cross. And then in the coming week, we see his resurrection and fullness of life. But here, where we are in John chapter 12, verse 27 through 36, we come to Christ walking in the midst of his people in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus is troubled in heart. We'll read about that. but he speaks in the midst of knowing that the cross is coming. And he has four magnificent messages to four different types of people. We have lots of people here this morning. None of you are the same. I've come to realize over the years that the Lord has blessed me to have on the earth, it's always a bad idea to stereotype people and think of them as being relatively similar. It's just not the case. And as Jesus ministered in this final week of His life, these four things were His emphases. Firstly, comfort for the fearful. Comfort for the fearful. We have in Jesus in this passage an example of a fearful man. Jesus is looking down the road of Calvary and he can already see the cross as if it were lifted up on top of that hill. He's afraid of death. I bet many of you are afraid of death, if you're honest. I bet many of you are looking down the pathway of your life. Who knows? This may be your final week. Nonetheless, you feel as if the hour has come. Well, I think in this passage we can take great comfort from Jesus' example of how he deals with the fear of his heart. Secondly, we have proof for the doubter. See, as Jesus comes to the city of Jerusalem, he comes to the place where more people had heard his word and his particular teaching, yet where there were more people who doubted what he had taught. Nonetheless, in this passage, we have a voice that comes from heaven. It's the third time we hear a voice from heaven. One at baptism, one at the glorification of Christ at the transfiguration, and then now in the midst of the people in the city of Jerusalem. God does not leave us with any excuse for not believing that Jesus is the Son of God and God the Son. Thirdly, we have assurance for the weak. We have assurance for the weak. Whenever Jesus begins to unveil the glory of his cross, he has three very distinct proofs of the glory of what he accomplishes on the cross. The first is the judgment of the whole world throughout every age that happens on the cross. The elect are judged unto salvation, and those who are reprobate and refuse to come to faith are then judged unto condemnation. Jesus also tells that on the cross, Satan is decisively defeated. It's not his final defeat that will come in Revelation chapter 20, verse 10. But nonetheless, Satan's weapons are taken from his hands, And He is made to be weak upon the earth. He no longer rules. And then thirdly, Jesus tells us that on His cross, that He will call all peoples to Himself. That is, He will absolutely save a definitive number out of every nation, of every people, from every tongue, throughout every age, upon the earth. His cross made a purchase. Those three things are the very grounds of our assurance. And if you're here with us this morning and you struggle with assurance, it's my prayer that as we study this, these three truths will take root in your heart and in your mind. Because if you see this, you will believe in the strong work of Jesus. And you will be assured by His power, even in your weaknesses. And then fourthly, we have Jesus making a plea for the wayward. Our Lord was an evangelist. He was a preacher that stood in the midst of a people who often had plugged up ears and stony hearts. But he did not waste time. Yes, his heart was troubled. Yes, he was looking at Calvary. He understood very clearly that every single person that he evangelized who believed in him that the weight of their guilt would be heaped upon His back on the cross. Nonetheless, we have Jesus standing and looking into the eyes and into the hearts of the people before Him and pleading that they would believe in Him that they might become sons of light. This morning as we study this, if you've been hearing the gospel maybe your whole life or only for a season, and you've put up some resistance. This morning, I want to plead with you unabashedly that you stop your rebellion and that you believe in Him now because you're not guaranteed tomorrow. There's only a little while where Christ was on the earth, and there is only a little while when the Gospel will be preached and that you will have an opportunity to respond. Would you respond this morning as we study the Word of God? John chapter 12, verses 27 through 36. Jesus said, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of the world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, we've heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of the light. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever. On the eve of the Diet of Worms, the trial of the great reformer, Martin Luther, some 500 years ago. He was in a cell, dressed as a monk. His head was shaved, as was the custom of the Augustinian monks. And as he laid on the cot, knowing that this imperial trial was about to be laid at his feet, Luther recorded the struggles of his soul. He was a man looking toward his death, everything in the world accounted to him that if he did not recant the gospel truth that he had written about and preached and was his hope in heaven, that the hands of men would put him to death. Not only that, Luther accounts that there was a dark one in his midst that Satan whispered to him, called him a weak man, told him that he had no guts, he couldn't do this, that surely he would fold. They'll kill you, he said. They'll take you in chains, he said in the ears of Luther. You're going to die. Luther, are you so sure you can withstand this terrible hour of persecution and death? Are you sure you can stand up to the face of your executioners? What we read of Luther, the boisterous German reformer, that he was a man who never shied away from cursing Satan to the pit of hell where he belonged. He stood quivering in his cell and whenever the knock came, he walked into the imperial diet and they spoke to him saying, recant, recant, recant. Luther refused. He stood there with all the pressure of hell and all of the wrath of men. assured in the gospel, that his hope was in heaven, and that if it be the Lord's will that he might die, that the Lord would have very much glory in it. Praise God for the firm stand that that man took, but I want to tell you this morning that Martin Luther was not standing alone before that murderous crowd. He was standing in the presence of the Lord Jesus who doesn't abandon His saints. You see, the people of God all have a destiny. In fact, every man does. Every one of us have a day that is marked down into history where the Lord has ordained your coming death if Christ doesn't come first. We are all like asteroids hurtling toward the crash. There's a specific number of minutes. There's a specific number of days and weeks and months and years. We are all walking towards death. And in our passage this morning, we see Jesus Christ coming face to face with all of His divine knowledge in all of His human infirmity with the reality of His mortality. Jesus, as He entered into that city, there were people with great palm branches. They waved and they shouted, Hosanna! Lord, save us now! But He knew that as He went in, that those who praised Him would also be those who mocked Him. As He was in the city, walking through the dust, where He knew that only in hours and days He would fall to His knees, bloodied, covered with dust, in the refuse of that city, to climb up the hill of His persecution. And what we read in verse 27 is the reality of the moment. We read how his heart felt. It's as simple as that. The inner recesses of the soul of the Lord, John tells us that he said, now is my soul troubled. You see, whenever Jesus, who is God and man, Entirely God and all of the attributes of the divine, and entirely man and all of the infirmities, that is, what we ourselves live in. When he looked down the path to his death, he felt the great weight of the horrible prospect and pain of his death. Jesus wasn't above it. Jesus knew seasons like many of you are facing right now, He knew what it meant to wake up and know that you're coming straight to the end. He felt the haranguing mocking of Satan. Do you know that throughout the ministry of Jesus, Jesus had one like Martin Luther did who would whisper into his ears temptation? Jesus, what will you do? Maybe Satan mocked him. Jesus, why don't you call down all those angels you say that you command? Jesus, if you're really God, why don't you eradicate these Jewish opponents? Jesus, why don't you just turn tail and hide in Galilee? I know of lots of deep caves. They'll never find you. Jesus, why don't you turn back? But nonetheless, the Lord, in obedience, He walked and He walked and He walked directly to His death as a lamb led to the slaughter. The first thing I want to tell you in the lesson that we can learn in just the first few words of this passage is this. It is nothing to be ashamed of, to be afraid of the pain and death that is surely coming. It's simply human. Why did Jesus feel the pain in His soul? The deep, quivering pain that harangued His bones in His soul? Because He was human. But maybe let me suggest this one other thing. The reason why He felt it so deeply is because you feel it. And God ordained not to leave you as His people alone in the hour where you are preparing to meet your Maker alone and with a God who doesn't know how you feel. Jesus walked this road so He could walk it with you. He stood in these footprints so that He would know how you feel right now and how you'll feel tomorrow and how you'll feel on your deathbed. I don't know when it will come. I don't know when yours will come or when mine will come, but I am absolutely assured that apart from His return it will come. It's okay to feel fear. It's okay to feel fear in the face of death. I want you to know this. Death is horrible. We live in a world that likes to sanitize death. Oh, it's better that they're dead. It's a better thing. It's not better. Death is a curse. There's nothing good about a curse. Don't let anyone for one moment tell you it's better to be dead. That suicidal sentiment is foolish and it's against the revelation of God. He made us to be immortal creatures. Do you know what kills us is sin and all of its power over our physical bodies. Whenever Christ hung on the cross, what was it that put Him to death? It was your sin and my sin. Sin laid the death blow. Not His sin, but our sin. Death is a horrible thing. It's a curse. And yes, it is to be feared. And yes, it is to be hated. And yes, it is to be a thing that we groan over and we look toward and know this is not natural. It's not what I was made for. I was made for eternal fellowship with the Lord, the God of glory, but my sin has drug me to my grave. It's okay to be afraid of sin. It's okay. But I want to tell you, son of God, child of God, daughter of Christ, I want to tell you that whenever you look in the moment of this fear, this horrible prospect of the death that is coming, the Lord has not left you with no comfort. You see, we don't look at death like the world looks at death. We don't look to death as if that's the end, because for the children of God, it's not the end. There's resurrection that comes, and not just a resurrection. to judgment, but a resurrection to glory. Whenever Jesus looks down the pathway of His death, what does He say? Let's read a little more. Christ is struggling in His heart and in His soul. He says, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. Should I say that? You see, Jesus knew the will of God. You and I don't know the will of God. Clearly, we can have very educated guesses and we can also have principles derived from scripture, but Christ knew. He knew the cross was coming. He knew that his hour would be an hour of spikes and thorns and a cross and mocking and humiliation and in the agony of public suffering and execution, he knew what was coming. His heart struggled with it, but He never for a moment flinched. And why? Where's the comfort? It's in the latter part of verse 27. Jesus says, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. See, in the midst of Jesus' suffering, whenever He knew He would die, when He knew that the savers of this life were coming to a near end, He was comforted by the sovereign will of God. Where's comfort for the fearful? Where is the saint whenever we're broken at the prospect of the end of a long fight with cancer? Or whatever it may be, the loss of our minds and memory because of Alzheimer's, or all of the things that the world would throw at us and Satan would harangue our souls? Where's your comfort, Christian? I want to tell you firstly that it is in the sovereign will of God. You see, Jesus knew that as He went to the cross, the Lord had intended His death and suffering for a purpose. And what is the purpose of Christ's death and suffering? It is to secure the salvation of sinners like you and I. Jesus was comforted by this thought that His suffering was not meaningless. Jesus knew that when He went to the cross that the Lord would have a magnificent display of His kindness to sinners to be put where all the world might see. He knew that on the cross there would be a great exchange happening. He would take our sins. We would take His righteousness. Why did Jesus climb the hill? What gave strength to His legs to go to the executioner, one step after the other, dripping in blood? I know that this is not meaningless. I know that I'm saving a people for God. I know that I'm glorifying my Father in heaven. I want to tell you, child of God, if you are part of Christ's body, if you believe in Him, I don't care what your age is or what your ailment is, I want you to know, even if you can't see it, if the veil is so thick that it's like a ten foot thick steel wall before your gaze, that your eyes cannot see through, that your suffering and your death, it's not meaningless. God has a purpose in it. He has a purpose in the suffering that is coming. I don't know what it is your pastor can't tell you. It's in the recesses of his divine wisdom. You may never know, your family members may never know, but the Lord has a purpose in it. You have no idea what the Lord does at the loss of the saints. It may be for the conversion of others. It may be for the confrontation of your whole family, to wrestle with the gospel. It may simply be so that in the day of glory, whenever Christ comes back, your name will be on the deed of vengeance whenever Jesus finally defeats Satan, cancer, diabetes, blindness, Alzheimer's, and the whole realm of suffering that people have on the earth, that Jesus will be glorified. But I want you to know this morning and to have it firmly impressed upon your heart, God is not ignorant of your sufferings. He has a purpose in it. I think that's what brings Jesus to say what He says at the very opening of verse 28. Father, glorify Your name. Father, glorify your name. It's as if Jesus has said, it's well with my soul. I know what's coming. Father, do what you intend. Hang me on that tree. Make me the slain lamb. Display for all the world to see my suffering. Glorify your name. Hang me on that cursed tree for them. While they mock me and I'm condemned in their place, save them. Glorify your name, O Lord. Jesus has an absolute peace about the suffering that he is about to take on. I want you to know, children of God, that as the saints, those who are purchased by the blood of Christ, we can be right where Christ is, where we look into the eyes of our death We can look into the pain, we can look into the impending grave, and we can say with our hearts and with our voices and with our minds, Oh Lord, be glorified in my death. I want to encourage you Christians to consider how you suffer. I want you to consider that the Lord has a purpose in it, and that while you suffer, your suffering can display the kindness and the power and the grace of God unto His Glory. Would you stop for a moment and in all of the grieving and the groaning in the body, consider, how can my death glorify Him? How can this cancer be turned to glory? How can this pain be for His praising? Nurses are caretakers. I've often wondered how in the world are there any atheistic doctors or nurses They face death all the time, and I'm quite aware that this church, as it is progressively being born physically and born by the power of the Holy Spirit, that she is also perishing in the body that she might live again. Christians are in hospitals. Christian families surround deathbeds. Christians that are lying on those deathbeds, they give magnificent testimony to the mercy of Jesus. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, where is your power? Christians lay looking death in the face and with courageous comfort embrace it knowing that this is not the end. They confront death and they know that Jesus, whenever He died, conquered it in His resurrection. Christians, I want you to ask this question and to face it. If you're going to end this race, well, you need to end it like our Lord ended it. Take Jesus' example and have His comfort be yours this morning. Seek out the glory of God even in your final breath. If one thing could be put on your tombstone even beyond your name, would it be this? He glorified His God. She praised Him to the end. Think these things through deeply. Seek the comfort of it. Like a warrior face death, knowing that you may lose the momentary battle, but Christ will have the victory in time. Know that even whenever death closes its jaws upon you, its grip is weak. The Lord will snatch you from the grave. Body and soul will be reunited. It's not better that the soul go on to some eternal existence apart from the image of God in the body, there's a day of glory coming. Christians suffer like the Lord. It doesn't mean that you have to have a stiff upper lip. It doesn't mean that you have to hold up all of the appearances, weep, perspirate drops of blood, cry out to God and wrestle with the impending death. but be comforted by His sovereign hand and His glory that He is revealing through you. It's not meaningless, Christians. All the creaks and the groans of the body that you feel right now, it's not meaningless. Be comforted, even as our Lord was comforted, to take on whatever would come. We have proof for the doubter. In Jesus' ministry, we have three occasions where a voice from heaven comes, and in this passage, we have the third. We read in verse 28, Jesus says, Father, glorify your name, and that then a voice came from heaven and said, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. We're told in verse 29 that the crowd stood there and heard it and said that it had thunders, and others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Whenever Jesus cried out to the Lord that He might be glorified, as it were, thumbing His nose in the face of Satan, not afraid or overwhelmed by the fear of death, the Lord spoke. The Lord spoke at His baptism. This is My Son with whom I am well pleased. The Lord spoke at the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Lord spoke right now. And whenever the Lord spoke, we're told that an audible voice came from heaven. You know, whenever I've done evangelism, either with friends or family members or sometimes with folks that I don't even know, strangers, I've had this thought pass through my mind. I wonder if you have too. This person's not getting it. This person just refuses it. They're hard as a rock and I feel weak. I wish I had an extra tool. Lord, I really wish that You would speak through the clouds and fill their ears with Your Word. I wish you'd break their heart of stone that way." It seems like my mouth, my voice is just far too weak. Well, in the passage that we're reading this morning, that's precisely what the Lord did. The Lord spoke for the sake of the conversion of hearts. Whenever Jesus is weak and feeling the pain of His impending death, The Lord spoke from heaven, I have glorified it, that is His name, and I will glorify it again. What does the Lord mean when He says that? It's a bit difficult to understand, obviously. These are the words that come from the recesses of the wisdom of God. I have glorified it, I will glorify it again. I want to propose to you these two things that the Lord means in it. that in the life of Jesus, where the eternal Son took on flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born and lived among us, that Jesus glorified God the Father in that He walked through life with all the temptations of sin and He never, ever sinned once. He was obedient to the will of the Father. He kept the law. He was a good man. He taught in season powerful words and out of season. He stood and was persecuted and he never sinned against God, nor did he doubt. He, for every single moment of his life, was in absolute union and communion with God the Father in heaven. Jesus was the good son that he always had been and always would be. The Lord was glorified in the life that Christ lived. Does he speak? He's telling the crowds, this is my son with whom I'm well pleased. This is my eternal son who I sent for your salvation and for the freedom of your soul from sin and death. He's my son. But more than that, I want you to know that even though Satan might tempt him and the world might beat him, whenever He is lifted up on a cross and subjected to humiliation. The farthest thing from glory in your minds that I will be glorified in Him again. He's going to take up the cross. He will be obedient to my will. He will take your guilt and endure my wrath. That's what He's saying. Whether the crowds understood it, it doesn't matter. It seems that the single thing that they needed to understand is this, Jesus is the Messiah of God. Believe in him. I think that's sufficiently clear. A voice coming from heaven speaking of Jesus. I think it's sufficiently clear to draw people to him. But look at the response to the proof that the Lord gave for the sake of saving the doubter. We have some that whenever they heard a voice from heaven, They just said, no, this is some natural phenomenon. It's nothing more than thunder. They heard it and they denied. A voice came from heaven specifically for their sake so that they could hear. Did they understand the words? I want to tell you, yes. They didn't hear any garbled speech as if the Lord can't project His voice. They heard it and in their hearts they denied it. The heart of a sinful man is dark and it's very perverse. It's hard. It doesn't want to please God, nor can it. It's an enemy of God. It's what these people were. They heard an indelible proof of Jesus's divinity. They heard the word of God and then they hardened themselves to it. But then we had others in the crown. Others that conceivably didn't believe in Jesus. They heard the voice of God ring out from heaven and what did they do? They accepted it as an angelic message from God. They accepted it. They heard it and it turned their attention to Jesus. I want you to know this morning that God still works in this way. You may say, Pastor, hang on a second. I've cried out to the Lord for rain and for answers my whole life. I'm a man of prayer and a woman on my knees. I know the Lord. I've cried out to Him. What are you talking about? I've never heard the thundering voice of the Almighty. Hang on a second, Christian. You have 66 books of direct revelation from the very mouth of God. Scriptures tell us that He carried men along by the Holy Spirit to speak exactly His Word. God still works like this. God still works like this. Christians, every Sunday you hear the Word of God read booming from a sound system. God still speaks. His Word is still good. The Lord has glorified Christ and He did glorify Him upon the cross. That's the whole of the Gospel. God still speaks this way. And I want you to know this morning that the Word of God demands a response. It always gets one of two. Jesus speaks of the despicable state of a lukewarm person that's a fit sitter and a nasal gazer whenever it comes to His Word. It is despicable. It's like cold water to be spit out of the mouth. You either hear the Word of God and you accept it or you don't. And I want to implore you this morning in the hearing of the Word of God to respond to the power of God and His Word. Whenever the Word is read or preached, when you read it in your private studies, God is still speaking to you. You have a greater economy of words in this small phrase that echoed from the clouds. How are you responding? Are you still doubting? And would you say, oh, those are just the words of men. That's nothing but a bunch of bumbling thunder. Or are you someone that hears it and sees Jesus with the angelic frame that the Lord had given Him upon the earth, the God-man, the Savior of your soul? Would you look to the Lord on the day of judgment and look Him in the eye and say, you never did enough? Lord, if you'd only sent the voice from heaven like you did in Jerusalem, I would have believed. Hogwash. You hear it. Why don't you believe? Whenever the Lord speaks in His Word, He speaks with power. And the Lord has given us His Word that we might respond in faith. Let me encourage you to faith this morning. that whenever the Lord and his word is heard, that you would respond like the second group, knowing that Jesus is the obedient son of God, the one that we're called to faith in, the one who calls us to himself and draws us by his blood and convinces us by the proof that comes from the very mouth of God. Thirdly, there's assurance for the weak. Assurance for the weak. Jesus responds to the confusion of these people as they heard the voice from heaven in verse 31. And he says, now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from this earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. Jesus tells us these three different effects of his death on the cross, these three means of the Lord's glory, the first that the world is judged. on the cross. And I don't want it to escape your attention that whenever Jesus speaks of these three things, he's speaking about it right now, right in his time, right in his speaking, whenever his hearers hear his voice, when it echoes in their ears and in their hearts. Right now, right whenever the cross happens is when these things happen. The world is judged. Why are these things important? Why does Jesus give us this exposition of His suffering? I think it's for our own souls. I think it's for the sake of our assurance. You know, Jesus says this magnificent word whenever He breathes His last on the cross. It's a Greek word, tetelestai. It is finished. It's absolutely finished. And whenever Jesus is speaking to this crowd, He's teaching them about the work He will absolutely finish on the cross. I wonder if you're here with us this morning and you're weak in faith, that whenever the question of your eternal security and your assurance comes before your eyes or your heart that you waver a little bit. I wonder if you've struggled like many great men of the faith have, like Jonathan Edwards and many others. I want to tell you this morning that if we consider these three truths, and if they grip our hearts and minds, that these are the footholds the Lord intends for us to keep ourselves in His grip and to be assured with. That's why Jesus says these things. And if you know them, you'll see His cross as effective. Judgment of the world happened on the cross. What does that mean? It means that whenever Jesus hung, that those who believed and that those who would ever believe were judged. When was the judgment day of the church? It's on the cross. It's on Calvary. What hung Jesus in his place? It was your guilt and it was my guilt. What was it that put Jesus to death? It was the wrath of God against your guilt and against my guilt and against the guilt of the church throughout every age. That was a day of judgment. Our judgment in Christ happened on the cross and whenever he endured all of the pangs of death and the wrath of God, it was what you deserved and what I deserved. Jesus took your pain so that you didn't have to be crushed under it. He took your condemnation so that you in every way would be made new, saved from the condemnation of hell. Judgment happened on the cross. Jesus bore your judgment and my judgment. The world was judged. You see, on the cross, it's not only believers who were judged, but all those who wouldn't believe, they were condemned on the cross. That's a hard fact, isn't it? It's true, though. Whenever Jesus speaks about the cross, He speaks about the judgment of the sins of the saints, all those who would believe, but also of all of those who have never believed in Him. They were not included in the payment made upon the cross. Those who hardened their hearts didn't come to Him, refused to be saved. The world was judged. For the people of God, you gained security on the cross. Every sin you have committed, hung on the cross. Every sin you are committing, hung on the cross if you believe in Him. Every sin you ever will commit, hung on the cross if you believe in Him. You will never feel the suffering that is due to your rebellion if you believe in Jesus in this life. That all happened on the cross. It's taken care of. So whenever the Christian considers the cross, I want you to first be confronted with this truth that is the very core of your assurance. That whenever Jesus hung in your place and you believe in Him no matter how weak and how wavering your faith is, that if you believe in Him and He is your Savior, that your sins cannot condemn you because they condemn Jesus already. The wrath of God has been satisfied. Your salvation has been purchased. Why do saints struggle with assurance? I think it's because they don't believe that Jesus died for all their sins. The sins of their struggling belief, the sins of their continued struggle in life. It's a low view of the cross that makes Saints believe that they are anything less than entirely redeemed. You see, Satan wants that to ring out in your ears, that the judgment that happened on the cross was for everybody but you. But if you're a child of God, it happened for you finally. There's no outlying warrant for your arrest from the King of Heaven. The second thing Jesus tells us to assure our souls is that Satan was decisively cast out and defeated. You see, Jesus had been feeling the pain of Satan as he followed him throughout life, tempting him, taking him into the wilderness, goading and prodding him to sin against the Lord and relieve his own suffering. Satan had followed Jesus, his whole life and even into the city, telling Jesus, why don't you take that back alley and run? Here's a shelter in the bottom of a rich man's house. Maybe you'll be secure there. Whenever Jesus climbed that hill with a cross on his body, whenever Roman guards pounded stakes into his hands and into his feet, whenever the wrath of God was poured out, Satan lost. You see, the whole of the life of Jesus was like nothing but a great battle. You have Jesus and the host of heaven on one side and Satan and the host of hell. And whenever Jesus charged up the hill of Calvary, a greater victory than the hill of San Juan was had. He hung in humiliation, enduring the wrath of God, obedient to the Father. The only sacrifice that was good enough to save you and I from our sins, the obedient Son of God, who is God the Son. Whenever Jesus hung on the cross, He took Satan's great tool of destruction and pain and warfare, and He broke it and destroyed it. Remember Jesus hung, He took all your sin, all of that horrible mess that Satan takes and accuses you with and drives your guilty heart into the mud and the soil of this earth trying to destroy you. Jesus took it from you and dealt with it in His body and blood if you believe in Him. Satan doesn't have a legitimate weapon. You see all of the accusing that Satan can tell you? You're weak. You will fail. Why would God love you? Your sin is too great. Are you sure you're really saved? A Christian can say simply this, Oh Satan, don't you remember my Lord walked before you and He crushed you under His heel even though you bruised Him? He died on the cross. He bore my sins. They've been paid for. I have assurance in this life and in the life to come. He died, the righteous one, for the unrighteous. I am safe. Shut your mouth, Satan. Maybe we would be like Martin Luther hurling curses at Satan and also inkwells at the walls. flexing the muscles of faith, saying to Satan, you've been vanquished. You're no longer the one that holds over me any guilt. Yes, you would like me to believe it, Satan, but I won't believe it because the righteous one died. Jesus died for me. I'm strong. I'm secure. There's nothing you can say that will for a moment remove me even a millimeter from the love of God. I've been reconciled to Him and you can never take me far from Him again. I don't care what you say. He's my Lord and I am His child." That happened on the cross. The Lord gave you freedom from the rule and the dominion of Satan and He placed you under His rule and His dominion of love. Jesus gave you freedom from those sins that beset you, that haunt and plague your life. Do you know, Christian, that you can take that tool that Satan tries to dig into your heart and you can look it in the face and you can tell sin, if you're a child of God, no, I won't do it. But you can look at him and say, no, my God is not going to condemn me. But you can cut it off and cut the head off of that snake. It may take years of sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit. But you're not a slave of hell. You're a child of heaven if you believe in Christ. What's the mark of your assurance? It's simply your inclusion in Jesus by faith. Faith is it. However weak or however strong, you can have the faith that can move mountains or a teeny, tiny, little, milli-ounce of faith. Nonetheless, you belong to Christ. You're His. and Satan cannot touch you. The third thing that Jesus says is that when he is lifted up or crucified, that was an ancient way of saying it in euphemism, whenever he is crucified, he would draw all people to himself. I want to tell you that what Jesus means in this is not that he was going to draw all men like a charismatic speaker or a leader to his own political cause. Jesus wasn't just going to draw them and draw their attention like a plane that flies overhead might draw your attention. Whenever Jesus speaks of drawing a people to Himself, He's speaking about drawing the people of God like a man would draw water from a deep well. You see, whenever a man takes a bucket and he lowers it into the well of water and it spills over and grasps the water, he pulls it up secure in his It's coming. Whenever Jesus speaks about the drawing of people to Himself as He is lifted up, He is talking specifically about the justifying work that He has on the cross for those who believe in Him. And He is saying to Satan, I want to tell you this, Every person from every nation, if they believe in me, will be mine. Not only these Jewish Israelites, but whoever from out the whole number of the world would believe in me, will be drawn to me. There will no longer be a separation from God and man. They will be reconciled to God through my blood, and in me have forgiveness of sins. Jesus finished the work of salvation on the cross. And Christian, if your assurance is wavering, look to these truths. Don't look to your ability to keep up a regiment of holiness. Look to these truths that Christ kept holiness for you. And He died in your place. Our assurance cannot hang upon our own necks, but only upon the back of Jesus and His blood spilled out for us. Whenever He was on the cross, He didn't only make a possibility for salvation, He made a purchase of His people by His blood. There were specific names, specific people, specific sins that hung in Him. And if you're a child that belongs to Him by faith, This is your assurance. He secured your way to God by his suffering and death. These three things in your head, in your heart, in your mind, these three truths of the Christian life, my sins have been judged. I'm no longer a slave of Satan. I'm his. and I will have close communion with Him forever. If these ring in your heart, you'll be a person that even though you occasionally doubt, you will always return to this sweet assurance. I'm held in His hands. He's never letting me go. Lastly, Jesus says, an evangelist pleas with the wayward. See, our Lord didn't waste a moment. He was great with the economy of words, something not many preachers can say, and what many of us still struggle with. Jesus, in verse 34, hears the crowd say to Him, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is the Son of Man? See, as the crowds listened to Jesus, they understood Him very clearly. They decided to then debate with Jesus in their doubt. They considered the Old Testament Scripture that the seed of David would remain on the throne forever and ever and rule forever, the Christ. But they look at Jesus and they hear His words and when they knew that whenever Jesus said that He would be lifted up that He was speaking of the cross. Again, this is just a euphemism. It's like a kind way of speaking of the electric chair. Death by electrocution, possibly something along those lines. They understood what He said. They understood that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of David, the one that would come to save the people of Israel. They understood specifically what Jesus had said. And they turned against Him because in their hearts they would not have a suffering Savior. They don't want a weak king. They don't want one put to death. That's not the kind of Lord they would serve. They want a strong man, but they don't understand the truth of the gospel. You see, as they contend with Jesus, if it had only been the case that they remembered Isaiah chapter 52 and 53. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told, them they see. And that which they have not heard, they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? for he grew up like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and is one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like the sheep before his shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken and asked for his generation who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit. in His mouth. You see, they signed the law to Jesus, but only if they had known it. They didn't know it. They should have known it. They were Jewish people, a people that memorized the Word, that hid it down deep in their minds, but kept it so far from their hearts. They should have known this. What does Jesus do to these people? Does He, like a good teacher, take a ruler and wrap them across the knuckles? No. It's not what he does at all. Jesus sweetly pleads with the people. Jesus was an evangelist of the most particular kindness. These people that ought to have known better, he didn't turn his back and wipe his feet from their presence. Instead, Jesus speaks sweetly to them. The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who is in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light." Jesus handles them sweetly. He is calling them even at the eve of His death to believe in Him. He makes good use of every moment of time, Christians, how we could take A great rebuke at Jesus' example here. He doesn't waste a moment. He's got doubters near Him. Does He just shrug His shoulders and say, oh well, they'll be the consumed ones. Jesus doesn't have that sort of cold heart to the lost. He cares for them and He speaks to them. And He speaks to them with great urgency. He says, I am with you a little longer. The light is with you a little longer. He's saying to them as if He's looking into their eyes, don't waste this time. Don't wait longer. Believe in Me now. I'm with you right now. Though I'm going to the cross, I'm with you. Don't wait to believe in Me. Why are you wasting time? There's only a few days until My death and resurrection. You may never hear another gospel sermon. Believe in Me now. You see, Jesus knows something about people who don't believe in Him. He knows that they are like children that are caught in a dark room. They don't see light. They don't see the things that if their eyes had light that they would not trip over. Instead, they go headlong over them. Jesus knows that the man who doesn't believe in Him, he doesn't know what his destiny is. I want to tell you this morning very clearly what the testimony of Scripture says. that the man who is in darkness is headed toward. It's a terrible destiny. You see, Jesus talks about the fumbling around of the feet of those who are in darkness, but the rest of Scripture goes on to spell it out in an even more great and terrific way. Whenever they speak of this darkness that people who are apart from Christ are in, they say that it is a place of torment. It's a place of distance from God. It's a place where the wrath of God is poured out forever and ever and ever. It speaks of the destiny of those who don't know Christ as a destiny of eternal torment where fire burns but doesn't consume. A place of wailing because people are being tortured and gnashing of teeth. It's a horrible place that they're going to And those who don't know Christ are walking toward it as blind men into a horrible destiny. It's a disaster waiting to happen. And this morning, if you don't know Christ, that's your destiny if you don't come to Him. That's the truth. I want you to know that Jesus offers you very clearly and very plainly this morning, in the hearing of His Word, an opportunity to come to Him and to know Him and to take grip of the promises of His mercy, and to be led out of darkness and into light, out of all the pain, out of all the anguish, and all of the torture of the soul of those who don't know Him, into the blessing and into the sonship of faith in Jesus. Jesus, please, with you, believe in me. Believe in me now. Don't believe in me tomorrow. You're not guaranteed it. Believe in me while the light is with you. Believe in me this morning. Believe in me right now in the hearing of the gospel. Believe in Christ and flee from sin. Believe in Christ and have sonship. You see, apart from Christ, it's damnation and condemnation. But in Him, it's sonship and blessing forever and ever and ever. What must a man do to be saved but believe in Jesus? Walk in the light is just simply believing in Jesus. Not like you have to go and work all of your salvation into a great hill of merit that will save you because of how good you have been. Instead, you believe that Jesus was so good that he died to save you from your sins, and you may freely receive it by faith. Would you believe in him? Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. And Lord, we pray that you would work it into our hearts and minds. Lord, help us in our unbelief. Lord, build us up in assurance. Lord, help us in our doubting. Help us to respond to your word. Oh, Lord, comfort us in all of our fears. Lord, help us to know your sovereign hand and to feel your touch upon our lives.