Turn if you would to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. The name of the message is for
this cause. For this cause. John chapter
12. I had Brother Matt read that
portion. And I had him read to the end of where certain Greeks
came to see Christ. And Andrew and Philip tell Jesus
And our message will be found actually today in verses 23 to
36. And we'll look at each verse as we go along. In this portion
of Scripture, we'll see that the Lord came here for a specific
cause. He came to this world for a specific
cause. And this will be brought forth
very plainly in the Scriptures today, very plainly in this wonderful
portion of Scripture. And I pray it will be a blessing
to God's people. Because He came here for us. Scripture says He
came to save His people from their sins. And the wonderful
news is He did it. Praise be to God, He did it.
He did it. He saved us. We who are the born
again, blood-washed people of God. He saved us from our sins. And what comfort that can bring
we who are the people of God as we journey through this world
and we struggle with the things daily that we struggle with.
Each one of us struggle in this life. Things come up unexpectedly. Trials and tribulations. Struggles
in our mind, struggles in our heart. No one's immune to them. No one. But what comfort we could
glean is the born-again, blood-washed people of God, as we journey
through this world, that Christ has saved us from all our sins.
And that for that very cause, He came to this world. He came
to this world for that very cause, to redeem us. May God, the Holy
Spirit, illuminate the scriptures today. And may we glean from
the Word and just have grace given to us and strength given
to us for this week. Because we don't know what's
coming, do we? But God knows. He knows exactly what we need.
And He gives that to us, doesn't He? As we looked at this morning,
this is a refuge in this whole world. We can come here. There's
spiritual famine in the world. And we come here and we feast
on the Word of God, don't we? We've been separated by God from
the people of the world. We really have been. We desire
to hear the Word of God preached and proclaimed when so many out
there in the world, friends, family, have no desire to be
here. And God, as we looked at today
in San Diego, God has ordained this place, this refuge, as Brother
Matt said, this oasis. And the church is an oasis of
God, isn't it? Because we can come here and
we can hear the Word of God preached and proclaimed and we can rejoice
in our mighty Savior. Oh my. So may that happen for
we who are God's people. May we leave here today rejoicing.
Rejoicing. Now the time is close to the
end of our Lord's ministry within this passage. The time is close
to the end of the Lord's public ministry. There's less than a
week which remain till he'd be crucified on Calvary's cross. when He would lay down His life
for His people. And this chapter falls after
remarkable proof had been given that He was truly the Son of
God. How, you may ask, how was that remarkable proof given?
Well, in chapter 11, He'd raised Lazarus from the grave. Only
God can raise the dead, beloved. And Lazarus had been dead three
days. And our Lord cried, Lazarus, come forth! And brother Lazarus
came forth, didn't he? By the power of God. So that
miracle had been performed that showed his deity, that showed
the power that he had. And then brother Matt read, as
we saw, that this truth was testified by the hosannas of the multitude
as the King of Israel rode into Jerusalem. And then take note
in verse 23 that the title Son of Man is used, which speaks
of our Lord's humanity. So proof of His deity had occurred
in chapter 11, and with this title Son of Man is proof of
His humanity. Proof of His humanity. And again
His deity is brought forth by the cries of the multitude. Hosanna
in the highest. Oh my. It is Son of Man that,
it is the Son of Man spoken of in the text here, who is the
Ancient of Days, beloved. God incarnate in the flesh. Wonder of wonders. The very one
who speaks to them is the Ancient of Days. And yet, in his humanity,
he is called the Son of Man. Bone of our bone, and flesh of
our flesh. Touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, yet without sin. The perfect, spotless Lamb
of God. Son of Man, the Ancient of Days,
God incarnate in the flesh. The one who's been given, the
scripture says in Daniel 7.14, he's been given all dominion
and glory, beloved, and a kingdom that all people, nations, and
languages should serve him. There's not a molecule that's
not under his dominion. Not an atom that's not under
his control. He's God. He's God. And we see the Gentiles now seeking
him. Look in verse 20, and there were
certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast,
the same which came therefore to Philip, which was a Basidia
of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
We would see. They didn't call him the Christ,
they called him Jesus. The one who came to save his
people from their sins. Show us Jesus. Show us the Savior
of sinners. We would see Him. And look what
Jesus says in verse 23, And Jesus answered them, His disciples
saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Note the phrase there in verse
23, The hour is come. The hour is come. In the Greek, this is in the
perfect tense. It is used in the absolute. The
critical hour has come. The critical hour has come. See,
he knew why he was here. I remember a long time ago someone
told me, and it never ever sat right with me. Even when I was
in religion, it didn't sit right with me. He said, well, Christ
had to learn why he came and all that. What are you talking
about? He's God incarnate in the flesh. He knew exactly why
he was here. He was on a mission. Remember
when he was little and he said, I'm about my father's business.
He knew. He knew. John often uses the term, the
hour, in reference to the crucifixion and resurrection as the climactic
events of Christ's mission to this earth. And he was on a mission,
beloved. He was here to save his people from their sins. And we see this Greek word used
in verse 27 as well. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
but for this cause came I unto this hour, this critical moment.
Then look one chapter over, look at verse 13, or chapter 13 verse
1. Now before the Feast of Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour was come, again the critical
hour, the time appointed of the Father, That He should depart out of
this world unto the Father. Heaven loved His own which were
in the world. He loved them unto the end. And
then in John 17.1, you don't have to turn there, but if you
want to, John 17.1 says, These words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Has
come. The hour has come. Glorify Thy
Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Beloved, Christ lived to
die. He's our substitute. All through His life, He's weaving
that coat of righteousness for us. Perfectly obeying the law
of God in our place. Perfectly. And then dying on
Calvary's cross. In our room and place. as our
substitute, mine, for this cause. He came into this world. Our
Lord came to the lost sheep of Israel. He came to us, didn't
he? He came to us. Why did he come
here? To seek and to save that which was lost. That's us. He came here, beloved, it's wonderful
to seek, because we would never seek him, to save us, because
we can never save ourselves. The lost, that's us, dead in
trespasses and sins. And he came and did this on purpose
for this cause we'll see later on. He came for that cause to
save us from our sins. And God's people, we say hallelujah,
don't we? That's not a bad word to say.
I know the charismatics have taken it and ran with it, but
it's not a bad word to say, beloved. Oh, praise his mighty name, right? For what he's done. Oh, my. What a great God we have. And
he's come to seek and to save that which was lost, his people,
right? His bride. Out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. Isn't that remarkable? One commentator
brings forth that the son of man is an Aramaic phrase that
simply meant human being. So again, it shows his humanity. He was really a man. He was really
here. Josephus, a Roman, a Jew who
was hired by the Romans to write the history of the Jews, writes
of him. So people who say, well, he's not even here. They don't
know history. He was here. It's documented. Oh, he's God incarnated in the
flesh, we know too from the mighty miracles. Those miracles that
he did on this earth, they testified of who he was. And we, by God-given
faith, right? Faith's a gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We, by God-given faith, believe
what the scriptures say. And we marvel. We marvel. And we know we only believe because
we were made willing in the day of God's power, right? And we
were given faith to believe. The only one who's made us to
differ is God. Again, praise His mighty name.
He gets all the glory, beloved. He gets it all. Turn, if you
would, to Daniel. Daniel chapter 7. We see here a proclamation about
our King. A proclamation about our King.
And note what he's called here too. A phrase which I used earlier. The Ancient of Days. That's who
Christ is. He's the Ancient of Days. He's
God. He's God. He's the Word of God. That's
our Savior, beloved. Look at this. Daniel 7, verses
13 to 14. I saw in the night visions, and
behold, one like the Son of what? Man. Look at that. One like the
Son of Man. Who's the Son of Man? Christ. We saw that. over in John 12
23 the hours come that the son of man see what our Lord said
that there's a reference right there look at that I saw in the night visions and
behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven
and came to the ancient of days and they bought him near before
him and there was given him dominion and glory in the kingdom that
all people nations and tongues should serve him should serve
It should serve Christ. It should serve the Son of Man. Isn't that wonderful? His dominion
is what? An everlasting dominion. Look
at that. It can't be thwarted by no man. That's who keeps us. The one
who saved us, this is Him. which shall not pass away. Now
things of this earth, kingdoms of this earth rise up and they
pass away. Not our Lord's kingdom, beloved.
No, it's an everlasting dominion. Just ask the saints in glory.
Oh my, they're rejoicing right now. We have several friends
and family that are there. Yeah, rejoicing right now in
the midst of the king. Oh my. In His kingdom, in His
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, no one will overtake
the Lord's kingdom. His will is never thwarted. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, no matter what people say. Don't matter what people
say, let them rail. Matter of fact, I was guilty
of it, and maybe some of you were too, but I used to rail
about it myself. To my shame. But look at this,
this is amazing. His kingdom's an everlasting
kingdom. So let's go back to John chapter 12, verse 23, we'll
read verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying,
the hour has come, again, here's that title, that the Son of Man
should be glorified. He's just identified himself,
who he is, and he's the one mentioned over in Daniel there, beloved.
Oh my. Isn't that wonderful? That's
our Savior. That's our Savior. So we see
again, we see it in chapter 11 with the raising of Lazarus,
the deity of Christ, and here with these words that he's spoken
we see the humanity of Christ. So it's brought forth, brought
forth that And it's also bought forth over there in Daniel, isn't
it? Very clearly, because the humanity of God being called
one like the Son of Man, and in the deity, that His kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom, beloved. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. Let's read verse 24 now of John chapter 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat, fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. So we see here in verse 24, our
Lord speaks of himself as a corn of wheat that falls into the
ground and dies, that it may bear much fruit. Now note the
union that's brought forth here. You know what, I never saw this
till I studied for this message. Note the union that's brought
forth here between Christ and his people, his body. We know
that our Lord is the resurrection and the life, right? And notice the union. It says
the corn of wheat must fall to the ground and die, but it brings
forth much fruit. That's us. That's God's people. Being saved and redeemed and
being born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We could never
have life without his death. We could never have life without
His death. We only have eternal life through
Christ, by the shedding of His blood. Eternal life could not
come to us, but through the death of Christ. Through the death
of Christ. His resurrection, therefore,
we see that in His death and in His resurrection, we see,
therefore, that life comes from His death. And we're in Him. We're the fruit. Beloved, we're
the fruit. Eternal life, we know, is only
in and through Christ. There could be no salvation for
anyone, no putting away of sins, until the great sacrifice has
been offered. Until the great sacrifice has
been offered. And that's the sacrifice of Christ.
That's the sacrifice of Christ. The scriptures declare. What
does the scripture plainly declare? Salvation's of the Lord. It's
of the Lord, plainly. See, men just don't believe what
the word says. And that's true of all of us in our natural state.
But after the Lord saves us, when we're born again, we know
and we believe that salvation's of the Lord, don't we? Oh my. Oh my. We know it. Salvation is in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. By the appearing of our Savior
Christ, he's abolished death and brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel. So the grain of wheat must first
be buried and lose its form before it springs up again and bears
fruit. So it is with the Son of Man. He must be crucified
for sin. Our sin. He's spotless. He's
pure. He's perfect. But He's crucified
for our sin. And He rises again that the law
might be honored. That the justice of God might
be satisfied. And that there might be a gospel
of life. And without His blood and His death, there's no remission
of sins. None. But His death will be productive
of much fruit. Much fruit. And you know where
that fruit comes from? Every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. Isn't that wonderful? And a born
again believer can say, I'm one of them. I'm one of them. By
the grace of God. By the grace of God. It's amazing
grace, isn't it? It's truly amazing grace. Truly,
truly, truly. And think of this too, that the
person of Christ is the most precious seed of all. He's the
most precious seed of all. He's holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled. He's separate
from sinners. He's made higher than the heavens.
He's the most precious seed of all, beloved. Now bread perishes with the using,
doesn't it? But it's necessary to support
our bodies. Well, Christ the living bread,
he comes down from heaven, beloved. He comes down from heaven. And
it's essential, he's essential to give life to our souls, isn't
he? No Christ, no life. We're just walking corpses without
Christ. Think about it. Born dead in
trespasses and sins. No spiritual life, physical life,
but no spiritual life. Oh, when we're born again, everything
changes, doesn't it? Oh, it is a whole new world then,
isn't it? It really is. Everything becomes
different. My. So how do we eat the bread of
life? Well, by faith. By faith, which is a gift from
God. when we're born again by the
power of the Holy Spirit of God. Except ye eat of the flesh of
the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you,
the Scripture declares. And by faith we do that. Now
let's read verses 25 and 26. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that eateth his life in this world shall keep
it, until a life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. That's comfort in words, isn't
it? Where I am, where is he right now? In heaven. There also shall,
there's not, it's not, well maybe if you make the right decision
or if you keep yourself. Doesn't say that at all, does
it? Now, these are the words of the master. These are the
words of God incarnate into flesh. And look at the assurance that
he gives his people. Even though we don't always feel
assured, do we? Because we're sinners. But look
at these words. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. There's no maybe, is there? By the grace of God, I'll meet
you. By the grace of God, I'll meet you on Canaan's happy shore,
right? By the grace of God. Oh, my. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. God's people are identified with
Christ in truth and in suffering for the gospel, even to death.
Christ is our all in all. He's everything. He's everything
to us. And we, like the farmer who in
faith casts his wheat to the ground believing in the future
harvest, believing we cast our lives, we cast our hopes, we
cast our future to Christ, don't we? We trust Him for everything. We don't care for our worldly
security, comfort, or praise. We don't want the praise of the
world. We just know that if God keeps us, we're kept until the
day that He wants to take us home. And we live a life, don't
we? People think that Christians
are strong. No, we're really weak. Aren't we? Really, we are. I know men in our pride, we think
we're strong. You get a little virus like what
happened to us, and you find out you're not very strong. Find
out you're real weak. But what does it teach us? Whenever
we go through things like that, it teaches us our daily need
for Christ. Our daily need for Christ. Constant. We are constantly being taught
in this life our weakness and His strength. You know that?
God's constantly teaching us that lesson. Constantly. And for we who are believers,
what comfort we can find in that though, right? What comfort we
can find in that. It's comforting. It's so comforting
to know that in my weakness, the scripture says, He is strong.
Not very comforting going through those situations, is it? But
afterwards, we see, well, Lord, you took me through that whole
situation. And I'm not talking about whether it just be a virus.
I'm talking about even serious situations in hell. We can literally
look back as believers and see his mighty hand at work. Well,
doctor says, well, it's a good thing you came in because this
could have killed you. It's by God's sovereign will that you
went in. It wasn't your time to go home yet. Isn't that amazing? But when it's your time, Matt's
told me this, sometimes they can put stuff into people and
keep them alive, but Matt, you said you've seen, he's seen in
the emergency, in the ER, that all the attempts of man, if it's
that time of that person to go, there's nothing you can do. But then some who you think are
so far gone, you told me brother, some you think are so far gone,
and they end up living. It wasn't their time. It wasn't
their appointment. Our God watches over His people.
It's amazing. It's truly, truly amazing. He
cares for us, beloved. And so we as believers just trust
our whole lives to Him. We trust everything to Him. We see in verse 26 that God's
people, they're willing bond slaves for Christ. Look at this.
If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there
shall also my servant be. If any man shall serve me, him
will my father honor. God's people are willing bond
slaves. We're willing bond slaves. We weren't willing when we were
lost, were we? But we're sure willing now. Oh
my, it's remarkable. It's truly amazing. And so Christ
is bringing forth, when the issue is between me and my gospel,
on the one hand, or whatever is nearest and dearest to them,
father, mother, family, the world, his own life, on the other hand,
my servant will always follow me. He'll always choose me. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. And
note also, And where I am, there shall also My servant be." We
are accepted in the Beloved. We're accepted in Him, Beloved.
So clear, isn't it? It's so clear here. And then,
they're accepted in Christ by the Father, who loves Christ,
and those He gave to Christ, which are in Him, here honor. Those who will honor Me, it says.
Because we're in Christ. See, it all goes back to Him. Let's read verse 27. Where we see our Lord bring forth
that He came for this hour to die on the cross. He's on a mission,
beloved. He's born to die. The great substitute,
the final Lamb of God. The final Passover lamb, the
one in whom all the Old Testament pictures and types find their
fulfillment. Look what he says. Now is my
soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father saved me from this
hour? Oh, but for this cause came I
unto this hour. Oh, look at this. Our Lord made
His soul an offering for sin, for our sins. And the scriptures
proclaim, and we see in this passage, our Lord's humanity
and divinity on display. Our Lord was in a human body
and his human soul was troubled at the judgment for sin and the
wrath of God. Several commentators say he was
feeling the weight of God's sin, or not God's, God is sinless,
of the elect, the weight of the elect's sin being placed upon
him. Because remember, it's imputed
to him, he's buried, he's sinless, he's perfect, he's spotless.
So we see his humanity come forth here. And we knew and we know,
turn if you would to Luke, look at these words here. We know
that he was in agony and conflict. We know because that's what the
scriptures declare. It's expressed in his words in
the garden, look at this. Luke 22, 42 to 44. Remember, our King's sinless,
spotless, perfect. And you know what? I gotta say
this, I gotta say this. When Christ is our substitute,
he never ceased being perfect. He never ceased being God. He
was sinless in his life, and he was sinless in his death.
He's a perfect substitute. He didn't become Wayne. He didn't
become any of us. He's God incarnate in the flesh. He's our substitute. Always remember
that, beloved. It's very important. It's vital
to the gospel. He was made sin for us, being
that sin was placed upon Him, but He never ceased to be sinless.
Okay? Very important. Very, very important. Vital. Because he's the perfect
spotless lamb of God. Vicki and I were talking about
this last night. If she was, if we were in a volleyball game and she was in and I was going
to fulfill, go in as a substitute for her, I don't become Vicki.
I'm Wayne in her place. Right? Christ is the perfect,
sinless, spotless Lamb of God dying in the place of His people. Hence, He's called the perfect
substitute. Just wanted to bring that out,
because that's important as we study these scriptures here.
Very, very important as we study these scriptures. Luke 22, verses
42 to 44, saying, Father, if thou Be willing, remove this cup from
me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. He's totally
submissive to the Father's will. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, look
at that, our Lord's in agony. He's sinless, he's spotless.
He prayed more earnestly, and the sweat where great drops of
blood fall into the ground. Now let's go back to our text.
Now let's go back to our text in John 12, 27. Look at this. And we can get a glimpse when
he says, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Now is
my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Listen to the rest of
this declaration. This is wondrous words here.
He says, Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause
came I into this hour. Now look at this, this is remarkable. Our Lord right here before us
is speaking of the eternal plan of God. Look what he says here. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. He's, beloved, he's, this is
speaking of his deity now. He's looking. He knows the end
from the beginning. Never forget who's speaking these
words. Never forget as we read the Scriptures where Christ is
speaking, that this is God speaking. And so He is God incarnated in
the flesh speaking these words. Speaking these words is the one
who came down from heaven. The Word of God came down from
heaven. And then when his work was ascended,
he went back to glory. This is the second person of
the Trinity, beloved, in the flesh, revealing the divine plan
of God. Showing grace and mercy to his
people for this cause. All these are wondrous words
of grace. These are wondrous words. We
may have read these a hundred times. Oh, for this cause, for
this cause, for this very cause, this critical hour I've come.
Remember the scripture says his face is set like a flint to Jerusalem. That means like a stone. He's
just like a stone. Just, I must go right there.
I must. For this hour I've come. For
this cause. wondrous words of grace. He's
declaring before us His will and purpose in coming to this
earth. He's declaring God's eternal will to save a people. For this
cause, He came to earth. For this hour, it's fixed, beloved,
in the covenant of grace. Think of that. This hour is fixed
in the covenant of grace. by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. His very hours fixed and determined
that Christ would die on the cross. It's wondrous! It's absolutely wondrous! And
we see, we also see here, the intimate and unbroken union of
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Throughout the period of the
Son's earthly ministry. At no period during His incarnation
was there a time when the Eternal Father was not close to Him.
Though unseen, the voice from heaven was meant to signify to
the bystanders the entire approval of the Son of God by the Father. He's the Messiah. He's the Redeemer. He's the Savior of man. Look
at verse 30. Look at this. The Father was pleased to signify
by a voice three times, remember? Three times the Father was pleased
to signify by a voice that He was pleased with the Son. Look
at verse 30 here. Then Jesus answered and said,
Oh, I went ahead too far. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The people, therefore, that stood
by and heard it said, it thundered. Others said, an angel spake to
him. Three times the voice of God's
been heard. Only three times. At the baptism
of Christ, at the Mount of Transfiguration, and here. Oh my. And each time the Father
is pleased with the Son, beloved. Each time. Each time. My goodness. Look at verse 30. Jesus answered and said, this
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. for your
sakes. Oh, now let's read verses 31
and 33 together. We'll see how the Lord will proclaim
how He'll die on the cross here. 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. Our Lord says, here now is the
judgment of this world. The Jewish nation, having the
law, the prophets, and the types, nevertheless rejected their Messiah.
They rejected Christ, didn't they? And they're brought under
judgment, just like everybody else. And we know that all outside
of Christ are under the judgment of God. We know that. That's
what the Scriptures say. They're under the condemnation of God's
law. But rejoice, beloved of God, as the sins of the believers
of all generations, the sins of the believers of all generations
have been judged and paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. The
wrath that was justly due we who are believers fell upon our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? that wrath
against us, and this will make your whole soul just jump, has
been extinguished. There's not a drop of it left
against God's people. Not one little drop. That's good news for sinners,
isn't it? That is good news for sinners,
good news for the sinner. Oh my, that's the best news I've
ever heard in my life. Oh my, it's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. So rejoice, beloved of God. All
our sins are judged and paid for. And the prince of this world,
Satan, he's been, he's cast down. He's cast down. Satan had dominion
over mankind by the fall of Adam, keeping the greater part of the
world in idolatry and darkness. All by God's permission, he exercises
his power and boasts himself to be king. But his doom, his
destruction, his defeat are now accomplished, beloved. He's a
defeated foe. Now we're no match for him. Don't
ever think you're a match for him, because not one of us are.
But our Savior's foot has crushed his head. Oh my, my oh my. It's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. He's a defeated foe. He's crushed
the head of the serpent. Christ has crushed the head of
the serpent. He redeemed the people by the shedding of His
own precious blood on Calvary. And note in verses 32 and 33
that our great Redeemer God incarnate in the flesh is revealing that
he would be lifted up from the earth. He's revealing that it's
part of God's plan that he's going to die. He'd be lifted
up as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent, wouldn't he? He'd be
lifted up that way. Our Lord Jesus Christ is bringing
forth that his death will be public and expressive of his
mediation between God and man. He's being lifted up between
heaven and earth. He'd been lifted up between heaven
and earth, beloved, as a substitute of his people. Scripture declares
this, for there's one God and one mediator between God and
man. Only one. One. One God and one mediator
between God and man. And it's not you, it's not me,
it's not any other man in this world. It's the man, Christ Jesus. He gave himself a ransom for
all. To be testified in due time, the scripture declares. That's
all His people. He gave Himself a ransom for
His people. So our Lord is speaking of His
crucifixion. He's speaking to His disciples
of His crucifixion. We'll praise God for His resurrection
too, and His ascension, and His exaltation. Christ redeems sinners to God
by His precious blood. He draws us to Himself by His
Holy Spirit. And sinners rejoice. We rejoice
that our Lord is not only the Savior of Jews, but He's the
Savior of a people from every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. We rejoice in that truth, don't
we? Oh my. Turn if you would to John chapter
10, verses 14 to 16. I am a good shepherd and know
my sheep, and am knowing of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. And I lay down my life for her,
the sheep. The very thing he's talking about,
this hour, for this cause. What was the cause in the hour?
The laying down of his life. the laying down of his life.
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring, that's us, we Gentiles, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be what? One fold, Jew and Gentile, and
one shepherd. One fold and one shepherd, beloved. Praise his name. Let's go back
to John chapter 12. We're almost done. John chapter 12, let's read verses
34 to 36. The people answered, we have
heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever. And how sayest
thou the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? They didn't know who he was.
They didn't know that the very one talking to them was the Son
of Man, Christ. And Jesus said unto them, yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have light,
lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth. Well, ye have light, believe
in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These
things spake Jesus, and departed, and hid himself from them." Again,
the Law and the Prophets, they testify of Christ. We know that
through our studies. They testify of Christ. And we
see that the people answered Him. Christ in verse 34, they're
referring to the prophecies in the Old Testament. which said
Christ is a priest forever, Christ is king over an everlasting dominion,
which shall not be destroyed, which we read in Daniel chapter
7. And as the son of man, David, he would reign upon David's throne. So we see then that they couldn't
reconcile in their minds the things that were spoken of in
the prophets with Christ's talk of rejection, shame and death. They were looking and talking
about an earthly kingdom with a Jewish king. But we see in our text that they
knew nothing of the Messiah's spiritual work. Of redemption or of his eternal
kingdom in the new heaven and new earth. They knew nothing
of the character of God and really they didn't know anything about
their own sinfulness. And we see this clearly when
they asked, who is the Son of Man? You say, must be lifted
up. Who is the Son of Man? You say,
must be lifted up. They didn't have a clue who He
was. The true Messiah will live and reign. So who is the Son
of Man that you're saying must die? See, they didn't understand. They didn't understand that He
must die. They had no idea that the Messiah
was standing right there in front of them. Speaking to them, declaring. And we've seen, He's declared
to them the wondrous plan of God's salvation. For this very
cause I'm come. But they didn't understand. They
didn't have spiritual eyes to see or ears to hear. It makes
you grateful when God gives you those, doesn't it? Oh my. Look at verse, let's read verses
35 and 36 again. Then Jesus said unto them, yet
a little while, well is the light with you. Walk while you have
the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Which is what they
were doing, they were walking in darkness. While you have light,
believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.
These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself
from them. My oh my. Beloved God, we see
and we know that Christ is the light. He's the revelation of
His divine person. He's the light. And here He's
revealing His divinity when He says, get a little while, the
light is with you. He's revealing His divinity even
in this. So he's revealed his humanity
by saying, the son of man. And now he's revealing his deity
by saying, you had a little while, the light's with you. Oh my. He tells his listeners that he
would soon go back to the father. Why? Because he's completed the
mission that he came to do. You men who were in the forces,
you're given a mission, you go and you complete the mission,
and then you come back. Well, he's given a mission. He's
completed the mission. And now he's gone home. He's
gone home, beloved. How am I? He's gone home. So let we who are the redeemed
marvel and let us look back at the events in our lives. Again,
I'm going to constantly tell us to do this to look back at
the events in our lives and think of the way. Think of the way
that God has led you all through the wilderness. Before you were
saved. Leading you all through that,
and then after you receive, leading you through the wilderness of
this world, right? How he's fed us and clothed us each day. How
he's born with us. He's put up with our murmurings,
hasn't he? Let's be honest. He's put up with our murmurings.
He's put up with us complaining sometimes. I'm being honest. We all do it. Oh, he's so long-suffering,
isn't he? Oh my. He's so long-suffering,
beloved. He truly, truly is. Oh, he's
put up with our murmurings and our complainings. He's ever with
us. He's put up with our longings
for the things of this world. He's put up with all that with
us. And think how, since he saved you, think of how he's fed you
with the manna from heaven. Think of that. Since he saved
you, how he's fed you with the manna from heaven. Think of how he's fed you with
the gospel. Think of how he's fed you with the bread of life
being Christ. Think of how you now hunger and
thirst for that, when you didn't before. Oh, it's wondrous, beloved. Oh, it's absolutely wondrous.
And think of this, He saved us, He's fed us with the manna from
heaven that came down from heaven, being Christ, how? Through the
preaching of His Word. Think of how through this life,
walking by faith, which we do, and not by sight. Think of how
His grace has been sufficient for us in all our troubles. He's always been there for us. We may not always see it when
we're going through the situation that His grace is sufficient,
but we really learn that afterwards, don't we? His grace is sufficient. Think of how His blood, think
of how His blood has been a pardon for all our sins. All. There's not one that's not
covered. Think of how His blood is a pardon
for all our sins, praise God. All of them. All of them. And then think of this too. Think of how God will never cease
to love His people. He will never cease to love His
people. Never. Never. Oh, how His rod and His staff
comfort us. And let the truth of the everlasting
love of God for His people just permanate through your heart,
beloved. Oh, just let it permanate through your heart. Think of
how He's loved us and He's pardoned us, and again here, never cease
to love us. And marvel this week, Marvel
at this week, that for this cause, Christ came to this world. Marvel
at that. Ponder it this week. Meditate
on it. Let it just warm your heart for
this cause, for this cause. Beloved, his death was appointed
and his death was voluntary, and he willingly laid down his
life for his people for this cause. Lay down his life for
his sheep. All we can say is glory to his
name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us to gather together, for allowing us to look into
thy holy word, and oh, what comfort we who are your people can glean.
Oh, my Lord Jesus, that you came to save me from my sins. Each believer can say that. You
came to save me from my sins. All of them. Everyone washed in my precious, precious
blood. Lord, may we remember these precious
truths we've looked at today. May we remember them this week.
May you bring them to our mind. And may we be bought to remember
that your death was appointed, decreed by God, the very hour
that you should die, and that you died to save me, each believer
can say. May we say that. May we ponder
that. Glory to your name, Lord, in
Jesus' name, amen.