We left off last time when Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, and there were those who saw and they believed, but there were also those who saw and did not believe. So we're picking up in John chapter 11 and verse 45, it says, many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed Bill and him, but some of them went their way to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Throughout the course of Jesus's ministry, he had been questioned by people asking for a sign. Show us a sign. If you're really who you say you are, show us a sign. So if you look in Matthew chapter 16, he responds to that Matthew chapter 16, the Pharisees also, this is verse one, the Pharisees also and the Sadducees came, tempted him, desiring him that he would show them a sign from heaven. And he answered and said unto them, when it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times. Verse four, a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them departing. So they were seeking a sign from heaven. They were thinking that if they saw some great sign from this man, then they would believe. And he calls them out, he calls them, they are a wicked and adulterous generation. Look at that word, adulterous. And the figurative meaning could be apostate, which keeps the word apostasy from when you're abandoning your religion, to abandon religious principles or beliefs, or to revolt, to rebel. In the Old Testament, Israel was often referred to as committing spiritual adultery against Israel every time they went a whoring after idols, that term is a sexual term for a whoring, referring to the adultery that they were sinning against God. And so this generation of spiritual, claiming to be spiritual leaders, religious leaders, were claiming that they wanted to sign, but at the same time in their hearts they had already stopped seeking after God. They're only doing it as a matter of show. It's called the wicked and adulterous generation. And so, even when they were showing signs, because they were showing signs time and time again, we looked at the works that he did, the healing that he performed on the lame and the blind, and now even raising the dead, all these signs he's given them, they still didn't believe. And they couldn't believe. Even though they'd seen these signs. And so, I want to think about that for just a minute in the context of you. You've never seen Jesus performed a miracle like this. Now we've seen a miracle that came to perform in Sister Laurie, or in Brother Jimmy, and these healings that can't be explained by medicine, but we've never seen firsthand Jesus in the flesh performing a miracle. If you look at John chapter 20, there's a scene where one of the disciples, Thomas, who wasn't present with the others when Jesus had come back from the dead, And he didn't believe. And he claimed that he wouldn't believe unless he could stick his hand, his finger, in the hole in Jesus' hand, or thrust his hand into the side where the spirit had poked a hole in Jesus' side. And so, this is John chapter 20, verse 27 says, Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it in my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. So Thomas had to see to believe. He says, My Lord and my God. And then Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, yet have believed. That's you. If Jesus has done a work in your heart, and you're able to love him and to believe on him, that's a miracle. Even though you haven't been able to see, that's an amazing gift. It's really a testament of the power of God that he can take something that you haven't seen and still give you that belief. We see here in John chapter 11 that there were those who saw and they didn't believe. They couldn't believe. They didn't have the eyes to see. It's going back to John chapter 11. And some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. So they were busybodies. They didn't believe. They went to tell the people that they knew would have a problem with it. And he'd done an amazing thing. He'd raised somebody from the dead who had been dead four days. By now, Lord, he's thinking. Verse 47 says, then gathered the chief priests and Pharisees a council and said, what do we for this man do with many miracles? So I want to look at that word council there for just a minute. If you look at secular history or Jewish history, they will tell us that that council is called the Sanhedrin. You won't find the word Sanhedrin in the Bible. that's what they said it called this was the judicial governing body over Jerusalem is where they say it's 71 Jewish elders members of the whole council 71 and I think that's based on the 70 elders that were appointed to serve under Moses had 70 so I guess they had a tiebreaker but they were a governing body a judicial governing body they were underneath the Roman government so they gather together in council and we can look in Acts chapter 5 to learn just a little bit more there's not a whole lot of information on it but Acts chapter 5 and in verse 21 says that when they heard that they entered in the temple early in the morning and talked but the high priest came and they that were with him and called the council together and all the Senate of the children of Israel and sent the prison to have them brought. So this is when two of the Apostles were teaching and they told them not to, and so they're upset about it. The point I'm talking about is there's this council and there's also all the Senate, and I never noticed that there's a Senate before, and if you look up that word Senate, it really just means the elders. So wives are House and the Senate. The Senate's supposed to be the higher house, or they're supposed to be the elders in our government. So I think that's just a broader term. So you have the council of the 71 members who are responsible for making the decisions. Then you have the other religious elites who would be compromised at the broader pool of the Senate or the elders. Okay. So going back to John chapter 11, you've got this council meeting together, and they're asking themselves, what do we do? This man doeth many miracles. And they can't deny it. They cannot say, well, it's just a hoax. There's been too many people who have witnessed firsthand the miracles in all the towns around Judea and around Galilee and all the regions around the valley. He's gone. Even in the Samaritans, he's done these miracles. So they can't deny that it's never happened. But they've got to do something, or at least they think they do. Verse 48 says, if we let him alone, all men will believe on him. And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. So they're afraid. They're afraid. Afraid that they'll do nothing, all will believe, and the Romans will come. And the Romans will not only take away our political and economic power, they'll also take away our nation altogether. Now, if you look in Luke chapter 3, you get a little bit of an indication about the hierarchy of power Jerusalem it's time Luke chapter 3 in verse 1 it says in the 15th year the reign of Tiberius Caesar right so he's at the top Caesar's the Emperor over all of Rome underneath you had Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea okay so you had a governor over the region of Judea and then you had three Tetrarchs Tetra meaning three one of them being Herod he was over the region Galilee and then his brother Philip was Tetrarch of Iduria and that Philip, remember when John called Herod out on taking his brother's wife? It was Philip's wife. But he was another Tetrarch of the region of Iduria and of the region of Tacronitis and Lysanias was a Tetrarch of Avalon. Okay, so we've got those three Tetrarchs, top dogs in those regions, and then over Judea and Jerusalem was Pilate. In his terms, a governor. Underneath Pilate, you had the Sanhedrin for the council. And so, the question is, why will Rome come? If all believe, why will Rome come? And the question is, believe, but believe what? It's fairly obvious, but they're afraid that they will believe that this man, this man who they believe is from Nazareth, named Jesus, son of a carpenter, they're afraid that all people will believe that he is the Messiah, or the Christ. They say, okay, well, if they believe he's the Christ, why will Rome come? The reason is because throughout all the Old Testament, whenever the Messiah, or at times, when the Messiah is spoken of or prophesied of, he's foretold that he would be And I'm sure this is intuitive to you, and you probably know this, but I want to look at some of those specific examples this morning to see where it says that the Christ will be a king. So let's look at a few of them. There's more than this. And this is one of the fun things as you're doing your Bible reading through the year, is looking for these kind of nuggets, these little prophecies that point to the Messiah, and where you can see things that point to Christ. So if you start in Psalm chapter two, Psalm two, and we'll just read verses six through eight. It says, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord has set up in me. Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. You're hearing, God is speaking, saying, I have set my king upon the holy hill of Zion. And Jerusalem and Zion are often used interchangeably and so you can see the pharisees who are reading this could think that the messiah is going to come he's going to be a king there physically in jerusalem says i will declare the decree the lord has sent unto me thou art my son this day have i begotten thee we know that god himself in an audible voice declared that jesus was his son on multiple occasions at the baptism and on the mount of transfiguration i believe there's even another time after he comes into jerusalem but this is my son, of whom I am all pleased. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. So this king was gonna be over not only Jerusalem, he was gonna be over all, even the heathen, everybody, the Gentiles, all things were gonna be put under his feet. And we know that all things are under Jesus' feet, that he is the Lord of Lords, and he is the King of Kings, and there is nothing higher than him. Okay, so this Messiah was gonna be a king, King, the son of God, and he was gonna be over all. Let's look at Isaiah, chapter nine. Isaiah, chapter nine, verses six and seven. And this should sound familiar. It says, for unto us a child is born. You know that. Unto us a son is given. Listen to this. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." So the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. This is God promising that he's going to do it. It's going to come in the form of a child at first, a son will be given, and the government will be put upon his shoulders. The rule will be his responsibility and his right and his privilege, his authority, will be on the shoulders of the Christ. Okay? The increase of his government, there'll be no end. And foretold that he was going to be upon the throne of David, so he had to be of the lineage of David, and he was. And upon his kingdom to order and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth, even forever. So these scribes and Pharisees knew the Messiah was supposed to come and be a king and be a king forever. And the government would rest upon his shoulders. Look in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23, verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David, again, refer to David's throne, a righteous branch and a king, and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Again, this Messiah, this Christ, is going to be a king and he is going to reign and he will prosper and execute judgment and justice in the earth. his in his days Judah shall be saved Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name by way he should be called the Lord our righteousness okay let's look at one more Daniel Daniel chapter 7 why are we going through this exercise one so you know what the tribes and Pharisees reading and what they're anticipating what the Messiah would be it's it's they knew that he was supposed to be a king but not just stopping there saying yes we know it's supposed to be a king but actually looking at what what were they seeing what were they reading what should we know and what was pointing to Christ they were probably looking at the right thing they just didn't believe this was was the Christ what could they Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 and 14 so this is a Daniel when during captivity he has a night vision I said I saw a night vision behold one of the sons of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him And his dominion is an everlasting dominion, what shall not pass away, and his kingdom, what shall not be destroyed. So here we've got the Son of Man coming with the clouds, coming under the Ancient of Days, that's a term they used to refer to God the Father. And they brought him near, and he was given dominion. He had power, he had a domain, he had glory, and a kingdom. He's a king with a kingdom, that all people, all nations, all languages should serve him. right now they should. Don't. One day they will. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is the righteous Lord. It's like the parable that he gives about the man who was given a kingdom and then went away for a time and they didn't want him to be king when he came back eventually. And those, his adversaries, were cast into outer darkness. And he did reign. that was given unto him dominion and glory and kingdom and all people nations and tongues all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is everlasting dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom which shall not be destroyed okay so you think about this back in John chapter 11 in the context of these tribes and Pharisees that they're thinking that this person that if people believe that he is the Messiah that this is a very real political threat to Rome, because the nature of the Messiah is that he'll be the boss. He'll be over everything and over everyone. Now, they didn't believe that Jesus was actually the Messiah, and so they just thought that if the population of Israel believed, the Romans were gonna get really upset and come and wipe them out, because when you're under a military law, I mean, the Romans had conquered. They were in charge. If you rebel against them, the massive military might of Rome is going to come down and squish them. That was their fear. And you can see that's what they're explicitly afraid of by looking at how they accused Jesus unto Pilate. If you look at Luke chapter 23, Mark verses 1 through 3. So this is when they go to accuse Jesus unto Pilate, again he's the governor of Judea. The whole multitude of them arose, referring to the council and those that were there, and they led him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We have found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. Which, that's obviously never true. It's the only time he was asked about his awful gift of tribute unto Caesar. Is it working? Okay. I had to ding it on the computer. The only time he was asked if it was lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, he says, Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and showing people opinion and prescription, and render unto God the things that were God's. He never said that, so they're lying about him. But they're claiming that he's perverting the nation, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king. And so they accuse him of being a king. And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered unto him, Thou say'st it. So they accused him of being the king and if you look again over in John chapter 19 and verse 12 John chapter 19 verse 12 After Pilate had made up his mind that Jesus hadn't done anything worthy of death, and he's trying to release him, verse 12, it says, And from this forth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. And that's what they're accusing Jesus of. They're accusing him of making himself a king by being the Christ, claiming to be the Christ, which he was, the actual Christ, that he was speaking against Caesar. Now Caesar would appoint kings himself. Remember King Agrippa, who Paul is speaking to, an axe? That was someone who was under Rome's authority. So it's not that kings didn't exist, but they had to be subject unto Caesar, under the Roman law. But the Messiah would not be subject unto Rome. There's nothing higher than the king of all kings in the Lord of all lords. So they're fusing pilots. And if you let this man go, you're not Caesar's friend either. You're really helping in his rebellion. pilot heard that he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat so he was they're accusing him their fear is that people would believe and they will believe that he was a king and that Rome would come and take away both our place and nations. What's that, our place? That's referring to the power that they had. They know they weren't the top dogs. They had Caesar above them and they had Pilate above them, but they still had political power. They had a judicial body where they could make decisions, so some degree of autonomy, and that gave them power and prestige. And so they were referring to their place as the religious elites, but also the nation as itself, the nation being wiped out, that Rome would just come and destroy them. Because there was what they saw as a rebellion with the king rising up. Now verse 49 says, and one of them named Caiaphas, who was the high priest, being the high priest that year, said unto them, ye know nothing at all. consider and what he's about to say he's saying to them and they understand it one way but he's also being used by God to prophesy let's listen to it carefully says you know nothing at all nor consider that it is expedient so it's better for us speeding for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not And we know that this was a prophecy, because it says in 51, this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. and not for that nation only, but also that he should gather together in one the children of God, which were scattered abroad." He's not referring to the Gentiles. And so, on one hand, Caiaphas is saying this, and the people in the council who don't believe that he's Messiah are listening and saying, you know what? If this man dies, we'll preserve our nation. Rome won't physically come and kill us because of this guy who is making himself a king. That's what they're hearing. They're misunderstanding that the prophecy that God is speaking through this high priest is that One man should die for the people, whose people? His people. He has sheep, and he has a flock that's not just of Israel's fold. He has another fold that he'll bring unto him, as we learned earlier. Verse 52, it says, not that this nation only should not die, but that he should also gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad. So again, who's he referring to? He's referring to Gentiles, referring to you and me, those who are not born of the blood of Abraham, or the broader pool of people. And so even here, there's a pointing to the message that will be revealed more fully when Paul comes on the scene, as he's given the authority and the command to go preach into the Gentiles the good news of Jesus Christ. And it's pointing to them that how Christ died for them, too. Opposite, that Jesus should die for that nation. one man should die, that the whole nation perish not. Because had he not died, had Jesus not come and died, we would all perish. We would have no hope. We would have nothing that we can be fully persuaded in and confident that when we die, we won't be eternally separated from God. Had Jesus not died, we would be in a sorry, sorry state. But because he did, we don't perish. every single one of his children are secure, eternally secure. So no matter how bad things are in this world, no matter how bad this virus gets, I mean, if everyone in the country gets it, and if massive people die, we still have to be without hope. We are fully persuaded that He was a victorious Savior, that we have that victory in Jesus of how He sought me. Now, when I was a kid, I thought He salted me, but He sought me. He went and found me. He got me. He bought me with His own blood. He paid the highest price that there could possibly be. It was the Son of God paying His own blood to purchase you and to purchase me, and to wash us clean of our filth and our violence and our sinfulness, and to adopt us into his family, to say, I'm going to prepare a place for you so that when the time comes, you will be with me forever. We have a blessed home, a blessed assurance, one that we can be fully persuaded in. Our prayer should be that we can be more persuaded in it, that we can not be distracted by the fears and doubts and angst that go so often and weigh us down. That's just our carnal man. Our carnal man is afraid. He wants to be in control, and the truth is that we're not in control. We often have the illusion of being in control, but God's in control. God is sovereign, and we know that we can trust Him, and that we need to trust Him. So prayer would be that our faith in Christ, and our faith in God, and our trust in Him would grow day by day. Let's go back to John chapter 11. So he's made this prophecy that one man should die. So he's really told them what they're gonna do as a council. They're gonna see that this man dies. So verse 53, from that day forth they took council together for to put him to death. Now we know that there had been kind of impulse movements to kill him before he'd say something or he'd do something and people would just get so upset that they would try to stone him dead. And they didn't have the power to do that. It wasn't his time. It wasn't within their power. But this is different. This is more a premeditation that the highest powers of their government within the Jewish nation, below them, deliberately trying to put this man to death from then on. So we know this is not long before the Passover. The next verse talks about him going to a city called Ephraim and dwelling there for a while and then when the Passover's nigh, he started to come back. So we read that Jesus then walked. Then Jesus, Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews. Why? Because they were trying to kill him. actively trying to kill him, so he was not open in his walk anymore, he was more secretive, and went with this unto her country. near to the wilderness into a city called Ephraim, and continued there with his disciples. And I looked in the map of my book, and it shows Ephraim about 10 to 15 miles north of Jerusalem. I don't know how they know that. Maybe there's archaeological digs. But it's a city that was near to Ephraim, and there he continued with his disciples. And then in verse 55, it says, in the Jews, Passover was nigh at hand. So we've got some passage of time. But when the Passover is now nigh, we've gone from the wintertime and the Feast of Tabernacles now we're at springtime and then near to the Passover and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves remember Passover time all the Jews were supposed to gather in Jerusalem for the great feast so they went a little bit early to purify themselves and then sought they for Jesus they were looking these were the common people who around looking for him now they knew that the council had put out a command that they wanted him they should declare it so they're talking among themselves they stood in the temple saying what think you will they not come to the feast and now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given command that any man knew where he were he would show it they might hate people there wondering will he come will he come because these the council had taken it upon themselves to try to destroy him. So that wraps up John chapter 11. Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you for your prayers this morning. If you have any other prayer requests, amen.