Dueling Plans

Sermon Title: Dueling Plans

Hopewell Baptist Church

January 26, 2020

Opening Illustration -

Transition

Opening – Recap chapter 11, parts of 10. Last weeks of Jesus’ life. Per v.55, within 2 weeks. Jesus’s hour is coming.

I. The Power –

a. The Power of Faith – v.45

i.

1. OT – Faith in what was to come

2. NT – Faith in the One who came

ii. The people who believed in Jesus believed because of what they saw, because of the power He displayed…who else could raise someone from the dead, except God?

b. The power of Fear – v.46-48

i. Fear of being kicked out of the Synagogue…excommunication

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II. The Prophecy –

a. Caiaphas, the High Priest

i. Prophesied Jesus’ death

ii. He didn’t know this was the year that God planned on Jesus’ death

iii. His reasoning for Jesus being sacrificed is faulty.

1. His reasoning was self-centered, self-serving.

2. The real reason is far greater than what Caiaphas could have seen on his own

b. Pentateuch –

c. Psalms –

d. The Prophets – (esp. v.4-5)

e. The New Testament is a fulfillment of OT prophecies. What has not yet been fulfilled is still to come in the end times.

III. The Plot –

a. The Jew’s Plan to Kill Jesus – v.53

i. This was not the first time throughout the Gospels, up to this point, that the Jewish leaders tried to have Jesus killed.

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b. The foiling of said plot– v.54

i. – Jesus, being the Word, cannot return to God the Father without having first accomplished His purpose.

IV. The Plan –

a. “See something, say something”

b. The Passover of the Jews was at hand”

i. Jesus never missed a Passover

ii. The Pharisees planned on that since Jesus claims to be God, He would never miss a Passover (despite the Jews changing if form “The Passover of God” to “The Passover of the Jews”).

What we have to realize is this, that no matter what our plan is, no matter what is going on, God’s Will is the plan that will always play out in the end. Caiaphas’s plan in Jesus dying was to keep the nation of Israel strong and reunify those dispersed in a political sense, to save it from Rome. God’s plan, however, also involved Jesus dying, but not to save people from Rome, but their own sin.

V. Application – Because God’s plan is the one that will play out…

a. We must rest in the fact that not only does He know best, all things will work out for the good and His glory.

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b. No matter what we are going through, God will always take care of us, according to His will

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c. We must remember that, from time to time, God will use us to comfort others going similar circumstances.

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VI. Invitation –

a. Repent and Believe the Gospel

b. Be baptized

c. Surrender to the ministry of God’s Word