Unbelief and Hostility - John 11:45-57
Last week, Doug preached on Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. That might be the single greatest miracle of Jesus’ ministry apart from his own resurrection. No doubt, that great miracle points us to Jesus’ resurrection but it’s also a wonderful reminder that we too will one day rise as well. For those whose faith is in Jesus Christ, we look forward to a glorious inheritance.
But one of the more shocking elements of this passage is how Lazarus’ resurrection was received. We’re actually told in verse 45 that many of the Jews had put their faith in Jesus as a result of him raising Lazarus from the dead, but really the passage we just read isn’t about them - it’s about the other group of people: those that did not believe in Jesus and wanted to put him to death.
When you take the passage in as a whole, it’s quite shocking, isn’t it? Jesus becomes Israel’s most wanted for the crime of raising a man from the dead. He restored Lazarus’ life, but many Jews want to take Jesus’ life. Pretty ironic, right?
But what rises to the surface in this passage is the disparity between believers and unbelievers. There has always been a wide disparity between faithful Christians and unbelievers. That’s always been the case. It was true then and remains true now.
I was recently reminded that In 2017, Senator Bernie Sanders voted against the confirmation of Russell Vought on the grounds of his Christian faith.
There’s nothing new under the sun.
In our passage, the Jews, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin weren’t interested in doing the right or just thing. Instead, their top priority was retaining their power and influence. That’s certainly what we just read in this passage.
The Sandherin, which was the most powerful Jewish council, was composed primarily of Sadducees and Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their power.
They’re blinded by political power and influence.
And what we’re reminded of in this passage is that there is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus Christ.
Isn’t neutrality something that we all wish was true? That regardless of what you believe you can still affirm, love, and support anything. And despite Christians and non-Christians coming at the world from incredibly different perspectives we can all get along without any problems.
But that’s just not simply the reality of the situation. There is no neutrality. There is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus Christ. After all, there are only two options when it comes to Jesus Christ: trust in Christ for the salvation of your soul, or reject him in unbelief.
And what we see in this passage is what happens as one’s heart becomes hardened towards the Lord Jesus. Because as soon as Jesus threatens that which is held near and dear to the Sanhedrin, the knives come out don’t they?
We really see that unfold in this passage don’t we? The Jews don’t like Jesus, in fact, they’ve previously tried to stone him, but now they’ve made the settled decision that he needs to die. They want to kill him.
And so we see their unbelief play out in three major ways: First, unbelief will encourage you to protect your idols (vv. 45-48). Unbelief will drag you into the depths of depravity (vv. 49-57). But lastly, God will still ultimately prevail (vv. 49-52).
Unbelief will encourage you to protect your idols (vv. 45-48)
Living in unbelief has an interesting effect on people. A few years ago, I was speaking with a friend of mine and we were talking about Christianity and he said that he was open to the faith, and liked the idea of it, but he didn’t want it to impact, alter or change his lifestyle in any way. And when he said that I thought to myself, there it is!
He was living licentiously and didn’t want to give it up! He wanted to protect his precious idol from Jesus.
And isn’t that exactly what we saw in this passage?
We’re told in verse 45 that as a result of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead many Jews had believed in him. And that’s glorious news isn’t it? Praise the Lord! But again, our passage this evening doesn't really focus on that group. John focuses on the unbelief of the Jews and the Sanhedrin. Instead of rejoicing over Lazarus being raised from the dead, some Jews ran to the Pharisees to tell them what happened. And what do the Pharisees do? They quickly call a meeting in order to figure out how to do damage control.
John provides us with details of a meeting among the Sanhedrin. These are the most powerful Jewish religious leaders and notice how they react to the news that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
Look at what they say in verses 47-48.
“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.”
Forget whether or not it happened! Forget going to the source and inquiring of Jesus what happened, and how were you able to do this, and so on, they call a meeting to figure out what to do!
They were afraid that Jesus would gather such a large following that his influence would surpass their own, potentially revolt against the Romans, who would then in turn take away any political power and freedom that the Jewish religious elites enjoyed. Especially the Sanhedrin who were at the top of the Jewish food chain.
Here’s one of the effects of unbelief: if it’s Jesus or an idol, the idol will win.
And their idol is clearly their power and influence. What’s remarkable is that they’re so consumed with protecting their idol they can’t even rejoice over the fact that a man’s life has been literally restored!
John Calvin famously said that our hearts are perpetual idol factories. And it’s true, the Christian even has to resist the pull of our sinful inclinations. But here’s the difference, the Christian knows that they must fight, resist and destroy idols of their hearts in order to reserve the throne for Christ. Because knowing and following Christ is far better!
The unbeliever doesn’t see things that way. The unbeliever sees the fleeting things of this world as more captivating than Christ. And so, if there’s ever a conflict between Jesus and their personal idols, well, as I said earlier, the idol wins.
We see this right now in our world today! Christ threatens the idols of our culture. Remember when the unspoken cultural rule was, just keep your Christian faith private. Yeah, Jesus might work for you but keep it to yourself. Those days are long gone aren’t they?
That’s no longer good enough. The whole month of June is now dedicated to celebrating homosexuality and other sexual sins and everyone is supposed to rejoice and celebrate it. And if you don't, well, that means you're an unloving bigot. And isn’t the majority of this geared particularly towards Christians. At this point, it’s pretty much an undeniable fact.
Why do we experience this? Because Jesus Christ threatens idols! He always has and he always will. And when Jesus threatens idols you can expect hostility.
Unbelief will drag you into the depths of depravity (vv. 49-57)
And that really leads us into one of the more overlooked aspects of unbelief: it will often lead you into extremely dark places. Unbelief will drag you into the depths of depravity.
And we really see this with Caiaphas’ remarks in verses 49-50.
“You know nothing at all. 50 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.”
Caiaphas begins by chastising everyone, because he believed there was only one solution: Jesus had to die. If Jesus was dead, then all of their problems would melt away. He thinks that it would help maintain peaceful relations between the Jewish people and the Romans government which of course would mean they’d also be able to hold onto their power and influence. Win, win, win, right?
Except for one minor detail: they have to kill an innocent man.
What we read in verses 49-50 is a great example of the irony that the Apostle John builds into his gospel. Because clearly, Caiaphas is thinking only of political expediency, but the Lord intended for us to see something else entirely.
It’s obviously ironic because what Caiaphas’ says in those verses is the gospel message in a nutshell! Jesus’ death would save his people. “The nation” is a reference to the nation of Israel, but remember, Paul tells us that the people of faith are true people of God.
And John of course, tells us that the words of Caiaphas are prophetic in verses 51-53. Look at those verses with me.
“[Caiaphas] did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.”
Jews were scattered all over the world at this time and so Caiaphas believed that his death would unite the Jewish people together.
But of course, we know that what is meant is that the Lord will graft people from every tribe, tongue, and nation together into the family of God. You see Caiaphas’ didn’t understand his own prophecy!
He’s so obsessed with his own political power, he only sees everything through that grid. He fails to understand that the Lord revealed something of spiritual significance through him.
And it’s because of Caiaphas along with the rest of the Sanhedrin’s obsession with power that they, “...made plans to put him to death.”
But I don’t want us to miss the point that I’m trying to make here: unbelief and the rejection of Jesus Christ sent them on a dark, evil, and wicked path.
Their thinking was so twisted and evil they genuinely believed that murder was a good thing. Just think about that. What happened to protecting the innocent?
Not to mention, what Jesus did was a wonderful thing! He raised a man from the dead! But their unbelief led them to believe murder was not only justifiable, but good.
It’s a good example of pragmatic thinking. Pragmatism is the fundamental belief that everything is subservient to achieving results and success.
If your only goal is to achieve results, it won’t be long before you find yourself compromising your own moral integrity.
Isn’t this what we see in corporate America? Even Chick-Fil-A is willing to compromise their professed Christian values if there’s any chance it could affect their bottom line. Because profits are king and everything else serves that end.
Unfortunately, this way of thinking has even crept into the church. So many churches are willing to do whatever it takes to grow. But if that’s your only guiding principle it won’t be long before your pragmatism puts you at odds with Biblical standards.
And look, who doesn’t want their church to grow! I pray that Providence grows! I want to see more folks come into this body of believers. I want to see people trust in Christ. I want all of those things too.
But it gets scary when a church is willing to alter the gospel in order to serve what they perceive to be a greater purpose like growth or diversity. When that is your sole purpose it will only become harder to call sin - sin.
Likewise, it will only become harder and harder to look at someone and tell them that they need to turn from their sin and repent before forgiving and gracious God.
It’s interesting to me that the Westminster Shorter Catechism 87 calls repentance a saving grace.
“What is repentance unto life?”
“A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.”
Every Christian should pursue holiness and righteousness, not so they can be condescending toward others, but because they want to please the Lord. Turning from your sin, hating your sin, is an integral part of your Christian faith!
So many churches, preachers, and Christians would agree with Westminster Shorter Catechism number 87, but deny it with their practice because it doesn’t serve their pragmatic ends.
It’s easy to see why pastors would avoid calling people to repentance and faith: it may impact church growth and attendance.
Doesn’t this explain how someone can stand in a pulpit and extol the virtues of the gay community while disparaging God’s design for the family?
Woe to you who calls good evil and evil good.
I hope you don’t miss my overall point, which is unbelief and pragmatic thinking will destroy your moral compass. Isn’t that what we see in our passage?
God will still ultimately prevail (vv. 49-52)
Unbelief really has depressing effects don’t they? But there’s always a silver lining.
Look again at verses 49-52 with me again.
“You know nothing at all. 50 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.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”
I want to zero in particularly on verse 51. Again, Caiaphas’ prophecy is amazing despite his misunderstanding because his prophecy rang true, didn’t it? He didn’t understand it, but we certainly do! We know the proper interpretation of his prophetic words!
Because we all know how the story ends. We know that Jesus ultimately died a criminal’s death on the cross, not for the political ends Caiaphas’ wanted it to, but rather to atone for the sins of the world ultimately sparking a worldwide movement! Christ’s death didn’t silence him, it magnified him!
Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It was the will of God that Jesus would die and that it would be sacrificial and it would be for his people.
God’s sovereignty is on clear display, because He even used evil and unbelief to accomplish His will. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the Jewish religious elites certainly thought that everything was going according to their plan. It’s what Satan himself believed too!
But it wasn’t Caiaphas’ plan that was ultimately carried out - it was God’s plan for redemption!
For evil reasons they sought to put Jesus to death, but unbeknownst to them they were accomplishing God’s sovereign will all along. What you meant for evil, God intended for good.
This is a glorious reminder for all of us here today. As the world continues to grow increasingly hostile towards Jesus Christ, as the Christian faith becomes more out of sync with the values of this world, in the end the Lord God will still prevail. No matter how much the world screams and kicks against goads - the Lord will ultimately be victorious.
He will get the final word.
You see, all unbelief will in due time turn into hostility towards Jesus. Christians should recognize and acknowledge the reality of the situation.
And as hostility increases and we’re reminded that there is no neutrality, there is no middle ground, there is no third way when it comes to Jesus Christ, there are only two options: faith in Christ or unbelief and condemnation. That’s it!
And each of us this evening must ask ourselves, where do I stand? Because if you're truly born again, relying on Christ for your salvation, it’s not whether or not you're going to face hostility, it’s just when and under what circumstances!
Jesus reminds us that this is going to happen and we shouldn’t be surprised. He predicted it in John 15, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”
But in the very next chapter Jesus says, “ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Amen.
