A Necessary Sacrifice

Brilliant, thanks Amy. Folks, keep those verses open in front of you at all possible if you can.

Come with me to verse 50, which I think, if you like, is the hottest verse in this passage over

which we can stretch out our hands and warm our souls with the life-giving message contained

therein. And there at verse 50, you'll see this man called Caiaphas and he says, he says,

you do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole

nation perish. Now let's drill down a little bit more into what he's talking about there. Here's

what I want you to do. I want you to think back to when you were a child and you started

asking questions about how things came to be. Right? I remember when our kids were little

one night, we had roast chicken for dinner. And as we're talking in, the kids turn to us

and ask us kind of out of the blue, where did chicken come from? Now what's the first place

parents in that moment do you do? You try and do a kind of matrix duck the bullet, don't

you? When it comes at you. And we said to them in that moment, we tried the whole, we

got it from Tesco thing. The kids are having none of it. We're in for round two. They say,

where did the chicken come from? And we said, or I said rather, you know, the farmer looked

after the chicken on the farm. He fed it. He sent it off to Tesco. We bought it. We took

it home and we cooked it. And even I wasn't buying that one. So we're in for round three.

And they say, yeah, but where did the chicken come from? And so we start explaining to them

that what was true for the carrot on the plate was true for the green bean on the plate, was

true for the potato on the plate, was true for the chicken on the plate, that something

had to die so that we would eat. And if we didn't eat, we wouldn't live. Right? Something

had to die in order that we would live. And with that in your mind, come back to Caiaphas, who says,

it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. Now,

we finished last week with Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead. Can I just say I was like a kid

on Christmas morning, hearing the responses that people were telling me about how they were so moved

by what we saw last week? Jesus in all his beauty, in all his glory. Can I just say that's why we do

this every single Sunday? It's not just because this is what happens when you go to church. Right? This is

not some kind of religious TED talk that people give up here. No, no, no. We fundamentally believe that

when we open this book, the living God speaks to us. Or more powerfully, perhaps, more pointedly,

when we open this book, Jesus Christ himself preaches to us. And when he speaks, this is what we thought

about last week. When he speaks, things begin to happen. And so we left last week. Our souls were

strengthened by the fact that this Jesus can give us life. But remember, life in John's gospel is

eternal life. Life now that lasts all the way beyond this life into forever. And the only way that Jesus

can give us that life is through his death. And that's why John's put this little section right

after Lazarus to help us see it. So if Lazarus, the beginning of John chapter 11, if you like, was the

John 11 · chapter mention

warm-up act for Jesus' own resurrection, which is coming at the end of the gospel, then this today is the

heads up. And more than that, it's the explanation of the cross to which Jesus is about to journey to

and die on. Now, this whole concept of something needs to die in order for us to have life is woven

through the entire Bible story. Particularly, it is woven into Israel's DNA as a nation. In the sacrificial

system that God gives them, God's showing them that in order for them to be made right with him,

sacrifice must be made. Because this God, he is good. He is the three times holy God. He is our creator.

He is the God who cannot tolerate evil and sin. And let's never lose sight of who this God is.

Some of us will remember that film, vintage 90s, classic Disney, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Do you

remember that? For the dad, he creates this machine and he accidentally shrinks his kids and the

neighbor's kids down to the size of ants. And it's so often what we do with God. We aim the gun at him,

we shrink him right down to something that we can understand, we can box and control. And quickly,

this God who we conjure up in our mind, that he works like we think he should work, all of a sudden,

he becomes really small and he becomes just like us. And in all honesty, and I remember this before I

became a Christian thinking that God should be happy that I bothered showing up today for his team.

And we need to do whatever we can as the people of God to help us remember that this God

is simply in another league. You know, I spent some time this week with my friend Colin.

Colin runs Origin Ministries here in Scotland and in South Africa. And I loved hearing this week,

just some Costa over a coffee, his heart for that ministry. It's a music ministry. And he was

telling me about how they made the decision recently to move to having Glasgow, their event in the

cathedral and moving in Edinburgh to having their event, their symphonic praise event at St. Giles.

And it cost them a pretty penny to have it at St. Giles, you understand. And I said, Colin,

why did you do it? And he said this, he says, we wanted to recapture something of the majesty of God.

His splendor, his beauty. Now, yes, these are just stone brick buildings, but there's something about

those places, those historic places that were built from the ground up to display and for people to revel

in the glory and the glory and the majesty and the beauty of the God who is so far above us and the

things of this earth and who has loved us in Christ. There's something about those buildings

that helps recapture something of the glory of God. And I think he's on to something.

Is he small in your mind today? Is he big in your mind today? This God is holy. And the whole

sacrificial system which he gives Israel right there is designed to ingrain that into his people,

that for them to live with him, sacrifice needs to be made. And every single animal that is offered,

we have to understand this, it's really simple. It's the bull for you.

It's the animal for you. And the result of that is this wonderfully refreshing word, forgiveness.

And the effect of it is that the thing becomes a pleasing aroma in the sight of the Lord. And the

heart of this God is that he longs to live with a people who he's called out to be his very own. He

longs to instill in the lives and the hearts of his people that desire that wants to wholeheartedly

revel in who he is, that there is something incomparable about this God.

But despite its scale and its intricate detail, the sacrificial system is not the main event. All of

that is like Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs that's meant to lead us as we read the Bible story all the way

to Jesus. That all the building blocks, all the pieces of the puzzle would be there in their minds

for them to understand Jesus and his work. And so this is where we intersect with John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

And this is what we're going to see in this passage today.

That this is all about what God has done for us. Now this has got two great ironies at the heart of it.

And I want to turn both of these Irish ironies into reasons for us to praise him.

And here's the first one. Praise God that he was thinking about a better takeaway.

Right. And before you get your minds on Deliveroo, let me show you what I mean by that.

Come with me to verse 45. Right. The people respond to the news about Lazarus. And John records this. Do you see?

Some people believe. Some people, other people run to the Pharisees and they tell them exactly what's happened in Bethany.

What they do is they gather together the council. So this would have been the Sanhedrin.

So this group of 70 or so men who oversee Jewish, not just religious life, but all of life.

And they gather together and they say, do you see it in the text? What are we going to do?

What are we going to do? And here's the takeaway that they are primarily thinking about verse 48.

They say, if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.

And then the Romans will come away, will come and take away both our temple and our nation.

So on the one hand, they are thinking that if this man Jesus continues to cause a stir,

setting himself up as a king on Caesar's turf,

then that is like a red rag to a bull when the, as far as the Romans are concerned.

If they get a whiff of another king trying to make his claim, then we're done for.

But the other thing that's going on here is when they talk about the temple,

it's the whole way of life.

They're standing, their position, which gives them their power and their sense of comfort

because they're at the top of it that Jesus is jeopardizing.

Now, it's what we instinctively do as human beings with God's truth.

We suppress it, the Bible says.

It's just like being on holiday.

Have you ever had that feeling?

And you jump into the pool and somebody flings you a beach ball.

What do you instinctively do with a beach ball?

I don't know why we do this, but we do it.

We lie in it and we push it under, don't we?

Yeah?

Yeah?

That's what the Bible means.

We suppress the truth.

We hold it under the water because we don't like the thought of having to deal with the truth

that we might have to change in response to the truth about God and his claims on our lives.

It's words spoken all those years ago by Mark Twain.

He said, and here is accent in this,

it ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me.

It's the parts that I do understand.

But here's the thing.

Jesus says it's precisely by denying ourselves and waking up to his diagnosis of us

and starting to turn and walk in his way of life and according to his truth that we find life.

And whatever the cost to you today as you respond to that,

here's what I want us to know.

As we think about the claims that Jesus makes on our lives,

as we face up to the reality of it,

here's what I want us to know.

And let's get really good as a people, as a church,

at rehearsing this theme in our souls.

That whatever the comparison,

that whatever the competition,

that whatever in you and my life that we're putting up against him,

Jesus is better.

And what he has done for us is better.

And if you're not sold on that quite yet,

see the sweet comparison here between the Pharisees

and religious leaders who are using their lowly position

to try and grasp at and maintain power.

Because that's what we do with power, isn't it, in our world?

We crave it.

We protect it, which so often means that we abuse it.

And that's why, rightly, we get so upset when we hear reports about people who've abused their power.

Russell Brand was in the news over the last couple of weeks, wasn't he,

doing that exact thing.

But Jesus, contrast this with Jesus.

Jesus, on the other hand, he shows us a completely different way.

And he flips the idea of power and leadership on its head.

He uses his power, and we've just seen that he's got plenty of it.

He's not lacking.

There's no imposter syndrome as far as Jesus is concerned.

He uses his power to serve and to love and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Is that not just the sweetest comparison of the proper use of power that you've ever seen?

He is fame shy.

He is not after the limelight.

No, he is after his father's will, which is to rescue his people from hell.

He uses his power to serve and to save.

But as far as these religious leaders are concerned, Jesus is an inconvenient truth.

Whereas God is thinking about an entirely different takeaway.

And that's what Caiaphas, and you can understand him as the high, well, he's the high priest at the time,

who in that role you can understand is the man who kind of speaks for God.

He says, and although he means it in a totally different way,

he says it's better that he dies than the people do.

And if we take him out, the people will be safe.

Do you see, he means that in a completely different way.

But although he hasn't a clue what he's doing,

John perceives that no truer, no prophetic words could ever have been spoken.

Jesus is going to die for the people.

And it's all caught up in that word for.

Because it tells us why Jesus is about to die.

This is not just a classic wrong place, wrong time.

This is not your classic tragic hero.

No, his death is a substitutionary one.

We are off.

He is on.

The death that you and I deserve to die,

Jesus goes in to step in as our great substitute.

He goes to bear the wrath of God as a word that just means God settled and right anger against all that is wrong.

Jesus goes and like a sponge in water,

he's about to soak up all the wrath of God that we deserve to have on us.

And he took it all, dear friends.

There are no dregs at the bottom of that cup.

Jesus drank it dry for us.

All of our sins have been paid for by him.

And in so doing this, God says,

there is no barrier anymore.

There is no need to fear anymore.

The God who made us has sent his son to die for us.

He loves us and he longs that we would know life with him.

Here's a question I asked myself this week.

Does forgiveness still amaze us?

Or to put it in the terms of the hymn,

does grace,

is grace still amazing to us?

You know, I remember my friend Paul Rees,

he's a pastor down at Charlotte Chapel in the West End area.

He was telling me a story about an older man in his congregation who died.

And he went to see the family

and the family presented him as they cleaned out the room.

They presented Paul with this old man's Bible.

And Paul got home and he just happened to be flicking through it

in the days running up to the funeral.

And it was, I think it was pretty clean

until he came to Psalm 130.

And there's a big circle and a big star around Psalm 130.

And if you can look this up in your own time,

it is this Psalm that marvels at the forgiveness

that God offers us.

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

Lord, who could stand?

But with you,

there is forgiveness

so that we can with reverence

serve you.

Let me ask you,

have you taken time today

to consider

how much this Father loves you?

You know, one of the biggest things I've tried to change

and my friend Marcus,

who was here a few weeks ago,

was the one that inspired me to do this,

is to stop thinking about my quiet time

and to start thinking about my worship time.

He asked us when he was here a few weeks ago

as leaders, as elders, as trustees,

what's thrilling your heart right now about Jesus?

Let me ask you,

is it this?

That he is no reluctant saviour?

That he is no arm's length Christ?

That he is a fully committed lover of our souls?

Praise him that God

is thinking here about a better takeaway.

And real quick,

praise him that God's rolling out a greater plan.

This is verse 53.

You see, from that day on,

they plotted or they planned

to take Jesus' life.

He is public enemy number one.

And the sooner they take him out,

the better in their eyes.

They're looking for him,

verse 56.

But we've got to understand

that playing out here

is God's bigger plan

to bring blessing to the nations.

And that's why I think Jesus retreats

to a place that's far enough away from the action,

but close enough that he can make the journey back

for Passover in the not so distant future.

It's John's way of telling us

that this is going to happen,

not in their timing.

This is going to happen according to

Jesus' perfect timing.

Because what he is about to do

is going to be the thing

that brings blessing

and times of healing

and refreshment to the nations

and the peoples of the world.

What Jesus is going to accomplish

through his death on the cross

is nothing less than

the bringing together

of the children of God.

Do you see that description?

And is it not just that

and we say this so often

and I don't think we should ever get tired

of saying it.

You think about how many different

tribes, tongues, nations, countries

are represented here today.

And this is the living proof

of what Jesus has done.

We need to understand

that the cross is the very thing

that brings us together today

as one people.

And the reason it's the one thing

is because there is only one way

to come to be right with this God.

And it's the exact same thing

for every single one of us today.

It's not by being better people.

It's not by being born

in a certain place.

What brings us together today,

what Jesus has done

through the cross

and through his resurrection,

is that we would put our faith in him.

And wherever you are today,

whatever is going on,

wherever you've come from,

that is the way

that we are right with this God.

Through the saviour

who became sin for us.

The saviour who said yes

to the better takeaway.

And that's where I'd love

to leave it this morning.

As we think about that thought.

That this is how we're right

with this God.

This is the only way

that we're right with this God.

Did you know there's

an old Christian tradition

when it comes to church buildings

that the front doors

are always painted red?

Did you know this?

Have you ever noticed it in town

as you walk past?

At the front doors,

you'll notice it now.

So many traditionally

are painted red.

And it was to remind

every single person,

and just picture our doors

being red this morning,

every single person

who came in those doors,

no matter their social standing,

no matter their country of birth,

no matter their chosen profession,

no matter their marital status,

no matter their past mistakes,

no matter their present failures

and worries,

that we all come in the same door

as we come in here

every single Sunday.

We all come in the same door

that's marked red.

Why is it marked red?

It's marked red

because it represents

and it reminds us

of Christ's shed blood for us.

And we all come in

that same door this morning.

All of us.

Do you know what they call a Scotsman

who's at the front door of his house

and he's got one foot in

and he's got one foot out?

Do you know what they call him?

Hame-ish.

Now here's the theological truth

that I very much makes up

for that terrible joke.

Seriously,

when it comes to those red doors,

let me plead with you this morning.

Don't be half in.

Don't be one foot in

and one foot out.

Come in those two doors.

Don't be half in with Jesus

and half in,

one foot out,

clinging to any merit

of your own.

Don't be half in with Jesus

and one foot out

that's stuck in the quicksand

of your shame and guilt.

No,

come in those two doors

fully this morning.

Come into God's presence.

Revel in what he's done for you.

Don't be

him-ish.

Come in those two doors

that are marked red.

Here's the truth

that we end on.

before it's about us

performing for God.

It's more about his purpose

for us.

God chose you

before you chose him.

His love for you

created your love for him.

Your future is defined

by his purpose,

not by your performance.

The most noteworthy thing

about you and I today

is that someone

has died

so that we

might

have

life.

And this is how

Sam Albury,

who's

a guy I'm reading a lot

of just now,

he says this

and this is where

we end.

And I read it this week

and I thought

this is incredible.

He said,

the finished work

of Christ

on the cross

is not God's way

of saying to us

you're free

to go now,

but rather

you're free

to come now.

He's not

sending us off.

He's inviting us in.

Praise God

that it was better

for one man

to die

than for the nation

to perish.

Let's pray

and then

we're going

to move

into a time

of communion

together

which seems

such a fitting

response to what

we thought about

today.

Heavenly Father,

we thank you

for your love

for us.

Lord,

we praise you

for the gospel.

Thank you

for the promise

even in the kids talk

there being reminded

that you made

to Abraham

about how you

were going to act

to bring about

blessing for the nations.

And thank you

so much

that that blessing

comes to us

in the person

of Jesus.

Thank you,

Father,

that he died.

He took the wrath

that we deserved

on himself

that we might live

and go free

and live

to worship you.

And Father,

I pray particularly

for those of us

this morning

who are struggling

perhaps to take this in.

Father,

in the spiritual battle

that we find ourselves

caught up in,

the whisper of the devil

that would say

that is not true

for you.

Oh,

Father,

may your spirit

come in all

his fullness

and may he just

dash away that life

from the evil one.

Thank you,

Father,

that Jesus died.

He took our place

for our sin

because he loved us

that much

and to accomplish

your will.

Father,

massage that truth

home to our hearts

now as we sing

and as we take

communion together.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.