The Darkness and Glory of the Cross - John 12:27-36 (September 26, 2021)

when we come now to the preaching of god's word and i want you to consider that the crucifixion of christ is simultaneously the darkest moment in human history and the greatest manifestation of the glory of god in one sense it is the greatest injustice ever perpetrated human depravity on full display an act of utter wickedness grounded in betrayal bathed in apostasy driven by lies motivated by murder and even in the moment that it took place as christ was atoning for sin utter darkness came over the land but in another sense it is an unrivaled demonstration of the glory and power of god where all of the perfections of god are made manifest an act of divine justice where justice and mercy meet full of divine love and compassion a marvelous display of redemption and a profound demonstration of the holiness and righteousness of god and as we move from this point forward in john's gospel the darkness and glory of the cross are glaring side by side resulting in judgment and salvation rejection and faith eternal death and eternal life betrayal and loyalty lies and truth and we begin to get a sense of that and to even taste that in the portion of scripture we're going to be in this morning and so look at john 12 verse 27 we're going to read down to verse 36. john chapter 12 beginning in verse 27 now my soul has become troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour but for this purpose i came to this hour father glorify your name then a voice came out of heaven i have both glorified it and will glorify it again so the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered others were saying an angel has spoken to him jesus answered and said this voice has not come for my sake but for your sakes now judgment is upon this world now the ruler of this world will be cast out and i if i am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself but he was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was to die the crowd then answered him we have heard out of the law that the christ is to remain forever how can you say the son of man must be lifted up who is this son of man so jesus said to them for a little while longer the light is among you walk while you have the light so that darkness will not overtake you he walks in the darkness does not know where he goes while you have the light believe in the light so that you may become sons of light these things jesus spoke and you went away and hid from them the hysteria of the triumphal entry has already dwindled shouts of hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord have turned into unbelieving inquiry where the crowd asks how can you say the son of man must be lifted up who is this son of man or just what kind of son of man is this and that unbelief is in the air is evident in verses 37 and following look at that it says there but though he had performed so many signs before them yet they were not believing in him this was to fulfill the word of the the word of isaiah the prophet which he spoke lord who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed verse 39 for this reason they could not believe for isaiah said again he has blinded their minds and hardened their heart so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and i heal them they are spiritually blind hard-hearted and unable to exercise spiritual perception and this in accord with the sovereignty of god and so the superficiality of the crowd's praise is exposed they wanted a military conqueror that comes out here again in this text instead he came as the suffering servant and now he's just a matter of days from his crucifixion the sun is setting on his earthly ministry in fact his public ministry is now near complete at which point he will shift entirely to preparing his disciples in the upper room prior to his death and as jesus anticipates the hour of his suffering he's troubled resulting in a more public garden of gethsemane kind of moment where jesus reaffirms his resolve to go to the cross and as he does the father declares a thunderous word of confirmation from heaven jesus declares historical redemptive truth concerning his death and a call is extended yet again to embrace him by faith and to work through this passage i'm going to give you four c's we're going to see the conflict the confirmation the condemnation and the call and so note this first the conflict the conflict verse 27 now my soul has become troubled and what shall i say father glorify me or rather father save me from this hour but for this purpose i came to this hour we know already the hour had come he declared as much back in verse 23 where he declared the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified but his glorification would take place through suffering and specifically the agony the agony of the cross and it's with this nearness the the nearness of the cross that jesus becomes troubled troubled in his soul in a literal sense this word means to cause movement by shaking or stirring it's used with reference to water but it can also be used in reference to the inner man and in that sense it means to cause inner turmoil can be rendered to stir up disturb or unsettle so as one commentator notes it suggests strong inner turmoil and agitation jesus is troubled and is experiencing immense inner turmoil and i think it'd be beneficial for us to refresh ourselves with the garden of gethsemane so turn to mark 14 for a moment john 12 is in a sense the garden of gethsemane moment in his gospel and though these are separate historical accounts the similarity between them is telling in mark 14 and verse 32 it says they came to a place named gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here until i have prayed and he took with him peter and james and john and began to be very distressed and troubled and he said to them my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death remain here and keep watch and he went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible the hour might pass him by and he was saying abba father all things are possible for you remove this cup from me yet not what i will but what you will and he came and found them sleeping and said to peter simon are you asleep could you not keep watch for one hour keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak again he went away and prayed saying the same words and again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy and they did not know what to answer him and he came the third time and said to them are you still sleeping and resting it is enough the hour has come behold the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners get up let us be going behold the one who betrays me is at hand as jesus anticipates the cross he is deeply disturbed deeply troubled deeply distressed and the question is this why was it the unjust mock trial when he was spat upon and unjustly condemned to death was it the scourging and the severe lacerations of his skin was it the crown of thorns that was pressed into his head and the purple robe that was placed upon him as he was mocked and slapped in the face was it the rejection of israel as they repeatedly cried out crucify him crucify him even declaring we have no king but caesar was it the shame and humiliation as he bore his own cross to the place of his execution was it the experience of being nailed to the cross as nails pierced him through was it the physical pain and suffering of crucifixion the utter helplessness the fatigue the thirst the difficulty breathing open shame no opportunity for relief was it any of that no so what was it the anticipation of divine wrath jesus was anticipating being the object of god's wrath and bearing that wrath [Music] upon himself in his own body many had suffered the fate of of death by crucifixion that was not new nothing novel about dying by way of crucifixion at that time but no one had ever received the unmitigated wrath of god for the sin of all who would ever believe on his name the perfect unblemished son of god was on the cusp of becoming sin for us that we might become the righteousness of god in him second corinthians 5 21. he was anticipating divine wrath and there was internal conflict on the one hand he was staring in the face the very purpose for which he had come with resolve and on the other he was deeply troubled by the prospect of it and yet this was the very purpose for which he came he came to lay down his life he came to make atonement for sin he came to glorify god in the salvation of sinners so what does he pray verse 28 father glorify your name glorify yourself through me father do what will bring you the most glory or as he expresses in mark not my will but yours be done now don't miss this did jesus sin no of course not he was tempted in all ways as we are yet without sin hebrews 4 15. so listen it isn't necessarily sinful to be troubled in your soul it isn't necessarily sinful to be deeply grieved it isn't necessarily sinful to struggle under the pressures of circumstances that are squeezing you there's a place for that in fact had jesus not responded this way to the prospect of divine wrath you might be concerned his response to the anticipation of that cup of wrath is a fitting response and when jesus prayed father glorify your name was there of necessity perfect peace unlikely even by john 13 21 jesus is troubled in spirit again and even the garden of gethsemane is still yet a future event from this text right here in john 12. but in the midst of inner turmoil he resolved to press on in obedience to the father walking step by step one step at a time entrusting himself into the father's care and so the presence of internal conflict isn't the issue the issue is how you respond to it does it you does it cause you to change course to compromise or do you press on in obedience now even as i say that i know you're thinking you're saying but james what do i do when i don't know what obedience demands you pray james 1 but if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of god who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to him you pray and then you you have confidence you wait with confidence knowing god will make good on his promise you you know that as you pray by faith and ask for wisdom for the particular trial that you're in that god will make good on his promises he always makes good in his promises he always is faithful you ask in faith and god will deliver you stay with james what if there's a deadline well listen if the lord hasn't answered the prayer before the deadline then you let the deadline pass that's your answer to prayer if you aren't settled let it pass god has spoken anything not done from faith is sin romans 14 23 and so you must know with respect to knowledge you must have knowledge and know that something is right and you must be fully convinced in your own mind your conscience and conviction must be settled and with that in place the only thing left is this father glorify your name a commitment to the glory of god now i don't want to trivialize what the lord experienced in this moment or in the garden of gethsemane but i can tell you that on a far lower level i can relate to this it was a particular saturday following a conversation with our lawyer where he told me the prospect of imprisonment was likely for the next for the next couple which on its own puts us in a place of desperation i was nearly crushed under the weight of what was ahead of me physiologically migraine even just standing in our bedroom almost pacing finding it difficult to be on my own two feet i had to lie down and just lie there and and just just pray that god would help me and deliver me and assist me i knew i couldn't change course i knew what obedience demanded and the weight of that was crushing me and in that place god ministered to me and before long he had taken me right through that trial out the other end and i got up from that bed resolved to obey the lord which didn't mean that it was easy it didn't mean that there was perfect peace it just meant that i was going to put one foot in front of the next and continue to walk in obedience to christ so there's room to struggle there's room for for deep distress there's room for the soul to be troubled and we are unwise to to to call that wrong and sinful conflict within is appropriate when god allows circumstances to press in upon us there is a natural response to that that we need to allow ourselves to go through looking to god to carry us through and that's exactly what our lord did so we see the conflict and witness the perfections of our lord as the god-man in all his radiant beauty second we see the confirmation the confirmation next part of verse 28 then a voice came out of heaven i have both glorified it and will glorify it again now you'll know this is the third time in our lord's earthly ministry that god has spoken from heaven he did so at the baptism of jesus he did so at the transfiguration of jesus and he's doing so here in our text and we might ask how had the father glorified his name well he did through the son's message as the son testified to the truth of god and he did so through his son's miracles which authenticated and validated the truth that he proclaimed and he did so through his son's obedience as the son did the very things he saw the father doing and so how would he glorify his name again through the death resurrection and ascension of his son whereby the son would accomplish the redemption of his people here's the thing you have to understand the glory of god the father is inextricably linked to the glory of god the son so when jesus declares the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified it's simultaneously the hour for the father to be glorified and god highly exalted christ bestowing on him the name which is above every name so that at his name every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that jesus christ is lord to what end to the glory of god the father and so god was going to glorify himself through the death resurrection and ascension of christ the glory of the son and the glory of the father are one glory and when one is glorified the other is glorified and this wasn't a private affair this was a public moment a crowd is present and so verse 29 the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered now you need to know that god did not stutter in this moment he spoke clearly from heaven and though thunder is often coupled with god's voice in the old testament this was not thunder god had spoken in fact there were some present who recognized someone had spoken and to verse 29 others were saying an angel has spoken to him and so what is going on here how is it that god could speak from heaven and yet the people are unable to detect what is being said well the crowd is incapable of detecting the voice of god they can't hear the voice of god they lack spiritual perceptivity we've seen this throughout john's gospel in john 8 43 jesus says why do you not understand what i am saying it is because you cannot hear my word and so jesus is speaking to the pharisees openly to the jews and they can't understand what he's saying and it's because they they can't hear his word they lack the ability to comprehend it to understand it and as we've seen it isn't just the words of jesus they fail to comprehend nor is it this voice of god the voice of god that comes sounding forth from heaven they even fail to grasp the old testament just consider these familiar words in john 5 45 and following do not think that i will accuse you before the father the one who accuses you is moses in whom you have set your hope for if you believed moses you would believe me for he wrote about me but if you don't believe his writings how will he believe my words they couldn't hear the voice of god in the old testament they couldn't hear the voice of god in jesus they couldn't hear the voice of god when god spoke from heaven audibly they lacked the ability and as we've already read verse 39 the reason they could not believe the reason they were unable to believe is because the father had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart all they hear is thunder or an angel and you just think about jesus appealing to appearing to paul on the road to damascus those who are with paul didn't understand what jesus was saying only paul which makes the next verse rather intriguing verse 30 jesus answered and said this voice has not come from my sake but for your sakes you say how could this be for their sake if they couldn't even comprehend it how in the world could this be for them well if nothing else it's a judgment and only increases the severity of their rejection increased exposure to the light results in greater accountability for the light i mean for jesus to pray father glorify your name and for a voice to come from heaven saying i have glorified it and will glorify it again was a a testimony to the reality that jesus is god's son regardless of whether they could make out the message or not and it's somewhat similar to the raising of lazarus when before raising lazarus from the grave jesus prayed father i thank you that you have heard me i knew that you always hear me but because of the people standing around i said it so they may believe that you sent me in that moment jesus prayed prior to the miracle as a testimony to his intimate relationship with the father and that too increased their accountability before god and no doubt some who witnessed that miracle are in the very crowd that jesus is speaking to you right now now there's something that's wonderful about this that we need to understand about the reality of what's taking place here and it's this god determines what glorifies him not the court of public opinion god is the one who decides how he glorifies himself you say give me an example give me an example of god glorifying himself in a manner that is totally inconsistent with human sensibilities gladly jesus christ and him crucified i mean just think about it what the world deems foolishness is the obliteration of their wisdom what the world deems foolishness is the very wisdom and power of god what the world deems foolishness is the most marvelous display of the glory of god i mean even at this point in john's gospel there would have been thousands who would have said that jesus didn't glorify god thousands that would have objected to god being glorified in his life and ministry and yet god declares i have glorified it and i will glorify it again even when jesus goes to the cross and dies and rises from the grave the disciples can't even perceive the glory yet his own disciples aren't able to perceive it and so make no mistake god is the one who determines how he glorifies himself not the court of public opinion he determines how he glorifies himself not human sensibility i take great comfort in that god gets to decide what glorifies him so we've seen the conflict we've seen the confirmation now third the condemnation the condemnation verse 31 now judgment is upon this world now the ruler of this world will be cast out now this is a stunning reversal the world refers to the realm of mankind ordered in rebellion against god by the ruler of this world and the ruler of this world is who satan so whereas the world believes the rejection and crucifixion of christ is it pronouncing judgment on him it's just the opposite the crucifixion of christ means certain judgment for them including every physical descendant of abraham who rejects him and in the same way whereas it might have seemed like the kingdom of darkness had won the day was just the opposite the cross of christ seals satan's fate through it jesus crushes the serpent's head and as a result satan will future tense be cast out which ultimately points to his future and final judgment when he is sentenced to the lake of fire for all of eternity judgment is upon this world the ruler of this world will be cast out and with this judgment the redemptive program shifts for just as the greeks were seeking of jesus his being lifted up would draw men from every tribe tongue and nation look at verse 32 and i if i am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself now what does this mean what does it mean that that jesus will draw all men to himself well let me tell you what it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that in the end each and every person will be saved that's universalism as jesus says the gate is small and the way is narrow and there are a few who find it matthew 7 14. so this definitely isn't that and it doesn't mean jesus will draw all men without exception to himself as though everyone is drawn but since man's will is free it's ultimately on each person to decide tragically many die without ever hearing the gospel instead what jesus is saying is that through the cross he will draw all men without distinction whether slave or free whether jew or greek whether rich or poor from every tribe tongue and nation he will draw them efficaciously to himself for their salvation and we've seen this language before we saw back in in john 6 44. take a look at that very same word it says no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and i will raise him up on the last day man is incapable of coming to christ apart from the father efficaciously drawing him and what the father does the son does in like manner drawing his people unto himself from the four corners of the earth and doing so efficaciously whereby they come to him to salvation all the way and so this was going to result in a shift it was the greeks who had come seeking jesus wanting to see jesus and jesus declares the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified and when jesus is lifted up he will draw all manner of men unto himself and if he had any doubt about what it means to be lifted up look at verse 33 but he was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was to die he would die death by crucifixion where he be lifted up on a cross and so notice there are three manifestations of judgment in these verses you have the judgment of the world you have the judgment of satan and what's the third the judgment of christ christ takes upon himself the judgment of his people and in turn the message of salvation must now go to the nations whereby his people call the world to repentance even calling his people to come out of the world and be joined to him by faith we are to call the people of this world to flee the wrath to come and as we call them to do that he is going to use the proclamation of the gospel to effectually call them unto christ so that they are saved in him and we need to do that here in our city province and nation and we need to do that around the world we need to be involved in that here and we need to be participating in that around the world that that there would be no one that would die without hearing the gospel of christ unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit and for it to bear fruit we god's people must go to the the four corners of the earth and proclaim the good news of christ and call people to salvation in him and so it's in the midst of this judgment this condemnation that there's actually a a message of salvation that's birthed where christ is going to draw some from every tribe tongue a nation unto himself and so we see the condemnation now fourth and finally as is fitting on the heels of that condemnation that judgment we see the call we see the call verse 34 the crowd then answered him we have heard out of the law that the christ is to remain forever and how can you say the son of man must be lifted up who is this son of man they had no room for a crucified messiah to the jew the crucifixion of christ is a stumbling block a scandal and here is they appeal to the law they're appealing to the law rather loosely by the law they mean the old testament the entirety of it there really isn't anything in the the first five books of the bible the torah that that declare the essence of the the coming kingdom and the coming king being of any eternal nature but one of the major themes of the old testament is a restored kingdom under the coming davidic king a kingdom that's described as an everlasting kingdom it's described that way in 2nd samuel 7 in the promise of the the covenant made with david and it's repeatedly described that way in the major prophets isaiah jeremiah and ezekiel but what they clearly missed is that there are in fact two comings of christ and the first coming is christ coming as the suffering servant of isaiah 53 to make atonement for sin and they have no place for that and so from this vantage point we can see the triumphal for the superficiality that it is a superficial response by those with kingdom glory in their hearts which they believe was theirs by right apart from personal repentance and they understand he's talking about his death and they're saying how can you say that in effect they're asking just what kind of messiah is this they understand what he's saying that he's talking about his death and they have no place for a dying messiah and so jesus doesn't even entertain their inquiry instead he just makes the call verse 35 so jesus said to them for a little while longer the light is among you walk while you have the light so that darkness will not overtake you he walks in the darkness does not know where he goes now there's a deeper meaning to this but it's really rather simple the light is only present for a little while longer and when the light is gone they will be overcome by darkness and so he exhorts them to walk while they have the light since he walks in darkness doesn't know where he's going but in saying that there's a bit of attention jesus is clearly the light and through his death resurrection and ascension he's only among them a little while longer and so the light is going to be removed and darkness is on the horizon no matter how you dice it and so you have an incomplete picture if jesus is the light and he's going to be removed then how does walking while the light is among them help them once the darkness comes well becomes clear in verse 36. where jesus says while you have the light believe in the light so that you may become sons of light and so believing defines what it means to walk he's calling them to believe in him he's calling them to to put their faith in him and then by virtue of believing in him they will become sons of light and by virtue of becoming sons of light the darkness will not overtake them and i've gotten this sense in john's gospel before but it seems like when jesus is speaking to this crowd that that they their window of opportunity is closing that their time is running out that if they don't embrace christ prior to his death resurrection and ascension it's over for them that at that point their window of opportunity will be closed and so what might account for that well this might what paul calls a partial hardening romans 11 25 listen for i do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened in israel until the fullness of the gentiles has come in with the shift in the redemptive program away from israel to the world there is a partial hardening that comes upon israel and if you're a part of that hardening then you are locked up in a hard heart and that meant the light was about to go out on many in israel their window of opportunity was closing and yes there would be many who had come to trust him in the book of acts for example but that'd be a remnant a small remnant of the larger whole and so they were on the cusp of sealed in their unbelief and you even get that sense when you look at the rest of verse 36 these things jesus spoke and he went away and hid himself from them i mean the fact is this we all have a window of opportunity don't we and sadly for the broader majority of people that window ends up closing where a person either reaches the point of no return in their sin or their number is called and their time is up and i don't know about you but when i look at the world today there seems to be more death happening at present than ever in my lifetime people seem to be dropping like flies people are dying human frailty is on full display and the fragility the fragility of human life is is never been more evident and so if you're here in this particular moment and you still have not bowed the knee to jesus christ you need to understand that you have just had exposure to the light and the accountability for that light is increasing and there is a judgment coming for every single one of us and if you go into that judgment without christ then you are going to go into a judgment that will result in you suffering under the wrath of god for all of eternity because you rejected the substitution that god put in place to to avoid that and so it is absolutely critical that you turn from your sin and believe on christ and that you do so before the window of opportunity closes right now in this moment the message of salvation is being offered to you the gates of heaven are wide open all you would need to do is acknowledge that god is holy that you are a sinner who comes short of his glory that you have sinned and have broken his holy law and then looked at his son whom he sent as the savior of the world the one who took upon himself his wrath the father's wrath for the sin of those who would trust him and if you would turn from your sin and believe on him this day then you'll become a son of light a daughter of light and then the darkness will never overtake you in fact you'll have a righteousness like the dawn that would just increasingly shine in your life as you begin to be conformed into the the very image of christ and so learn from this closing window on this crowd whom jesus is speaking with don't delay another day you've got the darkness of the cross on the one hand and there is darkness and you've got the blazing glory of god on the other both side by side and as we continue to move through john's gospel we're going to see the darkness and the glory continue to run side by side all the way to the death resurrection and ascension of christ let's pray together father we thank you for just a blessing of being able to understand and grasp the nature of your glory the nature of the cross even the the darkness that surrounded the cross and how in the midst of that darkness you accomplish the most glorious feat ever accomplished father we thank you for your glory we thank you for the gospel we thank you for jesus christ and him crucified we thank you for our lord and his obedience that in the midst of a troubled soul anticipating divine wrath your wrath he pressed on in obedience to you father help us to follow in his footsteps to learn from his sufferings we give you praise in jesus name amen but we now come to the lord's supper what a wonderful time for us to remember the work of christ to reflect on him crucified on our behalf to consider his saving work for the forgiveness of our sins there are matters that are no doubt heavily on many of you today this is a wonderful moment for you to talk to god to speak to him to approach him through his son and by his spirit and lay before him all that's on your heart confess your sin ask for for grace and strength courage wisdom and to rejoice that you can do all of that on account of the fact that jesus went to the cross suffered bled and died and rose from the grave and so as we come to the bread and the cup let's pray and ask the lord to bless this time father we're so grateful for this supper this moment this day of reckoning that we have with you grateful that we can come before you through your son and by your spirit father we pray that you would minister to us that through this wonderful ordinance we would commune with christ enjoying him and reflecting on his death on our behalf the forgiveness of our sins search our hearts we pray expose anything within us that is unbecoming and lord wash us afresh in the blood of the savior we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: GraceLife Church of Edmonton

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Length: 48min 42sec (2922 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 27 2021