Faith and Folly

I. Introduction

Good morning. Our passage this morning is John 11:45-57

John 11:45–57 ESV

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. 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.” 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.” 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. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. 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. 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.

Let’s pray: Father, we thank you for you Word. Through the Spirit, you have inspired it, protected it, preserved it, sent it forth, applied it, and helped us read it clearly. As we dive into it this morning, help our hearts to be fertile soil ready to receive whatever you have for us. By your grace and for your glory, we ask that you would sanctify us in your truth, for your very word is truth. If anyone doesn’t know you as Father through Christ the Son this morning, would you exercise your saving grace on them? Show them the logic of belief and the folly of unbelief this morning. Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

This is the last sermon in our series ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ We have gone from John 1 all the way to John 11. The goal of this series was to not simply look at Jesus, or take a gander at Jesus. The goal was to behold. To behold something is to look upon something and be changed by it. To behold the lamb is to believe in the Lamb. So the goal of this series goes right along with the goal that John had when he set out to write his gospel account: I am writing these things that you might believe the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And we know that belief in Christ has an outcome: That by believing you may have life in his name. The goal of this series is to behold Jesus and find life in Jesus. I pray that you have found life in Christ by seeing him with new eyes, believing him with a new heart, and living for him with new life.

We are now halfway through the Gospel of John, and we are at a turning point. The tension between Jesus and the Jewish leaders has been rising for a few chapters, and it’s about to come to a boiling point. After our passage today, we enter the last few weeks and days of Christ. This passage shows the final rising action before the climax, as it were. Jesus has just performed a very public miracle—his final recorded sign in the book of John. He had raised Lazarus from the dead in view of many witnesses in close geographic range of Jerusalem. His time was coming and he knew that. In view of raising Lazarus, we come to this, the final passage in this large section of John. Here we see two reactions to the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. First, there are some who believe. Then, there are some who don’t believe. And based on that, here’s the main point of the sermon: In light of the glory of Christ, some will respond in faith but some will continue in the folly of unbelief. It’s that simple, really. No need to try to make it more complex than that. And because of that, we’ll have two points: The logic of belief and the folly of unbelief.

II. The Logic of Belief

This first section will really only cover the first verse. The second point will cover verses 46-57. Look at verse 45 with me: “Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believe in him...” This is an important verse that we cannot skip over. This word ‘therefore’ is vital. ‘Therefore’ is a logical consequence of a previously stated action or argument. Rene Descartes used the word ‘therefore’ as his proof of existence: “I think, therefore I am.” In other words, based on my ability to think, I exist. ‘Therefore’ is an important and logical word. Let’s take a look at this ‘therefore.’ In order to understand it, we must look at the previously stated argument or action: This would be pointing us back to the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. That was Jesus’s seventh and greatest sign, completely his body of miraculous work. But Jesus wasn’t PT Barnum, just trying to sell tickets to a show. The signs had a function and that function was to produce faith in the witnesses. Remember: The signs of Jesus were done by Jesus to serve belief in Jesus.

The sign was an evidence that pointed forward to the need of a conclusion. Jesus had shown his glory through the signs, and that revelation of his glory demanded a response. Jesus heals, therefore; what would you do? Jesus turns water into wine; therefore, what would you do? Jesus raises a man from the dead; therefore, what would you? The work of Jesus demands response. It has a therefore; a logical conclusion. And we see here: The logical conclusion is to believe. Based upon the insurmountable evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God who had performed countless miracles, taught with divine authority, and fulfilled all prophecy, the only logical response is to believe! And we see a group do this in verse 45: They had seen Jesus’s glory revealed in Bethany at the tomb of Lazarus. Therefore, they believed.

To believe in Christ as Savior is the most logical conclusion in the universe. It makes total sense. There is no other logical response to the glory of Jesus revealed. When we see our sin for what it truly is: Rebellion against a holy God, cosmic treason against the God of the universe; and when we see God’s glory and power and ability to save us despite our sinfulness, the only logical response is to believe! If we were in court, the evidence would be clear and the verdict already decided.

We do live in a time where many people want to put God on trial. They want to put the miracles of Jesus on trial. They want to put faith on trial. Christianity on trial. But the evidence is clear: Faith in Christ Jesus is logical. Faith in Christ Jesus transcends culture. It transcends the attitudes about it in any given time or place. Faith in Christ Jesus is the great conclusion to the person and work of Jesus. What John is saying with this ‘therefore’ is that it makes sense to believe in Christ.

Now, here’s where this comes to us: You have the Bible. You have the works of Christ written down for you to read about and study. Today, even through our songs you’ve heard what we call the gospel. You’ve been given the opportunity to behold, and after beholding, believe in Christ. Therefore, I invite you to believe in Christ. If the only response to Christ’s glory is to believe in him, the only life that makes sense is to live for him. Jesus brings purpose to your life. Jesus makes sense of your story. Jesus brings logic to your life. If you have questions about how to respond to the glory of Jesus for your salvation, please talk with me after service. Faith is the logical response. However, some will respond, and did respond to Jesus in unbelief. It is to that reaction that we now turn.

III. The Folly of Unbelief

While verse 45 shows the logical conclusion of a sign of Christ, the rest of the passage shows the folly of unbelief. Many Jews believed, however some did not. And they contact the religious leaders to accuse Jesus. Now, we know that Jesus has already been accused several times throughout the gospel of John. Each time, he had revealed the selfishness and pride of those accusing him. How? He revealed the true interpretation of the Scriptures and his own work and character. While they claimed to be professionals in understanding Scripture and Jewish culture, they were wrong. They denied Christ and in so doing, denied God himself.

They were fools: Psalm 14:1 “1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.” A fool is someone who regularly exercises what we might call folly. Folly is consistently acting without good sense, or logic. So if believing Christ is an act of logic, denying him is pure folly. Here we see this play out: The Pharisees find out about Lazarus and take council. This council is often called the Sanhedrin and operated under Roman authority. The sanhedrin was the highest Jewish council. The Sanhedrin was, in essence, the legislative, executive, and judicial branch of Jewish government all mixed into one body. Now, the Sanhedrin had Roman approval, but they believed their ultimate authority to rest on theocratic basis. That means that the Sanhedrin believed that they answered only to God. They were not a body by the people for the people, as we might be familiar with today. They were not a democracy, but a theocracy.

The council is gathered and the issue of Jesus is on the agenda. The unbelieving people have taken this to their leaders and the leaders are set to address it. These leaders had already been embarrassed by Jesus in John 9, so I am sure that was in the back of their minds. Now, if they were faithful believers and good leaders, they would be concerned with what the Bible taught and what would be for the good of their people. But the main concern of the Sanhedrin was self-protection: They were fearful that the people would get over-excited about Jesus and whip up into a frenzy and the Romans would be threatened by that. Rome allowed the Jews to exist peacefully as long as they were just that: peaceful. At the first sign of uprising, the Romans could take their place (the temple) and their nation (their freedom). They don’t really care about their people or biblical faithfulness. They care about their power being threatened.

Caiaphas was the long time high priest who ruled over the Sanhedrin. He tells the others that they don’t know what they’re talking about. Then he says the following: “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.” There’s a double meaning here that we need to untangle. Both for what will save the nation and preserve the power of the Sanhedrin, it was better for Jesus to die. That’s what Caiaphas believed. To Caiaphas, killing Jesus would make Jesus a scapegoat, the Jewish idea of devoting someone to death to spare the nation. That is one meaning of Caiaphas’s ruling here.

We live on the other side of the cross however. We know that it was good for us that Jesus should die, and that he died for us, his people. He wasn’t a scapegoat. John shows us how he can use Caiaphas, who was decidedly against Christ, to teach about Christ and his work on the cross. When Caiaphas spoke these words, God was also speaking, but in a different way. In that way, Caiaphas spoke as a prophet. Jesus had come to die. He had come to make the power of God know through the gospel to the Jews first and also to the Gentiles. He was going to make a new people through his sacrificial blood in his death on the cross. Yes - in one sense Caiaphas was right: It is better for Jesus to die. But it wasn’t for political expediency. It wasn’t to preserve the elitism of the council. Jesus died to put death to death and to call his people to himself. To redeem a new people, the family of faith that we are a part of.

Doing the will of the Father in performing these signs and working for the faith of God’s people had made Jesus public enemy number 1 to the Jewish leaders. This party did not believe in innocent until proven guilty. Jesus was already considered guilty to them. Jesus’s response to all of this madness shows the folly of unbelief. He hears of the council and withdraws. He would give his life on his own time. Another therefore is here. Based on this council, Jesus no longer moved about publicly. D. A. Carson says, “To those with eyes to see he was making a theological statement: no human court could force him to the cross. Both the fact and the timing were simultaneously the Father’s determination and his own willed act.” How foolish were these men to take council against the Lord? But we knew this was coming: Psalm 2

Psalm 2 ESV

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The beauty of Jesus, the truth of the gospel, inspires the rage of those who are not following him in faith. This passage shows that the nations were raging and plotting and taking counsel together against God the Father and his anointed, Christ. And they took so much effort and went to such great lengths to try to control him and snuff out his purposes. But all they were doing was showing their folly. The ultimate folly in life is to reject God. If it’s logical to accept Christ, it would follow that the ultimate folly is to reject Christ.

We might view folly as something less vital than what I’ve mentioned. We may think it’s folly to waste one’s money on frivolous things. It is, to be sure. We might say it’s folly to cheer for a losing team every year. There is a lot of folly in life. However, the ultimate act of foolishness — the ultimate folly — is to reject Christ. Why? Because this folly puts you at odds with the God of the universe. The Sanhedrin weren’t just merely politically posturing: They were taking counsel against God. And it was their folly.

IV. Conclusion

Where are you today? We have spent the last 24 weeks looking at the first half of John. We have seen Jesus do miraculous sign after miraculous sign. We have seen him teach and redeem and heal. If you have heard any of these sermons and have read any of these passages, you have seen the glory of Christ. The question, then, is this: Have you beheld him? If you look at him and if you see his glory, the only logical response is to therefore believe. All other responses are folly. To wait is folly. To ignore is folly. To go against him is folly. Receive Christ in faith today.