I ended the message last Sunday
evening with our Lord's words in verse 44. Loose him and let
him go. The Lord called Lazarus back
from the grave in which he had lay, his body had lay, that is,
for four days. And when he came out, he was
bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And the Lord Jesus Christ
spoke to those there at the grave and said, Loose him and let him
go. I'm going to look at the remainder
of the verses in this chapter tonight. You know, when you preach
through a book or letter in the New Testament, it would be easy
to spend years in a book, almost any book, because there's so
much here in God's word. And I haven't tried to do that. In fact, I've tried not to do
that, to go through the Gospel of John and probably have taken
a lot of freedom in bringing the truth to us from the verses
that we are looking at. And tonight, as we look at the
remainder of this chapter, I'm going to call our attention to
three Three subjects in relation to God the Holy Spirit. Three
subjects in relation to God the Holy Spirit. The first subject
is the grace of the Holy Spirit displayed in salvation. The grace of the Holy Spirit
displayed in salvation. Let's look at verses 45 and 46. Then many of the Jews which came
to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on
him. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Here's a group of people who
had come to comfort Mary upon the death of her brother Lazarus.
And when she left the house, they came with her to the graveside
where Lazarus had been buried, and they all heard, everyone
here that we read of in these two verses, they all heard the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ when He said, Lazarus, because
He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. They all heard the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ speak to Lazarus, and they all
saw They all saw this man come out of that grave still wrapped
in grave clothes. After his body had been in the
grave for four days, they all saw him come out still wrapped
in his grave clothes. And yet we see there is a distinction. There's a division among these
who all heard the same thing and witnessed the same thing.
The Scripture here says in verse 45, many, many of them believed
on Him. That is, they believed that He
was the Messiah, the promised Christ, the Anointed One. But some of them, they did not
believe on Him, but they went to report what had taken place
to those that they knew were His enemies. Some believed and
some didn't. We see the grace of God, the
distinguishing grace of God in salvation. Now if there's one
truth in the Word of God that offends a natural man more than
any other, it is this truth of God's sovereignty in salvation. Men will not get upset if you
talk about God's sovereignty and creation. They recognize
that truth that God had the right to or not to create. They don't get too upset about
God's sovereignty and providence. But the natural man, if there's
any truth in the Word of God that he cannot stomach, It is
the truth of God's sovereign grace, that God will have mercy
upon whom He will have mercy, that God will pass over whom
He will pass over, that God is sovereign in saving sinners. If you keep your place here,
and we see that here, do we not? Do we not see a group of people
who heard the same thing, saw the same thing, and yet some
of them believed and some of them ran to his enemies to accuse
him? Now who made the difference?
Who makes the difference? God. God. And anyone who would deny that
has a real problem with the God of the Bible. Now, the God of
man's imagination, He's a God that can be manipulated. He's
like something made out of wax. You know, if you don't like the
way He looks, you can just manipulate and work on Him a while and make
Him to fit your imagination, to fit your pleasure. But the
God of the Bible, It's a God who sits upon the circle of the
earth, the scripture says, and all the inhabitants thereof are
his grasshoppers. He is God Almighty. And the Holy Spirit exercises
His sovereignty in calling whom He will call. When our Lord,
and this is displayed, and you've heard me preach from this passage
many times, I'm sure, Luke chapter 4. When the Lord went back to
Nazareth, and he'd been baptized, he'd been in the wilderness,
and then he came back to Nazareth where he'd been raised, and went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and they handed him the
roll of the book to read. And he found the place where
it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel. And his reading and what he said,
the people marveled. They marveled at his voice and
his words that came to them, until he spoke to them, reminding
them that in the Old Testament, There was a widow woman of Sarepta,
and she was a Gentile. And in the days of Elijah, that's
when she lived, and there was a famine in the land, and God
passed over all the widows of Israel and sent His prophet to
that one in another land. And there were many lepers, the
Lord said. No one could doubt this. in the
days of Elisha. And yet God cleansed one who
was a Gentile. And immediately, what does that
show us? It shows us God's sovereignty. And immediately they tried to
destroy our Lord. Their city was built on a cliff.
They tried to push Him over the cliff. And He went through their
midst. Why? Because his time was not
yet come. Turn with me to Luke chapter
16, just a moment. These people all saw the same
thing. They all heard the same thing.
Some believed, some didn't. In Luke chapter 16, our Lord
speaks about two men. One man was a very wealthy man,
one man was a very poor man. And the poor man died and the
angels carried him into Abraham's bosom, not because he was poor
physically, he was poor in spirit. He needed a Savior. He was a
sinner. And looking unto Christ and being
accepted in Him, in the beloved, When he passed away, when he
died, he went immediately into the presence of God. But this
rich man, you know, he had no use for God, no time for God. I read a message yesterday, preached
from a friend of ours several years ago, and he pointed this
out. For every one person, he said,
that I have seen poverty take away from the gospel, I've seen
five prosperity take away from the gospel. This man, no doubt,
in his wealth, he didn't have time for God. And so, when he
dies, the scriptures tell us, if you turn here to Luke chapter
16, verse 19, There was a certain rich man which was clothed in
purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there
was a certain beggar named Lazarus. The reason I pointed out and
always will try to point out that this poor man, he did not
go to heaven because he was poor. There's a teaching in this world
today called liberation theology. And it's all based on the fact
that just because people are poor, financially poor, that
means that they're going to be in the kingdom of God. That's
not true. That's just not so. Men are saved
or lost not because of, not based upon their financial status,
but upon their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you
know that. But I just remind us of that. Came to pass that the beggar
died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich
man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me. And send Lazarus, that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for
I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, there's a great gulf fixed, so that they which would
pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence. Then he say, and this is the
reason I had his turn here, I pray thee therefore, Father, that
thou wouldest send him to my father's house. For I have five
brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come
into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him... Now
watch this. They have Moses and the prophets. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, Nay. He still thought
he knew more than God. Nay. Father Abraham, but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent. Now we have
just read in John chapter 11 in our text tonight that these
saw one rise from the dead. Lazarus was called back from
the grave. Some believed, but many immediately
went to the Lord's enemies. But notice this. Abraham said
to this man, they have Moses and the prophets. Now what did
he mean by that? They have the Word of God. That
was all the Word of God there was when the Lord Jesus Christ
gave this out, the Old Testament. They have Moses, the law, and
the prophets. Let them hear them. Just another
indication, isn't it, that the gospel was in the Old Testament
as well as in the New Testament. Let them hear them. And my point
is that God has chosen the Word, the Word of God, to use the Holy
Spirit has chosen the Word of God, His Word, to use in giving
repentance and faith unto His people. We see tonight in this
passage of Scripture the grace of the Holy Spirit displayed. He worked in the hearts of some,
they believed. He passed by others, and they
did not believe. When I was preparing these notes
the other day, I thought about this passage
of Scripture. These are the words of our Savior.
that he spoke one day when he said, if you then, speaking to
his disciples, really, if you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Now, I thought
about this because I said that God the Holy Spirit has chosen
to use the Moses and the prophets, and now all the scripture, in
working repentance and faith in the hearts of His people.
Why, if you're here tonight and you have not experienced the
saving grace of repentance and faith, why would you not ask
the Holy Spirit, ask the Father to give you the Holy Spirit? Why would you not do that? Our Lord emphasized the fact.
How much more? How much more will your Heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? You have not
because you ask not. I thought about the person who
said, Well, the Lord just never has saved me. And the preacher
said, well, have you ever asked him to save you? No, but I haven't
been saved. Well, ask him. Ask. The scripture still says, for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I know it continues there, how
then shall they call upon him of whom they have not heard and
how shall they believe in him? But my friends, Every person
in this building tonight has heard, everyone has heard the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Just like these people here.
They heard the Lord say, Lazarus come forth. They saw Lazarus
come forth. Now, the fact that they didn't
believe, can they blame God for that? Not at all. You have not because
you ask not. John Gill made this comment on
this, this passage. He said, this or thus rather,
thus even miracles as well as doctrines of the gospel are to
some the savor of death unto death while to others the savor
of life unto life. And that's what we see here.
Many believed and many ran to our Lord's enemies. So we see
the grace of the Holy Spirit displayed in salvation. But next I want us to see the
power of the Holy Spirit displayed in this prophecy. Let's read
on from verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees, a council, and said, What do we? For this
man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take
away both our place and nation. And one of them named Caiaphas,
being the high priest that same year, said unto them, You know
nothing at all, 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 spake he 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 and warn the children of God
that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth they
took counsel together for to put him to death. Now, the power
of the Holy Spirit, This council, no doubt, was a great Sanhedrin. And evidently, their power, their
civil power, at least, did not reach outside of Jerusalem. But this council came together
immediately. And their question is, what do
we? In other words, that's the way
it reads here in our Bible, what do we? In other words, why are
we doing nothing? Why in the world are we not doing
something? Why do we do nothing? For this man, this man doeth
many miracles. In other words, why are we doing
nothing while all the time He continues to work miracle after
miracle and His followers are sure to increase? And if we do
nothing, if we just sit here on our hands and do nothing,
we're going to lose our place in our nation because He will
continue to gain followers and this will result in the Romans
with their armies coming and taking away our place and our
nation. Now by place, they mean their
temple. If we just sit here and do nothing,
this man is going to continue to work miracles, he's going
to gain followers, and the Romans are going to hear about it, and
they're going to come and they're going to destroy this place,
our temple, and our nation. Now, when you think about that,
the reason they reasoned, I believe, is because of the type of Messiah
they were looking for. The type of Messiah that they
were looking for, and the Jews of that day had been taught to
expect was known by the Romans. And they did not expect a Messiah
who would be the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, dying
to save His people. That's not the kind of Messiah
that any of them expected. And they knew there was a general
expectation that it was time for Messiah to come because of
70 weeks of Daniel. They knew that. They knew that. But they did not expect a messiah
like the Lord Jesus Christ who would come and die upon a cross. No, they looked for a worldly
king, a powerful king who would come and conquer their enemies
and deliver them from their enemies, which was wrong, and restore
all of their liberties which they had enjoyed in days gone
by. Now this was reason enough when
those wise men came and they asked there in Jerusalem, where
is he that is born king of the Jews? King, king. What kind of king were they looking
for? What kind of king were they expecting? Not one who would ride into Jerusalem
on the fall of an ass. No, no. They were looking for
a king who would ride on a white charger and lead an army and
overthrow the Romans. When they came and asked, where
is he that is born king of the Jews? You remember Herod the
Tetrarch. And that just brings to my mind
You know, in Acts chapter 13, one of the, I think it's five
men in the church there, was raised with Herod the Tetrarch. Herod was a wicked man. He's
the man that had John the Baptist executed. We see the grace of
God, because there's a man by the name of Manan, I believe,
He was in the same house, adopted into the same house, educated
just like Herod the Tetrarch. And yet one was a man sold into
sin. He sold himself into sin. And
another man experienced the grace of God and preached the gospel. But when they asked, where is
he that's born King of the Jews? Think about this. Herod, he was
a wicked man. I think one of the Caesars, I
forget which one it was, he said it'd be better to be Herod's
pig than one of his sons. I forget how many of his sons
he executed. Executed his mother. Executed
his wife. A wicked man. Evil, wicked man. And the reason he commanded that
all the children younger than two years be killed is because
the king that they thought was coming would be a king that would
overthrow Rome. Caiaphas. And so that's the reason
they come up with it. They reason. Why are we sitting
here doing nothing? If we don't do something, this
man is going to have so many followers, and the Romans are
going to hear about it, and they think that the Messiah is going
to be a liberator. And they're going to come. They're
going to destroy our temple and our nation. And isn't it strange
that in A.D. 70, that's exactly what happened. The Romans came, destroyed the
temple, and carried the Jews away into captivity. Now Caiaphas,
the scripture says, being the high priest, he had the solution. He had the solution. It's a problem,
okay, but I've got the answer, boys. The way to save our place
and our nation is that the one who is causing this problem,
he's got to die. That's all there is to it. He
declares that it is expedient. It is expedient. He doesn't say
it's right. He doesn't say it's lawful. He
says it's expedient. Now the high priest at this time
was a man who was appointed by the Romans, Josephus historian,
the Jewish historian, tells us that from Aaron, now think about
this, the first high priest Aaron to Solomon, King Solomon, was
a period of 612 years and there was only 13 high priests. But
from the time that Herod began to reign and Jerusalem was destroyed
in A.D. 70, less than 100 years, there
was 28 high priests. In other words, they would just
put a man in that office and take him out of that office.
Some believe the office was sold, but whatever. This man Caiaphas,
who obviously from the scripture in Acts was a Sadducee. And remember
the Sadducees, they did not believe in an afterlife. They didn't
believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in spirits.
And so it's an easy thing for him to say, well, here's the
answer, you don't know anything at all. That's what, you know
nothing at all. It's expedient that the one who's
causing all this problem be put to death. Now, I said we see
the power of God the Holy Spirit. He said, 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 which
were scattered abroad. God the Holy Spirit put a word
in his mouth. You say, does God do that? He did Balaam. I tell you, one
of the greatest The declarations in the scripture about God was
issued by a false prophet. But God put the word in his mouth.
It didn't come from Balaam. It didn't originate from Balaam. But God put the word in his mouth,
and here this false prophet said, God's not a man. that he should
lie, neither the Son of Man that he should repent. Hath he said,
and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? What a wonderful, wonderful testimony,
right? To the truth about God. He's
not a man that he should lie, that he should change. God is
immutable. God is of one mind, and who can
turn Him? Well, I see the same thing here. This man, he thought in what
he said would take care of the problem. He didn't recognize,
and John tells us, he gives us the interpretation of the prophecy. He shows us that Christ's death
was not the result of expediency. That's what Kepha said. It's
expedient. His death was not the result
of expediency. His death was the result of God's
eternal purpose. He is a Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. And Christ would not die as a
martyr. Christ would not die as an example. Christ would die as the surety
of God's eternal covenant. Christ would die as a substitute
for God's elect people. He would die for all of those
who were given to him as his sheep, both of the nation of
Israel and those who were scattered out among the Gentiles. And he
would gather us all together in one, in one, one new man,
the scripture says in Ephesians 2. So we see the grace of the Holy
Spirit in distinguishing those who were saved and those who
were passed over. We see the power of God the Holy
Spirit in putting this prophecy into the mouth of a lost man.
And number three, we see the leading of the Holy Spirit. In
verses 54 through 57, Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the
Jews, but went thence into a country near to the wilderness, into
a city called Ephraim. and there continued with his
disciples. And the Jews' Passover was nigh
at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before
the Passover to purify themselves. Then sought they for Jesus and
spake among themselves, and they stood in the temple. Why, thank
ye that he will not come to the feast. Now both the chief priest
and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any knew where he were,
He should show it that they might take him. And we're not told
here that the Holy Spirit led the Lord Jesus to this place
of Ephraim to remain in this place. But at the same time,
I believe we're justified in knowing that God the Holy Spirit
did lead him. You know, in the beginning of
his public ministry, it's recorded in Luke chapter four, The scripture
says the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. And when he returned from that
temptation, the scripture says Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit into Galilee. It seems to me only natural that
God the Holy Spirit in keeping with his ministry of not speaking
of himself. Remember our Lord said, when
he comes, he shall not testify of himself, he'll testify of
me. That everywhere the Lord Jesus Christ walked, every village
he visited, every place he went, he was led by God the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, we know,
would die, as Caiaphas prophesied, but he would die on God's timetable,
and that was at the Passover, because after all is said and
done, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Well, I pray that the Lord would
would use these words and these thoughts tonight just to remind
us of the importance of God the Holy Spirit. We speak of God
the Father and God the Son, and rightly we should. But let's
not forget God the Holy Spirit, His office work. As one person
said, where would I be without God the Holy Spirit? I know one
thing. You wouldn't be in Christ. You
wouldn't be in Christ. You wouldn't be accepted in the
beloved without God, the Holy Spirit, because he's the one
who works grace in the hearts of his people. I pray the Lord
will bless this message for all of us tonight. We'll sing a hymn
before we go.