Sermon 040598

Jn. 12:36b-43                       Blinded Eyes and Hardened Hearts-II                              04/05/98

                                                                                                                            ABCC

I.     Introduction                                                                                                                      617

q      Jesus has presented Himself as The Light to this massive, religious, unbelieving crowd

q      He has warned them of the danger of darkness & stated the urgency of coming out of it

q      Jesus departs & was hidden from them (v. 36b) – the truth is no longer readily accessible to them (The danger of being left with your own ideas, opinions, prejudices, traditions…)

q      This darkness is in people’s hearts & the heart is deceptive & wicked (Mt. 6:23; Jer. 17:9)

How dark & dangerous is this darkness in people’s hearts?  How far will they go?…(Gen. 6:5; Rom. 1:28-32)

II.    The Stubbornness of People in Darkness (v. 37-38)

A.     Miracles are signs designed to promote faith in God (Jn. 2:11; 10:37-38; 14:11; 20:30-31)

B.      Miracles alone will not bring people to faith in Christ (v. 37)

·        Supernatural activity in nature, personal circumstances or even in a person body (Lk. 16:27-31)

·        People saw Lazarus & would not believe in Christ; Family & friends of the blind man who was healed…(Jn. 9).  Even though people may confess & believe a miracle, they still will not believe in Christ (Ac. 4:15-17)

C.      Human responsibility in salvation (v. 37) – “…they were not believing in Him”

D.     Stubbornness = insensitive to truth; dullness, hardness

Pharaoh (Ex. 7:14); Israel (Ezek. 3:5-7); Jewish leaders (Ac. 7:51); Jews in Corinth (Ac. 18:5-6); Gentiles (Rom 1

E.      Unbelief has never taken God by surprise – He knows beforehand (v. 38)

F.      Faith has never taken God by surprise (Jn. 6:37,44)

God is omniscient, omnipresent & omnipotent (Is. 46:9-10; 55:10-11)

G.     Unbelieving people are a part of God’s prophetic plan (v. 38)

Pharaoh (Rom. 9:17) & Judas (Mt. 26:24), Nero, Hitler, Charles Darwin, Anton Lavee, Anti-Christi…

Blinded Eyes and Hardened Hearts-II, pg. 2

III.   God’s Gracious Dealing with People in Darkness who will not Believe (v. 38)

A.     God makes the gracious offer of salvation even to those He knows will not believe

B.      Jesus revealed who He was by word and works

They are without excuse & will receive a much more severe judgment from God (Rom. 1:20; Heb. 10:26-31)

IV.  God’s Judicial Dealing with People in Darkness who will not Believe (v. 39-40)

A.     God is always in control, even with unbelievers

B.      God always has purpose & reasons for His actions (v. 39a) – “For this cause…”

C.      The inability to believe is a judicial action by God (v. 39a) – “…they could not believe”

D.     God’s judicial actions are a part of His prophetic plan (v. 39b)

Please don’t walk away from the gracious offer of salvation today.  Come out of the darkness now!  Come to Christ; He is the Light and your salvation.  Don’t hesitate, procrastinate; don’t be concerned with what you don’t know – Christ has all the answers; don’t make excuses.  Remember those who stayed in the darkness too long – their stubbornness led to their condemnation.  Remember Lot’s sons-in-law who would not leave Sodom & Gomorrah, remember his wife who began to leave & looked back, remember the large crowd that walked away from Christ after He miraculously fed them, remember the children & teenagers that wouldn’t enter Noah’s ark & died… Remember the words of Christ, “…those who have ears to hear…Come to Me all who are weary…”  Come to Jesus & find in Him forgiveness, liberty, righteousness, joy & peace in the Holy Spirit, contentment in this life, everything lovely & wonderful; He will be your shepherd, your counselor, your comforter…He has made provision for your future & covers your past & He has great plans for your life today!  Come to Him.