Monday, March 23, 2009

The Last Supper, Part 1 of 15

TEXT: "Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, 'What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.' And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the nation should perish'" (John 11:45-50).

IDEA: What we are determines what we see, and what we see determines what we do.

PURPOSE: To help listeners see that belief in Christ does not center in the evidence we have but in what we do with the evidence.

In the film Billy Graham, the Early Years, Billy Graham is contrasted with Chuck Templeton. Both of them were evangelists, both of them were religious, and yet Chuck Templeton went on to deny the faith whereas Billy Graham went to preach the faith.

What made the difference?

That is simply a case in point of a phenomenon that two people can be exposed to the same truth about Jesus – one believes it and the other does not.

I. We see that in the great miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

There are seven miracles in the gospel of John that are designed to prove that Jesus is the Christ (John 20:31). John has laid out these signs and the final one is the raising of Lazarus, his trump card.

You'd think that anyone seeing that happen would have become a believer – and some did (John 11:45). People there saw the power of Christ to raise a man from death.

But that wasn't the only response. Some went to the religious leaders who saw the miracle as a threat to the religious establishment and they took counsel together to kill Jesus.

II. How do you explain the fact that people can be exposed to the same evidence and yet while some come to faith, others come to murder?

What you are determines what you see, and what you see determines what you do.

"Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to see the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what saw you there? I saw a mouse under her chair."

If you're a pussy cat, mice are more important than queens.