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Dr. Voddie Baucham - What will you do with Jesus - John 11 45-57 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: I bring you greetings from the African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia,
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Speaker 1: where my family and I have the privilege of serving
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Speaker 1: and having served for the last six and a bringing
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Speaker 1: you greetings and thanks from all the folks who were
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Speaker 1: here over the weekend for the conference this weekend. You
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Speaker 1: guys were incredible hosts, unbelievably hospitable to us, and it
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Speaker 1: spoke volumes about the kind of church that this is.
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Speaker 1: And I'm saying that as one of many who've said
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Speaker 1: that over the course of the weekend. And I'm just
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Speaker 1: privileged to be able to be here with you on
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Speaker 1: this Lord's Day. to be able to say that to
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Speaker 1: you directly. Now, if you have your Bibles with you,
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Speaker 1: open your Bibles to John chapter 11. John chapter 11.
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Speaker 1: And if you haven't been here, you may not be aware.
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Speaker 1: Of course, you are now after the video. The church
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Speaker 1: is in the midst of a series in the book
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Speaker 1: of John, preaching through the book of John. And we
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Speaker 1: now come to the end of chapter 11. This is
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Speaker 1: right after really that dramatic point in John, the raising
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Speaker 1: of Lazarus. And that's what chapter 11 is most known for.
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Speaker 1: But now we're about to transition here at the end
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Speaker 1: of chapter 11. And there are a couple of things
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Speaker 1: to know about the book of John in order to
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Speaker 1: understand the significance of this transition. The first thing is
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Speaker 1: that we've now come to the end of the seven
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Speaker 1: signs around which John has organized his gospel. John doesn't
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Speaker 1: organize his gospel the same way that the other gospel
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Speaker 1: writers organize theirs. This is why sometimes people will look
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Speaker 1: at the book of John and something will happen in
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Speaker 1: a different order, different chronology, and they'll say, aha, contradiction
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Speaker 1: in the Bible. I just love that. Contradiction in the Bible.
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Speaker 1: There it is. Because something happened out of order. John's
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Speaker 1: very clear about what his goal is. His goal is
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Speaker 1: to organize his material in such a way that you
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Speaker 1: will see Jesus as the Messiah and that you will
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Speaker 1: believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Luke tells you clearly,
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Speaker 1: for example, what his goal is in his prologue, right?
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Speaker 1: To write out an orderly account. Luke says, my goal
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Speaker 1: is to give it to you in the chronological order
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Speaker 1: in which it was written. In which it occurred. That's
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Speaker 1: my goal. To trace everything back and give you that
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Speaker 1: history and that order and that chronology. He's a historian.
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Speaker 1: He's a physician. He's a man of science. That's what
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Speaker 1: he's doing. John says, I'm going to show you some
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Speaker 1: things so that you will leave. And so his order,
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Speaker 1: anybody who reads this gospel sees that it's ordered around
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Speaker 1: these seven signs. The first sign. Jesus changes water into
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Speaker 1: wine in chapter two. Second sign, Jesus heals the official's
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Speaker 1: son in chapter four. Third sign, Jesus heals at the
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Speaker 1: pool of Bethesda. The fourth sign, the feeding of the 5,000
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Speaker 1: in chapter six. The fifth sign, also in chapter six,
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Speaker 1: Jesus walking on water. The sixth sign, Jesus healing the
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Speaker 1: man born blind in chapter nine. And then the seventh sign,
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Speaker 1: which we're just on the tail end of, is the
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Speaker 1: raising of Lazarus. And so this text is incredibly important
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Speaker 1: because now John has actually made his case. These are
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Speaker 1: the signs. These are the reasons that you ought to
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Speaker 1: believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And he works his
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Speaker 1: way up to this last sign, this sign of resurrection.
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Speaker 1: These other signs show us that Jesus has power over sin,
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Speaker 1: that he has power over nature, the natural world, the world.
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Speaker 1: He has power over the spiritual realm. But now all
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Speaker 1: of a sudden, He shows that Jesus actually has power
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Speaker 1: over death itself. There's a second transition that we've come to.
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Speaker 1: And that transition is in the literary structure of John.
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Speaker 1: In terms of his chronology. The first 11 chapters take
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Speaker 1: place over years. Chapter 12 says, takes place over days,
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Speaker 1: and then chapters 13 through 18 takes place over a
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Speaker 1: matter of hours. So I'm gonna date myself, expose a
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Speaker 1: little bit about myself, but I think you'll get the point.
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Speaker 1: If you're living right. Some of you may not be
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Speaker 1: holy enough to get this point, but I'm gonna make
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Speaker 1: it anyway. But it's like we're slowing down and coming
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Speaker 1: out of warp speed. If you didn't get that, you
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Speaker 1: ain't living right. If you don't get a Star Trek reference,
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Speaker 1: I don't know how much help there is for you.
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Speaker 1: But it's so obvious that this is what's happening in
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Speaker 1: John's gospel. And so the end of chapter 11 here
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Speaker 1: is important because we're making that transition. We're about to
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Speaker 1: slow way down and get into the nitty gritty of
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Speaker 1: Jesus' last days. Finally, the text highlights what is arguably
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Speaker 1: John's major theme and the way that he communicates His goal,
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Speaker 1: belief by those whom you would not expect to believe
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Speaker 1: and a failure to believe by those whom you would
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Speaker 1: expect to believe. He hints to this in chapter one.
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Speaker 1: He sort of lays this out before he does it.
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Speaker 1: Chapter one, verses nine through 13. The true light which
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Speaker 1: gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He
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Speaker 1: was in the world and the world was made through him,
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Speaker 1: yet the world did not know him. He came to
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Speaker 1: his own and his own people did not receive him.
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Speaker 1: But to all who did receive him, who believe in
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Speaker 1: his name, he gave the right to become children of
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Speaker 1: God who were born not of blood, excuse me, not
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Speaker 1: of the will of man nor of the flesh, but
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Speaker 1: of God. There's the contrast. That great irony he introduces
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Speaker 1: right there in the first chapter. Jesus came to his
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Speaker 1: own and they didn't receive him. But to as many
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Speaker 1: as did receive him. There's irony there. He came to
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Speaker 1: his own and his own didn't receive. If anybody was
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Speaker 1: going to receive him, it should have been his own.
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Speaker 1: And his own didn't receive him. Well, if his own
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Speaker 1: didn't receive him, certainly nobody else did. Well, obviously others
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Speaker 1: did because he says to all who did receive him.
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Speaker 1: There's the contrast. Now, that's in chapter one. In chapter two,
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Speaker 1: some simple men believe. The disciples believe. John 2, 22,
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Speaker 1: when therefore he was raised from the dead, this is
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Speaker 1: after the turning water into wine, when therefore he was
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Speaker 1: raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had
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Speaker 1: said this and they believed the scriptures and the word
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Speaker 1: that Jesus had spoken. So in chapter two, after the
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Speaker 1: changing of water into wine, John says later on, they
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Speaker 1: get this because of what happened. Well then what happens
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Speaker 1: in John chapter three? Nicodemus, the leader of the Jews,
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Speaker 1: he ought to have believed, but he didn't. He should
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Speaker 1: have gotten it, but he didn't. John 3.10, Jesus answered him,
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Speaker 1: are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do
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Speaker 1: not understand these things? If anybody should get this, you
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Speaker 1: should get this. You're not just a student of the word,
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Speaker 1: you're a teacher of Israel, and you don't get this.
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Speaker 1: And as if that contrast wasn't enough, he frames it.
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Speaker 1: He frames the unbelief of Nicodemus. First, on the one hand,
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Speaker 1: with these simple men who believe, and then on the
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Speaker 1: other hand, in chapter four, with a Samaritan woman who
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Speaker 1: not only believes, but because of her, her village believes. Again,
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Speaker 1: John could not be more obvious in his intent. This
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Speaker 1: contrast is meant to make a point. Here are these
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Speaker 1: signs that prove who Jesus is. And yet, those who
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Speaker 1: ought to get it don't. and those whom you wouldn't
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Speaker 1: expect to get it do which raises a question that
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Speaker 1: is the question of this last section in chapter 11
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Speaker 1: and that question is what will you do with Jesus
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Speaker 1: what will you do with him? And John uses that
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Speaker 1: same theme here at the end of chapter 11, and
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Speaker 1: we get not two groups of people, but three groups
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Speaker 1: of people in order to press this point. Now, I'm
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Speaker 1: going to go through this a bit like John writes
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Speaker 1: his gospel. We won't go just straight through the whole thing.
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Speaker 1: We'll look at all of the verses here from verse
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Speaker 1: 45 on through to the end of the chapter, but
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Speaker 1: we're going to look at them not necessarily in their order,
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Speaker 1: but we're going to look at them in relation to
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Speaker 1: the three groups that are highlighted. And so the first
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Speaker 1: group is the masses. The masses were conflicted about Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Many of the Jews, verse 45, therefore, who had come
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Speaker 1: with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
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Speaker 1: but some of them went to the Pharisees and told
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Speaker 1: them what Jesus had done. There's this contrast. Many of
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Speaker 1: the Jews believed, but some of them went to the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees to tell what he had done. Now jump down
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Speaker 1: to verses 55 and 56. Now the Passover of the
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Speaker 1: Jews was at hand. Now that will be important later on.
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Speaker 1: That is critical here. The Passover of the Jews was
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Speaker 1: at hand. So here in chapter 11, where we're slowing down,
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Speaker 1: it's been years, right? And at the end of this section,
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Speaker 1: there's Passover. And then when we see Jesus slowing down
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Speaker 1: to the last hours, guess what he's experienced with his disciples? Passover. Passover.
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Speaker 1: Passover now the Passover of the Jews was at hand
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Speaker 1: and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before
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Speaker 1: the Passover to purify themselves this is one of those
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Speaker 1: one of those religious feasts religious holidays that brought everybody
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Speaker 1: to the temple from from wherever they were They would
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Speaker 1: come to Jerusalem and come to the temple. And by
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Speaker 1: the way, the Psalms, a number of the Psalms are
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Speaker 1: referred to as Psalms of Ascent. Have you heard that terminology?
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Speaker 1: Psalms of Ascent. These were the Psalms that you would
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Speaker 1: sing as you were on your way up to Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: for one of these high holy days. So you're coming
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Speaker 1: up to Jerusalem for the Passover and you sing the
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Speaker 1: Psalms of Ascent as you get closer to to the temple.
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Speaker 1: So many went up to purify themselves before the Passover.
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Speaker 1: They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another
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Speaker 1: as they stood in the temple, what do you think?
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Speaker 1: That he will not come to the feast at all?
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Speaker 1: They're looking for him and they don't see him. Is
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Speaker 1: he coming? They're waving, they're vaporing, they're vacillating. And this
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Speaker 1: is the keep with the many. In fact, the phrase
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Speaker 1: many of the Jews only appears in John's gospel. And
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Speaker 1: it's almost exclusively associated with the raising of Lazarus. But
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Speaker 1: there's one exception. And that one exception is the resurrection
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. So this idea of the many in John's gospel,
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Speaker 1: many of the Jews, the many, the idea here is
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Speaker 1: that there is the raising of the dead, the raising
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Speaker 1: of Lazarus, Which is merely a foreshadowing of the ultimate
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Speaker 1: resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And people vacillate about this.
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Speaker 1: Which is utterly baffling. Because this is the sign of signs.
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Speaker 1: The phrase seems to emphasize John's point about belief versus unbelief.
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Speaker 1: It's a reference to this nameless, faceless crowd that never
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Speaker 1: stakes out their ground. Chapter 11, verse 19. Many of
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Speaker 1: the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console
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Speaker 1: them concerning their brother. Then we have this reference in 1145.
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Speaker 1: And then again in 12, 10, and 11. So the
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Speaker 1: chief priest made plans to put Lazarus to death as
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Speaker 1: well because on account of him, many of the Jews
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Speaker 1: were going away and believing in Jesus. And then in 1920,
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Speaker 1: the one that's associated with the resurrection of Christ or
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Speaker 1: the crucifixion, many of the Jews read this inscription, this inscription,
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Speaker 1: the King of the Jews says, For the place where
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Speaker 1: Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was
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Speaker 1: written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. And we
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Speaker 1: know that there was opposition to this sign. What's the opposition?
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Speaker 1: Don't write king of the Jews. Write he said he
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Speaker 1: was king of the Jews. So this reference here to
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Speaker 1: the many is this reference to those who vacillate, to
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Speaker 1: those who can't make a decision, to those who are
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Speaker 1: the unidentified masses. We can't nail them down. What do
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Speaker 1: we do with this? I'll tell you one thing you do.
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Speaker 1: Don't try to decide who Jesus is by polling the masses.
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Speaker 1: That's not the answer. John writes his gospel, not so
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Speaker 1: that you can get together a focus group and see
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Speaker 1: what everybody thinks and then make a decision. No, John
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Speaker 1: writes his gospel so that you can see what Jesus
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Speaker 1: has done, that you can hear what Jesus has taught,
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Speaker 1: and then you make a decision not based on polling
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Speaker 1: the people, but based on the evidence that is presented.
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Speaker 1: There are many who can help you and aid you
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Speaker 1: and point you to the truth. Amen? Your parents. Praise
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Speaker 1: God if you had parents who taught you and catechized
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Speaker 1: you and discipled you and dragged you to church. Amen.
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Speaker 1: But their faith is not yours. Friends, coworkers, family members, classmates.
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Speaker 1: Praise the Lord for all of those if they point
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Speaker 1: you to the person and work of Jesus Christ. But
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Speaker 1: you will not stand before God and give an account
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Speaker 1: for who your friends were or what your friends believed.
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Speaker 1: Social media is filled with opinions so many opinions that
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Speaker 1: it's impossible to make decisions about so many things. But
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Speaker 1: social media is not where we go to establish our
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Speaker 1: understanding of who Jesus is. John says, look at what
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Speaker 1: he did and look at what he taught and don't
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Speaker 1: be like the many who vacillate between opinions. In the end,
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Speaker 1: Following the many leads you astray. Faith in Christ is
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Speaker 1: a personal matter. Not a corporate one. It only becomes
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Speaker 1: a corporate matter when you have entered in through the
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Speaker 1: narrow gate. Amen? Because then you enter into that corporate
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Speaker 1: body of those who believe. Now, while the masses were
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Speaker 1: conflicted about Jesus, the council was not conflicted at all.
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Speaker 1: The council was threatened by Jesus. That's the second group.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse 47. 47 to 53. So the chief
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Speaker 1: priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, what
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Speaker 1: are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
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Speaker 1: If we let him go on like this, everyone will
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Speaker 1: believe in him. And the Romans will come and take
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Speaker 1: away both our place and our nation. Now remember, the
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Speaker 1: Romans occupy at this time. They're under Roman rule. Now
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Speaker 1: they were allowed to have their own councils. They were
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Speaker 1: allowed to have their Sanhedrin. Because Rome had a rule
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Speaker 1: about religion. The ruler religio licite, or legal religions. You
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Speaker 1: could practice your religion in Rome, in the Roman Empire,
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Speaker 1: under Roman rule, if it was religio licite. But you
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Speaker 1: could not if it was religio illicite, if it was
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Speaker 1: an illegal religion. So the Jews are concerned about Jesus
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Speaker 1: and his popularity spreading, and the Romans getting wind of it.
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Speaker 1: Because just as the Romans were famous for their arches,
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Speaker 1: and for their aqueducts, and for their roads, they were
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Speaker 1: notorious for their ability to put down anything that threatened
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Speaker 1: the empire. And interestingly enough, the chief priests and the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees were more concerned about the possibility of losing their
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Speaker 1: place and their power among the Romans than they were
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Speaker 1: with whether or not this was really the Messiah. But
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Speaker 1: one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,
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Speaker 1: said to them, you know nothing at all, nor do
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Speaker 1: you understand that it is better for you that one
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Speaker 1: man should die for the people, not that the whole
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Speaker 1: nation should perish. He did not say this of his
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Speaker 1: own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied
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Speaker 1: that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for
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Speaker 1: the nation only, but also to gather into one the
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Speaker 1: children of God who were scattered abroad. So from that
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Speaker 1: day on, they made plans to put him to death.
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Speaker 1: Those sentences, those two sentences, they shouldn't just go together.
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Speaker 1: He prophesied rightly that Jesus would die for the nation
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Speaker 1: and for the nations to bring them in. The next
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Speaker 1: line says, they made plans to kill him. Verse 57
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Speaker 1: is also tied to this. Now the chief priests and
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where
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Speaker 1: he was, he should let them know so that they
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Speaker 1: might arrest him. This phrase, chief priests and Pharisees, it
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Speaker 1: occurs seven times in the Gospels, five of them in John.
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Speaker 1: The two others occur in Matthew. In John chapter seven,
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Speaker 1: they plot to arrest him. In John chapter 11, they
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Speaker 1: put out the warrant. We just saw this. And in
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Speaker 1: John chapter 18, they execute the warrant. Look there in
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Speaker 1: John chapter 18, verse three. So Judas, having procured a
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Speaker 1: band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests
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Speaker 1: and the Pharisees, there's that phrase, went there with lanterns
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Speaker 1: and torches and weapons. Interestingly enough, it was not the
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Speaker 1: Romans that arrested Jesus. It was the chief priests and
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees. It was the council because they were threatened
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Speaker 1: by him. Jesus was not crucified because the Romans looked
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Speaker 1: at him and said he's a threat to us. He
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Speaker 1: was crucified because the council looked at him and said
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Speaker 1: he's a threat. And the council said he's a threat
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Speaker 1: because Because he was a potential threat to the little
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Speaker 1: scraps of power that the Romans allowed them to exercise.
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Speaker 1: Now this helps us make sense of another passage of scripture.
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Speaker 1: Acts chapter four, verses 15 to 17. But when they had, again,
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Speaker 1: Peter and John, they've healed the man at the beautiful gate.
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Speaker 1: They've been called in before the Sanhedrin. Verse 15. Verse 15.
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Speaker 1: But when they had commanded them to leave the council,
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Speaker 1: they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do
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Speaker 1: with these men? For that a notable sign has been
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Speaker 1: performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: And we cannot deny it. But in order that it
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Speaker 1: may spread no further among the people, let us warn
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Speaker 1: them to speak no more to anyone in this name.
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Speaker 1: Same power structure holding on to the same power. They've
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Speaker 1: gotten rid of Jesus. He's been crucified. And now, all
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Speaker 1: of a sudden, the problem is worse than it was before.
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Speaker 1: Brothers and sisters, check your own heart. Do you see
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Speaker 1: Jesus as a threat? A threat to your position, to
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Speaker 1: your power, to your possessions, to your pride? So many
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Speaker 1: are conflicted about coming to faith in Jesus because of
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Speaker 1: what it will cost them in terms of control, in
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Speaker 1: terms of power, in terms of sovereignty over their own life.
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Speaker 1: It's the exact same thing. He's a threat. Do you
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Speaker 1: need Jesus to fit into your plans and programs? Yes.
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Speaker 1: Or have you merely come to him in repentance and faith?
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Speaker 1: Do you see Jesus as a means to an end?
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Speaker 1: Someone that you can use? Or as one who's free
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Speaker 1: to use you as he wills? Now, the crowds in
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Speaker 1: the council had their responses to Jesus. John's hope is
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Speaker 1: that your response would be reflected in this third group.
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Speaker 1: The disciples. His hope is that like them you would believe.
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Speaker 1: And that in believing you would have life. Verse 54.
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Speaker 1: Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews but
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Speaker 1: went from there to the region near the wilderness to
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Speaker 1: a town called Ephraim And there he stayed with his disciples.
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Speaker 1: And the rest of John's gospel is largely devoted to
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Speaker 1: that time that he gave to his disciples. The communion
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Speaker 1: and fellowship and intimacy that they had with Jesus because
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Speaker 1: they believed. They weren't like the many who wavered and vacillated.
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Speaker 1: They weren't like the council That was an open opposition.
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Speaker 1: But they believed. They clung to Jesus. They followed him.
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Speaker 1: We alluded to or pointed out John's allusion to the
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Speaker 1: Passover earlier on in the text. And now we're going
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Speaker 1: to come back to this idea of the Passover. It
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Speaker 1: may just seem like a throwaway word when you read
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Speaker 1: the end of John chapter 11. But when you recognize
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Speaker 1: what John is doing here, you see that this word
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Speaker 1: screams in the text. In the beginning of John's gospel,
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Speaker 1: John chapter 1 and verse 29 says, The next day,
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Speaker 1: he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the
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Speaker 1: Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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Speaker 1: And then at the end, he closes the frame. This
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Speaker 1: is at the beginning of his gospel. At the end
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Speaker 1: of his gospel, in chapter 19, verses 14 through 16.
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Speaker 1: Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover.
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Speaker 1: It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews,
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Speaker 1: behold your king. They cried out, away with him, away
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Speaker 1: with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I
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Speaker 1: crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we have no
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Speaker 1: king but Caesar. So he delivered him over to them
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Speaker 1: to be crucified. So they took Jesus. Caiaphas says, not
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Speaker 1: realizing that he's prophesying what's going to happen, better that
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Speaker 1: one man die for the nation. He says that as
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Speaker 1: preparations for the Passover are going on and Jesus has
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Speaker 1: just raised Lazarus from the dead. And then at the end,
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Speaker 1: those whom he represent at the Passover say, put him
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Speaker 1: to death. Crucify him. And they do. Lazarus is raised
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Speaker 1: and then there's a Passover. Passover. And then Jesus has Passover.
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Speaker 1: And then he's raised. The message is clear. Jesus has
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Speaker 1: power over death. And more importantly, Jesus has power over sin,
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Speaker 1: which leads to death. which is why there's hope of
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Speaker 1: the resurrection. So the question is a simple one. What
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Speaker 1: will you do with Jesus? Now that you know this,
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Speaker 1: now that you see this, now that the picture is
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Speaker 1: clear that he is the Messiah, that he does have
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Speaker 1: authority over death, hell, and the grave, what are you
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Speaker 1: going to do with that? Will you waver like the many?
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Speaker 1: Will you war against it like the council? Or will
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Speaker 1: you believe it and become a disciple? According to John's thinking,
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Speaker 1: the logic is clear. There's only one answer that makes sense.
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Speaker 1: But here's the problem. If you find yourself with the many,
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Speaker 1: or you find yourself with the council, sin doesn't allow
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Speaker 1: you to do what makes sense. But it forces you
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Speaker 1: to do that which is nonsense. Go through this life
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Speaker 1: knowing that the death rate is one per person, nobody
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Speaker 1: gets out alive, and rejecting The only one in the
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Speaker 1: history of the world who has had an answer for
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Speaker 1: the thing that all of us face and all of
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Speaker 1: us fear. Don't let sin make a fool out of you.
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Speaker 1: Ignore the many. Reject the counsel. Embrace the Savior.