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John 11:54-57 LOOKING FOR JESUS

Introduction:
	
	In our previous text the Jewish Sanhedrin Council met
for the purpose of deciding what to do about Jesus.
Caiaphas, the chief priest, made a rousing speech seeking to
persuade the council members to commit themselves to the
purpose of putting Jesus to death.  He succeeded.  The
decision was made and from that day forward they made a
concerted effort to find some way to put Jesus to death.
This became their number one goal in life.
	In our text today they are looking for their purpose to
be fulfilled.  They are committed to the task.  Yet our text
also reveals that others are looking for who seek Jesus and
their purpose is not to put Him to death.  They seek Him for
a more honorable purpose.

I.  The departure of Jesus to Ephraim

	V. 54, "Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the
Jews..."  That is, He stopped walking openly among them for
this present time.  It is not yet time for Him to be put to
death.  It is time now for Him to use discretion and take
refuge until the time for His death gets closer at hand.  He
will not take refuge for long.  Pretty soon He will step out
into the open once again.  He will then make Himself
available to His enemies that they may crucify Him, but not
until the appointed time arrives.
	Taking refuge will accomplish three things.  First of
all, it will get Him into a place of safety away from the
blood-thirsty chief priests and Pharisees.
	Secondly, it will give Him time to better prepare His
disciples for the great ordeal which they will go through
when He is arrested and crucified.  There was no way that He
could them completely prepared for that event.  But He could
get them at least a little better prepared than they were at
this time.
	Thirdly, Jesus could use some time in a quiet place for
His own spiritual refreshment of His own.  Although He is
Deity God, yet He is also a man.  He had been born into
human flesh and had taken on all of the physical and
emotional weaknesses of mankind except sin.  Therefore, He
needed time in somewhat isolation to spend with God and
brace Himself for the horror which lay ahead for Himself.
So Jesus left Bethany where He was at the present and went
into a somewhat isolated place.
	(V. 54), "...but went thence unto a country near to the
wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued
with his disciples."  Ephraim was a city located northeast
of Jericho.  It was a small city off the beaten path, off
the main roads, up in the mountains and was very near to an
unpopulated wilderness area.  It was an ideal place where
Jesus and His disciples could take refuge.
The city would have little contact with the rest of the
nation.  Not many people from other areas would be comingin.
In addition, since it was located at the edge of the
wilderness, Jesus and His disciples they could disappear
into the wilderness if need be.  They would be hard to find
in this mountainous area.

II.  People at Jerusalem looking for Jesus

	In the meanwhile, time was drawing near for the
observance of the Jewish Passover at Jerusalem and some of
the early arrivors were already coming in.  "V. 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."  According to the Law of Moses, if anyone
touched a dead body or any other unclean thing that person
was ceremonially unclean and must be ceremonially cleansed
before he could participate in the Passover celebration.
	They must first became ceremonially cleansed according
to the procedures set forth in the Book of Leviticus.  This
required from one to eight days.  Therefore, a lot of people
came early so that they could go through the procedure of
becoming ceremonially clean before the day of the Passover.
	Therefore as the time for the time drew near for the
celebration of the Passover, Jews came to Jerusalem early
from all parts of the land to go through the necessary
ceremonially cleansing.
	V. 56, "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?"  When these early arrivors
arrived within the temple courtyard to go through the
ceremonial procedures of becoming unclean, they were all on
the lookout for Jesus.  They were all somewhat in doubt that
Jesus would come to the Passover Feast this year.  They knew
that the Jewish leaders had sought to arrest Him and kill
Him at the two feasts just prior to this.  That alone was
enough to make them doubt that Jesus would show up.
	In addition, they knew that the Sanhedrin Council had
put out the word that anyone who should see Jesus should
report His whereabouts to them.  V.  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."  This gave additional reason for them to
doubt that Jesus would attend the Passover this year.
	John does not tell us at this point, but the Jewish
leaders put forth two very powerful incentives for the
people to report the presence and whereabouts of Jesus to
them.  First of all, they let it be known that they would
severely punish anyone who would know of His whereabouts and
fail to report it to them.  They had already expelled a
blind man to whom Jesus gave sight because he spoke
favorably of Jesus.  They had threatened to expel all who
believe in Jesus as the Christ.  They would surely let it be
known that they would severely punish anyone who would
disregard their orders.
	Furthermore, the Jewish leaders offered a reward to
anyone who would give them the location of Jesus away from
the crowds so that they could arrest Him.  We know fromlater
events that the reward was set at thirty pieces of silver.
This was common knowledge to everyone and would be a
powerful motivating factor for many of the people.  It would
prove to be powerful enough to motivate even one of our
Lord's apostles to lead them to Him.
	So the Jewish authorities were looking for Jesus.  They
were looking for Him in order that they might arrest Him and
put Him to death.  Then there were the masses of people who
looked for Him because they wanted to turn Him in to the
Jewish leaders and collect the reward.  Many of them were
looking for Him because they wanted to see the man who had
been performing such mighty miracles throughout the land.
They admired His miracle working power and just wanted so
see Him.   Perhaps some of them wanted to see Him perform a
miracle there at Jerusalem.  Some wanted to see Him because
they had some ailment and needed to be healed or had a
friend or relative whom they wanted healed.
	But there surely must have been many who wanted to see
Him because they had come to believe in Him as the Christ
and as their Savior.  They had come to love Him and they
wanted to see Him because they loved Him.  I would like to
think there were some who wanted to see Him because they
wanted to find out for themselves if He really is the Christ
as many claimed Him to be.
	But whatever their reasons they did want to find Him and
see Him and they inquired of other people about whether or
not they thought Jesus would come at all to the Passover
Feast.
	They would all look for Him, but nobody found Him.  That
is, nobody found Him bodily and physically there in or
around the city of Jerusalem at this time.  He would arrive,
but He had not arrived yet.  He and His disciples had
quietly slipped away to the little city of Ephraim up in the
mountains away from the great crowds which were arriving at
Jerusalem.  And the people at Ephraim were keeping mum.
They were not telling anyone that Jesus was there.  They, no
doubt knew about the order which the chief priests and
Pharisees had given.  They, no doubt, knew about the threat
of punishment if they knew and did not tell.  They, no
doubt, knew about the reward that was promised to anyone who
would tell.  But they never uttered a word to any of the
priests or Pharisees or to anyone whom they thought might
spread the word that He was in their city.  They are to be
commended for this.

III.  A time when all would be told how to find Jesus

	Within a few short weeks Jesus would call His disciples
together and give them instructions to go and tell the world
how He may be found.  They would be told to preach the
gospel to every creature.  Since that time New Testament
churches have been seeking to spread the word and to tell every man,
woman, boy and girl in the world how to find Jesus.  I am
here today as a man called of God to preach His word and to
tell you how you may find Jesus.
	I am here to tell you how He may be found as your
Savior.  I am here to tell you that He can save you from
your sins and take you to heaven.  I am here to tell you
that back when I was a teenage boy just sixteen years old I
found Jesus.  I am here to tell you that right now today
Jesus sits upon the throne of God in heaven and that He
watches this service.  You can find Jesus Christ as your own
personal Savior if you will lift your heart and place your
trust in Him to save your soul.  If you will acknowledge to
Him that you are a guilty sinner and place your faith in Him
to save you then you will find Jesus right here in this
service this morning.
	I do not mean that you will see Jesus physically.  I do
not mean that you will hear Jesus audibly.  But I do mean
that you will find Jesus as your Savior and from that moment
forward He will never leave nor forsake you.  He will not
fail you when you fail yourself.  He will not fail you when
you come to the hour of death.  He will not fail you when
you stand before the throne of God in judgment.  If you will
trust in Jesus today, while He may be found, then He will be
your Savior forever.   Isaiah said, "Seek ye the Lord while
He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near," Isa.
55:6.
	But I warn you:  If you do not seek Him now while He may
be found .... if you keep putting Him off until some other
time ... pretty soon it will be too late and you will never
find Him as your Savior.  You will face Him as your Judge,
but it will be too late for you to seek Him as your Savior.

Conclusion:
	
	Who will come this morning and seek Jesus for the
salvation of your soul?  What saved person will come this
morning and seek Jesus to be the Lord and Master of your
life?  Who will come?