If I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ and these are These are the last public declarations
in John chapter 12 before he retires to the privacy of that
upper room and then speaks to his disciples, washes their feet,
expels Judas from their presence and then speaks such sweet words
to his chosen ones. It is, but these are the words
of a man, our Saviour, whose soul is troubled. But this is
speaking of this particular hour, isn't it? There is, in the Old
Testament, there is the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord,
the day is coming. And then the day has an hour
in which everything is concentrated. And then it's all concentrated
in just one moment, isn't it? When the Lord Jesus Christ says
it is finished. And he gives up his spirit. It wasn't taken from him. He
gave his life a ransom for many. And so here in these remarkable
verses of scripture we have this concentration. If you want to
know what all the Old Testament scriptures are saying, here it
is. All of the roads, all of the verses in the Old Testament
have a path that leads directly to this particular hour and this
particular moment. And every moment and every view
we have of this world has a path that leads to this particular
moment because this is the moment, this is the hour. for which this
universe was created and for which this universe exists. It's
for the glory of God. And we looked last week at the
Lord Jesus Christ cry, isn't it? Father, glorify thy name. The whole purpose of this, isn't
it, is the glorification, the raising up of the name of our
God, to have him high and lifted up. And how do we see the Father
glorified? We see the Father glorified in
the Son. Listen to his prayer. In John
17, the hour has come, he says, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal. Don't you love that it's not
about your doing? It's not about your wisdom. It's not about your
righteousness. It's not about your activities.
This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. It's remarkable in
John's Gospel to think how many times he's described as the sent
one, the father. Do you know how many? 46 times
in John's Gospel. Did the Father have a purpose
in sending the Son? Did the Son have a purpose in
coming? Well, here it is laid out before
us in these glorious, glorious words in John chapter 12. The voice from heaven, the voice
of God came for our sakes. so that we would hear God speak. Verse 31, now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying
what death he should die. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
has a should attached to it. as a cause attached to it. This
is the lifted up Saviour talking about the judgment of this world.
And that word judgment is the word, if we wrote out the Greek
letters of that word, we'd have the word crisis. This is the
crisis of the world. John the Baptist spoke of the
Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter three, talking about
him in remarkable terms and he is caused from his prison to
ask whether this is the one or should there be another one coming
but he says I indeed baptize you with water John 3 11 unto repentance, but he that
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy
to bear." He's not worthy to stoop down. This greatest of
all born of woman is not worthy to stoop down and undo the sandals
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. and he did in that glorious day
of Pentecost when all the church is immersed in the Holy Spirit
and with fire and the fire of course is the fire of the wrath
of God that fell upon him on the cross of Calvary but listen
to what else John the Baptist said whose fan is in his hand
and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat
into his garner, and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire." Now is the judgment of this world. Whenever the gospel
is being preached, there is the reality of these verses laid
out before us, isn't it? Now is the crisis of this world. In fact, these men mockingly
ask the best question of all in verse 34 of our chapter in
John 12, Who is this Son of Man? Why do you say that the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? And that is the judgment, isn't
it? The judgment is that light has come into this world. Men are judged. Men are judged
in the Lord Jesus Christ and men are judged in response to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what it says in verse
37 of this John chapter 12. Believing not is an active activity.
Unbelievers are active in their unbelief. At the end of Acts
we have Paul in prison in Rome and he
has this glorious freedom to preach the gospel. And the end
result of it is that some believed the things which were spoken.
And he just spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified
all the time. That's all. That's his determination. He
spoke of Him always. Some believed. Believing is the
gift of God. It's passive. And some believed
not. Believing not is an active, that's
what it is, it's in the active voice. Not that you need to know
Greek, English is just fine, but people in unbelief are active,
aren't they? There is a judgment. Here is
the judge. The judge, the world, by wisdom,
knew not God, and the world looked at the Lord Jesus Christ. This
religious world looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and said, who
is he? Herod set him before him, and they set him at naught. Pilate gave him into the will
of the people and what was the will of man. Let's crucify him. Let's go back to John chapter
three and let's follow this word crisis through some of the scriptures
that are so evidently plain before us. He says, In verse 17 of John
chapter three, in his conversation with Nicodemus, he said, God
sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. The world was condemned
before he came. Our condemnation came in the garden when we sinned
in our father Adam and your condemnation comes as you act out that in
your life here. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. It's that same word. He that
believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not. is
condemned already because he has not believed in the name,
the character of the only begotten son of God. It's not just his
name, millions proclaim the name of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Lord,
Lord, Lord. And when you come and speak to
those religious people and talk to them about the perfection
of his finished work and why he came and just the simple verses,
we're not going to people with complicated issues of theology. We're just saying, this is who
he is and this is what he said. And we've just read about it
in Zechariah and other places in the Old Testament. We're just
saying, this is who he is and this is what he did. And this
is what he is for his people right now. And they say, I will
not have, I will not have that man to reign over me. I will
not have a God like that God. Men find no offense in the God
of their creation and the God of their imaginations, which
is why men make images, isn't it? Where do images come from?
come from your imagination. I lived in a world for five years
in India where there were just images everywhere and they were
ugly and distasteful and you got to just hate them so much.
And the worst ones of all were the ones that the Catholics put
up everywhere. You can hardly drive around southern
India without seeing Catholic statues and Catholic shrines.
And what was the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? Every picture
you see of the Lord Jesus Christ is a lie. Every picture you see
of him is a deceitful lie. But the Catholics in southern
India, they always had him. How did they have him? As a baby
in his mother's arms, as a dying man in his mother's
arms, or as a pathetic figure begging people. pathetic. All of them were just so blasphemous. He came not to condemn the world. That word judging and condemning
speaks of separation. This is the condemnation. Let's
go back to John chapter 3 verse 19. This is the judgment. This
same word. This is the condemnation. This
is it if you want a definition of it. That light is come into And men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. No wonder after these
words in John chapter 12 that we're looking at today, he says
to them, yet a little while the light's with you, just a little
while. It's a powerful phrase to consider,
isn't it? Just a little while the light's
with you. The number of people that we have dealt with over
the last 15 or 20 years who have seen a little light for a little
while and the little light has been snatched away and all that
is left is darkness. A darkness in which they think
they see light. A darkness in which they think
themselves righteous and worthy of God's commendation. In fact, they don't realise that
it's his condemnation on them that has left them to themselves
and left them to their religion. 4. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. And that's exactly what happened
in the garden, isn't it? What happened when Adam sinned? The
very first thing they do is they find the darkest place they can
possibly find in the garden, and find themselves probably
underneath a fig tree, and they're busily stitching fig leaves together,
hiding from God, and that's what man is doing. What a glorious,
glorious thing it is for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into
this world. One of the things that I want
us to see as we look at these verses is to remember and to
be mindful of the drawing power of the Lord Jesus Christ and
be mindful of the extraordinary distance it is. to be in His
presence and the glorious work that only God can do to draw
us into His presence. Eternal life is having access
to the Tree of Life in the Garden of God. The Tree of Life is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 were
expelled from the Garden. They were expelled but saved,
clothed in the very righteousness of that blood sacrifice that
the Lord Jesus Christ brought in the garden. But outside of
the garden, there were two cherubim with their flaming sword. And
the picture is, imagine huge helicopter blades spinning with
lights on them. It's that sort of picture. And
for you to get to the tree of life, Those cherubim are guarding
the way. How do you get to the tree of
life? There is just one way. There is just one person, and
he must come out of the garden and come to where you are, hidden
in your darkness and hidden in your religion, and he must draw
you with cords of love and the power of the infinite almighty
God to draw you to yourself. For everyone that doeth evil
hates the light. So it's an issue of hatred and
an issue of love, isn't it? They love the darkness and they
hate the light. These are strong, strong words,
isn't it? Aren't they? But he that doeth
truth cometh to the light. That his deeds, the one that
doeth the truth. How do we do the truth? in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We perfectly do the truth. That
his deeds, all of his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought
in God. This is the crisis of this world. Turn with me over to John chapter
5 and we'll just look at some verses there. Might read them
without too much comment. Verse 21, for as the father raises
up the dead and quickens them, that means just to give them
life, to be quickened is to be given life. So even so the son
gives life to whom he will. God is not in the hands of man's
free will. Man is in the hands of God's
will. Always. This notion of free will, that
man is a free moral agent, is just the words of Satan bathed
in some religious niceties in this day and age. 4. The Father, because the Father
judges no man, but has committed all judgment, all crisis, all
of the crisis is in the hands under the Son, that all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father that has sent him. Now we've just seen from this
passage of scripture that honouring the Son, according to John chapter
12, is to acknowledge that what happened on the cross. Again
and again and again he speaks of what happened on the cross.
He speaks of the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying
and it comes forth and it brings forth much fruit. It's the Son
of Man being glorified on the cross and the Father being glorified
in the Son on the cross and the judgment of the world happening
at the cross. He that honoureth not the Son,
honoureth not the Father, which hath sent him, verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, that's that same word, crisis, but is passed from
death to life. What's the answer, brothers and
sisters? It's faith, isn't it? It's just simple, childlike faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For
as the Father has life in himself, so he is given to the Son to
have life in himself. And he has given him authority
to execute judgment also. It's that same word. Because
he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this. For the hour
is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his
voice. What a remarkable day that will be when the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ sounds in this world and the graves
are empty. And shall come forth they that
have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation. You've done good? If you've been And God smiles. To believe on
Him is to hide in Him, isn't it? To hide. To have Him cover you. The world
judged Him as unworthy, and the Father and all the people in
Him judge Him as glorious. How do you escape judgment? Believe. Believe. Now is the judgment of this world. Right now, there is a judgment
going on in this world. Wherever the gospel is preached,
there is a judgment going on in this world. And as I said
earlier, that judgment speaks of separationism. The Lord is
gathering his people together. Don't you love that picture of
Mary anointing the feet of the Lord at Bethany? Where was the
church gathered? Where was God meeting with his
people? in a little house in Bethany,
out of the sight of all of that religious activity and all of
that religious world and what was happening in that house.
She poured all of that ointment, that huge amount of this incredibly
expensive, she poured it extravagantly on the Lord and the whole house
was filled with the odour, what's the odour? The death, burial
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the odour that
fills the house. And wherever the Lord is present
with his people, the odour of his life, death and resurrection
fills the house. And wherever the Lord Jesus Christ
is not raised up in the glory of what he did upon the cross
of Calvary in the union that he had with his people who whose
sins were laid on him, but they were in him when he was crucified. That's what Paul says, I was
crucified with Christ. We were in him and the judgment
of God, that fire fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And he consumed
the wrath and he died. The notion, the common notion
that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world with some effort
and some intention of saving all of this world is an absolute
denial of everything that the scriptures say about his glory,
everything that scriptures say about his father's glory. There
is no glory in a God who tries and fails. There is no glory,
there is no safety in a death that doesn't achieve what God
said it was going to achieve. People said to Spurgeon many
years ago, and they say to us, that you're so narrow. You're
so narrow. It's so constricted. And that's
exactly what the Lord said. The path to heaven is narrow.
It's as narrow as the Lord Jesus Christ. And the person accused
Spurgeon of being narrow, they accuse us of being narrow. And
they say, it's much better. We're a broader church. It's
much broader. Let's compromise with all of
these people. Let's make it broad. And Spurgeon's response was very
clear. He says, the difference is, The difference is that my
bridge goes all the way across to heaven. The broad roads, where
do they go? Where do the broad roads go?
Where do the compromising roads go, where people compromise the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? For love of themselves and the
praise of men. What did Paul say in Galatians
chapter 6? I love the strength of these
words. I wish I could convey them as
strongly as he said them in Galatians chapter 6 verse 14. He says,
God forbid. God, don't let it happen. Don't ever let me be one of those. God forbid that I should glory. God forbid that I should boast.
God forbid that I should have confidence in. save in anything
but the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is a crucified thing unto me. The world is a dead thing now,
and I unto the world, because it's under the judgment of God.
For in Christ Jesus, Neither circumcision availeth anything.
Any of your works under the law have no power and no efficacy
with God, is what he's saying. Nor uncircumcision all of your
works outside of it, no matter how righteous they might seem
in the eyes of you or other people. They don't avail anything. They have no power, no efficacy,
but a new creature, a new creation. What's the new creation? Christ
in you, the hope of glory. But the Christ in you that is
the hope of glory is the Christ who is lifted up in these verses
here before us. I must hurry. But he says, the
prince of this world, and now shall the prince of this world
be cast out. Satan will be cast out. That
casting out speaks of a violent activity. The Lord Jesus Christ
physically cast him out just as he cast out demons out of
people. Just like he cast out the demons
out of the Gadarene demoniac. He cast out the demons of that
woman. The Lord Jesus Christ drove them
out of the temple to cast them out. The blind man who was saved
and proclaimed the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter
9, he was cast out by the religious world. If you are a saved person,
the religious world has cast you out. It's cast you out into
the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a cast out people. True and righteous, Revelation
19. True and righteous are His judgment,
for He has judged the great whore who did corrupt the whole earth
with her fornication and has avenged the blood of His servants. I pray that the Lord would grant
us the grace to be a place where He is lifted up. He says, and
I, if I'm lifted up, the lifted up Son of Man, How has he lifted
up? He's lifted up as Moses lifted
up that serpent in the desert. Bitten sinners, dying sinners,
just look and live. Are you bitten? Are you bitten
by the fall of Adam? Are you bitten by the fall of
this world all around you? Are you bitten by the fall of
your own activities? Are you wounded? Wounded by the
fall? The gospel says you look and
live. Look unto me, all you ends of the earth, and be you saved.
Look and live. Look and live. Those people in
the desert, just like the people in the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they mocked him and they said, my soul despises. this light bread. They despised
the Lord Jesus Christ. They despised the manna from
heaven, and they were much discouraged by the way. Oh, what a lesson
for us in a world where he is esteemed so lightly, and the
way seems difficult, and the way seems very narrow. He's lifted
up. He's lifted up from the earth.
What's the lifting up of the Lord Jesus Christ mean? He's
lifted up in a death that all could see. He was lifted up between
heaven and earth. But particularly he's lifted
up as a curse. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the Lord being made a curse for us. Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. He was cursed under the law of
God. He was being and he was made
sin for us. To be lifted up is for him to
die a death under the wrath of his father. Awake our sword,
says God the Father. You awake our sword against my
fellow, against my companion, against the one that is equal
with me, against my fellow, and smite the shepherd, says God
the Father. If the Lord would allow us to
see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up, we have to see the remarkable
transaction that went on in those hours of darkness. And I love
the fact that because of that darkness, the only light that
we'll ever have on that remarkable transaction of our salvation
is the light that God sheds upon it in his word. It wasn't something
for men to be gazing upon. It was something for men to stand
in awe of and be fearful of. How much judgment is coming upon
this world, as in the words of Romans 1, God gives people over. He gives people over to their
religion. He gives people over to their
wisdom. He gives people over to their
path. And they rejoice and find themselves
content in this world until the real crisis comes. The preaching of the gospel is
a judgment. The preaching of the gospel declares
the judgment of God that has fallen justly and righteously
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and all who are in him and all who
are in union with him. And the glory of him being lifted
up under that judgment, under that legal, the law of God expended
its wrath on the sins of all of those people in the Lord Jesus
Christ until God says I'm satisfied, it's finished. And he's satisfied
with nothing else. He's satisfied with nothing else
for righteousness other than the righteousness of his son.
He's satisfied with nothing else for sin bearing than the death
of his son. As much as man inflicted the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon him, The great transaction of the
cross is a transaction between God the Father and God the Son. There is a glorious exaltation
in Him being lifted up and Lord willing we'll go and look at
more of Him being lifted up. But I want us to close with these
lovely words. If I be lifted up, if I be lifted
up, listen to His promise, I will. All unto me. What is the drawing? What is the one thing that God
says draws sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ? The preaching of
the gospel. not entertaining, not illuminating
people with all sorts of other things, just the simple unadorned
preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I will draw,
and that word draw means drag, I will drag them. They'll be
made willing in the day of my power. They won't be dragged
against my will, but he remarkably and wonderfully changes their
will so that we come to him willing. We come to him delightfully.
We come to him and we look at him. We look upon him bearing
our sins in his own body on the tree. We look at him buried in
a tomb. We look at him resurrected to
glory. We look at him lifted up to heaven's glory. We look
at him reigning and ruling and interceding for us. He says,
by the exercise of His power He will draw all men. All nations of people are going
to be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. The victory of the Lord
Jesus Christ is immense and glorious and satisfactory and sufficient
to be worthy of the glory of His name. But as I began earlier,
Where is the culmination of all of this? It's unto me. Unto me. Unto me the lifted up
sacrifice. I'll hear his voice. The shepherd
will call his people to himself and they'll come. I'll hear their
name called. sinner, is your name, called. And they'll call and they'll
come to him. Oh may the Lord make us to proclaim
him. And may the Lord make us to make
the simplicity of the destination glorious in the sight You don't come to a denomination,
you don't come to some doctrines. If you come to Him, all your
doctrine will be sorted. You come to Him who is made unto
us. He's made unto us. It's on your
Bibles. Cole very kindly printed it there
some time ago, but it's on your Bibles. He's made unto us. Of
Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom. Do we need any other wisdom? and so does everyone in him.
Do I need anything else? He's made under me all my sanctification. All of my holiness before God
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Not the Lord Jesus Christ plus
my doing something. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
all of my sanctification and is all of my redemption. that as according as it is written,
he that glory, let him glory in the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for the drawing power of your son and him crucified. And we
pray, Heavenly Father, you would grant us as your people individually
and collectively that we might see him Lift it up. May we be a people, Heavenly
Father, and this be a house where, as in that house in Bethany,
the odour, the aroma, the sweetness of his death and his burial and
his glorious resurrection fill this house. Every corner of it,
Heavenly Father, may our lives be used of you for the glory
of your Son, Heavenly Father. We pray that you would again
cause us to see his blood as precious, his person as precious,
his drawing us to himself as a wondrous thing, Heavenly Father.
And may we be drawn and drawn and drawn again And may we, having
seen the gift of God, may we be made just to continually ask,
Heavenly Father, ask with gratitude and with expectation and with
thankfulness to your dear and precious Son. Bless your word
to the hearts of your people as we go out into this world
under your judgment, our Father. May we be lights. May we be granted
the grace to simply tell people about the wonders of our saviour,
our husband, the friend of sinners. We pray in his name and for his
glory.