Below is the manuscript to this Sunday’s sermon. Chances are, you will encounter grammatical errors. Please be gracious. I pray this will be beneficial to you as you study the Word of God that is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).”
Have you ever felt like you’ve been hustled? Where someone leads you on to think one thing, then eventually their true motives are exposed, and you’re left shaking your head wondering how you were so dumb to not see the truth at the beginning.
Well, several years ago, I had a guy reach out to me, and he was an extremely friendly individual. We had mutual friends. Everyone I knew spoke really highly of him. He wanted to have lunch, and at lunch he asked questions about my wife. He asked questions about my kids. He’s asking questions about our church plant, and he’s acting like he’s trying to help me with finding a location for our church plant.
I’m thinking, “Man, this dude is really nice. I would enjoy being friends with him.”
We made plans to get together as families. I thought a new friendship was brewing.
Well, it didn’t take too long for me to find out why he was so friendly…He was trying to sell me something.
All of his friendly acts were nice, but they were ultimately an attempt to cover up his true motives. Over time his true motives were exposed. He wasn’t truly interested in a friendship, he was interested in selling me a product.
Ironically, we really needed the product that he was selling. So, we purchased the product that he was selling.
But, the moment that he made the sell, he was no longer interested in the friendship that he was once interested in. I quickly learned that, where he appeared to be concerned with myself and my family, he was really concerned with himself and his business.
Well, in todays passage we will begin to see the true motive of the religious leaders.
Ever since John 5, we’ve been noticing a group of people, the religious leaders, grow more and more frustrated with Jesus. They’ve claimed that Jesus has broke the law by healing on the Sabbath and by claiming to be God. So, they’ve been hiding behind a “zeal for the law” and a “love for God’s people” up until this point in the gospel.
But, today we will see their true colors begins to shine…and they’re not pretty colors. Today we see the true motives of the religious leaders.
They could care less about loving God. They could care less about loving their neighbor. All they are concerned with is their own status, power, and authority.
When they were confronted with the truth about Jesus, rather than submitting to him in belief, they reject Jesus in order to preserve their own kingdom and social rank.
It is following the most miraculous miracle and the clearest sign that Jesus is the Messiah that they devise their plan to kill Jesus. Where the evidence is clear that Jesus is the Messiah, they look past the evidence in order to preserve their fame and power.
But, what’s remarkable is that their plan to destroy the Son of God is all a part of God’s plan. Where they think they’re about to eliminate Jesus’s ministry by killing him, they’re about to actually help him carry out the very purpose of his ministry.
Those are really going to be the two points we camp out on today:
The idolatry of the religious leaders. How the fear of losing power prevented the religious leaders from believing and trusting in Jesus.
The sovereignty of God in the midst of this idolatry. God used the hard-hearted plan of Caiaphas to carry out his predetermined plan to save the world.
Now, before we get there, let’s really quickly refresh our memory of what’s happened thus far in John 11.
At the start of John 11, we’re introduced to a family that Jesus loves on an intimate and personal level. But, when Jesus hears that one of these family members, Lazarus, is sick, he (ironically) does not rush to heal him. Rather, Jesus stays two more days in order to allow this sickness to lead to death. John tells us that, because Jesus loved this family, he stayed when he heard that Lazarus was ill. He does this because he knows that he will raise Lazarus from the grave. He knows that God’s glory will be displayed through Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave.
Well, two weeks ago we saw that very thing take place. After Lazarus had been dead for four days— in front of a large, diverse, crowd— Jesus calls Lazarus from the grave.
He yells, “Lazarus, come out!”
Then, out trots Lazarus, still wrapped in his linen cloths.
Jesus then tells the crowd to go unbind him and let him go.
Jesus performs many signs and miracles throughout his lifetime. But, this miracle (besides his own personal resurrection) is the most mind-blowing. Raising Lazarus from the grave, goes to show us that Jesus is not just a man. He is in fact the Son of God.
As we saw in John 1, the creator of all things has become flesh, and the creator of all things is Jesus. He was in the beginning with God, and he was God. In him was life, and without him nothing was made.
As we see in John 11, he is the one who possesses power over life and death. He is the Messiah who Israel has been anxiously waiting for. He is the one who possesses the power to defeat our greatest enemy: sin and death.
Now, what’s crazy is that we don’t really hear much about Lazarus after this point. At the start of John 12, we see Jesus go to a celebratory dinner with Lazarus in Bethany, and we also see that the religious leaders want to kill Lazarus because a lot of people are believing in Jesus because of him.
But, here’s the thing, I got 1,000,000 questions that I want answered. When Lazarus came out, did he or his clothes stink? What did Lazarus look like? Did he dance when he came out or was he sad when he came out? How much longer did he live after this took place? Did he write a book called “5,760 minutes in heaven?” Tell me more about Lazarus!
But, John gives us no further details about Lazarus. In verse 44 we see Lazarus come out of the grave and Jesus tell everyone to unblind him (We don’t even know if anyone does it! We can only assume they do.). Then in verse 45, at the start of our passage today, John transitions into the response of the crowd.
“45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done."
What that tells us is that the purpose of this story is not Lazarus or even the miracle itself. The purpose of this story is to show us how God is glorified through the exaltation of Jesus. This quick transition from the miracle itself to the response to the miracle, should leave us asking the question, “What is my respond to Jesus in light of this miracle?”
You have two options when it comes to Jesus: you can respond in belief or you can respond in rejection. There’s no middle ground. You either respond in belief, trusting and submitting to him as Lord or you reject him as an enemy.
The farther we get into our passage today, the more we will see what rejection looks like. But, next week we will catch a glimpse at what true belief looks like.
So, what we see here is that there was a large crowd that witnessed this miracle performed by Jesus, and now there’s a great divide when it comes to responding to this miracle.
First we see that many believed in him. After seeing Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave, they conclude that Jesus is the Messiah. He’s the one we’ve been waiting for. Behold! The lamb of God! They believe in him.
But, then in verse 46 we see that some do not respond in belief. Many believe, but some do not. And those who do not believe go and proclaim to the Pharisees what Jesus had done.
The way John presents these two responses tells us that their going and telling is not a good going and telling.
In fact, their actions remind me of the Parazine household right now. As parent of a 2.5 year old and a 3.5 year old, we often hear the words, “Dad, sissy took my toy,” or “Momma, bubba hit me.” Kayla and I are surrounded with little tattletales.
Well, we see in verse 46 that some people never outgrow the tattletale stage. Those who do not believe run to the Pharisees with the intention of getting Jesus in trouble.
Remember, Jesus has been a thorn in the flesh of the Pharisees up until this point in the gospel. He’s healed on the Sabbath. He’s claimed to be God. And because of these things, they’ve sought to arrest him and put him to death. But, their efforts have continually fallen short.
So, when the Pharisees hear this news, they’re greatly disturbed. Therefore, they get together to discuss what they should do in regards to this miracle.
Look at verses 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.”
First off, the council here is the Sanhedrin, which would be the highest ruling body or the high court of justice in Jerusalem. It consisted of seventy men. The men present at this meeting (both Pharisees and Sadducees) would be the political elite, the religious elite, the wealthy…they were the cream of the crop. And the high priest, Caiaphas, presided over this ruling body at the time.
What this tells us is that the issue at hand is huge! It’s monumental.
This is no longer some guy turning water to wine at a party. This is a man who is claiming to be the Messiah and he’s raising people from the dead.
Get the council together, we got to figure this out… In the words of John Piper, “This is a high-level federal consultation.”
So, as they all gathered together, they first asked the question, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.”
This may be a small detail in the text, but I don’t want us to breeze over this statement. What we see first hand here is an acknowledgment of the miraculous works performed by Jesus.
Even Jesus’ enemies acknowledge his divine power.
So, let me chase a quick rabbit here for a moment and speak to the skeptic.
Pop quiz: who is the author of this book?
The author of this book is a man named John. John is known as the beloved disciple of Jesus. Which means that he is someone who walked with, talked with, laughed with, and cried with Jesus. John was an eye witness to the miracles that he is recording. He’s not making them up. He’s not writing about stories that he’s heard from his grandparents. He’s writing about things he’s seen firsthand.
But, in last week’s passage we saw that it was not just John that was present at the raising of Lazarus. We saw that a large, diverse, crowd was present, which speaks to the authenticity of this miracle.
The more eyewitnesses you have present, the more reliable your testimony becomes.
For example, let’s say your best friend’s uncle Ricky passed away and you, along with everyone else in town, went to his funeral. You stood in line to hug your friend. You consoled your friend’s aunt Judy. You saw uncle Ricky in the casket. You watched them bury uncle Ricky. There was no doubt in your mind that uncle Ricky died.
What would you do if aunt Judy eventually wrote a book saying that, at uncle Ricky’s funeral, he was raised from the casket back to life? You, along with everyone else who was present at the funeral, would call BS! There would be an uproar of folks saying, “That didn’t happen.”
The large, diverse, crowd at the funeral would weed out the false claim of uncle Ricky’s resurrection.
So, when John, an eyewitness to this miracle, records this account in his gospel, no one who was present dismissed it as false. In fact, John is showing us in our passage today that this story is spreading like wildfire. Both those who believe and those don’t believe are spreading this message! It was widely understood that this really happened. Even Jesus’ enemies are acknowledging his divine power.
John recorded this gospel not too many years after this story took place. In fact, most of this audience would likely still be alive. So, if Jesus didn’t raise Lazarus from the grave, then you would have documentation of people claiming that it didn’t happen.But, we don’t. This was a widely recognized story that really happened.
So, if I can lovingly be frank with you for a moment, claiming that this story didn’t really happen is just an ignorant claim.
Even Jesus’ enemies are acknowledging his divine power. These men could not explain away these works performed by Jesus. They could not avoid them. Jesus is healing the lame, he is giving sight to the blind, he is feeding the masses, and now he’s raising the dead to life…And the town is buzzing. Many people are believing in him. The whole town is looking for him (as we will see at the end of our passage today). The word is spreading about Jesus and the miracle that he just performed.
The religious leaders are trying to figure out what to do about it because if they don’t do something, then everyone will believe, and if everyone believes in him then the Romans will come and take away both their place and their nation.
They’re afraid that the Roman Empire, which really ruled the Jewish nation at this time, will come crashing down on Israel and destroy whatever bit of independence that they had.
So, it’s at this point that we see their true motives being exposed. Here is verse 48 we see their biggest concern finally come to light.
They’re rejecting Jesus because he is a threat to their place of power and authority.
Their true motives for opposing Jesus are beginning to be exposed. They’re not concerned with the law. They’re not concerned with loving God, nor are they concerned with hearing from God. They’re not concerned with loving their neighbor. They’re only concerned with their place and their nation.
“Our place” undoubtedly refers to the temple, which is the place that they possesses prominence and authority in. “Our nation” is the place that they rule over. These men are thinking that if everyone continues to believe and the Romans catch wind of this, then they will lose everything.
The very thing that they are finding their identity in has been threatened by Jesus. Their greatest concern is not getting Jesus right, it’s protecting their stuff from Jesus.
So, they are presented with a problem, a dilemma… Do they embrace Jesus for who he is, even if it means they might lose everything? Or do they continue to reject Jesus in an attempt to protect their fame and position of power?
What a terrifying reality that it’s possible to look past the facts about Jesus and reject him strictly out of a fear of what might happen to your life if you believe in him.
They are not rejecting Jesus because Jesus is full of falsehood. They are not rejecting Jesus because Jesus has done something wrong. They are rejecting Jesus because of their love for self.
Jesus was a threat to “their kingdom,” and Jesus is a threat to our kingdom today. Belief in Jesus means that you have to submit and lay down every part of your life for his glory. But, they refuse to do that, and they choose cling to the idols of their heart.
Jesus, in Matthew 16, says,
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” — Matthew 16:24-26
Belief in Christ brings with it trust and submission, and it brings with it transformation. When you believe in Jesus, you abandon that which you once knew for something greater, Jesus. That which you once found your identity in is no longer your identity. Where you were once dead, you are now a new creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
As a Christian, you are daily proclaiming, “I cannot make it on my own and I need help. My kingdom, my net worth, my status, my life is not worth pursuing apart from Christ. So, I’m laying down my wants, desires, and life so that I might have new wants, desires, and life in Jesus.”
At the heart of following Jesus is a denying and abandoning of yourself and the things that this world offers. At the heart of the gospel is a clinging to Jesus.
And, listen, the more you have, the harder this is. To the broken and lowly, the invitation to come and believe in Jesus so that you may have life is an invitation that’s hard to pass up. But, that same invitation is easy to pass up to the brother or sister who has “gained the whole world.”
We live in a culture that prides itself building your kingdom, your status, your power at all cost. But, in following Jesus you are proclaiming that he is your ultimate joy and he is your ultimate treasure. We must decrease so that he must increase.
Although you may lose in this life, you know that you have an eternal hope and an eternal inheritance that is being kept in heaven for you by God, and this inheritance is one that cannot perish.
But, these men cannot fathom this truth. So, in attempts to hold on to this idol of status and power, they reject Jesus, their only hope for eternal life.
What I want you to think through this week is this: What in your life are you afraid of God touching?
Are you afraid to come to Jesus because you’re afraid that he might call you to give up a certain relationship or job or social media platform? Are you subtly rejecting Jesus out of a fear of him actually being Lord of your life? Do you avoid confessing certain sins out of fear of people seeing you for who you really are? Do you avoid sharing your faith out of fear of being seen as a silly Christian?
Folks, lose your life so that you may find it! Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus! Jesus offers you life, abundant life. Although you may lose what you have currently, you will gain so much more for eternity.
So, rather than submit to Jesus as king, they’re declaring war against Jesus, and they’re strategizing on how they can remain king of their own kingdom.
Then, the high priest speaks, giving direction to their rejection of Jesus. Look at verses 49-50,
“49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.”
The first thing I want us to notice here is that this brother isn’t the most gentle and encouraging individual in the world, is he? He begins his formalized prophecy by saying, “You know nothing at all.” In others words, “You bunch of idiots. You big ol’ dumbs!”
You wouldn’t think he’s addressing the entire council of Jerusalem. You would think he’s addressing a group people getting ready to board an Alaskan cruise saying, “Guys! You know nothing at all. Don’t know that cruises are meant to be taken in warm weather? Haven’t you seen how Titanic ends???”
But, nonetheless, he now has their attention, and he begins to counsel the council. He says, “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.”
What’s happening here is truly remarkable. This man is using strong sacrificial language. From a political stand point, Caiaphas is saying that in order for their nation to live, Jesus must die. If Jesus does not die, the whole nation will perish. Their enemy will win… Rome will take over and there will be no more Israel. It’s a death sentence to allow Jesus to continue to live. Therefore, Caiaphas hard-heartedly says, “We need to put Jesus on the altar so that we may live.”
Now, does this message sound familiar?
Do you remember what Jesus told Nicodemus back in John 3? Maybe a better question is, What did Tim Tebow wear on his eyeblack back when he played football for the Gators?
John 3:16,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Now, Caiaphas is saying,
“It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
HELLO! Caiaphas, that’s what is doing! That’s why Jesus has come. God knew that it would be better for Jesus to die than for the whole world to perish. Therefore, God gave his one and only Son.
We’re now able to look back and see that Caiaphas is hard-heartily, and unknowingly, proclaiming the gospel.
***Discuss in greater detail how this declaration is actually a summary of the gospel.
Now, we can tell that John sees this connection clearly by his commentary in verse 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, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”
What I want us to see here, and please do not miss this: despite his ill intentions, Caiaphas is proclaiming the message of God.
God spoke through Caiaphas.
What does this tell us?
It tells us that the disobedient act of crucifying Jesus (which was rooted in unbelief and rejection) was orchestrated by God. God never falls off his throne. His redemptive plan will prevail! What man is intending for evil here, God is intending for God.
The cross, as awful and unjust as it was, was not God’s plan B. It was God’s plan, before the foundation of the world, to cleanse and adopt sinners into his family, through the death of Jesus (Eph. 1, Rom. 8, etc.).
This is the gospel message!
It was God’s plan for Jesus to die on the cross so that we don’t have to. It was God’s plan for him to be glorified through the substitutionary death of Jesus.
We have to understand that the cross was not God’s scrambled attempt to make things right when sin entered the picture. It was his predestined plan, before the foundation of the world, to offer his Son as a substitute for all of sinful humanity.
This is the point that John has been constantly reminding us of all throughout this book. No one took Jesus’s life. Jesus willingly laid it down.
Jesus came to give life to the lifeless, through his death.
John the Baptist, when he sees Jesus, proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (1:29).” We therefore, see that the purpose of his coming was to be the passover lamb who was led to the slaughter in order to take away the sin of the world.
In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Father sent him into the world to save the world through his death on the cross.
Jesus said in John 6 that in the same way that God sent down bread from heaven to give life to Israel in the wilderness, God sent down his Son, the true bread of life, to give eternal life to his people. The purpose of his coming is to give life through his death.
In John 8 and 9, Jesus says that in the same way that God came down and lead his people by the pillar of fire by night in the wilderness, Jesus is the light of the world, who was sent into the world. Whoever follows him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. He came to illuminate the darkness and to give life to the lifeless through his death on the cross.
In John 10, Jesus says that he is the good shepherd who came so that his sheep may have life and have it abundantly. He came to lay down his life for his sheep. Jesus came to give life through the laying down of his own life.
And as John tells us here in John 11, Jesus didn’t just die for just one specific group of people, Israel. He died for all of humanity. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus died to “gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad (v.53).” People from every tribe, tongue, and nation will experience this eternal life, through belief in him.
So, Caiaphas was right. If Jesus does not die, their enemy will win. But, what he didn’t understand is that sacrificing Jesus would not save them from their enemy, Rome. Sacrificing Jesus would actually save sinners from their greatest enemy, sin and death.
It’s in verses 53-57 that we see the official plan to kill Jesus come into full effect, and it’s here that we see Jesus avoid them for a short time longer. He doesn’t avoid them out of fear. He’s just waiting for the right time, and the right time is approaching. It’s about a week away. As Passover is approaching, so too is Jesus’s death, and as this time is approaching, everyone is asking questions, wondering if Jesus will show up.
Let me read these last few verses. We’re not going to dig into them too much. I wanted us to spend a bulk of our time looking at what we already looked at today. But, I do want us to close by looking at one specific detail of these verses, which is the fact that it’s passover.
The remainder of the chapter says this,
“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.”
Do we remember what Passover celebrates?
I’ll give you the cliff notes version. If you were to think back to Exodus 12, you would see where God’s people were in slavery in Egypt. God heard the cry of his people, and he prepared to lead them out of slavery, into the promised land. Well, as God was preparing to lead his people out of slavery, he announced the last plague that will take place in Egypt. And that plague was this: he would strike down the firstborn child of every household in the land. In order to be spared from this judgment, every family was commanded to slaughter a lamb without blemish and spread the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, and in doing so, the LORD would passover their household and spare them.
So, by the blood of a spotless lamb, God’s people were spared from his judgment. The lamb died as a substitute for God’s people. The lamb died in the place of God’s people. The lamb died so that the nation would not perish. A lamb had to die to grant salvation…
Does that ring a bell?
The passover feast (which was about to take place) was therefore a time of remembrance, reflection, and celebration of God’s faithfulness on behalf of his people. Jews from far and wide would come to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. During this feast each year, each family would sacrifice a lamb in order to celebrate and remember God’s faithfulness.
Well, ironically (and according to God’s predetermined plan), they were going to unknowingly sacrifice the true lamb of God, Jesus Christ, this year.
As the prophet Isaiah prophesied (Is. 53),
“…he will be pierced for our transgressions; he will be crushed for our sins; upon him (Jesus) will be the punishment that brought us peace. By his wounds we will be healed. He will be oppressed, and he will be afflicted, but he will not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before it’s shearers, Jesus will not open his mouth.”
Jesus is the spotless lamb who came in righteousness and justice in order to take upon himself the condemnation that we deserve. In the same way that Israel was spared from the judgment of the LORD during passover because of the bloodshed of a spotless lamb, so too can we be spared by the shedding of the blood of Jesus.
Everyone look at me.
You are not perfect. You have been wronged by others, sure. But, you have wronged others. You have sinned against your neighbor, and more importantly you have sinned against God, and sin brings forth death and condemnation.
But, here’s the good news: Jesus is the lamb of God, who came to take away your sins through his death on a cross. There is therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
So, as Christian comes up to lead us in worship, my question for you today is: do you believe this to be true?
I’m not asking do you intellectually understand that Jesus possessed an incomparable, divine power. The enemies of Jesus believed this.
I’m asking have you trusted in Jesus as your only hope for salvation?
The cross and the resurrection is your only hope! There is grace and mercy and forgiveness and hope in Jesus. There is no condemnation in Jesus.
Come to him. Believe in him. Trust in him.
Have you confessed, repented, and asked for forgiveness of your wrong doing? Have you denied yourself and begun to follow him? My plead to you is that your answer is “yes.”
The cost of following Jesus is high.
It demands humility and meekness. It demands you stepping off the throne of your life and bowing down before Jesus, saying, “You are king!” It requires an open handedness with money and earthly possessions. It may lead you away from comfort, prosperity, and safety. It may lead to you being mocked and ridiculed. It may lead to your death.
But, listen to me, the cost of following Jesus is worth it.
When you follow Jesus, he gives you the Holy Spirit, who will comfort you and give you joy and peace. He gives you an eternal hope that cannot be taken away.
“Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him.”
If you have not done this and you want to today, come talk to me in the back. If you have done this, then lets spend a moment worshipping Jesus, the lamb of God, together as a church.