Anchors of Truth

The Unchanged

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C. A. Murray

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000059


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from Puerto Rico.
00:17 The Unchanged with C.A. Murray.
00:21 Hello friends, and welcome to another night of our
00:24 Anchors Of Truth series coming from the beautiful island of
00:28 Puerto Rico from the Bella Vista Seventh-day Adventist Church.
00:31 We have had a blessed week thus far.
00:34 And we know tonight the Lord is not going to disappoint.
00:37 And so we thank you for joining us for this very
00:40 spirit filled evening.
00:42 I looked at the sermon title.
00:44 I also know the speaker very well.
00:46 And I know that God has a wonderful message
00:48 in store for you tonight.
00:50 So invite your friends and your family members
00:52 to stop shuffling around.
00:54 If you're at home and very very busy, I would encourage you
00:57 to sit down and tune in to hear what the Spirit
01:00 has to say to the church.
01:02 We've also enjoyed some beautiful weather.
01:05 If you're joining us from the islands, you know
01:07 exactly what we mean.
01:08 But we also pray for our brothers and sisters
01:11 who are enduring the cold weather maybe there in the
01:13 northeast of the United States.
01:15 But the Lord, tonight, is going to warm your heart
01:17 as you listen to this servant of the Lord
01:20 break the bread of life.
01:22 We'd also like to remind you, tomorrow morning
01:24 we have another sermon.
01:25 Almost the last sermon in our series here
01:28 of the Anchors Of Truth.
01:30 And on Sabbath afternoon at 3 o'clock, there's going to be
01:33 our final message.
01:35 So out of our series we've had Pastor Jim Gilley,
01:39 we also had Pastor John Dinzey, I spoke last night,
01:42 Pastor C.A. tonight, tomorrow morning Pastor John Dinzey.
01:45 And then I cap off our series here in Puerto Rico.
01:48 But for this evening, we thank you for tuning in.
01:51 We have some wonderful music tonight, but before we get to
01:54 the music, we also like to come to the Lord in prayer.
01:57 And our prayer this evening is going to be brought to us by
02:00 Dr. Carmen Perez, who is the Vice President of the
02:04 Inter-America Division Theological Seminary.
02:07 And she's stationed here at the Antillean University.
02:11 So tonight let's invite the Lord as we invite her to come
02:14 and bring us before the Lord through the
02:17 wonderful medium of prayer.
02:21 Let us all pray.
02:23 Heavenly Father, we acknowledge Your presence
02:28 in this house of prayer and in our lives this evening.
02:32 You are the only all knowing, all powerful,
02:37 and always present God.
02:40 And we want to bring honor and glory to Your name
02:42 forever and ever.
02:44 We would like to thank You for the riches of Your kindness.
02:49 And we know, dear Lord, that Your forbearance and
02:53 Your patience towards us is always there.
02:58 Father, we would also like to thank You for the wonderful
03:02 presence of Your Holy Spirit among us,
03:05 the wonderful messages that we have heard.
03:08 Father, we pray also for all of those that will hear us tonight.
03:14 We thank You for the wonderful opportunity to be able to air
03:17 live from the Bella Vista church.
03:21 And Father, we thank You also for this continuing series of
03:24 Anchors Of Truth, Growing In Christ.
03:27 We pray for a special blessing for everybody that is
03:30 here tonight and for each one of those who will join us
03:34 as we humbly learn together what the Bible clearly teaches.
03:39 We ask all of this in the gentle and humble name
03:43 of the true and living God, Jesus Christ.
03:47 Amen.
03:49 Thank you so much.
03:51 Just before our music, just a few more words
03:53 about our speaker tonight.
03:54 Pastor C.A. Murray is not only a colleague in ministry,
03:58 he use to be my pastor in New York City
04:00 at the Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church.
04:02 He pastored many years in the Northeastern Conference,
04:04 more than 30 years of ministry.
04:06 So he is a man of the Word.
04:08 But at the present time, he is the Production Manager for
04:11 Three Angels Broadcasting Network.
04:13 So he wears many, many hats.
04:15 But tonight, he's the one that God has chosen to
04:18 bring the message entitled, The Unchanged.
04:22 But before he comes, our music tonight will be brought to us
04:25 by Amy Soto.
04:27 A very familiar song.
04:28 One that reminds us that if we are walking with the Lord,
04:32 all things can be well with our soul.
04:35 So let's invite her to come tonight and prepare our hearts
04:38 for the message for what God has in store for us.
05:07 When peace like a river
05:13 attendeth my way,
05:18 when sorrows like sea billows roll,
05:27 whatever my lot,
05:31 Thou has taught me to say,
05:37 "It is well, it is well, with my soul."
05:48 It is well with my soul.
06:00 It is well, it is well, with my soul.
06:11 Though Satan should tempt me,
06:18 though trials should come,
06:22 my blest assurance control,
06:31 that Christ has regarded
06:37 my helpless state,
06:42 and hath shed His own blood for my soul.
06:53 It is well with my soul.
07:05 It is well, it is well, with my soul.
07:18 And Lord, haste the day
07:23 when my faith shall be sight,
07:29 the clouds be rolled back as a scroll.
07:37 The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend.
07:47 Even so, it is well with my soul.
07:58 It is well with my soul.
08:10 It is well, it is well, with my soul.
08:35 Amen and amen.
08:36 Thank you so very much, Amy. Well done.
08:39 Good evening and happy Sabbath.
08:42 I see we have some people standing in the rear.
08:46 You can come on in and be seated.
08:48 Or maybe I'll preach so long that you'll just get
08:50 weary and sit down.
08:52 I don't know.
08:53 But we wish you happy Sabbath.
08:54 We have had a wonderful week together.
08:58 And we pray that tonight will be no exception.
09:01 I want to thank my friend and colleague of many years,
09:03 Pastor Lomacang, for his kind and gracious introduction.
09:07 We want to move right into the Word.
09:09 And I would ask you to turn with me, if you will,
09:12 to the gospel as recorded by Mark.
09:15 Mark's gospel, the 14th chapter.
09:18 I want to read just several verses from the gospel
09:22 as written by Mark, chapter 14.
09:31 Before we read the Word, let us pray to the Author of the Word.
09:38 Our gracious Father, again we call upon You.
09:41 For we realize that Your Word is a lamp unto our feet
09:46 and a light that shines on the path before us.
09:50 We ask just now for the illumination of Your Spirit
09:56 so that we can read the Word and understand the Word
10:03 and make application of the Word to our lives.
10:08 We ask You to be the honored guest
10:10 and indeed the Teacher this night.
10:13 And we thank You. In Jesus' name, amen.
10:18 I'm reading from Mark chapter 14 verses 3 through 10.
10:24 Mark 14 beginning at verse 3.
10:28 I'm reading from the New King James.
10:33 The Bible says, "And being in Bethany at the house of
10:37 Simon the leper, as He sat at the table..."
10:41 I think your King James may say, "as He sat at meat."
10:44 "...a woman came having an alabaster flask
10:47 of very costly oil of spikenard.
10:51 And she broke the flask and poured it on His head.
10:57 But there were some who were indignant among themselves,
11:02 and said, 'Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
11:08 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii
11:12 and given to the poor.'
11:17 And they criticized her sharply.
11:20 But Jesus said, 'Let her alone. Why do you trouble her?
11:24 She has done a good work for Me.
11:26 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish
11:31 you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.
11:38 She has done what she could.'"
11:41 And that is a sermon in itself.
11:44 "'She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.
11:47 Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached
11:51 in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told
11:58 as a memorial to her.'
12:02 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the
12:06 chief priests to betray Him to them."
12:12 The Bible says, "And being in the house of Simon the leper,
12:17 He sat at the table."
12:19 Or at meat, depending on which version you have.
12:23 Many times in reading this particular story,
12:26 our minds are drawn to Mary and Martha.
12:31 For truly this is a story about Mary and Martha.
12:35 And we may think of it as their story.
12:38 Or we may even think of it as the story of Judas.
12:43 But there is another name that we oft times
12:46 don't really pay attention to.
12:49 This is the story within the story.
12:52 Or the subtext under the story.
12:55 And that name is Simon the leper.
12:59 It is always important to realize and recognize
13:02 how the Bible introduces a person.
13:05 You always want to take note how the Bible introduces a person.
13:08 In this same book of Mark, we are introduced to another man
13:12 by the name of Jarius.
13:13 The Bible calls him a ruler.
13:16 In the book of John, we're introduced to Nicodemus.
13:19 Again, a ruler.
13:20 And yet, in this particular story as written by Mark,
13:26 Simon is not introduced as a ruler as is Jarius,
13:30 or as is Nicodemus.
13:31 He is introduced as Simon the leper.
13:36 And when I read this, my mind was fastened on that term,
13:40 "Simon the leper."
13:43 Because Mark pegs him or links him to his disease.
13:50 Simon's last name is not, "the leper."
13:53 When you are dialing trying to find Simon in the phone book,
13:57 you wouldn't look up, "Simon the leper."
14:00 And I'm sure when Simon was born, the doctor didn't
14:03 whack him on the bottom and christen him, Simon the leper.
14:12 We don't identify people by disease.
14:16 That's kind of crude and rude.
14:19 When a person has a disability, the politically correct thing
14:23 to do is to ignore that disability.
14:27 If someone has a cane or a wheelchair, you don't
14:29 go up to him and say, "Well, I see you've got a wheel chair.
14:31 How does it feel to be cripple?"
14:33 You don't do that.
14:34 That's crude, that's uncouth. That's not life.
14:37 We don't identify people with their diseases.
14:40 And yet, we have this notable exception here
14:43 in the book of Mark.
14:44 He is called, Simon the leper.
14:47 Simon the leper.
14:49 There are other Simons in the Word of God.
14:51 There is Simon the tanner in the book of Acts.
14:55 He is identified by his occupation.
14:57 He is a tanner of leather.
14:58 There is Simon the Canaanite.
15:00 He is identified by his racial origin.
15:03 He is a Canaanite.
15:04 There is Simon of Cyrene.
15:06 He is identified by his country.
15:08 These things are fairly common in the Bible.
15:10 But it is not common to identify a person by his disease.
15:15 He is called, Simon the leper.
15:17 That statement in itself is a statement on the fear
15:21 that this particular disease was held in.
15:25 Simon could have been a lawyer, he could have been a doctor.
15:29 He could have been a priest or a senator, or even a king.
15:34 But that didn't matter.
15:36 Because once you got this disease, you are
15:40 pegged with it forever.
15:42 The book of Luke tells us that Simon was a Pharisee.
15:46 The Pharisees, or the parus, in Christ's time were a group of
15:51 religio-political laypersons.
15:54 They weren't priests in the truest sense.
15:56 They were people who were trained in the study of the law.
16:00 It was the job of the Pharisee to be a
16:03 sort of air sock theologian.
16:05 The Pharisees were the interpreters of the law.
16:08 It was their job to tell the common people
16:10 what the law meant.
16:11 So they were the doctors, the PhD's, of the law.
16:15 They were the lord's of the sacred writing.
16:18 They commanded and demanded respect.
16:23 Simon was one of these respected Pharisees.
16:27 But that high position meant nothing
16:31 because now he would be identified by disease.
16:34 From now on, he would be Simon the leper.
16:38 Simon the Pharisee, Simon the priest,
16:41 Simon the aristocrat.
16:44 Didn't matter.
16:46 Now he was Simon the leper.
16:50 There are few diseases in ancient times, and perhaps
16:53 even modern times, that carried the fear of leprosy.
17:00 Just the mention of leprosy was enough to make
17:04 someone's knees shake.
17:07 Leprosy was a bacterial infection that attacked the
17:11 nervous system, beginning often in the limbs
17:15 and deadening the sensations so that by the time a leper
17:20 was close to death he could not even feel his own pain.
17:24 Many times, they would lose fingers and toes.
17:27 Even the nose sometimes.
17:30 Scientists and archeologists have unearthed the bones
17:34 of people who have died of leprosy and they've seen how
17:37 the disease had even eaten its way into the bones.
17:39 It was a dreaded disease, a fear disease.
17:43 If you could mix cancer and aids and just about every other
17:50 horrible disease that we could mention,
17:52 that's what leprosy was like back in Bible times.
17:57 It was called, "the finger of God."
18:01 Because many Jews in their misguided interpretation
18:05 of how God deals with His people thought that leprosy
18:10 was God's pet punishment for evil deeds.
18:16 They thought and they taught, rabbinical literature is
18:20 replete with references, they felt that when you really
18:24 got out of line, when you really got, as we say in English,
18:28 "too big for your britches," God gave you leprosy
18:31 as a punishment.
18:33 And so they called it, "the finger of God."
18:38 It is interesting that when you got leprosy,
18:42 you didn't report to the doctors.
18:46 You went to the priest.
18:49 You had to go show yourself to the priest.
18:51 You remember when the ten lepers were healed?
18:53 Christ said, go to the priests.
18:55 Not the doctor, but to the priest.
18:56 Because that was the spiritual mindset that they had.
18:59 They felt that God gave you leprosy and it would have to
19:02 be a priest who pronounced you leprous and a
19:05 priest who pronounced you clean.
19:06 Not a doctor.
19:09 You couldn't return to your family,
19:11 you couldn't return to your friends.
19:14 You had to go to a leper colony in the valley of the leper;
19:19 the place of the living dead.
19:22 You were not allowed to comb your hair,
19:25 you were not allowed to show your beard.
19:28 It was your job to yell, "unclean, unclean,"
19:32 whenever you came near a person who didn't have leprosy.
19:36 You could be stoned, you could be spat upon.
19:41 You were not allowed to encourage a leper or
19:45 even to say a kind word to a leper.
19:49 If you had leprosy, you were kicked out of your house,
19:54 you were kicked out of society, you were kicked out of town,
19:59 and you were kicked out of church.
20:02 Doctors wouldn't treat you.
20:05 You couldn't even get a minister to pray for you
20:09 if you had leprosy.
20:12 You were considered one dead.
20:16 Rejected by friends and family and society,
20:19 and even the synagogue.
20:21 You couldn't even get your pastor to pray for you
20:26 if you had leprosy.
20:29 Simon, as a Pharisee, had no doubt heard the sentence
20:34 of leprosy passed upon many people.
20:37 And now he heard those same words pronounced
20:40 over his own name.
20:41 Whatever Simon was before, from now one he was going to be
20:48 Simon the leper.
20:50 Identified by his disease.
20:55 Now let me give you some insight into how good
20:59 the God we serve is.
21:01 Let me give you just a little insight into the grace
21:04 of the God that we serve.
21:06 This text in Mark that we read a few moments ago,
21:09 Mark chapter 14 beginning at verse 3, gives us indication
21:15 that a social event of some kind was taking place.
21:19 Now you listen to me carefully.
21:21 Mark is describing a dinner party.
21:25 What is he describing?
21:27 A dinner party.
21:29 It is a dinner party.
21:30 Mark 14:3, a party is being thrown.
21:35 But Mark 14:3 ought also to throw a red flag for you
21:39 and for any Bible student, because this passage
21:43 here in Mark is beginning with a miracle.
21:46 The Bible says, "And being in Bethany at the house of
21:51 Simon the leper, as He sat at the table..."
21:55 That, ladies and gentlemen, is a disguised miracle.
22:00 Follow me closely.
22:02 The fact that Simon the leper was having a dinner party
22:10 ipso facto means he is no longer a leper.
22:15 Are you following me?
22:17 Couldn't be.
22:18 Because he's having a party.
22:21 So he's not a leper.
22:23 So a miracle somewhere along the line has already taken place.
22:27 Amen?
22:28 Because Simon the leper is having a dinner party.
22:32 Lepers couldn't have dinner parties.
22:35 Amen.
22:37 And if a leper did have a dinner party, who would come?
22:44 Would you take an hors d'oeurve from the hand of a leper?
22:49 Would you eat potato salad made by a leper?
22:55 Would you eat a sandwich, even a vegetarian sandwich,
23:00 given to you by a leper?
23:04 I think not.
23:05 And so the fact that Simon the leper is having people over to
23:10 his house for dinner means that Simon is no longer a leper.
23:15 Do you follow me? Couldn't be.
23:17 Number one, lepers couldn't have houses.
23:20 Amen.
23:21 Two, lepers didn't have friends.
23:24 Three, lepers didn't have anything to celebrate.
23:32 And I say again, who would come to the house of a person
23:36 with an infectious highly communicable disease
23:40 that you possibly, in fact probably could catch
23:44 if you went there?
23:47 Not in Bible times.
23:49 Not even today would anyone put themselves in for a disease
23:53 that had no treatment and had no cure.
23:57 And so we must assume that Mark 14 verse 3
24:02 is talking about Simon use to be leper.
24:07 Because he's not a leper any more.
24:10 Now this story is spoken of four times in the Word of God.
24:13 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John all touch on it.
24:15 And each of them gives us more information.
24:18 But we get the clue really from that great work, Desire Of Ages.
24:23 Ellen White says, in point of fact, Simon had been
24:27 cured of leprosy.
24:28 And this dinner party was sort of Simon's, shall we say,
24:32 coming out party.
24:34 This was the celebration of the new Simon, the post leper Simon.
24:38 He wants everybody to come to see what he is like now.
24:43 For he is no longer Simon the leper.
24:47 Simon has been healed.
24:49 And there is only person in all of Galilee who could heal him.
24:54 And that person was Jesus.
24:57 Rather interesting that Simon the leper somehow
25:02 met Jesus and had gotten healed.
25:05 Now I really shouldn't do this, but sometimes you study
25:07 this stuff and you've got to just...
25:09 I want to show you something real quick.
25:11 I found out how Simon met Jesus and got healed.
25:14 Turn over real quick to the book of John chapter 12.
25:19 And this is a whole separate sermon, but I just
25:21 stumbled across something the Lord showed me the other day.
25:25 And the reason this is interesting is because the
25:27 Pharisees, of which Simon was one, were out to put Jesus
25:31 to death almost from the time He was born.
25:34 So why would a group of people who wanted Jesus' death,
25:37 how could one of their chief leaders be healed by Jesus?
25:42 I found out how right here in John chapter 12.
25:47 John chapter 12 and let's look at verse...
25:54 ...start at verse 3.
25:56 This is the same incident that is spoken of in Mark 14.
25:59 But John picks up the story in chapter 12.
26:01 "Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard,
26:05 anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.
26:08 And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil."
26:13 Follow me? Okay.
26:15 "But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot..."
26:19 Who's son?
26:20 Simon's son. That's the connection.
26:23 That's the connection.
26:27 Judas was a disciple. Simon was his dad.
26:32 Judas was the connection between Jesus and Simon.
26:36 You follow me?
26:37 It's his dad.
26:38 That's the connection.
26:39 There's another interesting connection I'm going to
26:41 get to in just a little bit.
26:43 But I want you to get the picture.
26:44 That's how Simon met Jesus.
26:48 Jesus healed Him and he was a happy man.
26:52 Of course he was a happy man.
26:54 Because Jesus had given him a new lease on life.
26:58 Jesus had revoked his death sentence.
27:02 Who wouldn't be happy?
27:04 You're a pariah, you're an outcast.
27:06 You've got to live by yourself.
27:08 You've got a death sentence.
27:10 Christ comes along, heals you, and gives you a brand new life.
27:15 Wouldn't you be happy?
27:16 Of course you would.
27:18 The problem was, Ellen White says, he was thankful
27:22 but he wasn't converted.
27:24 I'll give you a little sidebar.
27:26 So many times in the Word of God you'll hear Christ,
27:29 at the beginning of His miracles, say something like,
27:32 "Thy faith has made thee whole."
27:35 You'll never find that with Simon.
27:38 There is no profession of faith with Simon's healing.
27:42 Ellen White makes it clear in the book, Desire of Ages,
27:44 Christ healed Simon without a profession of faith.
27:49 In other words, Simon was a rat before his healing.
27:57 And he was a rat...
27:58 What's the Spanish word? Ratón?
28:01 ...after his healing.
28:04 He wasn't changed.
28:06 Christ healed Simon without a profession of faith.
28:11 So Simon was thankful to be healed, but he wasn't saved.
28:16 He hadn't given his heart to the Lord.
28:18 He was happy to have a new lease on life,
28:21 but he wasn't saved.
28:24 I am convinced, ladies and gentlemen,
28:26 that there will be a lot of people who will not make it
28:28 to the kingdom of God because of their ingratitude
28:33 for the goodness of God.
28:34 When you look at your life, every time you count
28:37 two and two you get four.
28:39 Every morning you wake up in your right mind,
28:41 you ought to be thankful to the Lord.
28:43 That ought to make you thankful enough
28:44 to surrender each and every day to Him.
28:46 Amen?
28:48 Some people are going to miss out on the kingdom,
28:51 not because of the sins they commit, but because of
28:54 their ingratitude for the grace that God has shown them.
28:59 Simon was happy to be cured.
29:01 He was happy to have Christ as Savior,
29:04 but he didn't want Jesus as Lord.
29:07 Ellen White says his principles were unchanged.
29:10 Nothing had changed about Simon except his physical condition.
29:14 His heart was just as black after his healing
29:17 as it was before his healing.
29:20 Character was unchanged, his principles untransformed.
29:25 There are many in the church today who are happy to have
29:27 the joys and blessings of Jesus.
29:32 But they don't want to surrender to Him.
29:34 They don't want to make Him Lord.
29:36 They follow Christ for the goodies, for the blessings.
29:39 But they don't want to give Him their lives.
29:46 They haven't taken the final most important step.
29:49 And that is surrender to Jesus.
29:51 To Simon, Jesus was a good man.
29:56 Powerful man.
29:57 Exceptional teacher.
29:59 Worker of miracles.
30:02 But he didn't accept Jesus as Lord.
30:07 It's not enough to be Savior, we've got to make Him Lord.
30:11 So now he's throwing a party
30:14 to celebrate his new lease on life.
30:16 It's a party, ladies and gentlemen.
30:19 Food, drinks. Everybody is there.
30:22 It's the social event of the season.
30:26 One of those parties where everybody who is somebody
30:31 has to show up.
30:32 You cancel your calendar for this particular party
30:35 because this is a party thrown by Simon the Pharisee.
30:39 This is an expensive lavish party.
30:43 You should just check out the guest list of this party.
30:48 A veritable who's who of liars and extortioners and
30:52 curiosity seekers and gate crashers and would be saints.
30:57 And twelve unconverted disciples.
31:03 There are Pharisees there.
31:05 The Pharisees were there to see what they could do
31:09 to trap Jesus.
31:13 There were other people there because they knew
31:17 that Lazarus was going to be at the party.
31:20 And Luke says in his gospel, some people came to the party
31:23 because they had heard that Lazarus was
31:26 raised from the dead.
31:27 And they just wanted to see what a walking
31:29 dead person looked like.
31:31 So they came to the party too.
31:34 There were some who wanted to see what a
31:36 healed leper looked like.
31:38 So they came to the party.
31:40 So Pharisees are there and Sadducees are there.
31:44 Now the Sadducees, you must understand,
31:46 are the true priestly aristocracy.
31:49 When you talk about the high priest in the land,
31:52 you're talking about Sadducees.
31:54 These are the real priests.
31:57 These are the ecclesiarchy of the church,
32:00 the crème de la crème.
32:02 These are the top guys.
32:03 They came to the party also.
32:05 But Sadducees didn't believe in angels.
32:08 Sadducees didn't believe in miracles.
32:11 Sadducees didn't believe in the judgment.
32:14 Sadducees didn't believe in man cooperating with God.
32:18 Sadducees didn't believe in the work of the Holy Spirit.
32:21 Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection.
32:24 I mean, good night.
32:25 Why get out of bed in the morning?
32:28 You go to your pastor and he doesn't believe in God,
32:30 doesn't believe in the Holy Spirit,
32:31 doesn't believe in miracles, doesn't believe in changes,
32:34 doesn't believe in cooperating with God,
32:36 doesn't believe in the judgment,
32:37 doesn't believe in the resurrection.
32:38 What does he got to say to you?
32:41 And yet, the Sadducees were the true priests of the temple.
32:46 But they believed in nothing.
32:48 They, too, were there.
32:51 And it is interesting, you read the Word of God,
32:56 Luke, in telling the story, says they were plotting
33:00 to see how they could put Lazarus to death.
33:04 Now Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead.
33:08 And the ministers were plotting to see how they could
33:12 put him to death.
33:14 Because just the fact that he was alive was testimony
33:18 to the power of Jesus.
33:20 So there were people at the party who were trying to
33:22 find out ways, "How can we get rid of Jesus and Lazarus
33:27 before the Passover."
33:29 They wanted them both dead.
33:31 So this is an interesting party.
33:34 This is an interesting dinner party.
33:36 There are all kinds of texts and subtexts,
33:39 all kinds of things going on.
33:40 People there for different reasons.
33:42 A house full of people, most celebrating something that
33:46 they really didn't understand.
33:49 Besides Jesus, there were only three truly converted people
33:54 in that entire gathering.
33:57 Certainly wasn't Simon, although it was his house.
34:01 It was just Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
34:07 Here's where the story gets good.
34:11 Ellen White tells us, and the Bible also indicates,
34:15 that Christ strategically placed Himself
34:19 at the head of the table.
34:22 He put Himself at the head of the table with Lazarus
34:25 on one side and Simon the leper on the other.
34:30 That was no accident.
34:32 Christ wanted to be between these two strategic individuals.
34:37 Lazarus, who has just been raised from the dead,
34:40 on one hand.
34:42 Simon, who had just come back basically from the dead,
34:47 on the other.
34:48 And Jesus, the giver of life, in the middle.
34:52 And so all eyes were focused on that end of the table.
34:56 You've got Lazarus who had just come out of the grave,
35:00 Simon who had just gotten a new lease on life,
35:04 and the Giver of life sitting in the middle.
35:06 Everybody was looking at that end of the room
35:08 to see what was going to happen.
35:10 All this intrigue swirling around.
35:12 It was like a modern day soap opera.
35:14 Kind of like a novella.
35:18 Into the mix of all this intrigue comes Mary
35:23 at the most inopportune time.
35:26 She decides to crawl to the end of the table,
35:32 open up a jar of very costly ointment,
35:38 and pour it on the head and feet of Jesus as a secret.
35:46 But soon the smell of the ointment broadcast her secret.
35:49 Everybody in the room who is looking at that end of the table
35:54 sees this little intrigue between Mary and Jesus.
35:58 And immediately tongues begin to wag.
36:00 You know how we do.
36:03 "What in the world is she doing with Jesus?
36:10 Do you see what's going on?
36:12 Do you see what that woman with that reputation
36:15 is doing with Jesus?"
36:19 Everybody picks it up.
36:21 Judas picks it up.
36:24 Judas, who can never control himself, speaks out.
36:28 Simon is thinking something in his heart.
36:33 Simon is thinking in his heart,
36:38 "If He really was the Savior, He would know what kind of woman
36:45 is handling Him.
36:49 And He wouldn't let that happen."
36:52 Simon thinks it, Judas says it.
36:58 "Why is this money being wasted?
37:06 We could have saved this money and given it to the poor."
37:12 Now let me make a quick side turn.
37:14 Because that's also a ruse.
37:16 Ellen White says Judas was a treasurer for the disciples.
37:20 He held the money.
37:22 So basically he was saying, "Why wasn't the money put
37:25 in my pocket?"
37:27 And Ellen White also says he was embezzling
37:29 money from the disciples.
37:30 He was stealing money and using it for his own good.
37:33 And she says had he gotten that money for the spikenard,
37:36 he would have spent it on himself like all the rest.
37:38 You see all the intrigue that is going on in this story?
37:40 There's story, upon story, upon story, upon story.
37:43 And Jesus is aware of it all.
37:47 He knows what Simon is thinking.
37:50 Everyone is turning their nose up at this poor woman.
37:54 It is difficult to understand, many times, how we
37:57 in the church can be guilty of the same sin
38:00 and not see it in ourselves, but see it so clearly in others.
38:09 So everyone is turning their nose up at Mary.
38:12 But Mary is not aware of any of this because her act
38:15 is an act of love and faith to her Lord.
38:18 And Simon is saying in his heart, "If He were the
38:22 Son of God, He wouldn't let a woman like that touch Him."
38:26 You remember I told you Simon was unchanged?
38:28 He was unchanged and unconverted though he was healed?
38:34 Ellen White tells us a little sideline about Simon.
38:37 My time is slipping away so I've got to go fast.
38:41 Simon could make that statement about Mary,
38:45 because when you read that book, Desire Of Ages,
38:47 you find out this.
38:50 We don't know precisely what kind of trouble Mary go into
38:57 to get her reputation.
39:00 But Ellen White says in the book, Desire Of Ages,
39:05 whatever trouble she got into, Simon led her into trouble.
39:13 Did you hear me?
39:15 Surely he could say, "If Christ knew what kind of woman
39:20 she was," because Simon was the one who made
39:24 her that kind of woman.
39:26 Are you listening to me?
39:28 Simon was partially responsible for the life Mary had.
39:33 Now it is my belief, and I'm doing research,
39:37 I believe that Lazarus and Simon were brothers.
39:42 I believe that Simon was Mary's uncle.
39:48 That would mean that Simon was responsible for some kind of
39:55 abuse of his own niece.
39:59 So surely he could say, "If Christ knew what kind of
40:03 woman she was," because he made her that kind of woman.
40:07 And all this is going on at this party.
40:10 And Christ has healed him.
40:14 But his heart is unchanged and he is unthankful.
40:21 Well she is there in the house.
40:23 And she is fixed on Jesus.
40:25 And she is in love with Jesus.
40:28 And she is not concerned about Simon or anybody else.
40:32 Her love for Christ is supreme.
40:37 But Jesus did know the kind of person that she was.
40:42 And he also knew the kind of person Simon was.
40:46 Isn't it wonderful that Christ knows us intimately
40:50 but He doesn't let that stop Him from saving us?
40:54 From blessing us?
40:57 From helping us when we call upon Him?
40:58 Christ knows you better than you know yourself.
41:02 Amen?
41:03 You know, sometimes we do things and we say,
41:06 "Was that me, did I do that? Did I say that?
41:09 That couldn't be me."
41:11 That's because we don't always know ourselves.
41:13 I'll give you a secret.
41:18 The Lord knows you better than you know yourself.
41:22 Amen?
41:25 Satan also knows you better than you know yourself.
41:31 He does.
41:32 He has studied you for six thousand years.
41:34 And if you read the Word of God, the same trick he was pulling
41:36 three thousand years ago, he's pulling them today.
41:38 And they still work.
41:40 Then there's you, and you think you know yourself.
41:47 But you don't know yourself.
41:49 And you know how I know you don't know yourself?
41:52 Because sometimes you do things that surprise you.
41:57 Amen.
41:58 And when you do things that surprise you,
42:01 the only person who's surprised is you.
42:07 God knew. Not surprised.
42:10 Satan knew. Cause it; not surprised.
42:14 The only person scratching their head...
42:19 That's why you cannot hope to defeat Satan
42:22 without the power of the almighty God.
42:25 Amen?
42:26 Got to have God.
42:28 So Christ knew what was going on.
42:30 He knew what was going on in the heart of Mary,
42:32 and He knew what was going on in the heart of Lazarus.
42:39 And so Jesus had to give this still proud unconverted Pharisee
42:44 named Simon a little hand slap.
42:48 Christ told him a story.
42:50 He said, "Simon, when I came into your house,
42:53 you didn't kiss Me, you didn't wash My feet,
42:57 you didn't greet Me, you didn't serve Me.
43:00 You didn't do anything for Me.
43:03 But this young girl did.
43:06 She hath done what she could."
43:11 And in Mark chapter 14 verse 8, 8 and through 10 really,
43:16 Christ memorializes her.
43:18 Jesus says, "Whenever the full gospel is preached,
43:22 you've got to tell this story of Mary.
43:25 Because she did what she could."
43:26 Ladies and gentlemen, that's all Jesus asks of any of us.
43:30 Do what you can.
43:35 He doesn't ask for everybody to preach sermons.
43:37 Because everybody can't.
43:39 He doesn't ask for everybody to sing.
43:41 Because everybody can't.
43:43 He doesn't ask for everybody to be colporteurs.
43:47 Because everybody can't.
43:48 I tried. I can't do it.
43:50 I can't sell books.
43:51 When I was in college, we had to sell books on one vacation.
43:56 You know, you had to preach some, you had to sell books.
43:58 You had to do everything.
43:59 I tried selling books. I can't do it.
44:02 If I had to sell books for a living, I would starve to death.
44:06 Because people would give me a story.
44:07 I'd give them Desire Of Ages or the Conflict Series.
44:12 And they'd say, "Oh, I can't afford it.
44:13 I don't have the money, but I really want it."
44:15 And I'd say, "Okay, take it."
44:18 You can't eat that way.
44:19 So I know I can't do retail.
44:21 I can preach, but I can't sell books.
44:24 So God doesn't ask me to sell books.
44:26 Praise the Lord.
44:27 He asks me to do what I can.
44:30 I can sing a little bit, I can preach really loud.
44:35 And that's what God says do.
44:37 Amen.
44:38 Christ says, "Do what you can."
44:43 Amen?
44:44 "And if you do what you can, I'll give you blessings
44:48 to do a little bit more."
44:49 And so Mary did what she could.
44:54 She loved Christ and she showed that love.
44:57 And so Christ is saying to Simon,
45:00 "You didn't do these things for Me."
45:01 Christ is beginning to dig at Simon's pontifical patina.
45:05 He's beginning to pull down his pride and his prejudice
45:09 and his arrogance.
45:10 Christ is trying to show him that, "Your looking down
45:16 on this little girl and your disgust at her repentance,
45:23 your hating of her repentance, doesn't say anything about her,
45:28 it says something about you."
45:33 And so Christ is trying to tell Simon that He wants him
45:37 and that He loves him still.
45:41 He's trying to tell this man who thought of himself as more
45:43 righteous than Mary that in despising her love of Christ
45:50 he was showing that his sin was greater.
45:54 Because he was adding to his own sin by hating her repentance.
46:04 And when Simon answered Christ's little parable
46:07 and said, "The one who forgives more loves more,"
46:11 Simon was actually condemning himself as David did when Nathan
46:17 gave him that story about the ewe lamb.
46:19 He had passed judgment on himself.
46:24 Simon realized, like David did some 700 years before,
46:29 that he was a sinner in need of a Savior.
46:34 You see, sometimes Jesus has to give us a little wrist slap
46:42 to get our attention.
46:45 I tell the story of how I thought I was called to be
46:50 a minister from age 10.
46:55 I had a little bird fall out of his nest.
46:58 And our little group got together and we had a
47:01 funeral for that little bird.
47:03 Got a little cigar box, got some little drums and a
47:07 little tiny piano with twelve keys.
47:09 And we marched down the street in a funeral procession.
47:12 Dug a little hole.
47:13 And I preached my first sermon over a little bird.
47:16 And I knew then I wanted to be a preacher.
47:17 But I got kind of good at basketball in high school
47:20 and got a scholarship to play basketball in college.
47:24 To this day when I try on my shoes, I've got to
47:26 try on my left one first.
47:29 Because I broke my ankle. Not one, twice.
47:34 Playing basketball on Friday two years in a row.
47:39 And the doctor said it is very unusual to get the exact
47:44 same fracture of an ankle.
47:47 But he held up the x-rays after my second fracture,
47:51 and there it was the exact same break.
47:54 Friday night in college playing basketball.
47:58 And my pastor came to the hospital and said,
48:01 "This time it's your ankle.
48:04 Next time it may be your neck."
48:12 Christ will let you break your ankle to keep you
48:17 from breaking your neck.
48:20 You hear me?
48:22 And so Jesus was giving Simon a little slap on the wrist
48:26 because He was trying to save Simon.
48:29 He still loved Simon enough and cared about Simon enough
48:35 to try to win Him back.
48:37 Christ was warning him that his sins stood unpardoned.
48:42 Now Christ could have sat at that party,
48:44 He could have stood up at that table,
48:45 and turned to Simon and said, "You're looking down on Mary.
48:49 You are the cause that she is what she is."
48:56 But He didn't do that.
48:59 Because that wouldn't have won Simon.
49:02 That would have turned him away.
49:05 And so Jesus tells him a story.
49:06 And only Simon understands that the story is made for him.
49:12 "This young girl has given her heart to Me
49:15 and turned her life around.
49:17 And the best you can do is hate her?
49:22 Is that how you repay the love I've shown you
49:25 by healing you from leprosy?"
49:31 And in the book, Desire Of Ages, Ellen White says,
49:35 Simon at that moment realized, he realized that Jesus
49:42 didn't want to destroy him, didn't want to embarrass him.
49:48 Jesus wanted to save him.
49:51 And it was the fact that Christ privately rebuked him
49:56 instead of publically humiliate him that broke his heart.
50:01 And at that very party, at that very instant,
50:05 on that very night, Simon became a follower of Jesus Christ.
50:11 He still carried the name, but he no longer carried the shame.
50:17 He will always be Simon the leper.
50:21 But now it became a badge of honor.
50:25 Because he could say when they called him Simon the leper,
50:28 "Yeah, I use to be Simon the leper.
50:31 But I met a Man called Jesus and I'm a leper no more."
50:35 You know, I found out something interesting
50:36 about Latino culture.
50:38 My wife is from Panama.
50:39 I found out that if you get stuck with a nickname
50:42 in Latino culture, you carry it until you die.
50:44 Is that true?
50:46 If you say something or do something one time in your life
50:49 and they get a little handle on you, a little hook,
50:51 you'll carry that until you die.
50:54 There is a good friend of ours in Panama,
50:57 she's the pastor's wife.
50:58 She's seventy something years old.
50:59 They started calling her, because she's a little brown,
51:01 they started calling her "chumby" maybe at 10 years old.
51:07 She's 70 years old, great grandmother.
51:08 They're still calling her "chumby."
51:11 So you get a handle and it stays with you.
51:14 So he was Simon the leper.
51:19 But now it was just an opportunity to talk about Jesus.
51:23 Because people would ask him, "Why are they
51:26 calling you Simon the leper?
51:27 You don't look like a leper to me."
51:29 And he could say, "I use to be a leper.
51:32 My life use to be a waste.
51:34 I use to be as one dead.
51:36 But I met a Man called Jesus and I am a leper no more."
51:42 And that same Jesus can cure you of the leprosy
51:47 of sin in your own life.
51:50 Christ was not out to expose him.
51:52 Christ was out to win him.
51:56 Desire Of Ages, page 568, I want to read something
51:59 just real quick in the time that is left to me.
52:03 "When to human eyes her case appeared hopeless,"
52:06 talking about Mary, "Christ saw in Mary capabilities for good.
52:09 He saw the better traits of her character.
52:11 The plan of redemption has invested humanity with
52:15 great possibilities, and in Mary these possibilities
52:19 were to be realized.
52:20 Through His grace she became a partaker of the divine nature.
52:24 The one who had fallen, and whose mind had been
52:28 a habitation of demons, was brought very near to the
52:31 Savior in fellowship and ministry.
52:33 It was Mary who sat at His feet and learned of Him.
52:36 It was Mary who poured upon His head the precious spikenard oil,
52:39 and bathed His feet with her tears.
52:41 Mary stood beside the cross and followed Him to the sepulcher.
52:44 It was Mary who was first at the tomb after His resurrection.
52:48 It was Mary who first proclaimed the risen Savior.
52:51 Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul."
52:54 Amen?
52:55 Everything going on in your life Christ knows.
52:57 But that does not turn Him away.
52:59 "You may say, 'I am sinful, very sinful.'
53:02 You may be; but the worse you are, the more you need Jesus."
53:08 Amen?
53:11 "He turns no weeping, contrite one away."
53:15 What is that text?
53:17 I think it's Matthew 12:20 that talks about the smoking flax.
53:21 He's not going to crush you, you know.
53:22 If you come to Him, He will always be there for you.
53:25 Read that when you get a chance.
53:27 It's got to be Matthew 12:20.
53:29 "He does not tell to any all that He might reveal."
53:33 You know, when Christ is trying to call you, He doesn't even
53:36 reveal all of your sins to you.
53:38 He spares you that.
53:40 He just cleans you up as you come to Him.
53:42 He doesn't tell you everything about yourself.
53:44 Because He's not trying to wash your face with your sins.
53:47 He's trying to save you and bring you to salvation.
53:50 Amen?
53:51 Alright, one last line.
53:53 "He bids every trembling soul take courage.
53:57 Freely will He pardon all who come to Him
54:03 for forgiveness and restoration."
54:05 You can't go too far, you can't run too fast,
54:08 to get away from Jesus.
54:11 If you've got enough sense to call, I'm telling you
54:14 He's got enough love to answer.
54:15 If He can save Simon, the hard headed, hard hearted Pharisee
54:22 who led a young girl into sin, don't you think He can save you?
54:26 If He wasn't turned off by Simon's laundry list of sins,
54:30 He is not going to be turned off by yours.
54:33 There is room and grace at the cross
54:36 for each and every one of us.
54:39 I've got to go over and end with a quick story.
54:43 When the Mennonite missionaries went up to the North Pole
54:49 to Alaska above the Arctic Circle and met with the Eskimos
54:53 and tried to bring them the gospel,
54:54 they found that in the Eskimo tongue, there was no
54:58 word for "grace."
55:00 They just didn't have it in their language.
55:04 They were a people of judgment.
55:05 You do something wrong to me, I do something wrong to you.
55:08 You hurt my cow, I kill your chicken.
55:10 They had no concept of grace.
55:14 And so they had to invent a word for "grace."
55:17 I've got to read this word.
55:18 It's called, issumagijoujunnainermik
55:25 Yeah, issumagijoujunnainermik.
55:32 It's translated, "not being able to think about it anymore."
55:37 Amen.
55:38 That's their word for "grace."
55:39 Issu... Well, never mind.
55:42 That's their word for "grace."
55:44 It means, "not being able to think about it anymore."
55:46 That's what God does for us.
55:49 He doesn't think about it anymore.
55:50 He forgets about it.
55:52 He tosses it into the depths of the sea.
55:54 Puts out the "no fishing" sign.
55:55 It's not going to come back anymore.
55:58 Forgiveness, they say, is the fragrance that a rose petal
56:03 gives when it is crushed.
56:06 Isn't that beautiful?
56:07 That's what grace is all about.
56:09 You bring your broken down dead life to Jesus
56:16 and He gives you a brand new life.
56:21 I'm learning a song, Pastor John, that's called,
56:23 "New Lives For Old."
56:25 It's kind of a complicated song but I ran across the words,
56:29 "God gives you new lives for old."
56:31 You bring your broken down life and God will give you
56:36 a brand new life for your old one.
56:40 That's what He did for Simon.
56:42 He gave him a new life for his old one.
56:46 He gave him a new heart for his old one.
56:50 And we find out that Simon the Pharisee, the leper,
56:58 became one of Christ's most loyal, trusting, steadfast,
57:06 loving disciples.
57:09 Simon, like Nicodemus, gave up Pharisaism
57:15 and became a Christian in love with Jesus Christ.
57:21 And I submit to you, if He did it for Simon,
57:26 by the grace of the living God, He'll do it for you.


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Revised 2014-12-17