Well, let's look then to John chapter 12. We're going to cover just a few verses today. It's all the ground that we'll get through, but certainly sufficient subject for us to consider. These last chapters and certainly the 11th chapter and those before it, the life of Christ comes through very clearly and I hope in some way that you have felt as I have in some degree walking along with Christ along the way of his life and seeing those who would stand against him, those who would reject him, those who came to him, the people he healed, and the scenes that we've seen to this point. And certainly this scene at Lazarus' tomb is one of the most powerful that you could ever see and witness. And I would challenge you to think for just a minute, had you been there that day, the impact that it would have had on your life to watch Lazarus come forth from the tomb. I would say to you today that though no doubt many would disagree, I would say to you today that seeing one get saved, finding God, being saved, is very similar if we would look correctly. When we see God work and Christ work in the life of an individual, where they go from being a lost sinner to a saved child of God, it is a tremendous transformation. And we are grateful for that. And I've just been observing and thinking about these past few chapters in this gospel and how it has led to this point. And we find today, many of your Bibles probably say the same thing about these three verses. It's the plot to kill Lazarus. In some ways, Lazarus' reward for being raised from the dead by Christ was that he was then given a death sentence by those in power. And certainly there are many parallels, and we'll try to look at those today. But that's really not the specific thing that I want to talk about today. And we'll get to that in just a moment. Let's read these three verses, John chapter 12, beginning in verse nine. When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priest made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, Many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. The Lord has raised this man from the dead, as we said. He went away for a time into a place, a distance from Bethany where Jesus raised Lazarus and into a place called Ephraim. And now he has come back to Bethany. He's making his way Finally, to this last trip to Jerusalem, we are just a week away from His suffering on the cross. We are coming down to the very quintessential pivotal week in human history. There have been a lot of important events in human history, important moments and weeks and months and years in human history from different nations and places, but there's no greater event in all of human history than the one we are leading up to now, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. All of history before that looked to him, as we've mentioned earlier, Spurgeon wrote, and all of us now look back to him, and they look to this moment, and there's a crowd that comes. They hear that Jesus has once again come back to Bethany, and there's a crowd that gathers. And I want to talk to you today about this crowd, the crowd in Christ. When word spread that Jesus was near, many people, it says, came as well. And of course, we remember it was in this very town, in this very place that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. No doubt, word of that, I don't think there unlikely was any person in the entire town of Bethany that didn't know about this event. And they heard that Jesus, was in town. And you remember as well that some distance down the road in Jerusalem, there's a lot of people preparing for Passover. Remember, we're just six days from Passover. And there's a lot of people in Jerusalem. Remember, they were standing in the temple wondering, is he going to come? Is Jesus going to come here? And so there's a lot of anticipation and excitement and discussion about Jesus that's going on all across this land. And then word gets out. Jesus is here. Jesus is near. Not only is he near, but Lazarus is with him as well. And no doubt, many people came with a number of different ideas or intentions, different thoughts of why they came to see Jesus. Some probably came purely out of curiosity. What might he do now? This man who gave sight to the blind, healed the man with the infirmity, raised Lazarus from the dead. This man who fed the multitudes with just a handful of fish and bread. This man who does things that are incredible, unexplainable beyond the fact that God is with him. This man who not only does these works but teaches with such authority and strength and conviction and power like no one else does, this Jesus. And some probably came curious. Just curious why, what he would do or why he was there or what would happen. No doubt word had spread as well that the Jews wanted to kill him. So there was no doubt going to be something newsworthy that's going to take place because Jesus was there. And so people come maybe even out of idle curiosity. People no doubt came as well with a sincere desire to meet him, to come to know him. Again, Jesus raising of Lazarus from the dead no doubt inspired hope in the minds and the hearts of other people. people that are sick, people that were in need of something, some healing or some resolution to some situation in their life. And again, here was a man who clearly had power over death itself. And so they came sincerely to this man who could heal disease. He was a man who could point them to God. Again, he was a man who unquestionably was unique and special. And so they came sincerely desiring to know him or to at least meet him or to see what he would do. And then as we know, there were some who came with malicious intentions. The leaders of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, and in particular, even the Sadducees. came and they were malicious of heart toward Christ. Jesus' works could not be denied. Lazarus stood as a witness to the power of Christ. No one could deny that. Lazarus was there with Christ and they'd all seen Lazarus die. They'd seen him put into the tomb. They knew that he'd laid there for four days and Jesus came and with merely his words brought him forth from the dead. And these people who came with malicious intent could not deny that. They could not discount that. They could not discredit it. And again, I say that is such a powerful witness. to the truth of the scripture, that there's been no one that came and said this was all a hoax. The firsthand accounts and the firsthand witnesses of this all give agreement that this indeed happened. And yet, though they could not deny what Jesus had done, they are still malicious towards Him. To many of these people who came with a malicious heart, Jesus was a threat to their power, their position, their reputation, and their worldly comfort and ease, and their own desires for their life. And make no mistake about it, if you want control of your own life, If you want to call all the shots in your life, if you want to be the one who makes all the decisions in your life, I'm going to tell you, if that truly is your heart's desire, you're going to be maliciously minded toward Christ because your life is His. And these people that came with this malicious heart, and sometimes we have a hard time understanding these people, how could they come with this attitude? Look at what Christ did and reject Him. But He was a man that we must understand as well was systematically dismantling everything in their life. He was taking from the Sanhedrin their positions of power. He was taking from the Pharisees their positions of religious influence and control. He was taking these things from them and dismantling everything in their religious and social and economic system, because make no mistake about it, the religious system of the day also tied to money. And these people saw Christ as an enemy. And we've spoken about them even recently in previous verses. But there are people that come with this malicious intent. And because he was dismantling their way of life, in their mind, he must be stopped. Now in any crowd of just about any size, I would guess that all three of these might be present. I've been in Africa and I've been in Romania specifically as well where I've preached and been in places where I could tell that there were people in all three of these categories. I remember being given an opportunity in Romania to speak at a World Vision breakfast unexpectedly. Met a pastor of the church there in Bucharest, and he said, hey, I'm supposed to speak at this prayer breakfast of the World Vision of all Romania. And he says, why don't you speak instead? And I remember speaking there, and I remember seeing people who were just kind of casually interested in what this unknown person would say. Some who would come and were truly interested in what was being said, and I could tell that there were some who didn't like what I had to say. So really the question is, because in any crowd of this size, or any size, there's probably gonna be representatives of each of these categories of people, which one are you? When it comes to Jesus, and attending with a group of people, a church service, a revival service, or whatever that it might be, But when it comes to attending, what disposition of mind and heart are you in? Because in a crowd of any size, again, there's going to be those who are just curious. There's going to be those who are sincerely interested in finding Christ and knowing for themselves the promises that the Bible talks about that he'll give. Not taking the word of someone else merely about Christ, but wanting to see Him for themselves. Can you imagine if you would have been a citizen of Bethany and been absent that day for some reason when Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb? And you heard all about it, but then he comes back and it's a situation and an opportunity for you to see him, to hear him, to know something of him for yourself. Which would be better? I tell you today, which one is better, is you knowing for yourself Christ, not just hearing about him from other people. As wonderful a description as they may give, as eloquent as a preacher may be, hearing about him secondhand and knowing him and hearing from him firsthand are two entirely different things. And in a crowd of any size, when it comes to a church setting, there are gonna be those who are just merely curious, and there's gonna be those who are sincerely interested in finding Him, and I hope that's you. Because if you're sincerely interested in finding Him, you'll find Him. You'll find Him. Give you that hope. There's no one that Christ will turn away But then again, sadly, there are some who are maliciously minded toward Christ. Maybe never admitted in a setting like this, but maybe admitted in their own heart that they're antagonistic towards Him. They know that submission to Him, that acknowledging Him is to remove from them their control of their own life to give to him the acknowledgement that he is the son of God and to recognize as Mary clearly seems to recognize in the last verses that this Jesus is going to die for me, to recognize that Christ died for you is to surrender your life to him. And it comes down to that. Sometimes people then go to a place of maliciousness and rebellion and pushing him away rather than sincerely seeking him out. So what is your interest in Christ as a member of the crowd? Curious? That's not bad. I hope your curiosity turns into sincere hope and searching for him. Is it sincere hope to find him, to hear from him? Are you here today expecting to hear from Jesus? expecting the Spirit of God to bring to you into relationship again or to bring you close to Christ and to hear from God Himself? Or are you expecting something else? Or are you maliciously thoughtful about Him? It is fitting, I think in some ways, that Christ would gather a crowd, don't you? Where Jesus is, He is to be the focus. There's nothing else to focus on when Jesus is present. There's nothing else that you're going to miss of greater importance when he's present. There's no to-do on your to-do list that is more important when he is present. When Jesus walks into the room, if he were to walk in this room today in bodily form, I'm telling you, every one of us would forget all of those things that we have on our list for later in the day, or tomorrow, or the next week, because Jesus is here. And one of the biggest problems that we have is we don't live continually in the presence of Christ, understanding that that's the most important thing, and that we're not negligent of the things that we have to take care of, but we take care of them as our eyes are upon Christ. And when Jesus is in a crowd, it is him upon which all eyes should rest. Every ear should be listening to. And certainly the church should consider this and endure that and ensure that what we are attracting the world with is Christ and nothing else, nothing less, no substitute, not entertainment, not just a reprieve from earthly struggles of homelessness or hunger or all of these things, as good a thing as those things are to do, they are not the most important. And certainly not to compromise as we draw, we try to reach out to the world, we are not to compromise with those who desire to destroy Christ's influence by causing us to compromise on what He has said. So Christ and the crowd, in this crowd there are people of all sorts of different dispositions, mentally and emotionally and intellectually, and no doubt I didn't live near all of them. And the nuances of various things that people could have come to this place with. And so they came because they heard that Jesus was there. But not only that, And this ought to strike out and grab a hold and arrest our attention that are God's people. They came because they heard Jesus was there, but not only that. The latter half of verse nine, it says, they came not only on account of Him, that is Christ, but also to see Lazarus. He was not the main attraction, But people were interested in seeing Lazarus as well. Now what made Lazarus interesting was of course the fact that he had died and Christ had raised him from the dead. That's what made him interesting. But people still wanted to come and see this man who once was dead but now was alive. And I wish, I pray, I ask God that our church, my own heart, all of us would be the people of such Christ-like love and reflection that people want to come and see us, but not because of us, but because of the Christ that they see in us. They came not only because Jesus was there, they came specifically, and John makes the point, they came also because they wanted to see Lazarus. Had Christ not raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus would not have garnered any more attention than anyone else. But Christ had. And if the Lord had not saved me when I was an 11-year-old boy, there'd be nothing about me that would be of any interest or anything of any lasting value to you. But He did. And I can tell you today that I know Him, and He knows me, But in our desire to attract people to him, to our church, even we ought to keep this in mind. It isn't ourselves who represent the main attraction. It's Christ in us. I've often said that people. people like me until they get to know me. People often in various roles in your life, people have ideas of who you are and then they get to know who you are and often they're disappointed. It's not us that impresses. It's not us that solves people's problems. It's not us that gives people peace. It's Christ who does all of those things. But as a child of God, we ought to become noteworthy. People ought to look at us and see there goes a Christian. There goes one who believes in Christ. There goes one who continually is at his feet in prayer and looks at the world through the lens of scripture. We ought to become noteworthy, not because of us, but because of the Christ who has saved us, redeemed us, and made us His. It's always been God's plan to show the world who He is through His people. It's always been His plan. He could have written the message, as has been said, in the clouds of the sky. He could have chosen any number of other ways. He's chosen to make himself known directly through the Spirit of God. Certainly, that is what's most essential for anyone to truly know him, but he has made it so that we would be lights in the world, salt in the earth. Witnesses to him, it's always been God's plan that his people would be a witness to himself. Creation itself shows us this human life alone is a witness to the power of God. We won't get into all of that that we've talked about at length before, but the very fact that you are alive is a living testimony to the reality and the existence of God, because there's no other rational, even simple, or any kind of explanation beyond the fact that somebody gave you life. And if you wanna continue, if you are of one who is convinced of the silliness of our age, that you're just one accident that came from another accident that came from another accident all the way back to the first accident. You can continue to delude yourself if you like, but deep down I want you to examine that belief and know that God is the one who gave you life. He's the one that's beating your heart and sending that blood through your lungs and the incredible complexity of the human being is a witness to God himself. Israel in the Old Testament. is another example of God's desire to show the world who He is through His people. Over and over and over, God told Israel that His choosing of them was to show the world who He was. 2 Kings, we read, So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from His hand, their enemy, that all the kingdom of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone. He told Israel when he brought him out of Egypt, I didn't bring you out for your sake alone, I brought you out so that the world might know that I'm God. You think it's any accident God might say to us that I chose a nation of slaves that knew nothing but slavery, had no identity as a nation, and I chose you and took you not only out of your slavery, I took you out of slavery from the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, and I did it so that the world might know that I'm God. And that's what we are to do today as a church. And as individuals, but as the church. Matthew 28, 19, and 20, the Great Commission. Go into all the world and do what? Make disciples of you? Teach them what you think? Give them your opinion? Make them conform to your own ideas? No. Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And it is true as well for the individual believer. Your purpose as a believer in Christ is to make Christ known. That's it. Your purpose as a believer in Christ is to make Christ known to the people around you. It's not merely to be a good person. It's not merely to attend church, read your Bible, give your tithe. It's nothing less than making Christ known to the people around you. That is what Lazarus did. and it drew people to Christ. Your purpose as a believer in God is that simple. And this is where the good is so often the enemy of the better, and better is so often the enemy of the best. And what do I mean by that? We will fill our Christian lives with many good things. Church attendance is a good thing. You ought to attend church. Giving a tithe is a good thing. You ought to give to the church. Reading your Bible is a good thing. You ought to read your Bible. Being someone who is thought of well in the community is a good thing. You ought to be thought of well in the community so as not to bring a reproach upon Christ. But these are only good things. There are better and then there is best. Mary's offering in the previous verses demonstrates the best thing. It could have been argued, and no doubt it was, that it would have been better for Mary to just hold on to that ointment of great value, that ointment of a value of a year's salary that we spoke about last week. It could have been argued, you know, Mary, you should hold on to that. It may be that you're going to run into some economic struggle someday down the road. You should hold on to that. And that would be good. It might have been argued, you know what, Mary, as Judas feigned interest, we could sell that and give it to the poor. And maybe, arguably, that would have been better. Better than just Mary holding on to it just in case. Would have been better for her to sell it and give it to the poor. That'd have been a better thing. Had she done that, either of those two things, she would have allowed the good and the better to be the enemy of the best. And the best was what? Break that bottle and anoint Christ and show him to everyone around them. What area of your life even your Christian life and maybe most especially your Christian life, what area of your Christian life are good things and better things getting in the way of the best things? Because I will tell you this, that there are many good things and better things that you could do and not disrupt or have anybody be concerned about anything you're doing and never make Christ known to them. Not really. It certainly is a way to do that, but what areas of your life are you holding back from God, and you'll do the good things, the things that people expect you to do, but you're holding back the best thing, which is what God wants you to do, which is to make Christ known to the world, to the people around you. And I wanna tell you why we hesitate to do that. Because sometimes we would say, I want to do that. That's my desire of heart and that's what I want to do. I'll tell you what the results of making Christ known in your life, you know, one thing you can expect. What Lazarus ended up with. People wanting to kill him. Take his life. Shut him up. Lazarus, having been raised from the dead by Christ, finds himself now with enemies intent on killing him. This seems to us an extreme overreaction and a reaction that is somewhat difficult for us to understand. Why would the Jews react this way? Jesus had done a good work. And the Jews respond by, we're gonna have to kill Jesus, and now we're gonna have to kill Lazarus. It is plain to see that the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews saw their situation as desperate. Their entire way of life was threatened, mostly by Jesus, but in some ways by Lazarus as well. Because as long as Lazarus walked the streets of Bethany, he was a witness to the power and the authority of Jesus Christ. And so people said, not only must Jesus go, but those who believe in him must go as well. And that's what sometimes we're going to be confronted with as those who make Christ known to the world. You must go. It's what our nation's trying to do with Christians and Christianity. trying to marginalize and silence the Christian message. Satan has been actively trying to do this since the beginning. He's continuing to do it in our nation today, and it's no different than what human history has seen time and again. But here, Lazarus is in a position where he's making Christ known, and he now has a target on his back. It's been said before, but alignment with Christ is the greatest divider in humanity. We won't get into all of that again, but briefly, it isn't skin color, it isn't citizenship, it isn't any of these things, it's Christ. To throw in your lot with Christ in the crowd is to take yourself to yourself, all that that means. It is to receive his blessings, yes, and it is as well to inherit his enemies. When you become a follower of Christ, you inherit the enemies of Christ. It just stands to reason. As you stand up and say, I am a believer in Christ, he has saved me, he has made me his, I am his, my life is not mine, it's his, then all of those who stand against him are now standing against you. Now, we know And this is very important. We know that the Christian disposition towards enemies is not violence. It's not hatred. It's not marginalization. It's not any of that. It's love, care, respect. As fellow human beings, it is to seek their good. But they're still enemies of Christ. And anyone who is an enemy of Christ must be my enemy. And again, I can't iterate it enough. I can't say it enough. If I have an enemy, that means I have someone I am to love, not hate. I am to seek their good that Christ would enlighten their hearts as he enlightened ours. Listen, the rose-colored Christianity that is peddled on so many street corners across this nation and the world today is a Christianity that knows nothing of scripture and very little of the legitimate Christian experience. The fact that their belief in Christ often takes this fact, I should say, that this is true, often takes new believers by surprise, catches us off guard almost. They've been individually, they found Christ to be all that the scripture says that he is. The one who forgives sin, who grants peace, who walks with them as a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And to think that there are those who would resist this Jesus in the early days perhaps might be shocking. But it's a reality. It's true that it happens. Sometimes we find the fact that others resist him to be a strange thing, completely unnarrated and just something we can't understand. Our pride in those situations has, at the point of our salvation at least, certainly been completely conquered and overcome by the love of Christ. And there's no pride in us as we bow willingly and submit to Christ in love and adoration and submission and obedience and desire to please Him. And it makes all the sense in the world to us, but others whose pride has not been conquered stand in resistance to Him. and we find ourselves on the other end of their ire, and even at times their hatred. Brother Bryson and I heading to Liberia, the second time, first time, I don't remember when we went, and flying out on Thursday afternoon, and Wednesday night, we get the email, if you come here, we're gonna kill you. Just wanna share Christ. Just wanna share the gospel. There's going to be people who are going to stand against that. But the prosperity preacher, he's going to promise you health, wealth and happiness as you go about desiring things of this life. And he's lying to you. He's taking your money and he's lying to you. He'll promise that God's gonna keep your body healthy, your bank account full, and your disposition happy as you go about this life heaping up all of its treasures. And then, even if you happen to be one of the lucky ones to heap up a bunch of those treasures, he's not going to be there when you find out what Solomon told you long before those treasures are empty. They do not give peace. They do not buy happiness. They do not buy certainty. They do not give the things that I was told that they would give. This isn't how the Bible describes those who are Christ, this way that so much of Christianity has in their minds of what it is to be a Christian. Listen to how the scriptures describe what it means to identify with Christ in the midst of the crowd. And we'll hurry through this just reading in, we are crucified with Christ, Galatians 2.20. We died with him. Colossians 2.20, we are buried with him. Romans 6.4, we are quickened and made alive with him. Ephesians 2 and 5, we suffer with him. Romans 8 and 17, and finally, we are raised with him in Ephesians 2.6. All of these things that I've just spoken about, the suffering, the burying, the being dead to sin, and turning from all of these things, it's not the way so many see Christianity, but Christianity is an all-in religion. There must be no reservation, no withholding, no hesitation. Once Lazarus left that tomb, his life was Christ through and through. Every step that he took, he knew was a step taken because Christ had made him alive. And I would to God that I would see my own life now that way from the day that God saved me. Every step that I take is a step that I take toward eternity because of what Christ has done for me. Our lives for Christ. In this Christianity, this biblical Christianity, it's an all in thing. When we claim to be a believer in Christ, we must give to him all of ourselves. He didn't come to you and say, just give me a part of it. Make me number one and then fill in your priority list. He says, I'm all in all. I'm not something, as Tozer said so many times, I'm not something that you add to your life. It's not God plus all these things. It's Christ minus all of them. But when we claim to be a believer in Christ in the crowd, we better give him all of ourselves. We must realize because he lives, we live. Because he suffered, we suffer. Because he was the one who's paid the price on Calvary, we have an opportunity to be saved. Because he ascended to heaven, one day I too will ascend to heaven. And I'm all in. Christianity's not a just in case religion. It's not an insurance policy. It's not what it is. Church attendance, tithes, good deeds, fill in the blank, whatever it is. These are not premium payments on the insurance policy of Christianity. That's how so many people treat it. I'm going to make my premium payments. And when I get to the end of my life, because I made those premium payments and I went to church and I was a pretty good person in the eyes of the world, I'm going to go to heaven. That's not Christianity at all. It's a lie straight from hell, and it has taken so many people to that place of eternal separation and torment, and I don't care if I offend people in hearing what this is saying, because it's simply true. Christianity's not just something you check a box and say, just in case. I remember as a small child, I may have shared this story with you before. It was when I was still living in Missouri. And I was listening to an evangelist of some sort, a preacher, talking about a story that he had shared with this man who was dying. And he said, I wanted to share Christ with this man who was dying. And his message to him was, you know, just in case. What if I'm right? And I know that his intentions were good. But the message to the dying man was, you know what, just in case, at least this is what I heard, and I could have heard wrong, but this is what I heard. Just in case, why don't you repeat this scripture? Why don't you sign this card? Why don't you just say it with your mouth? Just in case I'm right. And I remember thinking, even then, it was after I was saved, I remember thinking, I don't understand that type of message. Christianity, salvation is not a, well, let me do the thing just in case you're right. Christianity is, I'm forsaking it all and following him because I believe him. And I'm not hedging my bets. And Christianity is not some sort of spiritual diversification of your spiritual portfolio. It's all in Christ, and Christ is all, and when we stand with Him in the crowd, that is how we must stand with Him. He is the Savior who came and died on the cross, because without His sacrifice there, you and I would die in our sins, separated eternally from God, and all that is good, right, and just, and finally today, the impact of this standing in the crowd. Because of Lazarus' witness to Christ, we're told that many Jews left their empty tradition and believed in Christ, and what a wonderful thing to read. Notice the two-fold reality of it, though. So the chief priest made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because in verse 11, because on account of him, many of the Jews were one, going away, and two, believing in Jesus. They left their comfort zones. They left their hope and their own good works. They left what they had been taught from the time that they were in the cradle. They left their hope and their status as citizens of Israel. They left all of that behind and went to Jesus and believed him. But again, it wasn't just the leaving, it was the going to Christ. It wasn't just leaving Judaism, it was going to Christ. You might say, that's a distinction without a difference. And I'd say, well, there's a big difference. They didn't just leave. They didn't just leave. It was not only that they left Judaism. That alone wouldn't have been enough. Maybe, and I, no doubt, there's many, and I was reading an article just recently about the millennial generation and the alarming statistics of the lack of religious training and education and mindset and the secular worldview that is just awash in that generation and now raising another generation completely absent of any tie to religion or any tie to any of it and thinking that they have their own way of reality. Many of those people that were interviewed in this article said, I just, I just didn't see any point in continuing to go, and so I left it. Well, you can leave where you are and go nowhere. And that's what a lot of people have done. Fine, you left. Where did you go? You may say to me, I don't believe what you're saying, preacher. Fine, where are you going to go? I was listening to an atheist on that terrible time stealer called YouTube. I was listening to an atheist and complaining and saying atheism is not a belief. Sure it is. It's absolutely a belief. People leave, and these people that we read about just here, they didn't just leave, but they went to Christ. It's one thing to realize that what you have previously trusted in is not and was not worthy of your trust. It is another thing to forsake all of that trust and then place your trust in Christ, and that's what's necessary. But finally, as we move toward a close, we should take special note here that the attempts to make Christ known in the world is gonna be confronted by resistance. If you're standing with Christ in the crowd and you are trying to share Christ with those in your life, the people around you in that crowd, you are going to meet resistance. Those who desire to make Christ known will be accused of the attempt to divide families, divide churches, disrupt a person's life, and essentially just upset people's comforts and traditions. And I've, again, back to places I've traveled before, they said, you're dividing families. And you know, when you hear that, you take a step back and you go, I don't, that's not what I want to do. But then you remember, Christ said, I came to bring a sword to set the father-in-law against the son-in-law and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. And those who are against you will be those of your own house. And I don't want to divide families. God, may it be true that nothing I've ever said would divide families except that that is based on truth. See, this is not a game we're playing. This is eternity. This is not something to champion because we see some great something in it for ourselves. It's to make Christ known. And we're going to meet resistance. The history of missionary efforts to foreign lands is a history written in the very blood of the missionaries who went. Sharing Christ with the crowds of our lives will be resisted, and we ought to be prepared for this as we attempt to do so. And I wanna just read this, the general unwillingness of Christianity today to, quote, rock the boat, unquote, of the world's comfort and false assurance is largely responsible for our relative ineffectiveness. It's almost as if we've signed a treaty with the world. And I will finish here very soon. It's almost as if we have signed a treaty with the world. And this treaty essentially says, we will continue to believe what we believe, but we will live out our Christianity in such a way as to never upset the crowd. Have we signed this peace treaty? I'll live out my Christianity in private, but I'll never live it in such a way to disrupt or hurt anyone's feelings or cause anyone concern. Has the church at large signed this treaty in the United States? But we also know that when we share Christ with the crowd, some will hear, some will heed and obey and be saved. Those letters from other places that I get on occasion. I met the Lord. I know him. I was listening to a sermon that you were preaching and I always read that and I always think to myself, they were listening to God and he saved me. What a wonderful, wonderful thing. And Satan has this treaty for us to sign and this resistance to prevent that from happening. Yes, we will encounter resistance, but we will also encounter success if we share the gospel with people in our lives. When this happens, all the trouble we endured will seem small by comparison to the blessing that comes from seeing others come to Christ and secure their eternal position with him. Who are you in the crowd? A visitor who's not yet come to Christ? You curious? or are you sincerely seeking to find Him? Are you His follower already? Then are you making Him known to the people in your life? Are you living with Him in a manner that Scripture says we are to do so? Are you making him known to those around you? Do you live daily in the light that you have been crucified with him, that you have died with him, that you are buried with him, that you are alive now with him, that you suffer with him, and that you will one day and already spiritually have been raised with him to new life? Who are you in the crowd? Only you can answer that question. I pray that God would be with his word. And Father, we pray you would bless it. To your honor, let's have some.