Tag: John

Text: John 15:1-8, 16

I want you to open your Bibles tonight to the Gospel of John, chapter 15. As I have read this chapter over and over again, I have decided that I will confine myself to the first 8 verses of this chapter.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. He removes every branch in Me that bears no fruit; every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; those who abide in Me, and I in them, bear much fruit; because apart from Me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch, and withers; such branches are gathered and thrown into a fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done to you. My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit, and show yourselves to be My disciples.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.

A few years ago, my wife and I attended the Southern Baptist Convention in Portland, Oregon, which is in the northwestern part of the States. Our convention, which is supposed to be the largest non-Protestant denomination in America, has an annual meeting, and 20,000-30,000 of us gather together. We go and listen to speakers and they have exhibits and specialists on different aspects of church work. My wife and I love to go to conventions.

When the Southern Baptist Convention was over, we really weren’t ready to go home. I happily noticed in the newspaper that the FPA was having their annual convention that year. You’ve heard of the FPA—Fruit Pickers of America. So we decided to attend the Fruit Pickers of America Convention. Surprisingly, it was a lot like our own convention. That had exhibits, a room full of stalls and exhibits where they were showing the latest shears for doing this, and the latest fruit picking instruments, and the latest baskets—different colors and sizes. They also had speakers, and we really enjoyed them. One I liked was “Fruit Picker Burn-out,” which evidently was common among the fruit pickers of that day. I think the message I enjoyed the most was the last one. This was the fellow who led the convention the year before in fruit picking. He was telling everybody how to do it. He was really dynamic. He just challenged and challenged those men and women to go out and pick more fruit than they had ever picked before—challenged beyond their ability.

When they dismissed, they all grabbed their baskets and went out for an afternoon of fruit picking. Kaye and I hung around to see the results. As the hours passed, the fruit pickers came dragging in without any joy, without any enthusiasm, and mostly without any fruit. So they couldn’t understand it. It stymied the convention. After they had all these exhibits, the latest techniques in fruit picking, and these motivational speakers, how could they go out and not pick a single fruit.

So they did what you usually do. They appointed a task committee to study the problem. Well, we couldn’t hang around for that; we went back home. But I read the results of it later. It seems they came to this conclusion: you can’t pick fruit unless, first of all, you bear fruit. They had concentrated all their efforts on the picking of fruit and none on the bearing of fruit.

You’ll notice how often in this passage of Scripture that Jesus speaks to us of bearing fruit. He says, unless you abide in Me, you cannot bear fruit. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. The sense I get from this passage of Scripture is that we are to be fruit bearers. The emphasis here is on bearing fruit. In verse 8 he says, herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. All of us want to glorify God. That ought to be the theme of every song, the theme of every sermon—that God be glorified. Well, how do we glorify Him? He says that God is glorified when we bear much fruit, and we become his disciples. The Greek literally has the idea of you show yourselves, prove yourselves to be disciples. So I want to talk to you tonight a bit about fruit bearing.

In these closing words as Jesus gives us what is normally called the Upper Room Discourse, he is speaking things of importance to these disciples. These are his last words. Notice the progression there: that we not just bear fruit, but that we bear more fruit, and much fruit. That is God glorified. So let me just mention three or four things about this.

1) Bearing fruit is proof that we are in Christ.

It is the proof of our union with Christ. You’ll notice that at the very beginning he says, I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser (or vine grower). He removes every branch in Me that bears no fruit. Later on in verse 6, he says, whoever does not abide in Me is thrown away like a branch, and withers. Such branches are gathered together and thrown into a fire and are burned. So the idea is that abiding in Jesus and bearing fruit are synonymous. If I am abiding in Jesus, if I have a vital union with the life of Jesus, the natural result will be fruit in my life.

He says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He removes it. Later on, he says, every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes it. Notice he doesn’t say that he prunes these non-bearing branches. He removes them. But the ones that do bear fruit, he prunes them. There is a big difference between pruning and removing. Now I don’t believe you can take this statement and say, oh, there’s proof there that a believer can be lost even after he is saved. I don’t think that is what he is talking about. The very fact that these branches bear no fruit proves that they have no vital union with Jesus.

I talked to a vineyard keeper about this sometime ago. I asked if he would help me throw some light on this. He said, oh yes, that’s very easy to understand. He said, in every vine there are branches who have only a superficial attachment to the vine—just a skin attachment. You can take a knife and cut that outer skin all around and the branch will fall off because the branch itself is not penetrating into the vine. And it has just enough of the life flowing through it to bear leaves and to stay there. But it has no vital union or connection. Therefore, it does not bear fruit. So he removes it. Why? Because if I am in Christ, and abiding in Christ, and he is abiding in me, then the evidence of that will be fruitfulness in my life.

Now, I think we need to define fruitfulness. What does the Bible mean when it talks about fruitfulness. I know it is this way in the States when we talking about bearing fruit, our minds immediately go to winning people to Christ. That is a very important part of bearing fruit. But I think it goes much further than that. Let me give you a definition of fruit. I don’t think you’ll find this in any book. Actually, you will find it in mine. That’s where I got this definition—from reading my book.

Fruit is the outward expression of the inner nature. Don’t you think that will work? If I see an apple hanging from a tree, I assume that is an apple tree. I see an orange hanging from a tree, and I know that’s an orange tree. I see spaghetti hanging from a tree, and I say, that’s a spaghetti tree! Now some people can tell what kind of tree it is by looking at the leaf, or at the bark. I can’t. I have to see the outward manifestation. I have to see the fruit. So, fruit is the outward manifestation of the inner nature. What is our inward nature? It is Christ himself. If I am abiding in Jesus Christ, somehow or in some way his life or character is going to be manifested in my life in an outward way so that people can see.

Now, it may not be a bumper crop. I remember one house where we lived when I was a boy, the people before us had planted a big grapevine in the back. They had tended it, but we didn’t know what to do with it. So we did nothing. It bore grapes, but they looked more like raisins than grapes. They were tiny, shriveled and tasteless. But they were grapes. They were the outward manifestation of the inward nature. I have to tell you, I have seen some Christians that you have to look hard to know if they are saved or not. They look more like raisins than they do grapes. They have no taste to them. But at least there is some manifestation of the character of Jesus. I say to you, a person may profess to be a part of the vine, but if he is not bearing fruit, if there is not the outward manifestation of the inner nature of Christ, he does not belong to Jesus. Fruitfulness is proof of our union with Jesus.

The wood of the vine and the branch is of absolutely no use apart from bearing fruit. As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament when they were prescribing the different kinds of wood that could be brought to burn as a sacrifice, they definitely said “not the wood of the vine.” Why? Because it doesn’t burn well; you can’t use it for fuel. It’s too soft and unstable to use for building. The only thing a branch is good for is bearing fruit. I take that as Jesus saying, the only way I can justify my existence in the Lord is if I am bearing fruit. A branch is worthless if it doesn’t bear fruit. I must say to you—and to myself—that unless I am bearing fruit, I am absolutely worthless to the Kingdom of God—just taking up space. So the first thing is this: fruitfulness is proof of our union with Christ.

2) Fruitfulness is produced by our union with Christ.

Notice the branches don’t produce the fruit. They bear the fruit. It is the vine that produces the fruit. The branch is just a grape rack that God has there to hang his fruit on. The branch can do nothing of itself. Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. It is the Lord Jesus who produces the fruit. I simply bear it. Now, what this means is that if I am going to be a fruitful Christian, I need to live the life of a branch. That’s it. Live the life of a branch. Abide in Jesus. Just rest in him; trust him for the results—the fruit. I want to make clear that when I talk about abiding in Jesus, I am not talking about idling in Jesus. I am not talking about sitting around passivly, with your arms folded. Oh no, Jesus was one of the busiest men you ever saw. And so were his disciples. Every Christian is going to be busy. What I am talking about is this inner abiding, resting in Christ.

You see, all a branch is required to do is make itself available to the vine. You make yourself available to the vine, and that’s all God asks of us. In our labors, we need to labor remembering that we rest, abide in him. You remember in Isaiah, chapter 30, verse 15, that great statement where he says, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. You see, if you go back to chapter 30, verse 1, the people are running down to Egypt, trying to get horses and chariots from Egypt to save themselves. They are hustling and bustling back and forth, all this activity, and God says, no, that’s not the way. In returning and rest shall be your salvation. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But the very next words say, yet they would not do so.

I’m afraid this describes us so much today. We live such busy, busy lives thinking that our busyness is going to somehow produce fruit. But it is the Lord who does the producing. My responsibility isn’t to produce fruit; my responsibility is just to be available for God to hang it on me.

The other day I was passing through the kitchen. I glanced down at my water faucet, and it was looking downcast. I could tell it was discouraged. So I stopped and said, water faucet, you are looking low today. The water faucet said, I am feeling low. I said, why are you feeling low? He said, well, it’s because I haven’t done anything for you today. I’ve seen you pass by a dozen times, yet I’ve never once quenched your thirst. I’ve never once washed your hands. I tried to turn myself on two or three times, but I managed to squeak out a few drops, but they didn’t amount to anything. I am sorry, lord, I haven’t served you today. I said, oh, you dumb water faucet. I don’t want you turning yourself on; all you will do is to make a mess. I have passed by you a dozen times today, and I have always noticed you were there. You were there, and I knew if I wanted to use you, all I had to do was touch you and turn you on, and you would quench my thirst, and you would wash my hands. I said, water faucet, you have pleased me today because you have been what:? –abiding. You’ve been there available to me. If I had wanted to use you, I could have used you.

You see, I am to live the life of a branch. I make myself available to the Lord. Now, this should take a great deal of strain off of anybody who thinks that it’s up to you to produce No, Jesus does the producing.

In the States they have a bad habit of calling churches by the name of the pastor. I pastor MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, but they call it Bro. Dunn’s church. You’ve heard of Dr. W. A. Criswell? Oh, we went to Dr. Criswell’s church last Sunday. We know it’s not our church, but we begin to think maybe it is. Oh, Lord, it’s my church, and I’m responsible for all these people. I am responsible to see that the church grows, and that the budget grows. That’s why we have over a thousand men leave the ministry every year in the States, just in my own denomination. It is too much.

One day I was reading in Matthew 16 where Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church. I said, Lord, you mean to tell me this is your church? He said, yes. I said, man, it’s yours! I was never so happy to shed anything in all my life. Then I read a little further, and he said, I will build my church. I said, Lord, I thought I was supposed to build it. He said, no, that’s been one of the problems. You’ve been trying to build it. I will build my church. I want to say to you, friends, the responsibility for fruit, results, growth is not with us. That’s God’s responsibility. One man plants, another man waters, but it is God who gives the increase. My fruitfulness comes simply by being available to help—and resting in him, knowing that as he lives in me, and I keep up this vital communion and union with Jesus Christ, that will happen.

We used to have a farm in Arkansas, and we had a dirt road that led down to a lake. There were four magnificent trees that lined that road. It was a beautiful picture as you stood at the head of that road looking down towards the lake. As I was walking down that road, I noticed something peculiar about the last tree in line. It was as though somebody had taken a ruler and drawn a line right down the center of that tree. One side of that tree was alive with green leaves; the other side of that tree was as dead as a door nail. All the leaves on it were dead. That was an interesting phenomenon. We were back in November for Thanksgiving, and by that time all the leaves had changed and had fallen off the trees. I was walking down the road, and I came to that tree. Lo, and behold, on the side where it was alive and had the green leaves, the branches were bare. All the leaves had fallen off. But on the other side of the tree that was dead, the leaves were still there. I thought, that is strange. I noticed another thing. While I had been there that summer, we had done quite a bit of cutting, and I had cut quite a few branches off some trees. We didn’t have time to burn them all, so we just let them lay where they fell. I noticed that the leaves on those branches were dead, but they hadn’t fallen off. They were still attached to those branches. Now, I didn’t understand that.

I had a friend who is now in glory. He knew a little bit about everything. When I got back home, I said, Dr. McBeth, here is what I saw at the farm. I said, can you explain this to me? He said, oh, yes. He said first of all I must understand that dead leaves don’t fall off trees. They are pushed off by the sap as it begins to fall in the tree. The life pushes the dead leaves off. And where there is no life, the dead leaves remain.

I got to thinking about that. Isn’t God smart? What if every fall, I had to climb every tree on the farm and pull the dead leaves off those trees. Here I am. I’ve been up in this one tree all day long, just about got all the dead leaves off, but there are 150 more trees to go. I’ll never finish by spring. And the Lord said, son, what are you doing? I said, well, I’m pulling off these dead leaves, Lord, so that you can put on green ones come spring. God said, I don’t remember creating anybody that dumb. He said, son, that’s not necessary. All you have to do is to make certain that the life is flowing through the tree, and it will of itself push all the dead leaves off and produce the new leaves and fruit. Isn’t that great? All I have to do is to make certain that the life is flowing unhindered through that tree. That is the same way it is in the Christian life. All I have to do is to make certain that the life of Jesus, the Holy Spirit’s fullness, is flowing unhindered through my life. You know
what? He’ll push off the old dead leaves of hate, pride, jealousy; and he’ll push on the new fruit of love, joy, patience.

3) Our fruitfulness progresses by our union with Christ

I have already mentioned this progression, and I think we need to pay attention to it. First of all, there is that branch that bears no fruit. Then he says that every branch that bears fruit, he does what? He prunes it. Well, that’s a fine way to reward me, Lord. He prunes it so that it can bear more fruit. The one thing the Lord wants out of you is to bear more fruit, and eventually much fruit.

So, here I am, a branch in the vineyard. Suddenly, the word comes down through the grapevine. The vinedresser has entered the vineyard, and he has big shears with him. Oh, I’m nervous. Then he is standing before me. I say, you’re not. He says, I am. He starts, and I say, not that one Lord. That’s one of my prettiest branches. Lord, why are you doing this to me? Here is another one. Oh, no, Lord not that one. I really like that one. He unmercifully takes the pruning shears and cuts it off. After awhile I don’t have anything. I look down, and I say, Lord, look at all these you took off. He said, oh yes, I only have cut off that which was draining strength from you so that the good branches could bear more fruit.

I tell you there are many times in the life of the believer when we are going to go through trials and tribulations and pain. It’s a purging, a pruning. Why is the Lord doing this? He is cutting off my best work, some of my best activities. He’s taking away, removing. These are good things—nothing wrong with them. He says, yes, they are good, but your involvement in them is draining away your energy and strength so that it cannot be given over to the primary purpose of bearing fruit. So, he prunes us.

Remember, pruning is not punishment. You may feel that the Lord is punishing you at times. My dear friend, it’s for only one reason—so that you might bear more fruit–so that the inner Christ might be made more obvious in your outer life. Remember, it is the father who does the pruning, not you. He doesn’t trust your judgment.

If the Father left it up to me, I’d save everything. I’d say, oh, but these are good works. He would say, yes, but some of them are good, but not the best. The Father prunes. I don’t do the pruning. I know some people who walk around with their finger on their pulse all the time, wondering how they are doing–trying to be their own Holy Spirit, and convict themselves. You don’t need to worry about that, folks. Listen, if you need pruning, he will see to it that you are pruned.

You come to the place where you bear fruit. Then you bear more fruit. God prunes you even more. Listen to me carefully, folks. The reward for being fruitful is pruning. Does that strike you as a little strange? You say, oh, I want to be fruitful for my Lord. I want people to see Jesus in me. Well, you are inviting the vinedresser into your garden. You are inviting him to prune your life. I don’t see how you could come through a Keswick week without somehow praying and desiring in your heart to be more like Jesus. Lord, I want to bear more fruit. Remember, if you want more fruit, you don’t add more branches. That’s what Baptists do in the States. We are not reaching enough people; let’s start some more activities. I know you don’t do that over here, but that’s the way it is over there. You don’t make a vine more fruitful by adding more branches; you do it by making the branches that you have healthier. Then, when we bear much fruit, our Father is glorified.

Dr. J. P. McBeth, whom I mentioned a moment ago, knew a little bit about everything. He was an expert vinedresser. He would call me on the phone and say, Bro. Dunn, the grapes are ready. Come on over. We’d drive 15-20 minutes over to his house. I have never seen grapes like those. They must have been grapes like they had in Canaan. They were huge. You couldn’t keep Dr. McBeth from talking about his grapes. He talked about his grapes all the time. He would push so many grapes on us that we would have to let some of them rot. We couldn’t eat them all. But, you know, he was proud of those grapes. They glorified him as a great vine keeper. And Jesus says, my Father is proud and glorified when you bear much fruit.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006

Text: John 14

Our Heavenly Father, as we bow in this moment, enable us to worship.  Father, we find increasingly the most difficult thing we know how to do in the Christian life is to know how to worship, to know how just to be still in your presence and know that you are God.  Father, I pray that during these days together, in a very new and revolutionary way you would teach us how to worship, how to love thee, how to know thee.  Father, our prayer this morning is the prayer and the pursuit of the apostle Paul as he said I continue to count all things but loss that I may know Him.  Father, our heart’s desire, the heart’s desire of this one at least, is that I may know Him.  I thank thee that there is far more to Jesus this morning than any of us have ever experienced.  Regardless of our knowledge of him, we stand ankle-deep in a fathomless ocean.  We stand at the entrance of an inexhaustible mine.  Regardless of how many times we have explored it, we have never even yet begun to plumb its depths, and to realize the riches that lie hidden there in our blessed Lord.  So we look today, this morning, at this very moment, to the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts, to open our eyes, to unveil Jesus to us that we may see him, and as we see him, be able to worship and praise him as we ought.  This is our prayer in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Would you open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 14?  When I was a little boy, one year our family took a vacation up into Missouri.  I don’t remember the name of the place.  The thing I remember is that there was a cave at this particular resort.  Out of the cave there flowed a stream that formed what they called and claimed to be a bottomless lake, a bottomless pool.  It was crystal clear, and the guide as were standing around the lake, explained to us that they have never been able to find out how deep it is.  He said we’ve lowered rope after rope after rope and we have never yet touched bottom.  Nobody has ever yet made a rope long enough to touch bottom.  He said as far as they knew the lake was a bottomless lake.  That really impressed me, especially as an eight year old boy.  It impressed me then so much that I backed away from it.  I didn’t want to fall into any place where there wasn’t a rope long enough to get me out.

It has since impressed me as I’ve thought about that because I come to passages like this one in John 14 and realize that it is a bottomless passage.  I’ve lowered my rope and dipped my bucket into this chapter I don’t know how many times, and I’ve never touched bottom yet.  I suppose I could go on preaching out of it and studying it for the next twenty years and I would never touch bottom.  I don’t plan on touching bottom this morning.  But I do hope the Lord will lengthen our rope a little bit, and maybe we can get a little deeper into it every time so that we will bring up that water that is life.  This is one of my favorite passages.  John 14:8-20:

Philip saith unto him, LORD, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?  He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:  or else believe me for the very works’ sake.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.  If ye love me, keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:  but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless:  I will come to you.  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:  because I live, ye shall live also.  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, And ye in me, and I in you.

This past winter, I was living with the results of a mistake that a lot of preachers and other folks make.  I suppose you could say that I had overextended myself physically, mentally, and spiritually also.  I was in a meeting in a certain town, and just to be honest with you, I was just about burned out.  You go as far as you can go, and you go longer than you ought to go.  Mentally, I was tired.  Spiritually, I was exhausted.  Physically, I just didn’t really didn’t care if I got up the next day or not.  What I am trying to say is that my enthusiasm (bad spot in tape) ———– to go into the pastor’s study one night right before the service, and I noticed on his desk was an article that had been clipped out of a magazine published in 1969, and this was 1974.  What caught my eye was a picture in this article of a man that I knew.  The article was by this man, Dr. Alan Redpath.  I always try to read everything I can that this man writes because he is such a knowledgeable man when it comes to the Scriptures.  One thing that intrigued me was that this article was written by him after he had suffered a major stroke in 1964.  In this article he was simply relating some of the lessons that God had taught him during the two years of his convalescence.
The article was a tremendous blessing, but the last paragraph of that article was what God wanted to say to me.  I discovered where I had made my mistake in the last paragraph of that article and the reason I had overextended myself and was weary in spirit, and mind, and body.  It meant so much to me that I wrote it down in the back of my Bible.

You mean so much to me that I am going to share it with you.  God used it to relieve me from some tremendous problems during that time.  It really wasn’t anything that I didn’t already know.  It is amazing the things that I know that I don’t know that I know.  I think that must be the height of stupidity—to know some things and not know that you know them.  Most preaching is really reminding people of things they already know.

When you come to a railroad, you know that you should stop, look and listen, but there is a sign there anyway.  That sign isn’t telling you anything you don’t already know; it is reminding you of something you already know.  Again, you’ll find in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Peter, he is saying I put you in remembrance, I put you in remembrance, I put you in remembrance.  Jesus said when the Holy Spirit is come, he shall bring to your remembrance all things which I have spoken unto you.  I already knew this, but I guess I didn’t know I knew it.  Here is what he said, the last paragraph.

I believe the Lord has taught me this lesson above all:  never to undertake more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.  Each of us has to work out what this means in personal experience in relation to our own ministry, but I believe it is an abiding principle for us all.  To fail here is not to act in faith but in presumption.   –Dr. Alan Redpath

Now this is the statement:  never to undertake more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.  You say that is easy.  On the way to the pulpit last Sunday I said, Lord, bless me.  Folks, that is not covering it in believing prayer.

To cover something in believing prayer is to take the time and the energy and the effort to stay with God until you can leave that place of prayer knowing that it is settled.  Jesus never went to the cross until in Gethsemane he had first of all covered the cross in believing prayer.  When he walked out of Gethsemane, the victory was already won because Jesus had covered that next step in believing prayer.  As I read that statement and the Lord spotlighted it to my own heart, I began to think here is the way I schedule things.  Somebody says can you do such and such a thing.  I say let me check my calendar.  If I have an open date on the calendar, I say I can do it.  But I suddenly realized that I need two open dates on the calendar, not only the date for the time it is going to take to do the work but also a date for the time it is going to take to cover that work in believing prayer.  Normally in a church work somebody comes to you and says do you have time to do such and such.  You look at your calendar and think sure I have time to do that.  But do you not only have time to do that, but do you have time to first of all cover it in believing prayer?  I agree 100% with what this man has said.  To do anything in Christian work without first of all covering it in believing prayer is not to act in faith; it to act in presumption.  That means our service becomes sin.

We are going to relate this to the Scripture because this is exactly what Jesus is trying to say to his disciples in this passage.  You and I ought to never undertake than we can cover in believing prayer.  Can you imagine how that might change your work schedule?  I’m talking about your church work now.  The reason we don’t consider that is because we do not consider prayer as important as work.  Well, that statement itself betrays ignorance.

Prayer is not substitution for work, nor is prayer preparation for work, but prayer is work.  The hardest thing I do is pray.  You say don’t you just ever have an easy time in prayer and enjoy praying.  Oh yes, much of the time.  But I will tell you that my mind rarely wanders when I am preaching.  I don’t have any trouble keeping my mind on my message when I preach, but I can be on my knees one minute and I’m way out yonder in the back forty.  And I don’t even have a back forty to be in, but I am there.  My mind wanders over there, and runs out here, and it runs out there.

Dr. Stephen F. Olford said the most fierce temptations I ever receive I receive when I am on my knees in prayer.  Why?—because the enemy of our souls fights us in prayer more than anything else.  I am convinced he doesn’t mind at all my taking the time out to preach if I haven’t taken the time out to cover it in believing prayer.

How much work are you and I doing in the name of Jesus that has not been bathed and covered by believing prayer?  This is what Jesus is saying to his disciples.  Look at this passage for a moment.  I want you to see the sequence of what Jesus is saying.  Jesus has been speaking some strange and foreboding words to his disciples.  They have an idea something bad is about to happen. They just can’t get away from it.  Jesus is talking about leaving them.  I believe he can read the frustration and the fear on their faces.  I know what I would have thought if I had been one of those disciples.  I would have thought my soul, I’ve made such a mess of things while Jesus was here; what is going to happen when Jesus is gone?  What Jesus is endeavoring to do in this passage is to encourage his believers about his absence.

Notice what he says.  Philip says, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough.  Now for all the disciples did not know, give them credit; they knew that much.  A vision of the Lord is all you need.  Show us the Father and that will be sufficient.  Jesus said, don’t you know?  Have I been so long time with you?  Don’t you know if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father?  Jesus is saying I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.

Look what he said in verse 10:
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:  or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

Now, here is what Jesus is saying to his disciples.  He is saying you misunderstand.  You are cherishing my bodily presence.  You are clinging to my physical presence, and you are filled with fear and frustration because my physical presence is going to be taken from you.  He said, the secret of my life and the secret of my success and the source of my sufficiency has never been my physical presence.  Have I been so long time with you?  Do you still not understand that the words I’ve spoken have not been my words; they have been my Father’s words.  The works I’ve done; they have not been my works; they have been my Father’s works.  My physical body is the secret or the key.  You are learning about my leaving you and saying the works will finish and cease.  How are we going to carry on if the physical presence of Jesus is taken from us?  He said, fellows, the physical presence of Jesus never was the secret of the ministry.  Everything I said, it was the Father dwelling in me who said it.  Everything I did, it was the Father dwelling in me who did them.  What Jesus is saying is this.  My absence will in nowise diminish my work.  As a matter of fact, verily, verily, I say unto you that rather than my leaving ceasing and finishing my works, as a matter of fact if you will just go on believing in me and trusting me, the works I’ve done you will continue to do.  As a matter of fact, even greater works than these shall you do because I go to my Father.

He is saying there is no excuse, no reason, for this miraculous, marvelous ministry you have seen and witnessed in my life to cease.  My physical absence will not affect it all.  As a matter of fact, my physical absence will increase the works.
He is seeking to encourage them.  He said, whatever you ask, whatever you ask, whatever you ask in my Name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  Do you see what Jesus is saying?  He is saying, men, I want you to learn how to live a miraculous life.  You live it by prayer.  He said the way I did my works was this way.  My Father gave me everything I said.  My Father did through me everything I did.

As you read through the gospels, you’ll see Jesus again and again living his life by prayer.  Before every great decision Jesus prayed.  Before every great act Jesus prayed.  I see him standing before the tomb of Lazarus, and he prays to his Father.  I see him the night before he chooses his disciples spending the night in prayer.  I see him as the activity of the ministry begins to increase and intensify withdraw from the multitudes and goes out to a lonely place to be alone with his Father.  I see the disciples getting up in the morning looking for Jesus.  He is nowhere to be found, and they see coming back from the mountain where he has been all night in prayer.  I see Jesus even before he goes to the cross staying on his knees until he has every victory won that enables him to go to the cross.  I see Jesus as he says to Simon Peter, Satan hath desired you.  He is going to turn you inside out.  That’s all right.  I have prayed for you and you are going to be all right.  I hear the word of the Lord that says even now at this very moment Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father interceding for me.

The secret of the ministry and life of Jesus, both past and present, was the fact that he lived that life by prayer in dependence upon his Father.  He is saying to his disciples and to us, if you will live by the principle I live by, you’ll be able to experience the power I’ve experienced.  The principle I lived by was absolute dependence upon my Father in prayer.  If you will live by that same principle, absolute dependence upon me in prayer, the works that I do you shall do also, and even greater works than these shall you do because I go to my Father.  Greater works?  You say, what do you mean “greater works”?  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  What could be greater?  Lazarus died again one day, but when I preach the gospel and somebody is saved and there is performed in them a spiritual resurrection, they will never die again.  On the Day of Pentecost they equal and excel the works of Jesus—greater in quality, greater in quantity.  But he says the secret is learning to live by prayer.

I can’t help but think of what James says in that fourth chapter. (By the way, it is a good little sermon outline there if anybody is looking for one.)  There are three not’s, three “not’s” on a log.  He said:  (1) ye have not; (2) ye ask not; (3) ye receive not.  You have not because you ask not.

That is a pretty apt description of the normal church, or the abnormal church.  It is a pretty apt description of the normal Christian life as you and I know it today.  You have not.  We are a bunch of have-not’s, and our churches that have not.  The reason we have not is because we ask not.  It is just that simple.

I use the word secret a lot of times.   It’s just a title.  I don’t know how you could call anything that public a secret.  He said you have not because you ask not.  What is so secret about that?  Well, the secret of it is that you and I have never discovered it.  The simple explanation for any deficiency in your life or your ministry is this:  you have not because you ask not.  Isn’t that an oversimplification?  I don’t think so.   I can prove it because the one thing that you and I do less of than anything else is what?  Asking!  I am constantly having people pose this question to me:  what’s the reason for my unanswered prayer?  I usually say the reason for your unanswered prayer is your un-offered prayer—more than likely.  The greatest problem in the church of Jesus Christ today is not unanswered prayer; it is un-offered prayer.  Jesus is simply saying to his disciples that if you learn to live by the principle that I live by, you’ll be able to exercise the power that I have exercised; and the works that I have done you will do also—and even greater works than these shall ye do because I go to my Father.  Learning to live by prayer.  I want us to examine this teaching of the Lord Jesus:  living by prayer.

I.  This kind of praying is the result of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a little phrase that Jesus adds to verse 12 that is the key to the whole business.  Let’s look at verse 12 again:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; (Here it is.  Why?  Why, Lord?)  because I go unto my Father.

Because I go unto my Father.  I believe that one of the most underrated, un-taught and un-preached doctrines in the Bible is the doctrine of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But did you know that it is one of the most vital and important teachings in all the Word?  What he is saying is this.  The reason you are going to be able to do greater works, the reason you are going to be able to live by prayer (and anything you ask in my Name is going to be done), is why?  Because I go unto my Father.  Jesus is saying don’t worry about my physical absence.  It is expedient, it is necessary, it is profitable for you that I go away.  As a matter of fact, the very fact that I’m going away is going to enable you to do far more than you could ever have done had I remained with you.  He is simply saying this kind of praying, living by prayer, is the result of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus.

There is absolutely no way you and I can deal with the whole truth of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus.  It is a marvelous truth.  We are going to be able to touch on only one area of it.  There are a lot of things that are involved in our relationship to Ascension of the Lord Jesus.   Jesus meant a number of things, and there are a number of reasons why his Ascension enables us to do greater works.  I will mention only one this morning for the sake of time.

When he ascended to the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit.  You see, Jesus, at his Ascension, was no longer limited by the flesh.  When Jesus was here on earth, he was limited by time and space just as you and I are.  He could only be in one place at one time.  Mary and Martha could say to him in John 11, Master, if you had been here, this would not have happened.  You and I can’t say that today because Jesus can be everywhere at one time.  By his Holy Spirit he indwells every believer, and Jesus is able to do far more than ever before.  Why?—because he is no longer limited by the flesh, but also because you and I are no longer limited by the flesh.  He says, I will not leave you comfortless (the way the King James says it).  Literally, he is saying he is not going to leave us as helpless orphans.  I am not going to leave you helpless.  He says I am going to pray the Father, and he will send you another one just like me.  He will be in you.  Jesus is saying this:  you are going to be able to do far more than ever before.  You are going to be able to live by prayer because I go to my Father.  When I go to my Father, I am going to send you an Ascension gift, the Holy Spirit, and he is going to be indwelling you.  He is going to give you the power to pray and the power to do.

The secret I am convinced (here we are again—the word secret)—which makes prayer more than just meaningless words is this truth right here:  praying in the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus ascended to the Father, he into you heart and my heart the Holy Spirit.  One of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to enable us in our prayer life.

We naturally must go to Romans 8:26-27 to see what this involves.  I am going to read it out of the King James Version and then read it out of another translation that makes it much more clear.  Paul says:
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:  for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:  but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Now I am going to read William Sanday’s translation of these verses.  You can find this in his commentary on Romans out of the International Critical Commentary.  This one of the old standard commentaries, and Dr. Sanday was one of the foremost New Testament and Greek scholars of his day.  In his commentary on Romans, he translates Romans 8:26-27.  It is a tremendous translation.
Nor are we alone in our struggles.  The Holy Spirit supports our helplessness.  Left to ourselves we do not know what prayers to offer or how to offer them; but in those inarticulate groans which rise from the depths of our being, we recognize the voice of none other than the Holy Spirit.  He makes intercession, and his intercession is sure to be answered; for God, who searches the inmost recesses of the heart, can interpret his own Spirit’s meaning.  He knows that his own will regulates its petitions, and that they are offered for men dedicated to his service.

There are two things the Holy Spirit does in enabling us to pray:

He originates the petition.

We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Holy Spirit helps us in knowing what to pray for.  One of the grandest experiences in the prayer life is when Holy Spirit is so in control of your life, you are so walking in the Spirit that he can speak to you and lead you and you are so sensitive to his leading that he can give you the very petition that you are to pray.  He originates the petition.

There have been a lot of times when I have knelt, and I haven’t known what to pray for.  I have been in a church and haven’t known what to pray for in that church.  Somebody will ask me to pray for such and such.   Many a time I have been up against a decision or a problem, and I have not known what to pray for.  As I have waited before the Lord, quieted my heart and waited for the Spirit, he has gently and gradually and with great enlightenment brought to me the very petition I am supposed to ask.  He will originate the petition and show me exactly what I am to pray for.

There have been many times when I have perhaps been driving down the highway and, all of a sudden, there drops into my heart a petition.  Suddenly, there is put upon me a desire, a burden, a necessity to pray for somebody.  What is that?  That’s the Holy Spirit prompting you to pray, leading you to pray.  Ever once in awhile, when I am doing something else, not even thinking about praying, somebody will come to my mind—and perhaps a need they have, and it will be the Lord saying I need to pray for such and so right now.

Last September we were in Denver, Colorado in a conference, and a very dear friend of mine, a lady I feel is one of the greatest intercessors I’ve ever known, was there in Denver.  She came up to me and said I want to tell you something that happened to me about a month ago.  She had a little prayer diary.  When God leads her in prayer, and she prays about things, she writes it down.  She said she wanted to show me something in her prayer diary.  She said, on a certain Sunday morning (and she named the date), when I got up that morning, suddenly I felt a deep need and burden to pray for you.  I didn’t know the need, the problem, the burden, if there was any special difficulty.  I didn’t go out that day.  All day I prayed as the Holy Spirit gave me things to pray for.  She said I found out later that was the exact day that your Mother died.  It was on that Sunday morning when we received the phone call that my Mother had died.  We had to make all the preparations, get ready, and drive.  The Holy Spirit so had control of that dear saint of God that he was able to originate in her petition, after petition, after petition, and she was interceding for me without even knowing my need, my problem.

Jesus said that you can live by prayer.  Why?  Because I go to my Father, and when I go to my Father, I will send the Holy Spirit, and he will enable you to pray by originating the petitions in your heart.

The Holy Spirit articulates petitions.

Notice what he says:  with groanings which cannot be uttered.  But in those inarticulate groans which rise from the depths of our being we recognize the voice of none other than the Holy Spirit.  He makes intercession, and his intercession is sure to be answered for God who searches the inmost recesses of the heart can interpret his own Spirit’s meaning.

Let me tell you what that means.  I have a burden on my heart, and it may be for a particular person, or a particular church.  I may not even know what it is for, but there is such a burden on my heart.  Perhaps I am so burdened for this person, and yet I just can’t articulate.  I can’t put my burden into words.  Sure, you have.  Have you ever had such a burden and heaviness over a need, a decision, somebody away from the Lord, that your burden has been so great you’ve not even been able to vocalize what is in your heart?  I want to tell you what happens.  As you kneel there in the throne room of heaven, and you are not able to vocalize, articulate, put into words the burden that is on your heart, incapable of expressing the burden that’s on your heart, do you know what is going on at that moment?  The blessed Holy Spirit who indwells you knows that burden, takes that burden and articulates it to the Father, interprets it to the Father.  Sometimes I don’t even have any idea what the burden is, or how to say it, or just really what to pray for.  I trust the blessed Holy Spirit in those times and seasons of intercession and prayer is at that moment taking to the Heavenly Father my burden.  He is interpreting to the Father what I cannot interpret.  He is articulating to the Father what I cannot articulate.  That’s what this translation says.  That is what Romans 8:26-27 says.  The Holy Spirit enables us to pray beyond our ability to pray.

Then he says something else.  The God who searches the inmost recesses of the heart can interpret his own Spirit’s meaning.  He knows that his own will regulates his petitions, and that they are offered for men dedicated to his service.  Do you know what he is saying?  Do you know what I do around Christmas time?  I start searching the hearts of my children.  I hate to just come out and ask what they want for Christmas.  That sort of takes the surprise out of it.  I usually have to resort to that because I’m not too good a searcher.  We will start listening and watching.  What are we watching for?  We are searching their hearts for an indication of what they need and what they want.  As a father I search my child’s heart and listen, trying to get some idea of what he needs and wants.

Do you know what he is saying?  The Heavenly Father is constantly searching my heart saying what does he need or want.   Sometimes I don’t even know what I want. That’s right.  Most of the time I don’t even know what I need, but the Holy Spirit who indwells me knows exactly what I need.  Do you know what?  When the Father searches my heart, the Holy Spirit says, Father, he needs such and so.  The Father answers the Holy Spirit’s intercession on my behalf.  I am having needs met that I haven’t prayed for.  Do you know who’s praying for them?  The Holy Spirit is voicing those needs to the Father.  The Father is searching your heart this morning and wanting to know what it is that you need.  The Holy Spirit says, Father, he needs this.  That prayer is sure to be answered for the Father knows that the Holy Spirit is always regulated by the will of the Father.  So he is constantly meeting needs on your behalf that I haven’t prayed for, you haven’t prayed for, but the Holy Spirit indwelling you has prayed for.  So you can live by prayer.  That’s the only way you can live.  This praying is result of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus.

Prayer rests or relies on the authority of our Lord.

Jesus says, if you shall ask anything in my name.  The name of Jesus represents the authority of Jesus, if you shall ask anything as my representative.  In other words, he is saying when I pray, what right do I have to approach the Father?  What right do I have to ask the Father to meet this need, send revival, save this person?  By the authority of the Lord Jesus because when I go to the Father, I go to him in Jesus’ name.  What am I saying?  To go to the Father in Jesus’ name means a great many things I’ve covered in other messages.  I want to cover this one aspect briefly.  It means that I am acting on behalf of the Lord Jesus and in his place.  I am acting as his representative.  I am acting for his sake.  The ultimate, primary motive in prayer is not my sake, but it is Jesus’ sake.  When I am facing a prayer need, or praying for a person, or praying for a situation, the primary consideration is not what that person wants, or what I want, but it is what does Jesus want?  As I pray for this church as your pastor, there are a lot of things I want for this church.  But that is not to be the motive of my praying, what I’m to pray for, not what I want.  I am first of all to search out the mind of the Lord and to discover what does Jesus want?  What does Jesus want for this church?  He may want something different than I want.  I hope not.  I hope that he and I walk so much together, that I am so in tune with the Lord Jesus and so sensitive to his will that I know what he wants.  But the primary consideration is not what I want, even not what you want.  It is what does he want?  To pray in the name of Jesus means that my petition is in harmony with the will of Jesus and I act as his representative.  I ask for what he wants.

Let’s suppose that I go to Brazil, to help out Bro. Boswell, our missionary from Brazil.  We are glad to have him with us this morning.  Let’s suppose that he gets sick.  So, I am in a church there.  I stand up and say, folks, Bro. Ronnie has fallen ill and I am here in his name, as his representative.  We are going to have a dance, and we are going to serve champagne.  Somebody would say, friend, you are not here in Bro. Boswell’s name; you are not representing Bro. Boswell.  I don’t know who you are representing, but I know you are not representing Bro. Boswell because he would never approve of that.

The first thing I need to know is what Jesus wants.  What is his purpose?  When I know his purpose, I can go to the Father and say, I pray in Jesus’ name.  I’m doing this in the authority of Jesus.  I am asking as his representative.  It serves well not only in prayer but in every area of the Christian life.  We live in the authority of the Lord Jesus.  So in all that it means to pray in the name of Jesus, it also means I am to pray as his representative.  I am coming to the Father saying this is what Jesus wants.  I have never one time found it in the Scripture where the Father ever disappointed his Son.  He always gives what his Son wants.

This prayer releases the ability of Jesus.

Verse 13:  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.  (In verse 14, he repeats it.)  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

I will do it.  Notice that he doesn’t say I will help you do it.  He says I will do it.  In verse 12, he says you are going to do it.  In verse 13, he says I am going to do it.   Make up your mind.  Which is it?  It is just the way it was with Jesus.  I see Jesus. Following along seeing what he is going to do, I see him as he is approached by ten lepers.  He says a word, and those ten lepers are healed.  Jesus did it.  Well, yes, from your viewpoint Jesus did it.  But from Jesus’ viewpoint the Father did it.  It is one thing for the world to look at us and say see what they are doing.  But you and I must always understand that it is what the Father is doing through us.  As I said earlier, if I lived by the principle Jesus lived by (which is the Father dwells in me and I simply ask and receive from him), I experience the same power that Jesus experienced.  So he says in that day when the Holy Spirit descends upon you and indwells you, you will know that I am in the Father, the Father is in me, I’m in you, and we are all one, together.  Whatever you ask in my name, I will be doing it.  He says you do it, and I do it.  It doesn’t meant that I sit down and am absolutely passive.  God never dispenses with man’s effort energy.  He never does.  It is this:  he comes upon us with his power, with his presence, and what I do, he’s the one who is really doing it.

A number of years ago I heard about a little boy.   One day he had been out playing cowboys and Indians.  He had been riding a stick horse.  (Did you ever have a stick horse when you were a little boy?  I can see my stick horse now.  I really can.  It was a long stick and had a little leather strap tied around the head of that horse.  It’s just in the last few years that I have given up playing cowboys and Indians.  I loved to play cowboys and Indians when I was a little boy.)  He had been riding that stick horse down the alley, up the street, over the hill, around the block.  He came in that night, and he was plumb tuckered out.  His daddy said, son, why are you so tired?     What have you been doing?  The little boy said he had been playing cowboys all day.  He said real cowboys have real horses, but I have to do my own galloping.

Do you know what God said to me back in December in a motel room as I read that article by Dr. Redpath?  God said, son, you’ve been doing your own galloping.  Jesus said, if you ask anything in my name, I’ll do it.  I’ll do it.  I’ll do it.  The Christian life is to be lived by prayer.  Never undertake more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.  To do so is not to act in faith, but it is to act in presumption.

Let’s pray together.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2005

Text: John 12

I want you to open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 12. We will begin our reading with verse 20 and read through verse 29.

Now there were certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast: These therefore came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and they told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself: but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If any one serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant also be: if any one serves me, the Father will honor him. Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, who stood by, and heard it, were saying that it had thundered: others were saying, An angel has spoken to him.

I want to read again verse 27: Now my soul is troubled; and what shall I say? I want to talk to you tonight for a few minutes on what to say when you don’t know what to say.

I sat with a couple not long ago—a pastor and his wife. They had requested some time to talk some things out. They needed an objective third party, one that would be gone in a few days and couldn’t blackmail them with anything that was said. They just needed to unload like we all do at times. The only problem is sometimes after we have unloaded to people, we wish we hadn’t because we somehow get the idea that now they think less of us. If we really confess what we are and what we feel, we sometimes diminish ourselves in the eyes of others, and later on are filled with regret and say, I could kick myself for ever having admitted weakness. But there are times when we all need to sit down with somebody that we can rest with and say, listen this is the way it is; this is the way I feel. So I sat with this couple. They said it had been the worst year of their lives, one battle after another. The pastor said it had been harder on his wife than on him. I said, yes, I can imagine that. I’ve noticed through the years that always the first thing I look for when I go into a church is the pastor’s wife. I want to see her face, her countenance. It seems that everything that happens in the life of the church comes to rest in the countenance of the pastor’s wife. You can tell a great deal about what is going on in the church by whether or not the pastor’s wife is smiling, whether or not she is happy, whether or not there is a look of peace. She began to weep and said, I don’t know what to pray anymore. I’ve prayed, and prayed and prayed. She said, I am so confused. I’ll be honest with you. I am too weary to trust, too weary to pray. I don’t know what to say. I simply said to her, well, you are in good company. There has been someone else along the way who was in your same position. They were so deeply troubled, distraught, confused, so unsettled, and their heart was at such unrest, they didn’t know what to say. She asked who it was. I said, it was the Lord Jesus. I noticed the surprise on her face.

It’s interesting how we read some of these verses so many times, and yet they never really sink in. There is a verse that has given me a great deal of encouragement and comfort in the past. It is this statement that our Lord makes in verse 27 when he says, now is my soul troubled. I wouldn’t be surprised at that coming from anybody else, from some lesser mortal, from some person who had inherited Adam’s sin. But here is the Master of all worlds, here is the Supreme among the angels adored at the Father’s right hand, and yet he confesses, now is my soul troubled and I don’t know what to say. You mean Jesus himself is at a loss for words? Do you mean he who knew the Father’s will? Do you mean that same one who spoke the worlds into existence and holds them in their course tonight? Do you remember that one who knows from the beginning to the end, and everything inbetween? He comes to a point where he says, I don’t know what to say. I am in such deep distress. My soul is torn. The tenses of this verb indicate that this wasn’t a passing thing. Our translation reads now is my soul troubled as though all of a sudden Jesus became troubled. But the idea is that here is a continuing state and condition that our Lord was in. It is a revelation to us about Jesus because we see him in his early ministry as he moves along with such swiftness and with such success and smoothness, and there seems to be such a peace about him, and yet this verse reveals that all the while there is turbulence underneath the calm. He is not simply saying that all of a sudden my soul has become troubled. He is saying my soul has been troubled all along. For he says I know why I have come into this world. I have come into this world for one cause. It was the appearance of the Greeks that reminded him of it.

What is happening to our Lord is that there is a conflict of emotions. These Greeks, these Gentiles, come and say, we want to see Jesus. That’s the first indication that these Gentiles are going to be grafted in. That is the first indication that salvation is going to be world-wide. For the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a good sign–these Greeks wanting to see Jesus. Yet, when they come, mixed with the joy of these Greeks desiring to see Jesus, Jesus realizes that the only way they can ever come to see him is if he dies for them.

So there is a collision of differing emotions. There is the emotion of joy because here are men who want to see him. But there is the emotion of dread, and fear if you please, because Jesus knows that their fulfillment of that desire can only be accomplished if he is willing to die. So he says, now is my soul torn in different directions. And what shall I say?

Now, if we understand this as it applies to our Lord, then we can understand it as it applies to ourselves. The truth of the matter is that there is not one among us who has not sometime in our Christian experience, if we were honest enough, that has said, my soul is troubled, and I don’t know what to say. It may be because some child is out yonder in the wayfaring way, and you don’t know what has happened to them. You’ve prayed all the prayers you know to pray, and you say, I don’t know what to say. It may be that your wife or husband has announced that there is somebody else and wants to end your marriage. You’ve prayed all the prayers you know to pray, and you’ve done all the books say to do. You don’t know what else to say, or what to pray anymore. It may be that the doctor has told you that there is nothing more he can do for you, and you have done everything you know to do. You’ve read all the books, and you’ve listened to all the preachers, and you’ve gone through all the rituals, and yet the sickness has not abated. There is only one course; you are dying, and that’s all there is to it. You say, I don’t know what to say, nor what to pray. My soul is troubled . . .

I think we become more vulnerable than ever at those points because we are liable to say something later on we wish we hadn’t said. Sometimes in the ministry we say, my soul is troubled; and I don’t know what to say. I know what I’ll say. I’ll say, I quit. That’s what I’ll say. Sometimes at those moments, if we aren’t careful, we’ll say the wrong thing.

I want to talk to you tonight about what to say when you don’t know what to say. Jesus said, now my soul has become troubled and what shall I say. Shall I say, Father, save me from this hour: but for this purpose I came to this hour. There is always–whatever the situation, whatever the turmoil, whatever the confusion in your heart and life–something that you can rest assured is proper and fitting to say. This is it: Father, glorify thy name. That’s what to say when you don’t know what to say. When no other prayer seems to work, and you have tried all the other prayers, and you’ve read all the how-to books, and you’ve gone through all the steps, and nothing seems to be changed, and you are facing an uncertain future, and there is nothing but darkness in your heart, you don’t know what to ask God. If God were to say, I’ll give you anything you ask for, you’d say, I don’t know what to ask. I don’t know what is right, what is fitting and proper to say. What can I honestly say that I’ll never regret. This is always right; this is always fitting; this is always proper: Father, glorify thy name. Now let me just point out three things about this kind of prayer.

1. It immediately brings to us a sense of security.

It is a prayer that offers security. Notice that Jesus says, what shall I say? Father, glorify thy name. Notice the first word, Father. This prayer has in it security and reassurance. He doesn’t say God. He doesn’t say impersonal faith. He doesn’t say the stars. He says, Father, glorify thy name.

I am afraid in our day that we have forgotten a very important person. We say so much about Jesus, and well we should. And we say so much about the Holy Spirit. But I am afraid we have forgotten the Father. Yet, it is for this purpose that Jesus came into the world: to reveal to us that God is a father. That was the unique revelation that God brought–to reveal to us that this God who created all things, this God who is a God of such terrible judgment that he will destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet is a father. That is the great revelation. It is a revelation that means that we put our destiny into the hands of one who cares.

I have never gotten into horoscopes. I was on a plane some years ago, and a lady sat down next to me. After we had been traveling for awhile, she turned to me and said, what are you? Well, I didn’t figure she meant animal, mineral or vegetable. It was pretty obvious what I was. I said, well, I’m a minister and I’m on my way to Denver to preach. She said, no, what are you? What sign were you born under? Well, as far as I knew, I wasn’t born under any sign, unless it was emergency room or something like that. She said, no, when is your birthday? I said, it’s October 24. She said, oh, you’re a Scorpio. She said, I’m Pisces. I thought maybe I should applaud or something—like that was some great thing. I run into people who won’t go outside the door until they read their horoscope every morning. That seems to me a terrible bondage.

I know there are forces in this universe, and forces in this world. But I know that my life is not in the hands of some impersonal fate, or the position of the stars and the planets but it is in the hands of a heavenly Father who knows me and loves me. I shouldn’t be afraid to say, Father, glorify thy name. I am not afraid of my Father.

I have two children. God being my witness, I wouldn’t do anything in the world to hurt them. I would lay down my life for them. I trust my father with my life. My father is still alive. I trust him with my life. I don’t need to be afraid of my father.

When I don’t know which way to turn, and I don’t know what to say, I can always say, Father, glorify thy name. There is a sense of security in that prayer because it is a Father who cares, but it is also a Father who is in control. The trouble with we earthly fathers is that we may want to care for our children, but sometimes they get out of our control, and there is nothing we can do for them. But we have a heavenly Father who not only cares but is also in control. What we are to say is: Father, glorify thy name. There is security in that statement.

Secondly, there is submission in this statement: Father, glorify thy name. Go back to verse 27, and notice what Jesus says, now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say? Well, I could say, Father, save me from this hour. That’s what I’d say. Jesus is tempted at that moment because the thing that is troubling him, causing the turmoil and unrest in his heart, is that he knows he has to face Gethsemane. What we have here before us is really the Gethsemane before Gethsemane. So, he says, what shall I say? The first thing that comes to his mind, and I think here you see the humanness of our Lord as perhaps no other place, as it would come to my mind. This is one thing I could say, Father, deliver me from this hour. That’s what I’d really like.

I can remember a time a few years ago when we were going through some terrific struggles and battles in our life. I do believe in spiritual warfare because we were engaged in it. It is as real to me tonight as you are real to me. It is as if the devil came to me one day and said, I’ll tell you what, preacher, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll leave you alone if you’ll leave me alone. You know something? I was tempted to take him up on it. I believe the devil is in the bargaining business; he is always ready for a deal if I’ll compromise, if I’ll lower the standard, if I’ll fudge just a little bit here and say, it doesn’t really matter if the Father’s will is done. He can get somebody else to do it. I’ll make you a deal, devil. I’ll give up this part if you’ll leave me alone. I am tempted at times to say, Father, deliver me from this hour.

When I say, Father, glorify thy name, there is submission in it because it means there is a conflict, a struggle that has been waged, and I have come to the end of it and submitted myself. Rather than ask God to deliver me from this hour, I will say, no, for this very purpose came I into the world. May I say to you that it is the same with us? For this very purpose we came into the world. The purpose for which God has saved us is that we might glorify his name.

I talked with a pastor about this the other day. He said, you go around a lot of places. What do you think is happening? I said, I think what is happening is that the devil is very successfully detracting us from the purpose for which we have all been saved. This is just my opinion, which I greatly respect, but I’ve got news for you. I don’t think the devil cares one whit whether we are charismatic, or whether we are a Baptist, or whether a liberal, or a modernist as long as we do not glorify the name of the Father. I think he couldn’t care less what we are or what we do as long as we don’t do the main thing. Sometimes we need to be reminded that for this purpose came I into the world.

Listen, I didn’t come into the world to escape. I did not come into the world so that God could give me with all sorts of comfort. I ran across an old hymn in England sometime ago, and it has never made it over here. I can understand why. It is a little one-sided in its theology. It asks a question and answers it. It says, and what if I find Him, and what if I follow Him, what reward awaits me here? The answer comes back: many a labor, many a sorrow, many a tear. No wonder that’s never made it over to our side of the sea. I know that is one-sided, and I wouldn’t by any stretch of the imagination have you to think that the only thing that awaits a follower of Jesus is many a labor, many a sorrow, many a tear. I do know this: we at times need to be reminded that the purpose for which we came into the world is to glorify the name of the Father—whatever that involves.

I was in England this past September and heard a pastor who had come out of Romania. . He was telling about the time when he was under house arrest, and they were threatening his life. This Communist officer said, don’t you know that I can kill you? And this pastor said, oh, yes, I know that you can. Your greatest weapon is killing; my greatest weapon is dying. You think about that for a minute. He said, you are trying to stamp out my message, but if you kill me and force me to die for my message, and it will be multiplied a thousand times over. Everyone will know then that I wasn’t just preaching; I meant it.

For this cause came we into the world. The reason God saved you, my dear friend, is not so that you can escape; it is so that you can exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a prayer of submission. Father, glorify thy name. God has to keep bringing us back to this because there are so many other things of interest, so many other things that wear spiritual and religious tags that entangle me. The devil is sitting off to one side, filled with glee because he has sidetracked us onto secondary issues.

Father, glorify thy name. The interesting thing is that when Jesus said that, he knew what it meant. When you and I say it, we don’t know what it means. When I come to the Father and say, the desire of my heart in this situation in my church, in my family, in this problem right now is that your name be glorified. I just want your name to come out looking good, grand, and glorious. I don’t know what that involves, what that means, what path God is going to lead me down. The difference is that Jesus knew exactly what that meant—that meant the cross, suffering, death. Yet, he said it. So he stands tonight to us as an example as a prayer of submission. Whatever it takes, whatever course is required, whatever path I must travel, this is my prayer: Father, glorify thy name. For Jesus, it meant passion, suffering and death.

I read something I just have to throw in. A fellow was writing about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. You remember this at the beginning of Passion Week. There you have the grand setting for the Passion of our Lord and the redemption of the world. Do you know what this fellow came up with? He came up with the doctrine of prosperity. He said, right there when Jesus rode that donkey into Jerusalem, he was enunciating the doctrine of prosperity. He said riding a donkey was the same as today driving a luxurious limousine. Of course, he failed to mention that the donkey was borrowed. I think if our Lord was enunciating any doctrine, it was the doctrine of rent a car.

Not only is there security in this, and not only is there submission in this. There is also significance in it. It adds significance to my life, to every detail of my life. There are two words that are not there, but they are implied. Jesus says, Father, glorify thy name in me. Now, they are not recorded, but that is what he means. Father, glorify thy name in me. When you and I pray that same prayer, that is what we mean: Father, glorify thy name in me. That somehow adds meaning to what is happening to me. If I happen to be flat on my back in a hospital bed, and somehow out of that I say, Father, glorify thy name, suddenly there is significance to that. If the stock market crashes, and my investments go sour, I can say, Father, glorify thy name. I don’t have to relegate what happened to a miscalculation by my broker or a miscalculation on my part. There is significance to that. Father, glorify thy name.

It takes my life out of the everyday, out of the ordinary. It means there is nothing that is either incidental nor accidental in my life. Every fabric of my daily life is being woven into a beautiful tapestry of the glory of the Father’s name. It gives significance to the lowliest —–

Now, I want you to notice two things in closing. First of all, notice the misunderstanding of the people. In verse 28, the Father answered, and there came therefore a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, who stood by, and heard it, were saying that it had thundered: others were saying, an angel has spoken to him. Anytime you put your life on the line and say that all you want is for the Father to be glorified, you rest assured that there are times God will take you down certain paths that will cause others to misunderstand–even when the Father does glorify.

You see, the problem is with definition. God doesn’t use the same dictionary we use. And God doesn’t always define glory the way we define it. There are some who when they see the Father glorifying or attesting to us, they will misunderstand. They are the materialists who say, well, that’s just thunder. Then you even have the more spiritually inclined who say, well, that’s an angel. That’s close–but not close enough.

Notice the assurance when Jesus prays this. He says, Father, glorify thy name, and there came therefore a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. You say, I have never had a prayer answered. Friend, this one prayer I promise you that God will answer. I can guarantee that you can walk out of here knowing that one prayer you offer is going to be answered.

I was thinking about this this afternoon, and I thought what better theme for the year, for the life: Father, glorify thy name. I don’t know what paths what God will take me down this year. I hope there are some better paths than he took me down last year. But I want to say tonight that this is my prayer: Father, glorify thy name. Whatever it involves, whatever it takes. We ought to say that to one another and encourage one another. In the darkness of the night that we move through, we should call out one to another, Father, glorify your name. Reach out and touch one another in the darkness and sorrow, Father, glorify thy name. And when the morning comes, and we find ourselves standing on the shores of the sea of glass, we will sing with the host of all the redeemed, worthy and honor and blessings and power and glory to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Father, glorify thy name. That’s what to say when you don’t know what to say.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006

Text: John 12

Open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 12. In these five sessions I have with you this week, I am going to be talking about Jesus before and after the cross. The gathering storm of victory as Jesus approached the cross, and was on the cross, and then after the cross. The turning point in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ comes within the passage we are reading this morning.

John 12:20-26
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it abides alone. It remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it. Those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me—and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Sigmund Freud, who was the father of modern psychiatry and not a Christian, had a favorite story. It was of a sailor who had been shipwrecked and washed upon a tropical island. The natives of that island took him and made him king, absolute ruler for a year. After that year, he was to be banished to a deserted island. They explained to him that he had two choices. With the first choice, everything he wanted during that year of his kingship would be given to him. He could immediately take that which was given to him and use it, consume it, enjoy it for the present, and then be banished to a deserted island without any resources. Or, he had a second choice: he could take all that he received during that year of kingship and conserve it, lay it aside so that when he was banished to that deserted island, he would have resources enough to live.

Two alternatives, two choices. The fact of the matter is that you and I have two choices in life—and only two. There is no third alternative. We can either consume our life for the present, or we can conserve it for the future. We can either enjoy our lives for the present moment, or we can lay them aside and use them in such a way that they will be future resources.

Basically, this is what Jesus is saying as he enunciates this very important principle in verse 24. He says, very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. So if you have a single grain of wheat, you can do two things with it. You can consume it, eat it, to satisfy present need, or you can let that seed die, put it into the ground and cover it up with dirt. For all intents and purposes it will die, but in the dying it will bear much fruit.

A bag of seed setting in a warehouse or barn is not worth much; it is only when that bag of seed is sown into the newly plowed ground that it becomes invaluable. The farmer must give up that present possession if he is going to have a future harvest. You’ll notice that Jesus didn’t answer the Greeks when they came to him. He said, well, the hour has come when the Son of man should be delivered. Later on in the passage he tells what that means: when the Son of man shall be glorified, it means it is time for his crucifixion. As I mentioned last year in our series on John 17, the coming of the Greeks to Jesus symbolized the coming of the world to seek him. So he knew it was time now that he should face the cross and the time of his crucifixion was near at hand. He explained his crucifixion. It was not the death of a martyr, and it was not the slaying of a thief. Rather, it was a grain of wheat sown into the ground so that it must bear much fruit. Jesus enunciates this principle of spiritual harvest and fruitfulness. It is this: if a grain of wheat is not sown into the ground, it abides alone. It remains a single grain of wheat. Those are almost condemning words. How many of us today would have to say, and may have to say at the judgment seat of Christ, here I am, but I am alone. I have no fruit with me. I consumed whatever I had for the present, and I refused to fall in the ground and die. I’m here; but I’m here alone. Jesus says, no, that is not the purpose of a grain of wheat. That’s not the purpose of a seed. The seed is to fall in the ground and die; therefore, it may bring forth much fruit. So, I want us to look at this principle. In this verse, Jesus establishes that principle, and then he goes on to tell us how this works out.

The first thing is this: if I hate my life in this world and I am willing to die and fall in the ground and be covered up, then I will bring forth much fruit. Jesus says, the consequences first of all will be fruitfulness in the life of the believer. Fruitfulness in the life of Jesus was the reason he was dying. He was born to die. What if he had not died. He would be in heaven, but he would be alone. None of us would ever be there with him. Neither would Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, nor any of the Old Testament saints be there. He would be alone.

And for Jesus to have a gathering of fruitfulness into his life–if his life is to mean anything, he cannot preserve it. He must be willing to die. There is nothing in the Scriptures that tells us so much about how out of step with the world we are because the last thing the world wants to do is to die–die to itself. We are living in a culture where we have gone from worshiping God to worshiping self, from character to celebrities, from self restraint to self indulgence, and from self sacrifice to self awareness. The whole theme of our culture is discovering ourselves, and being free to be ourselves and discovering all that is within ourselves. Nothing so strikes against the grain of today’s culture as do the words of Jesus that if we are to bring forth fruit, we must die. Nobody wants to die, not spiritually or physically. Nobody wants to die to themselves. We have the idea that we must live and realize ourselves and come to the consciousness of all that we are within ourselves. Yet, the Lord comes along with direct contrary advice. He says, no, the life is not to be saved; the life is to die so that it can bring forth much fruit. If we are not being fruitful as we ought to be, it is simply because we have not yet learned how to die to ourselves.

You see, the secret of fruitfulness is that life comes out of death. Paul echoed this in 2 Corinthians 4 when he talks about his ministry. He says, we are always carrying in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. (Watch it in verse 12.) So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

And I want to say to you that anytime life is working in somebody, it is only because death is working in somebody else. For anybody to live, to be born again, to be saved, it requires somebody to die. It required Jesus to die. Now for you and me to bear fruit and to win those who are lost, it requires the same thing of us—that we must die, die to ourselves, die to our own plans, wishes, and will, and to be covered up out of sight so that they no longer see me.

Sarah is a great example of this—life out of death. Why do you suppose God took a barren woman and said, this woman is going to be the mother of generations? That’s not the way we would have done it. It says from the very beginning that Sarah was barren and had no children. Why would it be that God would make to that woman a promise of motherhood and then wait until Abraham was one hundred years old, impossible for him physically to bear children. Sarah had always been dead as far as having children was concerned. Abraham was as good as dead, being one hundred years old. Yet, out of that death came the life of Isaac. God did it that way to demonstrate this principle that life comes out of death. That’s the way God works, contrary to man’s natural reasoning.

I remember some years ago I was in the first church after I had entered into this traveling ministry that I knew was going to give me a great love offering. The pastor had already hinted that it would be around $3,000. This was back in 1975. That was a lot of money back then. I was happy to go to that meeting. I kept thinking, boy, I can’t wait to get my hands on that $3,000. I thought of the bills we could pay off. We were in debt like everybody else. All I could think about all week long was that $3,000 love offering. I am sitting in my motel room one afternoon before the service, and I’m praying, God give us revival; God, come down; and Lord, let there be life born tonight. And do you know what God brought up? He brought up that $3,000 love offering. Basically, what he said was: how badly do you want to see me work? How badly do you want to see life? How badly do you want to see fruit born this week? Oh Lord, (not knowing what was coming, of course, in the arrogance of ignorance) I’ll do anything. And God said, Whatever the offering is, I want you to take it and give it away. Well, we talked about that for awhile. Actually, we didn’t talk about it, I talked about it. God said what he had to say on the matter, and that was all he was going to say. I struggled with that for several hours—I’m sorry to say. Finally, I got down on my knees and I said, Lord, yes. I know it. I’m thinking more about that $3,0000—preserving myself, than I am of seeing what you do in this meeting. I’ll do whatever you say. I’ll give it away. Boy, it was hard. I had to die to that. That night we had 28 people saved. .

That’s the way it is, folks. Life comes out of death. Every time somebody is saved in your church, it is because somebody has died. They have died to convenience in order to pray. They have died to their time in order to visit. They’ve died to their embarrassment in order to share the gospel. Somebody has died. Until people are willing to die, there will be no fruitfulness. We can have all the conferences and conventions we want on why we are so barren, but the main reason we are so barren is because we are so alive to ourselves.

But he goes on to explain this. In verse 25, he says, those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. He is talking about fullness of life. We already have eternal life. John speaks of eternal life on two planes. For instance, in John 10, Jesus said he came that he might bring life and life more abundant. There is life, and then there is life more abundant. And he says, there will be fullness of life, life abundant. But it is only for those who hate their life in this world; then they will keep it for eternal life. Those who love their life lose it. It is interesting that two different Greek words are used here to translate the word life. The first two words translated life is our word psyche. The last word in eternal life is zoa ?? (like zoology), the quality of life in general. But when he uses the verb psyche, he is talking about the ego. He is talking about the inner person. He is talking about the mind that makes decisions, makes plans, that charts its own course. He is talking about the inner will. He says, unless a person hates that inner will, he cannot enjoy the abundance of life that is in Jesus Christ. That is what dying is—taking your independent self, your wanting to do it your way, your plans, your vision, your ego and burying it in the ground and hating it. Here again, we are in such conflict with the philosophy of the world.

It is also interesting in this passage that he says, those who love their life lose it. It is really the present tense, those who love their life are already losing it. Phillips translates it destroys. Now, think about this for a minute. This is so paradoxical to man’s way of thinking. If you love your life, you are going to retain and guard your ego at any cost. You are actually, even right now, in the process of losing it, of destroying it.

Do you know who the Inuits are? They are the Eskimos of Canada and Greenland. Do you know how they hunt bear? They take a piece of bone, preferably the bone of a wolf, and they whittle each end to a sharp point, coil it, freeze it in blubber, and lay it along the path that the bear travel. They wait and watch. A bear comes along and smells that blubber and swallows it. He has just killed himself, but he doesn’t know it. He thinks by eating this he is going to save his life. The Indians follow along at a distance and watch the bear as he weakens. Every movement the bear makes, the sharp points of that bone tear into his flesh and lance his stomach. He begins to bleed internally, and finally dies. He thought he was saving his life, but the moment he swallowed that blubber, he killed himself. It’s tragic today that many people today think they are saving their lives. Look out for number one. Nobody tells me what to do. I have a right to do with my body as I please. I have a right to choose my own course of life. I have a right to my own way. The minute you do that, you have killed yourself– a slow death.

Well, there’s one last word. When we die, not only will there be fruitfulness, and not only will there be fullness in sharing the abundant life, but there will be faithfulness. Look at verse 26: Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me the Father will honor. Service is an outgrowth of this. You can’t get away from it. No man will serve two lords at the same time. He will hate the one and love the other. It is only as we die to our own egos and our own wills and our own selves then we are qualified to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will follow him. Watch this: whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am there will my servant be also. Now, there are two things about that.

1) Where Jesus is, that’s where we’ll be. Wonder where Jesus is? Wherever he is, that is where we ought to be. In our daily life, it may mean one thing for one person, may mean another thing for another person. If Jesus Christ came to Colorado Springs today, where do you think he would be? Where do you think he would go? I have an idea he might go down on skid row, or down on the street and talk to the homeless. He might not go the places we go. But I want to tell you something, wherever Jesus is, there will his servant be also—if you are really his servant. We need to ask ourselves in our own individual lives, where is Jesus? Wherever he is ministering, that’s where I want to be. But it means another thing.

2) It means that wherever I am, there he is also. I am not alone. You cannot separate the servant and his master. Where Jesus is, that’s where I’ll be. Conversely, where I am, that’s where Jesus will be. No matter where I am, perhaps in the most desolate place I could ever imagine, and I feel isolated and cut off from everyone else, Jesus is there. That ought to be enough for us.

When Eisenhower was president there was a story in the newspaper about a reporter who called the church where Eisenhower attended each Sunday. He asked if the president was going to be in the service this Sunday. The pastor replied, I don’t know, but Jesus will be here and that should be enough incentive to get you out. Wherever I am, Jesus is there.

Then he ends with this promise: and my father will honor him. Spurgeon used to tell the imaginative story about a prince and his servant who were traveling. They fell into the hands of bandits. The servant was with the prince. And the prince was more than likely going to be killed, if not ransomed. The prince fell ill, and the servant began to minister to him. There came a day when the servant had an opportunity to escape and save himself, but he stayed with the prince, ministering to him. Then the king found out where they were and sent an army and rescued him. Spurgeon said, now who do you think the king is going to honor? He is going to honor that servant who stayed by his son. I don’t have time to go into what all that may mean. You need to do a little work for yourself—study it for yourself. It ought to be enough for us that whoever serves Jesus will receive the honor and favor of the father.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006

Text: John 12:1-8

I want you to open your Bibles tonight to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, and John, chapter 12. I am going to read two different accounts concerning the same incident. This is the breaking of the alabaster box which you are familiar with. The reason I’m reading from two different accounts is because each gospel writer saw it from an angle that perhaps the other did not. One puts in what the other leaves out. If two or three of us were to write different accounts of this service tonight, you might include an incident or detail that I might leave out. To get a full picture of what really happened, you would need to read the different accounts. Let us read Mark’s and John’s account of this incident:

Mark 14:3-9
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured [it] on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

John 12:1-8
Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s [son], which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Now, Jesus said (Mark records it in verse 6), Let her alone; Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. And verse 8, She hath done what she could: She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. And then in verse 9, he makes one of the most fantastic and surprising statements: Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

When I was still in seminary, I was called to pastor a church over in North Dallas. It wasn’t a big church. I think we had about 200 in Sunday School when I went there. It was considered a “full-time” church. By that, I mean they paid me full-time; I don’t mean I worked full-time because I was still going to seminary.

We moved from Fort Worth to Dallas, bought us a home, got some cards printed up with my name on it, and the name of the church. I was really proud. My first full-time church!. I felt like Simeon when he said, Lord, let thy servant now depart for he has seen thy glory. I tell you, I was so proud of that church.

I was having lunch one day with a preacher friend of mine, an older man pastoring quite a large church in Dallas. I was telling him about my church and he was glad to hear about it. He said, well, that’s great Ron, but one of these days the Lord is going to give you a good church to pastor. You know, that was sort of like a pan of cold water thrown on me. I thought it was a good church! Of course, I know what he meant. He was trying to be kind and encouraging. He meant that one day God would give me a big church. That is what he was calling a good church.

I’ve never forgotten that. Through the years, I’ve found that most of us are like my pastor friend. We have a way of highly esteeming that which sometimes to God is an abomination. We evaluate something totally opposite from how God would evaluate it. We call something good if it’s big. A good church today is a church that’s big in size, and budget, and staff. Increasingly I come to realize that what is good is not so much what man calls good, but what Jesus calls good. And that which is highly esteemed among men is sometimes an abomination to God. And that which is an abomination to God is sometimes that which is highly esteemed among men.

When this woman broke her alabaster box, she committed a social grace. The women in that day, particularly in that part of the country, were to stay in the background. They were never to be the center of attention.

And, suddenly, she does something which is so unusual and so out of the ordinary and such a social error that the people immediately begin murmuring against her. She has a very expensive bottle of perfume worth about $50 in our money, which would constitute a full year’s pay for the average laboring man in those days. She breaks that and pours it on the feet and head of Jesus.

Immediately the people begin to criticize her. Judas called it a waste. He said she could have sold it and given the money to the poor. Everybody said, what she had done was a terrible thing; that she should be ashamed of herself. And, you know, they were right. When you get down to think about it, what she did was about the most impractical, useless thing a person could ever do. I think if she had thought a little bit about it, perhaps asked counsel from some people who were wise in those things, she would not have done it. Of what use was it? She wasted that ointment—wasted that perfume. It serve no purpose; it didn’t feed anybody, didn’t clothe anybody, was absolutely useless. They were right to criticize her.

I can hardly wait to hear what the Lord says. I’m sure He must be totally embarrassed, having this done to Him in public. Then He says something, and I can hardly believe my ears. He said, let her alone; she hath wrought a good work on me. I think so highly of what she’s done, I am never going to forget it, and I’m never going to let you forget it. And wheresoever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman has done will be spoken of as a monument to her.

I think that qualifies as a good act of service because of what Jesus said about it. The Lord is constantly surprising us.

I remember the widow who was giving her offering. It is interesting thing that Jesus was standing beside the treasury as the people came by and gave their offerings. I have an urge to follow the ushers down the aisles and watch what everybody puts in some Sunday morning when they start taking up the offering.. I wonder if it would affect the offering. If the pastor were to follow the offering plates next Sunday morning and watch what you put in, it might increase the offering. The Lord is standing there watching and evidently from what he says, there were some quite large gifts.. Here comes a widow. Now, when the Bible wants to describe a person who is living on the very barest of minimums, that person who is more destitute than anybody else, in that day and age and that part of the world, it would be a widow. She drops in her two mites—which is less than a penny I suppose, according to our standards today. The amazing thing is that Jesus says she has given more than everybody else put together. Interesting, isn’t it, what the Lord has to say about what we do.

I’ve often thought it might be pretty interesting if the Lord would just show up physically in our services. We could ask, Lord, what do you think about what is going on here? Sometimes we walk away from a service and say, wasn’t that a great service?. Oh, I’m telling you, that was wonderful. And wasn’t that a tremendous message? Yet, I sometimes want to say, Lord what do you think of it? But I’m not sure I really want to know what he has to say about it. The point I’m making tonight is this that the criteria by which your life and my life is judged is not what you think of it and not what people say about it, but what does Jesus have to say about it. How would He evaluate it? It is the desire of my heart to have that kind of commendation. I surely would like to have the Lord to say about me and what I do,” he hath done a good work. And wheresoever this gospel is preached, I am never going to forget what he has done, and I’ll see to it that others don’t forget it either.”

I want to talk to you tonight on how you can have that kind of commendation. What do I have to do as a follower of Jesus so that he can say of me what he said about this woman. What is it that pleases Jesus? Sometimes we have the idea it’s almost impossible to please Him. How much work do I have to do? To what extent do I have to go? How large a sacrifice do I have to make in order to have the Lord say, I am pleased with what you have done, and I will never forget it. I want to make just three very simple statements tonight. These are simply the statements that Jesus made. I believe in these three statements you have what I think are the necessary requirements for having our Lord’s approval and commendation. You say, “what do I have to do?”

1. Do what you can.

What is it that constitutes good service? What is a good preacher? What’s a good deacon? What’s a good Sunday School teacher? What makes a good church member? Jesus says, do what you can. He was pleased with what this woman did. He said “she hath wrought a good work on me and you leave her alone”.

And look in verse 8. He says, she hath done what she could. That was all that it took to please the Lord. Other people thought what she did wasn’t much. I certainly wasn’t very impressed with what she did. As a matter of fact, it seemed to me like a total waste of money and time. Yet, Jesus said, I am pleased with her. While you may say it wasn’t much, yet she did what she could. Jesus said, I don’t judge people by how much they do, or what they do; I judge them by the opportunity that is placed within their hands. Do what you can.

Do you remember in chapter 11 that Lazarus was raised? In chapter 12, John is very careful to mention that Lazarus is present in the room, and Martha is serving. You see, I think what was happening was this: after Lazarus had been raised, they all met for a kind of fellowship service or praise service or celebration. Don’t you know that Mary and Martha were just bursting with love and gratitude for what Jesus has done. Martha wants to express her gratitude. Martha somehow has to express the love that is in her heart for what the Lord has done. Of course, it is very easy for Martha because she is one of those people who have all kinds of talent and ability. Every time you see Martha, she is in the kitchen; she’s serving. The picture you have of Martha is this highly efficient woman. Now, you never find Mary in the kitchen. I think Mary would have been all thumbs in the kitchen. I think Mary was a contemplator, not a cooker. But it was easy for Martha to express her love for what Jesus has done. She’s serving in the kitchen.

I think about Mary being the younger sister. Evidently she was because Luke refers to it as Martha’s house. Mary is obviously the younger sister who lives in the shadow of the older sister. I imagine everywhere she goes that people talk about how wonderful Martha is, and how efficient Martha is… And I see Mary as she sits there, and her heart is just as filled with love and gratitude as is Martha’s. She sees Lazarus raised from the dead, restored to their family. She sees Jesus, and she is just crying out, I’ve got to do something. But what can I do? I’m sure many times she was intimidated by Martha’s efficiency, and how she envies Martha. I can imagine her thinking to herself, oh, I wish there was something I could do. Folks, I want to tell you: love has to do something. Service for the Lord is nothing more than the overflow of a heart filled with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. She said, I have to do something. Suddenly, she remembers her alabaster box. No Bible scholar has come up with a good answer as to how she was able to acquire such an expensive possession—very unusual for a woman of her position to have an alabaster box of costly perfume. But there she has it. She says, there is something I can do. I doubt if she gave it very much thought. She runs to the hiding place. Maybe it was in a hope chest; maybe she was saving it for the day when she might perhaps marry. Or maybe she was saving it for older age, and in the last years of her life, it would afford her some kind of security. But it is all she had that was meaningful. It was her treasure. She takes it out, and she comes into that room. The house is filled with people, and she is committing a social grace, but it doesn’t occur to her that she doing so. She is oblivious to anybody else who is there. All she sees is her brother resurrected to life, and Jesus the man who raised him. She comes and falls before his feet and breaks that bottle of costly perfume and begins to anoint the head of Jesus. And Jesus said, I like what she has done, because she has done what she could.

You see, all that God demanded of her was simply what he in the first place had given her. The Lord demands nothing more from you than he himself has given you in the first place. You do what you can.

I know that in our contemporary Christianity we exalt and magnify people who have an abundance of ability and talent. I am convinced that a great majority of Christians sit Sunday after Sunday looking at the stars. You know, it was the star system that killed Hollywood. It will kill the church if we are not careful. The majority of believers sit out there and say, well, there is nothing I can do. If I could sing like that, or play the piano like that, or speak like that, but there is nothing I can do. The only thing that God expects from you is this: you do what you can. You say, but it’s not much. You let Jesus decide that.

God said to Moses after 40 years in the back side of the desert, completely stripped of all position and power and prestige, Moses, what is that in your hand? He said, Lord, it’s just a rod. It’s not worth anything.

David went out against Goliath. All he had was a slingshot and five smooth stones.

The widow whose husband had left her with a huge indebtedness, and the predators were about to drag away her sons to pay off the debt, came to Elisha the prophet and told him of her plight. He said, what do you have? There is a famine in the land, and we have to come up with something that we can turn into cash and pay off your debts. What do you have at home that we could sell. She said, thy handmaiden hath nothing in the house save a pot of oil. Just a pot of oil. As an afterthought, she mentions it, almost ashamed to mention it because it is so worthless. He says, I tell you what to do. Tell your boys to go to the neighbors and borrow some vessels. I like the way the King James version says it: and tell them to borrow not a few. That means borrow a whole bunch. And he said, you bring them. You know what happened. They began to fill those vessels, and they got enough oil to pay off the debt and live on for the rest of the famine. What have you got in your house? Nothing. Oh, there’s a little pot of oil.

Andrew comes to Jesus when the 5,000 are dropping from heat and exhaustion and starvation, and he said, here’s a lad with a little lunch his mother fixed him, but what is that among so many? Have you ever felt that way? You just do what you can.

When I was a little boy, around Christmastime my brother and I would always go to my Dad and ask him for some money so we could buy him a Christmas present. He would give us some money, $5 or $7 or $8. We would always go to Walgreen’s drugstore in Fort Smith. Every year we would buy him a pipe. I don’t know why we bought him a pipe. My Dad didn’t smoke a pipe. But we would buy him a pipe every year, wrap it up and put a card on it that said: to Dad, from Barry and Ron. It never occurred to us that it was sort of ridiculous, you know, saying it was from us because we bought it with his money. And on Christmas morning we would proudly present him with that gift. Dad, here’s the gift we bought you—with your money. We never mentioned that. It didn’t occur to me how ridiculous that was until my children started coming to me at Christmastime when they were real small needing some money to buy me a Christmas present. Do you know what we were doing on Christmas morning? We were simply giving back to our Dad what he had given us. My Dad was never disappointed. Why? Because he never expected more from us than he had given to us in the first place. For that matter, all Christian living and Christian service is simply my giving back to God what he has given me. You simply do what you can. Whatever God places in your hand, that’s all he demands of you. So I can say, Lord, demand what you will as long as your provide what you demand. God will never demand more than he provides, and he will always provide exactly what he demands. You do what you can. It may not seem like much to you.

Most of you know, I suppose, that the biggest part of my ministry has been the tape ministry. And it wasn’t even my idea. I can say tonight that practically every door of opportunity that God has opened, he has used that tape ministry to open it. All over the world. It is just amazing. It is the greater part of our ministry.

Well, the funny thing is that years ago, the first time I ever heard myself on tape, I nearly quit the ministry. I was awful! I was born in Oklahoma, raised in Arkansas, and live in Texas. You put those three twangs together, and you’ve got quite a twang. And I’ve always had a sort of nasal tone, and I have an extra long tongue. I forget what they call that, but I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. It makes it hard to enunciate. It really does. When I would play the trumpet in high school and college, I never learned to triple tongue. I had too much tongue to negotiate that. I remember while I was pastor here, I practiced for months on learning to say phenomenon. I have a hard time enunciating—getting it all together. To this day, I refuse to listen to one of my tapes. It just discourages me so much. It’s awful.

I never did like my voice, and when I first came here as pastor, I tried to change it. To try to speak deeper. I became hoarse, and stayed hoarse for a couple months. I went to the doctor, and he said, you need to go to a speech therapist and learn how to talk. I went to the Callier Speech Clinic and the first thing they did was give me a test. They said, now, reverend, every person has a natural pitch. You have to speak in that natural pitch or you will ruin your vocal cords. She said your natural pitch is up here. It just decimated me.

I will never forget the first time I heard Adrian Rogers speak, in 1972 in Philadelphia. It is a sin for a man to have such a beautiful voice. It is unbelievable. I wanted to go out and cut my throat. But then I had a better idea: I’ll cut his throat. That’s what I’ll do.

Well, I was in Arizona a few years ago. A fellow in the service came up to me afterward, and he was from California. He was in the television and broadcasting business. He said, do you know that you have the ideal voice for cassette tapes. Your voice is pitched just right. If your voice was lower and deeper (what he meant was if you had a good voice), it would not carry nearly as well on those cassette tapes. He said, I can put on one of your tapes in the kitchen, and I can hear you all over the house. It just carries. He said, you have the perfect kind of voice for making those kind of tapes. You know, I finally had to go back to my room that night and thank the Lord for what he had given me.

I guess the Lord knew what he was doing. I guess he knew years and years ago that one of the things he wanted to do in my ministry was a tape ministry so he gave me the kind of voice I needed. You simply do what you can. You say, I can’t do that much. . . . You let Jesus decide that. All right? Everybody in that room thought what she had done was wrong, and wasn’t worth doing, but Jesus overruled them all. You do what you can….but.

2. Do that much.

Jesus said she had done what she could. The implication is that she had not only done what she could, but she has done all she could. You do what you can, but you make sure you do that much. You see, she broke the box. It is significant that the Bible says she broke it. Well, when she broke it, she had to pour it all out. She didn’t come out with a little measuring spoon and measure out a few drops, do it very rationally and logically. After all, we have to be practical. In the back of her mind, there could have been the thought that things might get bad, and I’m not always going to be young. I need something for security in the declining years of my life. She gave no thought to that. Love never does. It is extravagant. She broke it and poured it all out. There was not a drop left in the alabaster box.

I want to ask you a question tonight. Are there any drops left in your alabaster box? You say, well, I’ve prayed. Yes, but have you prevailed? Well, I’ve done something. But have you done all you know to do? You see, I am convinced that God does not judge me on the basis so much of what I have done, but on what I could have done—not so much on what I have accomplished, but what could I have accomplished. Not so much what I have become, but what I could have been if I had given God the opportunity and used the opportunities God gave me in my life. I must confess to you that I believe tonight as I stand here, the greatest sin of my life is that I have not done all I can. It is so easy to settle for just a little bit. As long as the people are satisfied, that’s enough. No, it’s not enough. Is Jesus satisfied? Is Jesus satisfied.

My seminary professor told me, the easiest place in all the world to be lazy is as a pastor (or church worker for that matter). He said, because you don’t punch a clock and nobody really tells you when to come and when to go and there is really no way they can evaluate if you are really working or not. You can take off half a day, and somebody says, where were you? You say, well, I was out on the field—and it may have been the golf field. You have to discipline yourself. He said, the easiest place in all the world to grow lazy is in a church position. I know that in the ministry, whether on the paid staff or teaching a Sunday School class, we settle for so little. You just be there on Sunday morning. It’s not important whether you’ve really prayed through that lesson, or whether you’ve really studied it, whether you walk into that class with a message from God. As long as the people are satisfied. No, that’s not enough. It is whether or not Jesus is satisfied. Make sure you do that much.

3. Do it now.

Jesus said, let her alone. She hath done what she could. Then he makes a very strange statement: she has come to anoint my body for the burial ahead of time. Isn’t that interesting. Jesus wasn’t dead, gave no evidence of being ill. That would be like if I were to come up to Chuck tonight and say, Chuck, have you got a few minutes after the service. I want to go out and buy you a casket. He would say, well, I’d rather have a suit.

He said, she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial. Why would he say that? One week later, Jesus was dead. If you had been lurking outside the sepulcher that first Easter morning, early in the morning through the mist you could have made out the figure of some women coming down the path. You come out and ask them. Where are you women going this early in the morning? They say, we are going to the tomb of Joseph. Our Lord is buried there. What is that you are carrying? Oh, well, these are spices and perfumes and ointments for burying. When our Lord died, the Roman soldiers guarded him, wouldn’t let anybody near him because there was a rumor that somebody was going to try to steal his body so his body was never anointed for burial. We are going this morning, hoping we can convince the soldiers to roll the stone away so we can do it because it doesn’t seem right for him to be buried without being anointed.

So they go on. Perhaps you drop in behind and follow them. After awhile, you find yourself standing in front of that tomb. No use asking the soldiers to roll the stone away because you can plainly see it has already been rolled away. You follow the women inside, and there is nobody there. Jesus is gone. But we brought spices to anoint him. Too late. You should have done it a week ago. To me, the interesting thing is if Mary had not anointed his body a week ahead of time, his body would never have been anointed for burying. Jesus knew that. Friends, whatever you do, you do it now. You say, next week. Next week may be too late.

And in a sense, isn’t that what we are doing—preparing people for dying. Isn’t that what we are really doing? I know we are preparing them for living too, but you aren’t really ready to live until you are ready to die. You say, well, I will prepare him for dying. I don’t want to bring up the subject. I’ll wait. It may be too late.

The thing that intrigues me is that Jesus said, she hath anointed my body for the burying. Notice that was Jesus’ interpretation of what she did. I think Mary was surprised at what Jesus says. I don’t Mary came out there consciously to anoint his body for the burying, do you? She didn’t know he was going to die in a week’s time. Jesus said, you let her alone. She hath anointed my body for the burying. That teaches me that sometimes when we just do what Jesus tells us to do, we don’t really have any idea what we are really doing. Mary had no idea the great significance of what she was going. To her, it seemed like a ridiculous, stupid, senseless act. Yet, far beyond that simple act of obedience was the true meaning. I’ll tell you, folks, a lot of things God asks us to do, we don’t have any idea what we are really doing Beyond that simple act of obedience lies a meaning and interpretation known only to God. I think someday when we stand in his presence, and he makes all things known, we are going to be highly surprised at the repercussions of some very little simple things we did.

I have a very good friend named Paul Tsika, I met Paul in 1973 while I was in Archer City preaching in a little Bible conference. I was preaching that night. Manley Beasley was there. It was Saturday night, and I was going to drive Manley back here, and he was starting a revival here the next day. Well, we were both preaching in Archer City. I was sitting in the car in the driveway of the pastor’s home, and it was pouring down rain. Bro. Manley was still in the pastor’s house, picking up a few things and talking. I was sitting in the car with the motor running, waiting for Manley. Suddenly, there was a knock on the window, and I opened the door. There was a fellow that I did not know, and had never seen—Paul Tsika ? He said, where is Bro. Manley? I said, he is in the pastor’s house. He said, would you give these to him? And he handed me a pair of shoes. Now, folks, they were not an extra pair of shoes. They were the shoes he was wearing. He said, would you see that Bro. Manley gets these shoes? I said, well, just lay them there in the back seat. I asked his name and he said it wasn’t important and left.. Manley got in the car later on and I told him what had happened. That I was sitting out here, and some nut comes up, takes off his shoes, and said God told him to give them to Manley. They were a brand new pair of patent leather shoes, size 8D. Manley said, I can’t wear an 8D. I told him they were his.

Later, when I got to know Paul, he told me about the story.. He was a fairly new Christian—a Brooklyner, a New Yorker.. He was an insurance salesman. God saved him and called him to preach. No formal education. Finished high school, and that was it. And so, he began trying to hear men he thought would help him. Oh, he admired Manley Beasley. He said I was sitting on the front row when Manley Beasley was preaching, and suddenly I had on a brand new pair of shoes. At that time, I had given up my job. We didn’t have any money at all, and my wife had just bought me a brand new pair of shoes. I was wearing them. God said, give those shoes to Manley Beasley. He said, I just sat there. I looked at his feet, and I knew that he couldn’t wear 8Ds. I said, Lord, he can’t wear them. Obviously, they are not his size. They are brand new. My wife bought these for me. These are a gift from my wife. God said, I want him to have those shoes. He said he just pushed it out of his mind because it seemed so ridiculous and unbelievable. I was getting in the van with this other friend. We were driving back together. But, as we drove by the pastor’s house, God said, give him those shoes. He said, I knew I had to do it. He said, stop the van. I got out, went over to the car and gave him the shoes. I got back in the van, and my friend said, where are your shoes? I said, don’t ask any questions. He said, I got home that night, and my wife said, where are your shoes? He said, honey, you’ll never believe this.

Several years later, Paul Tsika ? ran into Manley Beasley in one of the hotel lobbies over in Fort Worth during the evangelism conference. Manley said, I want you to have dinner with me—he had just met him. They sat down. Paul told him about himself and what he was trying to do—trying to learn the ministry, and learn how to trust God. Manley said, I’m wanting someone right now to travel with me, just to be with me all the time, sort of like an intern. Of course, Paul was wanting to say, I’m the one. I’ll do it. Manley said, I’m looking for a certain young man, and when I find him, God has told me he is the man who is to go with me and travel with me. Paul said, well, who are you looking for? He said, I don’t know his name, but two or three years ago I was in Archer City. Some fellow I didn’t know left me a pair of shoes, said God told him to give them to me. They were patent leather, 8Ds. I had no idea what to do with them. I couldn’t wear them. I couldn’t understand why in the world somebody would give me a pair of shoes. I started that revival meeting at MacArthur Boulevard, and Ron and Pat Owens were there in the meeting. One night I was preaching on faith, believing God, and Pat, Ron’s wife, came to the altar and began to pray. I talked with her. She said, Bro. Manley, I guess this sounds silly to you, but Ron just bought a new suit the other day, and it is a certain color, and he doesn’t have any shoes to go with it. For some reason, I think I ought to believe God that he is going to supply a pair of shoes. Would you like to hazard a guess as to what color he needed and what size shoes he wore? Those shoes were the right size and the right color. Manley told that story. Paul said, Bro. Manley, you are not going to believe this, but I am that fellow that gave those shoes.

You know, if Paul Sika ? had not taken that alabaster box and broken it that night because it seemed so foolish and ridiculous, two things would not have happened. Ron would not have had a pair of shoes. Three things, really. Pat wouldn’t have had the joy of believing God. And number 3, Paul would never have gotten to travel with Bro. Manley and learn from him. What I am saying to you is that what you and I do, we never really know the significance of it. You never really know. It reaches far beyond that.

The reason I had us to read from both accounts is that Mark said she anointed his head; John said she anointed his feet. Which is right? Well, either she anointed both his head and feet (which is probably what happened), or she anointed his head, and the oil ran down his body and got on his feet. Anyway, she anointed his feet. As she kneels before him, John says she does something. She sees that costly perfume as it dropped from his feet onto the floor. In her haste she wasn’t thinking clearly. She didn’t bring a towel. Suddenly she reaches over her shoulder and grasps that long black hair that was so customary among those women and pulls it over her shoulder and makes a towel out of her hair. She begins to wipe the perfume from the feet of Jesus with her hair. Something happens. The Scripture says that when she did that the house was filled with the fragrance. You see, when she wiped his feet with her hair, the fragrance that was on Jesus now was on her. What she had poured out on Jesus suddenly came back on her, and she smelled just like her Lord. What I want to say to you, friends, is that whatever you pour out on Jesus will always come back on you. You can tell when you are around someone who has poured their life out on Jesus. You know why? They have a certain fragrance about them. There is a certain perfume to their life. Whatever you pour out on Jesus will come back on you.

This past fall Kaye and I were in England at the Filey ? Christian Crusade—meets every year, about 6,000 people. I was preaching at night; Dr. Stephen Olford preaching in the mornings. Thursdays they give over to world missions day. They bring in a lot of missionaries to give testimonies so neither one of us preached. Kaye and I were sitting on the platform next to Dr. Olford and his wife. One of the men who came up to speak was a missionary neither one of us knew. He gave his testimony. He said, I have been serving the Lord as a missionary in Ethiopia for the past 25 years. He said, 27 years ago I attended the Keswick Convention in England, and I went as a young Christian. I knew I was saved, but I had never given any thought at all of what to do with my life. I was in business—hadn’t given any thought to serving the Lord. That Thursday night when they had the emphasis on missions, a man got up to preach and he preached such a powerfully anointed message on missions and committing your life, God spoke to my heart. For the first time, I realized that I’m not my own. I’ve been bought with a price. He said when the minister finished his sermon and gave the invitation, I left where I was and walked down that aisle, and that night 27 years ago I committed my life to serve God as a missionary. For the past 25 years I have been serving him in Ethiopia. I have never had an opportunity to thank that preacher for the sermon he preached that night 27 years ago. Tonight, I’m going to do so. He turned around and walked over to Dr. Olford and stuck out his hand and said, Dr. Olford, I want to thank you for the sermon you preached 27 years ago.

I want you to know, folks, the house was filled with the fragrance of that ointment. Whatever you pour out on Jesus is going to come back on you. Jesus simply says this: you do what you can, do that much, and do it now.

Would you bow your heads for a moment?

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006