Christ Or Antichrist

Well, we're here at the church house. And there's about five of us here. So we have a small congregation.

But I'm looking forward to probably another week or two we can get back together and fellowship together. And hopefully, our lives will get back to normal. But I think this is a good time of testing, a good time of trying of our own hearts, and maybe some of the things that we'll share in the message this morning will also bring that out.

This last week, my wife and I and family were down in Tennessee. And my wife's mother passed away. She was 92 years old.

And so she spent most of the week there. And I was there for probably half of the week. And I had a funeral on Monday and then came on home.

I think it was Thursday. I got home Thursday night. But one thing I've appreciated about some of the funerals that I've been to, compared to many funerals, is that the funeral was a completed funeral in the sense that the casket was there, and the family and the sons helped lower the casket into the grave.

And that took some time. They had some machinery there. And usually, in most funerals, you'd go to the grave site, and everybody leaves.

And then later on, they'll put the casket in and bury it. And they lowered the casket. And then each of the family who wanted to, and most of the sons were there, and son-in-laws, and grandchildren, and could take the shovel and start to cover and to put dirt in on the casket.

And of course, that took another 15 or 20 minutes to have everybody come and just bury the body. And so then the funeral was over after the body was completely buried. And I've experienced that a few times.

And I really appreciate going that direction. There's more of a finality to it that way. Well, I'm going to, if we can, look at John again.

And I'm going to try to finish up this morning at John chapter 11. So if you have a Bible there, you can turn to John chapter 11, starting in verse number 47. I want to do a little review.

Some of you who two weeks ago listened remember how that Lazarus was raised up from the dead. And I brought out last time how that the Lord desires that we co-labor together with Him. You know, the Lord Jesus, who has the power to raise Lazarus from the dead and to have him walk out of that tomb, also has the power to take away that stone and has the power to loose the napkins around his body.

But He invites those who are around, His family, His friends, to take part in this work of resurrection. And so we talked last time about how that the Bible encourages us to be co-laborers together with Christ. And if you look through the Bible, you see that.

The Lord is not one who wants to do all the work. He wants to bring us into the work. And He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

And the idea of a yoke is to get into labor with someone else. A yoke is for plowing. And so the Lord wants us to get in the yoke.

And so we have responsibilities. Only the Lord Jesus can raise a dead soul to life. But you and I need to roll away the stone.

You and I need to take part in loosing Lazarus and letting him go, freeing people from their bondages and habits and helping people. That's why the church is here today, for the edification and the help. Confessing your faults one to another, praying one for another that you may be healed.

And so, yes, the Lord could do all of that, but we are co-laborers with Him. So we've followed this story and now we've come down here. I just want to mention, starting in verse number 45 here, what happened.

The reaction to the resurrection. People were there and observed the resurrection of Lazarus. And in verse 45 it said, then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him.

What they saw, the power and the testimony of Christ caused them to believe on Him, but some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. And this miracle, and of course the life of Jesus was doing this on a regular basis, but this miracle brought division. And the truth will always bring division.

And this division is a good division when it comes between believers and unbelievers, because God has placed that division between light and darkness, between him that believes and the infidel. These are good places for division. The Bible tells us, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

Come out from among them and be ye separate. And so Jesus here, his life is very divisive. Jesus said it this way, I have come not to bring peace but a sword, for I have come to set a man at variance with his father, mother and brother and sister.

And so even in a family, a natural home, there is a choice between believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that always will bring separation and division. But as I've mentioned many times in a church, division is not something that's encouraged.

And Jesus, who is our great high priest, we learned about him a few weeks ago. He is one who is praying and interceding. And in John 17, his prayer is that they all might be one, that they all might be one.

And there's a reason for that, that the world may know that thou father has sent me. And that's what Jesus' prayer is for unity. And so throughout the Bible, we're encouraged in unity.

We're encouraged to endeavor, to strive, to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. I wanna read a couple of verses just as a reminder. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes to the church at Corinth who had many issues to deal with.

He says this, to those who are being divisive, for you are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you ending and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? And so Paul recognized that division and strife is a sign of carnality. Verse four, for while one says, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? And so carnality, if you go out and look in the world and the lusts and desires of men, you'll find them dividing everywhere. You'll find them dividing and fighting and arguing and debating.

That is the spirit of this world. If you go back to the first chapter in 1 Corinthians, Paul says this, now this I say that every one of you saith in verse 12 of chapter one, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I of Cephas and I of Christ. And here's a good question for us in verse 13.

Is Christ divided? Is Christ divided? That's what Paul asked the church at Corinth. Is Christ divided? If Christ is not divided, how then can His body be divided? And so the body of Christ is to strive together for unity. And I realized that in 1 Corinthians, he goes on to talk about in 1 Corinthians five that there comes a time for church discipline and putting someone out who is living in gross and willful sin is unwilling to repent, but it's the heart of God for the church to be in unity, to be one.

And church discipline and putting someone out is to be a last resort. And I've shared this a number of times with you, but if your body has a member that is sick, maybe a member that is very deeply infected, you try everything you can to save that member. Amputation is the last resort.

I mean, we're not quick to amputate our members on our body. And the amputation is to be the last resort. It's not something that we do quickly.

I remember back in 1977, I was a senior in high school. And 1977, if you go back in the record books, was one of the coldest winters on record. There was some blizzards there.

I mean, wind chills got down to 30, 35, 40 degrees below zero. I'm a high school senior and not very smart. And I decided to go out.

I think it was the 1st of June, excuse me, January, and get in my car, or actually it was a borrowed car, and go out and drive around with someone. And I did some foolish things, got stuck in a snow drift at probably 12.30, one o'clock in the morning. Not, it was out in the country, not very many houses nearby.

And so me and this other person needed to walk to try to find a place. I mean, it was bitter. It was almost bitter, bitter cold.

I had tennis shoes on. I was just ignorant. And so I'm out, and this other person, and we're walking, going, you know, houses are half a mile, quarter mile separated.

We're trying to find somebody to let us in their house, because, I mean, it's serious, we're cold. And finally we found someplace that would let us in. And my feet had been froze for a while.

And I remember sitting there on this lady's couch and opening up my shoes and taking my socks off and looking down at the left side of my, like my last three toes on my left foot. I mean, they were starting to turn green, scared me. And we put my feet in some lukewarm water and praise be to God, my feet came back to normal.

But the last thing I wanted to do was lose some toes or lose a part of my foot. And so amputation is something that we don't want in any way. And so, but here, getting back to John chapter 11, there is division and the life of Jesus is bringing this division.

His life, his miracles are causing people to go one way or the other. Now, let me give you some background before we go on here. I'm gonna try to finish chapter 11.

I wanna explain a little bit about what's happening. The Passover is getting very close. As a matter of fact, it's probably within 10 days.

The Passover, this is that final Passover where Jesus will be crucified. If you go down to verse number 55, it says, and the Jews Passover was nigh at hand. Jump down to chapter 12, verse one, then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany.

So we're getting close to Passover. Passover is the time when the lamb is offered up and it's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, Jesus is going to be the true Passover and he's going to be offered up on Passover evening.

And so, interestingly here, the rest of our preaching, and it may take us a year, year and a half to do it, but the rest of this gospel from John chapter 11 on till the end, John chapter, I believe it's 21, takes place, most of it within seven days, eight days, nine days. And so these next 10 or 11 chapters are going to deal with the last week or the last 10 days of the life of the Lord Jesus. And there's some things that are happening here.

And I'm gonna jump ahead a little bit to set the stage for our message here this morning, but things that are happening that are setting the stage for the crucifixion. Look over to John chapter 12 and you see someone's heart is being manifest here. This individual is gonna take a part in the crucifixion of Christ.

In John chapter 12, verse four, I'll jump in here. Mary has just poured an ointment of spikenard on Jesus. It was very costly.

And in John chapter 12, verse four, then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, would should betray him. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. So Judas here, his heart is starting to be manifested.

He's been stealing from the bag for a while, maybe the whole three years. His heart is after money. His heart is after covetousness.

And here the scriptures open up Judas's heart before he betrays the Lord Jesus and shows really what's in the heart. Here Judas watches this ointment being poured out on Jesus. And he has a problem with it because Judas has a covetous heart.

Well, this Judas is gonna betray Jesus on Passover night. And he's gonna do so because in his heart is covetousness. And he's going to bargain with the rulers to deliver him up for 30 pieces of silver.

There's something else here in chapter 12 that helps us to see and helps us to understand our message here this morning. And that is how most people in Judaism felt about the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over to chapter 12, verse number 12.

On the next day, much people that were come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now, most people in those days were looking for a ruler, a king. You see, the Jewish people were under the authority of the Romans and the Jewish people wanted to be free from the Roman taxation, free from the Roman dominion.

And so they were thinking that the Messiah would be a political figure, a ruler who would come and set them free from the Romans and from the taxation. So they wanted a king. They were looking for a king.

Much like people today are looking for a man who has answers to the world's problems. And that's what they were looking for. And Jesus was not come to be that kind of a king.

If we keep reading, and we'll talk about this in the weeks to come, but in verse 14, it says, and Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat there on, as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh sitting on an ass's colt. Now, if you're coming as a conquering king to overthrow the Romans and to set yourself up as the new king, you're not gonna come like this. You're not gonna come sitting on a little colt, a little donkey.

You're gonna come like in Revelation chapter number, I think it's number 19, where Jesus comes to conquer and he is sitting on a white horse. You see, they were expecting him to be on a horse and to come as a military ruler and to overthrow the Roman Empire. But he comes to them in a totally different way, very lowly, very meek, and sitting upon the colt of an ass.

And so we're being told here what kind of a king the Lord Jesus is going to be. He's not going to be the king that they're wanting, this political king. He is wanting to be a king in the heart.

He is wanting these people to bow their knee to the lordship of their heavenly father. And he's not interested in the kingdoms of this world. You see this, and I'm just gonna jump ahead here.

I'm trying to lay a foundation. You see the Lord's heart as we go on here in John chapter 12, look over to verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And here's the important verse.

He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hated his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. And so the Lord is going to live that out.

He's going to lose his life. He's going to hate his life in this world that he might be exalted in the world to come. And certainly we know he was raised to sit at the right hand of God after his death and resurrection.

And so the Lord is in his heart ready to lose his life. The people who are saying, Hosanna to the King. They're wanting to save their life.

They're wanting peace, prosperity. They're wanting a political ruler. But Jesus has come to lay down his life.

And that's a good question for all of us here this morning as we go through this passage. What are we here for? Are we here to try to get as much as we can out of this world? Or are we here, as the Bible tells us, to lose our life for Jesus' sake and the Gospel? So the Lord here has his heart set on the world to come. Not on this present world.

And that's where we ought to be also. Now most of the people, and we'll see that here in John 11, most of the people in Judaism, their hearts were set on this temporal world. Their hearts were set on things like politics, the economy, how's the economy doing, social justice, science.

You know, everything that has to do with this temporal world. That's where their hearts were. And they were looking for a deliverer for this present world.

But not a spiritual deliverer. Remember what Jesus said. The Son shall set you free.

And when He said the Son shall set you free, they thought, oh, free from the political bondage of the Romans. No, no, no, no. The Son will set you free from a guilty conscience and from the power of sin.

And that's really at the heart of what Jesus came for at the heart of the Gospel. Now we're going to start reading here in chapter 11, verse 47. And we're going to see this very thing played out.

The leaders who have a heart for this temporal world miss completely the purpose of the Lord Jesus and why He has come and why He is doing what He is doing. I want to start reading here in verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, what do we? For this man doeth many miracles.

I mean, they get together and the Lord is doing so many miracles. He's just raised Lazarus from the dead. They get together, maybe 20 men, leaders.

And they say, what are we going to do? And here's their problem. Verse 48, if we let Him thus alone, let Him do what He's doing, all men will believe on Him and the Romans shall come and take away our place and our nation. Now notice here their concern.

Their concern is this, that our place and our nation are in trouble. They were concerned in their hearts about their place. In other words, we're in a good place.

We're in leadership. We've got this deal with the Romans. We've got our perks.

We've got influence. We've got our parties and our wealth. And we can control the people.

And the Romans are above us and they're letting us do these things. And here comes this Jesus and if He keeps going like this, He's going to get many people to follow Him and He's going to raise an uproar and the Romans are going to come and they're going to squash our nation and we're going to lose our position and our place with the people and it's all going to be destroyed. So Jesus represented a threat to their place and to their position.

And so that was a concern. That was a concern in their hearts. They wanted a place.

They wanted their political position. And no doubt about it, if you know anything about human beings, I mean, you look at governments, you see this. Probably the Roman government, they allowed the nation to exist, but they were over the nation.

But you can imagine all the religious leaders and the connections they had with the Roman leaders and there was probably gifts and money going back and forth and people were being used and taking advantage of things. Well, that was the state of affairs in Jerusalem. And in the hearts of these leaders, this is good, we like it the way it is, we like our position, we like our nation the way it is and this Jesus is going to mess things up basically.

And so you can see where their heart is when they look at the Lord Jesus. He is someone who is a disruptor. I think about this, James, when I think about America, I mean, human nature is just the way it is whirled around everywhere you go, but it reminds me of the establishment in Washington, D.C. I mean, there are people who are the leaders in the nation here and they like their position.

They like the way that things are set up. They have their influence. They have their money.

They have their power and they go to their parties and it's a nice life and here comes a Donald Trump to blow the whole thing up and they don't like it at all. As a matter of fact, I've heard people say this, the establishment doesn't care whether you're a Democrat or Republican, just as long as they can continue with their lifestyle and have what they want, they're fine with it. Well, unfortunately, recently, the people said enough of that.

We're going to put somebody in there that's just going to blow this whole establishment up. Well, that's exactly what's happening here. I mean, this Jewish thing has been going on for years and years and years.

There's connections. There's generations. There is power passed down.

There is money. There is influence and it's gotten to be nice and so the leaders are concerned. That Jesus will cause the masses.

I mean, I've just seen them throwing their garments down and saying hail to the King of Israel and multitudes are following Him and this is going to cause the Romans to get stirred up and there's going to be an uproar and it's going to mess up things for us and so we need to do something. So they get together. But the bottom line is this and this is in our human hearts.

Their heart is for their temporal pleasures and comforts. That's really what they want. And if Jesus comes and gives them all those things, they'll think He's a great guy.

But He is coming and preaching at sin. He is coming and preaching at righteousness and getting their hearts in the right place with God and that's not going over well. You know, some of you who were here a number of years ago, we went through the book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, and one thing that we saw over and over again is how these people missed understanding who Jesus was because they were looking for a temporal, political, economic king.

A political figure. And they were not looking for someone who was desiring to address their heart. Their inward person.

You know, men cannot see very clearly because their hearts are in this world. They love this world. You know, there's a good example.

We're going through it right now. Let's make the application. This virus that's going throughout the world.

How many people have been hearing a lot about the concern that we have for our hearts and our spiritual condition before the Lord? How many people are more concerned about, we need a vaccine. We need some sort of a medicine. We need to get our economy back on track.

And all of these concerns, even amongst religious people, this is what's the concern. And why are we concerned about those things? Because that's what's in our heart. We really want a world where there's no viruses.

Where we can live life, enjoy it, have no fears, have all the medicines to take care of all the diseases, have a good economy. And if He can give me somebody who can give all these things to me, I'll vote for Him. And here comes the Lord Jesus and says, no, I'm not concerned about those things.

What I'm concerned about is your heart. And whether or not you're living in sin, are you speaking truth? Are you living in purity? Are you being honest? And your relationship before my Father. Now, I've shared this with you in the past.

This is probably one of the most important things. If you're going to prepare yourself for the end, this is probably the most important thing. Jesus gives us many signs, but one of the things that's essential is the future Antichrist is going to come and he is going to have the answers for this temporal world.

That is the distinction between the true Christ and the false Christ. Because false Christs are the ones who have the political answers. They're the ones who have the economic answers.

They're the ones who can get the vaccines and the medicines. They're the ones who have the answers for this present world. And that future Antichrist will use that to his advantage.

You know, the world's going to get in turmoil. You know, the world's been thrown into turmoil just by one pestilence. Just wait until what Jesus says in Matthew 24, earthquakes, pestilences, famines, wars, nations against nations.

You talk about people being stirred. You talk about fear and anxiety and people trying to hold on to anybody with some answers. Well, that's going to be the case.

This is just a little shaking right now. And you see where men's hearts run to when something gets shaken. Well, I want you to turn back to 1 John.

This is the same John that wrote the Gospel of John. He has some words about this in 1 John chapter number four. He talks about the Antichrist and how to understand who is Antichrist.

In 1 John chapter four, starting in verse number one, he says, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are going out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Here's how you can know this.

There's two things that he mentions here. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.

And this is that spirit of Antichrist, where have you heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world. Now, the Antichrist is going to come and claim to be God. He is going to come in a human body and claim to be God.

Well, if Jesus Christ is God and He already came in a human body, then that thwarts the Antichrist's purpose. If we've already had God in a human body visit us, then why do we need the Antichrist to visit us? To come in the flesh. And so every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

Now look down to verse four. You're of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. That's the Holy Spirit.

Here's verse five. This is the important thing. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them.

We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us.

Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of air. Here's how you can tell the difference between truth or the spirit of truth and the spirit of air. The spirit of air speaks of this world.

It's Antichrist will deal with the problems of this present world. Economies, viruses, political problems, social justice, the problems of this present world. That is the spirit of Antichrist.

But the spirit of Christ goes much deeper than that. The spirit of Jesus Christ speaks to the heart of man. I like what Peter said when Jesus asked him, who do you think I am? And Peter said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, and you have the words of what? Eternal life.

You have the words of eternal life. In other words, I know you're the Christ because your message is about eternity. Your message is about my soul and my soul getting right with God.

That's how I know you're of the right spirit. There's a lot of people. Listen, this is very important.

There's a lot of people who are gonna come, false prophets, who are gonna have the answers for the world. How we can cure this disease? How we can make this political situation better? How we can bring peace amongst nations that are fighting? And that's what many people who have a heart for this world are looking for, someone who will have answers for the world. It says there in 1 John 4, they are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them because that's in their heart.

You know, we want an economy that's making everybody rich. You know why they want that? Because that's what they want in their heart. They don't want to be right with God.

They don't want to have their hearts cleansed. And even if they're poor, and so it's very important to remember that when people speak of the world, that means that their heart is in the world. And the world will hear them.

And so when the Antichrist comes, he'll have a message for the world. He'll have a message that's political. He'll have a message that's economical.

He'll have ways to solve the problems of the world. That's not the spirit you want to follow. Many will follow them.

Even those who profess to be Christians will be taken away with it. You know, Adolf Hitler, I've studied Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler rose to power because the nation of Germany was in poverty.

The nation of Germany had been humiliated earlier in the war. And so Adolf Hitler rose up because people wanted a prosperous nation. People wanted a nation that was a strong nation that was no longer humiliated around the world.

And so when Adolf Hitler came with a message of prosperity, a message of the pride of the German people, people embraced him, even Christians, many. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one who didn't and ended up being killed. But people are longing for things.

I mean, they're longing for the things of this world. And yet the Bible teaches us to lose our life in this world. I like this passage there in Hebrews about Abraham.

Abraham says he was a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth. And he looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. Isn't that a good heart to have? Just to be a stranger and a pilgrim.

I'm looking for something past this life. I'm not looking for wealth and prosperity and ease and comfort and power and influence in this world. I'm losing my life in this world for the world to come.

And so we're encouraged throughout the New Testament to set your affections on things above, not on the things of the earth. Because if you set your affections on the things of the earth, then you're opened up to the message of Antichrist. Bible tells us to love not the world, not of the things that are in the world.

And so back here in John chapter 11, these men are concerned about their position and they're concerned about their nation. The heart of these leaders were in this present world. And you know what? Because of that, they did not hear.

Remember it says in 1 John, they're of the world, therefore they speak of the world and the world hears them. They connect. Here Jesus was coming to try to connect with their inner man, with their soul, with their spirit, and they could not hear his word.

Remember Jesus said to them back in John, he said, whosoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And they thought, guy's teaching cannibalism. They didn't understand he was trying to speak to their heart.

Well, something's gonna happen here. Starting in verse 49, God's gonna try to speak to them. And this is kind of an unusual situation here, but we've understood their hearts.

Their hearts are in this world, even though they're very religious people, they're leaders of the Jewish people, their hearts are in the world. They're not wanting to live a self-denying life. They're wanting to live a life of pleasure and comfort and ease.

Well, let's start in verse 49 and read. And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, by the way, Caiaphas is not anything good said about him. He's also mentioned in the book of Acts, persecuting the apostles.

Caiaphas being the high priest that same year, said to them, you know nothing at all. He's prophesying here. Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.

Now he stands up in the midst of this council and starts telling them this. And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. Here's someone that God is actually communicating through this man.

You know, it's interesting. God communicates even through men whose hearts are not in the right place. Take Balaam, for example.

You remember Balaam. Balaam prophesied, but his heart was after covetousness. God can prophesy through a donkey.

He did to Balaam. So here's Caiaphas, a man whose heart is in the world, yet he is prophesying to these people that one should die for the nation. Verse 52, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Now, what do you think should happen when these people hear this? These leaders are sitting in this room and Caiaphas stands up and he shares this with them. You know, if you have a spiritual heart this morning and you understand the things of God and your heart is not in this world, you understand what he's saying there. The Lord is communicating that Jesus is gonna die and he's gonna die for the Jewish people and not only for the Jewish people, but for the Gentile people, those that are scattered abroad.

God is wanting to bring a holy nation, his church together from all different places around the world. And I think all of us read that and we understand that. However, if your heart is not in love with Jesus and his word, when you hear it, like the Pharisees there in the council, they don't hear it that way.

They hear it in a different way. They hear it, verse 50, it says, let's go back here. Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.

What do you think? How do you think they hear that? The whole nation perish not. Well, they're thinking political. The Jewish nation will not perish.

We'll keep our nation. You know, when you look at the word perish, I think of John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It's an everlasting life issue.

It's an eternal issue. They thought of it. Oh, we'll keep our nation, we'll keep our country.

You know, America, America will continue to be a powerful nation. That's what was in their heart and that's how they heard. And so they heard this prophecy.

They didn't believe those that are scattered were Gentiles getting converted and God bringing the nations together. No, they thought that of those who were Jews who were dispersed would come back to Judea and the nation would be brought back together. You know, oftentimes we hear the word of God, even as I'm preaching today, we hear the word of God, but we interpret it based upon our heart.

You know, if your heart is in the world, you'll hear the word of God and interpret it different than someone whose heart's in the right place. And that's just the way it is. That's just the way our fallen condition is.

And so when the leaders of Israel hear this, that one person must die in order for our nation to be preserved, they're thinking, kind of like verse 53, although it's not a good thing for the Lord, but look what it says in verse 53. Then from that day forth, they took counsel together for to put him to death. Well, if this Jesus, this rebel rouser needs to die to preserve our nation, that the Romans do not destroy us, then we'll put him to death.

Now, you know, I believe you can hear the word of God. I mean, you see this all the time, false prophets, false teachers, they read the word of God, they hear the word of God, but they come up with many crooked and perverse interpretations of it. You see it all over the place.

And yet these people who are leaders, Caiaphas, not even having a right heart himself, shares truth, and they cannot receive it. And the reason why was their heart. Their heart was in this temporal world, and therefore their interpretation was distorted.

And that's one of the reasons why people get all, people ask the question, why are there so many interpretations of the Bible? Why can so many people read the same Bible and come up with so many different ideas? Because their hearts are everywhere. And so if your heart is truly surrendered and you come to the word of God and you say, Lord, I don't care about me, I don't care about my comforts, I'm denying myself, I just want to serve you, then your heart is in a good place to receive the word of God. And you'll interpret it properly.

But if you have a lot of selfish desires and selfish interests, and you come to the Bible, that Bible will be slanted and perverted and perverse in your heart. And that's where heresy comes from. You know, as I look at that, I think perhaps this, that they thought Jesus would be a scapegoat for the Jewish nation.

And he would have to die to appease the Romans who were threatened by the masses that were following him. And you know, this was a concern amongst the Romans for a long time. Remember when Jesus was born, two years old, they killed all the children, two years old and under.

Matthew chapter two, why did they do that? Because Herod was afraid that this boy would grow up to be the king and overthrow them. And so from his birth, even standing before Pilate, Pilate said, are you a king? The Roman rulers had been concerned about this king that would come. And now Jesus arises on the scene.

So maybe in their hearts, they're thinking, you know, this Jesus needs to die to preserve the nation. That we can keep our place and the nation. Well, however they understood the prophecy, they didn't hear it like the Lord wanted them to hear it.

And they were willing participants in helping this prophecy to be fulfilled. Isn't that amazing? So there's a lesson here before we go on. And I think it's important to learn this lesson.

And when our heart is in the world and we have love and affection in the world, we cannot understand the truth. And our ears do not hear it. But when our hearts are in heavenly places, when our hearts are in the right places, we're able to hear the voice of the truth.

So you have these disciples whose hearts are in the right place. They're able to hear the words of the Lord Jesus. But in spite of being prophesied to by one of their own, they cannot hear, nor can they understand what the Lord is trying to speak to them.

And so they begin to get very serious here and try to hunt him down. Jump down to verse 57. 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.

I think it's interesting. And you could preach here on the sovereignty of God and how God rules everything. But you take these hearts.

Here's a Judas whose heart is loving money. He's here. And then you take these leaders whose hearts are for their position and their power and their influence.

You take two groups here whose hearts are not in the right place and God takes both of them and brings about His perfect will. Judas, the betrayer, these men, willing participants in the crucifixion. And so I don't get too discouraged when people are against you and people are plotting against you and trying to overthrow you.

I know God can take even the hearts of a betrayer and those who are trying to kill you and bring about His perfect will. So don't get too worried about people who are upset and trying to persecute and betray you. Listen, God can take care of all those things and He can take a Judas.

He can take this counsel. Their hearts are far from God and bring about His perfect will. And that's what happened right here in the life of Jesus.

Here's a Judas, a man whose heart covets money, takes 30 pieces of silver from these same leaders whose hearts want to keep their place and nation and they concoct together and they do the will of God and they crucify the Son of God. Well, let's keep reading here and finish off. I'm going to go back to verse 54.

Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews but went thence unto a country near into the wilderness into a city called Ephraim and there He continued with His disciples. And so the Lord knows there's a week to go roughly before the Passover. So Jesus is avoiding the public, waiting for His time, the right time to be offered up, the true Lamb of God which has to be offered up on the night of the Passover.

And of course, the Lord will come and He'll come in Passover and He'll show Himself and that's the time that Judas will betray Him and we'll talk about that in the weeks and months to come. Verse 55, and the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves, a preparation for the Passover. Then sought they for Jesus and spake 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 the next nine chapters here is going to deal with this one week period of time before the Passover and all the things that will happen. This is a very rich, I'm looking forward to going through this, very rich time where Jesus prepares His disciples for His departure. In John 14, 15, 16, and 17, a lot of rich things about the coming of the Holy Spirit and His heart for His people that we'll talk about over the next weeks here and months as we look at this seven day period before the Passover.

So let's close then this morning with a word of prayer and thank you for your attention and your listening. And let's make sure that our hearts, you know, this is just a trial run here, this virus, but what's going to happen when the viruses are coming, the wars are coming, the famines are coming, and the false prophets are coming, and the nations are being thrown into turmoil? Are we going to, in our hearts, look for someone who have answers to all this mess and figure out the world? Or are we going to look to the one who has the words of eternal life? And that's it.