The Son of Man must be Lifted Up (John 12:20-36)

Daniel L. Arter

The Gospel according to John • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

John 12:20–36

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Announcements

Bible study & Prayer every Wednesday at 7pm. If you come a little early, we’ll have a light dinner provided for anyone and everyone starting at 6pm, we’d love to have you join us.

Thanks to all who were able to help us during the PRC’s Halloween Parade and Vendor Event. We had several people come to help us in various different ways—special thank you for Veronica for bagging up all the candy, Natalie for making the arrangements, and Stacey for loaning your popcorn maker to us (and of course, thank you for those who were there to talk with children and their families). The PRC estimated that they had 150 children registered for the event, I’m not entirely sure how many we saw at our booth, but we did see quite a few; and we’re praying for fruit from that event.

Next week, November 7th, 2021, we have several different things going on. We of course, have our normal worship service at 10:30am, but directly following that service, we have a quarterly business meeting and an annual budget meeting. We do need all of our members to plan on being there because we have several things to vote on during those meetings. In addition, right after the meetings, we’ll have a celebratory one-year meal in the Activity Room. The church is going to provide the main dish for that meal, but we’ll need some help with sides, desserts, and drinks. If you’re able to help, there is a sign-up sheet by the entrance. Also, don’t forget that next week is Daylight Savings Time, so you’ll want to fall back an hour.

We don’t do a lot concerning holidays in our church beyond simple recognition of a few holidays when they occur. That’s intentional, because many holidays that are celebrated in the US are patriotic or very specific holidays that don’t necessarily apply to the church—while we do celebrate many of those holidays on a personal level, we’ve decided that Sunday morning isn’t for celebrating holidays, it’s for worshiping Jesus, which is why you’ll never hear patriotic songs during church services and you won’t see us focusing too intently on any holiday from the platform. We worship Jesus, not the US.

Today is a little different, because the holiday involves the church. And just to clarify, I’m not talking about Halloween. Every October 31st, there’s actually two holidays—the world typically focuses on Halloween, which is why we have several thousand kids running around in costumes collecting candy, but there is actually another holiday that is important to every church that isn’t Catholic; and that holiday is celebrated on October 31st as well.

Today is Reformation Day, which is the one day of the year that is set aside to reflect on the protestant break from Catholicism in the 1500s—it is a day to reflect on those known as the Reformers, who realized that what the Roman Catholic church taught was antithetical to the Scriptures, so they bravely and courageously led their churches to leave the Roman Catholic Church.

They summed up their main doctrinal points in what they call the Five Solas and these five solas are what many conservative, protestant churches still believe today (including our church). Those five solas are simple and I would encourage you to write them down and do some study on them later in the day. As a church, we believe in:

Sola Scriptura—that the Bible alone is all that is necessary to hear from God. The church is not the ultimate authority, God is the ultimate authority, which is why we put such a huge emphasis on God’s Word.

Sola fide—that faith alone is all that is necessary for salvation; sometimes this is referred to as justification by faith alone. You don’t need to confess to a priest, you don’t need to earn your salvation, you don’t need to pay penance for forgiveness, you are justified completely on the basis of your faith in Jesus Christ.

Sola Gratia—by grace alone--the ability that we have to simply believe is availed to us because of the grace of God. We’re all born in sin, but it is the grace of God alone that draws us to repentance.

Solus Christus—by Christ alone, not by the completing of what are called sacraments. Jesus and him crucified are all that is necessary.

And Soli Deo Gloria—for the glory of God alone—all of this, from our salvation, our justification, our sanctification and eventual glorification is done for the glory of God alone.

We as a church believe that to hear from God, we need only the Scripture; that to be saved, it is by grace alone through faith alone, that Jesus is all that is necessary; and that all of this was for the glory of God alone.

If you’d like to know more about the Reformation and the heavy influence that the Reformation has had on all churches since, please feel free to talk with me about it after the service, I’d be glad to help you understand why today is such an important day for all churches that aren’t Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox.

Before we pray, let me remind you to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. To help you give, we have three different ways for you to do so: (1) in-person giving can be done through the offering box at the entrance. If you write a check, please write it to “Grace and Peace” and if you give cash and would like a receipt, please place it in an envelope with your name on it; if you’d prefer, we also accept giving through debit, credit, and ACH transfers. You can to that in two different ways, either by: (2) texting the number 84321 with your $[amount] and by following the text prompts or by (3) visiting us online at graceandpeacepa.com and selecting “Giving” in the menu bar. Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 35)

Our Call to Worship this morning is part one of three from Psalm 35. Psalm 35 is a rather lengthy psalm, so we’re splitting it into three portions over the next three Sundays. Psalm 35 is a collection of three of David’s laments over opposition from his enemies. Each of these laments develop into a cry of deliverance from enemies who disdained him for no apparent reason. Our first section is Vs. 1-10, which is a prayer for deliverance from people who seek to destroy him. David essentially prays for God to take care of the destroyers so that he can rejoice in the LORD and exult in his salvation. Please stand and responsively read with me Psalm 35:1-10. I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 35:title–10 ESV

Of David. 1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! 2 Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! 3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!” 4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! 5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! 6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them! 7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. 8 Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction! 9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. 10 All my bones shall say, “O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

Congregational Singing

Reformation Song

Be Thou my Vision

Take my Life and Let it Be

Scripture Reading

I’ve asked Natalie to read our Scripture reading this morning, which is in Romans 5:12-21, but before she comes up here, let me just give a little bit of background information.

Our Scripture Reading this morning is from Romans 5:12-21. In Romans 5, Paul is explaining the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, in that while the Old Covenant had a purpose, it ultimately was meant to point to Jesus and his New Covenant. He essentially sums up his argument by explaining that sin came through Adam to the whole world, but salvation comes through Jesus to the whole world as a free gift to all who would believe. This Scripture reading connects with our sermon this morning because it is through Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice that salvation is provided and in John 12, we’re at the turning point in which Jesus makes it abundantly clear that he needs to be lifted up and the people need to follow him.

Let’s read Romans 5:12-21 together:

Romans 5:12–21 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you this morning, please turn it to John 12:20-36. As you turn there, let me just refresh your memories a little by helping you jump into this morning’s passage.

As we continue in the Gospel according to John, it’s of note that the author is, in a sense, switching gears—that switching of gears started in last week’s sermon, but it’s continuing in this week’s sermon as well and all that is happening is that John is now focusing on the last week of Jesus’ life rather than on all the different miracles that Jesus performed to validate his divinity; and as he switches his focus onto Jesus’ last week of life, we start to see Jesus make multiple statements in which he claims to be divine and he teaches several different people (particularly his disciples) the necessity of following him, and we start to realize how God had providentially and sovereignly arranged all of these events during the fullness of time for Jesus to be offered up as the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of all who would believe.

This morning’s message seems almost like it could be a continuation of last week’s message in that it shows us the response of a third group of people towards Jesus. We’ve seen the Jewish leadership repeatedly reject Jesus, many people who are curious about Jesus (but are otherwise on the fence), and we’ve seen handfuls of people truly repent and believe. In all those cases, John has focused primarily on Jewish people (though there have been a handful of non-Jewish people involved). This passage starts by showing us a group of what are called Greeks, which makes it seem like it’s simply continuing the previous passage, but the Bible isn’t just continuing the historical record, it’s showing us a contrast between the Pharisees and the Greeks, but before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s read the passage. John 12:20-36 says,

John 12:20–36 ESV

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to look at it in two parts: Vs. 20-26, The Hour Has Come for the Son of Man to be Glorified, tells us of some Greeks who come and ask to see Jesus. In this first section, Jesus makes the statement that it is time for the Son of Man to be glorified and he substantiates this statement by providing a brief but profound parable of sorts. The ESV titles this section as “Some Greeks Seek Jesus,” but the truth is, the statement that “The Hour Has Come,” best explains what this section is about. Vs. 27-36 Jesus must be lifted up continues Jesus’ discourse by recording a unique situation that occured in the presence of all the people, and then by explaining that situation. The whole passage ends with Jesus telling them that they need to believe in the light, that they may become children of light.

Prayer for Illumination

The Hour Has Come for the Son of Man to be Glorified (20-26)

This passage starts by telling us about some Greeks who went up to worship at the feast and there’s something of note here, simply in the fact that the Bible calls them Greeks.

Remember that the feast at hand was the Passover and the Bible is very specific in that it tells us that this is the Passover of the Jews.

The Bible is specific in the way that it defines the Passover because the Passover was truly a Jewish holiday meant to celebrate the Israelite’s escape from Egypt. The Jewish people were the only people to celebrate the Passover because, for the most part, they were the only ones affected positively by the Passover.

However, it is clear that some non-Jewish people celebrated the Passover as well and that’s seen in this verse, because the Bible specifically calls them Greeks.

Throughout the New Testament, the Bible typically does differentiate between Jewish and Greek people and typically when the Bible is referring to the Greek people, you can really just think of these people as all the Gentile nations, which simply means, all that were not Jewish.

And again, that contrasts with the response of the Jewish leaders who openly rejected Jesus to the extent of desiring his arrest and death.

It is notable that the non-Jewish believers of Yahweh would want to see Jesus because the ones who should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah completely missed the point.

Which again is what John is trying to highlight; there is a juxtaposition between how the Jewish leaders responded towards Jesus and how these Greeks responded to Jesus.

Their response is seen seen in their request to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” and that’s the last time that we hear about the Greeks who sought out Jesus and this is all that we know about them:

That they clearly believed in Yahweh, that is why they were in Jerusalem to worship the LORD during the Passover:

When they finally had the opportunity to speak to the disciples, they reached out to Philip; and we don’t really know why they chose to speak to Philip

And their request was simple, “we wish to see Jesus.”

Even though we don’t read anything else about these Greeks, it is their request to Jesus that sets up what Jesus says. Vs. 22, says that “Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.”

And when Jesus finally had heard about the request of the Greek people, Vs. 23, “Jesus answered them” referring to his disciples, who brought the request to him, and said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” Now, I realize that there’s a lot going on in what Jesus has said, so let’s start by breaking it down.

Jesus said that “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”

Now notice, that this answer or this response from Jesus isn’t directed towards those called the Greeks. Remember, that the Greeks had requested to see Jesus and then Philip told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went to go see Jesus. So, Jesus isn’t talking to the Greeks, he’s talking to his disciples.

And he makes the statement that “the hour has come.” Up to this point, Jesus always pointed to whatever this is as a future event; and even the author of the book, has always pointed to something being in the future:

John 2:4, Jesus says to his mother Mary concerning the lack of wine at the wedding, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.””

John 4:21, Jesus says to the woman at the well, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” He continues a few verses later and says, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

The author, John, points out at least twice when something was going to happen, but it didn’t because it wasn’t Jesus’ time in both John 7:30 and 8:20.

But in John 12:23, Jesus now declares that it is time—the hour has come; and he tells us precisely what is going to happen, but he says it in a way that might be a bit vague.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

Son of Man is a title that Jesus utilizes for himself multiple times throughout his earthly ministry (particularly in the Synoptic Gospels, which tie this title with Jesus’ sufferings or with his coming in glory—it emphasizes his humanity, that he was completely man; but it’s also him applying an Old Testament prophecy to himself. Daniel records a prophecy in which he sees one like a son of man given all dominion and glory and a kingdom by the Ancient of Days.

And Jesus says that it is now time for this Son of Many to be glorified. What does it mean for him to be glorified? Consider with me:

Philippians 2 speaks of Jesus, though equal with God, emptying of himself and taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men—by coming to earth, Jesus laid aside some of his glory, but don’t misunderstand that, I do not mean that Jesus laid aside his divinity or his deity; Jesus was and is still completely God

But in coming on earth and by becoming both man and God he condescended and left his position, rank, and privilege as God in order to obey the Father’s plan of salvation. And since Jesus left his position, rank, and privilege; because he laid aside some of his glory, when the Bible says that it is time for him to be glorified, it means that it is time for him to take back his position, rank, and privilege; it is time for him to take back up his glory.

The question is, how exactly does Jesus do this? And the answer is found in vs. 24

Jesus said that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Now, I realize that this sentence is a bit vague, but remember, Jesus often spoke in vague ways so that only his disciples would understand him or for the purpose of revealing truth that wouldn’t be understood until afterwards; in this case, its something that simply won’t be understood until a later date.

Thankfully, with hindsight, we know what it means, it’s a picture of what is to come because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. John 12:24 is all figurative language, which means that each element means something—and in this case, Jesus is the grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies.

Keeping that in mind, what this verse tells us is that Jesus’ death, bears much fruit.

Which makes sense, if you think in terms of how Jesus often speaks about those that need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ—Jesus himself says that the fields are white unto a harvest. Matthew 13 speaks of the end of the age when God will reap the fruits of his harvest. Jesus’ death provides what’s necessary for the bearing of fruit, because Jesus’ death is the necessary condition for the generation of spiritual life.

Or in other words, without Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, you wouldn’t have spiritual life.

Jesus then switches gears from talking about the spiritual redemptive sacrifice of Christ to focusing on the way that his disciples need to live in order to have eternal life. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

He starts by explaining that whoever loves this life loses it, and whoever hates this life in this world will keep it for eternal life, which might be a little confusing so let me help iron out the details

What Jesus is saying is that if you love this current life and the world that this life is in, you’re going to lose your eternal life.

But if you hate this life and hate the world that this life is in, you’re going to keep your eternal life, which is antithetical to what the world teaches about this life.

We’re told, in our modern-world that we should do what we can to live our best lives now—we should obtain money, gain possessions, and use people for our benefit; but in reality, if you’re living your best life now, you’re surely going to miss out in eternity, because eternity is when you should experience your best life, not now.

Those who love this world over the next will find that when the next world starts, they won’t be in it.

Jesus continues by saying, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

Gerald Borchert, “It is the faithful “servant” whom Jesus here says will be honored by the Father (12:26). In an ancient society where shame and honor were extremely significant, the promise of honor for one who accepts a role that has all the markings of little honor is another of the great paradoxes in the message of Jesus. To love God in the Semitic absolute sense is to love God with the whole of one’s being (heart, soul, and mind; Deut 6:4; cf. Luke 10:27, heart, soul, strength, and mind). To love God so much means that God has become primary and human existence has become secondary. That was the model set by the self-giving Jesus, and that is the model Jesus calls Christians to follow.”

So far, what we’ve seen in this passage is a new group of people who weren’t Jewish, but did believe in Yahweh, who came to see Jesus. We don’t actually see Jesus respond to these people, but we see Jesus tell his disciples that it is time for the Son of Man to be glorified and he starts to clarify that he is the Son of Man and that his death will bear much fruit and those who want to be counted amongst that fruit need to follow him and serve him. As this passage continues, Jesus continues in his discourse by focusing on the idea of the Son of Man being glorified. Read with me Vs. 27-36.

Jesus is the Son of Man that must be Lifted Up (27-36)

John 12:27–36 ESV

27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

Jesus makes the statement that his soul is troubled and the reason for that trouble is the great difficulty that he’s about to face as he heads towards the cross.

Often our focus on the cross is based completely on Jesus’ physical suffering, but let me remind you that the true difficulties that Jesus faced on the cross wasn’t the physical suffering that he faced.

When Jesus was crucified for the sins of mankind, there was a spiritual battle occurring on the cross—this spiritual battle involved something that had never occurred in all of history, and that event is what caused Jesus’ greatest pain.

Consider with me, John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men . . . And the Word became flesh and welt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We know from later in John 1, that Jesus is the Word referred to in Vs. 1. That Jesus was in the beginning with God and Jesus was God. Colossians 1:19 tells us that “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell [in Jesus Christ]” and that’s how it was since before the beginning of time.

When Jesus is crucified on the cross, Matthew 27: 46 records that he cries out with a loud voice, “‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

He’s not crying this out due to physical pain, he’s crying this out due to the spiritual separation that he’s about to experience between him and the Father—he isn’t crying out because they scourged him and nailed him to a cross, he’s crying out because the “[Father] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The troubling of his soul, that Jesus speaks of in John 12:27 is due to the separation that he’s about to face from the Father, which is something that we simply can’t understand—how can God the Father separate himself from Jesus the Son?

I don’t know and neither do you, but the idea explains the torment that Jesus was about to experience on the cross

And this idea explains why Jesus had such a troubling within his soul as he came closer to the cross—and it explains why later in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays for this cup to be taken from him and he cries tears of blood. It wasn’t due to the physical suffering that he was about to experience, it was due to the spiritual suffering that he was about to experience on your behalf.

And it is that spiritual suffering that Jesus is troubled within his soul about, but he realizes that he can’t ask the Father to save him from that spiritual torment, to be your substitutionary atonement is the reason behind him coming to the earth.

He came to live that perfect, sinless, life to die as your replacement on the cross and that is why he experienced tremendous physical and spiritual suffering—to provide the sacrifice necessary to take your sins away.

Vs. 27-28, “For this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” In doing what is about to happen with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus glorifies the Father, which is why Vs. 28 tells us that “a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”

That booming voice thunders in such a way that the people assume that “an angel has spoken to [Jesus],” but in reality, Vs. 30 tells us that that voice came for their sake, not for his.

And Jesus continues by making the statement in Vs. 31, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

Starting from the end of the verse, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself,” this is in reference to his crucifixion, not his ascension, because it is his crucifixion that draws people to him, not his ascension into heaven.

And from the start of the verse, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out,” speaks of Satan being driven out. Whenever the Bible utilizes the term “the ruler of this world” or in some translations this is the “prince of this world,” it’s typically referring to Satan.

The idea being that through the crucifixion, Jesus does two things in particular, he draws all people in and he drives out Satan. It is through the cross that Satan is defeated and his power over people by sin and death is defeated. It is through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that people can be delivered out of spiritual darkness into the light; out of spiritual slavery to sin into freedom and peace.

But here’s the issue, yet again, the people just don’t get it. Vs. 34-36, express their lack of understanding and Jesus’ response to their misunderstanding, “So the crowd answered him, ‘We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.’”

The first objection that they bring about the Son of Man concerns their understanding of Daniel 7:13-14. In Daniel 7, we see that vision again in which there is one like the son of man being given eternal dominion by the Ancient of Days.

And in Daniel 7, the idea of that rule is that it is never ending, which from their perspective meant that the Son of Man couldn’t die because his reign should last forever, which it does, but not in the same sense that they thought it did.

So intellectually, the people are expressing confusion because they think that the Son of Man will reign forever as the Messiah, but remember that the issue is that they have a false idea of what the Messiah was to be like—so their concept of what Jesus was supposed to do at that moment was to take charge and to never lose reign over Israel.

When they express themselves by saying, “we have heard . . . that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?” The idea is that they don’t understand because their ideology of who the Messiah is is simply incorrect.

They express intellectual difficulties with what Jesus is saying, but Jesus points at spiritual and moralistic issues in Vs. 35-36, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

The crowd is puzzled because they think Jesus is the Messiah and that the Messiah is the Son of Man spoken of in Daniel 7, so they express their confusion; and Jesus doesn’t actually bother to answer their question.

Instead, he focuses in on the light; and remember, Jesus told them in John 8:12 that “[he is] the light of the world. Whoever follows [him] will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

The meaning is quite simple, they would only have access to the light for a little while longer. Soon he would be crucified, and as far as these people were concerned, the light would be gone.

Jesus is essentially calling the people to trust him and have faith in him, even if it didn’t match up with their view of who the Messiah was supposed to be.

Jesus is calling them to believe so that they don’t remain in darkness and wind up in darkness when he is gone because if they remain in darkness, they won’t know where he is going, but if they believe in him, they will become his children.

Unfortunately, after this statement John tells us how the people responded and it wasn’t good.

Vs. 36 ends by telling us that “when Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them;” and John continues by saying that even though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.

Despite all that Jesus had done, despite all that he had said, the people still refused to believe.

In the remaining few minutes that we have, let’s take some time to discuss some specific application for this passage. In many ways, our application for the passage is almost identical to the application of the original audience to this passage, but I will do my best to make it applicable to this modern-day era.

Application

The Hour Has Come for the Son of Man to be Glorified (20-26)—in the first section of this morning’s passage, we see another group of people coming to meet with Jesus, but it doesn’t actually seem like Jesus meets with the Greeks. In fact, it seems like everything that he says in this passage is actually directed at his disciples and he makes the statement that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I explained that the term Son of Man comes from Daniel 7 and it concerns the Messiah, who we know to be Jesus and I explained how the idea of Jesus being glorified is about him taking back his position, his authority, his rule as God. Jesus speaks of the necessity for him to die in order to reap a great harvest and in the figurative language, it’s clear that those who believe are part of this harvest and he clearly makes the point that all who want life in eternity must believe in him and follow him. I have two application points for this section, By Jesus taking on the title of Son of Man and applying it to himself and by him making it clear that it is now time for him to be glorified and lifted up, he teaches us a number of different things, but I want to focus on just two of those things:

This shows us the extent that God went to bring you into his Kingdom—both at the end of this section and the end of the second section he calls on them to believe in him that they may have eternal life and that they may be children of the light.

Or in other words, Jesus is making it clear that his condescending by laying aside some of his glory was a temporary ordeal to make it possible for all who would repent and believe to obtain eternal life and become children of light.

Which is just a small portion of the redemptive history that we see throughout the Bible—that God in his omnipotence, sovereignty, and providence brought all of this about, simply because he loves you and for his glory.

This also means, that if you’re a believer this morning, you’re part of that harvest that Jesus speaks about that bears much fruit due to his death, which again, it’s clear in the passage that the harvest was a huge part of the reason for his life on earth and his death, burial, and resurrection.

Knowing the extent to which God went through Jesus in order to bring you into light ought to compel you to give thanks, to worship, and to praise the LORD.

But it also should do one other thing, and this is the first application: it should cause you to trust in the LORD’s plan. What we see in John 12 is the statement that all of these miraculous events and the eventual crucifixion of Jesus were all planned out several hundred and occasionally several thousand years.

For those several hundred to several thousand years, there were groups of people that had studied the Scriptures and realized that something was going to happen, but very few of them actually understood any of it when it did happen.

Might I suggest, that we currently live in a time when we’ve been told to expect the second coming of Jesus at any moment; and we’ve been told that different things will occur when Jesus returns, but because Jesus himself doesn’t know when he’ll return, we live in a time in which we’re confidently expecting him to return, but we really don’t understand the details of it whatsoever.

Quite frankly, have you considered, that our lack of understanding of the eschaton was intentional? God has it planned that way so that we don’t rely on our understanding of what’s to come, but rather we rely on him.

And just like all who came before us who have studied the Scriptures prior to Jesus’ first coming and thought they understood all the ins and outs of the prophecies got it completely wrong; I assure you, the people doing the same thing today about the book of Revelation are going to get it completely wrong—because the Bible doesn’t give much detail and the detail that it does give makes it clear that we won’t necessarily understand most of it until it happens.

That could be discouraging, but I would argue that our lack of ability in understanding what is to come should drive us to simply trust in the LORD.

The fact that God has always come through, that God keeps his Word, that he always does what’s in our best interest, should compel us to simply trust him.

We don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the book of Revelation to make the realization that those things are going to happen.

We don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the eschaton to realize that Jesus is going to return again

We simply have to trust him to keep his Word and do what he said he would do.

Trust in the LORD’s Plan because the LORD himself is trustworthy.

The second application for this section is built on top of the idea of trusting in the LORD’s plan because the LORD is trustworthy, in that part of trusting the LORD requires us to do something, which Jesus speaks of in Vs. 25-26. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

It’s not really trusting in the LORD’s plan nor is it trusting in the LORD, if you’re completely unwilling to serve him. In fact, a lack of willingness when it comes to serving Jesus shows us that your heart doesn’t trust him whatsoever.

What does it mean to serve Jesus? It means that compared to your love for Jesus, your love for this world is hatred. It means that you follow him in all that you do. It means that you remain in his presence. And it isn’t just you saying that you do all of these things, it’s God confirming that you do all of these things.

So, consider your own life—does your love for Jesus supersede your love for all else? If you’re wondering how you can tell, there’s two ways that I tell people to check, what do you spend your money on and how do you spend your time. If you claim to love Jesus, but you only spend a few hours a week worshiping him, reading his word, and praying to him, you don’t actually love Jesus. You love everything that takes up the time you should spend with him.

Consider your own life—do you seek to follow Jesus? Which inherently means that you ought to be living in a way that is consistent with how Jesus said you should live, but it also means that when you make decisions, you should make them with the mindset that you can either do this as part of your obedience to Jesus or you can do this only for yourself, which is it?

Consider your own life, we’re told that it is appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment. If you’re a Christian, you have no fear of eternal punishment for sin, but you do realize that every word you speak and every action that you do will still be scrutinized by Jesus right? The Bible says that every idle word will be held to account and every action will be judged to determine whether you did those things for yourself or for Jesus.

Your actions and your words reveal your heart and whether you serve Jesus or yourself. Jesus’ application for this passage is that you must love him, serve him, and follow him.

Which means this application is simple.

Do you love him, serve him, and follow him?

Or do you need to repent from not loving him, serving him, and following him?

You must love Jesus, serve Jesus, and follow Jesus.

Jesus is the Son of Man that must be Lifted Up (27-36)—the second section of this morning’s passage closes off by plainly telling us that Jesus is the Son of Man that must be lifted up. It’s clear that the people don’t get it, they don’t understand and they end up refusing to believe in Jesus despite the great lengths that Jesus goes to prove that he is truly the Christ and the great lengths that he’ll continue to go as he suffers spiritual separation from the Father for the first and only time in history. Jesus ends this passage, by reiterating the point that they must believe and become his children or they will remain in darkness unable to see. I have one application point for this section and its for unbelievers:

Jesus went through great lengths to save all who will simply repent from sins and believe in him, but he only did these things for those who repent and believe in him.

In other words, despite what our current religious culture in the world says, Jesus is the only way, the only life, and the only truth.

You can’t just choose a religion and go for it and you can’t just be a good person and go for it, you must repent from sins and believe in Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ warning was to those who heard him, that he was the light and soon the light would leave because he would be crucified and those that didn’t believe in the light would walk in darkness not knowing where he is going.

We live after the fact, Jesus has already been crucified, buried, and resurrected—and yet, the warning is just the same.

We have but a moment to determine whether we repent and believe before Jesus returns again and when Jesus returns, the moment is up.

My application for this section, again for unbelievers, is this—you have but a moment to repent and believe in Jesus. If you refuse, Jesus says you will walk in darkness not knowing where you’re going and that darkness will lead you to a place that you don’t want to be.

You must repent from your sins, call on the name of Jesus, and believe in him.

Put simply, John 12:20-36 teaches us several things, but it focuses in on us doing these things: (1) repenting from our sins and believing in Jesus, (2) loving, serving, and following Jesus, and (3) trusting Jesus’ plan because Jesus is trustworthy.

You must repent from your sins and believe in him, you must love, serve, and follow him, and you must trust him and his plan.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

I Will Sing