I ask you to turn with us to John chapter 12. I'm going to finish this 12th chapter today in the Gospel of John as what we hope and trust is where God wants us to be today. Without anything by way of introduction, I want to just simply read the passage and we'll go from there. And Jesus cried out and said. Whoever believes in me. Believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me, sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light. So that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, But the father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the father has told me. Verse 44 speaks of Jesus crying out and speaking. And the word to cry out in the original language, it speaks of a public proclamation. And when you stop and consider the fact that the son of God is calling out to the creation that he created, to people that he formed, to lives that he gave, it ought to arrest our attention. To think that Jesus cries out to you and to me is a miracle and a blessing that is impossible to rightly and fully describe. The fact that we don't see it that way is a great and terrible loss for us and certainly for those around us. But in verse 36, we had read earlier, even last week, that after Jesus spoke to the people that he had left hid himself. And now in verse 44, we, we come across another passage where Jesus is speaking out and some have stumbled about what this can mean. Is this some sort of contradiction in the account that John gave, but this verse, I believe this, these last handful of verses in chapter 12, they are the conclusion John's writing. They are the conclusion of the public ministry of the Lord. From verse 13 through the end of the rest of the 21 chapters of John, we're not going to see Jesus engaging the public again. This is it, chapter 12, and he's finished engaging with the people as a whole, in a public manner. The rest of these chapters that come after John are going to be between the Lord and His very close disciples and those who were following. So what are we to do with this last phrase? I believe that it is a summary, as John writes, of all that Jesus had spoken during the first 12 chapters of the Gospel of John, telling the world all that Jesus really had said. I believe these verses are a summary of the Gospel message, and there's four things specifically that I want to point out that are a summary of all that Jesus had said and all that He had done. There's no clear audience here. Often when Jesus speaks, it's relatively a simple matter to find out who he is speaking to and what is the circumstance and where is he when he said it. But these verses, there's just an absence of specifics of who is he speaking to, where is he speaking when he speaks it, and when did he say it? But I believe John, again, just writing a summary, there is no specific audience, there is no specific place, there is no specific time about which he's speaking, he's just giving us a summary of all that Jesus spoke. And because there's no specific audience, there's no specific time, and there's no specific place, we can say this, it is for everyone in all places at all times. And if we can say that, then we can say this. It is for you and it is for me, for us here in this place today. A summary of the gospel. All that the gospel speaks is contained here. This lack of an audience and this lack of a time and place, it infers that these words were written for you and for me. God wrote you a letter. He had John write this down because He wants to get your attention. He wants to tell you what the gospel message is all about. He doesn't want you confused about what it means to be saved. He doesn't want you confused about what His life was all about. He wants you to understand it. And he addresses this to you and to me here in this place where we have gathered the weight of this. It should make us and cause us to be sober minded and serious, and there should be a soberness attached to the preaching and the hearing of the word of God. Because you're not here, I pray, to listen to simply me. but God has a word for you. He has a thought that he wants to speak to you, and if I do my job, I will get out of the way, and it will be the word of God speaking to you, but I want you to see that as we begin today, that this is a message from God to you, a summary message of the gospel, and much of this is going to be Christianity 101, perhaps. You're gonna know a lot of these things, but do you truly know them? Do you understand what the gospel is? We learn a lot from the fact that there is no specific audience addressed here, no specific place specified here, and no specific time. And we learn, first of all, that it means that God is speaking to us individually today. And it also teaches us this, the gospel is not for a select few. It's for everyone. It's for absolutely everyone. It is not a gospel that adheres to the idea that truth is relative. That truth is somehow dependent upon the person, the culture, the nation, the time, the place. And this is why the gospel of Christianity today is so often rejected, at least in our nation and those like her, who have swallowed the lie that truth is relative, that absolute truth does not exist, that we cannot remove. The absolute nature of the gospel message and its absoluteness of that it is the absolute source of truth. We cannot remove that from the gospel message and remain true to what the Bible says. We just can't. But there is significant pressure today on us to do this. Young people, I have something of an idea. I am not in your shoes exactly, but I was there at one time. But I understand today the assault that this nation, from its education systems, to its government, to the media, to Facebook, to Netflix, to all of these things, this absolute wave of relativism that has overcome you, But I want you to know today that the word of God is not relative. It is absolute in its truth. It is absolute in its message. And we cannot distance ourselves from that and remain Christian the way Jesus speaks of it. But there is mounting pressure more and more and more upon even God's people to step back and step away from the reality that the gospel is for everyone. That ought to be good news. But Satan has twisted it into saying that it's judgmental, and it is dismissive, and it is arrogant, and none of those things is the true message of Christ. But I understand, and I want you to question that. Young and old alike, I want us to question this fog of relativism that has so overcome our minds. Because Jesus was not affected by it. He spoke the truth. If we aren't careful and intentional with our belief, we will be swayed by this mounting pressure. Don't think yourself above it. Don't think yourself above succumbing to this pressure. It's everywhere. It's in the workplace. It's in the schoolroom. It's in the playground. It's in the bowling alleys. It's in the football games. It's everywhere. This relativism, it just removes from the gospel message its core reality. And I love that John wrote these closing verses of chapter 12 as just a general summary, once again, of the gospel. And the first thing we understand is that God is speaking to you. and he's speaking to me and he's speaking to everybody. No one is excluded from this message. But first, the first thing that we see in verses 44 and 45 is this about the summary of the gospel. What is the gospel in summary? Number one, to believe in Christ is to believe in God and to see Christ is to see God. The gospel message makes Jesus and God in separable. You can't separate them to see one is to see the other. It is thought, though, by some that there are many ways to God. Isn't this common today? Isn't this the politically correct way to approach the teaching or the encouragement of finding God? They say there's all kinds of ways to God. For the Christian, it's Jesus. For the Muslim, it's Muhammad. For the Buddhist, it's the Buddha. For the Hinduist, 330 million, one of those deities, that's their way. For the humanist, it's a good moral life, lived to be impressive to other people and to do good deeds and to do all these things. And the implication is that all of these religious paths lead to God. That's not what the Bible says. And as obvious and true a statement as that is to us in this room today, it could not be more opposite of what is accepted in the world today. Just different paths to God. But Jesus said, to see God, you must see me. To believe me is to believe God. Therefore, you can turn that statement around in the negative and say, if you don't see Jesus, you don't see God. If you don't believe Jesus, you don't believe God. It's the same statement made in just the opposite way. According to Jesus, to see him is to see God, and this is said again and again in scripture. One of the most beautiful passages of scripture that define and describe who Jesus was is found in Hebrews chapter one, verse three, where we read, he, speaking of Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. You can't separate Jesus and God. You can't. Not in be Christian, not in be biblical, not in be what this is, and again, this is Christianity 101, but the assault on this fundamental teaching of scripture must not be ignored. We can't ignore it. If this ground is lost, That Jesus and God are one, just like John said in the first chapter, if to go to God, you can go around Jesus above him, below him, or some other way. But through him, you can get to God. This is not the Christian message. It's not what the Bible teaches us. It's not what Jesus said. To lose ground here is to lose everything that the gospel claims and everything it says becomes meaningless. And Jesus knew this, and this is why he and the other writers of the New Testament again and again and again make this statement. Don't want you to take my word for it. Mark chapter 9 verse 37. Jesus again, whoever receives one such child and any name in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. Speaking, of course, of his father of God, John 13 verse 20. Truly, truly, Jesus says, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Colossians 115. He, Jesus, is the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Again and again and again, the Bible tells us that Jesus and God are inseparable if you want to get to God. According to the Bible, you're gonna have to go through Jesus Christ. There's no other way, no other path, but yet even within what is considered Christian in places today, this is no longer held as tightly as it needs to be. We've all heard of the famous interview Joel Osteen on Larry King Live, ask point blank, is Jesus the only way to salvation, the only way to eternal life, the only way to God? And he did not answer in the affirmative. There's a pastor in a 10,000 member first church in New York called First Corinthian Baptist Church in New York. In 2018, he said this. First Corinthian Baptist Church, Christian pastor, Christian speaker, 10,000 people, members of this church. And this is what he said. There was a time when you would see people in a pulpit say, well, if you don't believe in Jesus, you're going to hell. That's insanity in many ways, because that's not what even Jesus believes. He went on and he argued that there are many paths to God and he personally celebrates other paths that people take and he also said this, the key is you believe in God and whatever your path to God, I celebrate that. It's absolutely encroaching even in the Christian mindset of our nation because it is so unpopular to believe this today. You stand and say this boldly and publicly, and you wait and see how long it is before somebody calls you arrogant, calls you this and that, and dismisses you and says that you're so simple-minded. And there is insanity here. I'll grant the pastor that, but it's not where he placed it. To deny the exclusive message and place of Christ as the path to God is to deny God himself. You can't separate these two. It's not up to you and me to define our path to God. When did we begin to think that was the case? Who do we think we are? that I get to choose the path to God, but it isn't up to you and me as sinful men and women to choose our preferred path. That, that is an insane message. This type of preaching is tantamount to premeditated spiritual murder and the eternal destruction of souls who are taken in by this deception. And I'll call it no less than that because that's what it is. There's no denying that in order to believe God, in order to see God, you must believe Jesus and you must see him. There are not two objects of our faith. I don't have faith in God separate from my faith in Christ. It is one faith in both together. Second thing that we discover of the summary of the gospel is in verse 46. Jesus came as a light in order to deliver from darkness. That's what he said in verse 46. I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. Notice the order of the experience of darkness and light. The default condition, the default condition in our life is darkness, not light. We come into the world in darkness, not light. That is the clearly implied order. The prior to belief in Christ, there is darkness spiritually. It is like the chaotic darkness that encompassed the world when God created the world before on day one, he says, let there be light. And from that moment forth, he began to overcome the chaotic darkness and bring order and light to the world that he created. And that's exactly what happens in our soul when God saves us. We go from darkness to light in Genesis 1, 1 and 2. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was that form and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. It's incredible how much salvation gospel message you see, even in these opening pages of the Bible, when you look correctly. Because in my soul and in my heart and my spirit, before I was saved, there was darkness, there was chaos, there was no form. It was void and empty. But when the light of the Son of God came in and shone into my heart, that darkness was expelled and light came in. And I knew Him and He knew me. And all of a sudden, I could see. But when you're only in darkness, that's all you know. But this, this occurrence in the very first days of creation is precisely the condition of our souls. Inwardly, again, there's only darkness, there's chaos, there's no order, meaning, or purpose, or any of these things. They're just temporary pleasures at best in a temporary world. There's no lamp to our feet and no light to our path. But again, when Jesus comes, when we come to faith in Christ, that darkness is vanquished by the light in 2nd Corinthians chapter four, verse six, for God, who said, let light shine out of darkness. And so the apostle Paul, even referring back to those earliest days of creation, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. First Peter 2.9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. The default position, the initial position, the first experience is darkness and not light. And we talk about conviction and being lost prior to being saved. And that is what we see here. Notice again as well this phrase, whoever believes in me. He says, I have come as a light that whoever believes in me. While the Christian message is exclusive, it's an exclusive message regarding the path to God. It is not an exclusive message in terms of whom it is given to. Whoever believes in me, This may be silly to you, it's not to me, but I want you to think for just a minute and remove the words whoever believes in me and put your own name. I have come into the world as light so that Kent may not remain in darkness. I have come into the world as light so that you may not remain in darkness. Now, if you're already saved, I want you to think of that one that you long to see saved. I want you to put their name there. This is Jesus, and he says, I have come to the world so that they may not be in darkness. And from that we gain great encouragement and strength and hope and we can fill in any name in that place because it says whoever believes in me and this is what the Samaritans found out in John chapter four. Do you remember when Jesus was speaking with the woman at the well? She goes and tells the townspeople about him, and the end of the story is this, in verse 42, the people of Samaria, they said to the woman, or to this town in Samaria, they said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we've heard for ourselves, and we know this, that this is indeed the savior of the world. That's why he came. He came to be a light. He came to show us the way. He came to deliver us from the darkness that we first find ourselves in. Third, Jesus came to save the world. Couldn't be a more. Sunday School 101, simple, basic message, but may it never grow dull in our ears. Jesus came to save the world. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. And I know there's an immediate question coming to your mind, more than likely. Jesus has already said in multiple places that I am the judge. that I will judge, but verse 48, moving on, the one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. There is a fundamental confusion regarding judgment and the purpose of Jesus coming to the world. Jesus tells us here, plainly, I came to save the world. That's why I came. Summary of the gospel, Jesus came to save the world. Make no mistake, Jesus intention when he left heaven to come here was to save the world. His intention for coming to the world was not to judge it. And you might still be confused and thinking about how does that work? Because I thought Jesus was going to judge. But listen to what he said. Listen to what the gospel is saying. Jesus said, I came to the world to save the world. Think through this with me. Think through the facts of the gospel with me and see this with me. Had the son merely wanted, had Jesus, the son of God in predeterminate counsel of God, had he merely wanted to judge the world, he would not have had to come to the world. He wouldn't have. He would not have had to come and live 33 years as a perfect sacrifice before his holy father to be a sacrifice for you and me in order to judge the world. He could have judged us and never come. And he would have been righteous in doing so. His intentions for coming was not to judge. His intentions was to save the world. And had he just wanted to judge, he wouldn't have had to come. God had given man a commandment, had he not. From the very beginning, when he created man, God said, you shall not eat of this one tree. And if you do, in Genesis chapter 2, verse 17, God says to man, if you eat of it, you're going to die. In Romans chapter 6, verse 23, the wages of sin is death. The judgment of sin is death. The reward for sin is death. The result of sin is death. But the, but who, excuse me. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So in every way, wasn't judgment already present before Jesus even came? He didn't come to judge. He's going to, but that's not why he came to the world. It's not why he came here. It's not why he was born of a virgin and hidden from the king and lived a life of great sacrifice and then ultimately upon the cross dying for our sins. He came and the reason he did all of that is because he wanted to save the world. He just wanted to judge you. Look, if he just wanted to judge you, he never would have had to die for you. He could have rightly judged you and never come. But the fact that He did tells us that the gospel is about the mercy and grace of God in Christ. So many people point their finger at God and at Christians and saying, you're just telling me about this sin. And so much of Christianity has swallowed that lie and succumbed to that temptation to no longer talk about the sinful nature of man. And we have lost the gospel in the process. If Jesus didn't want to save you, he wouldn't have come to the world to die for you. He simply would have judged you and we'd all be destroyed and eternally separated from God. That's not why he came to the world. I came to save it. I came to save it. I tell you, those words, I'm afraid if you go through your life and you never come to Christ, those words are gonna echo in your eternity. Jesus saying, I came to save you. I didn't come to judge you. You were already judged, don't you see? You already stood condemned, don't you see? I didn't come to condemn. You're condemned already. According to John chapter three, verse 18, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only son of God. We conclude then with Jesus that he did not come to judge, but to save. It was already judged. The world was, but he came to save it from that judgment. I love what Linsky says. The world did not need judgment. It already had that it needed saving with all that lies in this mighty concept. Outside of Christ, you're already judged. Already. Without doing a thing. But Christ came to deliver you from that judgment to bring You to God through faith in him and repentance toward the Father. The Christian message is much maligned today. But it's the only message of peace you're ever going to hear. Come to Christ even now, the Bible says, believe in his atoning. death on the cross for your sins. Seek His forgiveness, the forgiveness of God in Christ, and find peace from the judgment and light from the darkness that you're presently in. He came to save the world, not to judge it, but we must be very careful with our theology here. It does not mean judgment is not a thing. As we've said, because some will take this passage of scripture and they will take it out of its context and they will make it meet what they want the Christian message to be, which is this, I don't even know how to describe it, this substance-less type of Christianity that says Jesus doesn't judge, he doesn't care what you've done, he doesn't care that you're a sinner, he just loves you and he's gonna bring you into heaven with him regardless and set aside all this teaching and preaching about sin. But Jesus tells us very clearly here that there is judgment. Verse 48 tells us that quite plainly. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken to him will judge him on the last day. The issue is the timing once again. the timing and the pre-existing presence of judgment. Jesus is not teaching here that there will not be judgment. This would be entirely contrary and contradictory to many of the other passages of scripture. He explains it here in verse 48. The truth of the word Jesus spoke will stand as judge against all those who reject him. What he said is going to judge you and me and the whole world. because he's the son of God. The truth of the word itself is the judge. The truth of what God has communicated to man through Christ is that that we will be judged by. To quote Lenski once again, it will thus be a mighty, and I want you to listen to this. This man has a way of saying things that I find enlightening and helpful, and I want you to listen to what he says. It will thus be a mighty familiar judge from whom the disbeliever confronts at the last day. If there is any surprise, it will be at it will be his at meeting again the word that he spurned in life. It decides his fate now. Although that fate may yet be changed while life lasts, but when life is done, the final verdict is reached, which will be proclaimed in public at the last day before the universe of angels and of men, you and me, and every other man, woman, and child alive on the earth today and who has ever lived and whoever will live will be judged by the truth of this word. I believe that with every ounce of my being. It's what God has said in his word. Men might want to ignore the Bible, marginalize the Christian, and set aside all that Jesus did and said, but the very things that they marginalize, the very things they set aside, and the very things that they ignore are going to be the very things that judge them one day. Finally, The summary of the gospel, point four here, is the message of Christianity, according to verse 49, is based on the person and authority of God himself. For I have not spoken on my own authority, Jesus says, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak. One of our biggest problems is we can read a verse like that and be unmoved. The arrogance of the prosperous Western mind has reached a level that ought to send a cold chill down the spine of any believer in God. It seems as though there was once a greater respect for the Bible, even among unbelievers, didn't it? Even among those who would claim that they weren't really Christian, they weren't really church people, they weren't really religious, there was still something about the Bible that people respected. Because there was something about the reality that these were God's words. But today, the arrogance and dismissiveness of man when it comes to God makes it possible for this verse to have absolutely no effect upon the reader or the hearer that God gave Jesus. The very words to speak, the very truth of the gospel is from God himself. And Jesus reminds us in this verse that God sent him God gave him what to say. So the message of Christ is the message of God. The one who hung the stars on nothing. The one who taught the birds to sing. the one who designed you with an incredible specificity that boggled the mind of the greatest scientists on earth, the one who designed the universe with precision that we can't possibly imagine, the one who calls us and shows us how to love one another, the one who gave all, the one who is and was and always will be, gave us this gospel, this truth. Don't ever, don't ever be so flippant to ignore such a word from God. The gospel is the message of God to man, very God, to you, to me, and to us all. Let me ask you, what plans do you have for your life that are more important than listening to what God has to say to you? What hopes and dreams? What desires? What heartaches? What loves? What pains? What job? What is it that you have? that somehow is holding your attention more than the God of the universe. Isn't it insane? Isn't it incredible to think that we go through our lives oblivious to this one who's given us our life? What trinkets and shiny objects are holding your attention so closely and that you give no heed to what God is saying to you even now? My conclusion is the conclusion of this chapter, the conclusion, I believe, of the gospel itself in verse 15. I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me. Summary of the gospel, this is the gospel of God in Christ Jesus. and his commandment, what he wants, what he desires is eternal life for you. That's what he wants. That ought to make the saved just rejoice and the spirit overflow with love and compassion for lost and love to God that he has given us this commandment. I command, I desire for you to be saved. Eternal life with God. Eternal peace with God. Eternal rest with God. Eternal purpose with God. Eternal hope with God. Eternal joy with God. Eternal fellowship with God. Eternal security with God. And yet we reject it. And that we reject these things in favor of the temporary pleasures of the world bears clear testimony that we are exactly what John said we were in chapter 3, verse 19. And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. The judgment that you will face apart from Christ is that you chose the darkness of the world rather than the light of God in Christ. It won't be because you didn't live a good moral life. It won't be because you didn't believe that there was a God. It won't be because you were born in some country or another. It won't be any of those things. The judgment that you and I will face one day is what we did with the gospel of God in Christ. What we do with what Jesus himself said, who himself was sent by his father, the God of heaven and earth, who told him what to say and what to do. And to see God, we must see Christ. And to know God, we must know Christ. And to hear God, we must hear Christ. I pray that you'll escape that judgment now and flee to Christ because he came to save you. That's why he came. Summary of the gospel. John gives us such a beautiful picture of what the gospel message is. It comes with its requirements. It comes with its truth. And we can't change the dot of an I or the crossing of a T. but at the same time we recognize that Christ is our only hope and he came to save the world and that is my hope for you. Let's have a song if we could at this time.