John 11:45-57
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
LAST week I mentioned that Jesus showing up to deaths door was like the Co-Main Event of the Evening…and I confessed that I loved watching the UFC.
Did any of you watch the last Connor McGregor vs. Dustin Porier fight?
Everyone came to the fight or you watched it at home with some friends. Some were for Dustin to win and some were wanting Connor to win.
After the fight…some were happy…some were not so happy.
It’s always been this way…and that is how it was the day Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb. Some believed…and it made others hate him even more.
Crazy huh...
Lets read our text this morning:
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
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.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 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?” 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.
PRAYER: I pray we HEAR the Word of God this morning and believe!
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Many…who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.
Imagine what all Mary had told them about Jesus before He got to Bethany
Think of her face when she talked to Him about Jesus.
They could see it all over her I bet…and then, when they saw what he did…they also believed in Him.
“but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.”
They just saw Jesus command a dead man to walk out of his tomb that he had been in for 4 days…and they still didn’t believe.
Have you ever heard someone say
“If Jesus was hear today and did a miracle I would believe” or
“I need to see a miracle to believe”
J.C. Ryle said it best:
There is no greater mistake than to suppose that seeing miracles will necessarily convert souls. Here is a plain proof that it does not.
You might be thinking, “How could they not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh when He just raised a dead man from the grave?”
He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
You either believe the Word of God or you do not.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...
When it comes to Christ there are only two options:
Belief
Unbelief
and neither one of these are idle
the both grow…they both progress
Do you believe the Word of God?
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
I don’t know…believe that He is the Messiah?
Imagine this: The Jewish Religious leaders got together…and start thinking of what they should do after hearing what Jesus had just done.
They acknowledge that he does miracles…they don’t deny it
I just want to say one thing about Christian Apologetics real fast
Think about those who deny the miracles in the Bible today.
they say that they didn’t really happen
It was some type of illusion or something…whatever they say
Here are Christ’s arch enemies…they are trying to do everything they can to stop His progress and the ONE THING they DO NOT DO....IS DENY HIS MIRACLES!
There are some who want to argue with the Atheist and try to prove to them through probabilities and give these fancy arguments as to how God must be real through the fine tuning of the Universe, etc.
But listen… the only thing that is going to open the eyes of a spiritually dead, spiritually blind person is God’s Sovereign Grace.
And the ordinary means in which this happens is through the power of His Word.
This is why we preach the Word and do not argue with the unbeliever.
We preach the Word because Hebrews says:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.”
Not only do they recognize and affirm Christ’s miracles
They also realize the more he continues more people will believe in Him...
So WHY DON’T THEY BELIVE?
Doesn’t this sound crazy to us who believe? How can they not see this? Why don’t they just come to Christ and believe?
It is the same reason today…they don’t believe the Word of God…they are spiritually dead and cannot hear what God’s Word is saying.
They might be able to repeat it...
They might be able to quote it...
But THEY DO NOT ACTUALLY HEAR IT!
He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
NOTHING WILL RIP A MANS DEAD HEART OUT OF HIS CHEST BUT GOD HIMSELF. ----- EZEKIEL 36:25-27
Look back at John 11:47-48
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.”
These religious leaders may seem to love God to some…but they are actually God Haters.
They love teaching His Word to the people
But when it came to them…it didn’t apply
People like this always want to come across “religious” and “spiritual” so they spiritualize their reasons for their actions.
They make it something it actually isn’t so it isn’t obvious as to what is going on. They don’t want you to know their TRUE MOTIVES.
If you knew their TRUE MOTIVES it would be too obvious so they make it into something it isn’t so they can do what they REALLY want to do…keep people from following Christ!
AND preserve their power of influence.
See, these religious leaders made it out to be that they had to do something so Rome wouldn’t destroy them…
But what they really wanted was to keep their titles and positions
What they really hated was the teachings of Christ because if MORE and MORE people started following Christ…they wouldn’t be following THEM.
They FEARED ROME more than God
They FEARED losing their positions of influence more than God
They FEARED losing “their place”, THE TEMPLE, more than God
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.”
Caiaphas was a Sadducee, which were the arch enemies of the Pharisees.
Among other things, the Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection and the Pharisees did.
They had many disagreements but the one thing they could agree on was something had to be done to stop Jesus…
It is the same today
You can get many different religious groups together who disagree on some major issues amongst themselves but they will ALL BE IN AGREEMENT TOGETHER to stop the teaching and preaching of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Look at these verses again:
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.”
Caiaphas becomes a modern day politician all of a sudden.
Instead of acting like a true High Priest who wants to establish and seek justice he becomes a modern day politician. He was to fear God…not Caesar!
He starts to preach the topical sermon of ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS and gets everything out of its context just to keep them in power.
He starts rationalizing his actions and that never ends well.
We do the same. When we want something, in our flesh…we take our eyes off of God’s Word and what He desires and we put our eyes on ourselves…become selfish…and seek out our own desires. THIS IS WHAT’S GOING ON HERE.
But lets give Caiaphas the benefit of the doubt real quick.
Let’s say that he truly believed he was genuinely and sincerely seeking the best interest of the people and the preservation of the Temple...
Voddie Baucham said:
You can sincerely believe a false gospel. It just means you are sincerely wrong.
Caiaphas’ plan was to kill Christ so that the people wouldn’t rise up with Him and revolt against Rome.
His thought was if that happened, Rome would not only destroy the people but also Jerusalem and the Temple.
His plan to save the nation and the Temple backfired when his plan was accomplished. The very thing he was trying to prevent is the very thing that happened…BECAUSE he crucified their Messiah.
Less than 40 years after this…ROME came in and completely destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple where there was not one stone left on top of the other. All of this was prophesied by Christ throughout the Gospels (another lesson for another day).
Look at verses 51-52:
He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
He had NO IDEA that God was using Him to prophesy.
Caiaphas meant one thing by his words and actions BUT GOD meant something completely different.
Many Passages of Scripture come to mind with this:
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Listen to me carefully and look at the Words of God for yourself:
We might not understand things...
We might not like some things that are going on in our life...
We might not be able to make sense out of some things...
But KNOW THIS: AT THE END OF THE DAY GOD IS IN CONTROL OF EVERYTHING.
Charles Spurgeon said:
No doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of mankind than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God. The fact that “the Lord reigneth” is indisputable, and it is this fact that arouses the utmost opposition in the unrenewed human heart.
Caiaphas “thought” he was just telling them “his” idea… “his” plan.
But it was in reality God’s plan.
Remember Joseph and his brothers?
What if Christ would have sent Caiaphas a Tweet that said:
Dear Caiaphas, here is your verse of the day:
Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Yours truly, Jesus!
Think to yourself real quick…WHO KILLED JESUS?
Herod had a hand in it
Pontius Pilot had a hand in it
the Gentiles (Roman soldiers played a part)
and the Jews who demanded to crucify Him
That’s right…and they all WANTED to KILL HIM…AND THEY DID.
BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY…WHO WAS IT?
But who really put Christ on the cross and had Him killed?
Lets see what God says about it:
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Look at verses 51-52 again:
He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Jesus would die for “the nation” (Israel) -Jews
Also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad - Gentiles all over the world.
The Atonement:
Christ did not die for an opportunity for people to be saved...
He died to save His people…to gather the children of God who are scattered abroad.
When people say that God died for every individual in the world to have an opportunity to be saved is to take away from the Sacrifice that Christ made.
HIs death would be in vain because many people die un-saved.
If that were true then the Greatest gift of God…the Greatest show of God’s Love was a failure because it didn’t ACCOMPLISH WHAT HE DESIRED AND WANTED.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
From that point on, when Caiaphas gave the orders…they made plans to put him to death…they had no clue what they were doing!
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.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
This is the religious....the nominal Christian…the ones who claim to be of God and do all of the outwork works…but don’t think twice about the inward self.
They go through the motions of religion but their hearts are of no concern.
They care more about what other religious people think about them than what God thinks of them.
They fear man more than they fear God.
They are ready to please their religious leaders in sending Christ to the cross to win the approval of man…instead of God.
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?” 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.
Imagine the suspense...
The Pharisees had made it known that if anyone knew where Jesus was to let them know…they were going to arrest Him.
Imagine the buzz...
“you think He is going to come?”
“No He isn’t going to come! Would you come? You think He doesn’t know they are going to arrest Him if He does?”
“I bet He is scared to come…I would be!”
Many of them didn’t care one way or the other…they just wanted to see some action…some drama.
I wonder how those who truly believed in Him were reacting to the buzz?
But the question for you is the same question they asked:
What do you think?
What do you think about Jesus?
Are you like the Pharisees and Caiaphas?
You want to go against Him?
I don’t think that would be smart...
You will be going against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords…it will not end well for you.
I know you might not want to give away your possessions…you want to hold on to them...
You don’t want to give up your time....to advance His Kingdom
You don’t want to give up your identity because you have worked so hard your whole life to build it...
But in the end…The King is coming…and you will bow your knee one day or another.
Are you like those who went to purify themselves? Religious but deep down your just indifferent…its really not consequential to you one way or the other?
Don’t be that person.
The end is the same for you.
Listen to God’s Word:
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Stop playing religion.
Fall on your face…confess your sins and look to Christ and give him the only thing you have to offer Him…your sin. Put your faith in Christ and trust in HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS....NOT YOUR OWN RELIGIOUS WORKS.