"Better That One Should Die..."
Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:54
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· 9 viewsJohn answers the question of why Jesus died from the religious leaders and God’s perspectives. The High Priest’s words are prophetic…without him even knowing. Jesus’s death is BETTER!
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Key Texts:
REFLECTION: Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
SERMON READING:
John 11:45-53
MEMORY: Matthew 6:33-34
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
BENEDICTION / CLOSING: Romans 15:5-6
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
When you think about the main thrust of Christianity what comes to mind?
It isn’t Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
It isn’t church buildings or programs.
It isn’t social justice causes.
It isn’t humanitarian aid or kindness.
IT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS!
AND IT CULMINATES IN THE CROSS - THE DEATH BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST!
It is the main thing...
Paul is dealing with all manner of trouble at the church at Corinth.
He’s loving, tender, and shepherding in His tone, but he’s still dealing with all manner of selfish sinful behavior, doctrinal confusion, and theological error.
And YET…when the Holy Spirit had him come up for air in his writing…he reminds everyone of the main thing:
(Read from your Bible)
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
It’s the main thing.
It’s everything.
Everything before the cross points ahead to it.
Everything after the cross points back to it.
TRANSITION
TRANSITION
Next week, in the first part of John 12, we will see a celebration of the fact that Lazarus is alive!
Last week, we walked through that very saga…with our eyes fixed on Jesus.
It’s interesting that the Bible doesn’t shove the spotlight on Lazarus after he was raised from the dead.
We get no “what was it like?” “how did it feel?” “what did you hear?”
We only get Jesus there.
By the way, that’s a great reminder on how to weight YOUR story - EVEN IF it’s sensational…make sure the spotlight is ON JESUS!
No one had a more dramatic conversion than Saul to Paul. Wow did he have a story to tell..he had education, credentials, experiences…yet
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
We are transitioning now in John’s gospel…toward the cross.
If we really think about what’s coming as we work our way toward this divine intervention in the course of world history and the redemption of humanity.
The cross is not a pleasant thought.
It’s not just a neat piece of jewelry.
It is a violent, bloody, cruel instrument of slowly killing someone, publicly.
As Christians, we are NOT consumed with an unhealthy fascination about violence - this flows from God’s Word.
From this point forward, John is shifting toward the cross in his focus.
Lazarus being raised demonstrates Jesus’s power over death BEFORE he ever stands before His condemners and is sentenced to die.
You need to know that the death of Jesus Christ cannot be denied historically. This is NOT fan fiction here!
The issue is NOT “DID he die, but WHY did he die?”
PEOPLE RESPOND TO JESUS
PEOPLE RESPOND TO JESUS
John 11:45-50
Many believed!
Many believed!
they were with other believers
they saw the power of God
they believed!
By the way, this is still the most effective way to reach people with the Gospel today - according to the statistics.
Most people that come to faith in Jesus Christ today - that pass from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear son / most people come because someone they knew and liked/loved invited them into their lives
they witnessed the power of God in that friend’s life or someone else in the community of faith
they believed on Jesus for themselves.
very few come on their own without a relationship
even less respond to the billions of dollars spent on christian entertainment
when humble Christians boldly live out their faith and pray for opportunities to fulfill the Great Commission - GOD BRINGS THE HARVEST!
Some people believed in Him…BUT, V46
46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
MANY REJECTED HIM…AND DIDN’T WANT OTHERS TO BELIEVE HIM
MANY REJECTED HIM…AND DIDN’T WANT OTHERS TO BELIEVE HIM
They not only rejected Jesus.
They wanted to make trouble for Jesus.
They stirred up haters.
This sets a course and tone in motion for the rest of John’s Gospel -
THERE IS A CLEAR PLOT TO KILL JESUS
MANY TRY TO STOP JESUS
MANY TRY TO STOP JESUS
vv 47-48
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
The correct answer to their question: “what are we to do?” is the same answer for us today:
REPENT AND BELIEVE.
They acknowledge His power.
They see the signs, but miss what it points to: JESUS IS THE MESSIAH!
JESUS IS THE CHRIST - THE ANOINTED ONE FROM HEAVEN!
Whether they receive Him as God’s only Son - the Messiah or NOT - it had no bearing on who He is!
The same goes for every man, woman, and child today - what you think about God is the most important thought YOU WILL HAVE - but has no bearing on TRUTH OR REALITY!
Jesus Christ is HELL’S TERROR.
Jesus Christ is HEAVEN’S DELIGHT!
Jesus Christ is EARTH’S ONLY HOPE!
This crowd thinks they can thwart the work of God by “turning Jesus in”…little do they know that they are pawns in God’s grand story of Redemption.
CAIAPHAS has a plan
CAIAPHAS has a plan
“you all don’t know anything”
THEN, he proceeds to utter something beyond Himself.
50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
John gives us some commentary...
51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Caiaphas, the chief priest is confessing God’s plan of redemption for humanity.
He is concerned primarily with the Romans getting in their business if it looks like there is factionalism among the Jewish community; but that’s not all that’s up.
The Plot Thickens
The Plot Thickens
John 11:50-57
Caiaphas is self justifying!
The religious leaders have wanted to silence Jesus - but they were unable to.
They wanted to humiliate Jesus, but they constantly fail to do so.
So instead of learning their lesson (in the natural, that is), they escalate this.
THEY WANT TO KILL HIM - TO PUT HIM TO DEATH (v53).
It’s premeditated…they have NO idea just how premeditated it is!
This is moving beyond picking up some stones impulsively - we are moving into conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.
But even as we begin this march toward the death of Jesus - Oswald Chambers reminds us that we are not witnessing the death of a martyr; but the revelation of the eternal heart of God.
The death of Jesus was not the death of a martyr, it was the revelation of the eternal heart of God.
Oswald Chambers
Caiaphas sees this as a quick solution to a thorny problem...
BUT THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST WOULD REACH FAR BEYOND THE SMALL-MINDED RELIGIOUS BUREAUCRATS that were threatened by all that Christ represented.
God had ordained the death of Jesus.
The Bible says in Acts 2:23
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
God decided for Jesus to die
The death of Jesus Christ was the result of a natural tragic murder in the first degree…it was and it wasn’t!
Jesus Death fulfilled God’s eternal plan.
Make no mistake, Caiaphas was not an unwilling robot.
He’s not a spiritual dummy with God’s hand up his back moving his mouth.
No this is a great interplay between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
John MacArthur writes, “God sovereignly turned his wicked, blasphemous words into truth” (John, 484).
The death of Jesus Christ may have been politically expedient for the leadership of Israel, but it accomplished more important purposes.
Caiaphas mentioned it was for the nation.
John chimes in under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit…NOT FOR THE NATION ONLY, BUT FOR ALL WHO ARE SCATTERED ABROAD!
Jesus death would satisfy the righteous, just wrath of the only True God who is Holy, Holy, Holy!
Caiphas said Jesus would die “for the people”. - The language used is the language of temple sacrifice.
The Gospel of John constantly points us to the Passover Festival, when lambs would be brought into Jerusalem and sacrificed in the temple.
Remember in Chapter 1…what did John the Baptist say TWICE!
He introduces Jesus as the lamb of God!
(vv. 29, 36).
In chapter 12, the rest of the John’s Gospel takes place during the Passover Festival.
Caiaphas actually reminds us today that someone has to die to satisfy the sin debt.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 6:23a (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death,
Only a perfect lamb could satisfy the debt of sin.
Only a perfect lamb could shed His blood.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
Caiaphas said more than he meant to...
In the remaining verses, we see the stage being set for the greatest act of love the world will ever know.
Jesus doesn’t walk openly any more among the Jews.
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
Contrast Jesus peacefully communing with His disciples with the sinister trap-setting scheming of the false & bad shepherds...
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
The STAGE IS BEING SET…for the Jews and Gentiles alike to see it is not only BETTER for one to die…but absolutely NECESSARY for salvation!
Jesus’s death would not just create the possibility of saving…it would save!
What is offered to us in the gospel?
It is NOT JUST the possibility of salvation, not NOT JUST the OPPORTUNITY of salvation.
What is offered is salvation!
The Gospel gives us Christ himself in all the glory of his person and in all the perfection of his finished work who is offered.
HE is offered as the one who made payment for our sins and brought about our redemption.
John Murray writes,
“It is the very doctrine that Christ procured and secured redemption that invests the free offer of the gospel with richness and power. It is because Christ procured and secured redemption that he is an all-sufficient and suitable Savior.
HALLELUJAH! WHAT A SAVIOR!
“Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood;
sealed my pardon with his blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
(Philip Bliss, “Hallelujah! What a Savior!”).
The question falls to us…Since it is BETTER AND NECESSARY that one should die in our place...
“What are we to do?”
What are your friends to do?
…your family?
…your enemies?
HERE IT IS!
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
We must ask God to forgive us - turning from our sin and trusting only in Jesus. This is what it means to repent and believe!
We don’t have the power to change this on our own…we need GOD to make us NEW!
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
When God radically saves us…He puts us on the pathway to pursue Him and His design like we were created to do in ALL AREAS OF OUR LIFE!
God’s Spirit empowers us to pursue Him and a He assures us of his presence in this life and all eternity.
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
WOW…Hallelujah!
Many of us know this…believe this…and are experiencing this today.
So…who are WE taking with us so that they can see and believe to?
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Let’s pray…that God would use us to show everyone the BETTER ONE…the PERFECT LAMB that has already died!
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