JESUS GLORIFIED-V—John 12:34-36(:20-36)
Attention:
Superman...Really?
Muhammad Ali(the famed ‘braggart’ boxer) was on a plane that began to encounter some mild turbulence, so all the passengers were asked to fasten their seatbelts.
Ali was specifically asked by the stewardess to put his seatbelt on because he didn’t fasten it when instructed.
Ali arrogantly replied, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.”
To which the stewardess replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane!”—From: Ravi Zacharias
•Muhammad Ali’s personal ‘glory’ was much less than he supposed!
*Whereas, Christ Jesus’ ‘glory’ is that He alone, & uniquely, has provided, that anyone who has faith in His atoning sacrifice, will receive God’s forgiveness for their personal sin—past, present, & future! And He has also made it so that anyone who truly trusts Jesus as their Savior & Lord, not only has eternal life in heaven, but also ‘can’ have a full & meaningful life here on earth.
*Jesus’ ‘GLORY’ is His perfectly faithful & uniquely perfect sacrifice for the sin of mankind!...That Frees believers FROM hell, so that instead, they can live eternally in the heavenly home God has prepared for them!
Excerpted from The New Oxford American English Dictionary:
•GLORY(Noun) = ‘High renown or honor won by notable achievements’ OR: ‘Magnificence or great beauty.’
•To GLORIFY(Verb) = ‘To cause the dignity & worth of some person or thing to become manifest & acknowledged.’ OR: ‘To render/esteem/consider as glorious.’
•GLORIOUS(Adjective) = ‘Having a striking beauty or splendor that evokes feelings of delighted admiration.’
Need:
All people are in a pressing, desperate need of individually accepting the reality that Jesus life, death, resurrection, & ascension are of eternal consequence to them.
The apostle John recorded some of the events surrounding the imminence of Jesus’ glorification.
Jesus’ being glorified is of profound significance!
?How &/or Why is Jesus glorified? ?How or Why is Jesus’ glorification significant?
Today we’ll examine the last, of 6 significant aspects of Jesus’ glorification.
Previously we have found that...
Jesus’ glorification necessitates His/a submission to GOD’s...
1. PRIORITY(:20-23)
2. FRUITFULNESS / Productivity(:24-26)
3. PURPOSE(:27-28)
4. JUDGMENT(:29-31)
5. METHOD(:32-33)
Today we’ll find that...
6—Jesus’ glorification necessitates a submission to...
GOD’s RESULT(:34-36)
Explanation:(:34-36) Personal Repentance/Response/Priority
:34—“The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; & how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?””
:35—“Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.”
:36—““While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, & departed, & was hidden from them.”
:34—“The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; & how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?””
“The people” of Jesus’ audience are aware of the Jewish “law.” Not “the law” itself, but the current ‘interpretation’ of “the law” had been ‘perverted’ to some degree—adding to, & taking away from “the law” itself. It was then dispersed/shared among the populace of Israel. Thus, “the people” questioned Jesus based on what they had ‘heard & received as factual’, although those ‘interpretations’ fell far short.
“The people” are aware “that the Christ remains forever”, which is true—He is uncreated eternal God. And they rightly understood Jesus to say that He would be crucified.
•But they were unwilling to accept that the Christ Who would “remain forever”, “must” also “be lifted up.” And particularly so, thru crucifixion, because crucifixion was a known & fatal mark of ‘criminality’ in their society.
•“They could not reconcile Jesus’ prediction of His death”...“with their belief that the Messiah was to be a triumphant conquerer...”—MNTC
•“They failed to grasp that the Son of Man’s being ‘lifted up’ would be the decisive inauguration of Messiah’s endless reign.”—F.F. Bruce in ‘The Gospel Of John’
Jesus was & is both “The Son of” God as well as “The Son of Man.” This fact was unfathomable for many, & caused many to not take Jesus seriously. That’s why they asked Jesus “Who is this Son of Man?”
•A similar circumstance of questioning Jesus’ intentions/motives occurred when Jesus depicted a person’s commitment to Him as: ‘feeding upon Him’, & as the actions of ‘eating His flesh & drinking His blood’(Cf.-Jn. 6:47-66)...The ‘false interpretation’ of which, led many to ASSUME that Jesus was proposing Cannibalism as a means of serving God!
•And their answer to that misinterpretation...
Jn. 6:66—“From that time many of His disciples”[beyond the 12] “went back & walked with Him no more.”
The fact is, that Jesus had divulged thru His life on earth exactly “who the Son Of Man” “is”! He is ‘the Light” of God, sent to save people!(:35)
•So “The people” actually had no excuse for their distrust of Jesus!
*They trusted what they had always held to, which was flawed, RATHER THAN trusting the fulfillment of God’s revelation in the actual flesh-&-blood presence of Jesus!
?Do YOU trust ‘the word on the street’ & ‘what others say”, more than what God has revealed in His Word?
•This is a good place to emphasize the importance of daily devotional reading & study of the Word of God.
•By your doing so, you’ll be able to comprehend the overall message of God. There, you’ll discover answers to “the people’s” questions as well as the answers to your own questions.
•And this is also a good place to emphasize the importance of personal & gathered Bible Study, as well as the importance of gathered Worship.
:35—“Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.”
Jesus does not meet the crowd’s/people’s wrong/misconstrued conclusions(:34) with further & unwarranted discussion regarding “Who is this Son of Man?”
Why?...Because His time with them is limited(per-:23).
‘God’(in the person of Jesus) is actually in their midst & is actively speaking to them. He is “the light” of God. And that “light” is destined to be “with” them ONLY “a little while longer.”
God will withdraw from them bodily, by His removing “Jesus.” Thus “the light” will be taken from their presence/attention(Isa. 53:8-10). When God’s “light” is absent from anyone’s life, they are left vulnerable(“overtake”) to: the manipulations, the devious strategies, the games, & the lies, of the ever-present & interfering “darkness”—All of which Satan & thus the world prefers, enforces, & proffers.
Jn. 1:4—“In Him was life, & the life was the light of men.”
Jn. 8:12—“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Jn. 12:46—Jesus said—“I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”
Your “walk”, in the biblical understanding, refers to the day-to-day way, that you live-out your life.
•Your “walk” is determined by what you REALLY BELIEVE(:36) in your heart-of-hearts. That is to say, your “walk” is determined by your belief system, or your ‘philosophy of reality.’ Everybody operates & lives by their own system of order....Whether it’s real, or imagined, or compromised with both!
When we live our lives(“walk”) in ‘spiritual’ “darkness”—as when we use artificial or ‘flesh-generated’ philosophies to explain life, make ourselves ‘feel better’, or to be ‘better informed’—then we have seriously ‘misjudged reality’. Anytime you misjudge reality—no matter how ‘elegant’ your solution may appear—you still “do NOT “know where” you are “going”!
The “darkness” DOES NOT “overtake” those who have chosen to “walk” as in the daytime. Thus each of God’s children who “walk” in “the light” of Jesus, “know where” they are “going.”
Eph. 5:2, 8-10—“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us & given Himself for us, an offering & a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”.....“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, & truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”
And CONVERSELY, NO person who “walks in darkness” has the first clue as to “where he/she is going.”
•That is to say, NO person who lives his/her life OUTSIDE of God’s ‘intimate’ & personal direction, “knows where he/she is going.”
And in doing so, you have lost the way that God has provided for your direction thru Christ Jesus!
Your personal comprehension of your spiritual surroundings, is directly influenced by your relationship with God.
•IF yours is an ABSENT or DISTANT relationship with God, then you will live your life in the spiritual “darkness” of confusion & debilitating uncertainty.
Example:
On a cloudy, moonless, starless midnight, if the power-grid had utterly failed, & there were no electric lights at all—no phone, no flashlight, no nothin’—If you were to spin me around to discombobulate me as to direction, & drop me in the deep, dark woods, into completely unfamiliar territory, I really would “not know where” I “was going.” I would not know how to get to my own front door at my own home.
In that kind of “darkness”, I have no clue where I am!
*THAT is exactly what it is like, spiritually speaking, for people who do not have Jesus as their Savior & Lord! They have no moral compass.
1John 2:11—“But he who hates his brother is in darkness & walks in darkness, & does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
•What is your response to Jesus seeing that you are not in His ‘flesh-&-blood’ physical presence?...
•His message still remains...
•The descriptions & the reality of His “light” still remain.
•And so the call for you to turn to Him still remains...
*And thus all mankind is personally answerable to Him!
*You absolutely MUST have the “light” of Jesus Christ—God’s “light”—to direct your paths!
Prov. 3:5-6—“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
Prov. 26:12—“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
:36—““While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, & departed, & was hidden from them.”
Jesus plainly(sternly/inflexibly) informs the people/crowd, of THEIR NEED to “believe in the light.” And to “believe” “WHILE” “the light”(Jesus Himself) was still with them in flesh.....
cf.-:36b—“These things Jesus spoke, & departed, & was hidden from them.”
*Jesus didn’t have time to fool-around! NOR did the people!.....
•Remember 12:23—“...“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.”
•If you or any person truly “believes in the light” —that Jesus is indeed the singular bearer of the ‘life’ of God(1:4), Then you are well on your way to “becoming sons of light.”...
And as “son of light” you have a sure kinship with God, thru Jesus, that truly cannot be denied you. That kinship can never be taken from us!
•Jn. 10:14, 27-30—Jesus said,—““I am the good shepherd; & I know My sheep, & am known by My own.”.....“My sheep hear My voice, & I know them, & they follow Me. “And I give them eternal life, & they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; & no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I & My Father are one.””
Heb. 3:7-15—“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says[Ps. 95:7-11]: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.””
Notice that WHEN Jesus tells them to “believe”, He makes no distinction by any of the usual ways that people separate one from another. Your background is irrelevant in regard to the pleading of God for you to “believe.”
•The ‘WOKE’-stuff’ present in our society today, is a secular cultural invention of fleshly-men...It’s garbage! It’s relevance to the Kingdom of God, is the fact that it’s the result of sinful, demonic, & fleshly endeavors of people who have rejected the true God!
•God wants us to see people as He Himself sees people...As His beloved creation that is in need of salvation!
•Jesus ‘implores’ His audience(“you/ye”-plural) to make a heart-decision!...
•Jesus does His utmost, to earnestly urge/exhort the people/crowd to ‘take hold of’(‘seize-the-day’) their God-intended existence as “sons of light”! And Jesus does that, so that the crowd might have “belief” that saves them from the power of sin’s control with it’s resulting damnation!...That is, Jesus drives the people toward God, thru their trust in Himself, so that they “may become sons of light.”
•‘Getting Saved’ is NOT ‘first-&-foremost’ about ‘doing’! Instead the ‘doing’ flows from ‘BEING’(“become”), so that ‘doing’ is a God-ordained, supernatural RESULT of ‘BEING’!
*So the ‘actual need’(NOT the felt-need) of the people/crowd, was “not so much to come to terms with the exact nature of the Son of Man[,] but rather to face up to the judgment associated with Him.”—NAC per R. Brown
The “walk” of “sons of light”, is expected to take full advantage of the ability to properly ‘see.’ That spiritual ‘advantage’ is what is presently before the people in the person of Jesus Christ!
•No one but thieves, néer-do-wells, & people lost to hell, willingly choose to “walk” “in darkness.”
Eph. 5:3-6—“But fornication & all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ & God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
“Jesus” then “departs” & stays “hidden from” His audience, so that they might experience the sharp contrast between “the light” versus the return of the presence of “darkness.” And that, so that they will be drawn to repentance.
•You can fill your life with things that are ‘right’ & ‘godly’—every day you can listen to Christian radio, to biblical discussions, to biblical teaching, to biblical preaching— but that doesn’t mean that you are ‘right’ & ‘godly’ in the core of your being, in the center of your heart of hearts.
Your individual, ‘personal relationship’ with the God of the Bible, thru Jesus Christ alone, opens & expands your vision/understanding/comprehension of the world in which you live, so that you are enabled to see how ALL things ‘PROPERLY’(by God’s design) play into one another!...To see how God’s design alone is perfect!
•The person/child who is ‘of’ “the light” of Jesus, is enabled to make decisions wisely, in that he/she is granted God’s heart & eyes in understanding & examining their world!
God MUST be the Author of your “walk.”
Argumentation:
Jn. 9:4-5—“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
•I personally would argue that Jesus is still present in the world! How?...Thru His Church—His ‘holy ones’, His children, the born again, the repentant, the blood bought, the saved—who regularly gather together in Jesus’ name!
*The children of God, who live FOR Him & “walk” IN Him, keep Jesus “in the world”, so that Jesus—“the light of the world”— may continue to be seen!
Mat. 6:22, 23—“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Rom. 13:11-14—“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, & let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry & drunkenness, not in lewdness & lust, not in strife & envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, & make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
Jn. 9:39-41—“And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”
Illustration:
In order to drive a car at night, is to use the key or key-fob correctly. If the key is used correctly, the car starts.
•The power to move is made available by means of the key. It allows us the privilege of moving with a fearless speed & agility that we cannot accomplish on our own.
•Tied in with that ‘power’ to move, is the head-light system—again, by the key–that allows the driver to actually drive a car in the pitch-black darkness of night! Car drivers have physical ‘lights’ at their disposal.
•Again, by the key, we have a ‘navigation system’ so we will know which way to go—which places to go to, how to get there, turns to make, cautions to be aware of, etc.
•Beyond all of the above, we have a specific make(brand—Chevrolet-Ford-Chrysler-GMC-Nissan-Toyota, etc.) & model of car which responds to the specific ‘key’ used. GOD’s RESULT!
The car-‘key’ pictures Jesus! Only thru Him, can a willing person enjoy the benefits of God’s RESULT! Thru the ‘key’ of Jesus, God’s “light” is available to you!
God wants you to walk in “the light” He offers, so that you will be FULLY AWARE of everything around you, & everything in you, & everything in others, & everything thru His people!
Rom. 10:9-10—“...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus & believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, & with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Application:
?Do YOU trust Jesus’ submission to GOD’s RESULT?
?Are YOU committed to GOD’s RESULT?
?Do YOU trust that Jesus’ glorification necessitates His submission to God?
*If you are Uncomfortable with God’s METHOD, then you will not be comfortable with God’s RESULT!
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Stewardess to Muhammad Ali, “Superman don’t need no airplane.”
BUT...If superman were real, he’s need Jesus!
Action:
Jesus’ glorification necessitates a submission to GOD’s...
6. RESULT(:34-36)
1. PRIORITY / Precedence /(:20-23)
2. FRUITFULNESS / Productivity(:24-26)
3. PURPOSE(:27-28)
4. JUDGMENT(:29-31)
5. METHOD(:32-33)
Pt# 6 only! presented 05/28/2023am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
