I've chosen a passage from the Gospel of John, the 11th chapter, and hopefully the reason will be evident shortly. If you turn to the Gospel of John, the 11th chapter, commencing with verse 45, reading through verse 57. Now, the event that has just occurred, just been completed, is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This monumentally miraculous event, something which has never been duplicated, except in the case of Elijah. It was witnessed by many, many people. Very certifiable event. There's no gain saying it. And of course, because that happened, and because Lazarus came from the grave, bound in graveclaws, by the way, it would have been quite a sight. You'll have to admit, it would have been quite a sight for this man who had been dead and buried in his cave, grave, for four days, wound up in graveclothes, appearing at the mouth of the cave of his tomb, and having to be unwound and unbound, very much alive. 45th verse says, then many of the Jews who came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him. But some of them went their way to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, what do we? For this man doth many miracles. we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and the 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 spoke 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 in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth, they took counsel together to put him to death. Jesus, therefore, walked no more openly among the Jews, but went from there unto 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. And then sought they for Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple. What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that if any man knew where he were, He should show it that they might take him. Now let's stop there and let's pray. Father, now I ask that you will bless this reading of thy word into our hearing and open our minds and thus our hearts unto the believing of it. Holy Spirit of God, teach us our lesson this night from this thy word. Enliven us, ground us more firmly in our faith. Convict of sin here tonight. Glorify Christ here in this place, in this slight church tonight. And have honor. To you be all honor and power. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. I'd like to direct your attention to a couple of verses in the mid of this text. Caiaphas, who was the high priest, I made this statement. It is expedient for us that one man should die, verse 50, for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. Of course, what he meant was that if we killed Jesus, we would preserve the nation. That's what he meant. That's not what he said. The 51st verse said, he spoke this, and it was not of himself that he spoke it. That's a very interesting statement. Think about that for a moment. He was a high priest. Being the high priest of that year, evidently, he was endued with power from God to make certain prophetic utterances. Even though he was a corrupt high priest, he was in that office. And that office yet, remember, it's critical that we understand the timing of this, had not yet been abolished. The office of high priest of Israel had not yet been abolished by the work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ entered into the veil of heaven with his own blood, And that veil where the temple was read at the time of his death, that was when the office of high priest was abolished in God's terms, not maybe in the Jews' terms, but in God's terms, it was abolished. But until then, it was not abolished, and the high priest continued to have a position of not only authority, but evidently some ordination from heaven itself, from God himself. It said, he spoke not verse 51 of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. But his prophecy did not at all encapsulate or embrace what it was that he said. What he said, what he thought he said, what he was saying, what he intended to say was we must kill him in order that we keep our position of power and influence and keep the nation together. So it doesn't become overrun or thrown out or abolished by the Romans who are really our guardians. That's what he thought he said. But what he did say was, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that he should also gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. You ought to underline that. It's a very important statement for a lot of reasons. One reason is, every time we look in the scripture where we see, in the New Testament particularly, where we see a statement about Jesus Christ Well, for example, this morning in our text, Jesus Christ, a propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only, but for the whole world. And then those of us who do not believe and are convinced that Jesus Christ atoning death was particular and powerful and not general and impotent, it seems that we have to rise to defend what we believe because the Bible says the whole world. Well, here the whole world is mentioned, then it's mentioned people out of the world. He should gather the children and gather in one the children of God scattered abroad, or scattered throughout the world. And so every time you hear that expression, read that expression, for God so loved the world, or Christ sins, not for our sins, but the sins of the world, understand that it's talking about every kindred out of every kindred, and out of every tribe, and out of every tongue, and out of every people, and out of every nation, when it refers to world. doesn't mean that Christ paid an atoning price for the sins of everyone who has ever lived in this world. If that is true, then you have absolutely no hope nor any confidence that your atonement, your salvation, is of any value at all. It wasn't good enough for most, because most are in hell. Why would you think it'd be good enough for you if it was so impotent that it couldn't affect all those people who are in hell? So it doesn't mean that. Scripture doesn't mean that. Christ didn't die that way. He didn't come to do that. He came with a particular and specific purpose. and a design. But at any rate, I wanted to point that out to you because this man prophesied that Jesus should die for the Jews, that nation, and that not only for the Jews, but that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Remember, one of the things that, perhaps you don't know this, but one of the things that the Jews always had a problem with, always, was that there was no propitiation, there was no salvation for Gentiles. They've always thought that. Jews consistently thought that in the Old Testament, and the New Testament Jews who opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ consistently believed that as well, that there's no propitiation, no redemption for Gentiles. And here, however, the scriptures teach us in the gospel of John, and also this is covered in Matthew, and I think Luke as well, that he would not die only for Israel, for the Jews, but he would die for for all other kind of people as well, from everywhere, from all kinds of people. And we go to heaven when we are all reestablished in our bodies. And while we may not have the imperfections of our flesh when we are there, we will probably have a visual reference. And so when we get there, we're going to see that there are Asian people, Indian people, and African people, Hispanic people, German people, white people, mulatto people, all kinds of people. All kinds are going to be there. Don't you think that's good? I think it's wonderful. The death of Jesus Christ, atoning work of Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, and resurrection is absolutely, positively, and completely effective in its power. Remember that. It's very important to know that. Now, I also want to, while we're in this particular text of scripture, I want to point out something else. And that's that not only does the scripture tell us that his atoning work would be effective for all kinds of people throughout the world, though not everyone in the world. The scripture is very exacting about that. It's also very exacting in its design of Christ's death itself. By that, I mean historically, liberal religionists and historians who believe in the existence of the historical person named Jesus of Nazareth. We'll refer to his death at Calvary as his murder. But he wasn't murdered. We'll refer to him as a victim in the sense that he was victimized at human hands. But he was a victim, but he was God's victim. He wasn't man's victim. And he was the victim through which atonement would come to appease God. He wasn't a victim at the hands of men, at the hands of history. He wasn't murdered. Every aspect of his life on this earth led to Calvary by design. And then the question has to be, but by whose design? And the answer to the question is, of course, by God's design. And I'm going to refer to you to a passage in the book of Acts that will clearly state what it is that I am referring to. It says in the 53rd verse of our text, From that day forward, they took consul together to put him to death. They were planning to put him to death. This priest was planned to make a statement about killing Jesus Christ, murdering him. From his point of view, it would have been murder. Kill him for the good of the nation, to hold the nation together politically, and probably historically. God would use that. He used that prophecy of that priest. God would use that in a way to fulfill his purposes. In fact, I do believe. that the mind of Caiaphas, that priest, and the Pharisees of the consul that were there together with him, were all brought into conformity with the will and the purpose of God to bring about a particular and vitally important end. Now, I want to put you there. And in order to put you there, I have to take you to the book of Acts, the second chapter. So go there, please. This is Peter's sermon at Pentecost. The crux of which, by the way, was stated in the 36th verse of the second chapter. The theme of it, which is this. In the 36th verse, it says, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, that's the theme of Peter's sermon. He's encapsulating what he has said to these Jews who he's preaching to about Jesus Christ. Know assuredly that that same Jesus whom you crucified is both Lord and Christ. You thought you killed him. You thought you murdered him. And you thought you were rid of him. But you weren't. But what I want to point out to you is a little earlier in the chapter. The 22nd verse, Peter is speaking to them. These are Jews. And he says, you men of Israel, hear these words. Here are the words that they were to hear. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know." The evidence, that's the evidence. This man, him, being delivered, and please notice this, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, You have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." What this is saying, and as the language breaks down in the original tongue, it simply is saying in the 23rd verse that he, Jesus Christ, was delivered. And there you were, the people who called for his death, the Sanhedrin consul that took him to Pilate to be tried by Pilate, who they themselves had already declared him unfit to live, that this consul of men And the Jews who were there calling for his death, who said, when they were given the choice between the release of Jesus of Nazareth or Barabbas, they said, give us Barabbas, crucified Jesus. This verse is saying all those people were fenced in. There was a fence built around them, a hedge, out of which they would not go. Well, they couldn't go, but they wouldn't go. See, that's one thing we always have to bear in mind about the human will and action and the unregenerate will. It's a question of...we can't say it's not fair that God should condemn them because they can't be saved. The right statement is, it is entirely fair that God should condemn them because they won't be saved. They will not be saved. And these men who called for the death of Jesus Christ, called for his death, they would not do otherwise but call for his death. But the scriptures tell us that they were placed there by God and hedged in that they might accomplish this mission that God himself had ordained them to accomplish. They thought they were doing their work. for their purposes, for their end, and for their gain, but they were doing God's work for God's purposes, for God's end, for God's gain. There's a big difference. And men do this all the time. It's part of the human frame. We do God's business sometimes, men, history, leaders, political leaders, they do God's business inadvertently, unknowingly, but they do it. And the reason they do it There's only one reason why they do it, is because God foreordained, determined beforehand, predetermined their attitude, their politics, their power, their position, and their actions, and rings to pass all that he has ordained to be accomplished. And if that were not true, if he did not work through men that way, if these men were not his tools, because they were, then Jesus Christ's death truly would have been an accident, an accident of history, a mistake. But of course it was not, because Jesus, who came into this world for that specific and particular purpose, to declare himself the Savior of His people, and to pay a price to guarantee that He would be the Savior of His people, so that this people that He came to save would be brought by Him, through Him, to the Heavenly Father. He came for that purpose. That was His mission, and His mission was no accident. His birth was exactly on time. His life was lived exactly as God had ordained it should be lived. His death was precisely on schedule and at the hands of precisely the people that it happened. Did you know that the Bible and the Old Testament prophesied over and over again of this event? It was bound to happen. It was bound to. There was no way that it could not happen. The point of difficulty that the Jews had, by the way, with Peter's sermon The point of difficulty was the failure of a clear and repeated prophetic promise that the son of the offspring of David would be the king and the messiah and would regather Israel and sit upon his throne and rule them. And, of course, Peter has to overcome that before he finally said what he said in the 36th verse, and he does overcome it. If you read the previous verses from 25, say, down through 36, you will see that he overcomes that argument. And it's at that point that these Jewish people, these Jewish hearers, believed. At that point, when he overcame their largest, most single objection, and they were pricked in their hearts of their great guilt, for their participation in the death of the Son of God. They killed the Messiah. And they didn't know they did it. Now they know. And now they regret it. One last thing, and I'll close with this. I want to show you the 52nd verse of our text says, not for that nation only, but that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. And I'd like to take you to Ephesians, the second chapter, if you would go there with me, please. to cover that particular subject and then we'll close. Ephesians chapter 2. We'll look at verse 14 and read say through the 17th verse. The Apostle Paul writes this to the Ephesian church and he speaks of Jesus Christ and refers to him as our peace. He is our peace. Who hath made both one and and hath broken down the middle wall of the partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contain in ordinances, to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. Now, this is a reference to the gathering together in belief of Jews and the heathen, or Gentiles, as they are called in the scripture, that he might reconcile both Jews and the Gentiles unto God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you that were who were afar off and to them that were nigh for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father." Now this is a reference to that verse in scripture that we read in our text that he would gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Remember, the Ephesians to whom this letter was written were not Jews. These were Greeks. They were Gentiles, not Jews. And Paul is making this particular point because there was a great problem that existed. I'm sure many of you who know anything about the New Testament goings-on of the missionary work of Paul, or even throughout the book of Acts and the book of Galatians, you'll see that there was a competition that existed between professed believing Jews and professed believing Gentiles. The competition wasn't so much on the part of the Gentiles, but was on the part of the Jews. The Jews had a difficult time, a very difficult time understanding and believing that Gentiles could be as saved as they were. They just couldn't believe that. They considered themselves as being a privileged people, which they were, because to them were committed the oracles of God from way before the time the Gentiles ever heard it, heard the word of God. So they were privileged people. But their privilege was not exclusive. In the Old Testament economy, it rather was. If anyone was going to be saved under the Old Testament gospel, if there was such a thing as an Old Testament gospel, they needed to come to Israel and to hear the word such as they had it. And those who did were proselyted, were converted, some were saved. Rahab is a good example of that. She was a Gentile who was saved in Israel. In fact, she was a great great grandmother of David, I believe. At any rate, she was a Gentile prostitute who was saved. But she came through the religious economy of Israel in order for her to learn of God. So the Jews had this vision, this sense of their superiority. And it was important that the scriptures, starting in this gospel that we just read in that passage, and the Apostle Paul made the argument that Jesus Christ came not only to save the Jews, but he came to save those Gentiles who were scattered abroad throughout the nations. And what does he mean when he said he had gathered together in one of God, in one the children of God that were scattered abroad? Well, who are these people that are scattered abroad? I mean, how are they identified? Well, there's only one way by which they are identified. The Bible calls them the chosen of God, the elect of God, those who are elect of God who are scattered abroad. Some now, some in the history past have already been brought to Christ, and some who will in the future if Jesus Christ doesn't come first. We're talking about the elect of God, and that's precisely who's being referred to here. Those who are scattered abroad are the elect of God chosen out of every tribe and tongue and kindred and people. And hallelujah, that's the only way salvation will ever occur by God's omnipotent, sovereign, powerful grace. There's no other way. There's just no other way a person's going to be saved unless he can invent a way to work himself to heaven by some other method, which is totally and completely impossible. you wish to go to heaven, then you must come by the blood of Christ, by God's grace, believe his word, and trust him, receiving the atonement, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there isn't any other way, because God has designed that way, the only way. I am the way, Christ said. I am the truth. I am the life. And no one comes to the Father but by me. I am the way. Jesus Christ is the way. And God ordained the way. And he ordained all the events that led to the work of Christ on this earth to bring him to that place. And think about your own life. He ordained all the events of your life to bring you to Christ. Look back, and you'll see it. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for giving us the way, Jesus Christ. And I pray that we who are in him will honor him, and that we who have heard and read thy word will rejoice in him and worship you for your great sovereign grace and power for doing all things well. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.