Sermon Tone Analysis

The Wonderful Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The Gospel of John

John 12:44-50

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - June 21, 2017

(Revised December 19, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 12:31.

As we get to the end of this chapter, the Lord was still in the Temple in Jerusalem.

It was probably the day after Jesus' triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday.

And there in the Temple, three different kinds of men were listening to the Lord.

Some of His closest followers were there, as well as some Jews still wondering if Jesus was the Messiah.

*But also listening that day were hate-filled, Christ-rejecting rulers who eagerly wanted to kill Jesus.

The Lord knew those men would murder Him on the cross, so starting in vs. 31 Jesus said,

31.

"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

32.

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.''

33.

This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

*In the next chapter, the Bible moves forward to the night before the cross.

But here in the closing verses of John 12, Jesus finished His plea to the people in the Temple.

And as He did, the Lord stressed the crucial importance receiving His words.

Please think about that as we read vs. 44-50.

MESSAGE:

*The true and living God of the Bible is a miracle working God, and sometimes we have the joy of seeing Him do it.

Before I answered God's call to the ministry, God blessed me to work six years for the Air Force.

One of my best friends at Robins Air Force Base was a Captain named Bill.

*Ten years later in 1993, we got a call from Bill.

He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Bill and his wife had already asked us to raise their two children if anything happened to them both.

They chose us, because none of their close relatives were Christians.

*Bill went to Cleveland for a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save his life.

The surgery involved taking his face off to get to the tumor, but they did one last CAT scan just before the surgery.

Bill was lying on the bed in pre-op when the doctor came in and said, "I am in shock and disbelief.

And I can't justify the surgery."

Bill asked, "Why?"

And the doctor said: "The tumor's gone!

We've been looking at the CAT scan for an hour, and we can't find it!"

*Our God is a miracle working God.

And if you are holding a Bible in your hands today, you are holding one of His greatest miracles of all.

The Bible is a one-of-a-kind, miraculous book because it was written by God Himself.

This Book was written by the Holy Spirit of God.

*That's why 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us we should know "this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

*The Holy Spirit of God is the primary author of the Bible.

And yes, God used men to help get the job done, but those men were all moved by the Holy Spirit to say exactly what God wanted them to say.

*In the book of Acts, both Peter and Paul show us who wrote the Bible.

Their statements are great confirmations at the beginning and end of Acts to confirm that this is the Word of God.

In Acts 1:16, we hear Peter say, "Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus."

Then in Acts 28:25 Paul said, "THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers."

*The Holy Spirit of God is the primary author of the Bible.

That's why there is divine oneness in this Book even though it was written through a wide variety of men.

Lewis Chafer explained that "it was written over a period of at least 1,600 years by as many as 40 different authors.

They differed in language, culture, background and experience.

Nevertheless, the Bible, like no other composite book in the world, is one book. . .

*Among the authors of the 66 books in the Bible are kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, a doctor, statesmen, scholars, poets, and plowmen of such diverse backgrounds that one could hardly expect their writings to form any continuity. . .

Obviously the Bible had a divine Editor, the Holy Spirit of God, who guided the writers so that all they wrote in perfect harmony."

(1)

*The Bible is a one-of-a-kind, miraculous book because it was written by God.

In tonight's Scripture Jesus boldly proclaimed that His words are the words of God.

And God's words can do miraculous things in our lives, IF we are willing to receive them.

Everybody needs to receive the words of Jesus Christ.

Tonight's Scripture helps us see why.

1. FIRST: WE MUST RECEIVE THE LORD'S WORDS, BECAUSE THEY ARE GOD'S WAY TO MEASURE OUR LIVES.

*The words of Jesus Christ are God's way to measure our lives.

We see this truth in vs. 47-48, where Jesus said,

47. . .

"if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

48.

He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him: the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."

*In vs. 48, Jesus reminds us that God's judgment is surely coming.

Most people have no clue about the coming judgment.

Most people seldom give it a thought.

But God's Judgment Day is surely coming, so Jesus wants us to know the standard for God's judgment.

And His standard is based on the words of our Lord.

Again in vs. 48 Jesus said, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him: THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN WILL JUDGE HIM IN THE LAST DAY."

*The Lord's words, God's Word is the standard for judgment, but many people have rejected God's Word today.

That's why the Apostle Peter warns us against false teachers.

In 2 Peter 2:1-3, Peter wrote:

1. . .

There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

2. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

3.

By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

*There are many false teachers in the world today, And Peter said, "Many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed."

Surely, we have seen this happen in our lifetimes.

Unbelieving preachers and teachers treat the Bible like a cafeteria line.

They pick and choose some Scriptures to follow and throw others out as myths or bigotry from long ago.

*Peter said that some of these false teachers even deny the Lord who bought them.

They would say, "You don't need to trust in Jesus Christ to be saved.

All religions lead to Heaven."

And many people have been deceived by these false teachers, including people who identify themselves as born-again Christians.

*A 2007 George Barna survey reported some huge inconsistencies in the beliefs of people who claimed to be born-again believers.

92% of them agreed that "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches."

But only one in four believed they "personally had a responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefs."

A little less than half believed that Satan is "not a living being but is a symbol of evil."

Almost 40% believed that "if a person is good enough, they can earn a place in Heaven."

And one in four agreed that "while he lived on earth, Jesus committed sins, like other people."

(2)

*Obviously a whole lot of people have been deceived by false teachers.

John Heffner told about a lady who had the unfortunate experience of having to listen to a preacher who claimed that not all of the Scripture is true.

She was confused, but her innocent question after the service exposed the fallacy of the preacher's position.

She simply asked, "On what page does God start telling the truth?"

The correct answer is page one!

(3)

*False preachers, teachers and celebrities have deceived millions of people to reject the clear teachings of God's Word.

But His Word is the standard for God's judgment.

2. WE MUST RECEIVE THE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST BECAUSE THEY ARE GOD'S WAY TO MEASURE OUR LIVES, ALSO BECAUSE THEY ARE GOD'S MESSAGE TO US.

*Jesus reminds us of this truth in vs. 49, where the Lord said, "I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak."

*John the Baptist confirmed this truth in John 3:30-36.