Hello and welcome to our broadcast today. We're going through John chapter 12. Have your Bible ready. I'm reading in John chapter 12 and verse number 23, it says, And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honour. 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 thundered. Others said an angel spake unto 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 be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard, or 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 you have the light, lest the darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hid himself from them. In verse 23, Jesus said, The hour is come. 24, he said, I must die. If I die, I will bring forth much fruit. And then, as we said on our last broadcast, verse 25 is very important. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. It is a warning here to the disciples. He's saying, men, if you're going to love this life, if you're going to be concerned about the things of the world, you're going to lose out on everything that I have you in this world for. The reason he's saying this is because they have just been arguing who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. And even Peter, you remember, he had to be rebuked openly. Jesus said, Thou savest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man, in Mark 8 and 33. Why? Because Peter had his sights on those thrones. Even the other disciples, in Mark we read of James and John, even got their mother to go to the Lord and say, can they have one throne, one on the one side and one on the other in your kingdom? They had too much focus on the earthly things of this world. And he is saying to these disciples of his, he is warning them, let us read it again. He said, he that loveth his life shall lose it. Don't get all tangled up in the things of this world. He said in verse 26, If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now, you can't get a better life than being honored by the Father. Then he says in verse 27, 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. Now, he said, now is my soul troubled. It's very important to understand. Man is a three-part being. God said, let us make man in our image. God is a trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He made us a trinity, that is, a body, a soul, and a spirit. The spirit is that part that communes with God. The soul is the person who lives in the body and is made up of the mind, the will, and the emotions. Jesus said, I'm troubled in my mind, in my will, and my emotions. Why? Well, he's facing the crucifixion. And the crucifixion, there's no pain, there's no death like that. But that was a smaller thing compared to the fact that his father would turn his back on him because he could not look at sin, and Christ became sin for us. And he said, My father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He turned his back. It was a bitter cup, but he accepted it because he said, For this cause came I unto this hour. When Jesus was through praying, we read here again that there was a voice that came from God the Father, and this is the third time the Father spoke. He spoke at the beginning of His ministry, He spoke at the middle of His ministry, and He spoke at the end of the ministry. And the Lord said here to His disciples, He has done this for your sake, that He would strengthen the disciples. And not only that, there's a remnant of believers there, and they would be strengthened as well. Notice that word in verse 31, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. The judgment of the prince of this world. In John chapter 14 and verse 30, referring to the prince of the world, Jesus says, he cometh and has nothing in me. It's referring to Satan. He said in John 16, 11, the prince of this world is judged. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2 talks about the prince of the power of the air. And in Genesis 3, way back in Genesis 3, 15, when the Lord announced that the virgin son would crush Satan's head, that's what's going to happen here at Calvary. Verse 32 and 33, he said, and if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying what death he should die. He said, I will draw all men unto me. And for those Jews who were standing by, they needed to understand that that included the Gentiles. And for those of us who are Gentiles today, we need to understand that all is all. I will draw all men unto me." This nonsense, in fact, this heresy that is taught by Calvinism, that God selects only a selected few and he only brought the others into this world to send to hell, that is heresy. He said in Ephesians 3 and 9, he said, I'm going to make all men to see. In John chapter 1 and verse 7, all men through him might believe. Second Peter 3.9, all should come to repentance. All means Well, in verse number 34, the people answered, 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? My, how ignorant they are, over and over and over again. Now, we have been reading it for twelve chapters. that Jesus is saying who he is, and they are so spiritually blind. They have no understanding whatsoever. Then said Jesus in verse 35, Then said Jesus unto them, Ye a little while is the light with you. Time is short. He's saying, Wake up. You only have a little while left. He said in verse 36, while ye have light, believe in the light. But again, life is simply made up of choices and consequences, and they chose to reject the light. They chose to reject Jesus Christ. Now we read at the end of verse number 36, these things spake Jesus and departed. and did hide himself from them." Now this is very important. He did hide himself from them. This is the end of his public ministry. In verse 37 we read, "...they believe not." Who are they? It is referring to the nation of Israel. It is referring to the fact that Jesus Christ came and presented himself as king. We have said again and again, it is so important to understand that all through the ministry of Christ, two messages were being preached. One is, whosoever will may come, and that is the message of salvation. One is strictly a message concerning the kingdom of Israel, and that is strictly for Israel. He said, just go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel with this message. With the message of salvation, it's everybody. Now, as a nation, they refuse to believe not. His public ministry is over. This is their last chance. And so we read in verse number 38 that the prophecy has been fulfilled. Israel has turned her back on God. Crucify Him. We will not have this man to reign over us. Well, we read in verse number 42, 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." Now, what an interesting portion of Scripture we have here. On the surface, we might say, oh, praise the Lord, some chief rulers got saved here. They didn't get no more saved than a man on the moon is saved. They believed on him. The Bible says that the devil believes and trembles. Many believed on Him in a head knowledge, but they did not confess Him. Why? Because they'd be put out of the synagogue. Well, I'll tell you what, if you're going to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and your religion is more important than your Savior, you're not saved. You don't have a Savior. You can believe on Him in your head and not know anything about it in your heart. And that's exactly what we have here. It says in verse 43, they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. more than the praise of God. Oh, in their mind, they accepted and they approved Christ. Yeah, they didn't cause any trouble. They were not antagonistic at all. They said, no, we're not going to attack Jesus. But in their spirit, they rejected Him. They had a head knowledge, that's all they had, and they were not antagonistic, but they were not saved either. Luke 12 and 8, Jesus said, Who shall confess me before men? Him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven. In James 4 and 4, we read that friendship with this world is enmity with God. and be worrying about your worldly religion. If their religion is more important than the Lord, then he's not your Lord at all. Jesus said in verse 46, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. We've got a difference here between light and darkness. And by the way, again, he said, I am come a light into the world, not Calvin's chosen little elect part of the world, the whole world. And there's light and there's darkness, and he that believeth not abideth in darkness. Then he says in verse 47, If any man hear my word and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. The last day? Yes, it's talking about the great white throne judgment when everyone will appear before God who has rejected him. Everybody has a last day. The Bible says it's appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment, it is an appointed day. We read in Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 11, John said, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, whose face the earth and heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire. We don't hear much about that Lake of Fire anymore, but it's there. I wish it wasn't, but it's there. The Bible tells us it is a time when it is appointed that all of those who reject Jesus Christ as their personal Savior will stand before the great white throne judgment, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that they rejected and they were not found written in the Book of Life. They were, and will be, cast into the lake of fire. And so what did Jesus say here in verse number 48 in John chapter 12? He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. Well, there's a nice little bumper sticker I saw recently that said, God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Well, God said it, and whether you believe it or not, that settles it. The Bible says we must all appear before God. Those that are Christians will appear at the judgment seat of Christ, and those that are unsaved and have rejected Him will appear at the great white throne judgment. Well, there you have it, plain and simple. Isaiah 55, 6 says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.