There is a strange power in the cross of Jesus Christ. Bloody, indelicate, crude and nauseating though it was, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ has power even today. As Christian witnesses, our responsibility is not to promote "easy living" throughout the world, nor to bring a certain psychological release for mankind's guilt feelings; rather it is to uplift the cross of Christ.
George Muller, that remarkable man of prayer, who established orphanages and maintained them on faith, experienced wonders through prayer over and over again.
But when Muller was asked the secret of his service, he replied, "There was a day when I died." And as he spoke, he bent lower and added, "Died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God."
This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He said, "But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24)
"Six days before the passover" (John 12:1)-the Passover which was to claim the Lamb of God as the sacrifice for sinners-Jesus paid a visit to Bethany once again. There He enjoyed supper with His close friends-the last really enjoyable meal He was to have.
Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus' feet, much to the disgust of Judas who saw not ointment but shekels flowing out of the container over Jesus' feet (12:4-6). (Notice that Mary is at the feet of Jesus again, just as she always is when we see her in the New Testament.) The rebuke of our Lord (v. 7) silenced Judas, but the greedy thoughts of an unregenerate heart were still there.
The next day (five days before the Passover) the triumphal entry into Jerusalem took place on what is traditionally called "Palm Sunday."
Some of us are like the man who found a penny when he was ten and was hunchbacked by the time he was fifty looking for another one. In the course of that time he found two dimes, four pennies, three nickels, and an assortment of safety pins, bent nails and other things. But he never saw a sunset and never saw anything else, simply because of the fact that he had become stultified in all his life and living. Many people are so occupied with their noses to the grindstone that God sometimes has to put them on their backs to get them to look up. Therefore, you can thank God for the things that come into your life.
Somebody came up to me once and said, "I've been looking everywhere for that verse in the Bible that says, 'He tempers the wind to the shorn Iamb."' I said, "Well, that was written by a poet in the seventeenth century, it's not from the Bible." But, believe me that is a good phrase because it's true. He does "temper the wind to the shorn lamb." And I can give that to you scripturally from 1 Corinthians 10:13. "God ... will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." He will never let a wind blow upon you that you cannot stand. He knew when you came to the end of your resources. Maybe He brought you there in order that you might depend on Him again. He knows all about the fever chart. He knows all about the doctor's diagnosis. He knows all about the bills that are coming. He knows how you stupidly got yourself into the debts that you're trying to get out of now. And maybe He let you do it in order that He might begin to deal with you in the way that He wants to deal with you.
