John: The Miracle Worker
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Exegetical Point: In response to Jesus’ signs, the Sanhedrin resolve to kill Jesus to save the nation.
Homiletic Point: Jesus will die to gather God’s Children.
Intro
Intro
Recap
Our last week in John for a while
Lazarus was raised from death - Jesus showed himself to be The Resurrection and the Life
Climactic sign! Hard to top!
The Book of John is shifting from focusing on the ministry/travel and signs of Jesus to the week before his death with lots of teaching at the Last Supper.
Our passage today is dealing with some of the fall out from the Lazarus miracle!
This passage may seem a little unimportant, because it’s mostly explanation, but...
3 Applications from this passage
2 options: Believe or Betray Jesus
2 options: Believe or Betray Jesus
You might think I’ve left out some options here, but I will explain why there are only really two options when it comes to Jesus.
These two responses to Jesus are seen in our passage today. Lets look:
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So, if you remember, there was a crowd of mourners who followed Mary. Jesus called for Mary before he raised Lazarus from the dead, and this crowd of mourners had been in tow.
They witnessed what had happened! They saw the sign take place!
So how do they respond?
Many Believe! This is the good response. They had seen God at work through Jesus Christ and so they responded appropriately they put their trust in God and believed in the One He had sent: Jesus Christ.
This is in addition to those from Chapter 10 who had heard God’s word through the prophet JtB, and had seen Jesus signs, they beleived in Jesus.
But this was still a very small number. there had been many who found it too hard, or even just outright rejected Jesus. There were a few who believed, and a lot who did not.
We see that pattern continue here. Out of those who had seen Jesus raise Lazarus, many believed, and some apparently did not. They went and tattle-tailed. They dobbed Jesus in to the authorities as if he had done something wrong.
To be fair, it doesn’t say they didn’t believe, but the way this is written compares the two groups - “Many believed BUT some went to the pharisees.”
They betrayed Jesus. They pushed him away. They are a sign of things to come, where one of Jesus closest friends, Judas Iscariot, would do the same. This is treachery.
We see before us the two options that face us! Believe in Jesus or Betray him.
Sure, we’re not standing at the tomb near Bethany, witnessing the events take place, wondering how we will respond. But we are here today, in the assembly of God’s people, hearing the Gospel being proclaimed, and you are faced with the question: “Will you believe or betray?”
Many of you have believed, and so today serves as yet another opportunity to feed on Jesus by faith and rest in his salvation. But for some, you have not yet answered this question. “Will you believe or betray?”
Jesus was a man who walked the earth about 2000 years ago - history makes that clear.
He claimed to be the Son of God, God in the flesh, who had come to rescue God’s Children from death and damnation.
He fulfilled ancient prophecies, he performed signs and miracles, he spoke the Words of God.
He offered himself up as a sacrifice in the place of Gods Children. He died on a cross.
He paid the debt of sin that we owe to God. He atoned for our sin.
He entered the grave, but three days later he rose from death!
He defeated death, and the Devil! He freed his Children from the tyranny of Satan, Sin and Death!
He said, that all who call on the name of Jesus Christ in faith will escape that tyranny! All who flee to Jesus will be freed!
IF you pledge your loyalty to Jesus and trust in Him, you are given a citizenship in his Kingdom of Life.
You must give up the old ways, you must abandon your foothold in hell and cling to Jesus. You must abandon your idolatries, your selfish ambition and your pride, humble yourself before the King of all the Earth! Trow yourself on His mercy and receive undeserved mercy.
OR
You could reject the mercy of Jesus Christ and shoulder the burden of your own sin. Load up the stinking piles of rags that you call your “good life” as a “good person” and try to cover the mountainous debt of sin that is dragging you down into the depths of the grave.
You could reject Jesus, push away the hand that holds out redemption, and instead utter the blasphemy “Jesus is no King”, “He’s not God”, “he has no claim on my life....”
Jesus is king over every square millimetre of this universe! From the furthest reaches of the cosmos to the Plancks between particles. Much of the world has rejected the authority of Jesus, but that does not mean his authority is not real.
Right now Jesus Church is in the world calling on everyone to recognize Jesus’ authority, and that includes what we’re doing here today.
Jesus is king. Jesus is Supreme. Jesus is God over this world and you are called to submit to him.
If you will not, then you are committing treason. You are betraying your king to serve yourself and Satan.
You are joining the ranks of Judas, and the Jews who killed Jesus. And these mourners who tattle-tailed to the authorities.
And making no choice is still a choice. It’s a choice not to receive Jesus, and thus you stand outside his loving salvation.
How do you receive Jesus?
Call on Jesus - speak to Him and ask him to rescue you, to be merciful despite your rebellion.
Repent - Forsake your sins; own up to your crimes against God, and reject them. Receive forgiveness.
Believe - Trust in Jesus for Salvation!
Be Baptized - Receive the washing that signifies your cleansing and rebirth.
Walk in Faith - Listen to God and walk in obedience, the outworking of your new citizenship.
So that’s the first application: “2 options: Believe or Betray Jesus”
Bad Leaders can Speak Truth
Bad Leaders can Speak Truth
This second application is something I thing we need to be reminded of, because it is not uncommon for us to find that there are dodgy leaders who speak truth at times, or people who have been “good” leaders but then have failed down the line. What do we do with what they’ve said? More on that after we look at the text first.
These reports about Jesus have come back to the Pharisees and they have
Quick Refresher - Like political affiliation
Pharisees - Conservative Religious types, academic, religious lawyers, leaders in synagogues, form varying tribes.
Sadducee - Liberal/progressives, happy to bend to suit the moment, most Priests were Sadducees. All priests were from the tribe of Levi.
Sanhedrin - The 70 leading men of the Jews, a civil/religious parliament including Chief Priests, elders of the people. Mix of Sadducees and Pharisees.
Israel was occupied by Rome, so while they had some autonomy, some decisions had to be approved by the Roman governor.
So with that background lets see what happens after the Pharisees receive the reports about Jesus:
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!
SO they get the parliament together to hash things out.
Our previous actions have been ineffective, the bloke was just down the road from Jerusalem performing miracles!
Yet, they admit: Jesus is a Miracle Worker. He is performing these signs! They can’t escape it!
Even Jesus enemies had to admit that Jesus was performing miracles after they interrogated the circumstances around the Blind man Jesus healed!
But they are not concerned about that amazing admission, their real concern was raising the ire of the Romans. Over the past few centuries to this point in history, it had been a tumultuous time for the Jews, not least because they had lost control of the temple and it had been defiled. They don’t want a repeat of that, because the temple is their only place of worship. IF they get n the wrong side of the Romans, they fear reprisal that could lead to a loss of both temple and their identity as a nation.
You can see where their hope is not! It is not in the God they claim to worship! Their fears do not drive them to Hope in the LORD.
But the High priest cuts in: “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
He has something important to say in the next few verses:
You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Interesting!
Caiaphas, off the back of concern about the Romans states that it is better for one man (i.e. Jesus) to die (regardless of His innocence!) for the sake of the nation. In his mind, he meant that is was better for Jesus to die than the Romans wipe them off the map.
But as often happens in the book of John, there is a double meaning here, and this is highlighted by the fact that this appears to be a divine message, a prophecy!
“He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.”
He prophesied! He Spoke words from God, despite the fact that he was an enemy of Jesus, God still spoke true words through him!
The “other” meaning behind this message is clear to people on this side of the cross:
Jesus would die for the jewish nation, die in their place, for their sins as the ultimate sacrifice. The often sacrificed animals at the temple to take away their guilt, but those were foreshadows of Jesus who would be the ultimate sacrifice for their sin to bring them into God’s presence. TO overcome their distance from God and cleanse them.
Jesus didn’t die to the Jewish nation only, but for all God’s children scattered. A Narrow reading would see this refer to the diaspora, Israelites spread across the known world from times of exile and immigration. But we also see here hints of the gentiles coming in. Jesus has already signaled he would have one flock brought together that he would lay down his life for!
Jesus intended to bring die for the Children of God, including the gentiles that he was saving.
Now not all of the Jewish nation were “true” Jews, as Paul will write about, a great many cut themselves off from God and rejected Him. So this isn’t a promise of a universal salvation to Jewish people, but we also mustn’t neglect the plain teaching here - As Israel was the initial receivers of God’s covenant and promises, they received salvation first. They have a place of honor as the ones who received the Messiah, and we gentiles here are grafted into that family even though we were not born in it.
So Jesus would die for God’s Children, first for the JEws, then for those scattered abroad, all of whom are now joined together in one. One Church, one Flock, on Bride of Christ. Messianic Jews don’t have a special claim on Jesus, we’re all one. We can sing the Psalms with gusto, and receive the promises of old because we are all part of the same Vine - Jesus Christ.
But returning to the story we see that Caiaphas words are enough, they resolve to take Jesus out. They will remove Him from the equation in order to maintain their status quo with the Romans. But unbeknownst to them, they were carrying out God’s plan to bring Salvation to Israel.
Now we return to the application. As we have seen here, God can use even those who seek to kill the messiah to speak truth.
There are some across the pages of Scripture who proclaim God’s Word, yet they stand opposed to Him, for instance:
Ballam - the prophet
Solomon - who worshiped other gods in his old age
Jonah - preached a gospel message in spite (he may have repented)
We know many in our day who have lives that don’t line up with God’s word, we find out either they are “wolves” or that they had patterns of unrepentant sin,
Ravi Zecharias is a high profile example, but you don’t need to look far to find plenty of other examples, like Pastors who run off with their secretaries, I had a pastor who quit his job, left his wife, left the faith and shacked up with another woman.
The question is then, what do we do with their teaching?
We don’t throw out Ballams prophecy, it was from God.
We don’t throw out Proverbs, it was from God.
We don’t throw out all the truth that bad leaders proclaimed, it was from God.
Yes, their legacy has been tainted, yes they have maligned Jesus name, but the truth that they proclaimed was still truth. Don’t fear that because they have failed and fallen, that you have not been taught and ministered to by Jesus through them. Jesus can use wolves in sheep’s clothing to serve the benefit of the flock.
When you do discover a false teacher - kick them out! It’s your responsibility! This is in part why it’s so important to to get on board as a member, you guard the purity of the church! If I go off the rails, call me to repent, If I don’t listen hand me over to Satan so that my spirit may be saved.
So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
Nevertheless....
Bad Leaders can Speak Truth, even prophesying that Jesus would Die to save the Children of God!
Anticipate the Lord’s Coming
Anticipate the Lord’s Coming
Our last application is somewhat tangential, but it’s still legit.
We continue the story. What does Jesus do in response to the resolution of the Sanhedrin?
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
Jesus get’s out of the way and lays low for a while.
He has some important word ahead of him, but his hour had not yet come. He needed to wait for the right time.
That time was approaching, and it is as though the whole Jewish nation is holding it’s breath to see what will happen at the next big feast in Jerusalem
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
The people are preparing themselves for the Passover, where they would remember the salvation of God from Egypt, through the death of a sacrificial lamb, whose blood protected them, then they fled through the waters of the red sea and God destroyed their enemies.
Jesus would fulfill all that imagery in his own death, but that was not yet. Soon!
Here the people from across the country, and the roman empire, would be gathering and preparing in Jerusalem for this festival. They underwent their ceremonial washing in anticipation of the Passover, while watching and waiting to see what the maybe-messiah Jesus would do, and whether the speudo-authorities would be able to do anything about it.
This is very much like the place we find ourselves in, though with much more hindsight. Jesus has come, he has fulfilled the Passover and died in our place. He has brought cleansing, but we are still watching an waiting.
We are constantly reminded to be watchful, looking for the return of our Lord.
He will come and take his rightful throne on Zion, and no power will be able to stand against Him.
He will come to find us cleansed and prepared.
We continually come together in joyful anticipation of His arrival, and continue to remember and celebrate the rescue that He has already secured.
But his next coming will not be hidden, it will be there for every eye to see!! HE will come riding on the clouds and every eye will see him!
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
So What?
So What?
Two options: Believe or Betray
Even leaders that betray can still speak truth
Anticipate the Lord’s Coming
He came once already, and he Died to save the Children of God, you are a child of God is you believe, and when he comes again for the climactic fulfillment of history, you will be ready.
References:
Carson’s Pillar Commentary on John.
Hutcheson’s commentary on John
Hendrickson’s commentary on John
Sermons by Richard D. Philips,
Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. Orlando, FL; Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005.
Phillips, Richard D. John. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. 1st ed. Vol. 1 & 2 of Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014.