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Please turn in your Bibles with me to the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John. John chapter 11, from whence we will take our study this morning. John chapter 11, and before we look into God's Word, let us once more ask him to bless our time together.
Our gracious Father, we desire that your Spirit would be with us, that we might see Jesus, that we might understand him and his words to us. We know that at this time, when you meet with your people, this is a time of worship, for we come desirous to hear your truth.
And so, Lord, be with us, bless your people, and if there be any amongst us that do not know thy name, that have not bowed the knee before Jesus Christ, may they see him in this hour. May you draw them to yourself, we pray in Christ's name.
Amen. A number of years ago, we, a group of us, stood outside of the convention of the American Atheists, when they had their convention here in Phoenix. It was a number of years ago. I imagine they've probably been back since then.
This is a convention town, after all. And we talked with some of the people that work there at the resort that it was at over in Scottsdale. A number of them came out. We're very thankful we were there, because they were pretty disgusted with the people that had stayed the night there and had behaved in such reprehensible fashion.
At those conventions, it is very common, especially the American Atheists, for them to have a time period on their schedule, where they set aside a period of time to invite God to show up. They invite him to put in an appearance, and if he will put in an appearance, then they will cancel their next year's convention, because obviously if God showed up, then the American Atheists should probably disband.
Well, of course, they keep having their conventions, because God hasn't put in an appearance, at least in the way that they would liken to at their conventions. Now, when I look at Atheists, it's very easy to be disgusted at their particular behavior and their blindness, but as I look at Christianity as it is normally presented, and I'm talking very vaguely here, I'm talking very generally here, if I were an Atheist and all I knew about Christianity was what I saw on television, then I would think that that demand would make a whole lot of sense.
Because when you think about what's on that... We are very, very politically correct here, those of you who are... You're not supposed to laugh until after I get past that part. We're very politically correct here at the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church.
We never name names. When I talk about this particular television channel, we never identify it. It's between 20 and 22. And so that particular broadcasting network, if that was my primary exposure to Christianity, which sadly for many people it is one of the primary ways they see Christians and understand what Christians believe, I've discovered that amongst my Muslim friends too, which is a real thing.
But if I were to watch that, what would I gather from watching a Benny Hinn crusade, from watching a telethon or something like that? What would I gather? I would gather that for Christians, one of the greatest evidences of God's existence and His activity in the world is to be found in amazing, miraculous things.
People getting thrown across podiums and platforms by the power of the Holy Spirit. And evidently this Holy Spirit thing is something that Mr. Hinn anyways can throw at sections of the audience and they fall over and people twitch when he touches them.
This must be what Christianity is all about. So if that's the primary evidence of God's existence, then why not invite God to come on over to the American Atheist Convention too? I've heard many a person say, well if I would just see someone raised from the dead, if I would just see a miracle, well there seems to be lots of them going on on that television channel, though I think a lot of us sort of sit back and go, well, you know, raising from the dead, that would be one thing.
The longer leg, shorter leg thing doesn't quite fit into the same category as raising someone from the dead. If I just saw someone raised from the dead, if I could really prove it now, I mean, I just read a story last night about a woman in Russia.
She woke up at her own funeral. They were saying the prayers over her. And the poor thing was in such shock, she died from the shock at her own funeral. I mean, I'm serious. I read it. It was online. It must be true.
I mean, it must happen. So if that would just happen and we could really prove that the person was really dead and then that would be enough for me. Well, no, it wouldn't be enough. It would not be enough to change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
In John chapter 11, we have exactly that situation. You know the story. I'm not going to read the entirety of the chapter because I want to focus on the reaction at the end, but let's at least remind ourselves of what took place in John chapter 11.
We have the death of Lazarus. And we have it in such a way that it is so clear, the way that John has laid it out for us, that from the very beginning, Jesus has a particular end in mind. And you might think you know what that end is.
I mean, we've all read the Gospel of John, right? And yet I want you to keep in mind what you think the end is and then notice what John is actually going to say the end is. We know after John chapter 10, the Jews once again had picked up stones to stone Jesus.
Remember, I and the Father are one in the salvation of God's people. They pick up stones to stone him. Why do you stone me? Not for good work do we stone you, but for blasphemy. And Jesus goes away from there after another one of these situations where Jesus could have diffused things, just as in John chapter 5, John chapter 8, John chapter 10, but he refuses to do so.
And the Jews accuse him of blasphemy and he leaves from there. And word comes about Lazarus. And Jesus purposely stays where he is. He does not come rushing to Lazarus. It is said that he loves Lazarus.
Jesus had special relationships, believe it or not. I mean, there's people who struggle with that because Jesus just loves everybody equally, right? Do you know of any human being who loves everybody equally?
And yet why do we think that that's somehow a good thing? He had a special relationship, evidently, with the apostle John. There was a closeness there. He might have been the youngest. Maybe there was that kind of situation you have where one of your followers is someone who's just so pliable and so open and so honest.
And maybe among some of the other disciples, there's this constant arguing and bickering going on, who's going to be the greatest? And you had Simon the Zealot. I would have been a little bit concerned about Simon the Zealot.
Those guys were a little bit strange. But Jesus had a special relationship. He was particularly close to particular people. And so there was a concern on the apostles' part. But they knew. They knew that this was someone very special to Jesus.
And yet, he tarries. And then they come. And you know the conversation that he has, that Jesus has with Mary and Martha. I am the resurrection, the life. And it doesn't seem like the women fully understand exactly what that means at this particular point in time.
They're so overwhelmed with grief. And, oh Lord, if you just had been here, my brother would not have died. And Jesus sees the weeping and the presence of death. And Jesus himself weeps in verse 35. Yes, it is the shortest verse, at least in English translation in the New Testament.
It's not the shortest verse in the New Testament in Greek, just so you know that, in case you get tripped up in Bible trivia. But there it is, that one verse that people like to try to memorize. If they're going to memorize Scripture, well, at least they'll do John 11 .35.
They don't normally know why. Why worry about something like Jesus weeping? How is that important? Especially in light of the fact that he knew what he was about to do. You can tell from the beginning of the chapter, he's in absolute control here.
There's no question, when Jesus raises his eyes toward heaven, and his voice that everyone can hear, and commands Lazarus to come forth, there's no question in his mind of what he's going to accomplish and what he's going to do.
And yet, Jesus is truly man. He truly entered into human flesh. And the Jews even themselves, see how he loved him. Even in that, there is some accusation. Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind men have kept this man also from dying?
There's always that tension, even in the midst of Jesus' deepest entering into our own suffering and our own experience. And so, Jesus again, deeply moved within, possibly even with anger at the presence of death, comes to the cave, a stone lying against it.
We can sort of see maybe something about the future there, possibly. Jesus commands the stone be removed, and Martha says, Lord, it's been four days. There will be a stench. He was dead. And yet, Jesus assures her, did not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.
So they removed the stone. And then in a way that allowed him no back door, unlike much of what you see on that channel between 20 and 22. In a way that didn't allow him any way of sneaking around and saying, well, if he failed here, if the Father did not hear his voice, everyone would know.
And he knows that his enemies follow him everywhere. And he's in enemy territory here, in essence. And so, he raises his eyes and he says, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me.
Jesus knows he has experienced that continual fellowship with the Father that has been unbroken. Another evidence, by the way, of the sinlessness of Christ. But because of the people standing around, I said it so that they may believe that you sent me.
There is a purpose here. And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice. He did not whisper. He did not start at a low level and then raise his voice. He cries out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. So here is the miracle. Here is what people love to say, oh, if I could just see this.
And many of those were there. They knew the man. They knew the family. They knew that he had been dead. Clearly, given the Jewish burial rites, he had been wrapped. There's something over his face. I mean, any possibility that this was one of those fainting issues just doesn't make any sense.
You don't wrap somebody up so that it's hard for them to breathe and cover their face with material and deprive them of food and water and expect four days later they should be doing pretty good by now.
That just doesn't make any sense. He had died. Those who had prepared his body knew he was dead. And here he comes forth. Now the initial reaction, we aren't even told what must have been going through the crowd at that time.
The Gospel writers are not seeking to give us the TBN view of things. Because they would have focused on so different aspects of Jesus' miracles. They never focus on those things. Just as the Gospel writers don't do the Mel Gibson thing with the crucifixion.
The crucifixion is a sub-clause in a sentence. And they crucified him. It's not even the main clause of the sentence. They don't focus on the things that many of the people in the world would like focus to be given to us.
No, that's not there. We aren't told anything about the gasps. The weeping that stops and turns to joyous laughter. We aren't told about Mary and Martha's immediate response. We are left to ponder those things on our own.
Did Mary and Martha immediately run up to him? I don't know. I'm not sure I would have. I mean, Jesus has to... Evidently, there is some kind of delay because the man who had died came forth bound hand and foot with wrappings.
Now, he didn't jog out in that situation. And his face is wrapped around with a cloth. He can't evidently get to it. And so, Jesus has to come in. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Evidently, no one was just rushing up immediately to assist him with these things.
They had to be commanded to do it. That makes sense. They weren't expecting this to happen. What would the mourners do? What would have been the reaction? I bet there was a wide variety of reactions. I imagine some people were afraid.
Other people absolutely overjoyed. There would have been just shock on the part of most people. But the reason I draw our attention to this text today is not, again, to narrate the fact that Jesus has power over life and death.
There were some times when Jesus raised the dead. We have Lazarus. We have the widow's son. But you know what? It's difficult for us in our day to realize how much death there was in that culture. How much disease.
We get a sense of it from how often the text narrates the sick being brought to Jesus. But you'll notice Jesus didn't go invade leper colonies. He healed lepers. But there were lots of leper colonies and Jesus didn't just walk in and say, everyone's healed.
And I can't help but remember John 5. There were a lot of people around that pool waiting for the stirring of those waters and only one got healed and he actually didn't even seem very thankful for it.
Why didn't Jesus walk in and everybody's healed? Even in the ministry of Christ, though He healed all kinds of people, even those that the society would not expect God's grace to be given to them, that was not the focus of His miraculous ministry.
These were signs. These were things that He did that pointed to a greater reality just as the feeding of the 5 ,000 had been. There were people starving all over the world. And God could have made it rain down manna on everybody if that was what God's intention and purpose was.
So we could talk about the truth that Jesus has power over life and death, that Jesus allows things to happen for a purpose. These were people He loved. It probably wasn't easy for Lazarus to die first or second time.
It was not easy for Mary and Martha to watch that process and these were people that Jesus loved and He let them go through it without coming to them. That's a reality. It's right there in the face of the text.
And Jesus stayed away when He knew that people He loved were going through pain. It's right there in the text. You can't avoid it. And there are things we can learn from all of that. There are things we need to be reminded of.
It's not like we hadn't had those things told to us in the Psalter. We go through the Psalms here on Wednesday nights. It takes us years to do it. And how many times does the psalmist say, how long, O Lord?
Cries out to the Lord. And you can tell a lengthy period of time has passed and it doesn't seem like any answer is coming. We should know if we just know our Bibles that there are times that in God's purposes we go through deep darkness.
But Jesus does come at His time, in His way, at His place to accomplish His purpose. And the people He loved experienced great joy. What joy there must have been when they finally take that cloth off of Lazarus' face.
And He's alive and He's healthy. And Mary and Martha can hug Him. And they rejoice and there's tears of happiness. The tears of mourning have become tears of happiness. And yet, it's not long until Lazarus realizes the Jews want to kill him too.
And there's going to be difficult times to come. And Mary and Martha and Lazarus are dead and gone today. In fact, Lazarus had to go through that process twice. So we could learn things from all of that.
But I think one of the most amazing things about John chapter 11 is how it proves that the American atheists are not honest people. Because you know what? They can see miracles. There's evidence of God's existence all around us.
Seeing something with the eyes does not change the nature of the heart. And if we will just be serious in believing what the Word of God says about the heart being made of stone, until there is a spiritual change, there is a taking out of a heart of stone, the giving of a heart of flesh.
It's not just, well, my heart was a hard kind of wax and the Lord just turned up the heat a little bit and made it a little bit more pliable. No, that's not the illustration. A heart of stone in the presence of all the warming and wooing in the world will still be what?
A heart of stone. Something else has to happen. It happens beginning in verse 45. Therefore many of the Jews, the ones who had come to Mary and seeing what He did, they believed in Him. Now be careful.
The term believed in Him there is the exact same form that was used back in chapter 8 when people had heard Jesus' words, they believed in Him. It's that aorist tense. It's that basic action. Normally it's a point action.
It isn't always, but normally it's just a point action. But there is no emphasis upon the continuation of the belief. So be careful because in the Gospel of John, that's the same kind of belief that they had in John 2 when they saw a miracle, but Jesus would not entrust Himself, believe Himself to them because He knew what was in man.
So be careful. Some of the Jews who had come to Mary, they knew this was a dead guy that had just risen from the dead. They believed in Him, but some of them, some of the Jews who had come to Mary, they went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
Now, I suppose there, if we wanted to really extend a lot of grace here, we could just simply say, well, you know, those were their religious leaders and this was clearly a religious event and it had religious significance.
I mean, rising from the dead and all. And so they're just going and they're reporting to their religious leaders what had happened. Maybe. Maybe I'm just getting more skeptical the older I get. But we already know that at this point in time, there's always somebody following Jesus around looking for a reason to accuse Him.
Some of them, some of the Jews who had come to Mary, they went away to the Pharisees and they told them the things that Jesus had done. They didn't have far to go to go to the leaders because notice verse 47, and therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened, and it's actually Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin.
They convened the council. They brought together their leaders and were saying, what are we doing? 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.
And here's what I want us to think about this morning. Who are these men? Chief priests. Pharisees. Now, we know there's only supposed to be one high priest and we're going to see in a moment that the Romans had been playing around with that office for decades now.
They realized it was primarily a political thing. And so the Romans, even though a man was supposed to be a high priest his entire life, and then his death would bring about a new high priest, well, unfortunately, that's not what's going on anymore.
The Romans wanted to have control. They wanted to have somebody that was pliable. And so we're going to run into who was high priest that year as Caiaphas. But the chief priests would be those that were closest to him.
Those people who had the greatest power and authority. So the chief priests, the Pharisees, gathered the Sanhedrin together. They gathered in council. Now, these are the most religious men in all of Israel.
Historically, the Pharisees had come out of that movement that we can trace the beginnings of when the temple was being rebuilt and that need to be separated away from to be particularly concerned about holiness and God's law.
All those things are good, but how many times in the history of the church have we seen people who start off with a desire for holiness, a desire to be right in God's sight, and yet it can become so much of a badge of religiosity that we see what the Pharisees had become.
And in Matthew 23, we have that lengthy denunciation of them. Their religion had become externalized and not internalized. But here you have men who possess the Scriptures. They quote the Scriptures. They've memorized many of the Scriptures.
They can sing the Psalms. And people come and say, you know Jesus of Nazareth? You know the man that has made you so angry in the past? You were picking up stones to stone him in the temple not very long ago.
He just raised a man from the dead publicly in front of everybody. Now what would be, just on a logical level, just on a natural level, let's not even talk about the spiritual aspect right now. Just on a natural level, if there's a guy you don't like, but he can raise the dead, and he can heal the blind, and he can heal leprosy, and he can take little loaves and fishes and feed 5 ,000 people.
Don't you think just on a natural level it might be good to reconsider your opposition to the guy? I mean, just, I think back to Pharaoh. I mean, grasshoppers? After a while you sort of get the idea that, you know, just on a basic level, just simple survival would say, okay, man, the depths that people will go to to resist what God's doing in this world.
And here you have some of the most religious men on the planet. And they don't dispute the fact this man is performing many times. They can see them. They couldn't deny them. There's nothing here about, okay, alright, they must be trying to trick us.
They must have had some water in Lazarus' tomb, and he really wasn't dead, and he just had some water. There's nothing about that. There's none of the kind of, we need to debunk this guy. None of that.
He's performing many signs. What are we doing? If we let him go on like this, wait a minute, if he's doing it by the power of God, what can you do about it anyway? 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.
Hmm. What is our place? I think the best way to probably understand that is they're talking about the temple. They'll take away our place because where did people see them in all of their glory? Putting their money into the treasury?
Where did the Pharisees stand and say, I'm glad I'm not like that publican back there? It was the temple. That beautiful edifice that they controlled. What's their real concern? All men will believe in him.
Well, we know what the Romans do when somebody who claims to be the Messiah comes along. We've seen that enough times. We've seen the roads going in and out of Jerusalem populated by dying men on crosses.
We don't want that. So what are we doing? The Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. You know what? I have a hard time thinking these folks really, really, really believed in God when they saw the ultimate power in their world was what?
Rome. That was the greatest power. That was the greatest power the world had ever seen at that point. Controlled a massive swath of the civilized world anyways. And here you have men who though they claim that Yahweh created the heavens, but the Romans rule the earth.
And one of the real subversive elements of the Christian message really was that Rome isn't the ultimate authority. Nations come and nations go. The kingdom of God is the only thing that abides. These men really didn't understand that.
And so they're saying to one another, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? They're wringing their hands. He's doing all these signs and never do they say, maybe we should believe. That's not even an option.
All men will believe in Him. That's them out there. Not us. And if you don't think that people can't get any harder, more hard-hearted, even to the point of their own self-destruction than that, look at verse 49.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It doesn't mean the high priesthood was a yearly thing. It would almost become that thanks to the Romans. There are people who say, ah, see, John had no idea what was going on in Jerusalem and all that stuff.
No, it was the Roman interference, the high priesthood that resulted in that. One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all. Now, in case you're wondering, it's fascinating.
There's historical evidence. There's a fascinating comment about how the Sadducees would speak to one another. It comes from Jewish sources. And this reflects what we find in extra-biblical sources. The Sadducees treated one another in a horrific fashion.
There was no camaraderie. It was very little nice in their conversations with one another. 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.
Now, what is Caiaphas? Yeah, I know he's the high priest. But fundamentally, he's a pragmatist. He's a pragmatist. I mean, the greater good, it's expedient that one man die for the people and the whole nation not perish.
Now, we know what he meant. If this man is truly, by his actions, going to bring the wrath of the Romans down upon us, we know we can't resist them. They're the greatest power on earth right now. We know we can't resist them.
So don't you understand it is expedient, it's appropriate, it's fitting that one man die for the people rather than the whole nation perish. He's a pragmatist. But it's interesting. Now, he did not say this on his own initiative.
He did not say this from himself. He did not speak from himself is literally what it says. 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. One who doesn't believe in the sovereignty of God, that God has a decree, that God is working out His purpose in this world. I don't know how anybody actually reads this and makes any sense out of it.
The early church in Acts 4, once they begin being persecuted, gather together, and they confess their faith that the sovereign God, the despotase, the sovereign God in the actions of Herod and Pilate and the Jews and the Romans did exactly what His hand had predestined to occur.
That was their faith. They saw that. They understood that. And here in the words of a pragmatist, a hard-hearted political pragmatist, because that's what Caiaphas was. In the words of a hard-hearted political pragmatist, John says...
He didn't say this from himself. I think Caiaphas would have disagreed. I think Caiaphas would have said, what am I? A puppet? Am I on a string? Is God just making me do things? How many of you have ever heard that one when you're trying to talk about the sovereignty of God?
A few times? Caiaphas spoke as he desired to speak, but in his speaking, the Scriptures tell us he does not speak from himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied. Now, did he get up that morning going, oh, I'm going to prophesy today.
Of course not. Here we have a situation where God uses a man, a sinful man, a man rejecting God's purposes for his life by the way he's living, and yet because of the position that he's in, God uses him and he prophesies.
And what does he prophesy? 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.
Now, if you ask Caiaphas about this, he would have looked at you very blankly. And yet we have the clear indication that in his words, there is a prophecy about the nature of the death of Jesus. And it wasn't just going to be for the Jews only, but for all those who were scattered abroad.
The children of God who are scattered abroad, his death would bring them together into one. Is that not very much what we saw in the previous chapter, chapter 10? What was Jesus' words again? I have sheep who are not of this fold.
I must bring them together as... How does the shepherd do that? By giving his life for the sheep. What did Jesus say to the Jews who opposed him in John 10? You're not my sheep. And here, the very next chapter, testimony from an enemy.
But because he's the high priest, he prophesies that Jesus' death would be the means by which the children of God scattered abroad would be gathered together into one. We immediately see the fulfillment of this in the mission of the Gentiles.
And here we sit this morning as continued fulfillment of this text. You want scattered abroad? From the point of view of someone living in 1st century Jerusalem, we're about as scattered abroad as you can get.
We are a long ways away. Could not even begin to imagine the extent of the Gospel outreach. And yet, what was necessary? What was necessary for us to be gathered together as one as the children of God in this place?
So, from that day on, they plan together to kill. Isn't that evil? I mean, can we even think of a greater evil that mankind has committed than when the sinless Son of God, giver of life, was nailed to a cross?
And yet, is this not a very part of the fulfillment of the prophecy? Does this not show what God's intention was? These men did what they did even in the light of Jesus having raised Lazarus from the dead.
I don't know what else could possibly prove in its fullness the doctrine of total depravity and the sovereignty of God. But there you have it. God has a plan. God has a purpose. And unless by His Spirit He changes that heart, He takes out that heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh, the more light to which a person is exposed, the blinder they become.
From that day on, they plan together to kill Him. From their perspective, oh, they were sneaking around in the dark. No one knew. Jesus knew. And eventually, everybody knew because the church could gather together and say, God, what they did when Herod and Pilate and the Romans and the Jews were gathered together against You, Holy Sir, what they did, Your will predestined to occur.
It came from Your hand. That's why we praise You. That cross was no accident. Just as Jesus' delay in coming had a purpose, so too, even doing that event where it was, when it was, in the audience, with the audience that it had, all had the purpose to bring eventually about what?
That hour. My hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. The hour has come. And the whole reason that you and I have eternal life today, we can pray, we can enter into the presence of God, we have justification, we have Christ's righteousness imputed to us, what does it all go back to?
It is necessary that I go to Jerusalem, be betrayed in the hands of men, suffer, die, and rise again the third day. Not a mistake. God's purpose and God's plan all found clearly in harmony with one another right here in the pages of Scripture.
And so to us today, if you sit before me and you testify that Jesus Christ is your Lord, you have bowed the knee before Him, you have experienced His forgiveness, you have eternal life. But if you sit here today and you have never bowed the knee in repentance and faith toward Jesus Christ, He is the only source of life.
And He said in John 5 that some day the dead will hear His voice and they will come forth to two ends, either judgment or everlasting life. Hear His voice today. He is, as He said, the resurrection and the life.
Those who come to Him have always found Him to be a perfect Savior. Let us pray together. Indeed, our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for preserving this Word for us and its message to us this day.
And we rejoice to remember that Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, is the resurrection and the life. And that anyone who believes in Him will never die. Oh, we know that we will experience physical death, but there is far more to fear of a second death, that spiritual death.
And so, Lord, we thank You that You have drawn Your people unto Yourself. We thank You that we gather here today in the name of Christ and we rejoice in the perfect provision He's made for us. But we also pray for all those who in our midst would hear these words by other means.
Those who have not yet bowed the knee in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ. May You show Yourself powerful. May You reveal Jesus Christ as the Lord of glory, the Giver of life. And may those who hunger and thirst because Your Spirit has worked within them come to Him in repentance and faith.
We pray in Christ's name.