John 11:45-57

Today we conclude chapter 11 of the Gospel of John.

Each week we go verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the Gospel of John.

The purpose is to know God’s Word in context to its fullest so that we can know God and be known by God.

What have we discovered so far?

The disciple John records 7 Signs or miracles that Jesus performed during His ministry on earth.

While there were 7 different signs, they all had a singular purpose.

We find that purpose at the end of the Gospel of John.

John 20:31 ESV

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

So the entire purpose of the Gospel of John is to point you to Jesus as more than a man.

Pointing you to Jesus as more than a good teacher.

Pointing to Jesus as more than even a miracle worker

The purpose of the Gospel of John is to show that Jesus is the Son of God, He is the promised Messiah, and there is life in no other name but His.

The first miracle John records for us is the Miracle of Jesus turning water into wine.

Then Jesus heals the Royal Official’s Son.

Next He heals the paralytic man by the pool so the man could walk again.

In chapter 6 Jesus feeds the 5000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves.

Then Jesus walks on water and even heals a man who was born blind.

Lastly, and what we saw last week, Jesus then raises Lazarus from the dead.

John reveals Jesus as the second person of the trinity, the God-man, the Creator God, who has power over elements, sickness, ailments, and life itself.

John also reveals that it is this person that holds the key to not only this life, but the life to come as well.

Jesus came to rescue, redeem, ransom, and restore.

Jesus came to set you free from the chains that bind you to the purpose He created you for.

But there is a problem.

Not everyone will believe.

While some will be born again by the grace of God for the purpose of God, to the glory of God, and for the good of one born again.

Others will continue in their rebellion and rejection of God that will lead to eternal separation, eternal damnation.

We will see this play out now as we conclude chapter 11.

Right before we get to today’s verses we are reminded what just took place.

John 11:43–44 ESV

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 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.”

In His final, most epic miracle, Jesus shows His power over death itself by bringing Lazarus back to life. What happens next?

How are those there going to respond to such a great event?

How would you respond?

We all have moments in our life that prove to be pivotal. Life changing moments that you realize you will never be the same after that moment passes.

Many of us have more than one of those that we can think of.

The birth of my 8th child at the age of 40. That’s a pretty big moment.

I realized how old and how broke I am at the same time!

I remember where I was and what I was doing the moment the first plane flew into the tower in New York City.

Then there was the moment that I truly saw and understood my need for Jesus.

Today we are going to watch two groups of people deal with this pivotal moment in history two very different ways.

Let’s open our Bibles or turn them on if that is your preference to John 11 verse 45 and 46.

John 11:45–46 ESV

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Here we see clearly before us the two groups of people.

One group who witness the powerful work of Jesus resurrecting the dead and believe in Jesus.

They see that Jesus truly is who He has been saying He is.

They heard the stories, they knew of the commotion surrounding Him.

They were aware of the chatter and His other miracles.

But now, they came face to face with the reality of who Jesus is.

I mean what other option is there when you see a dead man come back to life.

But we see there is a second option after all.

We see that some saw the very same event and instead of following Jesus, they ran to the Pharisees.

Can you imagine what that scene may have looked like?

It would have been about a 2 mile run back to Jerusalem.

Huffing and puffing they arrive to where the Pharisees are and go before them quickly to share what they themselves are struggling to believe.

It isn’t that they didn’t believe that what they just saw really happened.

But the issue was that they put more faith and trust in the Pharisees, the teachers of Israel, than the one the teachers should have been pointing to.

They see this miracle and look to the Pharisees to interpret for them what they saw themselves.

What will the Pharisees do?

Will they believe this group who just ran all the way from Bethany to give them the news?

They have already seen first hand the healing of the blind man and the paralytic.

Will the Pharisees finally believe that Jesus is indeed who He says He is?

Will they lay down their pride, arrogance, position, and follow Jesus?

Let’s look at the next two verses to find out.

John 11:47–48 ESV

So 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.”

While there are many reasons why the Pharisees did not want Jesus to be the Messiah, this is what they focused on in this moment.

Their thought processes was that the Messiah would be a military revolutionary and would try to take over Jerusalem.

This last sentence says the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. This thought terrified the Jews

If Jesus started a revolution they would be crushed by the Romans and everything would be destroyed.

Many thought this was the reason for the Messiah to come. His purpose in their mind was to restore Israel.

But, Jesus wasn’t coming to defeat the Romans. Jesus had a much bigger enemy in mind.

How can you say that? Bigger than the biggest world power?

Yes, much much bigger.

Jesus came to defeat sin and Death.

Jesus came, not to deal with the Roman oppression, but to deal with the human heart oppression.

Jesus wasn’t so much concerned with what was separating the Israelites from their homeland as what was separating God’s people from God himself.

Jesus was here to deal with the root of the problem.

What is the root problem? It wasn’t Rome.

The root problem and the eternal problem was Humanities rebellion against their God and Creator due to their sinful nature.

Jesus was coming to free His people from the chains of sin.

Jesus came to be the Resurrection and the Life so that we can be with Him for Eternity.

Jesus came for the rebellion 100%, but the rebellion Jesus came to overthrow wasn’t the one Rome started but that Adam and Eve started in the Garden.

This rebellion is the one that started in the beginning, continued in the Israelites day and even continues to this day.

This is the purpose for Jesus coming.

The Pharisees were not so concerned about people believing for the sake of belief.

Though they were to some extent, because they wanted people to come to them to get to God, not to the God-man, Jesus.

But what we see as their excuse is that their place, their temple, their ability to be who they are, would be taken from them.

As well as the nation as a whole.

They didn’t see, they hadn’t been listening, and they have completely missed the point of Jesus.

May that not be said about anyone here today.

We will have the purpose of Jesus laid before us today, do not miss getting this understanding correct.

Amongst the commotion and hysteria that must have been going on at this moment a man stands up.

You can imagine a hush falling upon the room.

He has something he needs to say, let’s take a listen in verse 49 and 50.

John 11:49–50 ESV

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.”

Truer words would rarely be spoken, but Caiaphas had one purpose in mind with his words,

And God would have another purpose altogether prepared.

So what is going on here, what is this high priest getting at?

Caiaphas was concerned for the Jews and the temple.

Should a revolt happen, the temple could be destroyed.

The place they were currently meeting in would be no more.

Rome would remove the high priest and Pharisees from their offices

All of the privileges and purposes they fulfill would be ripped away.

Caiaphas thought he would protecting God’s temple and their way of life by saying it would be better for Jesus to die.

But Caiaphas couldn’t have been more wrong.

Get this: Caiaphas wanted to protect the temple of God while not willing to see that Jesus is the true temple of God.

Caiaphas looked at the temple as the place that God came to dwell, yet Jesus is God dwelling fully as a man, the second person of the Trinity before them.

We no longer today go to a temple but go directly to Jesus our mediator.

We go to no other priest, no other saint, no other person, not even to Jesus’s mother. We go to Jesus Himself.

Caiphas desired to protect the physical temple and the physical people of Israel while neglecting his primary role as spiritual leader.

His solution? Kill Jesus and none of this matters anymore.

Jesus dies and they go back to doing and being who they want to be.

There is no need to debate this, no need to find other solutions, this takes care of the problem.

Better for one man to die then everyone to die!

This was the thought process of Caiaphas, but what we are about to see is something that will blow our minds.

Are you ready for what John is going to reveal to us?

Caiaphas is thinking one way, the Pharisees are thinking one way, but God has other thoughts and plans.

It is time to pull back the curtain and see what is really going on. Let’s look at verses 51 - 53 now.

John 11:51–53 ESV

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.

Do you see what just happened?

What Caiaphas said was prophetic. Meaning it was going to come to pass.

Just not for the same purpose Caiaphas thought.

Proverbs 19:21 comes to mind. Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Caiaphas had one purpose, one direction, one plan.

But God’s plan will stand.

God had other plans, other ideas, other purposes, and God used the blindness and depravity in Caiaphas to bring forth His ultimate plan and purpose.

God’s plan was that Jesus, His Son, would die for the Israelites, but not just the Israelites, but all of God’s children that are scattered in every location and in ever generation.

Caiaphas saw just the issue that was in front of him but get this.

God saw perfectly and clearly that moment, but also saw this very moment as well.

God saw the need to save a people in Caiaphas’ time and the need to save a people in our time.

God saw Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. God saw his disciples, and God sees you and I.

God not only saw then and now, but saw before He even created.

And is revealing to us today this mystery.

Ephesians 1:9–10 ESV

making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

This has always been the plan.

God’s plan to rescue, redeem, ransom, and restore you was set forth in eternity past for eternity future!

To think that it wasn’t just for one moment in one time, but for the fullness of time should be a radical concept that blows our minds!

Guess what? Nothing will be able to stop this.

Praise God that nothing can stop God’s plan.

Here we have Caiaphas thinking he is going to put a stop to what he feels is insanity and all he does is do exactly what God plans to happen.

James Montgomery Boice a pastor and theologian says: “You cannot frustrate God. You can oppose him, but only you will pay the consequences, as did these men. You may oppose him, but Christianity will spread.”

Caiaphas spoke the truth. It just was not in the way he had expected. But it happened exactly the way God expected and decreed it to happen.

Isaiah 53:5–6 ESV

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection was designed to overcome our greatest need.

To win for us the our most essential necessity.

To conquer our most dreaded fear.

That of separation. Separation from our God. Separation from our Lord and Savior.

What is it that you fear today?

Is your greatest fear government over reach?

Is your greatest fear a virus?

Is your greatest fear money, status, relationships?

Do you fear relevancy or even death?

Our greatest fear should be our status with a righteous and Holy God.

But you may say hold on? Why would God separate us? Isn’t God loving? He wouldn’t Judge us would He?

It is precisely because God is love that He takes great offense to those who lie, steal, take His name in vain, and so forth.

It is precisely because God is love that He must not be in communion with sin.

And what is our greatest problem? We are exactly that, sin.

But that is also exactly why Jesus came.

To display God’s great love for you and I, Jesus conquered sin and death.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

There is no greater love that could be displayed than this right here.

Jesus was going rule and reign over the greatest enemy to ever exist. Sin and Death.

God’s plan was going to go forth.

But Jesus still held the time and the place in His control, His life was in none other’s hand.

Let’s see that in the next verse.

John 11:54 ESV

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.

The time to begin the final preparations had come.

Jesus knows His mission and knows His purpose.

Jesus knows that they would be seeking to kill Him.

But Jesus also knows that nobody can lay a finger upon Him unless He allows it.

That time though, was quickly approaching.

But it was not time......not now.....not yet.

John 11:55–56 ESV

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?”

John 11:57 ESV

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.

Chapter 11 concludes with two groups awaiting for Jesus.

One group trying to decide what they believe about Jesus

Another group awaiting to arrest Jesus and be rid of him once and for all.

This brings us to the halfway point in the Gospel of John.

We have concluded 11 of 22 chapters.

And the point that we saw from the beginning continues to be the singular point and the singular focus.

Who is Jesus and the call the respond with who Jesus is.

One phrase in this section is striking to me. It comes back in verse 47 when the Pharisees are confronted with Jesus and ask themselves. What are we to do?

We can’t deny the signs.

We can’t deny the works.

But what would this mean to our life and our situation.

For the Pharisees this would change everything from them.

No longer would people look to them but people would now look to Jesus.

But believing in Jesus changes everything for not just the Pharisees but for everyone who believes. Why?

Because in the same sense we too are in charge of our own lives, we are the leaders of our own destiny.

We make our decision not based on God’s will and God’s glory for God’s eternal purposes.

But we make our decisions based on our will, for our glory, for our temporary purposes.

But belief in Jesus changes all that. Believe in Jesus transforms our mind, thoughts, desires.

We discover that the temporary is no longer exciting in light of eternity.

We discover that what guides us now is actually the fallen and brokenness of our sin and rebellion against our Creator.

We discover that if we continue as we are, this is as good as it gets, and we find that this life in its current form isn’t all that good!

Not because God didn’t originally make it good, but because of our rebellion against God, we live in a world in shambles.

This morning you must answer this question for yourself as well. What are we to do?

There really are only two options.

Option 1: Reject the call of Jesus on your life and continue to live as if this day, this moment never happened.

Continue living in rejection of Jesus as King and continue being your own king.

Reject the purpose God has created you and live every moment as if it is your last because this will be the only gift you receive.

Option 2: Come to the one who left heaven, declared Himself to be your Savior, then proved it with His own blood.

Turn in the keys to your kingdom in exchange for the keys to God’s kingdom.

See the miracles of Jesus through the power of the Spirit in the Words of John’s Gospel and Believe in Jesus.

Declare your hope in Jesus. Put your trust in Jesus. Find your purpose in Jesus.

Join in with this body of believers for the mission of Jesus.

Do this and your life will never be the same again.

If you want to know more about what that means and the story that you are being invited into today, come see me or one of our elders in training.

I can’t wait to tell you of the wonders and glories of this new life in Christ. Amen?

Let’s pray.