Sermon Outline:
The Good Shepherd Pt. 5 – “Faith Works” (John 11:45-57)
1. The Plot (v.45-48)
2. The Prophecy (v.49-54)
3. The Passover (v.55-57)
Sermon Text:
John 11:45-57
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for [1] Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Sermon Notes:
Thinking Biblically to Live Holy
This morning we will be finishing John chapter 11 on the great theme of “I Am the Resurrection and the Life.” Once again we see the Pharisees and Sadducees – all of the Sanhedrin – make attempts to undermine the authority and person of Jesus Christ; to have him arrested. They were given over to national patriotism – a political expediency rather than a biblical certainty. Led by the ruthless, cynic, hypocritical high priest Caiaphas, they preached elimination, but God preached salvation by substitution.
We will look at three things that define Caiaphas and the counsels actions in the aftermath of Lazarus being restored: 1. The Plot; 2. The Prophecy; and 3. The Passover.
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The Lord’s Supper
The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by Him the same night He was betrayed, to be observed in His churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing forth the sacrifice of Himself in His death, resulting in confirmation of the faith of believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him and with each other.
A Word of Admonition
Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible element¬s in this ordinance, do so inwardly by faith, feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death; the body and blood of Christ being spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.
All who do not enjoy communion with Christ by relationship through regeneration and confession, are unworthy of the Lord’s table, and cannot without great sin against Him, partake of these holy mysteries; for whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves. (LBC: chapter 30:1, 7-8)
The Bread
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)
The Wine
”For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Heb. 9:13-14)
