LOJ #182: ‘One For All Pt. 2’
Andover Baptist Church-May 5th, 2013
Opening
A. Text for today is John 11:49-54 and our sermon is titled ‘One
For All’
B. Scripture NET:
“49 Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.”51 (Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation,52 and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.)53 So from that day they planned together to kill Him. 54 Thus Jesus no longer went around publicly among the Judeans, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with His disciples.”
C. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)
1. Do you know that there are people who don’t love
Jesus?
2. There are some people who would want us to stop
loving Jesus, because they don’t like Him.
3. That’s very sad because Jesus loved them so much He
died on the cross so that if they accept Him they could
one day go to heaven.
4. Someday it will be likely that someone will make fun of
you for loving Jesus and maybe say some real mean
things about Him and you (It has happened to me)
5. Should you stop loving Jesus because of that? No!
6. Because no one, not even your mom and dad, or anyone
else in the world loves you as much as Jesus
7. Pray for them and their protection and witness
D. Introduction
1. Doing whatever makes the most people happy or the
path of least resistance sounds admirable
2. That view point is called utilitarianism and it is a
leading view in our nation and world today
3. Regardless of the means, regardless of the implications,
regardless if it is right or wrong if it makes people
happy it should be allowed
4. It is the satanic gospel of Sodom and Gomorrah and it
is fast becoming the gospel of the United States because
everyone is drinking the devil’s Kool Aide
5. And the church, or those who call themselves the
church, claim to be followers of Christ but embrace
ideas that are counter to His Word treating it not as the
Word of God, but as a smorgasbord that can be picked
over selecting some things to believe in our lives and
others to be left
6. God’s people are not to choose the lesser of two evils
7. God’s people are not to offend God to keep from
offending people
8. God’s people are not to embrace things contrary to His
Word simply because everybody else is
9. We have a picture of what happens when this takes
place in our text today
a. Men, leaders of their nation who would disregard
the commands of God to save their position
b. Men who should have gladly accepted Christ and
His gift, work against them
c. Men who try elevate their will above the will of
Almighty God
10. What about you Christian? What command of God
would you too disregard to see your will and supposed
happiness? Pushing to the side the façade that you
bring into this building, who, deep down in the core of
your being do you really, truly serve?
11. And if you discover my friend that it’s anything other
than Jesus Christ, you had best be very, very concerned
for the da you stand before Him and give an account.
For in that moment the only thing that will matter is
what you did with Him.
Sermon
READ: John 11:49, 50 (Scripture slide)
“49 Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.”
A. The high priest that year, Caiaphas, angrily asserts his
assessment of their actions
1. ‘one of them’ indicates he was a member of the
Sanhedrin
2. Josephus tells us his name was Joseph, but he went by
Caiaphas
a. As the high priest he was over the temple and
presided over the Sanhedrin
b. The high priesthood was supposed to be a
lifelong calling
c. The Romans had changed the high priesthood in
to what commentator said was a ‘political
football’ [throw a ball to Alan]
1. They, not the Jews, were the ones who
decided who would be the high priest
2. All it would take is for a high priest to
fall out of favor with the Roman
governor and he was out of a job
3. In fact the Roman governor Valerius
Gratus, the predecessor to the governor in
charge in Caiaphas’ day, disposed four
priests three of whom lasted little more
than around a year
4. The plot thickens when you realize that
the four priests before Caiaphas was his
father-in-law Annas and Annas’ three
sons
5. Annas, who was high priest from 6-15
A.D.still held considerable sway among
the Jews and the Sanhedrin (as we shall
see in Jesus’ mock trial)
6. Showing his political deftness, Caiaphas
holds the position for 18 years, the
longest in the 1st century
7. He would be replaced when Pilate was
replaced by the Roman governor Vitellus
in 36 A.D.
d. Are jobs important? You bet they are! Are they
worth giving up your integrity or doing
something contrary to what Christ would have
you do? Absolutely not. Caiaphas didn’t learn
that lesson, I hope you can learn from his
mistake.
3. His critique: ‘You know nothing at all’
a. He chastises his fellow council members for not
knowing what to do with Jesus
b. In short he tells them they don’t know what they
are talking about
c. It’s every bit as rude as it sounds
d. The rudeness of the Sadducees with others and
one another was well attested to by Josephus
(who it must be noted, however, was a Pharisee)
B. After ridiculing them Caiaphas offers them a supposed way out
of their Jesus problem: 'You do not realize that it is more to
your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the
whole nation to perish.'
1. ‘You do not realize that’ = ‘You are not considering
this’
a. To try and stop Jesus they had unofficially
attempted to stone Him
b. They had verbally disagreed with them and He
made them look like fools
c. They had disapproved of Him and taught against
Him but the people still flocked to Him
d. They thought they had explored all the options,
but Caiaphas had a final solution
2. Caiaphas sets up his sinful plan by opening it up with
these words, ‘it is more to your advantage’.
a. Have you ever seen someone try and sugar coat
sin to you (which is rebellion against God?)
b. Caiaphas is trying to sugarcoat murder
c. ‘Oh don’t worry about it, this is what is best, for
you, for me’
d. Let me tell it to you straight if God would declare
it sinful, it is the complete opposite of good for
you, I don’t care how it is sugar coated (I’m sure
cyanide capsules can be coated in sugar)
3. The proposal ‘one man die for the people than for the
whole nation to perish’
a. Trying to justify murder, Caiaphas indicates that
it would be better for Jesus to be killed than for
them to be wiped out as a nation
b. But their logic is nonsensical for there is no
evidence that Jesus would do such a thing and all
indications from Him would be that He would not
do such a thing
c. The only Messiah they wanted was a dead one
who wouldn’t mess with their gig
d. They would kill a man to keep their influence
e. Sounds like our culture who says ‘You can kill
your babies if they interfere with your life’ Says
who? Definitely not God!
4. Twisted sense of values
a. If they handed Jesus over to the Romans before
He got too popular they might be able to keep
their place and gain favor with Rome even
b. This flew in the face of their ingrained
nationalism (i.e. us vs. the Romans)
c. Rabbis actively debated whether a Jew could be
turned in to the Romans for anything
1. Some said yes while others said no way
2. Many said it would be better for the
entire nation to be killed or raped then to
willfully turn one person over to the
Romans for such treatment
d. What Caiaphas proposed was very similar to the
Rabbinic statements in the Genesis Rabbah (a
collection of Jewish sermons)
1. It said, ‘It is better that one life be in
uncertain danger of death than all be in
certain death’
2. The rules around this were very strange
a. The only way one could be given
up is if they were named
specifically
b. For instance let’s say that you are
going down the road with a group
of friends
c. A group of thugs jumps out and
says ‘We are going to kill one of
you, which one will it be?’ To
which you would say [Richard]
‘all of us’
d. But if they jumped out and
specifically asked for Ian, you
could give him over because they
asked specifically for a person
e. You see this in 2 Samuel 20 when
a man named Sheba is handed
over by the city of Abel to
David’s men and he was executed
because they asked for him by
name
3. Caiaphas likely believes that since Jesus
is known it would be ‘lawful’ to give
Him up
READ: John 11:51, 52 (Scripture slide)
51 (Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation,52 and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.)”
A. Caiaphas was using sacrificial language when he said 'one man
die for the people'
1. Caiaphas wanted someone to take the place of them and
the nation
2. Jesus was the scapegoat they needed (He’s the
scapegoat we need as well)
3. Dictionary.com gives the definition of a scapegoat as
twofold
a. ‘A person or group made to bear the blame for
others or to suffer in their place’
b. ‘a goat let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur
[Day of Atonement] after the high priest
symbolically laid the sins of the people on it’s
head’
3. Open your Bibles to Leviticus 16:5-10
“5 He must also take two male goats from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Then Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself and is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. 7 He must then take the two goats and stand them before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 8 and Aaron is to cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel.9 Aaron must then present the goat which has been designated by lot for the Lord, and he is to make it a sin offering, 10 but the goat which has been designated by lot for Azazel is to be stood alive before the Lord to make atonement on it by sending it away to Azazel into the wilderness.”
a. What was done temporarily with animals (here
goats) was fully realized in Jesus’ sacrifice
b. One was sacrificed as a sin offering, the other is
to atone (i.e. to make reparation) for Israel
c. The goats symbolized the payment for the
people’s sin and the taking away of people’s sin
from them
d. Jesus, once and for all, paid the price of sin for
anyone who would come to Him
Hebrews 10:1–10 (NET) “1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.5 So when he came into the world, he said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. 6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in. 7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come—it is written of me in the scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’ ” 8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second. 10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”
e. Caiaphas tells the core belief of Christianity:
Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice!
1. The man who wants to murder
Jesus...preaching Jesus' Gospel!
2. Doubly ironic that that high priest of the
Jews would be responsible for the
sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus
3. John tells us that this prophetic utterance
on the part of Caiaphas was planned by
God
a. Had he realized it Caiaphas would
have been shocked
b. The essence of what he said was
very similar to the essence of John
3:16
c. Nothing happens that surprises
God or that He has not planned for
(including, surprise, surprise, your
in life as well)
Proverbs 16:9 (NET) “A person plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Proverbs 19:21 (NET) “There are many plans in a person’s mind, but it is the counsel of the Lord which will stand.”
4. God used Caiaphas like God used the
brothers of Joseph
a. In fact the story of Joseph and his
brothers is a picture of Jesus
b. Joseph’s brothers sold him into
slavery (undeniably a horrible
thing to do)
c. But God used it to bless His
people
d. Likewise Caiaphas decrees the
murder of Jesus which God uses to
bless those who would come to
Jesus for the forgiveness of sins
B. “he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish
nation,52 and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather
together into one the children of God who are scattered.)”
1. The sacrificial system was simply a shadow of what
Jesus was going to fulfill
2. Jesus was not going to die because the Sanhedrin and
Caiaphas wanted Him dead, but it was His plan to save
the world from their sins (first for the Jew and then the
Gentiles)
3. John the Baptist realized this when he saw Jesus
John 1:29 (NET) “On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
4. The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would come and do this
Isaiah 53:5–8 (NET) “5 He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed. 6 All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. 7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth. 8 He was led away after an unjust trial— but who even cared? Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.”
5. Repeatedly we see the theme in the New Testament that
Jesus became the One Who took upon our sin and our
punishment so that we could be right with God
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET) “God made the One Who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God.”
1 John 2:2 (NET) “and He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.”
6. Jesus died for the Jews and for the children of God who
are scattered
a. Anyone, Jew or not, who wants Christ to become
their Lord and Savior is welcome to approach
Him
b. Black people, brown people, white people, Asian
people, small people, big people, All people