Sermon Tone Analysis

11:45-12:11

Last week we talked about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead

With one phrase he took what was dead and made him alive.

That’s a picture of the gospel message.

God makes dead things alive.

He gives us, who are spiritually dead, a new life.

And he offers it to all who will believe.

However, this offering of life causes division among people.

Some hate the fact that God offers life.

They hate the fact that Jesus is the Light.

They love the stench of death.

They love the death, Sin, and sin.

But most of all they hate God.

We see this most in the angry atheist on the internet.

If you ever want to see hate and vitriol just visit YouTube and search out atheist.

It’s interesting to me that they hate something that they don’t believe in so much.

But not only that this happens with the super religious people too.

They think they love go.

They think they are devoted to God.

But they are really devoted to religious superiority.

They really love their own self-righteousness.

They love the admiration and praise they get for being “good people.”

Then there are those that show love and devotion toward the God who offers life.

They are grateful.

They are willing to give good gifts.

They are willing to value God for who he is and what he has done.

How can people look at the same person, same teachings, and come up with different beliefs about him?

It all comes down to what they value?

How they value Jesus?

For the atheist and self-righteous he is only based on what they believe he can do.

For the ones who are truly devoted to him, his value is because of who he is.

In the stories we are going to look at this morning we are going to discover these two groups of people and how they demonstrate how they value Jesus.

One group is going to spare no expense to try to trap and kill him.

The other is going to spare no expense when it comes to worshipping him.

So as we look at the scriptures this morning, I want you to ask yourself do you believe that Jesus is worthy of worship?

Or do you want to be his enemy.

Belief

Here we begin with what I was talking about

Many believed b/c of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

But Some of them went to the Pharisees and tattled on Jesus.

Remember Jesus didn’t perform this last sign in or around a big crowd.

It was in a more intimate setting.

With the disciples, Mary, Martha, and then some of those that came to mourn Lazarus’ death.

Now their faith was built upon what they witnessed.

Not on what Jesus said or taught.

But they believed that Jesus was the Messiah the son of God.

Seeing God performing miracles, we’ve got a few here in our congregation, is not a bad place to start belief in God.

But it isn’t the finish line of faith either.

God does miraculous things everyday.

Everyday a sinner repents and gives their life to Jesus.

Miracle.

Everyday the sun rises and we get to take a deep breath.

Miracle.

There are miracles in the extreme and there are miracles in the mundane.

The fact that God doesn’t just wipe us all out and start over, is a miracle.

But we don’t just believe in God b/c of the miraculous.

We can’t just value him b/c of what he can do.

We must value him b/c of who he is.

Now those who believe in him after the raising of Lazarus, I am convinced that they are true believers.

And that their faith continues to grow.

And you may be asking why I believe that.

The text doesn’t tell us that they continued in belief.

That they endured to the end.

Remember what I said earlier.

This whole section we are going to look at this morning is a case study in different responses to Jesus.

And these that believe are contrasted with those who go and report to the religious leaders about Jesus.

Those who approach the religious leaders tell them what they witnessed and it lead the Religious leaders to gather and confer about what they were going to do with Jesus.

Unrighteous Judgement

We read here that the Sanhedrin gathered and were asking about this Jesus.

It’s been a while since we talked about the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin acted as the Jewish Law Enforcement.

The Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem was generally composed of seventy of the leading priests (who were mostly Sadducees) and the revered rabbinic scribes (who were mostly Pharisees), with the ruling high priest serving as the seventy-first member who would vote to break ties in the court

They were in charge of enforcing the Jewish Laws and customs.

They valued the Scriptures, but they didn’t understand them as well as they thought they did.

They didn’t value Jesus.

Previously we are told that these leaders think Jesus is a deceiver

That he is a false teacher

and that he has a demon.

Here’s the crazy part for me.

They simply refuse to believe.

No matter how much evidence is put before them.

They even ask the Question in v. 47

John 11:47 ““What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs?”

Notice the language they use.

It’s the same that John uses throughout his gospel.

Signs.

Not Miracles.

Signs.

Signifying that they understand that what Jesus has done is pointing to a greater reality.

That these signs are pointing to something more significant.

And yet they are too blind to see the truth.

Even the religious can be lost.

And they are scared.

They are worried about whats going to happen if more people believe in Jesus.

What is their chief concern?

Well in v. 48 they tell us.

They are afraid that they are going to lose what little freedom they have left.

That Rome is going to come in and take over.

They thought that followers of Jesus would stir up trouble and cause them to loose their power.

They would lose their influence.

And they can’t let that happen.