Jesus Gave His Life for the World

(John 11:47-57)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last time in John 11, we saw several encouraging things:
That Jesus loves and cares for us
If we are His sheep,
If weve trusted and received Him,
He loves and cares for us as He did Martha, Mary and Lazarus.
He loved us enough to lay down His life for us.

We saw that His love and care doesnt mean

Were never going to have to face difficulty, even death
Lazarus was sick and died;
He was raised and had to die again;
And well see that after he was raised
His life was in danger because he was a living testimony
To the fact that Jesus is who He claimed to be.
The Lord told us that in this life we will have tribulation.

We saw that the fact were going to die,

Should move us to use the time we have remaining wisely
Loving and serving the Lord in the world
While we have this very brief opportunity.

And all of this remembering,

That when we die
Because of His love for us
We wont really die:
Well go to be with Jesus.
When our bodies are laid in the ground,
They wont remain there
Jesus will come to raise them again.
And then,
Anything that we might have had to suffer in this world for following Jesus
Will be more than compensated
With a reward we will get to keep forever.

The fact that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead

Proves that all of this is true.

The last thing we saw

Was that many believed these things were true because of this miracle,
And they were saved.
But there were also many who didnt.

B. Preview.
This morning, we see John focus on this last group.
Instead of recognizing this as indisputable proof

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That Jesus is the Messiah,
And responding as they should have
By putting their trust in Him
They went and reported these things to the Pharisees.

We see that when the Pharisees heard it,

Instead of turning from their sins and receiving Jesus,
They saw Him as a threat to their power and position
And began plotting to do away with Him.

But we also see how, in the middle of this council,

The Lord provided a testimony
Of how He was intending to use their wickedness
To bring about the salvation of the world,
From the mouth of the very one
Who suggested that they kill Him.

This morning, we see two things:

1. The way sin works.
2. But how the Lord is able even to use sin to bring about His good purposes.
II. Sermon.
A. First, we see the way sin works.
1. Sin is at the root of the problem.
Its what motivated those who brought the news to the Pharisees,
And what moved them to do what we see next.

When the Jews who saw the miracle arrived

And reported what Jesus had done to the Pharisees
They immediately convened a council
To figure out what to do with this troublemaker (v. 47).
If Jesus kept doing things like this,
It wouldnt be long before all the Jews believed in Him;
And when the Romans finally came in to stop Him
Which they would eventually have to when they saw this happening
The Jewish leaders would lose their power and comfortable position (vv. 47-48).

Caiaphas, the high priest,

Quickly saw there was only one solution
One which their hearts had already been set on
They needed to do away with Jesus.
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
(vv. 49-50).
Better that Jesus die,
Rather than the whole nation perish.
So from that day on they planned together to kill Him (v. 53).

Now what effect should the raising of Lazarus have had on them?
How should they have responded
When they saw this and all the other things Jesus had done?
They should have acknowledged He was the Messiah and received Him.

Why didnt they?

We might wonder the same thing

About some of the people with whom we have shared the Gospel.
Why do we appear to them as religious fanatics
Who believe some fantastic story
Against the clear evidence of science?
Why does evolution appear so plausible to them?
Why are there people like Richard Dawkins
Who have devoted their lives
To setting people free from the God delusion
Especially when we know what Paul writes is clearly true:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power
and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has
been made, so that they are without excuse (Rom. 1:20).
The answer is sin.
Sin has control of their hearts and so their minds.

Sin can mean at least two things:

First, its the breaking of any of Gods Laws.
John tells us that sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).
When we disobey Gods Law
Any part of it
We sin.
Sin brings guilt, and guilt, everlasting punishment.

The good news is

God has provided a Savior
The Lord Jesus Christ
To take away our sin.
If we will only receive and trust in Him,
He will forgive us
Not only of the sins/crimes weve already committed,
But of any and all we will yet commit.
Jesus is the remedy the only solution for sin.

But sin can also refer to the desire

Thats in our hearts to disobey God.
Scripture call this sinful desire the flesh.
This flesh/sin is, in its essence, a hatred of God.
Paul writes, For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit
is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for
it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and
those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:6-8).

This flesh is in the heart of everyone born into this world.

It was in our hearts before we came to Christ
Some of it is still there,
Which is why we often struggle to obey Him.
But for those who havent come,
Its still there exerting its power.

It is any wonder there are people like Richard Dawkins?

Is it any wonder some with whom we share the Gospel reject it?
Should it really surprise us
That the Pharisees responded the way they did?
They were merely making choices
Consistent with what they really wanted:
Anything, but God.

Sin is the problem,

Which is why God sent His Son into the world:
To atone for and to break the power of sin.
If you trust Jesus,
He will not only forgive you for all your crimes against Him,
He will free you from the power sin has over your heart
So that you can obey Him.
Thats the beauty of the Gospel
Through it, God overcomes our sins.

2. Lets just note before we get to the second point

That this council and their decision regarding Jesus,
Marks a turning point in our Lords ministry.
We read, Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the
Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city
called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples (v. 54).
Jesus would no longer minister publicly in Jerusalem

From this time until He comes again to Jerusalem for the Passover,
Because of their plan to kill Him.

Now this wouldnt be for very long:

The Feast of Dedication, we read of in chapter 10,
Was only four months before the last Passover
That Passover when Jesus would lay down His life
John tells us that was now near (v. 55).
Some of the Jews had come early to this feast,
And they began looking for Jesus,
Wondering whether He would come at all (v. 56).
The chief priests and Pharisees had given orders
That if anyone saw Him, they were to report it,
So that they could immediately arrest Him (v. 57).
They had wanted to kill Him before,
But now their heart was bent on it.

Would Jesus come to this feast? Of course!

Not only was this one of the three required feasts
And we know Jesus would never disobey His Father
This was also that feast at which He would lay down His life
Fulfilling the picture the Lord gave His people every year
Since the institution of this Feast, in the Passover lamb.

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John the Baptist said earlier, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world (John 1:29).

B. This brings us to our second and final point: how the Lord is able even to use sin
to bring about His good purposes.
1. Lets back up for a minute to what Caiaphas said at this council:
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 die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish (vv.
49-50).
Why did he say this?
Because he believed that if he and the Jews
Were to hold onto what they had,
Jesus had to go.

But notice, even though this is what he intended,

God intended something else:
John writes, 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 together into one the
children of God who are scattered abroad (vv. 51-52).
Caiaphas didnt say this on his own
God was speaking through him.
Here is a great example of how prophecy works.
Very often, the prophet himself
Didnt understand what he was saying:
Peter writes regarding those prophets the Lord used
To predict the coming of Christ and the work He would do,

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As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come
to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or
time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the
sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that
they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have
been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the
Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look (1 Pet.
1:10-12).
The prophets themselves didnt fully comprehend what the Lord meant.
Caiaphas prophesied, but he didnt understand.

Here also is a great example

Of how the Lord can and does bring good out of evil.
Caiaphas meant this as a call to rally against Jesus.
But God meant it to reveal
What He was graciously intending to save mankind:
Jesus would die,
But as an offering to take away the guilt of sin
As well as to break its power.

Why does God allow evil to exist?

Its that He might bring good from it.
Why did He allow Josephs brothers
To sell Joseph as a slave into Egypt?
He did it to provide for and preserve His people.
Why did He allow His Son to be put to death
At the hands of wicked men?
It was that He might save the world.

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Why did He allow Caiaphas to say what He said?

It was that they might know
What God was intending to do:
Jesus would die for the nation
That is, for the Jews
But John adds,
Not for the Jews only,
But also for the whole world
So that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are
scattered abroad (v. 52).
As Jesus said earlier,
I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep
(John 10:11).
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they
will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd (v.
16).

Jesus died for the Jews

He is their Messiah,
The One God promised them.
But He also died for Gentiles
For those who were far off,
Who before were excluded
He also died for us,
So that we might receive the blessing of eternal life.

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2. Now we should be thankful that God included us

That He has provided both a sacrifice for our sins,
And the power to be free from our sins
That He has provided this to a people
Who once were not a people
That now we are the children of God.

If you havent received Him,

Let this be a reminder to you
That this is the only way
You can be right with God.
If you dont trust in Jesus,
The evil in your heart will continually lead you away from Him,
And the sins you commit will only continue to increase your guilt.
If you die in this condition,
You will go down forever into hell.
But if you will only look to Him in faith,
He will forgive all your guilt,
Break the grip sin has on your heart,
And set you free.

Finally, realizing that Jesus came to save

Not only Jews, but also Gentiles,
Remember that He has authorized you

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To offer His Gospel to everyone.

We are to cast the seed of His Word
As far and as broadly as we can
The more, the better.
Dont ever think
That this person or that is beyond reach
Offer Him to everyone.

Its true there are two exceptions

The unpardonable sin,
And casting pearl before swine
But unless you first attempt to offer the Gospel to them
Youll likely not know whether theyre in that condition.
Unless someone falls clearly under either category,
Err on the side of charity, rather than censure.
Offer Jesus to as many as you can,
And see what the Lord will do. Amen.

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