We'll take your Bibles to John chapter number 12 this morning. John chapter number 12. We'll be returning to our series here through the book of John. Chapter 12, picking up there in verse 27 here this morning. As we begin considering our text this morning, we must remind ourselves of its immediate context. In verse 23, we see Jesus declare that His hour has come. Jesus refers to His time, or hour, nine times recorded for us in John's Gospel, and this is the fourth of those nine occurrences. In the three previous passages, in which Jesus used these words, he was explaining that his hour had not yet come. That can be found in chapter 2, verse 4, chapter 7, verse 30, and chapter 8, verse 20. Of course, in chapter 3, he now mentions that his hour has come. And the hour to which Jesus refers is the time of his death. In verse 30 of chapter 7, John states of the Pharisees' confrontation of Jesus, quote, Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come." This passage, to which we turn today, is Jesus' final public appeal before his crucifixion. Notice as we read our text this morning, the truth Christ proclaims and the response of the people. So I'll ask you to read with me as I read aloud. John chapter 12, beginning in verse 27, as is our custom after reading the passage, I will say, this is the word of the Lord. May he who gave it be praised. I'll ask you to repeat with me. May we who hear it obey. John chapter 12, beginning in verse 27. Jesus says, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there 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 had thundered. Others said an angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever. And how sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed and did himself, and did hide himself, excuse me, from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. that the saying of Esaias, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias had said again, He that blinded their eyes, he hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Isaias when he saw his glory and spake of him. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also, many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. This is the word of the Lord. May he who gave it be praised, and may we who hear it obey. Father, as we come before your Word this morning, may you teach us and instruct us in the righteousness of your Son that we may follow his example. May you help us and give us grace to do just that. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. In our nation, we see what appears to be an increasing epidemic of poverty. In America, nearly 38 million people live below the poverty line. Nearly 27 million people receive monthly government assistance for food. And ever since President Lyndon Johnson sought to tackle the issue of poverty back in the 1960s, American politics by and large has been viewed by many as an effort to end poverty. That is at least a hefty portion of the political purpose for which we send politicians into office. Programs like Social Security, unemployment benefits, and food stamps were established in what quickly became known as America's War on Poverty in the 1960s. Back in 2013, a man named Jason Greenslate was in the headlines as the poster child for politicians demanding some of these entitlement programs be reformed, perhaps even done away with. The green slate at the time was a healthy 29-year-old living in California who proudly declared that he didn't need a job. He spent his time surfing and playing in his band. The band never really made any money, but that didn't matter because Greenslate lived comfortably enough with the help of various assistant programs, including receiving $200 a month for food stamp vouchers. Well, in John verse 8, or excuse me, in verse 8 of John chapter 12, a passage we considered a couple of weeks ago, Jesus told Judas that the poor would always be with them. See, poverty is a simple fact of life. Just in our state of Illinois, 1,783,000 people are on food stamps, and they receive a combined $2.7 billion each year. Now please recognize, I am not talking about those who are disabled or incapable of providing for themselves, nor am I criticizing those who have used government assistance programs to weather a temporary emergency or an unexpected layoff. There are situations that arise in which a Christian could use many of these programs without it being sinful. But in the case of an able-bodied individual, particularly a man, who refuses to look for work and to feed himself by the means of his own labor, relying on government assistance or charity of any kind is sinful. Poverty will never cease, it will never be eradicated until sin is eradicated at the second coming of Jesus Christ. You know, in America, you can still work hard, live frugally, and do fairly well. You can certainly find a job and provide for a family. You might not be able to keep up with the Joneses. You might not be able to have an in-ground pool, a 90-inch flat screen, cruise ship vacations, or buy a Tesla Cybertruck, right? Don't know if anybody's buying those, but... crazy expensive. You might not be able to live the American dream in all of its glory, but you can certainly put food on the table, and clothes on your back, and even buy a modest home in this country as long as you're willing to work. It's a simple solution. Find a job. Be a good worker. Keep it. But many refuse to do it. Because they love their laziness. One of the discouraging things in teaching is how many junior high and high schoolers, their dream job is to be a social media influencer. Now, it's fun to consume entertainment, but the idea that most of us can go do that as a living is just nonsense, because it doesn't produce any sustaining benefit to us. But the reason that it's so popular is because you're a young teenager, typically the glamorous job is the job that looks like a lot of fun and not a lot of work. Whether that's true or not, that's the appearance. And so where when I was a kid in school, everybody wanted to you know, be famous in some other way. Now that's what everybody wants to do. I want a job where it looks like I can do the least amount of work and still live exorbitantly wealthy and have a very comfortable lifestyle. But it's just not possible. And most of these aspiring influencers, or whatever they call themselves, just like the aspiring NBA stars that never made it, the aspiring skateboarders that never made it, the aspiring musicians that never made it, like this gentleman bragging about not needing a job. You end up left in a life that you could change, but it's not bad enough for many to want to change. Just like a lazy man naturally scoffs at the solution of a full day's work, as sinful creatures, we naturally are inclined to doubt and reject the only permanent solution to our sin problem. See, the guy living on the street who doesn't want a job, you'd look at his life and you'd say, boy, there's some problems there. But an even bigger problem than his physical or his economic problem is a spiritual problem if he's not a believer, doesn't know Jesus Christ. Because despite how statistics are argued in our culture, one thing is inescapable. Everyone will die. Just as everyone has a birthday, everyone has a second date that gets put on that tombstone. And the question is, are you ready to stand before your maker? We'll see this morning. from God's Word, that to be saved from God's wrath against your sin, you must turn and trust in Jesus Christ. We have three points here this morning. First of all, trust Jesus Christ because he accomplished God's eternal plan. Secondly, trust Jesus Christ because your opportunity to do so will soon end. And thirdly, trust Jesus Christ because doubt will lead to your doom. Jesus accomplished God's plan. We see in verse 27 and following. Jesus says, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. We see here a faithful determination on the part of Jesus Christ. Here Jesus states that his hour has come and the reality of what would happen in just a few days weighed heavily on his mind. Remember, we are beyond the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. That happened just before this. And now that means we are just a few days, perhaps three, no more than three, away from the cross. And Jesus knows these things. As the eternal Son of God, Jesus was fully aware of the way in which he was going to face death. He knew the immense pain that crucifixion would entail. As a mortal human being, as the hour of his death drew ever closer, the emotional pressure he faced is truly unimaginable. You know, it's actually a good thing that we don't know in advance when that second date is, what will be filled in on that tombstone. How would your life change if you knew it was Wednesday? That's what Jesus is experiencing in this passage. That's why he says in verse 27, my soul is troubled. But what does he respond with? And what shall I say? We could say in the common vernacular, so what? Yes, this is hard. Yes, this is excruciating. Yes, this is genuinely beyond our comprehension in the stress that Jesus is facing in this moment. Jesus says, what should I say? Should I say, in essence, Father, save me from this hour? No, for this cause came I unto this hour. Jesus isn't going to ask for God to deliver him from this task, from this terrible death that he is about to die, because he recognizes this is the whole reason he came to earth. It is a faithful determination. Throughout this final week of Jesus' life, there was essentially a timer ticking down in his mind. Despite the growing psychological turmoil he experienced, Jesus determined to accomplish his mission. Colin Cruz states this of this passage, quote, It reveals Jesus facing up to the hour of his death and resolutely choosing to go forward to glorify the Father. As in Gethsemane, so here Jesus was deeply troubled. He contemplated praying to be saved from the hour of death, but determined to carry out his Father's will at any cost. It is this faithful dedication to fulfilling God's will that leads Jesus to pray these faithful words at the beginning of verse 28. His soul is troubled. He says, what am I to do? Ask that this be removed. Ask that I be spared from this. No, this is the purpose that I am here for. So what does He pray? Verse 28, Father, glorify Thy name. Knowing full well the way in which He's going to do it is by killing His Son, Jesus Christ. We don't see this anymore. We used to. This is akin to the king's son leading the army into battle against all odds. With a father and son in a joint commitment to victory are not concerned with the personal cost that it will likely entail. This is Christ. This is His mind. This is His determination leading up to the cross. Then we see the Father's declaration. His prayer is answered in verse 28. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." In response to Jesus' righteous and selfless prayer, God the Father affirms not only that Jesus has glorified the Father's name, but that He will do so again. And this response was not heard only by Jesus, but by all who were around Him as He spoke. And some were foolish enough to pretend that they had just heard thunder. Verse 29, The people therefore stood by and heard it and said it thundered. Others admitted that they had heard a clear voice speaking. They wanted to believe that it was an angel, not the voice of God, to insulate themselves a little bit from the implications. The truth is, God the Father had spoken authoritatively on the fact that His Son was pleasing Him with His faithfulness. In verse 30, Jesus states that this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes, that this was heard by them so that they would believe. Thirdly, we see here in Jesus' accomplished plan of God, the foe's destruction. The events that were about to take place as Jesus' earthly ministry reached its conclusion would result in the destruction of God's enemies. The world here refers to those who reject Christ, and in doing so, make God their enemy. Grant Osborne comments here, as the living revealer of God, Jesus encounters every person at the deepest part of their being and forces them to a decision. That decision determines their destiny. For those who believe, he becomes savior, but for those who reject him, he becomes judge. The world is characterized by rejection and rebellion. and so it is judged. In Jesus' context, those who most visibly demonstrate this rejection and rebellion are the Pharisees. Cruz summarizes here, stating this, in the fourth gospel, the world often stands for those members of the Jewish leadership who were antagonistic towards Jesus. When they brought Jesus before Pilate and succeeded in getting a decision to have him crucified, they felt they had secured judgment against him. Ironically, their very rejection of Jesus and having him crucified sealed God's judgment upon them. But God's judgment is not only rendered against human beings who have rejected Christ, but against the wicked one with whom they have aligned as well. Cruz notes here that this is the first of three references to the prince of this world in John's gospel. He is referred elsewhere as the devil, Satan, and the evil one. He is described as the prince of this world because human beings, since they fell into sin, have been under his power. See, Jesus' death would bring about the ultimate doom of Satan and all those who follow in his footsteps. That's the purpose. The joint purpose. The salvation of those who would believe and the destruction of those who would reject. Going all the way back to the first who rebelled against God, Satan. Fourth, as we've already seen hints of, there is a foreordained death. in God's plan which Jesus accomplished. The death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection is the bedrock of the Christian faith. We have people today who claim that they're Christian but don't believe Jesus rose from the dead. I'm sorry. You're not a Christian if you don't believe Christ rose from the dead. That's as foolish as claiming as a human being that you're an inanimate object. It's totally different. It's an entirely different thing. Whatever you are, religiously, if you don't believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead, you're not a Christian. In his commentary on this passage, John MacArthur points out that Jesus' death is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, the central focus of the canonical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the purpose of the incarnation of Jesus coming to this world as a human being, the constant theme of Jesus' own teaching is about the fact he's going to die. And it is the central theme of apostolic preaching in the Book of Acts and the supreme interest in heaven as well. The death of Christ shapes the bedrock of the Christian faith. It is at the very heart of the gospel. Henry Clarence Thiessen wrote this, Christ did not come primarily to set us an example or to teach us doctrine, but to die for us. His death was not an afterthought or an accident. It is the accomplishment of a definite purpose in connection with the incarnation. The death of Christ, the substitutionary atonement for sin in the pure and precious blood shed for us. This is the core of the gospel and it's always been at the center of God's plan even before creation. The fall of Adam in the garden, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and even the sins in your life that weigh heavy on your heart, all of these were a part of God's eternal plan before all creation, and they form the dark backdrop without which you and I would not recognize the fullness of the glorious light of the gospel." Why does God ordain evil? Why does God allow bad things to happen? The biblical answer, in short, is so that when He fixes it, you'll recognize it and praise Him for it. The dark valleys of this life don't exist to destroy you. They exist so you will rejoice at the hand of God that has rescued you from the miry clay and set your feet upon a rock. Acts chapter 2, verses 22 through 24. Peter is preaching at Pentecost, proclaiming the Gospel in the early church. just days after the Holy Spirit has come upon them to do so. And he says, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it." You see, Jesus' death was God's plan from the beginning. It is called here, or said here, that Jesus was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Friends, that is the most wicked sin human beings could ever commit, to try and kill God. And they did it. And God says, that most wicked act that has ever been done, that was my plan. Yeah, you had evil intentions, but it was actually going to bring about a glorious salvation for all. Even when we, in our sin, try to twist God's creation, try to abuse the world around us and conform it to our own wicked desires, what God creates out of that is a glorious reconstruction of what He willed all along. You, oh man, cannot thwart the plan of God. It's not possible, but why even try? Jesus' resurrection is God's plan from all eternity, but it is also our only hope to be rescued from our sin. Which leads us to our second point this morning. Your opportunity will end. Trust Jesus Christ because your opportunity will soon end. We see in the response to this teaching on the part of the Jews, in verses 34 through 36, the people answered him, we have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever, and how sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? We see here a foolish objection. In verse 34, Christ's skeptics respond with an apparent contradiction. Verse 29, people who heard a clear and coherent sentence spoken from heaven attempted to convince themselves it was just thunder. And now, right after God the Father has declared his intention to glorify himself through Jesus, the people have the audacity to rebuke Jesus. They rebuke Jesus by claiming his current teaching contradicts the Old Testament scriptures, that the Christ would abide forever. Their apparent devotion to the scriptures would be worthy of commendation if it were genuine, but it's not. Too many Christians today are easily dissuaded from the truth of scripture by a supposed word of God in their own mind. And these seemingly clung to scripture here in this text, even against the declaration from heaven heard by the whole crowd. We meet people like this all the time in the church. They say, I don't really care what the word says. Though they'll say it in nicer words. But God told me I'm supposed to do this. God told me I'm supposed to do that. God told me this is okay. God told me that is okay. And you say, well, that doesn't fit with the scripture. Yeah, yeah, but I know that this is true because God told me this. Well, God doesn't contradict himself. If he said in scripture, you must do, then you must do. If he said, you must not do, you can't say, well, no, he told me it's fine if I go do this. Now, yes, there are some things, we looked in Sunday school at several examples, things that were given specifically to certain people. You don't read narrative as if God is telling you to do everything, right? You have the Stereotypical example of the guy who's summoned through scripture. Okay. What am I supposed to do? Judas went and hung himself Flip a few more pages Go thou and do likewise. That's not how you read the Bible That's not how you see what God wants you to do. But if we're talking about a passage that does apply to you, right? It's not recounting what Moses told Aaron to do All right? You're out there pouring oil on yourself and giving sacrifices on the burnt offering, and we're looking at you like you're kind of misinterpreting the text. That's not what we're talking about. If you're applying what is directly given to the New Testament believer to your life, you need to do what it says, and you need to not do what it forbids, regardless of what you heard in your dream last night. But these, they've just heard God speak from heaven. I'm glorified by my son, speaking of Jesus. And then Jesus says something and they immediately respond, that's not true. The Bible disagrees with that. Now, Skeptic today does the same thing. They strive to prove that the scriptures are self-contradictory in nature, but no such contradiction exists in the divinely given Word of God. You find plenty of people trying to claim that scripture contradicts itself everywhere. And yeah, if you're looking for contradictions, you'll find them. Right? There's in Proverbs, Answer a fool lest he be wise in his own eyes. Answer not a fool, less whatever the second part is. And you're like, see, are you supposed to answer or are you supposed to not answer? The point is, it's a fool. There's no win. And people will take it to say, oh, well, that clearly contradicts itself. It's like, no, it doesn't. You wouldn't take anybody else in a conversation that way. But that's because it's a hyper skeptical view of scripture. The question is not, is there any way in which this can be interpreted to contradict itself? The question, if you're honest, is to say, is there any way to interpret this where it's not a contradiction? And if there is, guess what? It probably means that. That's not what these people do, and that's not what skeptics do today. That's not what the people in this passage did, or what skeptics do today. There's no contradiction here, because it's true that Jesus Christ continued to abide forever. Christ is alive, amen? But Jesus Christ died on the cross just a few days after uttering this sentence. True? Both were true! And had these been men of faith, they would have realized that though these two teachings seemed contradictory, they both came from God, and with God all things are possible. You have the example of Abraham as he's told that through Isaac he will have Many nations come from his descendants. He has one son, Isaac, and he's going to be the father of many nations, yet God tells him to sacrifice his son when he is probably 11, 12 years old. We're told in the book of Hebrews, Abraham's thought process was, God can raise him from the dead. We look at that and we say that's illogical, typically today. But if you truly believe in God, if you follow the example that God recommends in Abraham there, that's how we come to two perceivably or appearingly contradictive statements. I don't understand this, but guess what? God's mind doesn't fit in this skull. If it did, It would debunk the idea that that was God's mind. And it didn't happen, obviously, with Isaac because God spared him before he was killed at the hands of his own father. But it did happen for Christ. Because Christ was not spared. He bore the cross and died under the wrath of God for you and me. It's a foolish objection. Followed by a frightful observation. Jesus basically ignores the objection that is given by these skeptics. He doesn't respond really to it at all, and there are perhaps a couple of reasons why. Well, first of all, there's the time frame. Jesus is publicly teaching And it's about to come to an end. This is literally the last time that he's speaking to the crowds and teaching them. This is his final interaction with them before his crucifixion, which is just a few days away. And this contradiction that they're so worried about, it's almost not worth taking the time to explain. The things that Jesus is proclaiming are going to take place within the next week. He is about to die. We are at most three days away from his death on the cross at this point. And within a week then, all that this apparent contradiction entails will be totally revealed. He will die and rise again in the course of the next week. So why bother explaining it all to them again? They are coming at this with a skeptical thing. Well, that can't be true because the word of God says this. Don't you believe the Old Testament, Jesus? Within a week, that line of argumentation is going to be shown to be the dumbest thing you could have uttered in the moment. So why bother responding? You're already under immense stress of the pressure that's going to come on. Just let him eat those words in a few short days. Maybe that's his reasoning. In addition to this, however, we should remember the open rejection of the Jews in this context. Christ has performed numerous miracles, fulfilled multiple prophecies. Lazarus is alive. This happened just a couple of weeks ago. And despite being dead for four days, He's walking around as a living testimony to everyone who sees Him. Besides that, God from heaven has just affirmed Jesus' authority through an audible voice. Any reasonable inquiry has been fully put to rest. So the only objection that is still being offered is a blatant disbelief masquerading as an honest question. This is what the skeptic loves to do. Pretend, well, I'm just trying to figure it out. I'm just, it doesn't quite make sense to me. We'll phrase our disbelief in charitable terms, excuse me, But that doesn't mean that it's an honest question. The skeptic doesn't believe and won't believe. He's just trying to attract others to join him in his rebellion against Christ. That's typically the purpose of the skeptic today. The atheist doesn't go debate the Christian because, well, I just really want to know your point of view and I really want to understand your line of thinking. It doesn't quite make sense to me, you know, I'm just not convinced. No, it's... I'm pretty sure I'm not going to convince you, the Christian he's debating, but I want to convince as many people as are listening to reject the nonsense, the God of the Bible. because I don't want to. You don't want to follow what He said. You have to disbelieve that it ever happened. It all has to be a myth. Because unless it's a myth, you're going to meet Him one day and answer for what you did with His Word, with His Son, Jesus Christ. It's a frightful observation that they know, they have seen, they're without excuse, they've seen the miracles, they've heard the voice of God, they've read the prophecies that He's already fulfilled that week, and they still reject. It's like the parable, if it's a parable, of Lazarus and the rich man, and the rich man says, as he's in Hades, send someone to tell my family God says, if they did not hear, they will not hear, even if one comes back from the dead. It doesn't end there. Jesus ends this last conversation with the crowd with a fervent offer. Though Christ knows the hearts of these skeptics, as he concludes his final discourse with them, Jesus pleads with them to embrace the truth. We see in verse 36 Jesus' departing words, While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus and departed, and did hide himself from them. This side of heaven, our fervent plea to the unbeliever, is always Repent. Trust in Christ before it's too late. There should never be someone to whom we say, I'm glad he's hellbound. I can't wait till he dies. Totally void of hope. That is not the Christian mindset. The Christian mindset prays for the most wicked and wretched person you can imagine. And by the way, from your perspective, he's typically in the mirror. Because you're far more familiar with your sins, and I'm far more familiar with my sins than we are anyone else's. We have all sinned against God far more than anyone has sinned against us. So I don't care how wretched or wicked of a person you think you've encountered, your prayer for them, your desire for them as a Christian, if it is to be aligned with Christ, and it should be, is to desire that they will come to repentance and trust in Jesus Christ. We take no delight and the damnation of the wicked.