Let's go this morning to the
book of Gospel of John, and we'll go to chapter 11. John 11. And those of you who
are familiar with the Scriptures, you will immediately recognize
this as the chapter where Lazarus got sick and died. Then our Lord
raised him from the grave. I want to just draw your attention,
especially toward the end of the chapter, John 11. And I'll read verse, starting
at verse 49. And one of them, this is the
Jewish council, one of them named Caiaphas, being my high priest
that same year, said unto the rest of them, ye know nothing
at all. or consider that it is expedient
or necessary for us that one man die for the people and that
the whole nation perish not. This spake he not of himself. But being the high priest that
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and
not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. I'll stop my reading there. My subject this morning is good
message. bad preacher. This is a good
message that this man briefly brought because it has to do
with substitution. But he meant it in a political
way. He is setting forth a political
principle. If we don't do something about
this man, his popularity is growing. And more and more are going to
believe him. The whole nation's going to follow
him. And then Rome is going to say,
hey, these people are threatening the empire. And then Rome will
come in. The army will come in and take
away their temple. and wipe out their nation. But
the scripture says that these things that he spoke, he spoke
them by the Spirit of God. And so, this is the subject that
I want us to consider this morning. Good message, bad preacher. Now, you know how the chapter
really unveils the sickness of Lazarus The scripture says that
he became very ill, and his sisters Mary and Martha, they sent word
to the Savior, he whom thou lovest is sick. Do you remember, some
of you I'm sure remember a song, the course goes, tell it to Jesus,
tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well-known. You've no other such a friend
nor brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. I'm sure some of you have heard
that. We've sung it here before. Well, this was the way Martha
and Mary felt. These were people in whose company
our Lord Jesus felt very comfortable. He enjoyed visiting with them.
And of course, after the resurrection of Lazarus in the very next chapter,
we see our Lord Jesus at their house, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Lazarus, obviously, having been
raised from the dead, our Lord goes there and he eats with them.
So he loved these people, and when Martha and Mary sent a messenger
to the Savior, who was some distance away, they said, He whom thou
lovest is sick. Don't ever ask the Lord or come
to the Lord requesting something and doing so on the basis of the might of your faith, the
quality of your faith, the strength of your faith, or of your love
for the Savior. your love and my love, though
it's real. And I wouldn't take anything
away from that. I do love the Savior, don't you?
I love the Lord Jesus Christ. But we love Him because He first
loved us. And His is an everlasting love. The love that we have for Him
is the love that He gave to us for Him. And so here's how they
worded their request. He whom thou lovest is sick. And our Lord Jesus, when he got
word from the messenger, of course, he being God knows all things,
he's omniscient. He said this, look at verse four
here in chapter 11. When Jesus heard that, when He
heard what the messenger said, He said, this sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might
be glorified thereby. And then it says, now Jesus,
He loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus. The Savior said this sickness
is not unto death. That is the sickness that Lazarus
had, whatever kind of sickness it was. It doesn't matter to
us. The Spirit of God didn't tell
us what was wrong with him, only that he was very, very ill. The Savior says this sickness
is not for the purpose of him dying. It's not for that purpose. But it is for this purpose that
God would be glorified and that the Son of God would be glorified. The ultimate reason for our Lord
actually delaying his visit to see Mary and Martha and Lazarus
was that Lazarus would die. And then he is, of course, going
to raise his his sinful but saved friend from the grave. And in
doing this, there are several things that are going to happen,
and of course, our Lord right here speaks of two of them. There
are several reasons for Lazarus getting sick and dying. Just
remember this, people don't get sick haphazardly. They get sick because God sends
a sickness to them. I was visiting with Greg down
at the hospital, and I said, I don't know the reason why God
sent you severe back trouble. And I don't know what God's reason
is for not having you, a neurosurgeon on staff down there, and there's
several other hospitals that have been contacted, and when
they have a bed opening with a neurosurgeon there who can
do the surgery, then that will develop. I said, I don't know
why God does these things. I don't know the mind of God.
The scripture says his ways are past finding out. But I do know
that from the Word of God, the reason this all happened, number
one, was for God's glory. The Savior said that. Let's be reminded that the issues
of life and death do belong to our Lord, to our God, to our
Creator. From old eternity, God ordained
Lazarus to be one of His children. And the Lord mapped out his life. It's good to remember always
that your life Even though you make decisions, sometimes good
decisions, sometimes bad decisions, that's the way it is with all
of us, especially with those of us who's we're getting on
up in years and we look back, well, I don't know why I did
that, I don't know why I did this, something else. Listen,
our road, our path was marked out from old eternity. And as
I wrote in one of the articles for you today, we are responsible
for what we do. Absolutely, we're responsible.
We are answerable to our God. And also, God sovereignly governs
all things. So with Jim, I can't wrap my
mind around that. Well, join the crowd. Neither can anybody else. You
see, a God that you can comprehend, that you can understand, all
that He does is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible,
the Scripture does say, and I've already made this statement,
His ways are past finding out. You know, There's another song
I just happen to think we'll understand it better by and by.
Okay? You remember hearing that song.
I'm sure some of you do. You'll understand it better by
and by. Well, let me tell you something, by and by, we won't
care whether we understand it or not. I don't know whether
the Lord's going to unveil to us the reason why He brought
us through everything or not. But I do know this, in all situations,
It's for God's glory. And the sickness, the death,
and the resurrection of Lazarus was that God would be glorified. The wisdom of God. The great
power of God. The might of God. The goodness
of God. The mercy of God. In giving Lazarus
his life back. God is glorified. And He's glorified in providence. And we've said before, what is
providence? It is God's predestination being
carried out. In other words, here we are this
morning gathered together, and it was providential that we be
here. Anything that happens is providence. Everything that happens is providence. It's in the hands of God. It's
not in the hands of fate. It's not in the hands of the
devil. And aren't you thankful it's not in your hands either? You see, we thank God for His
providence. It is good, but sometimes it
can be very painful. Now, that's a fact. I do believe all things are of
God. That doesn't mean that in the
things that He brings to you, such as the sickness of Lazarus,
that doesn't mean that you're gonna say, boy, this is good,
I'm sick. It's good, I've got pneumonia.
It's good, I've got cancer. No, no. But that sickness will
work with everything else for your good, and God will be glorified. because He's the one who brings
it to pass. So, that's the first reason this all happened. The
second reason is, it was for the glory of the Son of God. That's what the Scripture says.
This will be more undeniable evidence that He's God. He's
able to conquer death. Now, he could have arrived, had
it been his will, and he could have cured Lazarus just like
that. But it wasn't his will. His might as the Almighty God,
as the great physician, is going to be proven after Lazarus has
been dead four days. And in fact, as we know, when
our Lord said, roll the stone away from his tomb, they said,
don't do that. By this time, he stinketh. His body is decaying. It's corrupting. But that's the condition our
Lord ordained that his body would be in to greater magnify the
glory of himself. You see, this further attests
that he is the Son of God. The scripture says, and this
is back in the second chapter of John, you remember when he
changed the water to wine? The scripture says in John chapter
2 verse 11, and that was the first miracle that he did, and
Cain had a wedding feast. It says, John 2.11, this beginning
of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested His
glory. And His disciples believed on
Him. So God the Father is going to be glorified. God the Son
is going to be glorified. Thirdly, it revealed that He
had absolute authority even over death. That's the final enemy. Death must give way when he who
is light says, Lazarus, come forth. Our Lord has authority over physical
death. How long will you live? You don't
know. And you know, it's really a good
thing that God has not given us knowledge of what's going
to happen. We might be careless, foolish. I don't know how we'd react,
but God hasn't made us that way. He keeps the future for you is
in the dark. And the next step you take as
a believer, you take it by faith, don't you? That's the only way
you can live, is to take it by faith. Because you never know
when your next step will be in the glory. Ethan, you know, he went to jump
school. Fort, is that Fort Campbell? Fort Benning. Fort Benning, thank
you Joe, down in Georgia. And the first guy in front of
him wouldn't jump. So he stepped out of the way
and Ethan said, my legs were shaking. He said, I figured everybody
could see how bad I was shaking. And he said, jump! He said, I
just took one step. Whew, away he went. Away he went. You never know where your next
step's gonna take you. Now listen to me. It may take
you, your next step may take you into eternity. Therefore,
be wise. Do you have a Savior? Do you have a Redeemer? Have you been brought to cast
your poor soul with all of its sinfulness upon the only One
who can save you? Oh, that God would grant you
faith. Oh, that God would grant you
repentance. Our Lord Jesus, He had Lazarus
take another step. It was a step into Heaven itself. And He went to glory. Our Lord's
going to show He has power over death. And one of these days,
He's going to raise everybody's body. Many of you, all of you, have
at some point experienced the death of a loved one. And those
who have gone and they're the children of God, They have a
heavenly body. They worship our Lord Jesus. Someday they're coming back with
Him and their bodies will be raised. Corruption is going to put on
incorruption. Mortality is going to put on
immortality. and in a new body, well, it's
the same body but it's made new, will worship the Lord. That's
the kind of power he's got, to raise these vile bodies. Death doesn't have the final
word. Many years ago, a young lady
in the congregation gave birth. There had been some difficulties
and I was there and the baby was stillborn. And I was in the waiting room
and I was the only family, I wasn't family, but I was the only person
there. She had no other family there. The doctor came to me
and said the baby didn't make it. I say he was stillborn. He was born and immediately died.
And he said, would you like to break the news to her? I said, I will. And I went to her and told her the news. And she believed
the gospel of God's grace. I believe, Doug, what you believe
about this is immaterial to me. But I believe that the infants,
those who die in infancy have not sinned after the similitude
of Adam's transgressions or ours either. We've sinned willingly. I believe they go to heaven through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I believe. and little
children. And maybe some of you have been
in the situation where you have experienced the death of a little
baby, a child, small child. I don't know how old a person
has to be to comprehend something of the seriousness of salvation
and how terrible sin is. I don't believe a little child
can. I just don't believe that. That's
my belief. If you want to believe differently,
that's okay. It doesn't offend me. And those of you who have experienced
the deaths of little children, I do believe that one day our
Lord Jesus will bring them back too because I believe that they
went to glory. That's what I believe. some serious disabilities, especially
mental disabilities. That's my belief. But I do know
this. All who die in Christ shall live
again. That's good news, isn't it? They'll
live again. And our Lord, therefore shows
his power over death. And then fourthly, it brings
joy to the family of Bethany again. Can you imagine the joy
of the hearts of Mary and Martha? Their hearts were broken and
now their hearts are repaired and they're rejoicing. But another
thing about all of this, because I've got to go quickly because
I want to get to the text that I read to you. Look down in verse
4. Our Lord raises Lazarus from
the dead, of course, as you know. Now look at verse 45. Look at verse 45. Then many of
the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which
Jesus did, believed on Him. Oh, this is another reason for
this miracle. The Lord is going to use this
to get the attention of many people. Now, others witnessed
the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, and it had no good effect
upon them. But these people, they were affected
in their hearts. And many believed on Him. I tell you, the Lord has a multitude
of ways of getting our attention. Sometimes it's through very painful
experiences. On this occasion, it was just
witnessing a miracle. Here's what I ask God for you. For all of you who haven't been
brought to see the wonders of God's salvation in the crucified,
buried, risen Savior. I pray that whatever it takes, God will get your attention.
Because if He gets your attention, He'll always have it. He'll always
have it. However, here's another result
of this in verse 46. But some of them, some of the people
went their ways. They weren't softened at all.
They weren't impressed at all. They didn't see any glory in
the person who performed this rare, rare miracle. They have witnessed the raising
of a man who had been dead four days. That's an absolute impossibility. But they saw it. They saw this
miracle with their own eyes. And rather than being softened
to this Great One, the true Messiah, their hearts were hardened. And
they went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus
had done. They became so irritated, so
mad. Can you imagine someone being
mad at the resurrection of Lazarus? You would think everybody would
be, as we would say, dancing for joy. Just absolutely thrilled. Oh, I'm so happy. I'm happy for
Mary and Martha. I rejoice in my heart. No. No, their hearts are hardened.
And so verse 47, here's what it leads to. Here's the result,
another result, of the sickness, the death, and the resurrection
of Lazarus, there convened a council. Verse 47, Then gathered the chief
priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What are we going to
do? For this man doeth many miracles.
Now brethren, we've got to do something. Look at verse 48,
If we let him thus alone, All men will believe on Him. And
the Romans, they shall come and take away both our place and
our nation. Something's got to be done. They'll
take the temple away. They'll take our houses away.
And they'll just absorb us. We'll all become slaves. We won't even be a nation anymore.
And then verse 49, and one of them named Caiaphas. And of course, he is the high
priest. That was an office that it says
one of them named Caiaphas being the high priest that same year. Those of you who have some knowledge
of the Old Testament Scriptures and the laws pertaining to the
high priesthood, you know there had to be a descendant of Aaron.
And that appointment to be the high priest, it was for life. It was for life. But you see,
Shortly after the destruction of the second temple, it got
to where the Roman governor, he would be the one who appointed
the high priest. And there was money involved
because, you know, bribery. So the office was bought. We know Caiaphas, just to give
you a little bit of historical background, Caiaphas was the
son-in-law of Annas. And Annas, he previously had
the high priesthood. In fact, there are a couple of
passages of Scripture which it seems to indicate they kind of
shared the honor, if you would, at that time. And Annas had five
different sons, and each of his sons would hold the office of
the chief priest, being the chief priest or being the high priest.
And the last one held that office even after Annas had died. And now this is his son-in-law.
This is his son-in-law. He is the high priest that same
year. You see, the office of the high
priest was a picture of our Lord Jesus, the great high priest
of His people. He teaches His people. He offers
intercession for His people. He offers sacrifice for His people. And the sacrifice our great high
priest offered was the sacrifice of Himself. Here is Caiaphas. On the Day of Atonement, he's
the one who represented Israel. But he hated God. He hated the Gospel of Grace.
He's a Sadducee. Earlier, the chief priests and
the Pharisees gathered a council. The Pharisees and the Sadducees
were mortal enemies. They couldn't hardly get along
with each other on any subject except when it came to the opposition
of Jesus of Nazareth. That's where the enemies kissed
and made up. They said, we have a common enemy. It was this thing, the enemy
of my enemy is my friend. All of them, Pharisees and Sadducees,
were enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. These men began to talk around
the council table, and finally, finally, this man Caiaphas says
in verse 49, you know nothing at all. He said, you men, are
you a bunch of fools? Are you guys stupid? We all know what needs to be
done here. This man needs to die. Now, be
mindful of this. They didn't want the Lord Jesus
to be killed in Passover time. That has already been expressed
earlier in the Gospel narratives. Not at Passover. Why not? Hundreds of thousands of people
will be in Jerusalem. And many of them will be His
followers. And we would worry about, we
would be concerned about an overthrow. Maybe they'd run us out of town. We don't want to do that. We
want it to be at some other time. But you see, God ordained the
day that our Lord Jesus would die. He ordained that time Passover. God's Passover lamb's going to
die. The hour was drawing nigh for
the Savior to die. So, this man Caiaphas, who served
as high priest for 18 years, and by the way, he's the one
who our Lord Jesus appeared before and said, Art thou the Son of
God? And our Savior said, you said it. And the high priest,
this man Caiaphas, rent his clothes. He said to all the rest of the
council, you heard what he said, so what do you have to say? They
said, crucify him. That's what we say. Crucify him. This is also the man, by the
way, that Peter and John went before in Acts chapter 4 and
verse 6. His message here, let me read
it again. Look at verse 50. Having said,
you know nothing at all, he says, nor consider that it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole
nation perish not. In other words, the safety of
the whole nation is at stake here, brethren. That's what he
was saying. And this man who performed this miracle, his popularity
is growing so much. We've got to do something, and
we've got to do something right now. He's got to die. That's clear to all of them. Notice, after he said that the
whole nation perished not, and I've already said he's operating
on a political principle. Okay? He's operating on a political
principle. Now verse 51, this spake he not
of himself, but being the high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation
only, but that also he should gather in one the children of
God that were scattered abroad. Though this man Caiaphas was
speaking from a political principle, the Spirit of God, He intends
for this to be spoken because the Spirit of God purposes a
spiritual principle. And it is the spiritual principle
of substitution, the substitutionary death of the Savior, in order
that the nation of God's elect perish not. It's a good message
that this man preached, but he's a bad preacher. I mean, he's
a works preacher. He's a Sadducee. He denied the
resurrection. So often in the book of Acts,
you'll find the apostles coming up against the Sadducees, and
when they did, they never backed down on the subject of the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus. In fact, as you read through
the book of Acts, you'll find that over and over again, they
emphasize that this Jesus, God raised Him up. He's the resurrected
Savior. Never, never back up on that
doctrine. I lived in Louisiana. People
used to say, well, he's crawfishing on that. Don't you crawfish on
that doctrine. Don't you back up on the deity
of our Lord Jesus, the reality of His death, the reality of
His resurrection, these things. Don't back up. Don't back up. His message with substitution
is expedient and is necessary. One man die, but all the other
people don't die. Let me give you something real
quick here. Substitution, that's the message of the whole Bible.
That's right. Substitution. One dying in the
stead of others. An innocent victim dying in the
stead of the guilty. That's the message of the entire
Bible. You go all the way back to Genesis
chapter 3 when Adam had sinned and he and Eve had fallen into
disgrace. God announced the Gospel. The seed of the woman is coming.
And then how did he robe them? How did he clothe them? Which is a picture of the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus, the garments of salvation. A guilty man and
woman watched as an innocent victim died in their stead. Substitution. An animal died
in their stead. The very next chapter, Genesis
chapter 4, Abel. Abel, he brought to God the firstling
of his flocks. Abel came to worship God. He
killed an animal. His sacrifice to God essentially
was this. I'm guilty. I deserve to die. This animal is dying in my stead
as my substitute as I look my faith into the future and see
the Son of God, the seed of the woman coming to do in reality
what is only pictured here. Substitution. When Abraham took Isaac up on
the mountain, Genesis chapter 22, and the Lord told Abraham,
finally, don't go through with it. I see you, believe me. There's
a ram caught him by its horns in the thicket. You take that
ram and you kill it and offer it in the stead of Isaac. That's substitution. Into the book of Exodus, you
had the Passover lambs dying in the stead of the firstborn. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. But something had to die, either
a firstborn child or a suitable lamb, a male of the first year
without spot and without blemish. That's substitution. That lamb
pictures our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God. On the Day of Atonement, a goat
died. A goat died. God saw the death
of that goat, and therefore the sins of Israel were passed over. There was forbearance on the
part of God. Substitution. It's the theme
of the Word of God. Secondly, I say substitution
is the message of the entire Bible. Number two, what kind
of substitute was Christ? Well, He was the divinely appointed
one. From old eternity, God appointed
Him to be the substitute for His people. The death of the
Lord Jesus. I know Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin,
this council, it's the highest religious council in Israel. They felt like they made the
decision, this will happen because of what they decided to do. And
make no mistake about it, they were responsible for their decision
in this matter. But back behind what they decided
to do is the determinate counsel of God. God had purposed in old
eternity that this one, the Son of God, He is the appointed one
to die in the stead of His people. Substitution. And He is the divinely
qualified one. He is divinely qualified because
number one, He's God. And number two, He took on the
form of a servant. That's why He came. He looked
like any other man when He entered into this world, any other baby,
and as He grew up, He looked like any other child. When He
walked through Galilee and Judea, when He walked into Jerusalem,
when He was carrying His cross to Calvary, When they nailed
him to that cross, when he was dying on the cross, there was
no halo about him. He looked like any other man.
Those two thieves that were dying, as far as visually, all three
of them looked the same. All three of them looked the
same. He had to be manned to suffer, bleed, and die. He is
qualified. Our substitute is the God-man.
He associated with God. Stood eye to eye with God. He's
equal with God in every way. And He's one of us. A man. How'd you feel if somebody cleared
their throat and spit in your face? That's how he felt. Except
he didn't have any anger and malice like we'd have. He just
feel the humiliation. What would you think if somebody
took you and arrested you falsely, blindfolded you, and people come
by and balled up their fists and punched you in the face,
and I'd say, who did that? I'd be fit to be tired, wouldn't
you? It takes a lot to get my anger up, but I'd be upset. Not the Savior. But he was really
a man. A loss of blood was very extreme. Beaten, crowned with thorns,
all the rest. Looked like any man. He was man. Really, he was. And as a man, he died. Gave up the ghost. And before
he died, he said, it's finished. That's no ordinary man dying
on that middle cross. That's the God-man. That's my
substitute right there dying. I ought to die. I'm a sinner.
Well, Jim, you've lived a pretty moral life, haven't you? Yeah?
Reckon I have. Tried to be honest. But in my heart, I'm as diseased,
I'm as foul as anybody in here. See, I don't see how a man could
go in and let loose with gunfire and kill all them kids. It's the evil in man's heart.
But my friend, you are capable of doing unspeakably evil things
if God didn't hinder you and keep you on a short leash. Now that's the truth. That's the truth. Our Lord was qualified. See,
He didn't have a rotten heart like we got. The Scripture says of the appropriate
sacrifice in Leviticus 22-21, it shall be perfect to be accepted. That's our Lord Jesus. Perfect. Didn't lose His temper. Didn't
get angry with Him. It's the will of God. One man
must die for the nation, the nation of the elect of God, that
the whole nation perish not. The only reason we're not going
to perish, you who believe the Savior, I want you to believe,
I'm thankful you believe, but don't imagine for a minute that
your faith in any way, shape, or form puts sin away. That happened
when our Lord Jesus suffered, bled, and died under the wrath
of God. That's where sin was put away.
That's where justice was satisfied. Substitution. And he's the divinely
accepted substitute God raised him from the dead. Forty days
later, come on back up here. Take your seat here at my right
hand. Rule over everything. He's Lord. And I'll give you this quick.
How long has he been our substitute? Really from eternity. From eternity. He's the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. He's the surety of
the everlasting covenant. He was our substitute when He
came and died. He's still our substitute because
He represents us to the Father, even now. And when the judgment, the final
judgment... Most people will think every
once in a while about the final judgment. In that final judgment, when I'm called to stand before
the Lord, the Judge, I like that song. When it's time for me in
the judgment, I'll not be full of fear. Why not? Christ will stand when my name
is called. And for me, say, Father, I'm
here. Father, I'm here. He'll be my
substitute then. And you know what? Throughout
eternity, we'll be singing about His substitutionary death. Oh, what a glorious subject. It's a good message. even though
it's preached by a bad preacher. It's necessary one man die for
the nation that the whole nation perish not. Oh God, grant us
faith to believe the Son of God. Get your psalm books out. Turn
to 112. And number 112. And I think we'll just sing one
stanza, 112. Stand together, please.