John, pt. 70 | John 11:45-57

Well, at this time, take your copy of the Scriptures and turn with me to John 11.

John 11, we will consider verses 45 -57.

John 11, verses 45 -57, and this is our 70th message in this glorious gospel.

Let me open up in prayer. Our Father, thank you for Jesus Christ.

Thank you for sending your Son. Thank you for your Holy Spirit.

God, I pray right now that you will use the spirit that indwells me, your spirit that causes me to walk in your statutes and to keep your rules.

That you will use that spirit to speak forth through your people and to feed us,

Lord. We are malnourished in a world full of sin and activities,

Lord. The bloodthirsty crave death, and we've seen that yesterday.

But if we are truly aware, we know that this is a great plague upon us.

That America is a cursed nation, and we can tell by the rampant acts of what's taken place.

Lord, we ask that you bless us, your people, to shine like lights in the world.

But right now, God, we come to hear from you. Please, in Jesus' name, speak to us.

Amen. Let's begin with the text. Again, in verse 45,

John 11, verses 45 -57. Many of the

Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary, had seen what he did, speaking of Jesus, believed in him.

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

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. 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.

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.

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 his disciples. 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 some of the chief priests and Pharisees had given order that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they may arrest him.

Our theme for this Lord's Day is the plot to kill Jesus. And my proposition is this.

God works through evil man to accomplish his purpose.

Turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 4. And in Acts chapter 4, it's coming off of the heels of Acts chapter 3, where Peter and John seize a lame man by the gate called

Beautiful, begging for alms. And Peter gazes into his eyes and says to him,

Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus, stand up and walk.

A crowd forms. Persecution comes to them too.

They are arrested. And this portion of chapter 4 that I want to read to you, verses 23 to 28, is when they are released.

Verse 23, when they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and everything that is in them, who through the mouth of the father

David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why do the

Gentiles rage in the people's plot and veins? Speaking of Psalm chapter 2, verse 26,

The kings of this earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the

Lord and against his anointed. For truly in the city they were gathered together against your holy servant

Jesus, whom you appointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the

Gentiles and the people of Israel. Right here, verse 28, listen. To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

My dear friends, the purpose of God is to save a people.

And the death of Jesus Christ is the final piece to the puzzle.

It's the final piece to the purpose. However, in order for that to take place, the plot to kill him must come first.

And that is what we're going to look at today. That's what we're considering in our outline.

We're going to see that the raising of Lazarus from the dead was the straw that broke the camel's back.

We're going to see this play out according to God's time clock.

Now don't be scared, there's six points. And I'm going to do my best to not overstate the hour.

And if I do go a minute or so over, please give me grace. We're going to see the division, the confusion, the prophecy, the plot, the time, and the place.

So point number one, the division. Point number two, the confusion. Point number three, the prophecy.

Point number four, the plot. Point number five, the time. And point number six, the place.

And as we transition. Two weeks ago, we got to see

Lazarus come out of the tomb. I want you to notice, just for kicks sake, that Lazarus did not write a book about heaven.

We have all these people today who claim to die and have some kind of experience and come back from the dead and write a book that's a world's best seller and they're collecting the money.

And none of these books seem to add up to be the same. People are always using the things of God as a way to financially provide for themselves.

Lazarus did not. Paul did not. My dear friends, there are evil men in this world who portray to be

Christians. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. Also, when preaching expositionally,

Lazarus stays in the tomb a lot longer than four days. I think he was in the tomb for us for about 21 days.

The raising of Lazarus from the dead was the seventh sign in this gospel. John tells us that he'd done a lot more miracles.

But John particularly points out these seven as a way to point the hearers of this book, the readers of this book, then and now, to show us who

Jesus is. The first was Jesus turning water into wine.

Second, healing an official's son. Third, healing a lame man. Fourth, walking on water.

Fifth, feeding over 20 ,000 people. Sixth, healing a blind man.

And the seventh, which is the straw that broke the camel's back, as we're going to see, is the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Theologically, we saw that the raising of Lazarus from the dead was a type of our future resurrection on the last day when the trumpet sounds and Jesus Christ returns.

When he is coming and his foot is going to stand again on this earth physically.

Tells us that the dead in Christ will rise. And what we saw throughout these weeks of learning about what took place with Lazarus, that that is a type.

And that the anti -type is speaking foremost of Christ, which is the first fruits, and then you and I on that last day.

Just have that in mind as we enter into this, because we're going to see another type, anti -type.

Point number one, the division. This is taken from verses 45 through 46, but let's first look at verse 45.

It says, many of the Jews, that means not all of them. Many of the

Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary. So look over at verse 31.

It says, when the Jews who were with her, speaking of Mary, in the house, saw her,

I mean, counseling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out to follow her, supposing that she was going to the tomb.

So this is speaking about many of those who followed after her.

Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, what

Jesus did in raising Lazarus from the dead. Look what it says, believed in him.

Many of those who saw that believed in him. Not everyone who walked to follow after Mary, but many of them.

Quite a few people who saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, believed in him.

This division that we see occurring in the text is not the first time that we see division occurring in the

Gospel of John. John chapter 7, verses 30 and 31 says this. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

Yet many of the people believed in him. And they said, when the

Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?

There's several other scriptures that we can go to that we've already walked through to see division always occurs when it comes to Christ.

We're also warned by Jesus that division would come. Matthew chapter 5, verse 11 says this.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

And some of us have seen this kind of division among our own families as well as Jesus said would happen.

Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10.

Let's read verses 34 through 39. Matthew chapter 10, verses 34 through 39.

This is Jesus speaking. He says, do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth.

I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Stop right there. What is a sword for? To divide. To separate.

Verse 35. I have come to set a man against his father.

This is hard to hear. Amen. A daughter against her mother and a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law.

And a person's enemy will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Parents, that's hard to hear. We need our priorities straight.

Christ first. 38. And whoever does not take up his cross, whoever is not willing to follow after Jesus no matter what, guess what?

Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. But whoever finds, whoever finds his life will lose it.

And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

So if God is sovereign, what is this division for?

Concerning an answer, allow me to give you something to think about. And while you're doing that, please be turning to 1

John 3. And the ultimate sense on the last day, but also when

I hear not yet, for us right now, it is to reveal who the children of God are versus who the children of the devil are.

You see, every one of us when we're born, we're born slaves to sin. We're born slaves of the devil, children of the devil.

Hence why we need to be born again, right? Y 'all watched my debate this past week, right? I feel like I took the guy's lunch money.

Look at 1 John. We're going to read verses 1 and 2 and verses 9 through 10. 1

John 3, look at 1 and 2. See what kind of love that the

Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.

And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God's children now.

And what we will be, speaking of that last day, has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

Again, this is that last day, that resurrection of the dead. Look at verses 9 and 10.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

So it's not saying that you don't mess up, that you don't commit a sin. It's saying that you don't have an habitual lifestyle of sin, that you practice in sin.

This is your practice. No one born of God makes a practice of sin. For, here's why,

God's seed abides in him. Speaking of this, the Word of God. The Word of God abides in you.

And he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Right here, verse 10.

By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil, whoever does not practice righteousness.

Law keeping. And regeneration. We're given grace.

We're given faith. And we're given the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36, verse 27 tells us that this

Holy Spirit causes us to walk in the statues. If you're not practicing righteousness, guess what you don't have?

The Holy Spirit. And that is the evidence. We're not children of God. That does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Brother here is talking about the Christians. This belief in our text,

John chapter 11, that we just read, verse 45.

This belief seems to be an authentic faith. It says many believed in him.

Nowhere in this paragraph do we see any indication of their belief being rejected, doubted in any way.

And we've seen this in the text, right? We've seen this in the Gospel of John. We've seen where many people believed in him and their belief was rejected.

Whether they believed in him because of signs and wonders or rather like we see in John chapter 8,

Jesus says, you're a child of the devil. And all you want to do is the will of your father, the devil, you're liars just like him.

Jesus doesn't pull punches. John chapter 8, verse 44, he tells them, your father speaking to the

Jews is the devil. And in as much as their belief was authentic, this is a division.

And on the other side of that division, on the other side of that coin, their unbelief was just as authentic.

They really and truly did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, which is why, well, which is the beginning of their confusion.

Look at verse 46. But some of them went to the

Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. This group of Jews who went after Mary, some believed, but some of them who saw

Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead went and told the Pharisees. Point number two, the confusion.

This is taken from verses 47 through 48, but let's just begin with verse 47. So the chief priest and the

Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do for this man performs many signs.

Confusion and the way confusion does sometimes leads to paranoia. Paranoia, paranoia, right?

This is why, you know, like, you know, we like in our time, you know, like growing up, there's certain drugs that you can do that will leave you paranoid.

They leave you paranoid because after you do these drugs, you're confused. You alter your reality.

Right? And therefore you get paranoid. You get a knock at the door. It's UPS. Next thing you know, you're peeping out the windows.

Is it the popo? Right? Hallelujah. Was I the only one? Right. Confusion leads to paranoia.

These people are confused. They're paranoid. They believe that he wasn't the

Christ. And yet because of these signs, they would say that these tricks that he's doing, he was leading many astray.

The chief priest and the Pharisees gathered together a council because they wanted to know what to do.

They said, what are we to do? The council here is speaking about the

Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the Supreme Court in ancient Israel.

And it was made up of 70 men plus the high priest during the second temple period.

Their complaint was for this man, listen, performs many signs.

Stop doing good. He's healing people. Who does he think that he is?

He's feeding the hungry. Who does he think that he is?

This man here is speaking about Jesus. And we saw this in John chapter 9, like they refused to say his name.

This man. They would not refer to him by his name. John chapter 9 verse 22 gives us a glimpse of this, right?

It says the religious leaders speaking, they said, we know that God has spoke to Moses.

But as for this man, speaking of Christ, we do not know where he comes from. Look at verse 48 of chapter 11.

It says, for if we let him, excuse me, for if we let him go on like this, like what?

Healing people, doing good things. How dare he?

If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And the

Romans will come and take away our place speaking about their position and our nation speaking about Israel.

For those of you who may not be aware, Rome at that time in history had taken over the known world, the oikomene.

And Rome had a special relationship with gods. Whenever they would capture a nation, every nation at this time had certain gods that they worship, gods that they would form from their own hands, chop down a tree, use part of the wood for a fire, and use part of the wood to bow down and worship it after they carved out their image.

Rome would try to their best to not disregard their gods. And they would try to see whether the gods that they were worshiping resembled the gods that they were worshiping in Greek mythology.

Oh, this god kind of reminds me of Hades. This god over here kind of reminds me of Zeus.

This god over here reminds me of, I can't remember any more names, right? But it's just one of those weird names, right?

And so they would adopt it and they would kind of conform it. However, they did not do this with the

Jews. For some reason, they respected the Jews concerning their god because their god was old.

They respected ancient religions. The Jews here were under what was called, in layman's terms, the

Roman Peace, Latin, which is the Pax Romanis. They, the

Jews, speaking of their place and position, were allowed to govern the nation, the nation of Israel, insofar as they obeyed

Rome and tipped their hat to Caesar. The one thing that Rome seemed to detest at this time was newer religions, religions that weren't ancient or that they could not find that would identify themselves with their gods.

So the Jews were afraid that if the nation came to Christ, it would be seen as a new religion and therefore

Rome would destroy their nation and take their positions away from them.

Now, I hope that kind of puts things in perspective of why they were paranoid.

A lot of times we can read over this and not know the history and just think, I don't know what's going on here. But us as Reformed Baptists understand that Christianity is not a new religion.

We would understand that Abraham was saved under the Old Covenant through the New Covenant by the works of Jesus Christ.

That Abraham was looking forward to a promise given to him by God and if you look at that promise, it identifies

Jesus Christ. Abraham believed in Jesus. In order for Christianity to be true,

Christianity has to be old. It has to be ancient. Its root has to be found in Abraham.

And that's what the Bible teaches us. Now concerning Israel, there is a type -antitype relationship because the nation of Israel is a type of the people of God that is earthly.

While the church is the antitype, it's what Israel is pointed to. The nation of Israel is the shadow.

The church is the substance. The church is the eschatological

Israel. It's the heavenly. It's what

Hebrews 12 tells us that we have come to a mountain that cannot be touched. The heavenly

Jerusalem. That's what we're in today. My dear friends, we, the church, are the people of God.

We are Israel. Don't ever let anyone confuse that with you.

However, they, these Jewish leaders, had no such understanding. To them, they had to get rid of Jesus before Rome saw that their people, the

Jews, were following after Jesus. Their confusion had roots that dug into the historical time and context of their day.

Point number three, the prophecy. The prophecy is taken from verses 49 through 52.

Let's read verses 49 through 50 to begin with. Let me get some more.

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.

Here, Caiaphas is trying to end their confusion by telling them the play.

The play that is to kill Jesus so that this worry of Rome, destroying them, will not take place.

Now what Caiaphas didn't know was that he was prophesying.

He was speaking in such a way. Look at verses 51 and 52.

He did not say this of his own accord. This is John's commentary of what

Caiaphas said. John is an apostle. We're told in Acts chapter 2, verses 42, that we are to devote ourselves to the teachings of the apostles.

This is John's commentary. Devote yourself to what's being said here.

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 to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

My dear friends, these two verses gives the New Testament credibility that God can speak, that God still speaks through donkeys.

We saw God speak through Balaam's donkey in the Old Testament, how God can speak,

He can do whatever He wants to. You don't have to be a Christian. You don't have to be a follower of Yahweh for God to speak through you.

This high priest prophesied definite atonement. Definite atonement meaning that the death of Jesus was for a certain people, and that people are the children of God scattered abroad, nation of Israel in all nations of the world.

And that death was going to gather them all together. You might say, well, how?

Through the preaching of the gospel. Do you understand this? This is why the

Great Commission has given. To go out into the world to spread this word, so that those who are

His, those whom He has died for, will hear and follow Him. And yet we stubborn

Americans, I just don't think I have the gift. Neither do I.

We saw this already, this gathering together type of conversation in John chapter 10.

Turn there with me, John chapter 10. This is speaking about Jesus talking about His sheep, and that His sheep will hear

His voice, and then they will follow Him. And it's through the gospel.

So if you look at verse 15, 15 is specifically speaking about the Jews, that nation of Israel.

So it's just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep.

He's laying down His life for some Jews. Not all of them.

His sheep. I don't have time to go all through John again to explain the sheep pen.

But look at verse 16. I have other sheep that are not of this foe.

Speaking of Israel. The nation of Israel. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock, one shepherd.

One flock, one shepherd. Romans chapter 3 verse 29 says this. Paul speaking,

Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the

God of the Gentiles also? Yes. Gentiles also.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. We'll read verses 1 through 6.

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner, I love how he puts himself in those positions.

A slave, a servant, a prisoner. A prisoner of Christ Jesus on the behalf of you

Gentiles. Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.

And how the mystery was made known to me by revelation.

Again, Paul is an apostle. We are to devote ourselves to the teachings of the apostle.

What he is about to say, my dear friends, devote yourself to. As I have written briefly.

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ.

Which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations and has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the

Spirit. Here it is. Verse 6. This mystery is that the

Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise of Jesus Christ through the gospel.

Chapter 2. He builds his case that God through Jesus Christ and his death has torn down the dividing wall of hostility and he has made the two

Jew and Gentile one in Christ. My dear friends, if you are a

Christian, you're in Christ. There is no difference. We kind of separated ourselves from race.

There's no difference. Our skin color may look different. My dear friends, if we're in Christ, we are one.

We are brothers and sisters. And the one thing you don't want to be as a Christian is hating your brother.

First John tells us if you do so, you're walking in darkness. You're not following Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as a racist

Christian. My dear friends, the blood of Jesus Christ unites the two, the

Jew and the Gentile into one body, the body of Christ, which makes the church

Israel. Definite atonement means that the death of Jesus was only, a lot of people don't like that, for those that the

Father chose. And this takes us back to the covenant of redemption that the

Father chose before in the beginning, before all things.

He chose to save a people. And in time, first century, what we're reading about in our text today, he sends his son to live a life they could not live and to take upon himself the punishment that they deserve.

And he was buried and he rose again from the grave. And that the Holy Spirit applies the purpose through a means by which most of us are afraid to walk through.

That is the preaching of the gospel. If no one preaches the gospel, no one is saved.

How dare we? Remember, God the Father does not, excuse me,

God the Father does not choose a certain people to save while the Son of God dies for a different people, leaving the

Holy Spirit not knowing who to apply the purpose to. God is not a God of confusion.

He's not paranoid. He hasn't taken some psychedelic drug and he doesn't know what's going on. But one purpose of God is definite.

It is their purpose, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and they will accomplish it.

Point number four, the plot. Taken from verses 53 and 54.

Chapter 11, 53 and 54. So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death.

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.

Now concerning the plot to kill Jesus, we all know what happens. One of his very own disciples,

Judas Iscariot, will betray him into the hands of the religious leaders for 30 pieces of silver.

And as we ponder this horrific event, we also have to keep in mind

God's sovereign plan, that this is how the purpose will be accomplished.

No death, no salvation. Without the death of our sinless

Savior, we are still in our sins. Jesus in our text at this time is days away from the triumphant entrance, as we will see in John 12, verse 12.

And that means that he is days away from his death. He will now, in our text, focus his attention and his energy on his disciples.

Point number five, the time, verse 55.

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. The Passover of the

Jews was at hand. And many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the

Passover to purify themselves. This purification was important.

They had to go up there days before to make sure that they were purified so that they could partake in this feast.

There would be different kind of rituals of washings and baptisms and stuff like that. Certain things that they could do and not do.

They had to make sure that their heart was right. But by mentioning the

Passover is at hand, this is telling us that he is days away.

This is the third Passover mentioned in the Gospel of John. How long was

Jesus' ministry? Yeah, three, three and a half years. One Passover a year.

The Bible records for us his ministry. John has laid out for us three Passovers.

The first Passover was mentioned in John chapter 2, verse 13.

John 2, 13 says this. The Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

The second Passover was mentioned in John chapter 6, verse 4.

John chapter 6, verse 4 says this. The Passover of the feast of the

Jews was at hand. My dear friends, the

Passover in this Gospel is a big deal. It's a big deal.

John is purposely writing these things so that we may believe that Jesus is the

Christ and that by believing we may have life in his name. John chapter 20, verse 31.

First John, well, before I read that, let me just say that concerning the

Passover, it has been a major theme throughout this whole book.

A major theme. John chapter 1, verse 29.

The next day he, speaking of John the Baptist, saw

Jesus coming toward him and said, listen, Behold the

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Speaking of the Passover. The Passover being that Jesus being our

Passover means that God passes over our sins.

I think sometimes we as Christians forget what that means. Right now, we're here in Tallahumma, Tennessee.

We are a Christian, which means we are saints. Remember, 1

John, it says those who are practicing sinning, don't live a life of habitual sinning.

Because it cannot say don't ever sin. Because 1 John tells you that if you sin, confess your sins.

And God is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins. And it says don't sin. Look at me, don't sin.

But when you sin, confess your sins. And never say you have not sinned.

And he's not speaking out of two sides of his mouth. My dear friends, we live in a reality.

It's called a saint and sinner reality. Where, yes, we are positionally righteous before God, and yet we still live in the flesh.

We still make mistakes. We still break God's laws.

When we keep him, guess who's done that for us? The Holy Spirit, Ezekiel 26, verse 37.

When you break him, that is not the Holy Spirit. That is whenever you've hindered the

Holy Spirit. When you're stiff -arming the Holy Spirit, saying, I got this.

My dear friends, you got nothing. Nothing.

We cannot do this outside of a great work of God in us.

And because we are this saint, because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, on that day,

God is going to pass over our sins because of what Christ did for us.

Not because of what you've done. You've done nothing. But because of what

Christ has done. Braden, you all came to that conference.

He mentioned that the firstborn could have been 20, and the firstborn could have been a day old.

Whether he was 20 or whether he was a day old on that day in Egypt when the first Passover took place, the son, whether he's 20 or a day old, did not slaughter the lamb, did not take the blood and put it on the doorpost and the lentil.

The father of that son did it for the child.

If you haven't heard Braden Patterson's message on that, I urge you to go listen to it. Fantastic message.

The son did not apply the blood. The father applied the blood.

You and I need someone. We need someone to apply the blood to slaughter the lamb.

The Bible says that it pleased the Lord to crush him, speaking of Jesus Christ, that the father crushed his son in your place.

And because of that, he is our Passover. And if that was done for everyone, there's no one going to hell.

Every one of us are children of God. It was done for them. They had nothing to do with it.

If you're a child of God now, understand this. The blood was applied to your house.

This last Passover is also where we see Jesus institute the

Lord's Supper. Remember the type antitypes? The Passover was a type that finds its fulfillment in Jesus, the antitype, not the

Lord's Supper. The Passover finds its fulfillment in Christ. Jesus was the one who was crushed for our iniquities.

His blood is what covers us. The Passover was a shadow pointing to something greater, which is

Jesus, which is why when John saw Jesus, he said, My dear friends, please don't take this the wrong way.

This is why coming to church is so important. To neglect the coming together is to neglect your sanctification.

You say, Jeff, I'm struggling with sins. I cannot overcome them.

I said, my dear friend, you haven't been to church in four weeks. You haven't been to church in a month.

What are you doing? You are hindering your growth. This is what

God used to sanctify us. This is what He's used in the preach word, this meal to grow us into the image of His Son.

This is what He has ordained. This is it. This is what

He has ordained for us. And my dear friends, there's no Christianity outside of the gathering together and public worship.

You and Jesus do not have your own thing going. And if you think you do, my dear friends, it's not working out.

There is no Christianity outside of the public gathering of the church. We are the body of Christ.

Outside of the body of Christ, there is no Christianity. We are of the faith.

I am not the church. We are the church. We are the church.

I am a temple of the Holy Spirit. I am but the mouth.

The mouth needs a body. The mouth needs eyes. It needs a nose. It needs hands.

It needs arms. It needs legs. When we gather together corporately, that's what we are.

The body of Jesus Christ. Meaning that the death of our gathering, which our government tried to make happen in 2020, that the death of our gathering together, excuse me, meaning the death of our gathering together will be the end of the

Christian faith. It's not going to end. We cannot let anything keep us from meeting together.

How important is it? How important is your sanctification? Ask that question. How important is it for you to grow in holiness?

Oh, but I've got these sins. My dear friends, this is where God grows us.

This is where God disciples us. Here in this moment. That's why it's so important for us to meet here and worship

God as one body of Jesus Christ. Excuse me.

The Apostle Paul will go on to tell us in Hebrews to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together.

Picture this. In the same way, just as in your mother's womb,

God knitted you together. Right? Can we say amen to that? Jeremiah said that in my mother's womb, you had knitted me together.

In the same way, just as in your mother's womb, when God knitted you together, this, our gathering together is where the

Lord is knitting us into the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. Here in this gathering is where we sit under God's word.

And those who are baptized partake in God's supper. And in our text,

Jesus is days away from instituting what we are about to partake in after the message.

The supper is a means of God's grace. You say, Jeff, it's just ordinary.

Yeah, that's why it's called the ordinary means of grace. And God uses ordinary people like us to do extraordinary things like preach the gospel and see the lost come to Christ.

And God is using ordinary means like this donkey behind the pulpit proclaiming to you, standing as a prophet of God by telling you what the word of God says to grow you in holiness and for you afterwards to partake in His meal.

My dear friends, if you're struggling with sin, devote yourself. Devote yourself to this. Do not forsake this.

Point number six, the place. Verses 56 and 57. Five minutes.

Be with me, Jesus. 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? 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. Notice with me. They are gathered in the temple. They are gathered in the house of God plotting and seeking the death of God.

They are gathered in the house of God plotting and seeking the death of the

God that they claim to worship. While the one who will betray

Him into their hands is being ministered by Him, by Jesus at that moment.

And all of this is a part of God's purpose to save a people. God uses evil man to accomplish

His purpose. To save the educated and the uneducated, the

Greek and the barbarian, the free and the slave.

Paul will go on to tell us that Christ came into this world to save sinners.

He came into this world to save liars. He came into this world to save thieves.

He came into this world to save adulterers. He came into this world to save blasphemers.

He came into this world to save covetousness. Those who are coveters.

Did I say that right? He came into this world to save children who have been disobedient to their parents.

Look at me, children. He came into this world to save sinners. He came into this world who refused to believe upon God.

Even though creation declares His glory, He came into this world to save sinners.

That's what He came for. And when He entered into this world,

He lived the life that we could not live. And He took upon Himself the death of sinners as a substitute in your place.

Were you a sinner? He came into this world to save us.

And our response is actually a gift. And it is to turn to God by looking to Jesus Christ in faith.

It's that you stop trusting in yourself. You stop worshiping these false gods that you've carved with your mind.

And that you turn from them. And when you turn from them, you turn to God by trusting in Jesus Christ.

My dear friends, that's how simple it is. And if the

Bible tells us that that message is foolishness to those who are perishing, let's not get it twisted.

That atonement is definite. It will accomplish its purpose.

The word of God does not return void. If you're His and you have not responded, do so today because today is the day of salvation.

We are available to anyone who wants to talk. Let's pray.

Oh God, Lord, we pray that you have mercy on us, that you will not give to us what we deserve, but that you will have grace on us, that you will give to us that which we do not deserve.

And that is granting to us the forgiveness of sins, which is by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, removing our heart of stone and giving to us a heart of flesh so that we may believe and be filled with your

Holy Spirit. Oh Lord, how we get that so twisted.

We ask for your grace and mercy to be upon us. Lord, if you have called someone today, please put it into their hearts to speak with one of us.

And now as we approach this meal, Lord, I pray if there's any in here today who have not been practicing righteousness, but have been practicing lawlessness, even though they are a

Christian in their own, they're refusing to repent or prevent them from this table.

If I knew who they were, I would prevent them. Prevent them from this table. I would trust in you for that.

But Lord, everyone in here has sinned this week, myself, probably the most.

Lord, help us as we partake in this meal to trust in your forgiveness, because although we have sinned, we have looked to you and asked for forgiveness and are trusting in your spirit to help us keep your word.