John 12:32-36
Notes
Transcript
I want to welcome everyone to POTR this morning.
We are looking at a crucial doctrine this morning: The Doctrine of the Atonement
The Doctrine of the Atonement:
Atonement (i.e. ‘at-one-ment’). In Christian theology, man’s reconciliation with God through the sacrificial death of Christ.
Atonement. In Christian thought, the act by which God and man are brought together in personal relationship. The term is derived from Anglo-Saxon words meaning “making at one,” hence “at-one-ment.” It presupposes a separation or alienation that needs to be overcome if human beings are to know God and have fellowship with him. As a term expressing relationship, atonement is tied closely to such terms as reconciliation and forgiveness.
If you’re visiting or somewhat new here, let me tell you a little bit of who we are.
If you are anything like me…I didn’t grow up going to church really learning anything. I learned about what “to do” and what “not to do”.
I grew up learning the basics...
God exists
Jesus came and died and rose on Easter
He’s coming back one day
And if you mess up…He sees you and He’s going to be mad at you and you're going to have to pay some price for it.
So…you feel bad for a little bit and then once you went a day or two without doing anything that stupid again you can start praying again and reading your bible and go back to church.
And…hope you go to Heaven when you die but hate playing this miserable church game.
We are a 1689 London Baptist Confessional Church
We are Protestants. We are PROTESTants
We believe and hold to the 5 Solas:
the Scripture Alone
by Faith Alone
by Grace Alone
Through Christ Alone
for the Glory of God Alone
Not only are a 1689 London Baptist Confessional Church…we agree with todays Baptist Faith and Message.
Article IV talks about Salvation. It says:
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.
Section B is Justification
Section C is Sanctification
Section D is Glorification
We want people to know God and what He has done for us, here at POTR.
We preach verse by verse and try to understand what God is telling us through His revealed Word.
Sometimes, like this morning, it takes us into some deep historical doctrines that we may not have been taught growing up…but here you are this morning.
God has brought you here this morning to hear His Word:
For a quick catch up…some Greeks (Gentiles) showed up and wanted to see Jesus. When Philip and Andrew told Jesus about these Gentiles, Jesus said:
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Then, as we saw last week as went over verses 27-31, Jesus went on to say:
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
Thats a quick recap and it brings us to this mornings text
Let me read you the Word of God:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Prayer:
Alright everybody…put your mouthpiece in and buckle your chin-straps!
Context is so important when we are reading Scripture.
If we want to have a good understanding of what God is telling us then we have to be Scripturally honest and contextually honest with ourselves.
For instance, a few weeks ago we were going over verses 16-19 and verse 19 says this:
So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Now, if we are going to be honest we have to admit that the Pharisees who were saying this didn’t LITERALLY mean that “the whole world has gone after him”.
they are in the world and they were not going after Him
They were wanting to kill him
The Indians who lived in America at this time were not going after him
But it says “the whole world”… “that means every individual in the world”.
NO IT DOES NOT!
That isn’t being Scripturally honest and its not contextually honest.
and we all know that....no matter how much you want to believe otherwise.
Look at verse 32…our FIRST (and maybe only) verse we are looking at this morning:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
There are 3 things to see here:
What does he mean by “lifted up from the earth”
What does it mean to “draw”
What does Christ mean by “all people”
…that he will “draw all people” to Himself
First, when He says, “when I am lifted up from the earth...”
This is not talking about his resurrection or when He ascends into Heaven.
This is talking about Him being lifted up on the Cross…READ THE NEXT VERSE:
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
We are talking about the death of Christ on the cross.
See…we just got through two verses!
The SECOND thing to see…what does it mean to “draw”?
Look at verse 32 again:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
What does Christ mean here that he “will draw all people” to Himself?
The Word DRAW in the original language Means:
to pull or drag, requiring force because of the inertia of the object being dragged—‘to pull, to drag, to draw.’
This word is used 5 times in the book of John, this verse being one of them, and Luke uses it again in the book of Acts.
In John 18:10, John uses it to describe Peter “drawing a sword”.
the sword did not draw itself and Peter didn’t look at the sword and bat his eyes and the sword chose to come out of its sheath.
2. In John chapter 21, it is used to describe a large catch of fish.
Jesus tells them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat and they would find some (fish).
Lets just look at it:
He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.
And again in verse 11 in this same chapter it is used again:
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
You can read in Acts 16 where Paul was “dragged…into the marketplace before the rulers” in verse 19.
But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
And John used it in chapter 6:44:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
I love how RC Sproul painted this picture.
“No one can”…the word “can” has to do with ability. NO one has the ability to come to Christ unless the father “draws” him…and Christ will raise HIM (the one drawn to Christ) up on the last day.
It doesn’t say “may”… “no one MAY come...” It says “no one can”.
How is that? Why is that?
Because we are spiritually dead and spiritually blind. We are held captive by the evil one and we need to be rescued! We must be DRAWN…like water is drawn from a well…we must be DRAWN TO CHRIST! Because...
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Look at John 12:32 and lets look at the THIRD thing we need to understand from these words of Christ....
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
When Christ is lifted up He will draw “ALL PEOPLE TO” Himself.
Many people TODAY…let me stress, TODAY, believe that it MUST BE SAYING that When Christ is on the cross He will TRY to draw every individual in the World to Himself.
It doesn’t say He will TRY…it says HE WILL DRAW ALL PEOPLE TO HIMSELF!
The Atonement of Christ was NOT for every individual in the World…and that is the most offensive thing to say in the church culture today in America. It is offensive because to American Christianity.
Like John MacArthur said about these doctrines:
“They’re not hard to see in Scripture…they’re just hard to swallow”.
Jesus died for the elect…all those God the Father gave to the Son.
The SCOPE of the “all” in this verse is the same as it is in
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
And again in verses 44 and 45:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
The “all people” is not talking about “every individual in the world” BECAUSE IT IS CLEAR that every individual in the world has not been “drawn” to the cross Christ!
The “all people” in this verse is not talking about all people without exception…it is talking about all people without distinction.
When Christ is lifted up he will draw “all people”, from different ethnic groups and backgrounds.
Remember the context…this was right after these Greeks, the Gentiles, came to see Christ and He knew that His hour had come.
The “all people” are people from every tribe, tongue, and language…from all over the world!
And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Christ did not DIE for an OPPORTUNITY for people…HE DIED TO PURCHASE…to Ransom people!
We already went over verse 33…so lets look real fast at verse 34:
So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
Again, you here me say this all the time and I will say it again for two reasons:
Because we always (especially me) need to be reminded how much we need Christ and in our flesh we can do nothing good.
And for our visitors.
See, sometimes…many times we become very self-righteous people.
We read verse like this and think to ourselves, “I would have never questions Jesus like these people did here”.
But the truth is:
Yes you would have
And I would have too…but I would have said something probably way worse.
I want to say something more about their questions to Christ but first look at Jesus’ response to their questions:
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Jesus didn’t try to answer their objections that they had.
Jesus didn’t try to convince them of the TRUTH of His Word
He Just told them that the light was going to be with them just a little while longer…AVOIDING their objections
He called them to TRUST in the LIGHT…or the DARKNESS would overtake you.
Those in DARKNESS DO NOT KNOW...
He calls them to put their TRUST IN THE LIGHT ...
TRUST IN HIM…Even if it goes against
what you have been taught
Believe the Word of God…Who became Flesh and dwelt among us…THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD…BELIEVE His Word.
Believe His Word even if it seems to be opposite of who you “thought” He was your whole life! Believe THE WORD!
Because see…look again at verse 34…NOT UNDERSTANDING The CROSS of Christ…THEY JEWS ASKED...
So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
We are no better are we? Remember, I told you that!
What Jesus said to them didn’t make since to what they thought the Messiah was suppose to be!
For people who new the Old Testament “so well”…they couldn’t wrap their mind around The Messiah suffering and dying.
They were looking for a conquering King who ruled the world FOREVER!
How could they not have remembered
Isaiah 53?
They didn’t understand because they DID NOT BELIEVE HIS WORD.
He doesn’t try to EXPLAIN HIMSELF…HE TELLS THEM TO TRUST HIM…BELIEVE IN THE LIGHT…THAT YOU MAY BECOME SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE LIGHT...
THEN HE DEPARTED AND HID HIMSELF FROM THEM.
KNOW THE CROSS OF CHRIST CHURCH
KNOW WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED FOR HIS PEOPLE!
This is The Doctrine of Limited Atonement.
For people that do not understand or know what we mean by “Limited Atonement” it sounds …bad to them. And to be gracious, it doesn’t “sound” appealing.
But everyone believes that the Atonement of Christ was limited in one way or the other.
For us, we believe that the Atonement of Christ is “limited” in
SCOPE...to the Elect of God. That is to say that Christ died only for
the Elect of God (I’ll explain this in just a minute).
To others, who believe that Jesus died for every individual in the
world, they would have to say that the Atonement of Christ was
“Limited” it is efficacy and or power.
Meaning: Jesus died for every individual in the world but it was only effectual for those who believed in Him.
So, when you hear the term “Limited Atonement”…every Christian would limit it in one way are the other.
The death of Christ was only for the Elect…limited in SCOPE
Or…it was for every individual but it was limited in its efficacy
So let’s look at this verse ONE MORE TIME…and see what it is telling us:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Instead of calling it a “Limited Atonement”…let’s call it a “Definite Atonement”
God the Father intended to redeem every individual person the Father gave to the Son in eternity past.
God the Father applied the accomplishment of Christ on the cross to each on of those that the Father gave to the Son by the Holy Spirit pressing the cross of Christ on their hearts.
The death of Christ on the cross was intended to reconcile God’s people back to Himself, to be an ATONEMENT for them and for them ALONE.
It was not only INTENDED FOR THEM…but it ACHIEVES what it was intended FOR.
And because of THIS TRUTH…Christ Jesus is true to His very name:
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
For us who believe in Christ and trust Him and serve Him…LET US THANK GOD that He drew us to the Son and that the Son died for us on the Cross and reconciled us to God.
Continue to walk in Him in the obedience of your faith...
If you have not put your faith in Christ...
Know this:
You live in God’s World
He is the Creator and He has told us how to live in HIs world.
We have sinned against Him and we deserve his JUST Justice.
We deserve nothing but the penalty of our sin.
But He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a life perfectly…the way God demands us to live in His Word…Christ lived a perfect sinless life.
He was put to death on a cross and placed in a tomb.
There he brought judgment and cast the ruler of the world out (Satan)
The Cross of Christ was our D-Day…the war was won…but the battles still go on
Three days later he walked out of that tomb and conquered death and He ascended into Heaven.
Anyone who believes and trusts In THIS CHRIST…will live forever with Him in the presence of Almighty God.
this may be hard to believe because it is ONE WILD STORY I GET IT…BUT LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF CHIRST...
While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Hear the Words of God…Run to the Light so that you may become sons and daughters of the Light!