R264 The Gathering

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message called The Gathering. In just a moment we head to John chapter 12 as we open God's Word together. Know that we're open to talk with you and pray with you as well. 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673.

Now, Dr. Don Wilton. John's Gospel and chapter 12. This is a remarkable passage of scripture that we're going to be looking at today. And I invite you to turn with me to John's Gospel and chapter 12. The message from God's Word is entitled The Gathering.

Here's what the Bible says. The Bible says that where two or three are gathered together in my name, that I am right there in the midst of them. It's one of the most beautiful and one of the most assuring statements and promises that God gives to us in His Word. In John chapter 12, as we continue our study in this great book of the Bible, and particularly from verses 1 through 11, we're going to discover something that is most precious indeed.

And in order for us to get there, I want to beg your permission to spend just a few moments placing this passage in its correct context. I think that all of us would agree that it is very important as we study God's Word together that we understand the context in which certain events take place. Jesus never happens by mistake. Circumstances never occur in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ without there being a spiritual reason for it to happen. And I would remind you that together we have discovered some wonderful truths in the Gospel of John and particularly in the preceding chapter in chapter 11.

Remember what happened there. The Bible tells us that there was a man by the name of Lazarus who was desperately sick. And right at the beginning of John's account, Jesus says in chapter 11 and verse 4, He says, in essence, this sickness will not end in death. This boggles the minds of all those who stand there listening to Jesus. I mean, it creates a major consternation on their part. I mean, everything that ever is going to rattle in their insides begins to rattle at this juncture. The nerves begin to go on a march. I mean, everything begins to become upset because these people, even these who were so close to the Lord Jesus Christ, couldn't understand the fact of Lazarus death and what Jesus was trying to say.

And I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. Would you agree with me today that I can understand their predicament? I would have been rather perplexed by this myself, despite the man of my caliber.

I would have also had great difficulty in understanding. And so the disciples are standing there. They've announced that Lazarus has died and Jesus, the son of the living God, is standing there and he's saying he's not dead. He's just gone to sleep. I could just see them standing there saying to themselves, muttering together, saying, we've got him here, man. I mean, listen, this is okay.

We've traveled all over the countryside with him and everything he said has been right. Lord, have we got him now? You know, I wouldn't be surprised if even these spiritual men who rubbed shoulders with Jesus and who loved him so much. I wouldn't be surprised, folks, if every now and again they wanted to win a little bit. I mean, I mean, they were probably just like you and me. They were tired of losing a chess. They were tired of getting checkmated all the time by this one who seemed to know everything about everybody and always knew more about them and seemed to have an unbelievable capacity to look ahead down the road. I mean, these men in all their humanness were no different from you and from me.

And they were probably saying, Lord, let us win one for a change. Just get off your pedestal. Just come down from your holy huddle with God the Father.

Why don't you let us just be proved right just for one time? So God, Jesus looks at them and he says, okay, he's dead. You want him dead? He's dead.

Have it. He's dead. I could just see all the disciples saying, yes, we got him. We got him. We've cornered the Son of God. We have finally, thank you, Lord, after all this time, we've got Jesus where we wanted him to be.

We have removed him from his pedestal in the heavenly throne room, seated at the feast table of the Heavenly Father God himself. And Jesus Christ has finally been proved wrong. Of course, we know differently to that, don't we?

Wrong. They were wrong, not Jesus. And so Jesus walks into the circumstance of life and Jesus entered into Bethany. And Jesus weeps over this man who has gone to sleep, but for human purposes has died. Jesus weeps because he not only loves Lazarus, but he weeps over the inability of man to understand the depth of God's eternal grace. He weeps over the congregation of America when he sees people coming together to read and to study the unsearchable riches of God in Christ Jesus and yet continue to behave in a human manner limited by human understanding. He weeps because he understands that the sovereign outstretched hand of Almighty God is so magnificent that man can never understand the height of his glory and the depth of his love and the scope of his eternal grace. And so Jesus Christ wept, but he didn't just end at weeping, did he?

He acted. You see, Jesus not only weeps because of our inability, he doesn't only weep because of our lack of comprehension. He doesn't only weep because he knows that we are mortal men and that we have been afflicted by the sin of Adam. He weeps, my friends, because he puts his own life on a limb and he pays the ultimate price by the authority of God Jesus Christ.

The Son of God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself so that all who believe in him might live forevermore. And he takes Lazarus and he says to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. The Bible tells us in John chapter 11 that Lazarus had no choice because the Son of God had spoken and Lazarus came forth from out of that tomb and the Word of God says in verse 43 and verse 44 that the dead man came out in his hands and his feet were wrapped. He could neither see, neither could he hear, neither could he speak, neither could he do anything in his absolute total bondage outside of the spoken word of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was about to be translated into the very action of God because the spoken word of God was to become the reality of the action upon the cross. Lazarus came out there and Jesus spoke those words, take those bonds and bandages from away from his eyes and his mouth and let him go and immediately we begin that horrible journey down the road to the cross.

Horrible because of what we know they were about to do to the spotless Son of God but glorious because those of us who have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ have been left with no shadow of a doubt whatsoever that we have life after life. That the march down the road to the cross was the march down the road of the sovereign outstretched hand of Almighty God and that it is within the very bosom of God that the plan of God was about to be executed. So there were people there who began to react. Some people, the Bible says, believed in Jesus Christ because of the practicality of what they had seen demonstrated in the life of Lazarus. Some of those people just stood by and did nothing about it like many people still do despite the fact that they know that God is there and they've seen his outstretched hand. There are still thousands of people in America today who have done nothing about God's grace. There were others who rushed off to the authorities according to the word of God because they knew that the authorities had a reputation that they were people who would be able to do something and rid the world of the scourge called Jesus of Nazareth.

Some people like Caiaphas took the law into his hands because of his power, because of his political prestige, because of his pompous, prideful nature. He said, I want you to know, speaking prophetically and yet unknowingly, that it is better that we kill this man than the whole nation perish. Unknowingly, this man found himself being swept along by the sovereign outstretched hand of the plan of God despite his unbelief. God's plan, my friend, is not dependent upon the unbelief of man. God's outstretched hand and the execution of everything that God is concerned about is not dependent upon the Constitution of the United States of America. God's outstretched hand, my friend, is not dependent upon which president is in the White House. God's outstretched hand is not dependent upon governors and Supreme Court justices. I want to submit to you today, irregardless of Caiaphas, that this man who didn't know God in his unbelief was being swept along by the sovereign outstretched hand of an almighty God, of an almighty God who was about to demonstrate his love toward us in a way in which no man could ever understand.

And so it is here in John chapter 12, we have an interlude. It seems to me that within the context of this horrendous circumstance, right here in John chapter 11 and verse 57, the Bible says that they were looking out there to arrest him. They wanted his hide. They wanted to nail his hind leg to the wall. They wanted to get rid of this man of Nazareth. They couldn't tolerate the upset to the status quo.

They wanted out with him. They said, crucify him. And they began to march down that horrible highway to the cross where they would nail him and they would beat him and they would place a crown upon his head and they would bruise the spotless son of the living God. And it is right here in the midst of the agony of the beginning march down this highway that we have a glorious interlude because just suddenly, kaboom, boom, right there in the middle of it, we find a group of people gathered together. It's almost like the calm after a storm. It's almost like something's about to happen. It's almost like in the midst of the tumult. It's right there in the midst of the anger and the hardship. It's in the midst of the anxiety and the heartache, right there in the midst of the misunderstanding of the humanness, of the misconnectedness between man and his maker, right there, kaboom, right there, boom. A gathering takes place. A group of people come together. But I love these first 11 verses.

Why? Because we have a microcosm of the macrocosm. We have a coming together in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And I am reminded today that Jesus said, wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

Let's read together how Jesus came into the midst of these people and understand in the context of God's word what was about to happen. This was setting the stage. There's so much that we've got to do to set the stage because from chapter 12 all the way down the highway to the cross, we're talking about a week, folks.

Now watch me, everybody watch me this morning. We've got to understand that it was one week to go before Jesus was crucified. We're talking about a week-long event that is about to take place. But this is one week's events from now until the end of the Gospel of John. We are going to be dealing with one week's events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We've got to understand that. And in order for us to understand the march down the highway to the cross, I think it is most glorious, don't you, that Jesus begins with a gathering. Did you notice here that he begins with a gathering in chapter 12 where a group of people come together and Jesus finds himself in the midst of them and something very special begins to take place and on the night before Jesus Christ was crucified what happened? They have another gathering and they come together and Jesus took the bread and when he had broken he said, this is my body which is broken for you. This do as often as ye eat it in remembrance of me and then he took the cup.

He was right there in the midst of the gathering and he said, this cup is my blood which was shed for you. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, remembering my death and burial. Remember the road to the cross. Remember what happened. Remember our coming together. Remember the fact that when two or three are gathered together in my name that I am in the midst of them. Remember that I am sovereign. Remember that there is life after life and remember that it is my death which has given you life and remember that I have risen to be seated and exalted at the right hand of the Father, seated there making intercession for you and for me. What a gathering.

Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message, The Gathering with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But many of you are asking about the book that you've heard about. It's not out yet coming up the end of March called Saturdays with Billy, a wonderful new book about Dr. Don and his relationship with Dr. Billy Graham. You can see a little bit of details on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily encouraging word email and there's so many other resources.

That's all online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. What a gathering and I've got news today. You ready for this? That's exactly what we're doing this morning.

That is exactly what we are doing this morning. Oh my friends, if we could go around our community today, if we could take a survey in this congregation, I'll guarantee you there's a broken heart on every pew. I'll guarantee you there are thoughts that we wouldn't imagine. There are financial problems and physical problems and emotional problems.

There's every kind of problem that afflicts you and afflicts me. We find ourselves in the midst of our human predicament. We come together in God's house on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night we have a gathering and the Bible says, my friend, Jesus understood this more clearly than anybody else because he is the son of God and is it any reason why we can say, I love my church.

I love my church and I thank God for my church and I thank God for the choir and the orchestra and I thank God for every man and woman and boy and girl who come together in this place for where two or three are gathered together in thy name, I'm there in the midst of them. Well, let's look at this verse together. Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany where Lazarus lived whom Jesus had raised from the dead as if we needed to be reminded of that in our super spirituality.

There were many people who couldn't get over this. Here a dinner was being given in Jesus' honor. What are we doing this morning? We're giving a dinner in Jesus' honor.

This is a feast. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him which was customary in the Roman tradition. Then Mary took out a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume and she poured it on Jesus' feet and she wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. What an unbelievable consequence of her devotion. But one of his disciples, I don't know whether we want to call him the spoilsport, I don't quite call him that, it's just reality, one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?

It was worth a year's wages. He did not say this because he cared about the pure poor but because he was a thief. And the word thief there is the word klepto which comes from our word kleptomaniac. It means he was a thief. They didn't think he was a thief. They knew he was a thief.

As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Leave her alone, Jesus said. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

You will always have the poor among you but you will not always have me. Remarkable that he should have said this to someone like Mary. We're going to discover why. Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews came out that Jesus was there and found out that Jesus was there and came not only because of him but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well. The plots beginning to thicken. They're going to get so frustrated folks. They're going to start taking it out on God's people. They're going to get so mad, Caiaphas' henchmen. They're going to get so upset that they cannot get their fingers on Jesus that they're going to start taking it out on the people who follow Jesus.

Meanwhile, a large crowd. So the chief priests, they're coming together. This conglomeration, this gathering together of people for on account of him in verse 11, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. Let the Lord write his word upon our hearts.

Let's look at this gathering. First of all, let's look at Martha. What a precious lady she was in verse two. The Bible says here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor and we find here that Martha served this dinner. She was an incredible lady according to the Bible. You can go back and study her life but I think if there was anything true about Martha which is so true about so many men and women even in our beloved congregation, my friend, is that Martha understood most clearly and most distinctly that she was saved not to sit but to serve. I believe it was Martha who set the pattern for us at this gathering where Jesus present himself in their midst that it was Martha who understood what it meant to be a worker for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What did that mean about her? Well, it meant six things.

Let me give them to you quickly. Number one, it meant that she served God and the Lord Jesus Christ with fear. Psalm 2 and verse 11 tells us serve the Lord with fear. Now that little word fear there doesn't mean to say that Martha cowed from the presence of God. It didn't mean that Martha was scared of God. You see, the word fear in the Hebrew and in the Greek New Testament is the word that means respect.

It's the kind of respect that is earned not because of what the person could do to you but because of what the person has done for you. That type of fear that Martha came to understand as she served the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords was a heart of unbelievable overwhelming gratitude and she served the Lord with fear. The Bible says we must serve the Lord with fear and with trembling not out of fright but because we're standing in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords but I want you to note in the second place that Martha by virtue of her service had made a choice. Her service was a signal of the choice she had made.

What does Matthew's gospel tell us in Matthew 6 and verse 24? The Bible says very clearly no man can serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other.

You'll serve the one and despise the other. The Bible says there is no such thing as a predicament for a born again believer. The word of God tells us and it is vested and it is typified in the life of Martha at this gathering that not only did she serve the Lord with fear and with respect but she had made a clear-cut choice.

She made a deliberate choice in her life but there's a third thing that can be said. Martha's service, her work in the kingdom of God my friend signified that she had been released from the constraints of the law. Now I want you to notice a very interesting passage.

You might wanna turn there with me. In Romans chapter seven and verse six, here's what the apostle says. Romans chapter seven and verse six. By dying to what bound us at one time, we have been, I love this word here, we have been released from the law.

Now I just gotta run that first part by again. By dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law in order that we can serve in the spirit. Now there is a purpose whereby you and I have been released from the bondage of that which enslaved us. We have not been released to freedom. We have been released unto a life of absolute freedom which is a life of service.

What an unbelievable thing. But there's a fourth thing about her service. Her service of the Lord spoke clearly number four of her zeal. Romans chapter 12 and verse 11.

The apostle Paul says again and I quote, never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor thereby serving the Lord. Her service here in John chapter 12 speaks of her humility. You had to have humility to do what she was doing. How many wives today have humility? But there's a sixth thing about her service.

She served with love. You were set free to serve one another in love. Would you bow your heads with me this morning? Just as men and women, boys and girls are bowing their heads and opening their hearts to what is the next step in their lives. I pray that you and I would do the same thing here in this broadcast as Dr. Wilton comes into the studio and shares what's on his heart next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God. This is exciting news. If you just prayed that prayer along with Dr. Wilton and gave your life to Jesus Christ or rededicated your life to Jesus, you need to tell someone.

And why not tell us? Let us walk with you, pray for you in the next steps of growing in your faith. You can call us right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. And we would love to put those resources in your hands. Speaking of resources, you'll find a number of resources on our website at www.tewonline.org.

Jot it down. I hope you'll visit us, www.tewonline.org. Many folks are asking you about the Saturdays with Billy, the book about Dr. Wilton and Dr. Billy Graham. Well, you can find the details. Actually, Liz will give you the details next. On our new website, you can reserve a copy of Dr. Wilton's brand-new book, Saturdays with Billy. In Saturdays with Billy, Pastor Don shares heartwarming stories of his times with Mr. Graham. Just as Billy's words changed Don's life, they can change our lives today.

A testament to a man who leaned on God's grace into eternity. Discover their powerful friendship at www.tewonline.org. That's wrapping up our time with Dr. Wilton today. But tomorrow, the triumphal entry is a powerful message you'll hear from Dr. Wilton right here on the same podcast and broadcast. I hope you'll join us and perhaps bring a friend. Between now and then, don't forget to get connected on our website at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily encouraging word devotional. It will bless your life for sure. Visit us online at www.tewonline.org or available on the phone at 866-899-9673.