this Gospel.

[5:42] And we're in John chapter 12. We just began the 12th chapter. This is six days within one week of Christ being crucified, of Christ giving himself over into the hands of evil and wicked men.

[5:56] But he done it for you and he done it for me. Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany. Something interesting here, the revised version of the Bible says, Then therefore Jesus six days before the Passover.

[6:12] There's a word inserted in the revised version that is actually the better translation of this passage. But therefore puts us back to something.

[6:23] It means Jesus came to Bethany because of something that was done in the previous chapter, in the previous verses. Well, all we've got to go back to is chapter 11.

[6:34] So what could that therefore put us back to? It would put us back to that prophecy that Caiaphas spoke, that one man would die for the sins of the nation.

[6:45] Therefore Jesus Christ came to Bethany. Jesus Christ came within what we would call a hop skip and a jump to Jerusalem where he would be offered up.

[6:57] But then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. That almost seems like a little bit of overkill that John would say where Lazarus was which had been dead, which Jesus raised from the dead.

[7:16] But John wants to make it very plain who this Lazarus was. Lazarus was not an uncommon name during this time. We know this from the parable that Jesus spoke about, the rich man of Lazarus, which is not the same Lazarus that we're reading about here, nor the same Lazarus that was raised from the dead in the previous chapter in chapter 11.

[7:38] But John wants to make it plain why Jesus was there. He was at Bethany, he was at the place where Lazarus was.

[7:49] Now something else that we read in the synoptic gospels, namely in Matthew and Mark, namely in those two gospels, is this all happened at the house of a man named Simon the Lepper.

[8:03] This was not at Mary and Martha's house that all this is taking place that we're going to read about here this morning, time permitting. But the house of a man named Simon the Lepper, was Simon still a lepper?

[8:16] Well, according to the law, which was still in place at this time, Christ hadn't died according to the law. It would have been against the law for these Jews to have been gathered with a lepper. They shouldn't have been anywhere near a lepper, nor should the lepper have been anywhere near them.

[8:30] So this would have been a healed man, presumably, that Jesus Christ had healed. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that. We can rightfully assume that Simon the Lepper was a man that Jesus had healed, where all this was going to be taking place.

[8:46] So he was in Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper. There, who made who a supper?

[8:59] It says there they made him a supper. Well, we get into that, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. So Lazarus had nothing to do with the supper making, evidently.

[9:11] Martha served. They made him a supper. What was this supper? First of all, the they is the people that were reading about here, excluding Jesus and his disciples.

[9:23] The hymn would be Jesus. Some people would say that the hymn here would be Lazarus, because Lazarus was the last person mentioned in the previous verse.

[9:35] The folks, they had no reason to make Lazarus a supper. Were they happy that Lazarus had been raised from the dead? Absolutely. Mary and Martha were thrilled. Remember in chapter 11, both of them came to Jesus, and both of them said, What's the exact same thing, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died.

[9:56] Jesus raises their brother from the grave. So yes, these women would have been ecstatic that their brother was alive, but it wasn't their brother that they were celebrating. It wasn't his resurrection that they were celebrating.

[10:10] He was part of the celebration. Lazarus was part of the celebration. But the hymn that's talked about there in verse 2, there they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus is one of them that sat at the table with him.

[10:23] Folks, this is a wonderful picture. Remember, we're talking about resurrection. In the previous chapter, we're talking about resurrection right now. Lazarus is sitting here at a table with Jesus, reclining in the fashion that they would have, not only in Jewish custom, but in Near East custom in general.

[10:42] Lazarus would have been sitting here at the table, so we're still on the subject of resurrection here. But this is a wonderful picture of what happens after resurrection.

[10:53] When you and I are resurrected from our state when we were dead and trespasses and sin, when we were resurrected, folks, we fellowship with Christ from that point on.

[11:05] We are in constant fellowship with Jesus from the time we are saved to the time He takes us home and all of eternity thereafter. Now, sometimes that fellowship is closer than it is at other times, and that is never Christ's fault.

[11:21] That is always our fault. We're the ones that drift. We're the ones that turn to the right. We're the ones that turn to the left. We're the ones that go astray. But praise God, Jesus Christ leaves those 99 and He goes after the one that went astray in that parable that's spoken there in the Gospel of Luke.

[11:40] There's a parable, there's actually three parables all kind of tied up into one. There's a woman that loses a coin, presumably out of her dowry. Folks, she started out with ten coins.

[11:52] She ended up with ten coins. There's a man that lost one sheep and one sheep out of a hundred. He started out with a hundred and he ended up with a hundred. There was a man there that started out with two sons.

[12:06] One of them went off into a far country. He blew everything that he had off his inheritance on Rhytis living, but that man, he started out with two sons and he ended up with two sons.

[12:19] We are in constant fellowship with Christ at the point of conversion, at the point of our spiritual resurrection. But not only are we in fellowship, as Lazarus was here after his resurrection, not only are we in fellowship with Christ after resurrection, we're partaking in what is Christ.

[12:39] It says that they made Him a supper. The supper was for Him, but Lazarus here is sharing in that supper with Christ. Folks, we stand to inherit everything that Christ has inherited as His reward for doing what He has done for fulfilling the Father's will.

[13:00] He inherited it all. Therefore, we stand to inherit it all with Christ and we can partake in the same things that Christ partakes in. So this is a wonderful picture of resurrection that we have here, both physical resurrection with Lazarus being raised from the tomb, but in spiritual resurrection.

[13:21] So hallelujah for that. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him, then took Mary a pound of ointment of spartanard very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

[13:40] Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spartanard very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus. Only John specifies the feet of Jesus in His gospel, the synoptic gospels, namely Matthew and Mark, but they began with her anointing His head.

[14:02] And folks, there's nothing inconsistent about that. There's nothing wrong with that. And it's certainly not a contradiction from one scripture to another.

[14:14] The scriptures are consistent. There are variations in the scriptures of what happened. The way I've explained that to a lot of people is if you and I are standing out here on the corner, a maple and brook, and we see a car accident happen right there at the corner, and someone asked me, what did you see?

[14:34] Well, I saw a white car hit a brown truck. What did you see? Well, I saw the white car hit the brown truck in the left side. They might add something that I didn't notice.

[14:45] Well, what does, and they might ask a third person, what did you see? I saw a woman hit a man. I saw a woman in a vehicle hit a man in a vehicle. So there's going to be variations, but it's all the same story.

[14:59] And that's what we have in the gospel accounts. It's not contradictions within the scripture. It's just like in the synoptic gospels, we have some of the things that we're reading about right now happening just a couple of days before the Passover.

[15:14] Whereas John's gospel says it was six days before the Passover. How can we make that meet? Because what the synoptic gospels are doing is they're looking back in retrospect to Judas and what was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

[15:34] That's when Satan was goading the heart of Judas and when Judas finally left to go make his deal with the chief priests about killing Jesus, about betraying Jesus.

[15:48] So there is no inharmoniousness, we'll say, about the gospel accounts. It's all one story.

[16:00] It's just different things looked at in different perspectives and from different angles, but it's all one wonderful, glorious story. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of Spockner very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

[16:20] Folks, this is worship. This is worship. What Mary done here was pure and unadulterated worship of Jesus Christ.

[16:33] What prompted her to do this? The scripture doesn't tell us exactly, but if you think about it for just a moment, what we've just read in the previous two verses about how Christ was in this house, it was the house of Simon the leper.

[16:47] We've already covered that. Christ was there, they had made him a supper, they made a supper for Christ, but she sees Christ whom she had sat at his feet and she had learned the things of Christ.

[16:59] And don't you think for a second at the feet of Jesus Christ that Jesus did not tell her at some point in one way, shape, or fashion, that he would be killed, that he would be offered.

[17:11] And I believe that Mary knew this within her heart. She knew that this was the time that Christ was going to be offered. She knew that it was drawing nigh, but here was Christ, the one that she had learned from.

[17:25] Here was Lazarus, her brother who was dead and was now sitting, breathing, and eating a meal and celebrating and fellowshiping with Christ her Savior.

[17:36] So here's all these things that are going on around her and that is what prompted Mary to do what she did. Her heart was overwhelmed with affection for the Savior that was there in her midst and what could she do?

[17:52] What could she do? She could offer up her very best, the very best thing that she had, the most costly thing in her possession. A box of ointment or perfume. That was the most costly thing that she could think of.

[18:10] And don't think for a second that it was Mary and Martha's and Lazarus' box of perfume. I've actually read that in commentaries. Folks, I don't believe Mary would have went and gotten it if it hadn't have been hers personally.

[18:23] It was her box of this expensive spot in her ointment or perfume. It was very costly. And what did she use it to do? To anoint the feet of Jesus Christ.

[18:37] And it says, the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. So when she did this, folks, it doesn't say the room was filled. The house was filled.

[18:48] And if there had been people on the house top at this time, and there very likely was, because that was custom back in those days, that was part of the, if there was a big celebration going on of some kind, some people would go to the house top and they would down up there.

[19:05] When the broom ran out on the bottom, they just went up to the top and they would set up more tables there and they would have their couches that they would recline in. They were basically laying on the floor, but they would recline on their couches, on the rooftop.

[19:20] Folks, the house was filled with the odor of this ointment or this perfume that Mary had used to anoint the feet of Jesus Christ.

[19:32] Then verse 4 here, then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?

[19:49] Folks, this shows the hardness of the heart of Judas Iscariot. And unfortunately, even 2,000 years later, it shows the hardness of the heart of some professing Christians that they will mask their evil in the name of Jesus Christ.

[20:09] They will mask their evil intent or their ill intent with what appears to be benevolence, with what appears to be ministry, with what appears to be good deeds or good works.

[20:24] Judas had followed this man around for three years. He had preached with the man, he had heard the man preach, he had camped out underneath the stars of the man, he had slept on the same ground as him.

[20:38] He had heard the messages, he had heard the sermon on the mount, he had seen the miracles, he had seen the blind eyes open, he had seen the deaf ears unstopped, he had seen lepers healed.

[20:51] Judas had seen every one of these things. In the synoptic Gospels, we are not given this particular detail that it was Judas that said this.

[21:04] In fact, it says that the apostles, the apostles as a whole, they kind of collaborated. Some of them that were around asked this question, why was this not sold and the money given to the poor?

[21:18] But here in John's Gospel, John points Judas Iscariot out. He points him out. He says, he asked the question, why was not this appointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?

[21:34] Verse 6, this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and buried what was put therein. Some people will ask the question, if Christ really knew, y'all have heard me go back to John chapter 2 several times as we've been going through this Gospel, how Christ knew what was in the heart of men.

[21:56] Christ knew what was in the heart of Judas Iscariot. Why would he have allowed him to have had the bag? Knowing that he was a thief. Folks, this was Judas' downfall.

[22:07] It was his downfall. It wasn't just his unbelief in Jesus Christ. It was that he never let go of the love of money. And this proves it.

[22:19] It shows that he still had this covetousness in him, the love of money. And we know from Paul's writings to Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil, not the money itself.

[22:34] Not the money itself. Money is not evil. Money is an inanimate object. It can't do good and it can't do evil, but it can be used to do either one of those things by man.

[22:48] We can use money to do good. We can use money to do evil. But here is Judas Iscariot coming against Mary for a worshiping Christ.

[23:00] For a worshiping Christ. That's all she did. Now, in the synoptic Gospels, we see where they said that it was wasted.

[23:12] That this Spockner's ointment or this Spockner was wasted. Folks, if we are doing something for Jesus Christ, if we are giving him our absolute best, if your best doesn't measure up to what someone else sees as what their best is, it doesn't matter.

[23:34] Christ sees your effort. Christ sees what you are doing. Just like when the disciples were out on the water and it says that they told them they were rowing. But praise God, Christ saw them toiling in their rowing.

[23:48] He saw them trying. He saw them trying to do exactly what he had told them to do. When he told them, you get you over to the other side. Christ sees what we do and Christ knows the intent of our heart.

[24:02] And Mary's intent was pure. Mary's intent toward her Savior was completely undefiled. And we had this man, Judas, who was no better than a Pharisee, saying, why was this not sold and given to the poor?

[24:19] People will say that same thing about the church right now. They'll say, why is the church using money to print up tracks? Why aren't they buying food for the hungry?

[24:30] Why aren't they buying clothing for those that are naked? Why aren't they doing this and why aren't they doing that? Folks, the church's number one obligation and the great commission that Jesus Christ gave to his believers was to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.

[24:49] And we can use these other ministries, the ministry of clothing people, the ministry of feeding people, ministry of doing for other people. We can use those ministries to spread the gospel.

[25:04] But the first and foremost thing that we do is spread the good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Jesus Christ came, he gave his life, he gave it a ransom for many, and he did it for me, and he did it for you, and he did it for everybody that is out there in this world, no matter how clothed they are or how naked they are, no matter how full they are or how hungry they are, Christ died for all.

[25:30] And that is our number one obligation to spread the news of Jesus Christ. And here's Judas. Judas is scary at snubbing his nose at the worship of this Christ that we are to be telling the world about.

[25:50] Another thing that you find in the synoptic gospels that you don't find here in John's gospel is this action that Mary did. Christ said himself, he said himself, everywhere in the world that this gospel is preached, this what she has done will be mentioned as a memorial to her, as a memorial for her.

[26:13] Folks, if she hadn't been the absolute purest in heart that she could have been when she done this, I don't think that Christ would have said that.

[26:24] But Christ did say that. It's not here in John's gospel, it's in the synoptic accounts. And in the synoptic accounts, we don't know that this was Mary.

[26:36] Her name is never mentioned, but John gives us her name. There are different details between the gospels that put the entire story together. Why was this wentman not so for three underpins and given to the poor?

[26:49] This he said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. Verse 7, then said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my burying, hath she kept this.

[27:04] Let her alone, leave her alone. Folks, this is in the singular form. He is speaking specifically to Judas when he says this. Now, as I said in the synoptics, we have that all the disciples kind of gathered together, evidently somewhat agreeing with what Judas said.

[27:26] But we have here that Judas is the instigator in the entire thing. Jesus speaking, if you read this in the original Greek, Jesus is speaking in the singular form to Judas.

[27:39] And he says, let her alone. You leave her alone. And folks, it is ever that way between a child of God and the world. It is ever that way between a child of God, someone who has been born again, someone who has been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and has owned Jesus Christ and he has owned him.

[27:59] Christ is there forever making intercession to us against him that is the accuser of the brethren, both not and day, saying, let them alone. They're mine.

[28:13] Christ here says, let her alone against the day of my burying, hath she kept this. This is a wonderful testimony on Mary's devotion to her Savior.

[28:24] She's the only one that we read about anointing Jesus Christ before the burial, before the death, after the death. Folks, the morning of the resurrection, we see all these women going to the grave.

[28:37] What were they going there for? They brought their spouses. They brought their things to do what? To anoint the body of Jesus Christ after his death. Mary is the only one that we have in the entire scriptural account that done this beforehand.

[28:55] This shows her devotion, but not only that. Folks, it shows how much attention Mary was paid to the things that she learned at the feet of Jesus Christ.

[29:07] It shows how in tune with Jesus Christ that she was. We look down our nose at Mary because she wasn't helping Martha serve. We look down our nose at Martha because she fussed about Mary not serving, but both of them were serving Christ in their own ways.

[29:27] Folks, there is one Lord, but there's many different ministries underneath that Lord. Mary served in her way, Martha served in her way. And it's like it in several other different accounts throughout the Gospels.

[29:42] Let her alone against the day of my burying, hath she kept this. Verse 8, for the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. So He gives them the what to let her alone against the day of my burying, hath she kept this.

[29:57] And He gives them the why for the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. So in the first line of this in verse 7, let her alone again, that's singular.

[30:15] But when we get to the next verse in verse 8, for the poor always ye have with you, He's addressing the whole crowd at that point. Ye is plural.

[30:26] For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. In other words, let her alone, let her do what she's doing. She is worshiping me. She is doing a service to me against the day of my burying.

[30:41] The poor ye always have with you. And folks, that applies to us. That applies to us. There comes times in all of our lives, my life and your life, as born again children of God, where all we need is to be alone with Jesus Christ.

[31:00] We don't need the preacher to help us. We don't need the teacher to help us. We don't need husband or wife. We don't need brothers or sisters, anything like that. I love the fellowship that I have with brothers and sisters in Christ.

[31:14] Don't get me wrong. And we are commanded in the Scriptures to fellowship with fellow believers. But folks, what happened here? What Mary did? She passed up Lazarus.

[31:26] She passed up the disciples. She passed up the apostles that were there with Christ. She passed up everyone in the house, even Simon the leper. She passed up all of them and went straight to Jesus Christ to worship Him.

[31:41] Amen. And folks, that's what we need to do sometimes. Because sometimes, the preacher is just getting you away. I've been guilty of doing that to people. I've been guilty of wanting to help someone so bad and actually getting in their way of worshiping Christ.

[32:02] And I would say shame on me for that, because I should recognize it. But at the same time, I'm just, I'm doing what I do. But sometimes that's what we need.

[32:13] And we need to be the ones that recognize, I need Jesus and nothing more right now. I need Jesus and nothing else right now. Husband won't do.

[32:25] Wife won't do. Parents won't do. Children won't do. Only Christ will do. And Mary recognized that. She needed Jesus and she went straight to Jesus to anoint Him against the day of His bearing.

[32:39] But he says again in verse 8, For the poor always you have with you. We will always have opportunity to minister to the poor. But Christ here was saying, I'm going away.

[32:50] Here in just a few days, I'm going to be putting this tone. And a couple of days after that, I'm going to be resurrected. And a few weeks after that, I'm going to ascend to the Father. And you won't have me here physically with you anymore.

[33:05] Boy, that blows transubstantiation straight out of the water, but we won't get into that. Jesus says you will not have my physical presence here with you anymore.

[33:19] I'm going away, but the poor you will always have an opportunity to minister to. They had it here 2,000 years ago and we've got it now 2,000 years later. We have still got opportunity to minister to the poor even now.

[33:34] Verse 9, Much people of the Jews therefore knew that He was there. And they came not for Jesus' sake only, but they might see Lazarus also whom He had raised from the dead.

[33:46] So some folks, obviously from this scripture here, some folks had shown up just because Jesus was going to be there. Read it again, Much people of the Jews therefore knew He was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only, only, but that they might see Lazarus also whom He had raised from the dead.

[34:07] Folks, miracles will always draw curiosity. It will always draw curiosity. Before I was saved, I was very curious about religion and I won't say it was because of miracles, but I was very curious about religion, not just Christianity, all kinds of different religions, was I curious about.

[34:28] But when something truly miraculous happens, it will always draw the attention and bring into the scene or into the room or into the realm those who are curious.

[34:44] These people showed up not only because Jesus was there, but also because Lazarus was there. They wanted to see this. Verse 10, But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because by reason of Him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus Christ.

[35:03] And this is without a doubt the saddest thing that we read about here. You might say the Judas and his statement and his heart and all these is the saddest, but folks, here again in verses 10 and 11, but the chief priests consulted they might put Lazarus also to death.

[35:23] Again, there's the what. And in verse 11 we have the why, because by reason of Him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Now, who were the chief priests?

[35:34] We covered this last chapter. Chief priests were all Sadducees. We learned that in the book of Acts. Sadducees did not believe in a bodily resurrection.

[35:45] It was completely against their belief system. They wanted to put Lazarus to death. They would rather commit murder by putting Lazarus to death as to admit that they were wrong.

[36:01] And there's a lot of professing Christians just like that now. Rather than admit that they're wrong about the gospel, rather than admit that it's Jesus Christ only as per the Scripture.

[36:16] The salvation is through faith alone, per the Scripture alone and Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Rather than admit these things, these simple truths that we find in Scripture, they would rather hold to what they've been taught all their lives.

[36:33] They would rather hold to its Jesus plus water baptism. They would rather hold its Jesus plus good works. They would rather hold to all these things that have been ingrained in their mind, rather than just looking at the Scripture and saying, if I believe in Christ and I confess Him with my mouth, and I confess in my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and I believe in my heart, and I will not erase Him from the dead.

[36:58] I will be saved. But they would rather hold to what they believed for years. These Sadducees were in the exact same boat. These chief priests were in that boat.

[37:09] They would rather murder a man as to admit that they were wrong. God helped us not to get in that boat. God helped us to stick with the Scriptures because by reason of Him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.

[37:25] Because of who? Because of Lazarus. Because of Him. Because of Lazarus. Because of this miracle that was sitting there fellowshiping with Jesus Christ. Because of Him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.

[37:40] Many of them went away saying, truly this is the Son of God. Truly this is the Son of David. Truly this is the one that was promised to us in the Old Testament Scriptures.

[37:52] And that brings us to the end of that section. That's as far as I wanted to get today. So, praise God we got there. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that?

[38:03] God bless you all. I appreciate you.