Christ the Mediator

John 12:44-50

Praise and prayer

What are a couple reasons we should believe in Jesus? Historical-spiritual

It is by believing in Him we are saved and He is God’s final and fullest revelation of Himself to the world. Jesus shows us the Father. God has given us the Son to show Himself to us.

If we want to know what God is like, we can look at the Son. If we want to know what God thinks, we can look at what the Son thinks. Of we want to know the way God feels about something, we can look at the way the Son felt about it.

God the Father gave us Jesus Christ so we could know and understand Him more completely. Paul would write in Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God.”

Without Jesus all we would ever know about God is what we learn from nature and from the Old Testament. We would never know how to be saved!! John 3:16. So, it is important to understand not only is Jesus the only way to heaven but He is the only way for us to know and understand God.

The Point: Christ is one with God and His message of eternal life comes from the Father.

John 12:44–50 NASB95

And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. “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. “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. “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. “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

Background and Context

When we talk about the passion of the Christ we are usually referring to those final moments that lead up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

The agony He felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, the pain inflicted on Him, by the Roman cohort, and the suffering He endured on the cross.

John however, devotes nearly half his gospel to the passion of the Christ and we see that here in this passage. Notice Jesus is crying out for vindication.

The public ministry of Jesus is over with at this point. John recorded that in Vs 36 when he said, “Jesus departed from them and hid Himself.”

We have to believe that what John is recording for us here is, the passion of Christ in private. He is speaking to His closest disciples, probably at Bethany. Jesus may have withdrawn Himself from the Jewish crowds but He is not withdrawn from the drama.

This must have been a heartbreaking moment. Jesus is on the brink of the storm and He vindicates Himself in this passage by telling us all the reasons we should believe!!

The Point: Christ is one with God and His message of eternal life comes from the Father.

We are going to look at this passage in two parts; First, we will see the true believer in Vs. 44-46. Then we will look at the The Judgment of the Unbeliever Vs. 47-50

I. The True Believer Vs. 44-46

What we see here is, Jesus isn’t so much concerned anymore with why the Jews have rejected Him, but He is more concerned with all the reasons they should believe!!

Notice Vs. 44, “And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.”

There are only 5 places in the gospels we read that Jesus cried out. 2 of them were on the cross. another was at the feast of Tabernacles when He said, “whoever is thirsty let him come to me and drink.” A 4th was when He called Lazarus from the tomb and the 5th one is right here, when He responds to the Jews and their final rejection of Him as the Messiah!!

When we read that Jesus “cried out,” it should be shocking to us, because it describes the absolute seriousness of the moment. That tells us this is an incredibly important moment and the information He is giving us is imperative.

Also, 3 times in these final verses of chapter twelve He tells us, God is the one who sent Me!! That is important for two reasons.

1. It speaks of the credentials of Jesus. He came under the authority of the Father. Several times in the gospels we here Him say I came not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent Me!!

2. it explains why the honor of God is so offended by unbelief in Jesus. Jesus is God’s answer for the evil of the world. He is God’s solution to the problems we face, and He is offended by unbelief.

People of the world today, complain and say,” If there is a God why doesn’t He do something about the problems we face?” But the truth is, He did, He sent His Son to bring salvation and grace to the world, through forgiveness and the sacrifice of the cross, but the world rejected Him, and in turn they rejected God!!

For the Jewish leaders, they rejected Jesus because His message challenged their self-righteousness. They were trying to earn their way to heaven by good works. He exposed their sin and confronted their false teachings. The same thing is true today. We do not want to be corrected and we don’t want our sin exposed.

People reject Jesus because they don’t want anyone telling them what to do or how to live. (Lisa)

But the real question is, did Jesus speak for God? The answer is, He did. The proof was in the miracles He performed. They proved He came from God. So, it should have been clear to the Jewish leaders in the same way it should be clear to us, any rejection of Christ is a rejection of God!!

The subject of this great passage is. Christ is the mediator between man and God which means He is the bridge. Think about how the Mackinac bridge allows those of us who live in the lower peninsula to have access to the upper peninsula. In the same way Jesus allows man to have access to God!!

Notice Vs. 45, ““He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.”

Everything that God the Father is, is seen in the Son. When a person looks at Jesus, they see the very nature of God. The very acts and words of God Himself. Again, we see the phrase, “The one who sent Me.” In other words, Christ was sent into the world so that we could see God. So, God could reveal Himself to us!!

Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”

The word “radiance” is the Greek word “apergausma” and the word radiance is the only word they could use to describe this because we don’t have an English word for it.

This is describing the rays that extend out from the sun. They are the same substance as the sun itself. They come from the sun itself. They bring warmth and light into the world but they are never disconnected from the sun.

That is who Jesus is. He is the rays that extend out into thew world from the Father. He is the exact same substance as God.

Look at John 14:4–6 ““And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Notice the repetition of the word “way” here. 3 times He uses it in these verses. He says, “you know the way.” “how do we know the way?” And “I am the way.”

There is a difference in giving someone directions for the way they are going and taking someone by the hand and leading them there. When someone leads you where you are going they become the way to get there. You don’t follow the road anymore, you follow the person. That’s who Jesus is. He not only gives us the directions but He takes our hand and leads us to God!!

When Jesus says, He is the truth. There is a difference between telling someone the truth and living the truth before them. Jesus is the living, breathing embodiment of truth. Everything He did and everything He spoke in every way was truth!!

And when Jesus says, He is the Life. Again there is a difference between telling someone how to live and showing them the perfect way to live which is what Jesus did. He lived a sinless life. He is the very source of life itself. John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

Notice Vs. John 12:46 ““I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”

Again, here Jesus is telling us what He was sent into the world to do. He came to deliver us from darkness. Darkness in the gospel of John represents sin, evil, death, and hell. And as the light of the world Jesus came to light the way for us, out of the darkness.

Notice we are already in darkness. He came so that “we would not remain in darkness.” Also, notice the condition for removal of darkness is faith. He says, “so that everyone who believes in Me.” In other words, the person who believes in Christ is the person who is led out of the darkness and into the knowledge of God!!

So, in Vs. 44-46 we have seen the True Believer Jesus is teaching us all the reasons we should believe in Him as our Savior.

II. The Judgment of the Unbeliever Vs. 47-50

There is a judgment of the unbeliever. Jesus teaches us two important things here.

The unbeliever is not judged by Christ Himself, and that Jesus came to save the world not to judge it.

Notice Vs. 47-48, ““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.” “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.

The unbeliever is judged by the words of Jesus concerning salvation. In other words, Jesus has came and told us the way to be saved. So, to reject Him, is to reject what He has said, and means you will stand in judgement before God by yourself. Based on your own merits.

The full message of salvation is available to man. Jesus has come and delivered them to us. So, now if we do not accept what Jesus has told us, as the way to be saved we cannot be saved.

So, even though Jesus came in a positive way, not to judge man, the by-product of that is; We are either justified by His words or condemned by His words.

Then we are given three reasons the words of Jesus will be the judge of man.

Look at Vs. 49-50, “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. “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.””

We are judged because His words are the very commandment of God Himself.

We are judged because God’s commandment is life. In other words, they impart eternal life to believer who receives them but death to the unbeliever who doesn’t.

Because the words of Christ are truth. They are the very words the Father has told Him to say. And remember this is regarding the salvation of the world. Jesus told us exactly what the Father wanted us to know to be saved!!

Conclusion

The Point: Christ is one with God and His message of eternal life comes from the Father.

In way of application for us. There are a lot of opinions in the world about Jesus. But it is important we understand that He asks and demands of us us only what God has authorized Him to ask and demand of us!!

If it seems extreme to you that Jesus calls for us to have faith in Him and believe in Him alone for salvation, realize it is God Himself that is authorizing Him to do so. It is God Himself that provided no other means for us to be saved. Acts 4:12 ““And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.””

As Christians today we need to claim that same authority Christ claimed. There is no need for us to shrivel back from debates or water down the gospel to make it more appealing to the world. Even if the world rejects us, they are rejecting the truth Christ proclaimed, and either way God will vindicate Himself.

We want to present the gospel as an invitation from God but the truth is when someone rejects the gospel they are not rejecting you but Christ. God demands that all people repent and believe for their salvation and that will offend people but that doesn’t change the truth!!

So, like Jesus, we should be able to say with resolve, “What I have done, I have done as God has taught me in his Word.” If we can say that, we will not need to fear. Because in the end it will be proved that only one opinion really matters: that is the opinion of God, who holds eternity in his hand and gives eternal life to all who receive his beloved Son.