Shownotes
Can God's good plans be stopped by evil people? Jesus has just done something amazing, but there are people who still just want to kill him. In fact, they start making plans so that the job is done properly. Thankfully, God is able to use their evil plan for good. Join Dave for the last episode in this John series as he explores John 11:45-57
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Transcripts
G'day. Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.
Speaker:Dave here.
Speaker:Have you signed up for the club yet?
Speaker:It kicks off this Friday with the very first 10 minute video episode.
Speaker:@ the end, there'll be a couple of questions for you to answer.
Speaker:One of them will help decide what wacky things we do in future episodes.
Speaker:Parents, there are even bonus episodes for you.
Speaker:There's a lot there for as little as $5 a month.
Speaker:Five Australian dollars.
Speaker:So why not hit pause, follow the link in the
Speaker:show notes and sign up for the Stories of a Faithful God Club.
Speaker:And if you don't like it, you can cancel any time.
Speaker:Now, on with the show.
Speaker:I want to tell you something wonderful and
Speaker:amazing.
Speaker:Before I do though, I have to tell you
Speaker:something very, very sad.
Speaker:The very, very sad thing is that in this
Speaker:world, lots of people hate God.
Speaker:They don't want it to look like God is
Speaker:winning.
Speaker:And they'll do anything to stop people
Speaker:believing in Jesus.
Speaker:No matter what Jesus says, no matter how good
Speaker:he is, they want to do everything they can to stop God and His good plans.
Speaker:Sometimes it feels like they're winning.
Speaker:Sometimes it feels like Jesus is losing.
Speaker:That is very, very sad.
Speaker:But there's something wonderful and amazing to
Speaker:tell you.
Speaker:For God to do his good plans to save people
Speaker:through Jesus, to give people life forever.
Speaker:To bring people into his family.
Speaker:He doesn't have to stop those people who hate him.
Speaker:He doesn't have to stop what they're doing to get in his way.
Speaker:God is so powerful and so good, he can actually use their bad plans to make his good
Speaker:plans happen.
Speaker:Don't know what I mean?
Speaker:Well, you're about to find out.
Speaker:It's time for our next episode of Stories of a
Speaker:Faithful God for Kids.
Speaker:At the end of our last episode, Jesus did
Speaker:something amazing, something astounding, something no one else can do.
Speaker:Jesus raised the dead man Lazarus back to life.
Speaker:He did it so that people would finally believe in him.
Speaker:So that people would see his glory, his greatness, and say, I can trust him with
Speaker:anything.
Speaker:Even with life and death.
Speaker:Lots of people who are there do start believing in Jesus.
Speaker:They've seen Jesus glory and they believe.
Speaker:Which makes sense, doesn't it?
Speaker:If you've just seen someone wake up a dead person, of course you're going to believe in
Speaker:him.
Speaker:Except when people prefer sin instead of
Speaker:salvation, they can do horrible things.
Speaker:And so some of the people who saw Jesus raise
Speaker:a dead man to life run off to the Pharisees to tell on him.
Speaker:I know after everything Jesus has done, they still prefer to be in the Pharisee's good
Speaker:books rather than believe in Jesus.
Speaker:You may remember that that's exactly what the
Speaker:man who'd been healed after 38 years had done.
Speaker:Also, the parents of the man born blind.
Speaker:They didn't want to make the Pharisees angry by saying that Jesus healed their son.
Speaker:This time.
Speaker:You'd think the Pharisees would say, wow,
Speaker:Jesus raised a dead man to life.
Speaker:We were totally wrong about Jesus.
Speaker:We should stop trying to kill him and start believing in him.
Speaker:That's what they should have done when Jesus did all his other signs.
Speaker:But just like when those things happened, they only want Jesus out of the way.
Speaker:They want him dead.
Speaker:They get together with the chief priests and
Speaker:they call together a meeting of something called the Sanhedrin.
Speaker:The Sanhedrin is like a government or council for helping Jewish people trust and follow
Speaker:God.
Speaker:They're about to do a really bad job of that.
Speaker:They all get together, there are about 70 of them, and they worry.
Speaker:In verse 47, they ask, what should we do? This man is doing many miracles.
Speaker:Now, I hope you know the answer to that.
Speaker:What should they do?
Speaker:First person in your family to answer gets 10 points.
Speaker:They should believe in Jesus.
Speaker:They don't want to believe in Jesus, though.
Speaker:Instead, they're really worried about what will happen if Jesus keeps doing these
Speaker:miracles.
Speaker:They think that the more miracles he does, the
Speaker:more Jewish people will want to follow him.
Speaker:They also think that the Jewish people will
Speaker:start to say, hey, let's make Jesus our king.
Speaker:He'll make us into an army and we'll go and
Speaker:fight the Romans and kick them out of our land.
Speaker:The problem is, everyone who fights against the Romans tends to lose really badly.
Speaker:Lots of people get crucified, Lots of people get sold as slaves.
Speaker:So they say, what should we do? This man is doing many miracles.
Speaker:If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him.
Speaker:Then the Romans will come and take away our temple and our nation.
Speaker:And the thing is, they're not completely wrong.
Speaker:They know the Jewish people.
Speaker:In fact, back in chapter six, the people had
Speaker:tried to make Jesus king, just like the Sanhedrin are afraid of.
Speaker:What they're wrong about, though, is to think that that's what Jesus wants.
Speaker:He doesn't want it at all.
Speaker:When the people had tried to make him king,
Speaker:he'd got out of there as quickly as he could.
Speaker:Jesus is a king, the greatest king.
Speaker:He's just not the sort of king to lead armies to beat up the Romans.
Speaker:He's the king who's come to save people from their own sin, not from the Romans.
Speaker:As the Sanhedrin are all sitting around worrying, the high priest stands up.
Speaker:His name is Caiaphas.
Speaker:Caiaphas isn't a worrier, he's a doer.
Speaker:He makes things happen.
Speaker:Unfortunately, the things he makes happen are
Speaker:really evil.
Speaker:He wants the Sanhedrin to stop messing about
Speaker:and get on with killing Jesus.
Speaker:He says to them in verse 49, you people know
Speaker:nothing.
Speaker:It's better for one man to die for the people
Speaker:than for the whole nation to be destroyed.
Speaker:But you don't realise this.
Speaker:Is that how you deal with your problems? Just killing the person who's getting in your
Speaker:way? I really hope not.
Speaker:And the person who's talking about killing isn't just anyone.
Speaker:It's Jesus.
Speaker:The one who's come from God, who's healed the
Speaker:sick, who's raised the dead, the one who gives hope to a world without hope.
Speaker:Caiaphas is saying it's better that we just kill him and save everyone else from the
Speaker:Romans.
Speaker:He's actually talking about killing the only
Speaker:person who can give people eternal life.
Speaker:That's nuts.
Speaker:But John tells us something really strange in verse 51.
Speaker:He says, Caiaphas did not think of this himself.
Speaker:He was high priest that year.
Speaker:So he was really prophesying that Jesus would
Speaker:die for the Jewish nation and for God's scattered children.
Speaker:This would bring them all together and make them one.
Speaker:Prophesying? Prophesying?
Speaker:John, what are you talking about? Prophecy is a message that comes from God.
Speaker:And Caiaphas is saying something really evil.
Speaker:He's saying, let's kill Jesus, the one who's
Speaker:come from God.
Speaker:As if God would send that message.
Speaker:But wait, do you remember what I told you at the beginning?
Speaker:I said that God is so powerful and so good, he can actually use people's bad plans to make
Speaker:his good plans happen.
Speaker:Jesus came into the world to save people.
Speaker:How's he going to do that? He's going to do it by taking the punishment
Speaker:we deserve for ignoring God on himself.
Speaker:We deserve to have the life God gave us taken
Speaker:away.
Speaker:But instead, Jesus will have his life taken
Speaker:away.
Speaker:He'll be killed and punished by God in our
Speaker:place.
Speaker:And then he'll be raised to life so that we
Speaker:can have new life with him.
Speaker:Which means, even though these people are
Speaker:being really evil, by wanting to kill Jesus, God is actually using their evil plan to do
Speaker:something really good.
Speaker:He's using their evil plan to save people.
Speaker:Do you remember John 3:16 it says, for God loved the world so much that he gave his only
Speaker:son.
Speaker:God gave his son so that whoever believes in
Speaker:him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
Speaker:He gave his son Jesus to die on the cross.
Speaker:And this isn't a surprise for Jesus.
Speaker:In John 10:17, Jesus said this.
Speaker:He said, the Father loves me because I give my life.
Speaker:I give my life so that I can take it back again.
Speaker:No one takes it away from me.
Speaker:I give my own life freely.
Speaker:I have the right to give my life and I have the right to take it back.
Speaker:This is what my Father commanded me to do.
Speaker:So when evil people are working so hard to
Speaker:stop God's plans, they just end up being a part of God's good plans.
Speaker:Nothing can stop God from doing good.
Speaker:Nothing can stop Jesus from saving people.
Speaker:When Caiaphas said, it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole
Speaker:nation to be destroyed, he was just thinking evil thoughts.
Speaker:But God was using his evil thoughts and evil words to say something completely different,
Speaker:to say something really good.
Speaker:Jesus will die so that all of God's people,
Speaker:all the people who believe in him are saved.
Speaker:John tells us in verse 53, that day they
Speaker:started planning to kill Jesus.
Speaker:So Jesus no longer travelled openly among the
Speaker:Jews.
Speaker:He left there and went to a place near the
Speaker:desert.
Speaker:He went to a town called Ephraim and stayed
Speaker:there with his followers.
Speaker:Ok, so you've got the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem
Speaker:planning to kill Jesus.
Speaker:You've got Jesus out in the desert keeping
Speaker:well away from them.
Speaker:Everything seems safe until it's time for the
Speaker:Passover festival.
Speaker:The Passover is in Jerusalem.
Speaker:Jesus has been to lots of festivals in Jerusalem.
Speaker:Almost every time he's gone, it's ended with people wanting to kill him.
Speaker:Now people aren't going to just suddenly get angry and want to kill him.
Speaker:Now they're making a plan.
Speaker:They're going to make sure the job's done
Speaker:properly.
Speaker:In verse 56, heaps of people who have
Speaker:travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover are standing in the temple and they're saying, is
Speaker:Jesus coming to the feast? What do you think?
Speaker:There's tension in the air.
Speaker:John tells us that the leading priests and the
Speaker:Pharisees have given orders about Jesus.
Speaker:They said that if anyone knows where Jesus is,
Speaker:he must tell them, then they can arrest Jesus.
Speaker:Will he come?
Speaker:Will they arrest Jesus? Well, that's a story for another series.
Speaker:For now, let me remind you of some of the things we've heard in John's Gospel.
Speaker:We've heard how Jesus is God the Son.
Speaker:He came from God the Father in order to save
Speaker:people and bring us into God's family.
Speaker:He takes away the sin of everyone who believes
Speaker:in him and he'll raise us back to life when he comes again.
Speaker:Believe in Jesus.
Speaker:Trust Him.
Speaker:Let him be your king and saviour.
Speaker:I hope you sign up for the club that launches
Speaker:this week.
Speaker:Bye for now.
