Well, if you'd please open your Bibles to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. We're continuing through our study of John. For those not familiar with our method of preaching, we go through the Scriptures, a passage at a time, and talk about the lessons that God would have us learn from that particular passage. It struck me that people who are drawn to Meadow Creek Presbyterian Church are not drawn to this place because we have fancy band or a really funny pasture or because we're just a political mouthpiece for a certain party or something like that. They come because they want to hear the Word of God proclaimed to their ears. And yet there are times when the text itself just seems to resonate with what is happening in culture at that time. And today is one of those days, as I read the passage this week and began to study, it struck me again and again that people, even in the church, are being tempted to have the attitude of the council, the Jewish council, consisting of all the rulers in Jerusalem. They were concerned primarily with earthly things and not setting their mind on things above. Well, this particular portion of Scripture is a response, if you will, to the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus, this is the seventh sign, the seventh miracle, if you will, in what is called by many, the Gospel of John, the book of signs. There are seven signs that John uses to show us something about Jesus. turning water into wine in John 2, cleansing the temple in John 2, healing the nobleman's son in John 4, healing of the lame man in John 5, feeding the multitude in John 6, healing the blind man in John 9, and now most recently, raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11. The last of the signs that John recounts for us before Jesus goes to His own death and His own resurrection. Well, in each of these signs, we've seen the same kind of thing that has happened among the Jews when they see Jesus perform a sign or do a great thing. There's two responses. They either believe Jesus or they reject Jesus. The same responses that we've seen throughout history. We see that the rulers of Jerusalem have chosen to reject Jesus. And we'll discuss why in this particular text. This is John 11, verses 45-57. This is God's inerrant and inspired Word. That means it's perfect in everything it says. And it's completely accurate and true. So I'll be reading verses 45-57. Please stand in honor of the reading of God's Holy Word. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered in the council and said, What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, 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. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. And not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put Him to death. 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. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for 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? 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. Amen. Please be seated. Let us pray that God would give us wisdom as we study His Word this morning. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank You for giving us Your Word. We thank You that all truth that we need for life is contained in Your Word. We thank You that by Your Holy Spirit, You open up minds to hear Your Word. And we as people who know all too well that anything transcendent or divine is far beyond us except for Your Spirit. We pray that by Your Spirit, You would open our minds, soften our hearts, unstop our ears, that we might be encouraged by the truth of Your Holy Scripture. In Jesus' name, amen. The title of the sermon is, Jesus, Christ, and Politics. We're going to talk about Jesus and the politics of His day, and we'll see almost direct application for what we are seeing today. But in doing so, we're also going to look at the responses to this wonderful miracle that has happened. The raising of Lazarus from the dead. This wasn't a private resurrection. This was a very public resurrection. So close to Jerusalem that a whole city of Jerusalem had heard of the death and the resurrection of Lazarus at the hand and the power by the power of Jesus. It is interesting when we look at death experiences in the Scriptures, or views of heaven. You might wonder, well, I wonder what Lazarus saw after he died. He certainly went to the Father's side. What did he see? John doesn't tell us. We're told nothing of what happened after Lazarus was raised, related to his reactions to being back on the earth again. We don't know of Lazarus' feelings or attitudes. the things that he had seen, the stories that he might have told his sisters after he had been raised from the dead. We are also told nothing of the joy of Mary and Martha at the raising of their brother to life. Indeed, we see Paul later recounting his own experience with heaven and refusing to talk about it. He absolutely refused to discuss it. The silence of the Scriptures, I believe, must certainly say something about the authenticity of these accounts. Because our human nature, our culture for sure, would have focused on the very things that I just mentioned. Would capitalize on this experience. There would be books written about the experiences just as we've seen today. I don't believe any of these books are real. Just a quick search through the Internet of books with people basically saying they went to heaven. I saw my grandpa walking up to give me a hug and things like that. It's all ridiculous. Nobody has their bodies in heaven except Jesus. So, just proof of heaven. Imagine heaven. Revealing heaven. Heaven is real. We don't need anything else except the Word of God for us to know without any doubt that heaven is real. And the reasons for these books certainly, I think, are not always insincere. To get the truth out, we think God may need a little help. He needs a little help with the PR, because it just seems so incredible that there would be life after death, that there would be a heaven. So these books may be the things that are used to convince the doubters. No doubt there's a hefty reward and royalties for most of these people as well, which should make us skeptical also. But Jesus actually tells us that it's all pointless. That that method of touching people's hearts is pointless. It won't change anyone. A resurrection story will not change anyone's heart. Why? This is the first point. Because of the hardness of men's heart. It's so, so deep. It comes, again, straight from the fall. We're born dead in sin. Our heart is hard. And a story, an account, is not going to change that hardness in and of itself. We know this because Jesus told a parable in Luke 16 of another man named Lazarus. Lazarus was a poor man. He died and went to heaven. And a rich man who was always opposed to God, he died and went to hell. And the rich man was pleading with Abraham saying, please let me go back. Let me go back and tell my family that this is real. They need to live for God. And this is Abraham's response in the parable that Jesus told. Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. In other words, they have the Word of God. Let them hear them. He said, no, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." This explains in part the hardness and unbelief that Jesus encountered after raising Lazarus from the dead. No miracle in and of itself is going to change a human heart, but it also explains the hardness of heart that the early church saw and that we still see today upon the resurrection of Jesus. which, if you study it, is an undeniable fact, that He rose from the dead. God may use a miracle, but something greater than that is required. Some greater miracle is required. And yes, the changing of your heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, the new birth, is a miracle greater than anything, many theologians say, even greater than the miracle of creation itself. And yet, God did seem to use this particular miracle to change many hearts. In John 11, look at verse 45. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him. We know from earlier in John that some people believe in Him, but don't really believe in Him. Do these people really believe in Jesus? Well, from the context, we would probably say, yeah. Probably a huge majority of these people that saw this miracle really did believe in Him. The whole purpose of the miracle was to glorify God and His Son. We read that earlier in chapter 11. And God would be glorified, not just in the performing of the miracle, but that the miracle might have its effect, its desired effect on the people who saw it. That it might validate the identity of Jesus and His redemptive work on the earth. And this was accomplished. And God was magnified in all of His glory before all those who were present. So yes, we might rightly conclude that the response of many of them was true belief in Jesus. But there's more. There are still some who saw the very same things and didn't believe. Look at verse 46. Again, thinking of the hardness of the heart. Some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So just think with me for a moment. You have a friend named Mary, or Martha, and their brother has just died. And you walk down from Jerusalem to this little village two miles away called Bethany. And you're there mourning, and it's the custom to mourn for a week, for a number of days. And you're there mourning with the family. Every day you walk down the hill, down the mountain to Bethany, and you mourn with these sisters, these beloved family of yours. These beloved friends of yours. Or maybe you're just going along with the flow of the people that are there. Maybe you don't really know them too well. But you want to go and mourn with them because you have a general compassion for them. And while you're there on the fourth day of your mourning, you see this rabbi come, and he brings the dead man out of the grave. He's been dead so long that he's stinky. That the grave is smelly. And your response is to walk straight back up the mountain to Jerusalem and to tell the enemies of that rabbi what you had just seen. This wasn't done to convince these people of the divinity of Christ. It was done so that they might bring wrath upon Christ. That they might be angry at Christ. It's difficult to imagine such hardness of heart. Such an outright rejection of the work of God. And yet it gets even worse. Look at verse 47. The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council to discuss this thing. Now the chief priests and the Pharisees, they're getting together to really strategize how they might counter this wonderful miracle. Not to consider, just looking objectively at the facts, I wonder if Jesus actually might be the Son of God. That's not at all what they're doing. And you should note too that we've seen in the past the Sadducees and the Pharisees kind of butting heads. These are two groups of Jewish leaders. The Sadducees were very sad, you see. They didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in the miraculous. They were rulers and political leaders and secular Jews by large measure. They believed in God, but that was about it. They were pragmatic and worldly. They loved wealth. They loved power. The chief priests, the high priests, they were Sadducees. So there were the council made up of Sadducees, a smaller group of the guys in charge, and the Pharisees, a little bit larger group a different kind of leader. The Pharisees, by comparison, were kind of the rabbis of the people. They loved God's law. They didn't always get it right, but they loved the law of God because they remembered their history. Why had the Jewish nation been exiled? Why had the temple been destroyed some hundreds of years before? Because the people had forgotten the law of God. So they come out of exile hundreds of years later. and they're thinking, we need to make the Law of God front and center in the life of Israel. The Pharisees were people who honored and revered the Law of Moses. And most of the people, the common people, had great respect for the Pharisees. Not for the Sadducees, but for the Pharisees. Well, and not all the Pharisees were wicked people. Of course, some of Jesus, if he had to pick a party, he probably would have called himself a Pharisee as well, if he were forced to choose between them. They had a great zeal for the law of God. Their application was not often right, but there you have it. And of course, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea were probably both Pharisees. They had a true heart from God and a heart for God. But what you need to know about this council, and the point of explaining that to you, is that the Pharisees and the Sadducees generally hated each other. They literally despised each other. The Pharisees saw the Sadducees for what they were, pragmatists who just wanted money and power. Anything was worth it to stay in power. And the Sadducees saw the Pharisees as very naive and self-righteous hypocrites. Of course, there's truth in both of their descriptions of each other. Sometimes they would cooperate on things, but they never really joined forces that we know of, except for one time. And that was to kill Jesus. They came together. They united to kill Jesus. They were united to oppose, ironically, the Son of God, their Messiah. It's the one thing they agreed on. And we see that same dynamic even today, don't we? It's actually been seen all through the history of mankind. One thing that everyone in the world can agree on is that Jesus Christ, His name should never be mentioned, and that His church should be despised and hated. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, Yahweh, and against His anointed, Jesus, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. That attitude still is prevalent today. The world will not bow the knee to that man, Jesus Christ. We even see this further exampled in the Scriptures. When Jesus was crucified, remember there were two political enemies, Pilate and Herod, that became friends in their joint desire to kill Jesus. This began a new friendship. How many times have you seen a great toleration for everything in our culture? The modern Western culture. We tolerate anything. Muslims praying in the downtown streets of some of the most ancient cities in Europe. Taking over the entire town square. Yeah, we tolerate that. We're kind. Buddhism, Mormonism, atheism. Darwinism, it's all to be tolerated. It's all wonderful and good. Transgenderism, homosexuality, cross-dressing. Pick your issue. All of it, according to our culture, is to be tolerated. Of course, we want to treat everyone with dignity and respect. That is true. But they take it a step farther. No one must ever be made to feel that there's some objection, some disapproval, based on any moral stance or truth claim. All ideas must be seen as equally valuable. The truth is determined by each person. So all ideas must be equally valued. So this should be a really good thing for the church, shouldn't it? We could talk about Jesus anywhere. It's a wonderful thing. They value every kind of idea. You know that's not true. One of the most horrific things you could ever do according to anyone in culture is actually say the name Jesus Christ in reverence and awe as your God and your Savior in public. You should be hung by the neck until dead. The gloves come off. Everyone unites to oppose you. What a bigot. What a racist you are. The world hates Jesus and the church. There's one thing that unites the world still, and that's the hatred of Christ and of His church. So we see this union of the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming together to kill Jesus, and it should not surprise us. But what do you think they say? We'll look at the Scriptures. The end of verse 47. What are we to do? This man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. So just step back a minute and think of what they're saying. A man has been raised from the dead. He's totally dead, dead. Four days dead. Raised from the dead. They could walk 15 minutes down the mountain and see him. Does this cause any of them to pause for just a moment and think, wait a minute, do you think this Jesus actually might be The Son of God? Or maybe a prophet from God? No, they never stop, according to the text. Do they take time to analyze their own presuppositions? Maybe we got the Bible a little bit wrong. Maybe the Messiah is not going to look exactly like we thought. No, they didn't see anything related to God's blessing on what Jesus had done. It doesn't even cross their minds, as far as we can tell, that only God, only a prophet from God, only the Messiah could do such amazing signs and works. No, but what do they look at? They look at earthly things. They just look straight down at their feet and see what is involved for them. Their own loss of power. Their own potential loss to Rome of their place and their nation, their place meaning the temple, and their nation. They look at politics and power rather than looking at the kingdom of God. Why? Why are they like this? Why don't they look at Jesus and just, like an objective observer, think through the thing a little bit? It seems reasonable, but it's not because their hearts are as hard as stone. and will remain hard until they're changed by the Holy Spirit like every one of us before the Holy Spirit touched our lives. Our hearts are hard like theirs until we are born again. Until they're born again, they will never see the Kingdom of God. You ask, why are they so blind? They can't see the Kingdom of God at all. Jesus said they must be born again to see it. The depravity of all men makes even A miracle like a resurrection ineffective for changing the mind. No amount of miracles, no amount of good preaching, kindness, apologetics can change a heart. God may use these things, of course, and He does. But He alone remains sovereign over the new birth. Never forget it. John 3. The wind blows where it may. No one sees where it goes or where it's come from. Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit will save whom God has ordained to save. He will maintain His sovereignty over the new birth. Why can't they understand this? Because their hearts are hard, their eyes are blind. There's of course a wonderful application for us. We all have friends and loved ones who seem blind to the Gospel. Who seem blind to anything that's not earthly. You point them to Christ and it seems like it just goes right over their head. Maybe it does. Maybe it's because their hearts are still hard. They're like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They have a semblance of religion maybe. With hearts that are still dead in sin. Eyes that are blind. explained the gospel to them as wonderfully as you can, you've written letters, you've shared, you've befriended them and cared for them and loved them for years and nothing has changed. And Luke 18, Jesus says, never give up. Never give up. You keep praying. The most important thing we can do is pray. Do you think your arguments are going to change someone's heart? That's a work of the Holy Spirit. God may use your words. He may use your arguments. But if you're relying purely on an earthly solution, then you are missing the mark. You must pray and never give up. Pray that God will change their hearts. And keep praying until you have your answer or until you die. Only God can change the heart. So this is why the Pharisees and the rulers were not even touched in the slightest by the resurrection. Hearts were hard. But we also see that there's a great distinction between what is earthly and what is spiritual. That's the second thing I want to show you. Because we see even in this very earthly focus of the Sadducees and the Pharisees and Caiaphas, the high priest, they're focused on the earth and the politics and the nations. The governments. And yet, even in the midst of that, God uses these wicked men to declare profound, transcendent truth from Heaven. Look at verse 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. Their place being the temple and the nation. They're concerned that if people believe in Jesus, it might upset the Romans, and the Romans might come destroy Jerusalem and destroy the temple. or upset their earthly arrangement with the Roman Empire. So their solution is essentially, well, let's just kill Jesus. This is later. Their hearts were hard. We already know this. But they're perfectly pragmatic and earthly in their thinking. This is what I want to focus on. There's an earthly focus on their lives. What should have been obvious to them that Jesus was from God was ignored. It's ignored for earthly thinking and solutions. Instead of thinking Jesus is God, so the safest thing we can possibly do is follow hard after Jesus. Because that's following hard after God. And that's still right today. They ignored that and they thought, what we really need to do is make sure that this political government actually continues as it is, because we need the favor of Rome, or we will not be able to exist. So we need to remember when we read this, that we are often, even in the church, not far from this pragmatism and unbelief that's seen by these Sadducees and Pharisees. When we consider our own responses to government, our own responses to politics, we should be aware of our tendency to be like this council when we consider our own government. Sometimes I think we're convinced that the most important thing we can do in government is just to vote for the right people. There's a movement in churches today actually where pastors are telling their congregations to do just the opposite. We don't like this guy, we don't like this guy, so just sit out. That's the morally correct thing to do is just not to participate. I would say that's anti-biblical and absolutely wrong. You have a moral obligation to participate in the culture that you live in. We don't just slink into these churches and close the doors and pray that everyone else stays away. No, we should all find the candidates whose policies, find the parties whose policies will most slow the societal decay that we're seeing, whose policies are most aligned with the moral imperatives of the Scriptures and support them and vote for them. The biblical ethic is clear. Look at the Ten Commandments. The party that aligns itself with the Ten Commandments, that's the party we want. The party most opposed to murder, especially abortion. 55 million abortions in America is enough. Friends, that's enough. What great wrath we bring upon ourselves. Find the party most opposed to abortion and vote for that party. This is the greatest single issue you could ever, I believe, count on when you look at who to vote for. Look at the great wickedness of abortion. There's no greater sin in the history of mankind than the 1.75 billion babies slaughtered in the womb. And if you're wondering, I don't know if I believe that abortion is really all that wrong. Find somewhere online and watch an abortion. As horrific as that sounds, if you're on the fence, you will never again be in support of an abortion. The murder of an innocent child in the womb is horrific. So, you want to know who to vote for? Find the party most opposed to that. Or look at the rest of the Ten Commandments. The party that's most opposed to the immorality we see in culture. The degradation we see in the moral fiber of our culture. The party most opposed to theft. The party that's most opposed to adultery. All kinds of hooliganism or vandalism. The party that most respects private property. The Ten Commandments give us wonderful counsel as to which party we should be voting for. The party most aligned with a Christian biblical ethic. and that we must support the work of the church. That means we need free speech. That means we need freedom of assembly. If there's any censorship at all in culture, you know who the first people that are going to come after? It's going to be guys like me. Because I don't care. Put me in jail. That's fine. I can do church from jail, I guess. We need free speech. We need free assembly. So we need to pray that God lifts up leaders who will allow us to lead quiet and peaceful lives in His service. That party that most supports the church and its mission, that's the one we go for. The party that's most aligned with a biblical ethic, that's where we engage and register and vote. Amen. We should. It's our duty to do so. So do that, church. But that's not the point of the sermon. The point of the sermon is that this is the smaller part of your duty. It's misguided if that's where you place your hope. Politics is not the main thing. Like the Jewish council, if we only look at the earthly kingdoms, the earthly rulers, well, if we do this, then Rome will do this. If that's how we think, then we're forgetting God's kingdom. We're forgetting that there is One who rules and reigns on high. He's sitting on His throne, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. When you pray the Lord's Prayer with me this morning, and when you pray this prayer every day, you don't pray, Lord, let the republican kingdom come. Lord, let the democratic kingdom come. Let the libertarian kingdom come. What an extremely short-sighted and stupid prayer. To simply pray for a political candidate to win. You should pray for the right candidate to win. Yes. But to stop there is immature and earthly. What we are called to do and what I'm calling you to do is to lift your eyes from the muck of politics and lift your eyes to heaven. You step above onto another plane when you see the spiritual nature of God's kingdom. This is a great example for your neighbors, for other people that you know in other churches who are just so worried about every little thing that's happening. In some measure, you can take the attitude of God Himself, because you have the Holy Spirit of God in you. And you can look at all these things, and in one sense, you can kind of laugh. Because compared to the power and the might of God, it's all ridiculous. No one can come against God. No one can stop His plan. So yeah, pray for your candidate. Whatever. But what you really should want more than anything else, more than a victory in an election, is that God's kingdom would come. Amen? God's kingdom would come. Listen to the larger catechism as it describes the kingdom of God. When you pray, Thy kingdom come, Here's what you should be thinking and praying. You acknowledge yourself and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan. This is a starting point. When you think about a kingdom, you think of first God's kingdom. And you acknowledge that we all are under the dominion of sin and Satan. Two, you pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan would be destroyed Don't you think that's a much better objective than just praying against a certain candidate? Satan has a much bigger plan than that candidate could ever imagine. So go to the source. Pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan would be destroyed. And that the gospel would be propagated throughout the world. We also pray that the Jews would be called the fullness of the Gentiles brought into the family of God. That the church is furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances. purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrates. We want peace on the earth so that the church can do its thing. That the ordinances of Christ might be purely dispensed and made effectual to the converting of those that are still in their sins. You see, praying for the kingdom of God to come is much, much bigger and much more important than any election. It's the eternal souls of men and women. Sixthly, you pray that Christ would rule in our hearts here and hasten the time of His second coming and are reigning with Him forever and ever. And finally, when you pray, Thy kingdom come, you should pray that He would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of His power in all the world as may best conduce to these ends. You see what you're saying when you say, Lord, I'm concerned about all these things in our culture, in our government, in this election, they concern me. But Lord, I don't know all things You do. Let Your kingdom come." You're trusting God rather than thinking that God really doesn't know what He's doing. Oh, I can't believe that this man is our president. What a horrible disaster. God must have really missed the mark on this one. You may not say that, but you think that. Praying for God's kingdom to come is the ultimate prayer for a good outcome. It's the only thing you should really want. So all that to say, don't think any longer like the councils of the Jews. Pragmatic, earthly, fleshly, ignoring the power of Jesus. Which is exactly what they did in our temptation as well when it comes to politics or life. Don't think that only one outcome will achieve the ends that God has ordained. Now, of course, I want the right person to win the election as well. I want all of the things we've already talked about to come to fruition. And yet the reality is, God is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth. Daniel 4, the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will. This has always been the case, brothers and sisters. And remember Daniel, his whole city had been destroyed and he was in exile. And God was teaching him and Nebuchadnezzar and us that God rules over all the kingdoms of men. He may choose to let us fall into some oppression or anarchy. And both sides seem to think this is going to happen. He may choose to bring all of your worst fears upon you. the God in the heavens looks down and laughs. Our primary duty is to look forward to the kingdom of God, to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things. And I promise you this, if you see your neighbors who are so worried and distressed by all the things that they see in the news or whatever, only the people who desire God's kingdom more than anything else will never be disappointed by what they see on the earth. Because you know that God is working His work. So if you're concerned, yeah, pray. And definitely think through the commandments and go vote. The choice should be clear. But also remember that He who sits in the heavens laughs. God is not concerned at all that you think the wrong person might win. The Lord holds them all in derision. Those who are opposed to Him are a joke. when compared to His wisdom and His power and His providence. Everyone will someday kiss the sun. Or his wrath will be kindled. So we take our refuge in Jesus Christ. Well, only the kingdom of God will last. Only His kingdom will last. All the other kingdoms on earth have failed and will fail. Our only hope and peace. So don't be like the Jewish council. Brothers and sisters, set your mind on Christ. On Jesus and on His power. Don't miss His power. That's what they missed. They missed His power. They thought He was nothing. Don't be like them. Don't ignore His power. Rather, be prayerful and be heavenly in your thinking. Pray that His kingdom would come. Let's conclude with this. This reminder that His plan cannot fail. Verse 49, one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all. It's so funny because it sounds so much like political conversation that goes on even today. Caiaphas, the high priest, he's basically saying, you're all just so stupid. Stop. Isn't that the way we talk to each other often in politics anyway? You see that happening. You're stupid. You're an idiot. Like it just shuts down any conversation. That's exactly what he's doing. Caiaphas says, you're all dumb. You know nothing. Just listen to me. And what was that thing that he said they should do? Kill Jesus. Listen to me. I've got it all figured out to make sure that our temple and our city survive This movement, we've got to kill Jesus. Verse 50, you don't understand that it's better for you that one man should die for the people. Not that the whole nation should perish. These words were ordained by God. God used this sinful man. It's like God speaking through the mouth of a donkey in the Old Testament. He's using this sinful man, this wicked man, to speak truth because he was the high priest that year. He describes the redemptive work of God. And John tells us that much in verse 51. He didn't say this of his own accord, but being the high priest, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but gather into one the children of God scattered abroad, Jews and Gentiles. It is comforting for us to remember when we see this event that there is nothing in the world, there is no event in the world that doesn't ultimately serve the purposes of God. Happy is the man who understands that God is sovereign over everything. Everything that happens supports His purposes, period. He ordains all that happens on the earth and it all is accomplished for His glory and according to His plan. And what's His glorious plan? Well, Caiaphas tells us that Jesus would die for the nations. For the nation. That's the plan. This is the redemptive plan. The death of Jesus. Something that Peter tells us even angels longed to look into. And yet, this wicked Caiaphas, he actually says it. 1 Peter 1. Verse 10, "'Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, in the things that they have been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." So this is a mystery. The prophets all wanted to know how God was going to accomplish this redemption of His people. The angels longed to look into this mystery of how God was going to accomplish the redemption of His people. And God tells us how He's going to do it. by using the mouth of this wicked Caiaphas who said that Jesus should die for the people. And not only that, not only the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. John is telling us something that was a mystery to the Jewish people. They could not understand how Gentiles would be brought into the kingdom of God, not being children of Abraham by birth. And yet, Paul talks about this mystery. Actually, let's open our Bibles to Ephesians 3. Let's read it together. It's powerful. 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians. Chapter 3. For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly, When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. This mystery is that the promise made to Abraham has been opened up, not only to the physical children of Abraham, but also to Gentiles. This mystery of Christ. So Caiaphas, being the high priest that year, God uses him to proclaim that redemption would come through the death of Jesus. He said something perfectly right and profound. He prophesied of the wonder and glory of God's plan to save a people for Himself. God is fulfilling His promise to Abraham that He would be Abraham's God and Abraham would be His people and all of His seed after Him. So this promise is declared by Caiaphas. Well, this should give us great hope that His plan will be carried out to the ends of the earth until He returns again. If He could use a wicked man like Caiaphas, a man who hated Jesus to accomplish His purposes, He can use any man to accomplish His purposes on the earth. He doesn't need your candidate. In fact, He can use even the most wicked man to accomplish His purpose. And this was the greatest purpose, the greatest single event in all of human history. God used this wicked man to proclaim and to execute the work of God. He's not slowed down by wicked rulers. He uses them. You have tools in your woodshed, you go out and you grab the tool you need and you do the thing you need to do. He uses wicked rulers like tools in the woodshed. He grabs the one He needs and He uses it. Nothing is ever amiss in His providence. He's always ruling and reigning. His purposes are always accomplished. So from that day forward, verse 53 of John 11, from that day on they made plans to put Him to death. Here's the interesting thing. They thought by killing Jesus they would save their nation and their temple, their place. And they would stop Jesus from ever having any power, any authority, any following. And yet all the things that they feared came upon them because it was part of God's plan. the death of Jesus actually proved the salvation of the world. And He has a greater following now than any man who has ever lived. And their temple was destroyed. And their city was destroyed and demolished. Their place and their nation were all gone just as they feared. And all this happened according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. They made their plans, but God already had His plan. Jesus was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. And He rose again and ascended to heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And of His kingdom there will be no end. Someday in heaven we're going to see a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Let us pray. Almighty God, we pray that You would be with us. Lord, we know these are troubling times for many, and yet we of all people should have great confidence and great hope. Indeed, in some measure, we, like You, can laugh when we see the governments conspiring against You. Lord, we know that there is no one like You. There is no king more powerful than You. There is no God with more wisdom than You. You dwell in the heavens and You do whatever You please. We pray that we would not be like this council of Pharisees and Sadducees, looking only at earthly solutions, when we should be like the saints of old and set our minds on things above. Lord, help us to be faithful in prayer. Lord, we do desire a good outcome for this election. But more than that, we desire that Your kingdom would come. Lord, we trust You. And we pray that Your kingdom truly would come. That Your church would be enlarged and us and others brought into it and kept in it. That the kingdom of Satan would be destroyed. And that Lord, of course, that Your heavenly kingdom would be hastened. Lord, let Your kingdom come and encourage the souls of Your people in Jesus' name.