Fear, Faith, and the Glory We Love (John Part 40)
Text: John 12:31-50
Have you ever been in a position where you had the opportunity to stand up for someone, or take a stand on an issue, but in doing that you knew you’d have to pay a price. Maybe you’d lose opportunities, or be looked over for a position or promotion. Or maybe even face physical harm if you stood up for this person or thing? Have you ever taken a stance on something, or maybe… called attention to something, and you knew it was going to be unpopular, and that by doing it, there was going to be push-back and fallout because of it? Whether it’s taking a stance on an issue, or belief, or standing up for a person or idea? A couple of weeks back, I was talking to Joel and Cecil and I was telling them about a discussion that I had with a fellow student back when I was in college. And what had happened is that I had gotten into a debate with a professor, and it ended up costing me a good grade on an assignment. So this fellow student and I were having a discussion about that and he said to me, “McKinley, have you ever asked yourself, ‘Is this a hill I’m willing to die on?’” And I said to him, and I won’t tell you his name, but I said to him, “Have you ever asked yourself, ‘Is there ANY hill that I am willing to die on?’” And granted, there are some things that are non-essential, and not worth the time and effort that it might take to work through it with someone, when there are essential things at stake. But at the same time, there are some well-meaning folks who for whatever reason, never take a stand on anything. Even essential things, like truth, and the way of salvation, and God’s Word… it’s inspiration, it’s inerrancy, and its sufficiency. The Bible speaks a lot about unity, but never at the cost of truth, or at the cost of what is clearly taught in Scripture, and what is taught of Christ and the way of salvation. You give up those essential doctrines, and you don’t even have Christianity anymore.
We’re in John 12:31-50, and we’re going to see this laid out for us this morning. And just to remind you of what’s led up to this passage, let me give you a quick recap. It started with Jesus going to a meal in Bethany, and large crowds showed up to see Him and the man He had raised from the dead (Lazarus). Then as Jesus left to go to Jerusalem, these crowds followed Him, and began waving palm branches, and singing “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Even the King of Israel.” Along the way, Jesus gets a donkey, and begins riding it, and as He approaches the city of Jerusalem, even larger crowds come out to meet Him, and join in the praise. The Pharisees and religious leaders are terrified, because they think Rome is going to take notice and put the hammer down, especially when even Greeks are starting to show interest in Jesus. And remember… those Greeks expressing interest led Jesus to say, “The Hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Meaning, now it was time to go to the cross. It was drawing near. And Jesus was troubled, because He knew that that meant. It meant having the wrath of God poured out upon Him as He paid for our sins on the cross.
That’s the background… let’s read our text (READ JOHN 12:31-50).
Now I love how this passage starts out, Satan, the ruler of this world, is cast out. There’s a new ruler. You see; from the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the world had been in darkness. People were blinded to the truth, and their minds were darkened by sin, and when you get right down to it, only the Covenant People of God had been given the truth. They were the only ones who had been given this revelation of God, and the truth in the Old Testament Scriptures. You know; Plato was a brilliant man, and he had his philosophy, and he had come to reject the Greek Pantheon, and even said, there is probably only one Supreme, Creator, God, but he was unable to come to the truth of who God really was, and what He was really like. His mind was under the sway of the evil one, and he couldn’t come to the full knowledge of the truth. Thales of Miletus – another ancient philosopher once said, “Nothing is more ancient than God, for He was never created.” Like Plato, he understood that a single god created all things, but Thales didn’t know God, he couldn’t know him. His mind was in darkness when it came to the truth of who God was.
And Seneca – a Roman Philosopher, who was actually alive during the time of Jesus even said, “To obey God is true freedom.” But he didn’t know which god was the one true God. He had an idea, and a notion that there was one true god, but he had no idea who that God really was. Only God’s Covenant People had the truth, but after the death of Jesus, the ruler of the world, who had kept man in darkness and blinded their eyes… was cast out. So after the death, burial, and resurrection – We see Jesus commission the disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” In speaking of the results of His death, or the effects that His death will bring, Jesus had previously said to Peter that He was going to build HIS CHURCH, and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
In other words, Satan gets his head crushed, his authority destroyed, his power limited, he is put on a leash, and the Gospel will go forth and snatch people who were previously perishing from the kingdom of darkness, and bring them into the kingdom of light. And that’s what Jesus says, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to Myself – literally “All Kinds of People” to Myself.” He’s not teaching universalism here, but that He will bring all kinds of people to salvation, people from every tribe and tongue, every nationality, from every walk of life.
And the people who are listening to Him… they kind of get it… they say, “Wait a minute Jesus, we know that the Old Testament talks about how Christ remains forever… so how is it that you are going to be lifted up? How is it that you’re going to die on a cross (they understood what He was saying), and yet at the same time, remain forever?” And Jesus basically says to them, “You’re getting there fella’s. You’re on the right track.” And then… then He does the one thing we would think that He wouldn’t do… look at the last part of verse 36 “He departed and hid Himself from them.” How bad does that mess with your theology? WHY? WHY DID JESUS DO THAT?
Well verse 37 tells us – “They still did not believe.” Jesus had done signs, wonders, miracles, amazing things, and they still didn’t believe. It’s crazy when you think about it… They did not believe. How does that happen? How can people have seen the things Jesus has done, and read about the things He has done, and hear the stories, and hear about Him dying on the cross, and then rising from the grave, and ascending to heaven and still not believe?
Let’s look at what John shows us here… because he kind of lays it out how this happens, and gives us a trait that is common of unbelief. There in verse 37 he says, “Jesus has done all these signs, and yet they still did not believe.” What that tells us is that unbelief, dismisses the evidence. Think about that for a second… IS there evidence to prove that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is the One true Savior who alone is capable of forgiving man of his sin, making man right with God, and giving man eternal life? Is there evidence for that? You had better believe it! Jesus is a historical figure, He existed in history, and He created a historical movement that has become a historical religion, and when we examine all the evidence it’s overwhelming. It would literally take us hours upon hours to examine it all, but if you’re interested in that I recommend a book called “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel, or the book “Cold Case Christianity” by a guy named J. Warner Wallace, or “The Historical Jesus” by Gary Habermas (all three of those are great!).
The point is – there’s abundant evidence that Jesus lived, that He did miracles, that He died, and that He rose again. And the thing is; most people don’t reject Jesus because of a lack of evidence, or because the evidence isn’t compelling – in-fact; most people simply won’t take the time to honestly and intellectually examine the evidence… they reject Him because they understand that if He is real, and if He is really God the Son, and that He really is the only way of salvation, that means they need to make a decision. That would mean that He alone is worthy of all glory and honor, and praise! That would mean their way of living would need to change, and their spending habits would need to change, and their way of thinking would need to change. It would mean that hell is real, and a real place where people will spend eternity. It would mean that God’s call to repent is real, and so we would have to turn from our sin and trust in Christ.
But as John tells us at the very beginning of his Gospel account, men love darkness rather than light, and don’t want to come to the light because they don’t want their sin dealt with…
When you get right down to it; it’s just easier for a person to dismiss the evidence outright, rather than to be intellectually honest and look at it objectively.
So John gives us this trait that’s common to unbelievers, but also don’t miss that he also says that their spiritual eyes are blinded and that their hearts are hard. They’re under the sway of sin and Satan, and if God doesn’t open their eyes and turn their hearts, they’ll remain lost. They’ll remain in their sin. The Bible teaches us, very clearly, that man is born in sin, that man wants to sin, that man loves his sin, and that he is unable and unwilling to come to Christ and the knowledge of truth. It teaches us that Satan uses that propensity toward sin and rebellion to keep man in darkness, and to perpetuate deception and lies. And that it takes a sovereign act of God to bring man to saving faith and newness of life. Salvation belongs to the Lord! It is all of grace!
Now John doesn’t let us who are believers off the hook here either though. Take a look at the next two verses there in our text (READ John 12:42-43).
Man… I’ll just tell ya’ this is a frustrating and sad thing that we tend to see a lot in our day.
When genuine believers people who understand… who RIGHTLY understand that Jesus is God in the flesh. That He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the father but by Him… they understand that Jesus is the Savior… but they don’t understand that He is also Lord. These are those folks who have faith in Christ, but they’re so afraid of the world, or of man, that there’s never a hill that they’re willing to die on. They compromise out of fear to the point of detriment to their own souls, and the souls of others. And we get that… we understand how hard it is to take a stand. Because we all know that it’s when you take a stand that you get attacked. It’s when you take a stand that you lose friends. It’s when you take a stand that you find yourself in uncomfortable situations. It’s when you take a stand that you face persecution. The Bible tells us that. “Any man who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION!”
And look at how Jesus addresses this fear of man in verses 44 & 45 – He cries out! He says, “Listen up! It’s not just about believing in a historical man who is standing right in front of you. It’s about believing in God. I’ve been sent by God the Father to pull you out of spiritual darkness. It’s about God’s authority! It’s about eternal life.”
The defining characteristic of a warrior is the willingness to engage the enemy.
Turn with me to Luke 12:4-5, “… Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will tell you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!” Then jump on down to verses 8 & 9 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”
Why would we ever be ashamed of the One who gave His life for us? Why would we ever be ashamed of the One who bore the wrath of God in our place? Who laid down His life for our sin, and secured eternal life for us? Why would we ever be so fearful that we don’t tell others how they too can escape the wrath to come? The only reason I can think of is because we either don’t fully know the sovereign Lord God who has numbered the hairs on our heads, and who holds our breath in His hand, or we don’t fully trust Him as we should. And it’s so easy to get your eyes on the wind and waves of the storms blowing all around you. It’s so easy to let the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world choke out the Word and make us unfruitful. But the solution is just as simple. Turn to Christ. Put your full faith and trust in Him. Do it today!
CLOSING
