John 11:45-53 (The Enemy Who Prophesied)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you. I think one of my favorite attributes of God and you know How can you have a favorite because he's perfect in every single one of his attributes, right?

But I think probably one of my favorite attributes is his sovereignty. I Mean, I love God's love and I'm thankful for his justice. I'm fearful and tremble over his holiness. I adore his mercy and his grace.

I'm in all of his purity and righteousness. Blown away by his omniscience omnipotence omnipresence in a seiyuji. Those are big words. It just means God is infinite in every realm. But for me knowing that God is sovereign brings all of his power all of his ability all of his care all of his love all of his kingship perfectly into the realm of my tangible existence.

It brings all of God's attributes into the place where I can experience them. For instance, I can sleep knowing that God is sovereign. Because if God is in control of all things and that nothing happens outside of God's will.

Then what do I have to fear? What do I have to fear? What do we have to fear if God is in control? We can rest knowing that nothing is going to thwart his plan. We can rest knowing that everything we do experience is What God wanted us to experience?

That sometimes that's hard to swallow but if you get that if you understand that nothing is accidental to God the pain the pleasure the good things the bad things the Trying things the easy things all of it is from the hand of God.

James says that there's nothing that comes to us. That's not a good gift from our Heavenly Father. Who's the father of lights? Everything that we've been given is from God for us. And if we can understand that then there's no pain or pleasure that will master you.

Because you know who God is. And you know that he's in control. Now we see the sovereignty of God play out in various different ways in the Old Testament. Not just in in in that sort of general way. We see it where he uses people who are who we may want to call saints to do his work.

And then we see him using people who are scoundrels and sinners. We see God speaking through a zealous prophet and yet we see him communicating through a stubborn donkey. God is totally wonderfully beautifully majestically in control over all things.

There's many examples in Scripture of this but today I think we're gonna get to examine one of the most poignant examples of God's sovereignty in Speaking through someone who hates Christ and yet proclaims one of the clearest examples of the gospel that can be found anywhere in the Bible a Man who doesn't believe in Jesus many wants to see Jesus murdered and yet proclaims the gospel in such a way that convicts him convicts the nation and ministers to you and I today.

Today I want us to accomplish three things. I Want us to see that Jesus had an intended effect. Like we said last week Jesus does things to get an effect. He does things to to push people to make a decision either a strongly opposed to Jesus decision or a strongly for Jesus Decision, but no matter what he does something to divide we will see that today.

The second thing we're gonna see is how?

One group.

Who was pushed further so far into their hatred that they're ready to murder Jesus and. This is sort of the climax of that. We've been building towards that in John 2 John 5 John 7 John 10. Now it's getting serious.

It was serious before now, it's really serious. This is what happens when you speak in hyperbole sometimes.

And.

Then the third thing I want us to do is I want us to see how This man who hated Christ declared the gospel. We're gonna look at these three things the effect that Jesus produced the Execution that they proposed and the enemy who prophesied the gospel.

So if you will turn with me to John 11 44 through 53 as we examine this text together. John 11. Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him but some of them went to the Pharisees and Told them the things which Jesus had done.

Therefore the chief priest and the Pharisees convened a council and We're saying what are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this all men will believe in him. They talk like that's a problem 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 take into account that it is expedient for you that one man died for the people and that the whole nation not perish.

Now he did not say this on his own initiative 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 into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

So from that day on they planned together to kill him.

Let's pray.

Lordly, thank you for your sovereign hand. Your sovereign control your sovereign plan. It's been three and Almost a half years of ministry for you in this passage. You're one week away from your death at many points.

You were threatened but your hour had not yet come and Lord we know that you sovereignly stewarded your life your ministry and Even the response that people would give you so that you would not die a Second earlier or a second later than you had planned.

Lord as we see this council being convened here in John 11 Where the high priest is involved. Where now there's a national manhunt being put out for you Lord. We don't look at you as the victim. We look at you as the one who has your own life in your hands.

Who willingly gave it up. Who joyfully gave it up. Who purposefully gave it up? So that you could bring many sons to glory. Lord, we love you. We praise you. We ask that you write these truths on our heart today.

In Christ's name. Amen. As we said last week Jesus does many things in order to get a reaction out of people. We see earlier in the synoptic Gospels. He ate with sinners in Luke 15 and he does this for a twofold purpose.

He ate with sinners so that he could bless them and so he could say salvation has come into the house of Matthew today or Zacchaeus today, but he also eats with sinners in order to infuriate the Pharisees.

It's a twofold purpose. He has a woman wash his feet in A Pharisee well-to-do Pharisees house. She washes his feet with her hair. She washes his feet with her tears. He did that to show that. Even a scandalous woman who all the Pharisees would have written off as being too far too far gone.

Way outside the kingdom of God. He did that to show that no one is too far gone for his kingdom and he did that to infuriate the religious people who thought that they were the ones who could. Who could had the keys to the kingdom of heaven and they could say that woman's not worthy.

They were too far gone. He did both of those Reactions and we did that reaction to provoke one to love him one to hate him. He talked to the dishonorable Samaritan woman an entire town gets saved and then his disciples are confused.

He he healed someone on the Sabbath in John chapter 5 in that one ironically. It's the one who heals him who turns on him and turns him into the Pharisees like Judas before Judas. He tells them to eat his flesh and drink his blood in John chapter 6 and some of them say that's a hard statement.

Who in the world could follow that and they run away from Jesus and they they write Jesus off and then his disciples say where? Can we go? You're the one who has the words of life. He opened the tomb of Lazarus and let out All of the chemistry that had been brewing in that tomb that we talked about last week.

Some were offended some.

Believed.

Jesus doing everything that he's doing in the Gospels to produce an effect he either wants you to love him and to lay down your life to lay down your cross to follow him or to pick up Your cross and follow him or he wants you to hate him and cheer crucify him crucify him.

There is no middle ground with Jesus. That's what we learn. It is Jesus the one who said That if you're wish that you were either hot or cold because if you were lukewarm I will spew out of my mouth what I.

Find so.

Fascinating disturbing and shocking is That Jesus's entire ministry was about eliminating the middle and yet I would say the vast majority of the church today and lives there. The vast majority of the church lives in the lukewarm apathetic mediocre half-hearted Affections for Christ the sort of get out of hell.

Jeep free card the sort of fire insurance the sort of I raised my hand. I did my part now. I'm gonna live however, I want that's the majority of Christianity in America today. Jesus did not even allow the possibility for that kind of Christianity to exist.

I think I think that we've forgotten in some ways who Christ is. I pray it's not this church. I'm speaking more generally more broad now, but I think that when we get to that place we've forgotten who Jesus is.

That he said I didn't come for peace. I came to bring the sword. I came to turn father away from son mother away from daughter. I came to divide he says these things and We see that in this passage verse 45 and 46 says therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and Saw what he had done believed in him.

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which he had done again. We see a twofold response. Now perhaps This twofold response is the same groups of people that we saw last week.

The ones who said look at Jesus look how much he loves Lazarus. Maybe they were the ones that believed here and Maybe the ones who called him a hypocrite basically and said the same one who opened the eyes of the blind couldn't he'd healed this man Lazarus, maybe they were the ones who didn't believe.

We don't know how this split up. Maybe there was some from the first camp that moved over to the second camp. We don't know. But what we do know is that it says that many of them believed. The majority of the crowd that was there at the tomb and Bethany were transferred out of death to life.

They believed what Jesus Christ had done. That is astounding. This is one of the first times in the gospel where the majority believe in Jesus. Generally speaking. It's the minority that believe in Jesus and it's even more astounding than that because when you understand who this crowd is then understanding that they Majority wise chose Jesus is astounding.

John says that this crowd is the Jews. There is only one passage in the gospel of John Which speaks of the Jews when you see the Jews speaks of it positively. It's this one the Jews. It could either be talking about the feast of the Jews or it could be talking about the group of people when it's talking about The group of people it is almost entirely focused on how negative they are on how much they hate Jesus.

It was the Jews in John chapter 2 that argued with Jesus about the temple. It was the Jews who persecuted Jesus in John 5 after he healed the man on the Sabbath. It was the Jews. These were the words of John who grumbled against him in John 6.

The ones who sought to kill him in John 7. The ones who accused him of having a demon in John 8. The ones who picked up stones to murder him in John 10. Some in the crowd in this passage could have had rocks in their hands in John 10.

Ready to fling them at Jesus and now it says that the many believed. The many the many believed. After seeing Jesus's reaction To Lazarus how he was angry over the effect of death and the effect of sin on the world after they saw him Weeping over his friend and after they saw the emotions and after they saw Jesus call Lazarus out of the tomb by his word alone.

Which is something that only Yahweh does. Yahweh speaks in universes get created. Jesus speak and death comes to life. That when they saw that convinced them some of them Were haters of Jesus actively speaking because they were a group of the Jews.

They believed because this event happened. They were eyewitnesses to it. Now what I think is so fascinating about this. It's a little side point. If you go to a liberal seminary and Unfortunately, if you go to a evangelical seminary today There'll be many professors who say.

You know, I don't think this event happened. Maybe Lazarus was just in there taking a four-day nap in that astounding that we 2 ,000 years later can say I don't think that happened when the people who hated Jesus did not deny it.

They saw Lazarus from the dead. They thought it was so stupid to claim that that Lazarus was not risen from the dead that they wouldn't even dare write it down on paper and. Yet we today in our Pretentiousness because it doesn't fit our narrative, you know, I don't know.

I don't think Jesus actually did that.

Give me a break.

What's more important than that is? That this passage tells us that there's no one too far gone to be welcomed into the kingdom of God. You think about these men and women haters of God former enemies the ones who opposed him the ones who mocked him the ones who were loyal to the Pharisee party the ones who never Imagined a moment where they would follow Jesus anywhere and yet now they've been converted.

This passage is a type of What Jesus has done for us? Think about it. Lazarus was a man who was raised physically and then everybody starts coming to faith, which is spiritual resurrection. That's the same thing that happened to you and I in Christ.

Christ physically resurrected from the dead you and I heard the good news about it we saw the effect of the gospel and we came running out of the tomb because his Gospel called us out. This is a type for what has happened to us these Jews that were converted.

That's us. We were haters of God. We were the ones who opposed him. We were the ones who could never imagine a moment of our life being submitted to the Lordship of Christ. We were the ones in bondage to our sin broken over our failure.

We were the ones who were were maybe atheist at one point maybe agnostic maybe anything else. But we never could have imagined in our sin that we would have followed after Jesus.

Or maybe.

We were like the religious Jews and we thought that we were following God and we missed it because of our religiosity. No matter how you shake it. This is us. We were the dead ones who've been made alive by the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

His physical.

Resurrection. Woke us up Spiritually gave us a new heart new mind new eyes new thoughts new affections. So that we're not the same. We went from being Enemies of God to friends of God. Do you know how astounding that statement is?

Don't let it go past you. We became friends with God. There is no king Who has conquered an enemy territory? Where he took the rebels the ones who had the the weapons of war and then invited them to his table to feast.

At best they would become slaves of the king and. Yet the New Testament tells us that we're not only slaves of Christ. We're also friends of God.

That's unbelievable.

We've been made God's friends through Christ.

It's unbelievable.

Through the life-changing power of the resurrection There is justification and now through his ongoing work of sanctification We have been made lovers of God to the glory of God. No one in this room is too far gone for God.

You think about it. Maybe you've done some awful sin. Maybe there's something in your heart that you've never told anyone else in this room. There's something in there that when you look in the mirror you see it.

When you're by yourself you think about it. You put on a face and you try to pretend like that that thing is not a part of you. That's not something that you've done. That's not some way that you've betrayed your friend or betrayed your spouse.

That there's something in all of us. At one point or another that eats away at us that says I'm not worthy everyone in this room. I guarantee you has come to a point where you said is Am I worthy to be saved?

Can I possibly be saved? It's God good enough and powerful enough to save me. All of us have had those doubts. Some stronger than others. But knowing what God has done here Reminds us what God has done here.

God saved enemies and rebels. Do you not think he can save you? Think about the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was on his way to murder Christians. When Jesus came knocked him off his horse blinded him and He became a friend of God.

Paul the murderer of Christians. You think if God can't if God can save a man like Paul that he can't save you. None of us in this room are as bad as Paul was. Maybe maybe some of you were on your way to kill Christians.

But you should talk about that in your membership interview and we want to make sure that that's still not a thing. None of us have done that.

Paul is Paul is made of people.

Major-leagues when it comes to sin. He says I'm the chief of sinners. If God can save a man like Paul surely he can save you. There's no one that's too far gone for the kingdom of God. If Christ calls you you will come if Christ calls you like he did to Lazarus.

I don't care if you've been dead 4 ,000 days. You will come the worst thing that you can do is wallow in the muck of your sin as Calvinist and as Reformed folks. We like to talk about how wretched we are.

We are we're filthy rags. We're worms. But at the same time we we we can never forget the dual identity that we have. Yes in our flesh were wretched. Yes in our flesh. We're odious. Without the covering of Christ we would be a stench in the nostrils of God.

It's all true. But with Christ and what Christ has done. You've been made beautiful to God. You've made a friend of God. I Want you to live in that identity? I Don't want you to think you know that that you know, you can do nothing wrong.

Romans 7 still exists. I do the things I don't want to do and I don't do the things that I do. You know, that's still true. But please don't wallow in self-pity. Please don't. Please don't sit down in the muck and say that I'm not worthy of this and I'm not worthy of that.

You're not. That's half of the story. The other part of the story is that the one who is worthy did. The Christ who is worthy reached down and grabbed you and saved you and pulled you out so that when you Begin to grumble and say that I'm too much of a sinner for God to save me.

You're claiming a power that you don't have because there's no one in this room that can pry you out of the hands of God. Not even you. If God has saved you you are saved. Accept that believe that hold your head high in that.

That's the first response. Those who believed in Jesus those who followed him those who rejoiced as we've been noticing. There's a division, right? The second group of people hated him says in verse 46.

But some of them the other part of the Jews Went to the Pharisees and they told them the things that he had done. What they tell him? They said that he rose someone from the dead. They said hey. When the tomb was empty we smelled it.

He was dead. Maybe that's why Jesus opened the tomb and then said a prayer just to make sure everyone in the in the group could smell it. There was no doubt that Lazarus was dead and then all of a sudden he's back alive again.

What do you want us to do with that? I can imagine them going to the Pharisees and being like Can you please? Can't we try to understand this in some way other than this man is God, please? Like who in the world could do that and Instead of that the Pharisees give this shocking response.

You'd think that they would get down on their knees and they would say dear God. I've missed it. This man is the Christ. He is God. You would have think that they would have ran back to the tomb and they would have wrapped their arms around Jesus.

They would have bowed down and worshiped him. They were said you are king and yet They say you're right. This is a problem. We can't have God in our country. We can't have God going around raising people from the dead.

Let's kill him. Do you see the depths that our sin takes us down to how blind our sin makes us? You and I is redeemed people who can't even possibly imagine what it was like to have that kind of thought process.

Let it just be a reminder to us of how far Jesus has brought us because the depths of sin will cause you to look at the resurrection of a four-day dead man and say It's something we got to handle instead of this is something I've got to worship.

They convene this council this council was a combination of the elite people of the Jewish Society the powerful mob lords in Jerusalem the ones who had the money to pay for the position. Their objective was to join forces to destroy Jesus says in verses 47 through 48 therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council and We're saying what are we doing?

That's a good question. What are you doing? Maybe you should stop for a second and just sit on that question. For this man is performing many signs. If we let him he just rose a man from the dead and you have the audacity to say if we let him.

If we let him go on like this. Then all men will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. They understood the ramifications that this was life-changing. This wasn't Jesus feeding people from heaven anymore with bread multiplying bread.

This wasn't Jesus Healing someone on the Sabbath, although that was bad enough. This was a miracle that now demanded their immediate attention because they realized that it would have national religious historical and theological impact on that community.

They understood that this miracle Was the seventh miracle that Jesus had done. Maybe they didn't realize that but we do in the gospel of John this is number seven, which means that it is the the apex of Jesus's miraculous ministry in the gospel of John it is the Quintessential miracle of Jesus.

It is the one that most clearly and most fully shares the power shares his divinity. Shares his life. John says the purpose of his gospel is that we would believe that Christ is the the Messiah the Son of God and that by Believing in him will have life in his name.

This miracle accomplished that better than all of them it was the pinnacle of his miraculous ministry and It was the moment the Pharisees probably realized that the miracles weren't going to get smaller.

They started out. He turned over some tables. He healed a couple people. He fed some people with bread that we still don't understand how that went. But this time this miracle Was bigger than anything that had ever been done before.

They could look back and they could see the Egyptian sorcerers who could produce The sort of water that turned to blood and they could they could see that the Babylonian Magicians they could do some tricks and maybe they could write off Jesus.

They can even look back to their own people in the Old Testament and say maybe Jesus a prophet. But he's not the Son of God. I think about Moses Elijah Joshua and my shot. Those are the four men that have a miraculous ministry in the Old Testament.

Moses did many miracles in front of the people. They hated him. Joshua prayed the Sun stood still he done miracles. They didn't listen to him. Elijah and Elisha the Kings tried to kill they made axe head floats axe heads float.

They made fire come down from heaven and they raised a couple young kids from the dead. One time Elisha was dead and the man fell on his bones and he was raised from the dead. That's impressive. But nothing is like this after four days of being dead Lazarus was risen.

Nothing is like that. I Grabbed something from the interweb to try to explain how magnificent this is. I'm gonna read like medically what happens to us when we've been dead four days. It is astounding what Jesus did.

This is what it says as Soon as death occurs the body temperature starts cooling to match the surrounding temperature without blood and oxygen. Muscular tissues become rigid and the blood pools in the lower extremities.

Then as the bacteria in the intestines devour the intestinal walls devour the intestinal walls. Cells lose their structural integrity and Cellular enzymes are released to begin breaking down the billions of cells themselves and surrounding tissue.

Microbes start breaking down Carbohydrates proteins and lipids. Most of the breakdown occurs inside of the body and is not yet visible from the outside. That's stage one and it says at the end of the stage.

This is gross blow fives and flesh flies arrived to lay eggs. Probably wasn't the case for Lazarus to steal his tomb was sealed. Stage two. Stage two begins in this in this window of time as well as bacteria multiply and process bodily materials.

They produce gases such as methane carbon dioxide nitrogen hydrogen sulfide which bloat the body. These gases build up pressure in the body and they push the fluids out of the natural openings including the mouth nose and anus.

If insects are present maggots begin to hatch and feed on body tissue causing skin to slip and hair to detach and the surface to rupture. These additional openings provide even more surface area for insects and bacteria thereby quickening the decaying process.

Thus emitting gases and fluids which causes the greatest amount of odor during the decaying process. So now the insects withstanding let's just say that that didn't occur. Jesus healed a man Whose physical muscles were Completely rigid and had no more pliability.

He healed a man whose billions of cells in its body had experienced cellular death. He healed a man Who gases collected in his body until his skin oozed them out and made a stench in the atmosphere? He healed a man who was swollen past his bodily size.

So that the force of the pressure forced out blood and bodily fluids out of his body. The man was drained of his fluids. Jesus healed a man Who every cell in his body was dead? All of his blood was clotted.

There was nothing About this miracle that was that was small-scale. You imagine at the Word of Christ a billion cells wake up in his body. Blood unclots. Heart starts rebeating brain which has been decayed.

The synapses start firing again with electric shock waves and stuff like that the intestines. Undo the decomposition that had happened and now they're fully functioning again. This man in a moment Walks out of the tomb after all of that.

This was the greatest miracle up to this point that had ever occurred. The greatest miracle that had ever occurred and yet the Pharisees resisted in their unbelief they said This is the man that we've got to kill because the Romans are gonna come in and take our place in our nation.

They also knew when they said their place. They knew that that was their standing in the Jewish community and this miracle was gonna have massive impact. This one would not be contained. Word was going to spread fast all over the nation of Judah that a four-day dead man had been healed.

And.

They knew they had to do something to stop this message from getting out as quickly as they possibly could and They figured that Passover would be just the day to do it. It's one week from this passage the Passover in which Jesus dies.

Their power was at stake. They were the ruling body and they ruled over the people of Israel with an iron fist. If you didn't make the Pharisees happy you Didn't go to the temple. If you didn't go to the temple, you never relationship with God.

They held the relationship with God out like a carrot to a donkey. And if you were lucky they let you have a bite. All of their power all of their connected Programs that they had were holding over the people's head were at jeopardy because of this Miracle and even more than that their national standing as a nation.

Was it jeopardy because of this miracle? They said the Romans will come and they will take away our country. That's how big this miracle was. It was going to exit Judah and Jesus was now no longer just a local miracle miracle worker.

They were afraid that Caesar himself would hear about this miracle. They were afraid that riots were gonna break out over this miracle because Jesus had divided the population and when that happened the Romans would come.

So they had to eliminate him. Before Rome eliminated them. That was their thought process. Let's give a little bit of background in Rome. I'm gonna do a little bit of background in this sermon because I think it's important to understand what they were feeling and It's important to understand what was going on in the context.

Rome was the largest Empire that has ever existed up until that point. Maybe the British Empire covered more land because you know, they say that there was the Sun never set on the British Empire. But up until this point Rome was the largest Empire that ever existed and it took a lot of energy.

To maintain a property that big it took a lot of organization took a lot of effort and It took a lot of strategy. Every other Empire that had existed before Rome. I'm talking Greece Persia Babylon Assyria.

All of them had similar strategies. We're gonna go in and set fire to your cities. We're gonna steal all your property and we're gonna kill your soldiers and we're gonna chop down your trees and all the population that remained.

You're gonna serve us and give you all your money. That's the way empires were built and they were built very quickly to increase the fear. Now fear is a wonderful motivational tool temporarily but when you get enough people who hate you and when enough young boys grow up to be men and then they hate what you've done to their family and When they grow a backbone.

That's when uprisings rebellions coup d 'etats invasions and all of that begin to happen. Fear Will motivate the population for a moment. But if you want to maintain an empire for the long term, you have to also do some other things.

Rome was one of the first empires that learned how to do this very very well. Now don't be wrong. Rome was terrorizing. Every crucifixion was a billboard to the might and the power of Rome. You mess with us this is what happens to you and Rome had every ability to completely decimate anyone in their path but Rome also understood the power of blessing the people.

Rome was one of the first empires in the ancient world that offered a pathway to citizenship for people who were foreigners. You had to have a lot of money to do it. Maybe you were born in the right city.

But.

It's an interesting thing. Rome was one of the only nations in the ancient world that offered religious freedom. Where you can worship your God? You can have your customs. You can have your temple. You can have your priest so long as you nod to our pantheon of Roman gods and so long as you Offer a few sacrifices to Caesar other than that We won't say anything to you.

You don't say anything to us. Rome gave people a tremendous amount of freedom in the ancient world. Which is probably why their Empire lasted as long as it did. From the beginning of the Roman Republic to the end and the downfall of the senator I mean of the of the sessorial Roman Empire was almost a thousand years.

It was amazing how they held the thing together as long as they did. They gave people religious pluralism masquerading as religious tolerance, but it was unique in the ancient world. They gave you the option of having your own local king for many provinces in Rome.

Now they chose him. You didn't get to have your own king. They chose your king. But they gave you a semblance that everything was okay. It would be like a nation invading America and allowing the president to still stay in the White House and give Oval Office addresses.

Give you a semblance that things are okay. They would allow you to keep your priest again. Give you a semblance that everything is okay. All of these things the dual right hand of a fear and the left hand of blessing.

Was the way Rome caused people? To stay in the Empire without rebelling. Here's the simple truth about any Empire that's ever existed. We often don't realize this. If Everyone rebelled there would be no Empire.