Sermon

by Wm. Guthrie, M.A. of Fenwick (1658)
“Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was.” John 11: 5, 6.

In this text there are four things to be observed. First, that Jesus loved these poor people; second, that notwithstanding this they were visited with affliction; third, that in their affliction they sent for their Master; fourth, that although He knew of their affliction he made no haste to relieve it.

First, Jesus loved them.
We are here reminded of that special and everlasting love with which the Son of God regards some of the posterity of Adam. The evidences of this love are manifold. In Proverbs 8: 31, He is represented as “rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth”. In Romans 5: 8, we are told that “God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”. And in the various relations of Brother, Husband, Head, Shepherd, Leader, in which He is presented to us, His love is revealed. The properties of His love are also manifold. It is free and unmerited; there is nothing in us to deserve or attract it. It is strong and resistless; all the love which is found in the creature is but a spark of that which exists in Him. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” Cant. 8: 7. It is such a love that refuseth to take a denial from anyone to whom it is manifested. It is everlasting and unchangeable. Those whom he loveth he loveth to the end. It is also satisfying, and may well counterbalance any sad lot or affliction that may befall us. This is apparent from three considerations. (1) If Jesus Christ love any person, that person is sure of his lodging at night. At death he will enter into rest. (2) Those whom He loves are sure to want nothing that is good. “The lions young do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” Psalm 34: 10. “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84: 11. (3) Their hearts are even now upheld by foretastes of His love. But many of you would not understand this though I should speak of it all day long. However, it is true; His love sweetens whatever bitterness there is in the cup of His people’s afflictions.

Uses.

1. We should be ashamed of our conduct to Him who hath so loved us.
2. We should not bemoan too bitterly the condition of God’s afflicted people. We are accustomed to say “poor man, or poor woman: they are to be pitied”. They are not so much to be pitied as ye trow. It may surely suffice them that Jesus loves them.
3. We should not make much ado about anything that is sad in our own lot. Remember (1) that when God discovered to you your sins you were content upon any terms to be beloved of Him. You said, “let me live in pain or die a beggar; let me be distracted and a world’s wonder, I will submit to it if He but love me;” and now He loves you, and what aileth you? Remember (2) that on the day you gave yourselves away to Christ you gave away all that was yours to be at His disposal; and if you did not this, I wot ye did it not at all. And why then do ye wilfully and wittingly return and forswear yourselves? It may be ye think if He takes a godly minister or husband from you He hath harried you, and with Micah ye begin to say “What can He take more?” Be silent before Him lest you provoke Him to more wrath.
4. Seeing His love is satisfying, whatever your lot may be make sure of His love. I will not stay here upon many of the marks of His love, and only take these —
   (1) He loves them that love Him. Proverbs 8: 17.
   (2) Those He loves He rebukes, and gives them, as it were, on the finger ends when they offend. Rev. 3: 19; Heb. 12: 10.

I shall stay no longer on this, but surely there are few who believe that God loves them. However, the Lord is not ashamed to profess His love to believers, even when their back is to the wall.

Second, notwithstanding His love they were visited with affliction.
The love of Christ for His people does not exempt them from affliction. Jesus loved Martha and Mary and yet Lazarus was sick and they were afflicted in his sickness. Psalm 34: 19; Heb. 12: 6.

The reasons of the doctrine are these:—

(1) He chastens His people for their transgressions that they may know that it is an evil and a bitter thing to depart from Him.
(2) He does it to bring to their remembrance their sins committed a long time ago. Job 12: 26. “Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.”
(3) He afflicts those whom He loves for their trial, and the quickening of His grace in them. How little does the Lord think of anything in comparison with grace! He falls upon Job’s children and wordly substance and takes them away and smites his body also that a little of His grace may get out its head. The men of the world are apt to think that the people of God are but hypocrites, and by their affliction the Lord makes the reality of their grace to appear when He makes them rejoice under that which would make others distracted.
(4) That His glory may be displayed. John 9: 3. And so in the words preceding the text, “This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God.” He will have His sovereignty acknowledged, that He may strike and not give a living man a reason. He will have His power acknowledged in bearing the person up under his affliction. He will have the wisdom of His power and providence acknowledged, in that it comes seasonably for the afflicted as he stands in need thereof.

Uses.

1. Mistake not God in His dealings. A beloved person may be an afflicted person.
2. Any of you that have aught to do with afflictions, study them well, and the way and causes of them.

I know you will object to this. “How shall I know if they be for sin or for trial.” Take these considerations. (1) If for trial, the affliction will usually overtake you when on duty. The stroke came on Job when he had been offering sacrifices for his children’s faults. But if it find you with foul fingers though you have taken the alarm, you have reason to regard it as sent for your sin. (2) If for trial, the soul usually has clear exercises, free from those confusions which overwhelm it when it is otherwise. This was eminently seen in Job, who, in all his conflicts with his friends, maintained his integrity, whose feet held God’s way, and who could say, “O that I knew where I could find Him, I would come even to His seat.” (3) If for trial, you will not find, upon serious search, any transgression that has a reference to it, or can be regarded as its cause or father: but if it be for sin you will readily see the sin written upon it. Job saw iniquities enough in himself, and he besought God to shew him wherefore He contended with him, but never got any one that he could settle on as the cause thereof. (4) If for trial, the smitten person falls kindly like down before God, whereas one who is guilty is like metal with much dross in it or a stone cast into the fire, which starts, cracks, and makes a noise. Job at the beginning of his troubles says nothing, but sits down quietly to his prayers, though afterwards he breaks out, as a godly man sometimes may, till he is humbled.

And now, whatever God’s end may be in affliction, I will tell you what your duty is:— (1) To suspect sin. In a time of war when you hear an alarm you will then run to the weakest part of the wall and fortify that: and so we ought to do in affliction by seeking out sin and humbling ourselves before God. (2) Because the Lord may not be punishing for sin, but afflicting for trial, you should therefore set yourselves to have the grace of God acting vigorously. Let patience have its perfect work. Let faith, hope and love be kept in exercise that they may be seen by this atheistical generation. (3) Observe the outgoings of God as much as you can. Acknowledge His sovereignty and confess that He has a right to smite where and when He pleaseth without giving a reason for His doings.

Thirdly, in their affliction they sent for the Master.
God hath commanded us to do this. “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” To this He hath attached a promise, — “I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.” Now, in sending a message to Christ, we must attend to three things:—

1. We must do it in the use of means among which prayer is to have the first place. We should be as attentive to these as if our case entirely depended on them. But when we obtain what we seek we must give the glory to God. Use the means and give God the glory — this is the rule we should follow.
2. We should do it with confidence, and this confidence has reference to three things. (1) We should be sure we have an interest in Christ. (2) We should see to it that we do not regard iniquity in our hearts, and (3) We should feel confident that whatever is good in what we ask it will be granted to us as sure as the sun in the firmament.
3. There should be submission as well as confidence. We should submit whatever we ask if it be not absolutely necessary to salvation for us; if necessary, submission is not asked at our hand. We should submit as to the time or season of granting our request, for in reference to this, as well as to the day of judgment, it may be said, “It is not for us to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath kept in His own power.” And whatever answer we receive we should always think well of the Master. As Hezekiah said, “Good is the will of the Lord”, though his children were to be carried to Babylon.

Fourthly, although they sent an express to the Master yet he made no haste to come, but abode two days where he was.
This teaches us —
1. That the Lord often delays or withholds for a time the wished for blessing from His own people. The reasons for His doing so may be these:—
(1) To prepare their hearts for receiving it when it comes.
(2) That patience may have its perfect work. It is well when we are brought to this, “not my will but Thine be done”!
(3) That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Do not, then, misinterpret the delays of God. Reflect and see if ye be prepared for the blessing, and if patience has had its perfect work, and if your hearts have been brought to submission. We find in the Old Testament that a godly woman (1 Sam. 1) could not obtain a child until she wept and prayed a long time, while another woman could have, perhaps, obtained one at the very first. And since nothing has befallen you but what has been the ordinary lot of God’s people, ye ought to be silent.
2. That these delays are the results and evidences of His love. It was because He loved them that He abode two days where He was. This appears (1) from the testimony of God’s word, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” Psalm 25: 10. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his promise.” Rom. 8: 28. (2) From the experience of God’s people. Dare ye say that ever mercy was delayed but it was better for you? Ye found it so that it was better than if it had been granted when it was first asked. This was made out to Job. It’s above all controversy that there is more advantage to a soul in the honest and diligent pursuit of a mercy than in the immediate attainment of it.

Uses.

(1) Do not misconstrue the delays of mercy since these are an effect of His love, but rather labour to make it out for yourselves in what respects they are good for you.
(2) Be not afraid of any delays of mercies when honestly pursuing them, but be afraid when ye receive them that ye do not rightly improve them. It is good to have your stock in God’s hand. As long as it is there you may be sure that He will pay the per cent well, and still give the soul as much as it requires to live upon. Whereas if it were in our hands it’s a hundred to one if we would not despatch it as soon as Hezekiah did, when he had no sooner recovered than he played the fool with the ambassadors of Babylon. Therefore, till the mercies come, wait on God and believe they will come in the right season.

Amen.