Would not, Could not
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Today we are looking at John 12:28-50. Please open your bibles to the passage.
One of my goals each week is to not just study a passage with you, but to encourage you to study the Bible on your own. I want to either help you learn to study and learn from the scriptures on your own, or remind you of good techniques of Bible Study.
In the past, I have encouraged you to read through the passage you are studying multiple times, in different translations. Then, I encouraged you to read through the whole book to see the context of the passage.
I often encourage you to ask questions about a passage. Ask: What? Where? When? Why? How? Seek out the answers to those questions. Understand the setting, and circumstances of the passage. Find what the main point is, and how you can apply it to your life.
Another step in studying a passage is to ask what is being taught theologically in a passage? Or, what is being taught doctrinally?
Theology is a broad term used for the study of God, or what God has to say about a topic.
Doctrine is a word that means teaching. Christian Doctrine is the summation of what the Bible teaches about a subject.
So, when considering what a passage teaches about Theology or Doctrine, we can break it down into certain topics. That is, we can ask,
What does this passage teach about:
The Trinity? God the Father? God the Son? God the Holy Spirit?
Angels? Satan? Demons?
Mankind?
Sin?
Israel?
Salvation?
The Church?
Things to come?
Then, after answering that question, we can find and consider other passages that deal with the same topic to help to understand this passage.
We are going to do some of that today.
Let’s begin at John 12:28-29.
Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
What area theology, or doctrine do these verses address?
Doctrine of the Trinity
Doctrine of the Trinity
Jesus often spoke of God as his Father. The Jews understood clearly what that meant. If Jesus called God his Father, he was claiming to be equal with God, he was claiming to be God.
We saw that earlier in John. Turn to John 5:16-18.
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus also goes on in that passage to say that the Father testifies that he is, indeed, the Son.
Now, while in Jerusalem for the Passover, with all of these Jews around him who have been doubting him, Jesus appeals to the Father to glorify Himself, and God the Father answers from heaven!!
If Jesus was not truly God the Son, would God the Father have answered? No!
Here Jesus addresses God directly as Father, and the Father answers! God the Father was confirming that indeed, Jesus is the Son of God, fully equal with the Father! And He did it audibly for all to hear!
That is why Jesus said next,
Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.
God wanted these people to know that Jesus was indeed God the Son, equal with God, just as he had been claiming all along. God the Father was giving testimony for them to believe.
Jesus is God. If He is God, how should we treat what he says?
Let’s move on.
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
In this section, I see two main areas of doctrine being addressed. What areas of theology, or doctrine are being addressed here?
In verse 31, I see the...
Doctrine of Satan
Doctrine of Satan
John 12:31 speaks of the Prince of this world being driven out.
Who is the prince of this world? Satan. When Adam and Eve chose to listen to him instead of obeying God, they took this world that God put them in charge of, and put it under Satan’s control. 1 John 5:19 says,
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
So, what did Jesus mean by the prince of the world will be driven out?
Satan has power over people because of sin and death. Jesus was doing to destroy his power on the cross.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Or, as Paul puts it in Colossians,
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Jesus broke the power of Satan when he died for us on the cross. We do not have to fear guilt, shame, or death because of our sin. Satan is the great accuser. But Jesus, the prosecutor and Judge stands in our defense.
Satan has been truly defeated. We do not have to fear him. We do not have to fear guilt, shame or death. We are forgiven and free in Christ.
We also are no longer under Satan’s authority. We do not have to obey him.
What do I mean by we do not have to obey him?
God commands us how to live as His children, right? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Those two commands sum up all the law and the prophets.
Satan tells us to do the opposite of that.
God says to love Him, and to set aside time to worship him with others. Satan says, you don’t need to do that!
God says to love others, and to forgive them when they wrong you. He says to love and forgive our enemies. Satan says, they hurt you, you hurt them!
We are not under Satan’s control. We do not have to obey him. We are to obey God! We are his children. All because Jesus defeated Satan on the cross!
There is another doctrine in this passage.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Doctrine of Salvation
Doctrine of Salvation
Jesus will draw people to Himself.
The beauty of the cross. The kindness of God is what draws people to salvation.
We do need to understand God is holy and righteous. We need to understand that God is just and must punish disobedience. But what draws people to God is His love, mercy, grace and kindness. These are what we see on the cross.
When we share about salvation, we cannot just show God’s judgment and condemnation. Nor can we just speak of God’s love for people.
What we need is the cross. We need to show people the cross which is where God’s justice and love come together to show us how far he goes to save us from our sin, guilt, shame and death.
There is another aspect of salvation which we see in this passage.
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.
Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
This passage tells us something else about salvation. It tells us that,
Today is the day of Salvation
Today is the day of Salvation
Jesus is telling the people to believe while they can.
Flashlight illustration
Jesus was there shining brightly for them to see clearly whe He is. The Father just spoke from heaven, testifying that Jesus was indeed the Son. They had all the light to they needed to see. So, Jesus encouraged them to use the light while they had it, to believe. Soon they would not have the light.
But sadly,
Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
When it comes to salvation, the bible is clear that Jesus died to pay the penalty of sin for all the world. That means, his death was sufficient to save all mankind.
The Bible teaches that the Father draws people to salvation. Jesus draws people to salvation. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment.
And, yet, there are still people who are described as in this passage:
They would not believe
They would not believe
They would not believe. They would choose, after being drawn by the Father and Son, after the conviction of the Spirit, they would choose to not believe.
They would not believe after all of the miracles, after all of the teaching. They would not believe even after God the Father answered the Son from heaven. They were blinded. They chose to not believe.
Through John, the Spirit tells us that this fulfilled what Isaiah wrote:
This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”
They would not, and after their refusal, it got to the point that:
They could not
They could not
Because they would not believe, they then could not believe.
Flood illustration
God absolutely draws people with his kindness. He reveals himself through his creation. He declares his salvation through us, his saints. But there are some who will not believe. And sadly, if they continue to choose not to believe, eventually, they will get to the point that they cannot believe.
Another illustration for this is in Hebrews 3, which is quoting Psalm 95.
So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.
That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
In this passage he is speaking about the people of Israel who saw God’s mighty hand bring them out of Egypt, part the sea, provide water, provide manna, provide food, provide victory over their enemies, but they still would not believe and enter the land He promised to them. Eventually, it got to the point that since they would not believe, they could not enter His promised land.
God is longsuffering, but he sets a line in the sand, and says this far and no more.
There comes a time, that after people “would not”, that they “could not”. God gives them over, and leaves them in their decision. Romans 1 describes is this way:
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
God draws. God reveals Himself. But when people will not, eventually He gives them over to what they want. He gives them over to their desires and depraved thinking. Then, they cannot.
Let us keep praying for those around us that they will believe. Let’s keep sharing the cross, the very thing that shows both God’s justice and grace. Let’s show them the cross that draws men to Jesus, and pray that they will believe, and not harden their hearts.
Would not, could not… an important concept taught throughout the scriptures, and found here in John 12.
What I find interesting is that there is another ‘would not’ in this passage. Look at verses 42-43.
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;
for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
There were some who believed, but they were afraid. So, they would not let others know about their faith.
Why? They loved human praise more than praise from God.
I believe this would not is one to which we need to pay special attention.
When studying this passage, I found it interesting that Hebrews 3, which we looked at also spoke of the would not, could not of those who would not believe. But then that passage, like here in John 12, looks at the would not of believers.
Look with me.
So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.
That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
See to it that we encourage one another as long as it is called “Today,” so that we will not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Could it be that just like believers can be hardened when they choose to disobey God, that believers could be hardened and continue to disobey God? Yes, I believe it is. That is why Hebrews has this warning!
In 1 Corinthians 11, a passage dealing with the Lord’s supper, Paul gives warnings to the believers in Corinth about their behavior. When they came together as a church to remember what Christ had done for them, they actually had a whole meal, concluding with the breaking of bread and drinking the cup to remember Christ. But some of them didn’t like that they had to share with others who didn’t have, and didn’t contribute much to the meal. So, Paul was rebuking them for not loving one another. He rebukes them this way,
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.
Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
They were eating in an unworthy manner because they were not loving one another as Christ commanded. They were justifying themselves in their own eyes, but truly disobeying God’s command. They were sinning.
So, God disciplined them. Some of them were sick and weak. Others had actually died. God took them home so that they would not continue on in sin.
We know it was discipline and not loss of salvation because of verse 32.
The point is, is there any area in our lives where we are living as the ‘would nots’. Is there any area of our lives where we will not obey God?
Are we harboring unforgiveness in our hearts toward a brother or sister in Christ?
Are we harboring unforgiveness and unkindness in our hearts toward an enemy?
Are we speaking in ways that are not for the good of those around us? Are we gossipping? Talking about others, not to build them up, but to spread things about what others have done?
Do we feel the prompting of the Spirit to talk to someone and yet hold back out of fear?
Is there any area of our lives where we simply will not obey?
We need to be in one another’s lives so that we will encourage one another to not be deceived by sin which blinds us to our ‘will nots’, the areas in our lives where we simply will not obey.
We do not want to get to the point of cannot. That line in the sand where God disciplines us for not obeying, with sickness, weakness, or death.
For a good exercise, I encourage you to read through Jesus’ sermon on the mount, in Matthew 5-7. Ask God to show you your heart, and any area where you are living in as the ‘would nots’. Ask Him to change your heart to do what He commands, before you get to the ‘could not’.
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
This is just a sample. We need to use the scriptures to root out any area where we “Would not” before we receive discipline and could not.
Homework:
Read John 12:28-50. Make your own list of doctrines that are taught in this passage, with the verses in which they are found. Summarize what this passage teaches about these doctrines.
What other verses can you find concerning the Doctrine of the trinity, showing that Jesus is the Son of God, and that means he is equally, fully God?
Read Romans 2:4. How is the cross a picture of both God’s justice, and God’s kindness? How could you use the cross to answer the accusation that some make that God is unjust, condemning the world?
Read John 12:31. What other verses speak of Satan as the prince/ruler of this world? How did he become the prince of this world? Read Colossians 2:13-15, and Hebrews 2:14-15. How do they relate to John 12:31?
Read Hebrews 3:7-13. They would not believe, and then could not. The author of Hebrews relates this to believers and tells us to encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that we will not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Is there any sin, any disobedience to God that you need to confess? Do so today. Do not be hardened and get to the point where you cannot obey.