Lazarus - Part 3 (John 11:45-57)

Announcements

Bible Study & Prayer is currently suspended until further notice—I’m hoping for those services to restart on October 20th, and as of right now, I think that’s a possibility just as long as we can finish up the rest of the renovation work in the next week and a half.

Renovations on the new building are coming along well. My goal for this week is for the stage to be finished this week as well as the Activity Room with the kitchen being finished shortly after that. There is a list in your worship guides with estimated prices for the rest of the projects—I’m waiting to hear from a church that might be sending a love offering to us to help us with at least some of those projects. I won’t read through the list, but you can look at that list in your own leisure time. Some of those projects have already been pledged for, but I wanted to give everyone the complete list so that you can all see what all needs done and the approximate cost.

Evangelism and Outreach, last week, I mentioned that we need to put a focus on evangelism and outreach again. We had this focus during the summer months as we were regularly at the farmer’s markets, passed out information at Houtzdale Days, and during other community events. We paused that focus briefly as we started renovating this facility, but since the renovations are slowing down, we need to put a priority on evangelism and outreach again.

So, what I would like to do is encourage us each to pray for the growth of the church and pray for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus throughout our area. We live in a place that desperately needs Jesus with people who need to believe in Jesus and seek him, but they can’t seek him until they believe in him; and they can’t believe in him until they hear of him.

Which means that we can’t stop at just praying for the Gospel to spread and for our church to grow. We need to proclaim the Gospel to all that will listen and we need to make disciples in our homes, in our communities, and in our region.

And we can start doing this by reaching out to our friends and our families—For example, we all know people who used to attend church, but stopped. Let’s reach out to them and bring them in, a church plant like ours is a great opportunity for them to come back to church and check out what we’re trying to do in our community.

In addition, start seeking ways to speak to your friends and family that are unbelievers—do it in a loving way, but realize the consequences of not proclaiming the Gospel to your friends and family.

Church plants grow primarily through outreach and evangelism—we all need to do what we can to bring people to Christ.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. We give back to the LORD because he has so graciously blessed us in life. To help you with your giving, we have three ways for you to give: (1) in-person giving can be done at the black offering box near the entrance. If you give a check, please write it to Grace and Peace and if you give cash and you’d like a receipt for your gift, please place it in an envelope with your name on it; if you’d prefer to give by debit, credit, or ACH transfers, you can do that either by (2) texting the number 84321 with your $[amount] and by following the text prompts, or by (3) visiting us online at graceandpeacepa.com and selecting “giving” in the menu bar. Everything you gives goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 33)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 33, which is a little bit longer of a Psalm, but I think is worth doing all at once. The psalm is anonymous , though some believe that David wrote it. Psalm 33 calls on the righteous to praise the Lord because His Word is dependable and righteous. The Psalm ends by showing us how God’s people trust in Him. Please stand and read Psalm 33 responsively with me. I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 33 ESV

1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! 13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. 16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

Congregational Singing

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

O Great God

O Lord, My Rock, and My Redeemer

Scripture Reading (John 11:1-44)

I’ve asked Tara to read our Scripture reading for us this morning. The passage is John 11:1-44, which by now, ought to be familiar to each of us. As we’ve worked through the historical record of Lazarus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we’ve been reading and re-reading the parts of the chapter that we aren’t focusing on in that particular week. The reason for this, is so that we keep in mind the whole account as we work through the text. This morning is no different, with the exception that we’re finishing up the account, so our Scripture reading is everything that leads up to the conclusion of the account. This is the context for the sermon’s message. After the passage is read, please keep your Bible’s open to John 11 for the sermon.

John 11:1–44 ESV

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” 28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Sermon

Introduction

This morning, we’re in part 3 of the historical account of Lazarus’ death, burial, and resurrection. We read everything that led up to our text this morning for our Scripture Reading, but I do want to give a brief synopsis of all of this account so that we go into our last week on Lazarus keeping in mind all that John writes about him in chapter 11. We’ve been working on the account of Lazarus since September 26th and we split the passage into three because the passage itself is rather long—it encompasses the full chapter, 57 verses.

The first week, we worked through Vs. 1-27 and we spoke about Jesus’ desire to go back to Judea despite the fact that his disciples reminded him that the last time they were in Judea, the Jewish people tried to stone him. He makes some pretty profound statements about his friend Lazarus, that Lazarus’ illness was for the glory of God, his death was for the strengthening of the disciples’ faith, and his resurrection was to prove that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Because Jesus is truly God, Jesus has power and authority over life, death, and resurrection.

The second week, we worked through Vs. 28-44, which records the mourning of Mary, Martha, and the other Jewish people. All of these people were gathered to mourn the death of Lazarus and then we see Jesus weeping as well. The Jewish people assume that he’s mourning over Lazarus, but I took quite a bit of time explaining that Jesus weeping over the death of someone that he knew he was going to resurrect, doesn’t really make sense. However, because the phrase “he was deeply moved” can also mean, “he was indignant” in his spirit, what that shows us was that Jesus wasn’t weeping over Lazarus, he was weeping over the peoples’ lack of belief—and that’s seen in the question that he posits, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” It is the lack of belief from the people that causes Jesus to be indignant just prior to resurrecting Lazarus from the tomb; and in these verses we see him do just that with a brief prayer and just three words to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come out.”

This morning, we’re finishing up the account of Lazarus’ death, burial, and resurrection with John’s record of how the people responded to the miracle that confirmed Jesus’ divinity. I know we’ve talked a lot about responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we’ve worked through this text, but this is the first time when we’ll spend the whole service talking specifically about those who continue in unbelief. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s read the text for this morning, after which I’ll explain how we’ll break the text down, and then we’ll dig into Scripture. Let’s read 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to take it into two parts: (1) Vs. 45-53, The Peoples’ Rejection of Jesus, looks at those who saw the miracle that Jesus had performed by resurrecting Lazarus—many believed, but some went to the Pharisees. We’re going to look a little bit more intently at those who went to the Pharisees and then we’re going to look at the response of the chief priests and Pharisees to Jesus. (2) Vs. 54-57 is Jesus’ Response to their Rejection, which is actually quite simple, he stops walking openly amongst the Jews. This morning’s sermon will take a look at unbelief and the extent that unbelievers will go to continue in their unbelief, we’ll take some time to look at the foreshadowing of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and we’ll explore how we should respond to peoples’ unbelief.

Prayer for Illumination

The Peoples’ Rejection of Jesus (45-53)

Our text starts by telling us how the common Jewish people who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus responded and in this passage, they respond in one of two ways:

Vs. 45, “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with 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.”

Of course, realizing that they had witnessed such a tremendous miracle, you might ask yourself, “how could they not all believe in Jesus after witnessing such a great miracle?”

But remember, that the Jewish people throughout Israelite history had a habit of seeing God do amazing things and shortly after, they would fall into disbelief and sin again.

Consider Exodus 32, when Moses climbs Mount Sinai to speak to the LORD and the people are left with Aaron at the bottom of the mountain. We aren’t entirely sure how long Moses was on the mountain, but the amount of time implied by the text isn’t tremendously long

In Vs. 7 of Exodus 32, God has to tell Moses to, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”

Consider what Vs. 7 says, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”

These are the same people who witnessed the plagues that were brought down upon Egypt.

These are the same people who witnessed God parting the Red Sea and him allowing the Jewish people to walk across dry land whilst simultaneously destroying the Egyptian Army

The same God that has provided for these people as they wander in the wilderness.

And yet, in such a short time, they’ve corrupted themselves with sin and unbelief.

If you think with me, remember after the Exodus, the Jewish people faced forty years of wilderness wandering. Why did they have to wander the wilderness for forty years?

It’s because when they arrived Kadesh Barnea, which was at the border of the Promised Land, they sent spies into the Promised Land to survey it and when the spies returned with a bad report, the people doubted and rebelled against God.

In Numbers 14:11, God says to Moses, “How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”

And God made the decision to not let anyone in that generation see the Promised Land, so the people wandered in the wilderness until that generation passed.

The Wilderness Wandering happened because the people refused to believe.

The Israelites had a habit of seeing God do amazing miracles and not believing, but let’s be honest, even today, we do the same exact thing.

We see the evidence of God’s existence through creation, which is then confirmed through special revelation in Scripture, but instead of believing, we make up excuses to not believe.

As we look at the Scripture and we read and re-read Scripture, we see God’s plan for creation spelled out from Genesis to Revelation, but instead of believing, we doubt whether Scripture is completely true.

We see God changing the lives of men and women who choose to follow him—and we see them go from being people completely ensnared by sin and its consequences to men and women seeking after God’s own heart, but instead of believing, we continuously fall for Satan’s number one trick of causing us to question God’s words and his intent.

We can continue to wander at why the Israelites had such a hard time with believing Jesus as the Christ, but in reality, we struggle with unbelief just as much as they did.

In this case, they see Jesus very literally raise someone who had been dead for multiple days back to life—and it wasn’t some weird fluke, it wasn’t what we sometimes call a medical miracle today in which someone is brought back from the brink of death.

Lazarus was dead; and Jesus gave him his life again.

And there was no question amongst the people about whether this was some trick or fluke, which resulted in the response that we’re looking at.

Many people believed, but some went to the Pharisees.

Those that went to the Pharisees clearly didn’t believe in Jesus as the Christ because instead of believing they went to those who were very much opposing Jesus—the Pharisees.

The Pharisees themselves were a group of religious leaders that were known for their strong commitment for following the Law or at least their own stringent interpretation of the Law.

In the first century, they were considered the truly pious ones, the ones that knew Scripture and knew how to apply it to everyone’s lives; and thus, they had quite a bit of influence and authority in Judaism and in the temple.

And the Pharisees had already made clear their position about Jesus by seeking to stone him and by telling the people to let them know where he is.

Thus, for those that don’t believe in Jesus despite his miracles, it would make sense for them to go to the Pharisees—they’re simply doing what a good, Jewish person would do—they’re listening to the people who were spiritually leading them, but unfortunately, they’re spiritual leaders were wrong in their assessment of Jesus.

How wrong were they? So wrong that we read about this plot against Jesus from the chief priests and the Pharisees. Vs. 47-48 says, “The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, ‘What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.” Now there are a number of details that are worth noting in this passage:

First off, let’s talk about the people that are being mentioned in Vs. 47. The Bible says that the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council.

If you know your Old Testament, you’ll pick up on something odd in the first four words of Vs. 47, “So the chief priests.”

The oddity is the plurality of chief priests—according to Exodus 29 and Numbers 3:12-13, we see God setting aside the tribe of the Levites for the service of the temple

With those who were descended directly from Aaron as the priests of the temple. Out of the Levites who were descended from Aaron, only one was to be made the high priest or the chief priest; and it is this one high priest who would enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for all the nation of Israel.

The Old Testament speaks of one high priest at a time, so why is there more than one in the New Testament? During the life of Jesus, there were two chief priests and that divergence from the Old Testament Law was purely political.

Annas, who isn’t mentioned in this passage by name is the first of two high priests in the New Testament. Caiaphas, who is named in this passage was the second high priest.

According to early Jewish historians, Annas was the high priest selected by the Jewish people to be the High Priest, but the Roman government has high disdain for Annas.

So, the Romans came in and replaced Annas with Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas. Because of this odd situation, it is Caiphas who typically deals with the Roman government and makes judicial decisions while Annas is seen more as a spiritual leader.

So, officially Caiphas is the High Priest, but Annas still held significant sway and authority as the unofficial high priest.

Secondly, of note, the passage speaks of a council. This is what is referred to as the Sanhedrin, which was essentially the high priests’ political council or the highest legislative body in Judaism.

You can consider it the supreme court of Judaism, which was made up of both the Pharisees and Sadduccees (the ruling parties of Judaism).

This council made all of the major decisions concerning Judaism in the first century.

And just as a side note, the Pharisees, Sadduccees, Sanhedrin, and dual high priest system that they had in the first century, was completely made up by the Jewish people.

The Old Testament Law never once tells the Jewish people to have Pharisees, Sadduccees, and a Sanhedrin. The Old Testament Law never told them they could have two high priests.

What they had going on was based on their own traditions, not on what God had told them to do.

Nevertheless, this council gathers together and they pose this question, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.” Which gives us another detail worth noting.

This council made up of people who were supposedly highly spiritual and pious; these people who were supposed to be leading the Jewish people according to the Law of God; these High Priests who were responsible for the spiritual well-being of all of Israel saw what Jesus was doing and instead of believing in Jesus, they made the conscious decision that their political influence and nation was more important than believing in Jesus.

“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.” Shows us that they acknowledged what Jesus was doing; they saw these miracles and they understood what they meant.

The fact that they understood the miracles and understood what Jesus was doing and their primary concern was that if they let Jesus keep going on, “everyone will believe . . . and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” tells us of the sinfulness of their hearts.

They thought keeping power and authority politically was of far more importance than actually believing.

And this is seen in their statement, “the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

This refers to the Roman Empire’s unique way of governing in which they typically allowed the local region to govern themselves just as long as they recognized Rome as their ultimate authority and just as long as they could keep the peace in their own region.

The council was concerned that Jesus’ claim to be divinity, would divide the Jewish people

And that division amongst the Jewish people would drive the Roman government to come in and squash any perceived rebellion.

Which would result in the Pharisees, Sadducees, those that made up the Sanhedrin, and the High Priests losing their power and authority.

They cared more for their position in society than they did about their spiritual well-being, but one of them speaks up, and it happens to be the High Priest that the Romans had put into power. In his statement, Caiphas makes a profound point about Jesus that John says is a prophecy concerning Jesus’ death.

Vs. 49-50. gives us Caiaphas’ statement, “But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘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.’

Caiaphas makes this statement that it would be better that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

He’s thinking in terms of Jesus’ actions causing the divide between the Jewish people, which we’ve seen over-and-over in the text—some people believe, some people are on the fence, and many people utterly oppose him.

And from Caiaphas’ perspective, this is a legitimate fear, because how did he get his position as the high priest? Because Rome didn’t like Annas as the high priest and replaced Annas with Caiaphas, so what stops Rome from replacing Caiaphas with someone else?

Caiaphas is thinking in a very utilitarian way. Utilitarianism as a philosophical mindset didn’t exist in its fully articulated form until the 19th century, but the thinking that led to its fully articulated form existed in the early philosophers. It was an idea that had been postulated throughout philosophical history, and the basis for Utilitarianism is that you do whatever is best for the most amount of people. We practice that thinking in hospitals, during natural disasters, and really in any form of crisis.

And that’s the way that Caiaphas is thinking, but he’s thinking with a flawed premise. He’s thinking that removing Jesus from the equation would be the best possible thing for the nation, but in reality, Jesus is the best possible thing for the nation.

Caiaphas is thinking that it would be better to remove Jesus in order for the council to stay in control, but in reality Jesus is sovereign over all.

Despite Caiaphas thinking that this is what’s best for the most people, the fact is, that he’s wrong in his initial premise in assuming that Jesus is wrong.

Concerning an average person, Caiaphas’ statement that it would be better for one person to go than to lose the whole nation is true, but Jesus isn’t an average person.

And in the sovereignty and providence of God, what Caiaphas says turns out to be true, but not in the way that he meant it. The author John clarifies this in Vs. 51-53.

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

Whereas, Caiaphas meant his statement in a purely earthly, physical form, what he says ends up be right in a spiritual sense. Caiaphas means that it would be better for Jesus to die so that they could keep the nation

But in reality, it’s better for Jesus to die because there’s a spiritual reason for his death—it is through his substitutionary atonement on the cross, that Jesus dies for all the children of God—not just those who are Jewish, but for those who are scattered abroad.

It’s better for Jesus to die because in his death and in his resurrection, he provides salvation for all who repent and believe in him. It’s better for Jesus to die because without his perfect, sinless sacrifice, we would have no hope.

In many ways, what Joseph says to his brothers who sold him into slavery in Genesis applies to what Caiphas says and what the council plots to do in John 11. Joseph tells his brothers after the fact in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Caiaphas and the council meant evil against Jesus, but God in his sovereign providence meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should believe and be saved.

Of course, now that the council has determined that they needed to kill Jesus, Jesus has to change the way he behaves for a time being, because it isn’t time for his death yet. And the remaining four verses speaks of Jesus’ slight change in strategy for the time being. In the remaining few verses for this morning’s service, we see Jesus’ response to the council’s actions against him and we see the fervency of the Pharisees and chief priests response against Jesus. Read with me Vs. 54-57:

Jesus’ Response (54-57)

John 11:54–57 ESV

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.

To preserve his life for the time being, Jesus stopped walking openly amongst the Jews.

That’s not to say that he was avoiding his eventual death, that’s just to say that this was not the time for his death and until the time that was appointed for his death, he stopped walking openly amongst those who sought to kill him.

In fact, to preserve his life, he left Bethany and traveled to Ephraim and stayed there with his disciples, which is notable because it’s near the wilderness, it’s near the desert. It’s not the type of place people would typically go and its proximity to the desert made it undesirable.

And we aren’t really positive why Jesus would go to Ephraim over any other location—the village of Ephraim isn’t mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, but the historian Josephus wrote about the village and archeologists have identified Ephraim with the modern town Et-Taiyibeh. It could just be that Jesus chose Ephraim because someone offered him a place to stay.

Or it could just be that Ephraim was far enough away from Jerusalem to avoid the Jewish leadership who sought to kill, yet close enough for him to return to Jerusalem for the Passover, which he does do in chapter 12, but from Vs. 54-57, he’s still in Ephraim waiting for the Passover celebration to begin.

Vs. 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. 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.”

This would be the third Passover that’s mentioned during the ministry of Jesus on earth—the first one in John 2:13 is when he cleansed the temple, the second in John 6:4 is during the feeding of the multitude, and this last one starts now, and it ought to be familiar to you:

And I say that, because this last Passover sets up the final stage of Jesus’ life and ministry. This last Passover of Jesus’ ministry is the last Passover of his earthly life—it is the Passover in which he was betrayed, crucified, and killed.

Because it is now time for his death, we see in chapter 12, Jesus and his disciples going to Jerusalem, but in John 11:55-57, they aren’t there yet.

And the people are wondering if Jesus is going to even show up:

They’re questioning whether Jesus is even going to come to the feast because of the opposition from the chief priests and the Pharisees against him.

It is of note, that the people were looking for Jesus, it wasn’t just a passive desire to see him, Vs 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?’”

This curiosity from the people is due to many of them witnessing the miracle of Jesus including the resurrection of Lazarus. Colin Kruse, “”On a recent visit to Bethany, just 2 miles from Jerusalem, Jesus raised Lazarus from the death, and Jerusalem was buzzing with news of this event. So, as people gathered in the temple precincts they awaited Jesus’ appearance with great anticipation.”

But the people have to wait just a little bit longer to see Jesus. Remember that the people in Jerusalem at this very moment are in Jerusalem early to do what Vs. 55 says, “to purify themselves.” Jesus doesn’t arrive in Jerusalem for a few more days, but the anticipation is palpable.

The people are excited to see Jesus and they’re anticipating him coming into Jerusalem—and I would argue that for many of the Jewish people it’s because they have a false idea of what the Messiah was to do.

Most Jewish people during the first century thought the Messiah was going to come and set up an earthly kingdom immediately—that the Jews would no longer be under the rule of the Romans, they will have a kingdom ruled by their Messiah from God.

As Jesus did all of these miraculous events in the presence of all of these people, their preconceived notions of what the Messiah would do led them to think that their kingdom was about to start.

But even though there is a great climax about to happen in the life of Jesus, it isn’t what the Jewish people think is going to happen.

Their ideology of who God is and what the Messiah is to do during his initial advent to the earth is different from what God had said would happen to the Messiah; but they haven’t come to that realization yet. They still see the Messiah coming to set up an earthly kingdom and that’s precisely what they thought Jesus would do as he prepares to enter into Jerusalem.

In our remaining few moments, let’s look at some specific application concerning this passage:

Application

The Peoples’ Rejection of Jesus (45-53)—in the first section of this passage, we saw the reaction of the people to Jesus’ resurrecting of Lazarus from the grave. The Bible tells us that many who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees to report him. In the same section, we learned that the chief priests and the Pharisees were more concerned with keeping their political power, authority, and position in life than they were about believing in Jesus—they were more concerned with their social status than in what Jesus had done to the extent that they started plotting for the death of Jesus. There are two application points that I want to make for this section:

First, I’ve said it multiple times, but it is important for us to remember that we follow a reasonable faith. We don’t believe in Jesus for no reason, there are reasons for our faith; and one of the biggest of those reasons is that Jesus confirmed who he was through the miracles that he did.

These Jews saw what he did and they believed in him. Why did they believe in him? Because he validated who he was by the works that he did.

We don’t see miracles like the resurrection of Lazarus anymore, but we can be confident in our faith in Jesus Christ because we have been given the confirmed Word of God in Scripture. Signs in John were utilized to prove the message being told, Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us that whereas signs and prophets were previously utilized by God to speak to us, he now speaks to us through his Son. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

And thankfully, we’ve been given the words of the Son, the words of God through the written Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and 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 Peter 1:3 teaches us that everything that we need for life and godliness has been given to us through the knowledge of God “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,” which is found in Scripture.

Whereas, previous generations relied on signs and wonders, we have a word more fully confirmed. 2 Peter 1:20-21 “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Why do we believe in Jesus? Because we’ve read and studied the record of Jesus’ life in Scripture, we can see how Jesus fulfills the hundreds of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah.

Why do we believe in Jesus? Because we have the Word of God, which confirms Jesus as the one who he says he is; and we believe in the Word of God

Because we’ve come to accept what God has said about his Word, that he breathed it out, that he confirmed it, that he gave it to us.

Thus, our faith is reasonable if we take the time to learn what God has said through his Word. The Jews that believed, believed because they had seen what Jesus had done and what Jesus had done lined up with what Scripture said the Messiah would do.

The first application then is this, take the time to learn what Scripture says.

And I mean this in a way that’s more than just reading a verse a day. There are over 31,000 verses in the Bible. If you only read a verse a day, it’ll take you 85 years to read through the whole Bible. And I mean this in a way that’s more than just reading a chapter a day. There are over 1,100 chapters in the Bible, which would take somewhere between 3-4 years to read.

What I mean by taking time to learn what Scripture says is this:

Actually sit down for extended periods of time and read the Word of God with the intent of learning what the original author said to the original audience.

Read Scripture how it was intended to be read—take into account the grammar and the history, take into account the socio-economic status of the people involved; and then take the plain reading of that passage to heart. Don’t allegorize Scripture, don’t moralize Scripture, don’t bother with the nonsense of trying to get something out of it and don’t bother with waiting until it speaks to you or what “blesses you.”

Learn to read Scripture how it was intended to be read, with a historical-grammatical normative approach—only when you determine what the original author intended to say to the original audience can you actually apply it to yourself.

You can’t apply Scripture until you understand what it was originally intended to say.

That means, that you need to learn to read Scripture like this—in a historical-grammatical normative approach.

Which means that you have to take everything in context—in literary context, historical context, and grammatical context.

Then you read it normally, without allegorizing and without moralizing it.

If you wonder what that looks like, it’s precisely how I preach. We go verse-by-verse, thought-by-thought through the text. To keep it in literary context, we typically look at larger chunks of Scripture. To keep it in historical context, I provide as much background information as I possibly can without getting to speculative; and to keep it in grammatical context, I provide definitions, we look at sentence structure, and word order.

And once we determine what the text is saying, then we talk about application.

I preach like this on purpose—to model what it looks like to study Scripture historically, grammatically, and in context without allegorizing and moralizing it. I preach like this on purpose, so that those who regularly hear me preach learn how to study Scripture on their own.

And if you want more details into how to study Scripture like this:

Feel free to talk with me and ask me questions, or if you’d prefer to read books about it, here are three recommendations:

Understanding and Applying the Bible, Robertson McQuilkin

How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament, Jason DeRouchie

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament, Andy Naselli

Take time to learn what Scripture says—this will strengthen your belief in Jesus and in God.

Second, there’s a warning in this passage based on how the Pharisees, chief priests, and council respond to Jesus. Being the religious leaders of the time, you’d think that they would’ve seen the signs that Jesus was performing and that they would’ve been the first to believe in him, and yet, time and time again, it’s clear in Scripture that the Pharisees, chief priests, and council completely miss who Jesus is.

In this passage, it’s clear that their primary concern is keeping their socio-economic status, political power, and influence.

They were more concerned with their modicum of authority, that they didn’t care to see Jesus for who he was and is. And ultimately, what we see is that their sin kept them from believing in Jesus.

What we see in this passage is that those who were supposedly the most learned when it came to the Scriptures ended up rejecting the one whom all the Old Testament Scriptures point to as the Messiah.

The warning is simple, make sure that you don’t allow your socio-economic status, your position, who people see you as prevent you from seeking Jesus; and make sure that you don’t allow your perceived knowledge to prevent you from seeking Jesus. Who people see you as doesn’t matter if you don’t follow Jesus; and however much knowledge that you think you have doesn’t matter if you don’t follow Jesus.

Jesus’ Response (54-57)—in the last section, we see the Pharisees initiate their attempts at getting rid of Jesus by ordering that if anyone knew where he was, they needed to report him so that they could arrest him. I have one application for the last few verses, which ties into the previous application point:

The council is following through with their plot against Jesus because they’re allowing their sinful mindset to prevent them from following Jesus.

In the same way, sin can easily prevent you from following Jesus—sin is deceiving, it convinces you that it’s worthwhile to pursue, when in reality sin is crouching at the door waiting to overpower you.

Even as a believer, on this side of eternity, it is easy to get caught up with sin, Paul writes of that constant battle against sin in Romans 7:21-24, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Paul writes of wanting to do the right thing, but each time he wants to do the right thing his flesh tempts him to do evil.

When Paul makes the statement, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He’s describing sin like a corpse that hung on his body from which he was unable to free himself.

Sin is like a rotting corpse clinging to you

And it is through the process of sanctification that the Holy Spirit works within you to pull that rotting corpse of sin off of you, but don’t let your sin deceive you. It is a rotting corpse waiting to overpower you.

The moment that you are convicted of sin, you need to repent and cry out to Jesus. The moment you are convicted of sin, you need to put that sin to death.

Don’t be distracted with sinful pursuits, pursue Jesus alone.

What this passage teaches us and really what the whole account of Lazarus’ death, burial, and resurrection teaches us is this: (1) Jesus is the resurrection and the life because Jesus is God, we learn that in God’s Word, (2) because our faith is predicated on what we learn in God’s Word, we must take seriously accurately learning what Scripture says, (3) and then we need to make sure that nothing holds us back from following Jesus—not our socio-economic status, not our perceived knowledge, and not our sin.

We know that Jesus is God because God’s Word shows us that Jesus is God—thus worship Jesus, grow in knowledge of God’s Word, and don’t allow anything to stop you from following Jesus.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

There is a Fountain