It's good to see the light, isn't it? And especially to see the light of the gospel, to see the light of God, the Lord Jesus. And that's what even the song that we just sang, the Bow of the Knee, One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh to the glory of God the Father. And you know what life is now, even as we just sang? Life is bowing the knee now. And God is the one who enabled you to bow your knee. That's what salvation is, isn't it? is to not do what I want to do, but to do what I ought to do. And it's only by the power of the crucified, resurrected Christ that you and I bow the knee and own Him as our God and our Savior, our righteousness. And that's what salvation is. That's what life is, isn't it? There is no life apart from the Lord Jesus. What an awesome God. Well, if you would, please turn in your Bibles to John's Gospel and chapter 12, and we'll continue on. And yeah, let's look at John chapter 12 and starting with, we'll start with verse 28. Here the Lord Jesus is in the last week or so of his life before he goes to give his life on the cross for us. And that's the context here. So he's getting ready. We've seen that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed Jesus anointed Jesus' body for His burial. She didn't know it. You see, that's the thing that we need to remember that when we're dealing with the Lord and His dealings with us, everything happens according to God's plan, and we don't realize it. And that's because we're not God. And that's quite an illumination to all of us, too, until the Lord saves us. And even as a believer, we still wrestle with that, don't we? That we are not in control. That things, I could be wrong. I could be wrong about things, and most of the time I am. But that's why we have the grace of God, and that's why we have the scriptures. So well, let's let's pray again and ask the Lord to open our understanding as we look into his word pray that his spirit would work in us Father we thank you for your word and we pray now that your spirit would take his word take your word and Use it in our hearts and lives Oh, Father, thank you. Thank you so much for saving us. And I pray that if there be any of us here this morning without Christ, still without understanding that you'd give them life, please. And those of us whom you've saved by your mercy alone, please draw us closer to you. Enable us to come to know you better and to love you more. and to cling to Christ more. And Father, we thank you. Enable us to worship you in spirit and in truth this morning. We ask these things with praise in Jesus' name. Amen. So let's look here, as we said that Jesus was getting ready to go to the cross, and notice he says in verse 28, okay, look at John 12, 28, the Lord Jesus says, Father, glorify your name. Then there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. the people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered and others said an angel spoke to him." Now we know that look what he said first of all we see that Jesus says to the father he says glorify your name and then God spoke to him there are two other times that we read where the Father spoke to the Son. All right, remember? One was at Jesus' baptism. That's right, at His baptism. And then the other time was, remember? Yes, transfiguration, right. And so, and it's neat to see. And we see in those accounts that the disciples were with the Lord Jesus and at His baptism. We don't know, I don't recall whether the other disciples were there or not. But John the baptizer was there and God spoke directly to the Lord Jesus and then he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And then you have the Mount of Transfiguration where James and John were with the Lord Jesus. and on the Mount of Transfiguration and remember Moses and Elijah appeared with the Lord Jesus and one of the gospel accounts it tells us that they were speaking to him of his decease and literally the word there is his exodus okay and he was speaking of when Jesus was going to go to the cross that's what he was speaking about All right, and then and so and of course Peter, you know, just I Have to say I'm a lot like Peter Stick my feet in my mouth and then wonder why what comes out doesn't sound right But that's the way Peter was too and he just didn't understand but then God spoke then and he said this is my beloved son Listen to him. All right, and so I Here we see that the Lord Jesus speaks and the father answers and and notice that the people were standing there the crowd was standing there and they heard the father speak to the son and Those that heard it some of them said that it thundered Others said an angel spoke to him and look at what says in verse 30 there Jesus answered or he responded to their response and And he says, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sakes. And yet the thing I want us to, you know, as I was studying this and thinking about it, how was it for their sake? Because they didn't understand. Some thought it thundered, some thought an angel spoke to him. They didn't even know that it was God the Father that spoke to the Lord Jesus. So how was it for them? It was a sign. It was a sign to them. But you know, for a sign, in order to be profitable, God has to do what? Open the eyes and the ears of the ones to whom it's given. And that was the problem with this crowd of people here. They were still in darkness. And in fact, that was the whole problem with the people that Jesus dealt with as we read in the Gospels. Most of the people that the Lord Jesus was with were still lost. They were Jews physically, but they were still without God. And so that's what we see here. God, the father, spoke to the Lord Jesus and the crowd heard it, but because for the most part, God had not given life to them when they heard it, they misunderstood what God said. In fact, they didn't even know what he said. OK, and so Jesus tells us then he says this voice did not come because of me. The Lord Jesus remember. Look back to verse 27. OK, look at verse 27. And the Lord Jesus is speaking again of his coming Crucifixion he says now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? And then we saw that he prays He says father save me from this hour and then he says but for this cause I came to this hour so Jesus knew that he was he had come for this purpose of dying and Alright, and he says now is my soul troubled and and so the father spoke and again Jesus says here this voice came not for me, but for you Alright, he already knew what God had sent him to do And that's it wasn't easy as we saw last week. It was not easy for Jesus to go to the cross Think about it. He was going to bear the sin of of everyone for whom he would die, and he would give life to them, but it would cost him his life. And as we saw last week, think about it. Again, there's one God, and he is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God. And God the Son became a man, 100% man, just like you and me. In other words, he was 100% human like us, but he was not a sinner. And he was about to go to the cross and experience separation from the Father and the Spirit. Now, I don't understand that, but you know what? It must have been devastating. He was God, but he was a man. And even Judas, one of the 12, he knew was gonna betray him, but you know what? It still caught him to the heart. Jesus was a man and he was going to be forsaken by God, by the very God that he had had eternal intimacy with. He was going to experience separation. That's what happened on the cross. And that's why we read in Psalm 22 where Jesus, and in the gospels, where Jesus on the cross, he cries out and he says what? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's what happened on the cross, brothers and sisters. In a hymn book, I'm hoping to share with y'all or give to y'all after we leave. Anyhow, it's a really good, some of our hymns in our hymn book that we have here is very, very good. I mean, very good. But there's this other little hymn book that we have in our, there at Sadat and the Baptists. Anyhow, there's this one hymn in this hymn book, and I think we have it in ours too, His Robes for Mine. We do have that, right? And notice the phrase in there. In the chorus it says, God, forsaken by God. That's what happened on the cross. God was forsaken by God so that those for whom he was forsaken would not be forsaken by God for eternity. You know what that is? Hell. You know who deserves it? We do. You know who else deserves it? Everybody. And the one who didn't deserve it, did it for us. So that we would not experience the eternal wrath of God forever. The eternal wrath of God. Just justice. That's what we deserve. And that's what Jesus was about to go through, okay? And then the father spoke, and as we see here, the people did not understand it, okay? But notice he says, this came not for my, because of me, but for your sakes. Then notice what he says, look at verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the prince of this world be cast out. The Lord Jesus is speaking here of what he was going to do on the cross. And again, not trying to ride a hobby horse here, but Genesis 3, 15. Remember what God said to the serpent. He says enmity. hatred, hostility, I will put between you, serpent, and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He, her seed, the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus, will crush your head, a death blow. You will crush his heel. And for Jesus, it was a death blow too, but it was a temporal one. And by means of Jesus, Having his heel crushed on the cross. He would crush the serpent on the head and that would be The death blow and that's what's spoken of here. This is what jesus is speaking about. He is about ready to go to the cross and the world would be judged. Let me read you a quote from a fellow named D.A. Carson. He's a neat brother in Christ. And he, anyhow, he says, the world thought it was passing judgment on Jesus. Not only is it perpetually debated about who he was, in other words, they were, well, some say he's a good, you know, they debated about that. But the world thought it was passing judgment climactically, or to the greatest point, when they did what? Crucified Jesus on the cross. You see, the cross, brothers and sisters, was the world's evaluation of God's Christ. They said, we don't want him. We don't want you ruling over us. But in reality, the cross was passing judgment on the world. That's what happened. The cross was passing judgment on the world. And what was the cross saying to the whole world? You deserve wrath. you're ungodly. And you know what? That was, that didn't fly, that flew in the face of the Jewish people. And you know who else it flies in the face of? The whole world without God. Because everybody naturally, in the bad sense of that term, thinks that what? I'm okay. I'm okay. I mean, I do some, I sin some, but I'm just as good as Jack. Well, what's that saying? Right? We're all sinners. And you see, that's what Jesus did on the cross is what the world thought of him. The world says, we don't want you ruling over us. We don't want you, God. And so they crucified him. But yet, to those who love God, he works what? All things together for good. And nobody loved God like the man Jesus. And God was going to take the hatred and the animosity and the hostility of the world and pour it out on his son and use that to save those for whom he died. Is that amazing? Is that good? That is good. And that is God. That's what he did for you and for me. Because we were the same way. Before we were saved, we were in Adam. We hated God. We wanted nothing to do with him. We didn't mind him being around so long as I could still do what I wanted to do. And that's the world without Christ. Okay? So Jesus says then, he says, now is the judgment of this world. Now will the prince or the ruler of this world be cast out. So by Jesus' death on the cross, he was going to end the rule of sin and death. Now, not that he hadn't saved people before this time he had, right? We know about Abel and Seth and all those Old Testament saints, and they were truly saints. But God made a promise, and now, by Jesus coming and dying on the cross and raising, he would what? Fulfill that promise. Okay? So that's what we have here. It was salvation for us who trust in Christ, but it was judgment on the whole world who do not trust Christ, okay? And so by Jesus' life and death and his, as we see here, his death on the cross, now Satan would be cast out. The thing I want us to think about here is that Satan is still working today, isn't he? But you know something? God is working too. And the thing that I want us to think about is the fact that you and I are believers in the Lord Jesus is proof that God is still working and that God is sovereign. Because he saved you and I from the power of darkness. And that's not something that you and I could have done on our own. In fact, we had nothing to do with it. Right? Colossians 1 says, He, referring to God the Father, delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Do you know how God did that? Through the cross. Through the cross. So that's what the Lord's speaking of here. Now is this world judged, and now is the ruler of this world cast out. So finally the promise has been fulfilled. It was about to be here, but it has been fulfilled for us now. And again, all those Old Testament saints, David, Moses, Samuel, those who truly believed in Jehovah God, It was because of what Christ was going to do on the cross. That's what delivered them and what delivers us from the power of darkness. So notice he says here, Let's look down, look at verse 32. He says, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me. Now, I think we should, and I believe the ESV translates it differently. It says, and I, when I am lifted up, and it can be done either way, but I think it's better translated when, because there was no doubt that Jesus was going to be lifted up on the cross, okay? So he says, and I, When I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me now what he's speaking about here is his death that he was going to die and He's going to draw all men to him Now it doesn't mean all without exception It means all without distinction and this is one of the things that John has been dealing with here in this gospel the Jewish people thought that they were God's chosen people and And some of them were, but it wasn't because of their Jewishness, their ethnicity, but it was because of God's grace and his mercy that he was going to pour out on those who believe in his son. OK, so that's what he's speaking of here. So he says, when I am lifted up, I will draw all men or all people to me. Look back, if you would, to John chapter six. OK, John chapter six. And here the Lord Jesus is again confronting the religious leaders. Look at John chapter six and verse forty one. OK, John six, forty one. The Jews murmured at him, at the Lord Jesus, because he said, I am the bread who came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, don't murmur among yourselves. No one is able to come to me except the father who sent me what? draws him and I Will raise him up at the last day. It's the same word here as we read now. Look back to John 12. Okay Look at John 12 there and verse 32 and I when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all unto me and And as he goes, he explains, then this, he said, signifying or showing what death he should die. So Jesus was going to be lifted up on the cross and he would draw all men to him. Not everyone without exception. But as we read in John six, 44, all those whom what the father drew to him. See, that's who Christ was going to draw to him. All that the father gives me will what? come to me and he who comes to me I will and know wise what cast out Jesus had a purpose and his purpose is and would be and will be what fulfilled now for you and I we don't know what God is going to do except what he's told us and as we understand his word to tell us, right? But God is going to do everything that he is ordained to do. It will happen. That's the God of the Bible. All right. And so the Lord Jesus says he's going to go to the cross and he's going to die on the cross and save all those. He's going to draw all those to him whom the father has given to him. Now look at verse 34. The people answered him. We have heard out of the law that Christ remains or abides forever. And how can you say the son of man must be lifted up? Who is the son of man? Now, Jesus in several places calls himself the son of man. And here he's telling us pretty plainly that the son of man is who the Christ. OK, and so these people are saying, well, hold it. Who is the son of man? What do you mean he's going to be lifted up? And of course, he was speaking of the cross and they knew that. And yet they didn't. It didn't what? It didn't connect with them that the Messiah, the Christ, had to do what? Die. They said, according to what we've heard in the law, the Christ remains how long? Forever. Was that true? Yes. But what they didn't understand is that the Christ also had to do what? Die. And he would come back to life again and live forever. And it was through his death and his resurrection that he would redeem his people from their sins. But again, remember who the crowd is. People who are still in darkness. and they didn't understand that this man that was standing before them wasn't just the son of Joseph and Mary as we read there in John six. He did come down from heaven. The word became flesh and he dwelt among us. He tented out among us and we beheld his glory. Glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But they didn't see that. John says there, he says, we beheld his glory. You know what? Not everybody did. John was speaking of himself and others who God would graciously save, give them life, open their eyes spiritually, and they would see, wow, this is the Messiah. That is the work, brothers and sisters, of what? Mercy and grace, okay? So they said, who is the son of man who must be lifted up? Look at verse 35. Then Jesus said to them, yet a little while Is the light with you again? He's speaking of what his coming death. All right So he's saying i'm going to be with you just a little while then look what what he goes on to say He says walk While you have the light Lest the darkness come upon you and that's better translated lest the light overcome you The word here for come upon you is the same word as we read back in john chapter 1 and verse 5 Speaking of the Lord Jesus, it says, the light, Jesus, is shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it or did not overcome it. Okay? So again, the darkness didn't understand the Lord Jesus, but the word here carries with it the idea of overcoming the light. I remember when I was in college once, a teacher, one of the teachers there said this. He said, have you ever noticed, it was a simple illustration, but it really was, anyhow. He says, you ever noticed if you're in a dark room and you open the door and there's light, that the light penetrates the darkness, the darkness never penetrates the light? I said, whoa, that's pretty neat. Think about it. And what is darkness? It's the absence of light. But the darkness cannot overcome the light. The light always overcomes the darkness. Always. And so that's what the Lord Jesus is saying here. You know, he says, Jesus says to these people who are darkness. He says, Walk while you have the light. In other words, while I'm here, he says, lest the darkness overcome you. And he that walks in darkness. Hasn't known where he's going. Who's he speaking of? Well, these people. They were walking in darkness and they had no idea where they were going. And you know what? It's no different than it is today, is it? Just as Jude and I were coming down, we picked up a hitchhiker. And anyhow, he was darkness. He was darkness. He'd been raised Catholic, but he obviously did not know the Lord Jesus. There are a lot of religious people, and he was telling me about different philosophers, Stoicism and all this, And I said, but you know, I said, the bottom line, as I said, the Lord Jesus Christ is not a flipped out Jew. He's really God. And I said, the bottom line is the resurrection. I said, Jesus said to the religious leaders, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. You see, that proved that Jesus is God. And it proved that everything that he said and did was true. Jesus was no stoic. He was and is God, and he became a man. And this is who the Bible tells us about. And the Bible tells us the truth about God, and it tells us the truth about us and everybody else. But you see, when you talk to people who are in darkness, they don't understand the truth. And you know what? They can't overcome the light. And that is what is so offensive about Christ. One day, every knee will bow. every knee will confess that Jesus Christ is Jehovah to the glory of God the Father. They will, they will. And you see, that's what galls people today. Just this past week I was speaking with a fellow at one of the places I work, and he said, Jack, he said, He said, that's what he was telling me about one of the other people that works at this place. And he says, Jack, he says, that's what gets you. He says, you speak as though it's fact. Your religion, it's fact. He says, everybody's got their opinions. And I said, but Woody, I said, it's not just, I said, look, I said, would you wanna get on a jet and have the guy that was piloting the jet that you're gonna fly on that didn't believe in the law of flight, the law of principles of flight. And he just kind of got on there and he just kind of, you know, kind of did his own thing. I said, he said, Jack, he said, you're jamming it down people's throats. And you know what, I didn't hardly say anything else, and I didn't say much then. And the person that he was speaking of that I'd spoken to before, he got upset with me because, I think I might have shared this with you, a friend of his had died, he'd gone to the funeral, and I mentioned to him that when I was in high school that I went to a friend of mine's funeral, and my friend did not know the Lord, and he said, well, and this fellow I was speaking to, he says, well, what if he knew Buddha? I said, it wouldn't do him any good because Buddha was a sinner just like the rest of us. I think that's maybe what jammed it down his throat. And that was pretty much all I said. You see, brothers and sisters, the gospel of grace is offensive because you know what you did to deserve it? Nothing. It's mercy. And you know what mercy presupposes? Inability, powerlessness, helplessness, listen, weakness. That's offensive. Because I didn't do anything. Oh, excuse me, I did do something. I nailed a sacrifice to the altar. And so did you. It was my sin. But you know what? It really was God that did it for me and for you. I didn't want to have anything to do with Christ either. And neither did you. And by the way, that was the plan before the foundation of the world. You see, God is working out exactly what he said he would do. Revelation chapter 13. Listen to what John writes. Revelation 13, eight. Well, Revelation 13, seven, it says it was given to him that is to the to the beast here. It was given to him to make war with the saints. Notice it was given to him. I mean, even the beast and the Antichrist and all those other guys, all these ungodly people. What can they do apart from God enabling them to do nothing? Are they responsible? Absolutely. Every creature is accountable to the creator for what we do. But it was given to the beast here to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. and all that dwell upon the earth will worship him, that is the beast, listen to this, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb, listen, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. You see the gospel, brothers and sisters, was not plan B. God ordained all of this. And people say, well, if he ordained it, then what's the big deal? The big deal is that I'm accountable to the one who ordained it. And that's why people want to believe that we just evolved, that things just happen. Like my friend, he says, Jack, there's too much contingency. I said, no, no, no. The lot is cast into the lap, and it's every decision is from the Lord, everything. That's the God of the Bible. And as we, Lord willing, look into Romans chapter nine this morning, we're gonna see God's mercy. God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. Well, that's not fair! Well, take it up with the one who's doing it. Or else, if you recognize that you're a believer in Jesus, what will that cause you to do? Oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Praise and praise. Praise is for us, okay? So Jesus says there, let's go back to John 12. He says, Jesus said to them, yet a little while is the light with you, referring again to his coming death. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overcomes you. And he who walks in darkness has not known where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be what? children of the light. These things Jesus spoke and departed and hid himself from them. You see, again, he was speaking to people who were spiritually dead. They'd been walking in darkness and they didn't know what was going on. Here is God's Christ, who was God, standing right in front of them, and they knew him not. He was in the world, the world was made by him, and the world what? Knew him not. He came to that which was his own, and his own what? Received him not. But thank the Lord it doesn't stop there. But as many as received him, To them, he gave power or authority to become children of God, even to those who, what? Believe on his name. Who were born, not of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. You know what that's called? Listen, mercy. That's called mercy. And it's mercy alone. If you're a believer in Jesus right now, it's because of God's mercy. You say, but Jack, I asked Christ to save me. Yes, you did. And thank God that you did. Thank God that you did because he's the one who moved you to do it. That's mercy. Because if God hadn't done it, you wouldn't have. Neither would I. Let's look down just a little further and we're almost done, okay? So Jesus hid himself from them and then look at verse 37. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they did not believe on him. So that, so that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke. And then he quotes from Isaiah 53.1. Lord, who has believed our report? Indeed, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? So you see, they were fulfilling here in John 12, what Isaiah had predicted. And you know what? It wasn't just them that fulfilled it. It was others who are still fulfilling it today. But notice what he says here. He says, again, Isaiah 53.1, Lord, who has believed our report? What's the report of? Well, you go back to Isaiah 52, and you know who it's speaking of? Christ. Who is Isaiah 53 speaking of? Christ. It's speaking of Christ's suffering for his people, and it speaks of Christ's rejection by his people. Not all of them, but for the most part. Okay, and as we know from, we're gonna see again this morning, Lord willing, and here in Romans nine, that hardness in part happened to Israel. You know why? So that God could have mercy on all. And then Paul breaks out and he says, oh, the depth of the rich is both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. See, when you realize who God is, it really lets you know who you are. And it's only in His light that we what? See light and see right at all. Then notice he says, just really quick, he says, who has believed our report, and then take that and there, and this is legitimate, indeed, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? That's what it is. God has to reveal his son to us and give us eyes to see, okay? All right, let's pray, all right? Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you for your mercy, your grace to us. Oh, Father, we praise you and thank you. And Lord, I pray that you'd please use us to tell others of the light. Your precious mercy to those who repent and cling to Jesus for their righteousness. who is the brightness of your glory. In Jesus' name we praise you, amen.