Evil plans in God’s hands

WELCOME:

If you did not make it to the prayer meeting Wednesday, I strongly encourage you to come to the next one! It did my heart much good to gather with God’s people in prayer

SCRIPTURE READING:

Psalm 40:1–4 “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.”

LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!

“The Goodness of God”

Words and Music by Hillsong’

PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS

Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS

Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen

SERMON

INTRODUCTION:

One cannot read through the gospel of John and not see the constant controversy between Jesus and Pharisees. And it can even get a little redundant especially the back and forth between Jesus and the religious leaders over the same issues of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath or Jesus claiming to be the Son of God. Every time Jesus speaks, or heals, or does something great, here come the religious leaders with a growing hatred of Him and more desperation to get rid of this Jesus.

In the last part of chapter 11, John shows us the culmination of this hatred which turns into premeditated murder. After the seventh sign of raising Lazarus from the dead, more people believe in Jesus, the Pharisees see this causing them to lose their power and status, so they decide down in verse 53 to kill Jesus.

But also woven in this chapter is the sovereignty of God who uses the wicked vile schemes of ungodly men to fulfill God’s plans for mankind.

God takes evil and uses it for His purposes.

God takes people with evil intentions and molds them and fits them into His plans to work all things together for good.

And even the greatest conspiracy and act of wickedness in human history was turned into the greatest gift to mankind by God.

And that is what these verses will show us today

~PRAYER~

John 11:45–46 NASB95

Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Two responses to Jesus: both used by God

Explanation:

Now I know this is not a new revelation to you, and I am sure you have heard me say this several times…but it is really hard to read these two verses and not see what John wants us to see: “Some believed and some went and reported it to the enemies of Jesus”

Let’s not forget what has just happened in the first part of chapter 11 because these verses hinge upon what just happened.

Jesus has just healed a man. But not like the other healings in John’s gospel. This healing was the greatest healing, the greatest sign….he resurrected a man from death to life.

A man that had been dead for 4 days. The funeral had taken place. He had been laid to rest in his final resting place and the tomb had been sealed shut. His body has begun to decay. There was a stench in the tomb where he laid.

And with a simple authoritative Jesus command raised him from the dead.

These Jews in these two verses had seen the whole thing. They had come to Bethany to comfort Mary and Martha and saw the physical dead body of Lazarus. And then saw Jesus appear 4 days later, even said about Jesus that if He could give a blind man sight then why did He not come and heal this sick man.

But then they watched Him bring a dead man back from death….a much greater miracle than causing a blind man to see.

And you would think that everyone who watched this event unfold would be overjoyed, would believe everything Jesus said, would cling to Him,

This man has solved mankind’s greatest problem: we all die! And when this man shows up, death is no longer the boss. This Jesus is

⇒ BUT nope….”many believed but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done”

What John wants us to see is this clear division between the two kinds of people and they play a part in God’s plan

This division has nothing to do with the evidence. It has nothing to do with what was witnessed. They both saw the same thing.

It is deeper than what is seen on the outside, it is a heart issue!

And there will always be those people who no matter what they see and hear will respond in unbelief and with opposition and even with hatred…

And yet even those people, who run off to snitch to the authorities about Jesus is doing still find themselves still uses them too.

Those who go and tell the authorities, trigger them to plot to kill Jesus which has been God’s plan all along since the foundation of the earth, because unless sinless the Lamb of God’s blood if poured out there will be no remission of sin

And this should be a great comfort to us

Because e very follower of Christ will experience this to some level. There will be people who show up in your life who are thorns in your side because you love Jesus. And sometimes we think the answer is to get rid of them altogether! But that never works.

The better thing to do is see these people as part of the path God has called us to walk on.

Expect that the closer you get to Jesus, the deeper you walk in faith, the more commited you become to the church, the more serious your study of Scripture and in prayer….you will find yourself offensive to others…

And when it happens in your life, expect it. And be glad that Jesus has made enough difference in your life to turn others away

The most unlikely people tend to believe

John 11:47–50 NASB95

Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. “If we let Him go on like this, all men 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 take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

Explanation:

“The chief priest and Pharisees convened a council…”

The chief priest and Pharisees were the cream of the crop when it comes to God’s chosen nation of Israel. They made their entire lives about the things of God (at least on the outside) and so they thought.

They were avid students of the Scriptures and the primary teachers in Israel. Their lifelong pursuit was the memorize the entire OT.

They fasted twice a week primarily on Monday’s and Thursday’s not because the law required them to but because they wanted to go above and beyond the requirements of the Law. They didn’t just do what God wanted, they went above and beyond..

They were the ones who had authority and control over the synagogues. They chose who was allowed to come in and they threw out who they deemed unworthy.

Their teaching and interpretation of the Law influenced how most first century Jews lived.

And even here we see them holding a council to determine what to do with this miracle worker Jesus.

Now if there was a such a thing as the religious elites, these were it. And you would think that when God sent His own Son to the world to save the world, these men would be the first on the list to be saved. These would be the first men to recognize Jesus.

But the truth is, it was exactly the opposite! The men who seemed closest to God were the ones furthest from the Lord!

But who does Jesus save?

A prostitute caught in adultery

A tax collector who is hated by all

A Samaritan woman living with a man in sexual immorality

A loud mouth fisherman who is uneducated

A thief who is paying for his crime by hanging on the cross

Bridge:

Most often, (not always, but most often) the most unlikely people seems to be the one’s who believe and the ones that seem most likely suited to believe miss it all together

But that shouldn’t be a surprise to us because John began his gospel with this introduction of Jesus’ acceptance:

John 1:11–12 NASB95

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

I find this same truth work its way out in the church.

There are those who come into the church looking like they’ve got everything together. Clean cut, wells dressed, enthusiastic….and seem like they are walking happily down the narrow path….Or people who have been in the church their whole life and everyone just assumes they believe.

But it’s usually the ones most of us would count out. The quiet, the meek, the humble, the outlaws, the drunks, the drug attics, the ones who never receive any praise, the ones who when they are missing…no one ever hardly notices. It’s usually the most unlikely

ILLUSTRATION:

There is a friend of mine whose name is Chris and Chris in a pastor just like me. And Chris is my friend not because he is a pastor, but because we went to high school together. And in high school, we were both the least likely to succeed.

Chris and I talk every now and then and I told him last time I talked to him that I wonder what people think about you and I being pastors. There were so much more qualified kids in school with us. Good decent kids with far better morals than we ever had! Respectful kids who studied hard, who made good grades, who were good citizens….but to my knowledge I don’t know any but Chris and I.

Application:

1) So if you are an unlikely candidate from the world’s eyes, don’t count yourself out.

Jesus really likes to take the least of these and do great things with them.

2) And if you have been in church your whole life and are the most qualified, don’t neglect to examine yourself to see if you really are in the faith and trusting Jesus.

It would be really easy to slip under the radar and just assume with a church upbringing we are in.

3) And if someone finds their way into the church, and your first reaction is to say, well they will never make it…..push those thoughts on out and remember that it is the least unlikely people who seem to truly believe.

In fact I have learned that the ones worth your time and effort are not the most demanding, and most noticeable…but the ones who are slow and steady

What is meant for evil, God uses for good

John 11:51–53 NASB95

Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

Explanation:

Murder. That is the raw meaning behind the text here.

Here is this council of God’s highest leaders in Israel and they are plotting Jesus’ death together.

It’s hard to think that people who seem to be so good on the outside could be so rotten and ruthless on the inside.

It’s hard to imagine that men who studied the entire OT with an intent to memorize it…could somehow pass over the seventh commandment: “you shall not murder”.

It is unthinkable to us that people like this could even be associated with the things of God, let alone leaders of God’s establishments.

But as bad as it sounds, this is exactly what God will use to fulfill his plan to save the world. Just as Caiaphas prophesied, “it is expedient for you that one man would die on behalf of an entire nation”… and that is exactly what God had planned all along.

How could Jesus be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world if the Lamb doesn’t become a sacrifice for sin?

How could Jesus raise people from the dead if Jesus Himself does not die and conquer death and raise Himself from the dead?

How can God let sinners go free, if they are guilty of sin, unless there was One who was sinless who was willing to take their penalty for their sin by death.

And who would kill someone who has never sinned, never done anyone wrong, never broke a law?

It is the plans of evil men that God weaves into His plans for the good of His people..

Application:

1) God uses the wickedness of others for the good of His people

What is the good that will come from this? Well Caiaphas has prophesied it….“Jesus was going to die for the nation and that He might gather together into one the children of God”

Because of the rotten heart of the Chief priests and Pharisees, you and I (who are the people scattered abroad” can have our sins forgiven and walk through this life with the Good Shepherd.

And God does the same thing in our lives…God will use the wickedness of others directed at you, directed at the church, directed at Jesus to bring about good in us that we could not get from any other way

ILLUSTRATION: Jospeh and his brothers. Jospeh was sold into slavery by his brothers, who had originally planned to kill him, but decided to make a little money off of him instead. Years of suffering, prison, false accusations 13 years later landed Joseph right in second command over all of Egypt where he saved his family from a famine and great one family into the nation of Israel from where the Messiah would come to save His people again from the slavery of sin by the road of suffering.

Jospeh said to his brothers who threw him into slavery: “you meant against me, but God meant it for good”

Some of life’s greatest turn arounds and greatest blessings come from an evil heart with evil plans that God turns around and uses for our good.

The God who created all things also controls all things, even the evil intentions and actions of his enemies.

This is our God church… the One in whom we have placed our trust.

Our faith is not in the systems of man nor in our own ability to devise a plan, but in the God who controls them all—and for this reason we can trust Him, no matter things may look like in the beginning

2) Don’t be so quick to grumble and retaliate every time someone intends evil against you

If God controls all things including the evil intentions of others, then shouldn’t our response to these things look past the plans of others?

If the Pharisees had it their way, they would have grabbed Jesus up right then and killed him and threw him in a hole so,eh we’re never to see Him again. But they can’t because evil is submissive to God.

The same is true for our lives. When we find difficult situations in our life, we must remember that they only come because God allows them to come. And if God allows them to come, then there will be a positive outcome of that in the end.

This is an attribute of God: Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Not some, but ALL things to work together for good.

The Passover Lamb

John 11:54–57 NASB95

Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. So they were seeking for Jesus, and were 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 was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

Explanation:

Now these verses are dripping with irony.

Here are the pilgrims coming from all around to be a part of the Passover celebration.

What was Passover? Passover was a once a year feast that was held to commemorate the passover in Egypt. During the final plague God sent upon Egypt, God Himself would pass through the land striking every first born male. God told the Israelites to kill a lamb without blemish and take its blood and spread it over their doors. When He sees the blood, He will pass over their house and spare their son.

Every year from then God commanded they would hold a week long festival, including the slaughtering of a lamb to commemorate the night that the lambs blood was spilled to spare their lives.

And so for this Passover, the true Lamb of God was headed to Jerusalem, not to partake of the feast of the lamb, but to be the Lamb of God whose blood was shed for the sins of the world.

These pilgrims went up early to “purify themselves” before the celebration. This purification would have consisted of some ritual washing like in the pots of water when Jesus turned water into wine to symbolizing removing impurities.

The irony is, there is no real purification apart from the blood of Jesus. Only Jesus’ blood can wash away our sins.

So though they went to purify themself, and they were seeking Jesus, it will only be His blood spilled on the cross that will bring real purification, and save us from our sins.

This is culmination of God’s plan

It all comes together in Jesus. From Genesis to Matthew the whole OT has been looking forward to the coming of Jesus who would save us from our sins. All of OT history was to point us to Jesus. And now in this church age, men can Believe and put their trust in Jesus and receive eternal life

And Maybe you being here is part of God’s plan of God’s “gathering together into one the children of God”. John would say to you today, “believe” and come to know Jesus as the Lord of Creation.

~PRAYER~