When I Am Lifted Up John 12:27-33 Dan Brooks, Pastor Sunday Morning, November 23, 2014

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1 When I Am Lifted Up John 12:27-33 Dan Brooks, Pastor Sunday Morning, November 23, 2014 INTRODUCTION This Bill Cosby story is tragic, isn t it? It s not that I m a big fan of his, but to see a man at the end of his life experience such a firestorm of accusation and humiliation is tragic. Do you ever fear that the truth about you will be made public? I can think of a few things I wouldn t want the general public to know. Things I m ashamed of, some from the distant past, some not so distant. The fear of exposure can be debilitating. It is not the fear of exposure by the national media that keeps most of us awake at night, but the fear of exposure by or to the people we know best. We tremble to think that we would be accused, shamed, and condemned by those we know and love. The ruler of this world, the devil himself, knows all of that and exploits the tremendous power of our fears to keep us in a weakened condition of self-loathing, of spiritual paranoia, of doubt and disbelief when God tells us repeatedly He really does love us. Fear of accusation and condemnation keeps us hiding in the shadows of our faith and seeking safe cover. But Jesus Christ came into this world to overthrow the ruler, to take away the substance of those accusations, and to set fearful people free. I. TROUBLE & PURPOSE IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST (27-28A). A. Jesus sees the coming horror (27) Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? 2. The verb is a strong one, and signifies revulsion, horror, anxiety, agitation 1 3. What could possibly trouble the soul of the Son of God? 4. It is nothing less than His full understanding and awareness of the imminent suffering awaiting Him. The judgment of God for the sins of the world, the outpouring of God s unmixed wrath which has been stored up through the ages because of the sins of people like you and me. 5. Our lust for pleasure, our greed for possessions, our pride in position, our false piety in feigned religion. All of it, all of it kindling the wrath of God until the fires of justice and judgment burn with such a fury that His Son trembles at the thought. 6. Problem: Many in our generation are not troubled by the thought that they might be exposed to the wrath of God. It s like a fairy tale notion to them. 7. God s wrath? Why should I fear God s wrath? 8. We are far more concerned about exposure to the judgment of society and culture, of having something posted on the web about us, something on Instagram or Yik Yak, as if that is the final court of judgment. 9. Facing God s wrath is a horrific thought to Jesus and it should be to you. 10. Now is my soul troubled... save me from this hour. B. Jesus remains committed to the Father s glory. 1. But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 2. Now Jesus agony is fully revealed. This prayer is entirely analogous to Gethsemane s Take this cup from me (Mk. 14:36). In both instances the strong adversative follows: alla, but in the one case, not what I will, but what you will (Mk. 14:36), and here,... but for this purpose I have to come to this hour. Jesus can no sooner pray to be spared this hour, to escape this cup, than he must face again his unswerving commitment to adhere to his Father s will.... That is why Jesus is 1 D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter- Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 440.

2 P a g e 2 II. so troubled. The horror of death, and the ardour of His obedience, were meeting together (Bengel, ) Father, glorify your name. a. Glorify: (δοξάζω) to make divine character and attributes conspicuous b. The prayer of Christ is that His Father s reputation would be visible to the world. And He is willing to undergo something that is personally horrific if it means the establishment and manifestation of His Father s glory. c. Q: Follower of Jesus, is this your prayer in all of life? 4. Jesus prayer, both simple and profound, evokes an audible response from heaven, the actual content of which only Jesus can understand, but which nevertheless serves as a supernatural attestation before the crowd of the transcendent importance of the sequence of events set off by the arrival of the Gentiles. 3 C. Jesus receives the Father s promise. 1. Then a voice came from heaven: I have glorified it a. God has made His character and attributes conspicuous in the life of His Son, specifically through the miraculous signs. b. 2:11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. c. 11:40 Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? 2. I have glorified it! FOUR RESULTS FROM THE DEATH OF CHRIST (28B-32) A. He glorifies the Father. 1. and I will glorify it again 2. God is about to make His Name (which represents His character and attributes) conspicuous in the death of His Son. 3. How can the death of the Son of God be the glory of the Father? a. The cross is the God-appointed, God-approved means whereby the Father glorifies His name. b. All around the world today, the cross remains a symbol of salvation, of forgiveness, and of eternal life. 4. Eventually they would remember what Jesus had told them the voice had uttered, and it would be for them a divine confirmation that the shameful cross, and all that flowed from it, was not a defeat but a victory, not final destruction but ultimate glorification. Even in the Evangelist s day, Jews (and Gentile proselytes and God-fearers) most urgently needed to hear heaven s pronouncement the pronouncement that the cross did not stamp [out]jesus... as irredeemably cursed and condemned, but proved to be the locus [place] of his glorification. 4 a. And this truth of Christ s triumph is verified by the Father s witness I will glorify it again! B. He brings the world to a crisis of culpability Now is the judgment of this world a. Judgment: (κρίσις) Separation: a division, a crisis, judgment. b. God is about to bring the world to a point of judgment, a crisis of culpability. 2. The world refers to humankind, characterized as it is by rebellion against God and readiness to follow the prince of this world, but specifically with respect to its rejection of the Son of Man 2 Carson, Carson, Carson, 442.

3 P a g e 3 and its putting him to death.... Rejection of the Son of Man is rejection of God himself. In the murder of the Son of Man sin is exposed in its most dreadful form :23b Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 4. What kind of evil crucifies the Lord of glory? What kind of corruption puts to death the great Miracle Worker who made the lame to walk, the blind to see, lepers whole, and raised the dead? 5. By week s end thousands of them will assemble and cry, We have no king but Caesar! Crucify Him! 6. Ac 3: But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 7. Point: Some of you rebel against God and reject His Son. You may not have taken your place among the angry crowd who pledged allegiance to Caesar and called for the crucifixion of Christ, but you have pledge allegiance to yourself. You have said, I don t need this Gospel! I don t need a Savior! I don t need anything that God has to offer! 8. What will you do at the end of the age when God calls you before His holy judgment seat? 9. Bill Cosby s problems are nothing in comparison to the judgment you will face in that final hour. 10. Turn from your sinful rebellion and call upon the name of Jesus Christ that you may be saved. C. He conquers the ruler of this world. 1. now will the ruler of this world be cast out. a. Ruler of this world: (ἄρχων) the chief of the fallen angels, Satan, the chief of demons (Matt. 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15).... He rules in the hearts of worldly and wicked men (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). 6 b. Cast out: (ἐκβληθήσεται) this ruler will be thrown down 2. Q: thrown down from what? a. Thrown down from spiritual tyranny. b. He rules a system that is completely contrary to God s dominion of truth and grace. 3. He rules through the fear of death. a. He trades in the currency of fear and accusation. His policy results in death and destruction. b. There is nothing of love or grace, of life or health in the devil s economy. c. Heb 2:14 15 the devil is the one who has the power of death,... and through fear of death subjects us to lifelong slavery. d. Some of you are held captive in the fear of death. e. Such fear may be testimony to the fact that you are not God s child, but you are still a subject of the ruler of this world. 4. He rules through the use of legal accusation. a. He continually bullies us with the knowledge of our sin. He is a false accuser, but the problem for us is that he doesn t have to make up stuff. We give him plenty of material. 1) The websites we surf, the movies we watch, the fantasies we keep 2) The lies we tell, the cheating, the manipulation, the slandering, the gossip, the selfrighteous judgments 3) The angry outbursts, the runaway worry, the binge drinking, the binge eating, the binge porn b. Ill.: As of last count, a dozen women have accused Bill Cosby of sinful, criminal behavior. O that Satan s accusations against us were limited to a dozen sins against God. How many are my sins! How many are yours? 5 George R. Beasley-Murray, John, vol. 36, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), Zodhiates.

4 P a g e 4 c. There is a kind of spiritual blackmail underway where the devil knows our sins and would use them as a mean of destroying us. d. Hey, remember when you...? e. How about the time that you...? f. What if people really knew who you are and what you are like? 5. What Jesus is about to do will disarm the ruler of this world of his two great weapons. 6. Heb 2: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 7. Col 2: And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [the cross 7 ]. 8. In the hands of our enemy and accuser, the record of our sin debt is a lethal weapon. The record proves that we deserve condemnation; it proves that we deserve judgment; it proves that we deserve a criminal s execution. 9. The record of debt stands against us making real, eternal, horrific legal demands. 10. Jesus, the Victor King lays down His life on Calvary s cross, spreads His sinless hands wide, submits to the hammer blow of Roman guard and the wrath of Almighty God. 11. And in that death throws down the ruler of this world and from his wretched hands pries the terrible weapon of legal accusation and disarms him forever! 12. Ro 8: Who shall bring any charge against God s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us 13. Now is the ruler of this world thrown down 14. Doesn t that make your heart sing! That s just a little foretaste of the full deliverance that is coming. D. He draws all people to himself (32) And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. 2. πάντας ἑλκύσω, all I will draw 3. Remember the Greeks from vv ? 4. The cross is Christ s emphatic answer to the request, We would see Jesus? 5. By the power of His death on the cross, He draws us to Himself. He bears our judgment, disarms our greatest foe, appeases the Father, and clears the way for Jew, for Greek, for Samaritan, and American alike. 6. Point: He is drawing some of you right now! Will you come to Him? Will you believe that your sin is damnable before God? Will you believe that Jesus death on the cross is your only hope of salvation? Will turn from all that you have been and come now to the Father and let Him make you new? E. Conclusion: As the Son is lifted up, the Father is glorified, the world is judged, the ruler thrown down, the nations are drawn, and we are saved! This is what the Lord God says: You will know that I am Yahweh; those who put their hope in Me will not be put to shame. I will contend with the one who contends with you. Then all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 7 The pronoun is 3 rd person dative and seems to have reference to the cross in v. 14.

5 P a g e 5 III. APPLICATION A. How does Jesus want you to respond to His truth today? 1. He wants you to believe all that He says. 2. Do you believe that He took your judgment in full? 3. Do you believe that He has disarmed the ruler of this world in order that you might live in freedom? B. Because Jesus has said and done these things, I will not be afraid of the devil s accusations live in the freedom of my salvation live for the glory of the Father love others sacrificially give my life in service. C. The victorious life and death of Jesus Christ opens all kinds of possibilities for us.