Jesus Proclaims His Death- Pt. II
So that you may believe - Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewAim: to continue our look at Jesus proclaiming His manner of death
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But I thought. . .
But I thought. . .
Have you ever made an assumption?
We all make assumptions, draw conclusions. Sometimes from what people say, or from what we think they say.
The people assumed that the Messiah would be with them always
The people assumed that the kingdom would be established on earth in Jerusalem where David’s throne was.
What is an assumption that you have made in your life that was wrong?
Maybe it is better we back up and see what Jesus said then go forward tonight. Join me
31 “Now judgment is upon 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 men to Myself.”
33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.
34 The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
What can we “know” and not assume from (v.31)?
What can we “know” from (v.32)?
What can we “know” from (v.33)?
So, there are really no assumptions to have in these are there?
Yes there is, an assumption he would be lifted up (v.32); all men (v.32) there is a ruler of this world (v.32); they have heard the Christ is to remain forever (v.34); So they are assuming he is saying He is the Christ, the Son of man.
We will break down the passage like this tonight.
Son of man; son’s of light (vv.35-36)
Unbelief in light of prophesy (vv.37-41)
Weak belief (vv.42-43)
Final appeal to belief (vv.44-50)
Son of man; Son’s of light
Son of man; Son’s of light
They just ended with a question. Jesus answers, but does not answer the question directly, see how He responds.
35 So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.
36 “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.
Anything stick out to you?
Light, darkness, time frame
Anything this passage calls for you to do, so anything else does not happen?
walk in the light; so not overcome by darkness
He calls for an assumption, and a conclusion, what are they?
He is the light; they are sons of Light
What did Jesus do after He spoke these things (v.36)?
As you see, as mentioned before Jesus does not answer the question directly. He does not need to, for He is the answer. The question is not a theological answer it is a personal answer, and He is it. for He is the way the truth and the Life (Jn14:6) Light of the world (Jn8:12; 9:5) He calls for belief (Jn1:12; 3:16, 18; 6:24, 8:24. . .) the list could go on.
Remember Jesus had already said the hour has come (12:23, 27)
Now the Light (v.35); the light of His earthly ministry was just a little longer. It was about to go out. But the light of man was to go on. For they were Sons of light.
“The Semitic idiom ‘sons of’ describes men who possess the characteristics of what is said to be their ‘father’. In our idiom, we should probably say ‘men of light’, cf. our expression ‘a man of integrity.’ (Tasker)
God’s Spirit will not always be with man (Gen6:3) the days are limited; so man better answer the call, while the light is still available.
Unbelief in light of prophesy
Unbelief in light of prophesy
Seeing is believing right? But what if they see and still do not believe? That is what is happening here, but why? Hum? Let’s see.
37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again,
40 “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.”
41 These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.
What had Jesus done, yet they did not believe (v.37)?
Why did they not believe (v.38)?
Think about this, slow down, really think, was it they could not, or would not believe (vv.39-40)?
Why did Isaiah say these things, if they saw what he say, what would be the result? (v.41); yes there is an assumption to be made here.
Miracles do not produce faith do they? They may produce followers, but do not produce faith. Jesus was not looking for followers, he was looking to make disciples.
The only way to faith is through the word. The words of Christ. We need to hear the word, grab hold of the word, believe the word and apply the word. Miracles maybe attractive. In those days they may be to prove the word, but they did not bring faith did they?
Jesus had done many signs, yet they did not believe, what signs had He done, can you think of any? Can you think why He did them, what was the point of the signs?
Let’s look at Isaiah and see what John quotes from:
1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
and then
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ 10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
I think FF Bruce puts it well, it is kind of lengthy but listen to this.
“In quoting ISA53:1 John emphasized that unbelief was because God acted in judgment upon those who refused to see His truth and turn to Him. God would strengthen them in their decision, either for Jesus or against Him. In light of this principle, they could not believe, as Isaiah described. Not one of them was fated to be incapable of belief; it was made plain below (Jn12:42) that some did in fact believe. But the OT prediction had to be fulfilled, and fulfilled it was in those who, as a matter of fact, did not believe.”
Morris said “He does not mean that the blinding takes place without the will or against the will of these people. So with the hardening of their heart these men chose evil. It was their own deliberate choice, their own fault.”
Weak belief
Weak belief
When you think of the word weak what do you think of? Can it mean more than one thing?
42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
What do you notice in these two verses?
What did they love more?
Be honest can we love things, people more than we love God?
Secret believers, do you know people like this? this is time, a place where many believe, even rulers believed, but did so secretly why? Look at (v.42) out of fear. It would cost them something. If they confessed it would cost them.
“Secret discipleship is a contradiction in terms for, ‘either the secrecy kills the discipleship, or the discipleship kills the secrecy.’” (Barclay)
These people wanted, loved the approval of man, more than the approval of God.
Final appeal to belief
Final appeal to belief
Final, last, passionate public appeal
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
46 “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, 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 sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”
Anything you notice in this passage?
To me, He who, If anyone (there is the invitation to all)
Verse 44 can be confusing without 45, what can you see, deduce when you use both together?
See me you see the Father.
What Judges according to (v.48)?
It is the word the judges; it is the word that will judge on the last day
Whose initiative does Jesus speak under, by (v.49)?
It is the Father Himself who sent him, gave commandment on what to say, what to speak
What can we know about the commandment (v.50)?
It is the commandment from the Father, and it is eternal life. And Jesus spoke it just as the Father told him to speak it.
OK, some observations from this part of the passage:
Jesus cried out (v.44) in the final words in public, and not in typical fashion for Him. He cried out. It is in “imperfect tense” meaning that it was “shouting and persistent, continually”
“As a rule our Saviour did not cry (shout). He did not cry nor lift up His voice in the streets. But now and then, in some exalted hour, the Gospels tell us that he cried (Jn7:37).’ (Morrison)
Jesus does not attract attention to Himself, but attracts attention to unity with the Father. To believe in Him is to believe in the Father. To believe in Him is to believe in the Father, to see Him is to see the Father, to hear is to hear the Father. So complete unity, complete oneness. Yet, he was the one who is going to be crucified.
Our entire passage tonight is about the necessity that He was the one who had to be lifted up or else all would live in darkness. Jesus humanity was not needed if He came to judge, His humanity was needed to rescue humanity by being our propitiation.
“His last word in not one of condemnation. It is one of tender appeal” (Morris)
49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
Jesus was in full submission to the Father. As we should be in full submission to Him.
We started with are we secret, undercover Christians earlier tonight? Are we more concerned about pleasing man, or pleasing God? Jesus was in full submission to the Father. He set the example for us. We should prayerfully consider our place, our position where we are.