John 12 Verse-By-Verse | Mary Anoints Jesus, The Plot to Kill Lazarus, The Triumphal Entry [Full]

Well, good morning everybody. Today, January 29th. Welcome from sunny Atlanta, Georgia. Still in the 30s. I hope everything is well where you are. Had a blessed day this morning. Had an opportunity to talk to my brother and his family out in Pakistan this morning, and it's good to see that the word of God is reaching that family, and they gave me a tour of their home church, their, their beautiful church. And great to connect there. I posted some video earlier this morning about my other brother Dennis. He is over— Pastor Dennis, he's over in, in the Bugiri district in Uganda doing some amazing work there. If you want to take a look at his ministry, that's also on the Facebook page or So, so good work. Good to see that, that, that scripture is reaching literally all the ends of the earth. And if you're hearing this for the first time in another country outside of the USA, please let me know. Please leave in the comment where you're from. Great to connect. Good to see, you know, where everyone is from. All right, so today's Bible study, we're picking up where we left off, and that is in the Gospel of John. Today we will be in John chapter 12, and we will review a little bit of where we came from, which is the previous chapter, John chapter 11. But in this chapter here, uh, we are looking at sections that involve Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany We'll see the plot to kill Lazarus. We mentioned that yesterday, how even though he was raised from the dead, and that sign was the biggest sign that Jesus apparently did that caused people to believe in him, we're going to see now that there's an actual plot to kill him. We're going to move into the triumphal entry in verse 12. We're going to see in verse 20 how there are some Greeks now that want to talk to Jesus. We'll talk about that. Verse 27 on, we'll talk about how Jesus says that the Son of Man must be lifted up. Then we'll end with the section starting in verse 44 where Jesus came to save the world, right? So there are 50 verses in this chapter, so plan on sticking around for an hour to an hour and a half. Of course, if you are seeing this chopped up and clipped, always go back to the YouTube channel. That is where we have the full video of the chapter that you could review later. All right, so let us begin. Uh, we are in John chapter 12. Now before we move into there, let's see Let's set the scene. So in chapter 11, the chapter before that we went over yesterday, it ended with verse 55 where it says, now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, what do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him. Right, and so that is where we ended yesterday's chapter. Now we kind of skip a little bit in time and we're going to pick it up in chapter 12, verse 1. It goes on to say, 6 days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said, verse 5, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? And said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, quote, verse 7, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. And that is the first section that we'll unpack verse by verse in a second. All right, so here we are. The scene is that there's, there's a Passover. This is 6 days prior to, and we see the location. We're in Bethany. It says Jesus therefore came to Bethany and And why Bethany? Because Lazarus and his family was there. So it says in verse 1, where Lazarus was, the same Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead, in verse 1. And so verse 2, they're giving a dinner for Jesus, and we were— and it says Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. And this is, um, a great scene because in the previous chapter, if you remember, emotions are high. There's a lot going on there. Lazarus was dead. He was sick. Martha and Mary, his sisters, sent word to Jesus that he was sick. Remember that their family— that they're close with Jesus. Jesus was friends with them. He was really fond of Lazarus. And Jesus, upon hearing the message that Lazarus was sick and to come because he was sick to heal him— if you remember, Jesus stayed where he was 2 extra days so that Lazarus would eventually die. And we learned that the purpose of that was to show the glory to show his glory revealed in the resurrection of Lazarus. And he said that to his disciples. Now Jesus says in the previous chapter, in verse 11-14, it says, then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe. And so the purpose of Jesus waiting for Lazarus to die is so that he can go to Lazarus' grave 4 days later, raise him from the dead with the purpose that he may believe. So he does that. He goes, and if you remember, we saw the two sisters. Now that when Jesus went over there to go raise Lazarus, we saw the sisters and their reactions. Remember, we see Mary who stayed in the house with the mourners, and we see Martha come out to outside the village because she heard Jesus was was close. And Martha goes all the way out to connect with Jesus, and she said the same thing that Mary said when she first connected with Jesus. Quote, this is verse 21, Martha talking to Jesus. She says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And then She confesses, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. And then Jesus said in verse 23, your brother will rise again. And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And then Jesus goes into that major awesome statement where he says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he asked the question, do you believe this? And her confession, this is Martha, she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world. Which is great. So she's tracking it. Not only is she saying I believe you are the Christ, that is something that they were all looking for, the Messiah. But she's also importantly recognized him as the Son of God, which is one title that he wants people to fully grasp and understand. Just like you and me today, we need to And that's what I want us to, to look at. Again, as I've mentioned before, try to put yourself into the scene. Try to put yourself into the mindset of the characters. And right now we have a few characters. We have Jesus, of course. We have Lazarus. We have Martha. And we have Mary, right? That is the characters in this beginning part of John chapter 12. So he goes on to say in verse 3 that Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. Now I will unpack what nard is in a second here. But just the very action of that, of any person doing that, what is that? What conclusion can we even think of? Obviously, this is a person that is humble. This is a person that's doing— it seems to be an act of worship, right? She's not even wiping his feet with towels or paper or whatever thing they had there. She's wiping it with her hair. It doesn't get any more humble than that, in my opinion. So let's borrow from some notes here just for context. In regards to a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, the term used for quote-unquote pound actually indicates a weight around 3/4 of a pound, which was approximately 12 ounces. Nard was an oil extracted from the root of a plant grown in India. And in regards to her anointing the feet of Jesus, the dinner guests were reclined at the table with their feet extended away from it, making it possible for Mary to anoint the feet of Jesus. The act symbolized Mary's humble devotion and love for him. And that's right, Middle Eastern tables that they ate on back then were about 18 inches high. All right, so I'm at a table, but I'm sitting in a chair. But back then, and in many places still in the world, the table is actually 18 inches off the floor. So you were sitting down on the floor on a mat, probably, or a pillow, but you're only 18 inches off the floor. So that means that somebody else's feet is very close to you. Basically, you have to kind of sit sideways, right? And so that is why washing of feet was a thing back then. We wash our hands But they had to definitely wash their feet because now your feet is in someone else's face. So the point here is that people's feet are exposed at the dinner table, and Mary takes it upon herself to, um, take this nard, which was an import because it came from India. It's very expensive to travel to Israel, Jerusalem, and she has this, and she is opening up this very expensive perfume, and she's putting it on Jesus. It says she anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. So then it goes on to say that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. So now we're introduced to another character that's famous to all of us. Verse 4, we're introduced to Judas Iscariot. Now it goes on to say, verse 4, Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, in parentheses, he who was about to betray him. So the scripture text is John is saying for the note, for the notation that this is the same Judas that was going to betray Jesus. It goes on to say in verse 5, he said, quote, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? So now we get a clue as to the mindset of Judas. Where here he's witnessing Mary with this very expensive ointment break it open and put it on someone's feet, of all places. Usually you don't perfume your feet. And he's also seen her wipe it away with her hair. In his mind, he's thinking a couple of things. First, he thinks that's foolish. Then he's probably looking at Mary with contempt. And then he's thinking that, hey, what a lost opportunity, what a waste, because we could have sold that for 300 denarii. Now remember, A denarii was a day's wage of laborers. So if you think about it, we're talking about he says, and who knows if he's correct, but he says this was worth 300 denarii, which is 300 days worth of work. So you do the math. Whatever an hourly wage person would make these days, He's saying it was worth 300. So not that it matters, but let's just say you made in US $10 an hour and you worked 8 hours. You would have made yourself $80 for that one day. So then what we do is we calculate 80 times 300, which I believe is $24,000 in today's money. So it's a very, very expensive perfume. It's an import. And he's looking at like, what are you doing? That is a complete waste. If you're going to put it on a man's feet, you might— you should have just sold it. I mean, he just can't fathom that waste. In his mind, it's a waste. Excuse me. Now, he says this, and he's not being, um, uh, what's the word? He's not being, um, honest. He's He's being a little deceptive in his statement. He says two things. He speaks out of his mouth. First, he says, "What a waste. Why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?" Right? Because it says in verse 6, he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. So he doesn't care about the poor at all. He's trying to sound like he's a good guy. He's trying to sound like, hey, we should give this to the poor. But in reality, he was a thief. And what he— and he was the guy that was in charge of the money bag. So you may or may not know, when they went around doing missions, people would give him money, give them money, donate money perhaps. Or, because it doesn't clearly say, maybe they, um, worked, right? Paul was a tent maker, for example. Maybe they did jobs and they made money. But for the most part, it's assumed that people gave him an offering. Of course, he's healing everyone, so that's a, a good conclusion that people are grateful and are giving them money. So he's in charge of the money bag. And remember, we heard about this money bag once before kind of, when Jesus fed the 5,000. When Jesus says go into the towns to go buy some food for these people, and then it was Peter who said, well, we all— 200 denarii can't feed these people, right? So at least then they had about 200 days worth of wages. In their mobile bank account, per se. And here Judas is like, that is worth 300. What a waste. So he was insincere, is what I wanted to say earlier. He's an insincere guy. He would rather us— rather them sell this perfume so that he can, he can peel off some for himself. So he was a thief. And, um, and we'll learn later why Jesus even had him as a disciple in the first place, right? He's there for a reason. Jesus knows what's going on. Nothing is new to Jesus. But Jesus has Judas as one of the 12 for a reason, right? So we go on to read that verse 7, Jesus said to Judas, he said, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. So he says One, leave her alone. Then he says, why leave her alone? So that she may keep it for the day of my burial. Okay, now I will borrow from some commentary here in regards to keeping this for the day of my burial. Mary performed this act to signal her devotion, but as in the case of Caiaphas, which we read in the previous chapter, chapter 11, verses 49-52, her act revealed more than she realized at the time. During the first century, lavish sums were spent on funerals, which included costly perfumes to cover the smell of decay. So this is a foreshadowing of Jesus' burial, right? And she's doing it out of worship. But what, in, in, in the grand scheme of things, the, the foreshadowing of this story is the fact— and what Jesus has concluded— is she's— it's a good thing because she is preparing me She's preparing my body for death, for the day of my burial, so that she may keep it. So she can keep this, um, moment in her mind. And that's a good thing. What she's doing here is a good thing. He wants her to keep this experience. Don't bother her. Don't interrupt her. This— what she's doing here, this act of worship I want her to keep this. And then he goes on to say, for the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. So we hear that all the time, give to the poor, and it is good to give to the poor. In fact, that was the message to the Apostle Paul when he went to the brothers in Jerusalem to confirm His gospel that he received directly from Jesus on the road to Emmaus and moving forward, he went back to Jerusalem to James, who is the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, and the brothers there to confirm his gospel with their gospel. They were in agreeance, and one of their instructions to him back then was give to the poor. So it's on the heart to give to the poor. But Jesus is saying, you will always have the poor, okay? So just because poor people exist and people are poor doesn't mean you can't worship me. Don't let that be the moral obstruction to worshiping me. You will not always have me. So he's saying, I'm here right now in the flesh, which is more important than anything else. You always have the poor, but for now, now that I'm here in the flesh, you should do what she's doing and worship me. So now we go to another section of verse 9. The story continues. It says, when the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. Okay, this is confirming and affirming what just happened in the previous chapter. Many Jews believed in Jesus because of this massive, major miracle in the raising of Lazarus. The scene goes, who knows, a couple days, maybe a couple weeks, but Jesus is back on the scene in this family's house having dinner. And now word got out that he's there, and a large crowd of the Jews came, but not only to see Jesus, but they're also coming to see Lazarus. Because word is spreading all throughout Israel about Lazarus. Can you imagine this man that I just saw or I just heard? Is it true? Is this guy really alive? Was it a fake? So forth. So Lazarus as an object lesson and the recipient of massive grace, but ultimately to illustrate the glory of God, by, by this act for Jesus has become a lightning rod of sorts. People want to see Lazarus. And so we see in verse 10, it says, so the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well. Can you imagine that? So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well. Ain't it amazing that the religious leaders of Israel, the ones that were supposedly meant to guard the gospel, guard the scripture, they were originally designed to be the lamp on the hill They were given the Law of Moses, and now they've become this murderous crew where all they cared about was power, guised— well, the power— all they wanted was the power, guised in true religion. And Jesus— that's why Jesus rails on them time and time again, because they're not seeking the true God. And more importantly, they're not recognized him as the true God, the true Son of God, right? Now they're murderers, this crew, this, this— these religious leaders. It says the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because, verse 11, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. So it's not even what Jesus is doing anymore, at least now in this moment, but it's because of this witness Lazarus, because of this testimony, now His very life, his very testimony is causing a lot of people to believe, and now that he, he is, he's a target, right? Which unfortunately is the situation even today. And this is why we have to pray for each other, and we have to pray for our pastors, or we have to pray for anyone, including me. Please pray for me, is that anytime you are going to step out and proclaim the gospel, especially to religious people who don't believe in Jesus, you're going to be a target. Because the system, the world, which is in the clutches and the power of the devil, is— doesn't want this message to go forth. They don't want people to believe in Jesus. This is why Jesus talks about you have to count the cost to be his disciple, right? It's not always sunshine and rainbows, as they say. And poor Lazarus here He dies, he's back. How amazing is that? But now there's a plot to kill him. So what did he know? He's sitting there with his friend Jesus, reclining at a dinner table, watching his sister anoint his feet with perfume. And now this crowd is coming to see them both. Okay, that's the end of that scene. Now we go to the next day, verse 12. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. Very interesting crowd here, they're just following. So they took branches of palm trees And went out to meet Him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a colt." Now I'm going to borrow my notes here on that, verses 14 and 15. The synoptic gospels— Matthew, Mark, Luke— give more information here regarding Jesus's selection of a young donkey, such as in Matthew chapter 21, verses 1 through 9, Mark chapter 11, 1 through 10, Luke 19:29-38. So if you want a complete picture of the scene, you can go to those other gospels. They convey the fact that Jesus deliberately planned to present himself to the nation in this manner as a conscious fulfillment of the messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. Which is quoted here, right, in verse 15. The words 'fear not' are not found in the Zechariah passage but were added from Isaiah 40:9. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 9. Only after his ascension did the disciples grasp the meaning of the triumphal entry that we see in John chapter 14, verse 26. So the same crowd that went to Lazarus' house with Jesus eating there the night before are back on the scene. And it says that they took branches, verse 13, of palm trees. We've seen this in the movies. And they went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. Which is very alarming to the Pharisees and even King Herod, because now they're trying to make him king, right? And he is king, and this is why he's going to allow this to happen, because he's fulfilling prophecy, which we see here in verse 15, which comes from Zechariah 9:9. So this going on a colt, a little young donkey, the way he did was to fulfill prophecy. Verse 16: His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. So when it says Jesus was glorified, right, we're talking about when he rose from the grave, when he came back from the grave and he had a glorified body. So from that point forward, when he rose from the grave, is when we're talking about how he was glorified, right? So, but it was only after his resurrection himself that his disciples, in verse 16, remembered what was written about him. But up until this point, they're in the scene and they're not putting two and two together. They're not realizing that Zechariah 9:9 is being fulfilled in this moment. They're not seeing Isaiah 49 happening where it's talking about fear not. They're not putting their scripture, their Old Testament, and seeing it. They're just going with the flow like everyone else. And verse 17, it says, the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. So this is the next day. But that crowd, I mean, this crowd is just, they are just convinced now he is the Messiah. They were at the tomb, they are now at the, they saw with their own eyes again the next day, you know, at dinner, and now they are at, it is a fever pitch where you are like, it is absolutely 100% proof positive this is the Messiah. They're believing it, and it's a crowd. And as crowds go, they just feed off each other's energy. They're feeding off their energy, and they continue to bear witness. They continue telling, did you hear, did you see? And it's just spreading like wildfire. The gospel, Jesus raising of Lazarus, is just spreading across all of Israel like wildfire. It can't be contained. This is a problem for the Pharisees. So verse 18, it says, the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. It's what we just mentioned. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had done the sign. So not everyone was at the tomb. But now all friends and family are coming to see with their own eyes, lashes. Did He really raise from the dead? After being in the grave 4 days? So verse 19. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him." Now they're using the word "the world." The world has gone after Him. Remember they had that emergency meeting with Caiaphas in the previous chapter where someone had said, "What are we to do? Everyone is believing in him." Right? In the previous chapter, chapter 11, verse 47 said, So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. That was the concern when they had their emergency meeting, and that's where Caiaphas says, hey, you do not understand anything. Verse 50. It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. So now they're like, what are we to do? And then we fast forward a little bit in the story in this chapter, chapter 12. After they're taking up all of the palm branches and saying Hosannas, the Pharisees are looking on this now, and now they're desperate And they're saying in language like this, verse 19, quote, you see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. So they are talking amongst each other saying, we're doing nothing here, we got to do something here. Look, the world has gone after him. Everyone, right? Not some, but they're calling it the world. Now verse 20, the scene kind of changes, and it says, now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, quote, sir, we wish to see Jesus. So the feast is attracting people from all over that area, that in that region. And now we have non-Jews also coming because some have heard about Jesus. Some are actually believers, uh, in the Old Testament. But word, for the most part, His fame is spreading outside of Israel. His fame is spreading. And so now it says here that some Greeks, um, are there. They're there. They were at the feast, and now they want to talk to Jesus. They want to see him. But to see Jesus, they have to get through his disciples, because he was always surrounded by his disciples. So they did the right thing. They went up to one of the disciples and asked, hey sir, we wish to see Jesus. The sir here is Philip in verse 22. So they went up to Philip and they said to Philip, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And Philip went and told Andrew And both Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. So it's very interesting just about the detail in this exchange, right? And both the two disciples go up to Jesus, and it says in verse 23 And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Verse 25. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. So there's so much there to unpack. But we're going to do our best right now. So we have the Greeks here. That is really the only thing we hear about them. We don't know their name. All we know is that some Greeks— but we do see that Jesus goes on this message here, and it's assumed the message was heard by these Greeks since they were in the story in the first place. But even if they were not, the message is going to Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned also here. And Jesus goes on to say in verse 23, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. So now he just got— he was riding on this colt The crowd is saying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel." So they themselves are prophesying. They may have a different concept of what it means to be King of Israel because remember, he didn't come to be a military ruler and take over Rome, take it back from Rome, which is what they were hoping for. But still, like Caiaphas, like Mary. We're seeing foreshadowing and we're seeing prophetic imagery here. And Jesus is seeing it all as fulfilling prophecy. And now, now that that has happened, Zechariah 9:9, and he's come on the colt, he is now saying with his mouth, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. So he's taken on that title, the Son of Man, again, and he says, and to be glorified, which we know is future tense, and this is after the resurrection. Now, I didn't hit on it before, but I will borrow my notes on the Son of Man. I mentioned a little bit, but But I do want to deep dive a little bit about this title that he uses. So this is Jesus's favorite self-designation, for it was mostly spoken by Jesus, who used it over 80 times. In the New Testament, it refers only to Jesus and appears mostly in the Gospels. Such as Acts 7:56. While the term at times may refer merely to a human being or as a substitute for "I," it especially takes on an eschatological significance referring to Daniel 7:13-14, where Son of Man, or Messiah, comes in glory to receive the kingdom from the Ancient of Days, example, the Father. Okay, let me see here. There's a note on Matthew 8:20. Matthew 8, give me a second. Now in Matthew 8:20, and what I'm doing is I'm using my cross references that's in my Bible to go back and to see where other passages of certain words were also used. So in Matthew 8:20 it says, and Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And here, similar to what the previous note said, this note says, this is the name Jesus used for himself more than any other. It is used 83 times in the Gospels, always by Jesus himself. It was a messianic title that was used in Daniel 7:13-14, an obvious reference to the humanity and the humility of Christ, yet it also speaks of his everlasting glory, as Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14 shows. Okay, so that is when we're talking about the phrase Son of Man. So we see here, um, get back to where I was, John 12. So he says to Philip and Andrew, truly, truly I say to you, and maybe the Greeks, truly, truly I say to you. He goes on to say, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. So he's using a seed as an example here, and he's making illustration of how a normal regular seed tree has to produce fruit, similarly how his death, burial, and resurrection will also produce fruit. And this is also an illustration of a believer's life per se. So he's saying first off, using the natural language, the illustration of an actual seed, is that he says that unless a grain of wheat— so he's using wheat— a grain of wheat. He says, it says, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. Which means that that wheat needs to be planted. That wheat, that grain, needs to be planted. It needs to go into fertile soil. That's the first requisite. Because he says that if that seed does not go into soil, if it is not planted, the seed, it's going to be surface level and it's going to remain alone. The seed— he's taking the example of the seed— the seed is going to die. For a seed to live, to become what it's meant to become, it needs to be buried in soil where the soil has nutrients and water, and that's how a seed will grow. But the seed has to be planted. It has to die. He's using this language because that's what a seed really does. It has to fall into the earth and die. So truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. So the seed has to fall into the earth and die. If it doesn't fall into the earth and die, it says it remains alone. But then it says, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. So the concept and the play on words here is that death of this seed is necessary I mixed my words up, I think, a little bit, so let me just clarify. Death of the seed is necessary for the seed to bear fruit, but the only way the seed can die and bear fruit is it needs to fall into the earth, according to this example. Because if it doesn't, going back to my illustration prior too, if the seed falls on hard ground, rocky ground, it doesn't fall into the earth. It doesn't necessarily die because that's not what the text says, but it remains alone. So he's juxtaposing, he's contrasting the two outcomes of a seed. The seed is either going to fall into the earth and die, or it's going to remain alone. That's what's going to happen to the seed. Two outcomes: be alone, fall into earth and die. If it falls into the earth and dies, it's going to bear much fruit. And we could suppose basically if it stays alone it'll bear no fruit. So this is talking about the seed and how a seed bears fruit. First off, an important takeaway is the seed cannot be alone. Verse 25, he says, whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. So when we unpack verse 25, there's a short statement and a longer statement. So because it's separated by a comma, so if you're looking at your Bible, same thing, look at verse 25. We're in John chapter 12. He first starts off by saying, whoever loses— whoever loves his life loses it. So he's saying that if you love the here and now and that's it, best life now kind of thing, if you just care about, if you just love you, love doing you, it's all about you, all about your life, all right, if you really love your life, you love the materialism, the material things of this world, if that's you, he's saying you're going to lose— you're actually going to lose your life. And then when he talks about lose your life, you know, he uses— he says you're actually going to lose your, your life. Now he's talking about your actual life, your breath. So there's the experiential life that we all go through. We're experiencing life, right? Some more prosperous than others. But the fact is that if you love this life, if you love your life more than eternal life, you're actually going to lose it. And losing it is not having it eternal. You're not going to have eternal life. So he's basically saying that it's temporary, you're going to lose it. So whoever loves his life loses it. And then he comma, he says, and whoever hates his— now he just doesn't say hates his life, he explains what he's going to say here— and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Okay, so the concept here is that the world is part of— is a part of the explainer here, that if you really don't like the world in the sense of its Antichrist rhetoric specifically, um, and you hate the sin and the sinning that you do sometimes consciously— many times it's consciously, and unfortunately subconsciously sometimes— you do, you're doing the things the works of the devil, even though you don't want to, because the world has influenced you. Remember, we're not perfect. He's saying here that whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. You can't put your hope and your love in the world. So I'm going to borrow from my notes again. In these verses it says, not only is the principle of death applicable to Jesus, but it is also applicable to his followers. They too, as his disciples, may have to lose their life in service and witness for him. All right, so then he goes on to say in verse 26, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. So if you want to serve Jesus, he's saying you have to follow him. Then he says, there's a semicolon at least in the English version. And where I am, there will my servant be also. So the takeaway is, if you want to serve Jesus, you have to follow Jesus. And if you do both, he's saying where he is, there you will be also. And then he goes on to say, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him, which is a promise. So the big idea here as Christians is that in the opposite, you can't serve Jesus if you're not following Jesus. That's the opposite. You can't serve Jesus if you're not even following Jesus. So Jesus is saying here, you have to follow me in order to serve me. Tracking? And then the promise here is that if you follow Jesus, which is what he wants, You have that, that he will be with you. Where I am, there will my servant be also. And not only he will be with you, he says that the Father will honor him. So there's two words here that I want us to kind of dig a little deeper. One is the word follow, and the other is the word serve. Because there is a nuance here that he's— he wants us to understand. First, he says in verse 26, again, I'm going to actually connect the first part of that word serve with the latter part of the word serve. For example, he says, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. So if anyone serves me me. The back end of the statement is, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. So if you serve Jesus, the Father will honor you. Tracking? So if you serve Jesus, the Father will honor you. That is the promise. If you serve Jesus, The Father, God, will honor you. But there's a caveat, which is in the word follow, because he says, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. And that following is, as he says here, is where I am, there will my servant be also. So the takeaway is, if you want God the Father to honor you, the person, you have to serve Jesus. But in order to serve Jesus, you have to follow Jesus. And the promise here is If you follow Jesus, Jesus will be with you. That is the point. That is the takeaway there in verse 26 of John chapter 12. Some people try to serve Jesus without following him. They are thinking they are, you know, some people may go on a, on a mission trip in the name of Jesus but are not really following Jesus in their heart. Maybe they're doing the thing, giving the alms in the name of Jesus, maybe because they, they want a blessing and think they're going to be blessed because they did something for Jesus, they served Jesus. But what Jesus really wants before you serve him is he wants you to follow him. And that's the takeaway here, is you have to follow him. What does Luke 9:23 say? I quote it all the time. Jesus says in Luke 9:23, if anyone should come after me, let him pick up his cross daily— did not pick up his cross Deny himself daily and follow me. So this following is important to Jesus. He wants us to follow him. So the question is, how? How do we follow Jesus? The only way we can follow Jesus is we have to know what Jesus said. This is why we do Bible study, so that we can hear what Jesus said and we can know what his promises are. Otherwise, we're just doing things. We're serving without following. There's a distinction here. It's always good to serve, for sure, and we talk about it all the time. Serve. Serving is good. Be a servant. Have a servant heart. We're talking all about serving, washing people's feet, things like that. We're talking about an act. Of serving, right, in the name of Jesus oftentimes. But he wants us to follow. So the question is, are you following Jesus truly? Are you following Jesus, or are you serving Jesus without following him? Because there's a distinction there. That's what he says. And if you serve me, the Father will honor him. Verse 27 goes 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. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Okay. So this is an amazing part of John chapter 12. Put yourself in the scene. Jesus is not in the Garden of Gethsemane. As you may or may not know, this is his final— the night before he's crucified, where he's sweating drops of blood. He's anguished about what he's about to do, drinking what we call the cup of wrath, right? But here, this is before that. This is the, you know, he is anguished. It says he is troubled. He just was riding on a colt. He sees the crowds, they're prophesying he's the King of Israel because he is the King of Israel, even though Israel doesn't recognize him as such. And he gives this dissertation about what it means to serve him through following him. And he's going on to say now, verse 27, my soul is troubled, my soul is troubled. My notes say the term used here is strong and significant, significant signifies horror, anxiety, and agitation. Jesus' contemplation of taking on the wrath of God for the sins of the world caused revulsion in the sinless Savior. With a crossnote to 2 Corinthians 5:21. This was a very hard thing for even the Son of Man, the Son of God, to do. To drink the cup of wrath, we call it, for the sins of the world. It's an incredibly difficult thing to do, and he knows it. And it says in verse 27 that his soul was troubled. So now we see kind of a Another part about him, that he has a soul. S-O-U-L. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Now he's talking to himself, talking to who's around. Obviously it's recorded here in history. Others heard this. What shall I say, Father? Save me from this hour. Now we see the other part of the story— God the Father. Do you see how they're distinctive, Father and Son? Always giving glory to God, always praying to the Father, not praying to himself, not asking himself for help. He's always praying to the Father, honoring the Father, giving glory to the Father, knows that the Father sent him. And now he's on a mission. He's calling it the hour because now time is approaching where he has to do the very thing to be hung on that cross, crucified with nails and scourged, all of that that we haven't even touched. He already knows this is coming. He knows this is what it has to be. This is what it takes to free his people, to free his children from the bondage of sin. From the perishing that's been going on to this point, of dying, of suffering. He knows this is the only way. This is the plan. It's the only plan. It's the only way, and only he can do it. And now he's troubled. He's talking to himself. Says, what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But he reminds himself, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. For this purpose goes on to say, you know, he's saying, for this purpose. What purpose, Jesus? The purpose to die on their behalf. The purpose to die for the very people that hate me. The very people that curse me, I'm going to die for them too. See, because I have others that I have to bring into the fold so that they can have one shepherd. So he's saying this out loud. Obviously the Father's there too, because we're going to hear the Father's voice now. We already know the Father spoke before at John's— at Jesus' baptism, right? When the dove, the Holy Spirit dove, fell upon him. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. God is going to talk again. Let's pay attention. Let's pay attention to what God the Father says. Jesus says, Father, save me, which I say, save me from this hour. Verse 27, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Verse 28, it's almost like a prayer. It is a prayer of sorts. Verse 28, he says, Father, glorify your name. So he— Jesus wants the Father to always be glorified. This act is an act of glory for God. And then it says in verse 28, then a voice came from heaven, quote, I have glorified it. And I will glorify it again. That's what God says. A voice, an audible voice, a sound that ears can hear, not in the subconscious mind of Jesus, but from heaven. A voice came down saying this: I have glorified it, which he's talking about his name. Yahweh. I have glorified my name. Because Jesus has said, glorify your name. God is now saying— a voice from heaven— God is now saying, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. So what did that sound like to the people? Because remember, I said a voice came down from heaven. Well, it says In verse 29, it says, "The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to him.'" Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world." Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. Okay, so let's unpack that a little bit. Again, more deep theological stuff going on, real deep realities happening here. First off, we know that— we should know by now that God exists, and we know God can speak. Audibly. But we also hear that God's speech, at least in this text here, was not in Hebrew because that was— or Aramaic, which was their language there. It was a different sound. It was a sound. They recognized it as being from God or from an angel, but You know, you put two and two together. He had just— Jesus is there talking, probably upwards to God. They're witnessing him communicate with something or somebody. He's making a statement, Jesus. He says— he's talking to the Father. He's saying, Father. He's saying, 'Father, glorify your name.' And right after he said that, that's when God audibly from heaven said, 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again,' right after he said, 'Father, glorify, glorify your name.' So the people are hearing this. It sounded like thunder to some, and That's probably what it sounded like to everybody, but some interpreted the thunderous sound as a voice from an angel, right? But they do know that this sound, um, some thought it was just natural thunder and some thought it was actually the, this, the, the language, the thunderous sound of an angel. And Jesus is saying that what you guys said— so he's now taking what God had said and sounded. He's saying, hey, that wasn't for my sake, that was for your sake. And then he's saying, so that you know that the Father heard me and responded to me. It's not for me, it's for you. Everything I'm doing is to show you that I and the Father are one. I come from heaven. He and I are in agreement that we are to together in all of this. Time and time and time again in the Gospel of John, we're seeing this. Jesus is always, always, always pointing to the Father. And he goes on to say, he goes on to say, now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. So now we learn that there is another party in the story called the ruler of this world. Right now, you and I know who that ruler of this world is, but in the book of John, he doesn't identify who the ruler of the world is. It's partly what we want to do in Bible studies. We want to read it like we've never read it before. We don't have the context right now. We only have the context of the book of John. This is why it's great to read the whole Bible And we can see who the ruler of the world is in other parts that fill in the blanks. But at face value, if you've only read the book of John, all you know according to the scripture is that there is a ruler of this world. And Jesus apparently doesn't like the ruler of this world. In fact, he says, now that person is cast out. The ruler of the world is cast out. Why? Because judgment has come. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. Now, for— because we're doing Bible study, we have cross-references to other parts of the Bible about the rule of this world. So I will listed here. So obviously the ruler of the world is a reference to Satan, and we see that in John chapter 14:30. We're not there yet, but we'll skip ahead. So John 14:30 says, quote, I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me. So that's where we see the ruler of the world mentioned later on in John. In John 16:11, which is in a few days from now, John 16:11, we see it mentioned, quote, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. So he uses that again later on in the book of John. Uh, let's see, Matthew chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. Matthew, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Matthew chapter 8. I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 4, verse 8 and 9 says, this is the temptation of Christ. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And that was a reference of the devil tempting Christ in the beginning, in the temptations, where he takes him and he says, all you got to do, Jesus, is worship me and I'll give you all of this, right? So that is context, okay? Now he goes on to say in verse 32, '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. Okay, the response to what he just said there Verse 34, so the crowd answered him, quote, 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. And he— remember, he said this a few more, a few other times previously in the book of John, how he's talking that while it is still day, he has work to do because it's coming nighttime where no work can be done. So this illustration of day and light, you know, while you have the light, he's saying to these guys, hey, the light of the world is here, and take advantage of it because there's going to come a time when I leave this earth, which he has, and darkness will overtake you. Darkness could overtake you, right? So I'll read that again. 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. So while I'm here, take advantage of that, because if you don't take advantage of this, darkness is going to overtake you. He's talking to these guys in that time. He goes on to say, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. Then while you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. So believing in Jesus, believing in the light, makes you a son of the light. Okay, now verse— and then it goes on after that. Verse 36: When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. So the scene is you have this triumphal entry, everyone is screaming Hosanna. He's now talking about— he's prophesying about how he's going to die. He's saying in verse 32, when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself. So that is why he has to be crucified. Lifting up from the earth is that cross coming up, lifted up from the earth. Lifted up from the earth also means when he rose from the dead, right? And so remember, he's that seed, right? Because before a certain— unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone. So that he's that seed that he talked about in verse 24 as well, that he has to die first, um, so that it could bear fruit. Just like how we have to die to ourselves first before we can bear fruit. That's why we call being born again. We have to die to our old self, our old nature, our old identity We too are like a seed. We have to die to ourself. But when we're raised again, and the imagery is baptism, when we're raised again in the here and now, we now are equipped to bear fruit. So the whole idea of baptism And what that means, and that's why it's a thing— why do we get baptized? Full immersion baptism, talking about why do we get dunked? Because it's representing our old self going, dying to ourselves, going into that pool of water, right? That's our metaphorical spiritual illustration. That's why we do baptism that way. Is because the imagery is that when you're in that baptism pool, when you're getting— or in a river or in a large body of water— the imagery is that here you are starting off upright and you're going to go into the water, the water representing the earth. You're dying to yourself. And then when you come back out of that baptism, you have rose again, figuratively speaking. You are a new creation, the Bible says, right? So that's the imagery of a baptism, because remember, Jesus says, go into all the world, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, right? So that's— but that baptism that I just illustrated there, dying to yourself Coming out of the water, aka coming out of the earth, is a representation that he's saying here. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. So we have to, we have to die. If we don't die, if we don't— and baptism is the symbolism of that— if If we don't, if we don't do that, if we don't profess Christ as Lord, Romans 10:9, right, and believe in our hearts God raised him from the dead, if we don't do that, Romans 10:9, if we don't do that, we're alone. We're lone wolves, per se. We're alone. So for us to join with Jesus, for us to join with him and be with him. According to what we just read, according to what we just read in verse 26, if anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor me. So for us to have that, we have to be like that wheat that fell into the ground, died, came back alive as a new creature. As a new follower of Jesus. That's the illustration. So Jesus is saying all of this. He's talking to God. God thunders, "I have glorified it. I will glorify it again." People hear it. Now he's saying he has to be lifted up. Now they get it because they're saying, verse 34, "So the crowd answered him, 'We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that, that how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? So they're using his language now. How can you say, Jesus, you call yourself the Son of Man, how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Are you referring to yourself or someone else? Because we're here with all these palm branches to anoint the King of Israel, the Messiah. Are you not that? So there's a little bit of confusion. And then Jesus goes on speaking in code, if you will, but true words. For a little while longer, walk in the light while I'm here, so forth. And then we see here that Jesus said all those things and he departed and hid himself from them. So verse 37, we pick it up. It says, though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. Verse 38, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, quote, Lord, who has believed what he heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 'He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'" So I will read my notes here because it will reference these Old Testament passages that Jesus is fulfilling. So it says in these verses, John gave the scriptural explanation for such large-scale catastrophic unbelief on the part of the Jewish nation. The explanation was that the unbelief was not only foreseen in scripture but necessitated by it. In verse 38, John quotes Isaiah 53:1, and in John 12:40 he quotes Isaiah 6:10, both of which stress the sovereign plan of God in his judicial hardening of Israel. Although God predestined such judgment, it was not apart from human responsibility and culpability. Okay, as reference to John 8:24, which says— 8:24, Jesus said, I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Tracking. All right, so we're hitting verse 41, a little explainer of this Old Testament Isaiah passage. It says Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities, believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it. So they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory from God. So this is John, the writer of the Gospel of John, given— obviously he wrote this, he's explaining the story, he's an eyewitness, he's quoting, he's explaining why the people did not believe in Jesus. So he just quoted Isaiah, right, 53, great passage, you should read it. And then he's, he's saying that verse 42, nevertheless many even of the, of the authorities believed. So he's saying that even though there is massive disbelief, there were still many that did believe. So it says, nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. Which is the story we have even today. Quiet Christians, silent Christians, um, you know, all driven from fear. Fear and in some cases, fear of their very life, right? You could be living in a Muslim home, and there are many, and believe in Jesus. That's hard. That is a hard spot to be in. You could be, you don't even have to be even in that setting. You could be a person that has friends that no one is a Christian, and you even know that some of them make fun of Christians, but you're a Christian and you don't want to stand up for Jesus because you don't want to be ostracized. You don't want to lose your friends. So here in this context, The synagogue was everything to them. This is the YMCA. Every town had it. This is the only place that they went to learn scripture and do church and be connected. It was important to be connected to a synagogue. But we are talking about the Pharisees here who were very religious. Believed in Jesus according to John, but they were afraid of the Pharisees, and they would not confess Jesus because they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue. Example would be Nicodemus, who came in the middle of the night to talk to Jesus, but we'll see him later on. Now verse 43, for they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. And that's really the problem, is that people rather get the glory from other people than the glory that comes from God. It glorifies God that you are a witness to God, uh, that you defend God and his nature. That glorifies him. But instead, we're afraid of challenging the, the world in his viewpoint of God, right? And I can go on and on about that. But if someone, for example, was to say to me, God does not exist, I'm not going to sit there and allow that. I'm going to say, of course God exists, and do my best to explain through scripture why God exists, or about Jesus. So we call that apologetics. Not everyone is very good at it. It's okay. But the reason why silent Christians don't speak up for Jesus, it clearly says here, the reason why is they're afraid of losing their standing and their place. I see this in business. People say, oh, I'm a Christian, but they don't act Christian. They don't behave like a Christian in the real world, in business. They seem to put on a different identity when they do life. But you should always have one identity. That's the problem. That's why people struggle, is because people have multiple identities. They're trying to put on a show. They're trying to represent themselves as this for this spot, this for that spot, when in reality you should be you. And hopefully be the authentic you. And hopefully your authentic you is a follower of Jesus. There's nothing wrong with being a follower of Jesus. Jesus is arguably the most boldest dude in history and the most wise, and you want to be associated with Jesus. It's okay, I give you permission. To be a follower of Jesus. There's no downside to not defending Jesus or his gospel or not being a Christian. There's just no, there's no downside. The only downside is what the world is telling you, that, um, and the world will give you all kinds of reasons. I'm not going to go into all the reasons because there's a million reasons. So now we go into the final section of John chapter 12, verse 44. And here it says, and Jesus cried out. All right, so we see another time he cried out. Remember, he cried out earlier in the Feast of Booths during the water purification ceremony or the lighting. And he says, I— he cried out, I am the light of the world, right? He goes into the, I am the light of the world. That was when We saw last time that he cried out. He's yelling this out to everyone. And we see here that he cries out and he says, whoever— this is like the last, almost feels like a last life buoy he's throwing out to the people. That's all, that's the feel of it. It says he cries out and he says again, whoever, whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. Tracking? That's important, right? I say that's important because we don't hear about the Father very much these days, it seems. I don't know why. But it's obvious to me that Jesus loves the Father. And if Jesus loves the Father, I love the Father too. Of course, you have to recognize God for being God. You have to recognize where the source of life comes from, from God. And it's important that you believe in God. High level. But it's important to Jesus that everyone understands that if you believe in him, you're not just believing in him only, you're also believing in the person Who sent him? Him and God are two peas in a pod. They're one in, in, in, in mind. Let's put it that way, right? They, they're in agreement. Two persons, one doing the will of another. There's a love. They love each other. The father wants his son to be honored. That's the father's will. He wants his son to be honored. Go back to the parable of the, the unrighteous, uh, landowners or vineyard owners where they, they kill the servants of the the wine press of the, of the farm there where, and then finally the owner of the land sends his son and says, well, maybe they'll respect my son after they killed all his workers because they were trying to get the vineyard production for free, right? The tenants And the tenant said, hey, oh behold, it's the actual son. If we kill the heir of, of this, uh, operation, then we can have it. That's where Jesus kind of talks about those kind of people. The tenants are robbers and stealers and thieves. When we go back to that sheepfold gate we talked about yesterday, right? So Jesus is saying here And he cries out, whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. Why Jesus did— so why did Jesus come? He says, I have come into the world as light. So that— I love the 'so that.' I have come— meaning he was not always here, he had to travel. He says, I have come. We should say, come from where, Jesus? I have come into this world. Into the world. What world, Jesus? Trackin'? This is how elementary our thinking needs to be and our conclusions should be. We should clearly see here Jesus is saying something, some things, plural, that he has traveled here from another place and he has come into this world, or he says the world. And how? He says as light, so that— application— so that whoever— not some people, whoever, a choice— whoever, whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. May remain in darkness, which means that wherever he came from before, that in the world that we live in here, it was darkness. It was always darkness. We had been living in darkness before he came into the world. Follow? Tracking? So he's saying that whoever believes now in him, now that he is in the world, won't remain in darkness because he says, I came into the world as light. So we have this— we all know what light and darkness is. And he's saying that believing in him means you're no longer going to live in darkness. And darkness is all kinds of ignorance and unbelief. You don't want to live in darkness. He came to deliver us from being living in darkness. There is no upside to being in darkness. And he's mentioned a few times about darkness. Remember, he said in verse 36, 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. You, while you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. And so that's His object— that's his object lesson. That is his exhortation to these people, and now to us reading through his word. He goes on to say, verse 47, John chapter 12: If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. Okay, that gives some people some hope, and it could be you. So let's unpack it. Let's be— let's see what he's saying here. If anyone And again, it's whoever, it's anyone. If anyone, it's not an exclusive gospel. He's not just for this type of people. He's not here for this tribe. He's not here for this specific tongue. He's not here for this particular color of skin. He's not here for this particular religion, religious person, or political person. He came to save everyone, and his exhortation and his invitation is all people are like seeds, and you're going to be alone, you're left alone unless you die and then live again. Tracking? And now he says, okay, verse 47, if anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. Okay, that's good. I do not judge him. So we know Jesus is not going to judge you if you hear his words through scripture and don't keep them? Because he says, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. How can someone hate Jesus if his whole representation and intention is to save the world? Why is that such a hard concept? But people hate that concept. But he says in verse 48, the one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. So just because Jesus is saying that he's not going to judge a person for not keeping his word, it doesn't adjudicate them from being judged. There's still judgment, it's just not going to come from him because he's the Savior. He says here— and what type of person is he talking about? He's talking about the type of person in verse 48 that rejects him. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. So he's saying, hey, there is a— there's a distinction about me and what I'm saying. What I'm saying is vocabulary words. It's spoken, it has sound and meaning. So Me, the person, I don't judge you, but my words will judge you. Tracking? The words I have spoken will judge him on the last day. Which means that someone, an old pastor, I think it was John MacArthur, had said it a long time ago. He says oftentimes we are people where we're on a divine judgment payment plan where we sin now, pay later. So it's kind of like that. It's like, yeah, you can have your quote-unquote best life now and superficially feel like you're safe and feel like you— and you know, but the problem is if you're putting your trust in your riches and things like that, the fact of the matter is without Jesus, if you reject him and you've got this quote-unquote abundance, that the rejection is going to have a— it's going to have— it's going to come— it's going to come due on Judgment Day. So according to Paul, you know, in his gospel, is we Christians, we go out with this, with the gospel, which is a reconciliation gospel where we're begging people to reconcile with God. That is what we do as Christians, what we should do. Our message is, hey, you're separated from God, please reconcile with God so that you're good. Come to the conclusion of all of this. Come to the conclusion that God is God, that God exists, and God has a Son, and God has paved the way for you to be with him and his Son. In heaven, have eternal life. Like, but in the meantime, you're not reconciled, you're out of balance, you have a deficit that you cannot pay, and the only way to get into balance, to get right, is to accept the gift, the gift of salvation, the gift of faith in the only one who could forgive your sins. That's the gospel of the reconciliation, or so forth. So Jesus is saying that I don't personally judge you, but my words do. And it might seem like it's one and the same, but who are we to split hairs, right? The point is he's saying don't reject me. That's the point. So he goes on to say— and the point is that judgment is still— everyone gets judged regardless. Okay, and I get it, many people feel some kind of way because nobody wants to be judged, but that's just not the way it works. Better yet, accept the fact that you will be judged. Better yet, to say, hey, I can't live, I can't live a perfect life. That's okay because we can't. What's not okay is to say, hey, I refuse you, God, I refuse your gift for forgiveness because I think I could do it on my own. I don't need you. That's the problem. So he says here, verse 49, for I have not spoken on my own authority. Whose authority, Jesus, if not yours? That's the question we should ask ourselves when we read stuff like this in slow motion. Jesus says, 49, for I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak. We reading this, slowing it down, slow motion, should ask What? Well, Jesus, what commandment are you referring to? Well, let's see. Verse 50: And I know what his commandment is. Or shall I say it again? And I know that his commandment is eternal life. That is God's commandment to Jesus. And now Jesus is fulfilling that commandment. What I say therefore, I say as the Father has told me. It's very interesting that Jesus, in his own right, his own being, being the Son of God, being divine, being the Word of God according to John chapter 1, having authority, being a part of creation, actually upholding creation as the Son of God according to the book of Hebrews, right? That's a great book, you should read it. But here we have him always fulfilling and honoring God the Father, and He wants us to understand that he's doing it more or less, most things, on the Father's behalf. And that is why the connection between God himself and Jesus is uber important. And that's why we can never separate the two if you're going to call yourself religious. For you to believe— and he said this— is for you to believe in God, the one God, the true God, Elohim, Yahweh, for you to believe in him, you cannot deny Jesus. You cannot say to yourself that he's just like us, a normal person, and worse yet, a sinner, and and even worse yet, a person that comes from the devil. That is why they, they, they, they coexist. Got it? So he's saying, he's making a point to the Jewish nation who is very monotheistic, who believe in one God, right? He's trying to tell them that Yahweh has a son, and not everyone is tracking there or believes that. Some do, but before he got there, for the most part, they don't realize that Yahweh has a son that's also divine, that also is a part of upholding the universe through the Son's word, because he is the word. Got it? And that's why he's always referencing the Father, and he's always making a distinction about Father and himself as the Son and the Son of Man, right? So we as Christians should for sure honor the Father in everything. Of course we honor Jesus in everything too, and we should honor the Holy Spirit just as much. And we haven't hit on the Holy Spirit yet, but so far what we're seeing here, John is trying to, to, um, to make, make it a point. As John has said in John chapter 20 John chapter 20, uh, Jesus, um, verse 30. The purpose of the Gospel of John— John himself says this: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That is the reason, the purpose of the book we have been reading so far for the first 12 chapters. The author of this book, the Apostle John, has written in verse 34 of chapter 20 that these things are written so that you and me and our families and the world may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That is why this has been— this book is here. These words that I'm reading are supernatural words. God is— God's words. They're straight up, some of them straight up quotations from Jesus himself. And we see that in red letter Bibles. This is not a red-letter Bible where Jesus' words are red, right? And the Bible says that God's word will never go out and not return to him void. This word always has a purpose, whether you are ignorant, whether you don't agree. Believe you me, this is a supernatural word that's going to do something, Lord willing, and hopefully good in your life. That will eventually leaven— because we talked about leavening before— leaven and have its multiplying effect in you, the person, so that you get to a person where you're willing to no longer be the seed that's going to live alone, but you're going to be the seed that's going to go into the earth and die and rise again as a new creature, as a son of light, as a son of God. That is the purpose. That is my purpose. That's my goal in doing this, so that you can have that opportunity. So that's where we end in chapter 12, verse 50. And I know that his commandment— God's commandment— and I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say therefore, I say 'As the Father has told me.' The Father's commandment. The Father's given Jesus a big commandment. Basically, he's encapsulated the Father's will for Jesus that we are a part of through John 3:16. Basically, the commandment of God is this: eternal life and all that means. That number one, there is such a thing as called eternal life. God himself is using Jesus to show people there is a thing called eternal life. It's real and it exists and it's there. It's there for you. It's there. You have access to it. You can have it. But as we see here in scripture, we have to go through the door. We have to go through the gate. And there's only one person that is, is that door. We saw in the previous passage with, um, the Good Shepherd. All right, I hope that's a lot. I hope, uh, that's helpful. Yeah, let's pray. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we'll pick it up in the next chapter, chapter 13. This is a favorite. That's where Jesus washes the disciples' feet. You're gonna hear a new nuance maybe on this passage because I'm going to counter some of the pacifist viewpoints on washing of disciples' feet. And hopefully illustrate what Jesus really means by that whole thing. And then we will see in the next chapter tomorrow how Jesus says to the people in the upper room, one of you will betray me. He gives us a new commandment. He will foretell of Peter's denial. So this is where he's going to foreshadow and tell Peter Peter, well, Peter, you, you're going to deny me, right? And many of us do from time to time, but Jesus saves and he forgives, and we rest our hope in that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this word today in the Gospel of John, chapter 12. We are amazed, Lord, of just what you came to do. We see in this chapter how The crowd is amazed. We see they're putting on palm branches, calling you King of Israel, and we see that you did not stop there. You continue to add the pressure, add to the fire, declaring that you are the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world, declaring that whoever believes in you will to have eternal life. We learn the story that, that we, just like you, are seeds, and unless the seed goes into the earth and dies, it remains alone. My prayer for us is that we will never be an alone seed. And if we have been that seed that's been baptized and raised again, spiritually speaking, and come to new life, that if we are that person, that we will not be like the Christians identified in this chapter where they are silent because of fear that they will be thrown out of the synagogue. And this is the condition of all people, Lord— fear, fear of confessing you as the true real God. My prayer is that we become fearless people, knowing that where you are, there we are, and where you are, God is there also. Because you have said in this chapter that if we choose to serve you, we must follow you. But in doing so, both you and the Father will be with us. And I pray that that will give us extra power and confidence knowing that we are doing the will of God. Pray all these things in the name of your Son Jesus. May we all have a blessed day today. All right, everyone. Great, thanks for staying, sticking with me, and I hope to see you again. Bye.