Let's open our Bibles to John
chapter 11. The message this evening will come
from John chapter 11. I want us to look at four verses
of Scripture. Beginning with verse 49 of John
11. Let's begin by reading these
verses of Scripture. Beginning with verse 49. And
one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year,
said unto them, ye know nothing at all, nor consider. How did my message come from
verse 50 here? Consider. Consider. Nor consider
that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation perish not, And this he spake not of
himself, but being 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. Here we read the words of the
high priest. The old writers say that by the
time Caiaphas was high priest, that this was no longer a lifetime
assignment. It had become an assignment of
the king. The king would choose the high priest, and often that
was influenced by money, and it would be a one-year assignment. Caiaphas, he speaks from his
own wicked heart, and he says, you know nothing at all." He
speaks to these Pharisees. He said, you know nothing at
all. You're ignorant, foolish people to sit around and discuss
this man. To sit around and discuss the
Lord Jesus Christ. And again, Caiaphas speaks from
his own wicked heart. Yet, the Spirit of God is going
to speak through him. And He's going to preach the
glorious gospel of substitution and redemption through this wicked
man. We should be encouraged by that,
shouldn't we? The things that over the years, you know, you
think back to Joseph back there. He talked to his brother there
toward the end and he said, you meant this for wicked. God meant
it. God meant it for good. Well,
he says, you know nothing at all, nor have you considered. Look at verse 50. You haven't
considered. Now the word consider, we consider
a lot of things. We consider things all the time. I'm guessing, Ben, if we went
to Dairy Queen tonight after the service, and we looked up
there at all those lists of blizzards, you'd be You would be considering,
well, should I have cookie dough, or should I have cotton candy?
You'd consider. But the consequence of that,
the consequence of that would be very small, wouldn't it? Cotton candy, cookie dough. But
the word consider here in our text, it means to deliberate,
like a jury. to weigh the facts, to consider
the evidence, to consider, imagine if someone's life was, imagine
you're on a jury and some man's life is, weighs in the balance,
and you've got to consider that evidence. That's what this word
means right here, consider. I want us this evening, just
for a little while, in this message. I want us to consider five things,
five things that this man Caiaphas speaks of. And the first of them
is this. Let's read on in our text. He
said, you've not considered that it's expedient, that it's good,
that it's profitable for us, that one man, that one man. Here's the first thing I'd have
us consider, the simplicity of the Gospel. One man. One man. Paul, speaking to the
Corinthians, over in 2 Corinthians 11-3, he said, I fear lest by
any means, as the serpent begot Eve through his subtlety, so
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity. The simplicity
which is in Christ. We're completely in Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ, He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. One man. Consider the simplicity
of the gospel. One man. The scriptures declare
one body, one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father
of all who is above all, through all and in you all. One. Consider the simplicity of the
gospel. It's not Christ plus the law.
It's not Christ plus your morality. It's not Christ plus your tradition.
Not Christ plus your ceremony. It's not Christ plus anything.
It's Christ. It's all of Him. Christ plus
anything in redemption is not the gospel. It's one man. It's one man. Turn with me to
Colossians 2. Colossians chapter 2. Look at verse 9 and 10 of Colossians
2. For in Him, in Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete. You're made perfect in Him. which is the head of all principality
and power. God's Word declares that we're
made the very righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider. Consider the simplicity
of the Gospel. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Now back to our text here in
John 11. Again, look at verse 50. He says,
Nor have you considered that it is expedient for us that one
man should die. This leads us to our second point.
One man should die. Caiaphas said, why must a man
die? Why must a man die? One answer. Sin. Sin. The wages of sin is
dead. Consider your sin. Consider your
sin. It's not what we do. Not just
what we do. It's what we are. Sinners. We can trace it all the way back
to the garden. Back to Adam. We talk about that
a lot. You young ones, you hear us talk about that a lot. I remember
Henry saying, wrong one to fall, wrong one at all. Man is dead
in trespasses and sin. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men,
for that all, all have sinned. When Adam fell, we were made
sinners, in a legal sense, and also our nature. We've got a
sin nature. You young ones, and all of us,
for that matter, when mom and dad say, no, don't get in the
cookie jar, What's our natural desire? Most of the time, it has nothing
to do with us being hungry. It's just the fact that we were
told, no. It's that sinful, rebellious
nature that we're born with. David said this, David said,
the wicked are estranged from the one. They go astray as soon
as they be born speaking lies. Don't have to be taught to lie.
Don't have to be taught the lie. Don't have to be taught the sin.
It's there. We're born with it. Sin. And it's our sin. It's my sin. Turn to Psalm 51. David said here in verse 1 of
Psalm 51, He said, Have mercy upon me,
O God. According to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of
Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. Thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest." Consider the simplicity of the
gospel. Consider my sin. And then the
third point, consider the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at our text again here in
John 11. that it's expedient, it's good,
it's profitable, that one man should die for the people, that
he should die for the people. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner's
substitute. Back in John 10, turn back just
a few couple pages. John 10, look at verse 14 and
15. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
I know my sheep, I'm known of mine. As the Father knoweth me,
even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life. I lay down
my life for the sheep. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Turn there. We read this often,
but turn there. 2 Corinthians 5.21. For He hath made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ had no
sin, knew no sin, did no sin. He was perfect before the law
of God. Yet our sin, our sin was laid
on Him. He was made to be sin. Isaiah 53, we read, the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was made a curse. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
a curse for us. Hebrews 8.28, Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. Our scripture reading earlier
from Romans 8, he that spared not his own son. that delivered
Him up for us all. For us. It's good for us. And for our sins, for the sins
of His people, He died under the wrath and justice of a holy
God. All this, that His people might
go free. Remember when Abraham Remember
when God told Abraham to go offer up Isaac? And as they walked,
Isaac said, Behold the fire and the wood. Where is the land? Where is the land? Abraham uttered those words.
God will provide himself a land. And they went on. They went on
and Abraham prepared that sacrifice. put Isaac up there and he took
that knife to slay when God stopped him. God stopped him. And Abraham looked far off and
there in that bush, there's that ramp caught in the thicket. He took him off the altar and
he took that ramp and he offered it in the place of Isaac. Isaac
goes free. The Lord Jesus Christ. Almighty God has made Him to
be sin for us. For His people. He that knew
no sin that we might be made in the very righteousness of
God. Consider substitution. Consider
our substitute who endured the wrath and the punishment and
the guilt of our sin were wholly and justly considered hidden. He suffered and died on the cross. And then the fourth word, and this goes with the third
point, satisfaction. Satisfaction. Look at verse 50
again. You haven't considered that it's
expedient for us that one man should die for the people and
that the whole nation perish not. Why won't that whole nation
perish? Why is that? Christ our substitute bore our
sins and Almighty God was satisfied. He was satisfied. Satisfaction. The Scriptures declare that when
Christ, when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down. He sat down on the right hand
of Almighty God. In Hebrews 10, verse 17 and 18. Turn over there
to Hebrews 10. Let's start verse 16. Put away, put away, and we're
made everlastingly secure in Him, in our Savior. Our Lord made one sacrifice for
sin forever, and in doing so, He completely and perfectly satisfied
the wrath and justice of the whole God. Jeremiah 31, 34. Turn to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31. Look at verse 34. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. For they shall all know me from
the least of them, and the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins
no more." They've been put away. Consider, God's wrath and justice
has been satisfied by the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look back at our text. Fifth point. Another S word. God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. Consider God's sovereignty in
the salvation of his people. Look at our text. Look at verse
52. Well, let's read 51. And this spake he not himself,
Being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would
die for that nation, not for that nation only, but that also
he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. He should gather together. God's
sovereignty in gathering together his people. You know, our sins,
our sins have separated us. from God. We read our selfish
desires have separated us. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way. Yet he says, I'll gather them
together. I'll gather them together. Genesis
49.10, the scepter shall depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh, until the Messiah comes. And
unto him shall the gathering together of his people be." Christ has a people, his children,
given him by God in all eternity. People scattered abroad. Listen
to what our Lord says in John 6. Turn to John 6. Turn back
just a few pages to John 6. These are the words of our Lord
Himself. Look at verse 37. All that the Father hath given
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. He's not going to lose one. Back
in Exodus, when God was delivering the children of Israel out of
Egypt, Moses was Moses was speaking there and he said, talking about
the people coming out. And he talked about the cattle. The cattle. He said, there won't
be a hoof. There won't be a hoof left behind.
He's not going to miss anything. He said, he's not even going
to leave a hoof behind. And he'll draw them to himself.
He draws his people to himself. Our Lord said this, this is the
Father's will which has sent me. all which the Father hath
given me, I should lose nothing, raise it up, raise it up the
last day. Well, consider. Consider the simplicity, the
singleness of the gospel. It's concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Consider our sin. Consider my sin. Consider our
substitute. the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider
satisfaction. Almighty God is satisfied. Fifth,
consider God's sovereignty, the security of every believer, that
which He's promised to do, gathering His people together. He said,
I'll not lose one of them. Turn with me. We looked at this
scripture for our scripture read. I want to go back and read it
again. We'll close with this passage
of Scripture. Romans chapter 8. Let's consider this passage of
Scripture one more time. And we know, we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who's
he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ. Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
as it's written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things, we're more than conquerors through Him, through Him that
loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.