By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45am Svc, 2009-08-16

Text: John 11:45-57

On September 11, 2001, two hijacked airplanes were deliberately crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, taking nearly 3,000 lives. Within the last 8 years since then, over 12,500 more have died as a result of numerous suicide bomb attacks and terrorist incidents all over the world. The saddest part is that the majority of the victims were innocent civilians. 

The question that arises from all this is, 'How do those who perpetrate such acts justify the taking of innocent lives?' Many of them have been radicalized by some extreme ideology into thinking that they are killing for a worthy cause: Some believe they are only carrying out righteous acts of retribution for the loss of other innocent lives. Others regard killing the innocent as a necessary evil to bring an end to a greater evil. They may even shift the blame for the loss of innocent lives to the leadership they target in their attacks. And many terrorists have convinced (and deceived) themselves that the innocent people they kill are just as guilty and deserving of death as their country's leaders, since they elected them into office, supported them with tax money, and did nothing to stop them from perpetrating their evil deeds. 

Whatever devices and ways these deluded people use to justify their heartless acts of killing, we must understand one thing: that the heart of their problem is a problem of the heart - the human heart which, according to the Scriptures is 'deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' (Jeremiah 17:9) Ever since the Fall of man took place, the heart of every man, woman and child has been deeply infected with sin and is prone to commit sin. And here is the most sobering thought: Given just the right conditions, every one of us here in this hall is capable of perpetrating the most evil and perverse sins that man can commit. And that includes the sins that are described in the Scripture text for our sermon this morning. 

It was now about 2 months before Jesus would go the cross at Calvary. He and His disciples were staying at a village called Bethany which is only 4 kilometers east of Jerusalem. When they had arrived there a few weeks earlier, they were met by two grieving sisters. Mary and Martha were stricken with grief because their brother, Lazarus, had died. Before this, Lazarus had been very sick. No remedy that his sisters tried could help him. So they sent a messenger to Jesus, hoping that He would come quickly to Bethany and heal him. But this did not happen. Lazarus passed away and when Jesus finally arrived, he had already been dead and buried for 4 days. Humanly speaking, there was absolutely no way now that Mary and Martha could have him back alive.

But Jesus went to his tomb, and ordered that the stone covering it be removed. Then He prayed and called out to His friend inside, 'Lazarus, come forth.' At that very moment a miracle of immense proportions took place: Lazarus walked out of that tomb alive and well! What great joy this must have brought to the two sisters to have Lazarus with them again. And what amazement must have filled the hearts of those who witnessed this miracle. How could someone who has been dead and lying in a tomb for 4 days come back to healthy life? And how could this happen merely by a simple word of command? This is truly an impossible feat for man, and it can only mean that the One who did it is not a mere man, but God Himself.

If there is any miracle that should have convinced the Jews beyond any doubt at all, that Jesus really is the Lord God in the flesh, this must surely be it. Jesus had already worked many great miracles. But the Jews had been asking Him to give them one that would conclusively prove that He was all that He claimed to be (see 2:18; 6:30). Wasn't this act of raising Lazarus the sign they needed? Shouldn't they now put all their doubts away and believe in Him, embrace Him fully as their Messiah and follow Him wholeheartedly? They certainly should. That is the most natural response we would expect from them, given the immensity of the evidence before them.

But instead of doing this, the miracle of raising Lazarus evoked the worst reaction of all from the Jews. It became the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It hardened their resolve to go all out to destroy Jesus. It set in motion a chain of events that would lead to His arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. This leaves us wondering why such a thing should happen. Why should such a great miracle of love and life by the Lord Jesus bring forth such an adverse reaction of hatred and death against Him? Well, as I had mentioned earlier, the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart - the human heart which, is 'deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' (Jeremiah 17:9)

The scariest thought is that SIN that dwells in our hearts makes us capable of doing the very same thing to Jesus. If it were not for the grace of God, we too would have done exactly the same thing as the Jews in our text. We too would have reacted in a most unreasonable manner against the Lord despite the compelling evidence that stands before us. And we too would convince ourselves that putting Jesus to death is the right thing to do. We may even come up with some plausible reasons why He must die. 

I. Why those who opposed Christ believed that He must die.

A. To stop what Christ was doing (vv.45-47).

You will notice that the first 3 verses of our text focus on the 'things which Jesus did.' In v.45 it was this that caused many Jews to believe in Him. In v.46 it was the 'things Jesus had done' that some Jews went to tell the Pharisees about. And in v.47, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to discuss what they ought to do, 'for this man doeth many miracles.'

If only Jesus had not done all those miracles, these Jews would have no problems with Him. But because He did them, and there were far too many of them, they felt the urgent need to do something to stop Him. They must have thought that putting Him to death would be the most effective way to stop Him. Little did they know that this would only enable Him to accomplish His greatest miracle and work - His own resurrection from the dead and the salvation of sinners. And these in turn would give rise to His work of building His church, a work which no one would be able to stop. 

In the history of the Christian Church many have tried to stop God's work in the very same way that these Jews had tried - by persecuting Christians and putting them to death - many were beheaded, thrown to the lions or burnt at the stake. But even when all the enemies of Christ had done their worst, they were the ones who were stopped while the work of Christ just kept going on and on. And one day they will have to face God and account for their sin of attempting to stop His work. But perhaps we should consider if we deserve the same judgment for similar sins. Have you been trying to stop God's work? Perhaps the Lord has lately been speaking to you about something He wants you to do, but you have been stubbornly resisting Him. 

Or perhaps you have been doing His work consistently until now, but because of tiredness you feel like stopping, even though it is clearly His will for you to continue. Please understand that it is futile to resist God, for no one can win against Him. Let Him continue to do His work in and through your life. 

B. To prevent all men from believing in Christ (v.48a).

This is stated in the first part of v.48 'If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him' This fear was not without reason. In v.45 we are told that many of the Jews who had seen the miracle of raising Lazarus already believed in Him. And as this miracle had happened so close to Jerusalem, the news of it would easily have reached all the people in Jerusalem. It would be very easy for them to walk over to Bethany and verify the facts of the miracle for themselves. And when the Passover feast begins a few weeks later, Jerusalem would be flooded with Jews from every corner of Israel who would then hear about the miracle and believe in Jesus because of it.

Now, since the chief priestskand the Pharisees did not believe in Jesus, they naturally felt extremely threatened by the prospect of Jews in Jerusalem and beyond turning to Jesus by the thousands. This would mean that they would lose their entire support base and all the esteem, honour and loyalty which they received from men. That would be disastrous, as these proud Jews loved to be honoured and could tolerate no rival. After all, they were members of the Sanhedrin council, the highest ruling body of Jews in all Israel (which is something like our Parliament). And what better way is there to prevent all that loss of esteem, honour and loyalty than to get rid of their rival o.ce and for all?

Can you see what jealousy and envy can do to us if we are not careful? Dearly beloved, do you feel upset when others are more successful than you? Or do you feel down in the dumps when someone in your place of work, school or home seems to be getting more attention and earning more praises than you? If you do, please beware, lest that sin grows and grows until it consumes you with evil desires against your rival. Then you would deserve the very same judgment as the Jews in our text. We have seen two reasons why these Jews believed that Jesus must die. 

C. To save Israel from being destroyed (vv.48b-50).

This reason came about when the council pondered over the worst-case scenario in v.48. They imagined that if all men were to believe in Jesus, the Romans will come and take away both their place and their nation. And why would the Romans do such a thing? Because in the corrupt minds of these Jews, they believed that Jesus would obviously seize the opportunity provided by His popularity to take up political leadership. Then the Romans would interpret this as a seditious act, and they would crush the entire Jewish nation because of it. Actually such a thing would never happen. Jesus did not have any political ambitions in His first advent. 

John chapter 6:15 records that when Jesus perceived that the people wanted to take Him by force and make Him their king, He immediately departed from them. That happened just after He had performed the miracle of feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Later on in John 18:36, when Pilate would ask Jesus whether He was a king, His reply would be 'My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.'

And so the scenario of national destruction painted by the Jews of the council was just a figment of their wild imagination. It should have given them no cause for fear since it would never happen. But sin often makes us hold on to our irrational fears until they dominate our lives, and the Devil is pleased to exploit this to the fullest. In the case of the Jewish council the fear of national destruction gave them the most convincing reason why Jesus has to die: To them, His death would save the entire nation of Israel from being destroyed by the Romans. Caiaphas said this in v.50 'It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.'

This reason would answer any question about the morality of killing an innocent man. They can say that it is a necessary sacrifice and that it is the lesser of two evils. And this reason alone can make the council appear to be completely selfless and blameless, having the people's welfare at heart. Because of this, the whole council of chief priests and Pharisees immediately adopted it. Verse 53 says that 'from that day forth they took counsel together for to put Him to death.'

But of the 3 reasons we have seen, this is the one that exhibits the worst expression of sin that lies in every human heart. It is repulsive to the core in its intent, which is to make the most heinous crime look good. The law of every country in the world rightly condemns the killing of an innocent man. But when this crime is weighed in the balance against the genocide of an entire nation, it naturally appears to be mild and even acceptable in the eyes of the world. Isn't it better to murder one innocent man than to let a whole nation perish? 

The truth of the matter is that in the case of Jesus, it is only assumed that the nation will certainly not perish if Jesus dies. This turned out to be a most faulty assumption, because in AD 70, just forty years after Jesus died, the Romans came and destroyed the nation of Israel. Jerusalem was leveled to the ground, thousands of lives were lost and those Jews who survived this terrible holocaust were scattered throughout the world. They remained in exile from their homeland for 18 centuries. 

There is an important lesson to learn from this - Never attempt to justify any sin in your life by comparing it with the sins of others. Dearly beloved, if you really want to have victory over sin, you must hate it the same way that God does. You must see that your sin is rotten, evil and hideous. The worst thing you can do for your spiritual life is to find ways to palliate your sins when your conscience convicts you of them. If you keep on doing this, you are searing your conscience with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2) and you can never have victory over sin. One of the ways that people palliate their sins is to say to themselves, 'Well I know that what I have done is morally wrong, but at least it is not as bad as what some others have done. And who knows, perhaps some good may even come out of it.' If you do this, you are only deceiving yourself. God says in Isaiah 5:20, 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.' 

That was essentially what Caiaphas and the Jewish council did to justify their act of seeking the death of Jesus, using their ingenious but evil device of believing that it is 'expedient that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.' But now we will see in the other point of our sermon that whatever evil that wicked men may plan, these cannot frustrate God's purpose. Here we will discover that Christ's death was already included within God's purpose. 

II. Why it is true that Christ must die.

A. To fulfill God's eternal plan (v.51).

This reason is found in verse 51 'And this spake he (Caiaphas) not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.' Without even knowing it, Caiaphas had made an important prophetic pronouncement. Saying this does not make him a prophet or a saint, for as we have just seen, he was motivated only by sinful motives. It only demonstrates that God is able to overturn the evil devices of men like Caiaphas and subdue them into fulfilling His eternal plan. 

The point that I want to draw our attention to is that since the death of Jesus for the nation is given here as prophecy, this shows that God must have already planned long beforehand to bring His death to pass. It was no accident or misfortune, but God deliberately designed the death of Jesus to fulfill His eternal plan. 

And this is not the only prophecy in the Bible that shows this. There are many others as well: Psalm 22 is a prophecy of the words that Jesus would speak when He dies on the cross 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of the work that Jesus would accomplish when He dies on the cross - to become an offering for sin (v.10), to be wounded for our transgression, and bruised for our iniquity (v.5). All these detailed prophecies about the death of Jesus make it very plain that Jesus had to die because His death is an important part of God's plan. 

B. To save His people from eternal death.

In v.50 Caiaphas the high priest had said that, 'It is expedient that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.' The deeper meaning of this statement, that even Caiaphas was not aware of, understands that 'death' in these words refer to spiritual death, which is the eternal separation of the soul from God that is caused by one's sins. Thus, it means that even though the people deserve to be eternally separated from God because of their sins, Jesus took their place. As their substitute He endured the separation on their behalf when He died on the cross. And only Jesus could do this for them because He is sinless. Since the penalty for their sins has been paid in full by His death, the people may now have eternal life.

Who are the people mentioned here? It refers to the nation of Israel, and particularly, only to those Israelites who believe in God's way of salvation, like those Jews in the first verse of our text who believed in Jesus after He had raised Lazarus from the dead. 

Would this then mean that those who are not Jews are excluded from salvation? That would seem to be the case, if not for v.52. 

C. To gather God's children in the world in one (v.52).

Verse 52 is good news for all of us - the good news that the death of Jesus is not meant only for the salvation of believers in Israel, but for the salvation of other believers as well: 'And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.' And this gives us the third and final reason why Jesus had to die. He died on the cross of Calvary to save all the children of God in the world from their sins - and that includes you and me. 

And His death also gathers us all together, removing all distinctions of race, nationality and status. For it is only when sin has been dealt with and men are reconciled to God that they can truly be reconciled one to another. How thankful we ought to be then, that through His death, Christ has united us and all like-minded Christians in the world into one universal church. So, true believers from any part of the world can enjoy this common bond, love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and call upon God our Father together. If we treasure this bond, then we must learn to enjoy the sweetness of Christian fellowship one with another.

This sermon began with a description of sin as found in the 3 sinful reasons why the unbelieving Jews wanted Jesus to die: To stop what He was doing, to prevent all men from believing in Him, and supposedly to save Israel from being destroyed by the Romans. This sermon now ends with the description of salvation as revealed in the 3 glorious reasons why Jesus had to die: To fulfill God's eternal plan, to save God's people from eternal death, and to gather God's children together into one.

Now that you know all this, you need to give an appropriate response. If you are not saved yet, please do not delay any longer to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. You need to realize that the heart of your sin problem is the problem of your heart. As long as you are not saved you still share the same sinful heart as those who had sought to put Jesus to death. And unless your heart is changed you will also share the same condemnation and ruin that will befall them and spend your eternity in hell. 

Can that sinful heart of yours be changed? No, not by any amount of effort on your part or anyone's part. This is something that only God can do for you. And since God was able to bring life and salvation out of death - the death of Jesus Christ, there is no doubt at all that He can change your heart today. And God will do this when you come to Jesus Christ. Will you come to Him right now?

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