It would be good to have your bibles open on John chapter 12 starting at verse 20

Transcription

1 The Hour Has Come (John 12:20-36) 14 th August It would be good to have your bibles open on John chapter 12 starting at verse 20 and we re going through to verse 36. There s an outline in your bulletin to take notes if that helps you to concentrate Let me pray first, before we begin. Let s pray Intro You may have come across the saying Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Not sure when it was first used as a saying but it seems to have mixed origins It s often used by sporting commentators these days! One of my all-time favourite cricketers is Andrew Freddy Flintoff I can remember watching him almost single handedly win the ashes for England in the 2005 and 2009 series and I remember the commentator using that phrase for Freddy: here comes Flintoff - cometh the hour cometh the man And perhaps it s been used for many sporting heroes even our recent Olympic heroes? But are they really heroes? The definition of a hero is: [Powerpoint 1 Hero definition] Page 1 of 12

2 A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities 2 So using hero for a sports person is little dubious For an ANZAC digger yes by all means but not for a cricketer, footballer or Olympian? Which brings us to our passage this morning and brings us to a real super hero Jesus the perfect man and perfect God And according to John chapter 12 verse 23 the hour has cometh for the perfect man and God Jesus After hearing so many times in John s Gospel so far that Jesus hour had not yet come - (John 2:4; 7:6; 7:8; 7:30; 8:20) Now His hour cometh! Greeks want to see Jesus (vv20-23) [Powerpoint 2a Greeks] And Jesus hour seems to be brought-on by the arrival of some Greeks in Jerusalem. These Greeks have come to worship God at the Jewish Passover festival; so even though they are Gentiles (non-jews), they are believers in the God of the Jews though we re not told if they ve converted to Judaism They approach Philip, one of Jesus disciples and in v21 and they would like to see Jesus And see here doesn t just mean having a look at Jesus It s like us going into Harvey Norman and saying we d like to see the manager it means we want to talk with him face to face Page 2 of 12

3 The Greeks want to meet Jesus face to face and speak to him and learn all 3 about Him [Powerpoint 2b-Us seeing Jesus] Now today we don t have Jesus in the flesh with us like those Greeks did So how can we see Jesus? We can see Jesus by looking at God s Word Right at the beginning of John s book in chapter 1 John said that Jesus was the Word of God and that Jesus was with God the Father from the beginning of time and that Jesus the Word of God became flesh and lived with the people (John 1:14) So Jesus is like God s Word with arms and legs So if we want to know what Jesus is like we need to read and study God s Word - the Bible The more we read and study it the more we will see that the Bible is all about Jesus We will see a picture of Jesus unfold before us as we learn about Him An excellent way to learn more about the Bible is to join one of our growth groups where a bunch of people study God s Word together. And through God s Holy Spirit these groups get further insight into who Jesus is why He came and what He achieved And these groups grow in the knowledge of God and His Son that s why they are called Growth Groups. If you re not in a Growth Group there s a sign-up sheet in the foyer to join one. If you d like to have a Growth Group at your home on a different day or time to those advertised we can organize that too just see me after the service. Page 3 of 12

4 As we read about Jesus and grow spiritually we will become more like Jesus 4 and in doing so people will see Jesus in us in the way we live our lives, in the way we follow Jesus example and teaching for our lives and they ll start to see a glimpse of what Jesus is like and they ll want to be like Jesus too. Any way back to the passage The Greeks asking to see Jesus prompts Jesus to say in v23 that His hour has come. And He refers to Himself as the Son of Man A title from the OT that describes the Promised Messiah God s Chosen One that He promised would come to save His people Jesus Glorification through His Death (vv24-26) And Jesus says He - the Son of Man the Messiah He says that now is the hour for Him to be glorified [Powerpoint 3a Glorification] But what does glorify mean? It means to bring honour and praise and adoration to someone In this case that honour and praise and adoration that Glory - is going to be put on Jesus? But how is Jesus going to be glorified? Well v24 tells us by using a farming example He says in the same way as a grain of wheat is buried in the ground and then sprouts and reproduces itself many times over in the same way Jesus will die and be buried but by dying many people will sprout and grow to believe in Him and Page 4 of 12

5 be part of God s Kingdom. So by Jesus death God s kingdom will grow many 5 believers and this amazing growth of people will bring glory honour and praise and adoration to Jesus So amazingly Jesus is given glory by dying! Jesus then goes on to explain what our lives should be like in verse 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [Powerpoint 3b We must] What Jesus is saying here that if we love this life on earth so much with all that it offers we are motivated by our selfishness and security. We re comfortable and won t take any risk especially when it comes to following Jesus and telling people the Good News of Jesus Instead - Jesus came with a different view to living. The Jews and most people today see living as thinking of themselves but Jesus taught life was about handing our life over to God and that life was about sacrifice and serving and that there is a cost of following Jesus and that we all have a cross to bear just like Jesus did - there s a sacrifice in worshipping Jesus rather than all the attractions of this world. Jesus wants us to hate the trappings of this world and follow Him and His teaching even if in doing so we lose our life (like say a Missionary in a dangerous country) but Jesus is saying the risk and cost of following him is worth it because even though we eventually die we ll get eternal life living with God forever so ultimately we re winners. Page 5 of 12

6 Whereas following the world s way right now you ll get everything you want 6 right now but when you die you ll not get eternal life and you ll not live with God forever because you ve chosen to follow your own selfish desires instead of following Jesus It s the classic choice of 2 ways to live the World s way or God s way! We need to realize that our life on earth is temporary with a temporary visa and our citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20) with Jesus forever Then in verse 26 we get 2 glorious promises that make it well worth our while to serve Jesus and follow Jesus We will be with Jesus as He says where I am, my servant will also be And we will also be honoured by God the Father Glorifying the Father s Name (vv27-30) Jesus then shows the agony He is going through in facing the prospect of death on a cross for the sin of the world He says in v27 His soul is troubled! But is He going to quit? Is He going to ask the Father to save Him from this hour? Of course not! Cometh the hour cometh the man And Jesus was born for this hour His birth was ALWAYS so He could die on the cross for us to have our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God. Page 6 of 12

7 His death is what brings glory to His Father s name 7 See v28 Father, glorify your name! [Powerpoint 4a Jesus glorifies the Father] Jesus is saying bring it on Father I m your Man I m the perfect, sinless, obedient ONE the one who will bring you glory honour and praise by fulfilling the mission you sent me for to die and get rid of sin once and for all! Your will be done Father on Earth as it is in Heaven! What about us? [Powerpoint 4b Us] Does what we think always bring glory to the Father s name? Does what we say always bring glory to the Father s name? Does the way we behave and treat others always bring glory to the Father s name? If not we need to say sorry now And Repent of those things which dishonour the Father s holy name? Are we obedient to the Father s will in our lives? God s will for us is to repent and believe in Jesus AND then love the Lord God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and all your strength Are we doing that? If not we need to say sorry now And Repent of those things which dishonour the Father s holy name Page 7 of 12

8 Back to our passage and in verse The Father voices His approval of Jesus the Son and His mission and by saying that His name will be glorified again He is confirming that He will be with the Son through His death right through to His resurrection from the dead and through His glorious ascension into Heaven Even though the voice is clear to Jesus to those who are not in tune with the Father it is just like the sound of thunder Jesus Death Described (vv31-33) Then in verses 31 to 33, Jesus describes the meaning of His death on the cross. It will achieve 4 things: [Powerpoint 5a-1] 1. It will pass judgment on this world by exposing the sin of everyone in the world in that their sin killed the one God sent into the world and Jesus willingly and obediently bore that judgment and punishment that should have been on each one of us [Powerpoint 5b -2] 2. It will get rid of the prince of this world which is Satan the one that tempted Adam and Eve and brought about sin and rebellion is now defeated. To the unenlightened on-looker it might seem that Jesus death on the cross was a resounding victory for Satan. But no that s not the case because Jesus carries to conclusion His perfect obedience as a man to the will of God and in doing so He smashes the chains of guilt and Page 8 of 12

9 9 condemnation which Satan has bound all of humankind with because of their sin and rebellion against God. The Perfect Holiness and Obedience of Jesus destroys the power that Satan has because His evil has been overcome by the Holy One of God! [Powerpoint 5c -3] 3. Jesus death will lift Him up v32 lift up here can mean exalted (held up as glorious) or just lifted up as on a cross. V33 confirms that John is talking about the cross and that Jesus will be lifted up on a cross to die. But Jesus is also God s exalted (glorious approved and appointed) One by that obedient death on the cross He accomplishes God s glorious rescue plan [Powerpoint 5d-4] 4. Jesus death will also draw all people to Himself and in context we shouldn t see this as all people in the world without exception. Remember the context that what prompted Jesus to talk about his death was the arrival of the Greeks the Gentiles. So when Jesus says I will draw all people to myself, he means Jews and Gentiles alike, without distinction. Jesus has already said in 10:16 that He has sheep from another sheep pen. This prophecy from Jesus is certainly fulfilled as we see Christians throughout the world today Who is Jesus this Son of Man? (vv34-35) With such an amazing explanation of what His death achieves you would expect an amazing response from the crowd that Jesus is speaking to But no instead there is a question in v34 Page 9 of 12

10 [Powerpoint 6a-Son of Man] 10 The crowd s question is fair enough given their understanding at the time Their question is: If the OT teaches that the Messiah lives forever and Jesus is saying He is the Messiah by referring to Himself as the Son of Man how can Jesus be this promised Messiah if He is to be lifted up on the cross. In other words how can they believe in a crucified dead Messiah? That doesn t make sense to them But Jesus has already explained this. The Kingdom Jesus brings is eternal, the life He brings is eternal! But for the kingdom to be available - and eternal life to be available Satan the prince of the world must be defeated and his hold on the human heart broken by Jesus perfect obedience on the Cross. Jesus must die in order to reign forever that s the bit they didn t get Because they didn t realize that Jesus would also rise and be lifted up from the dead 3 days after is death So Jesus confronts them for the last time in verse 35 and 36 He says He is the light of the world something He said back in 8:12 He is still with them at that moment If they will put their trust in Him they will become children of light But the opportunity to become children of light is almost at an end they only have the light (Jesus) a little while longer. And the alternative, if they don t believe in Him pretty quickly the alternative is not good at all they will not Page 10 of 12

11 come into Jesus light to guide them and darkness will overcome them and 11 they will not know where they re going! For us today Jesus words here are sobering or they should be Jesus leaves the crowd and us with a warning [Powerpoint 6b-Warning] The implications of turning away from Jesus the light are terrible in the extreme and Jesus is concerned that people be clearly aware of that. We are certainly called to draw people towards Jesus by God honouring methods like evangelism. We are certainly authorized to bear witness to the completeness of the salvation that faith in Jesus brings - and to point out the joys beyond compare which await those who have put their faith in Him But at the same time, we should not be afraid to warn people that Jesus the saviour and redeemer is also the judge. And when Jesus returns - He will judge and the person who hasn t repented of their sin and put their faith in Jesus will be condemned (found guilty) and according to Heb 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and those who haven t put their faith in Jesus will remain in that darkness separated from the light forever! The Bible calls that place Hell! (pause) So while people have an opportunity that is whilst they are still alive we need to do what Jesus does here and in the most loving way we can remind, plead and say to them Page 11 of 12

12 You are going to have the light [Jesus] just a little while longer before darkness overtakes you Believe in the light while you have the light Before the Hour comes. Let s pray 12 Page 12 of 12