Let's look tonight to John chapter
12. John chapter 12, and I want to
begin our reading in verse 20 and read through verse 36. John 12, verse 20. And there
were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the
feast. The same came therefore to Philip. which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh
and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. 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. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If
any man serve me, him will my father honor. 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 will glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it
thundered, Others said, an angel spake to him. Jesus answered
and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 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 unto me. This he
said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered
him, 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? And Jesus
said unto them, yet a little while 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.
While you have light, believe in the light that you may be
the children of light. These things spake Jesus and
departed and did hide himself from them. We've looked at all of these
verses except the last three in the two previous messages
that I brought from John. And we're not going to look at
all of them over again, but I do want to call your attention to
two things in the passage that we've already looked at. In verse
23, the Son of Man. The Son of Man. The Lord Jesus
said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And then also in verse 32, speaking
of himself being lifted up. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me. Now, in verse 34, the people,
the people who heard him, they said, we have heard out of the
law that Christ abideth forever. Now, what scripture did they
have reference to when they told the Lord Jesus Christ that they
had heard out of the law? And this is another illustration
of how many times all of the Old Testament is included in
that word law. Not just the five books of Moses,
but all of the Old Testament. Sometimes it's referred to as
the law. Many times as the law and the
prophets and the Psalms, of course, But sometimes just the law referring
to all the Old Testament. We have heard out of the law,
out of the Old Testament, that Christ abideth forever. What Scripture were they speaking
of? Well, there's several in the
Old Testament that they may have had in mind, but I want us to
look at two places. The first is in Psalm 110. Psalm
110. And verse 4. They had heard out of the law
that Christ, the Messiah, the promised Messiah, that He abideth
forever. One place in the law they may
have had reference to is here in Psalm 110 and verse 4. The
Lord has sworn and will not repent Thou art a priest forever, not
for just a few years, not for just a few days, but Thou, that
is this Lord said unto my Lord in verse 1, speaking of the Messiah,
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. We
have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever. And then
another passage, if you look in Daniel, Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7 and verses 13
and 14. I saw in the night visions, and
behold, here's that term, one like the Son of Man. came with
the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they
brought him near before him and there was given him dominion
and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations and languages
should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. We have heard out of the law
that Christ abideth forever, that he is given a kingdom an
everlasting kingdom, a kingdom which shall not pass away, and
His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Now their question,
How sayest thou? How sayest thou the Son of Man
must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Now the
people, they understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking
of Himself as the Son of Man. But as we have just read in the
book of Daniel, this was a title which they knew applied to the
Messiah, to the Christ, whose dominion and kingdom would be
forever, would never pass away. They also understood, the same
people who asked this question, Or they made this statement,
We have heard out of the law that Christ abided forever. And
then make this statement, How sayest thou the Son of Man must
be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? They
also understood that by speaking of being lifted up, He spoke
of His death. They knew that. That Him being
lifted up, He was speaking of His death. Now Matthew Henry's
comment here is that he sees this question as being asked
in an insulting manner. They ask this question of the
Lord Jesus Christ in an insulting manner. And then he paraphrases
it like this. Thou sayest the Son of Man must
die. We have proved the Messiah must
not. And where is then thy Messiahship? This Son of Man, as thou callest
thyself, cannot be the Messiah. Thou must therefore think of
something else to pretend to be. In other words, this question
they asked of Him. In their minds they had proved
out of the law how that Christ must abide forever, the Son of
Man, that Christ must abide forever. And here you speak of yourself
as the Son of Man and as being lifted up. Now that cannot be
consistent with you being the Messiah. You've got to find something
else to call yourself. Now they, think about this, this
is so important. They had been taught not to look
for the Christ, the Messiah, who would destroy the works of
the devil, who would deliver his people from their sin. They had been taught to look
for a Christ who would set up a kingdom in this world. A kingdom
like unto the kingdom of Israel during the days of David and
Solomon. a worldwide kingdom, a great
kingdom. That's what they were looking
for, a Messiah who would come and all of the descendants of
Abraham, they would naturally be in this kingdom. It would
be a birthright just because they were born Jews, because
they were born of the seed of Abraham, the physical seed of
Abraham. Now, when you think about this,
I'll come back to this in just a moment, but look with me in
Luke chapter 24. Remember these two disciples,
and they were disciples on the road to Emmaus. What they said,
when the Lord Jesus Christ came alongside them, and they didn't
recognize Him, and they were sad. You know, they were walking
along sad. Verse 17, it says, and he said
unto them, what manner of communications are these that you have one to
another as you walk and are sad? Our Lord recognized by their
countenance and by their speech, they were sad. These are two
disciples of Christ, two disciples who should have been filled with
joy. Why? Because Christ had shed
his blood, the Messiah had come to redeem them. And he had been
raised, and they had heard that report. But no, they're walking
along, and they're filled with sadness. And one of them, whose
name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Are you the only
stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are
come to pass therein in these days? And he said unto them,
What things? And they said unto him, concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed, and
word before God, and all the people, and how the chief priests
and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and
have crucified him. Now notice this, but we, now
these are disciples of the Lord, but we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. What kind of redemption
were they looking for? Obviously they were not looking
for a redemption by blood, which all of the Old Testament testified
to. All of the ceremonies in the
law pointed to the fact that without the shedding of blood
there is no redemption, there is no remission of sin. They
were disappointed. Why? Because they had been taught
to look for a Messiah who would set up a worldly kingdom. Not for one who would come and
deal with this awful thing called sin. This awful thing that separates
men from God. And it must be dealt with in
a way that satisfies God if man is to have a relationship with
God. And notice also, if you will,
in Acts chapter 1, the same point I want to make. In Acts chapter 1, and this was
on the day of our Lord's ascension, in verse Verse 6, When they therefore
were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Do you see
what kind of kingdom they were looking for? They'd been taught. This is what they understood
the Messiah would do. But isn't it amazing, my friends, that on the day of Pentecost,
When God the Holy Spirit came down upon those disciples, all
of that was put aside. And their eyes were opened by
the power of God the Holy Spirit so that they had understanding
of the Old Testament Scriptures like they've never had before.
And Peter stands up and quotes from Joel, showing that the Lord
Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah. and he's a savior for
all them that call upon his name. What a difference. They'd been
missiled by their religious teachers to look for something that was
never promised in the Old Testament, that was never taught. And I
tell you something, when we learn something wrong, sometimes it's
hard to unlearn. I have some pastor friends who
always from the time they were babies, were in churches where
the pastor preached the gospel of the grace of God. And those
men have been so blessed because they never had to unlearn some
of the stuff I've had to unlearn. And not only myself, but other
preachers as well. When we learn, it's like a song.
If you learn it wrong, it's hard to ever change it. I mean, you
get that timing wrong, And it's going to stay wrong. And these
people have been taught wrong about the coming of the Messiah,
the purpose of his coming. Now back in our text, if you
will, in John chapter 12. But thank God for God, the Holy
Spirit. I don't think we appreciate him
as much as we should. I really don't. We're so afraid
that we'll do wrong to him because we know he has come to testify
of Christ that sometimes I think we do not show the appreciation
for God the Holy Spirit we should. He's the one who wrote this book,
right? It's inspired of God. And he's the one who is our teacher
to show us the things of God. Where would we be tonight without
the Holy Spirit? He's the one that convicted us
of our need, isn't he? He's the one that showed us Christ.
He's the one who came to live in our hearts. They had been taught, back in
our text, they had been taught to look for the Christ who would
deliver His people from the other nations, but not to look for
the Christ who would deliver His people from sin. They looked at the one in Daniel
chapter 7, we just read about, of receiving a kingdom which
shall never pass away and His ultimate, absolute dominion over
all things But they didn't look on into Daniel chapter 9, which
speaks of the Messiah being cut off. Both in the same book. They looked at one of the Psalms,
which said the length of His days will be forever and ever,
but they didn't pay any attention to Isaiah chapter 53 and verse
8, where it was told He was cut off. out of the land of the living,
for the transgression of my people was he smitten." When he spoke
of being lifted up, they never read, I suppose, of the fact
that his hands and his feet would be pierced. They never read that
passage in Zechariah where God drew the sword and plunged it
into his fellow, that is, His equal, the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't see that. Their vision,
their eyesight into the Old Testament Scripture only concerned that
which pleased the flesh, if you please. And that's one reason
that these places that preach that gospel of prosperity and
health and wealth and all of that Why it does so good is because
they're promising people what people want to hear and what
everyone wants. How different from the Word of
God, from the Gospel. Now, they heard, think about
this, they heard the Lord just before this speak of Himself
under the symbol of a grain of wheat dying being lifted up,
but they didn't hear him say that it would bring forth much
fruit. They missed that. They heard him speak of being
lifted up, but they didn't hear him say that he would draw all
unto him. Now, how does the Lord answer
their question? The people answered him, 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? How does he answer their question? Well, as Matthew Henry pointed
out, they could have easily answered their own question. Man dies
and yet is immortal and abideth forever, so the Son of Man. And Matthew Poole, he commented,
they could have answered, or he could have answered by distinguishing
between his two natures and his one person. According to his
divine nature, he was not to die, though he died according
to his human nature. And after his suffering and resurrection,
his whole person, in which both the divine and human were united,
were to endure forever. But my point tonight is the Lord
Jesus Christ did not choose to answer. He did not choose to
answer their question. Could have easily been answered.
They could have answered their own question. The Lord did not
choose to answer their question, but what He did choose to do
was to instruct them concerning the light. The light. That's what we see in these next
two verses. Then Jesus said unto them, Yet
a little while 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. While you have light, believe
in the light, that you may be the children of light. He chose
to instruct them concerning the light. Now notice these three
things. First of all, they had the light. They had the light. That's what
he said, isn't it? Verse 35. Yet a little while
is the light with you. The light was with them. And
we understand this in two ways. The light was with them, first
of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was with them. If you look
back to John chapter 1, and then we're going to look at a verse
in John chapter 9. But in John chapter 1, at the
very beginning of this gospel, in verse 9, John tells us that
was the true light. He speaks of John the Baptist
as a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came
for a witness to bear witness of the light. And I remember
a friend of mine pointing this out several times. I've heard
him say this, but how blind are we if we need a light to show
us the light? How blind are we? By nature,
all men blind to spiritual things. John was not that light. The
same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all
men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. There's a sign. You go
out at noonday, people would think you were crazy. The sun's
shining in its brightness and you're down there on Main Street
saying, hey, there's the sun! Well, of course that's the sun.
We can see that. But men were so blind, they could
not see that Jesus Christ is the light. And notice what he
says in that next verse. That was the true light. The
true light. In other words, in the Old Testament,
there have been lights which prefigured, which were typical
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That lampstand in the tabernacle. What was that a picture of? Of
Christ? Of Christ? The light? What about that fiery cloud,
pillar of fire that that led Israel through the wilderness.
What was that a picture of? Christ. But now, He's the true light. Those other lights have been
symbolical, typical pictures. But now, here's the true light. The Lord Jesus Christ. And in
John, also in John chapter 9, in verse 5, And I believe also
this is found in John chapter 8. The Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the light of the world. God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the light, This is one of those I am passages in
John where he confesses to be God. They had the light. Our Lord
told these people that asked this question, the light is with
you, He was with them. But it also may be understood
of the gospel, the gospel of Christ. In 2nd Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 4, Paul said, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. So first of all, our Lord
answers them by instructing them concerning the light. The light
is with you. That's the first thing. The second
thing is you're only going to have this light for a little
while. Just a short time. That's what
he said. Yet a little while is the light
with you. Just going to be a short time.
Now remember that this all took place in the week in which the
Lord was crucified. Just a few days he would be taken
away. After his resurrection, as far
as we know from the scriptures, he never appeared to anyone other
than his disciples. He showed himself alive to them
by many infallible proofs for 40 days to the disciples. You're just going to have the
light with you for a little while, just a few days, and he would
be gone. And when we think about the gospel,
in a few days, the nation of Israel, the Jews themselves,
would have the gospel taken from them. It would not be long before
the apostles, you read this in Acts, Seeing that you judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles. And
it would be just a few years until their whole nation was
scattered among all the nations of the world. You have the light,
but you have the light for just a short while. None of us know
how long we will have the light with us, do we? No country knows
that. No community knows that. No individual
knows that. And number three, walk in the
light. You have the light. The light's
going to be with you for just a short time. Now walk in the
light. If you notice in verse 36, he
tells us what he means by walking in the light. While you have light, believe
in the light. Believe in the light. Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he told Nicodemus
in John chapter 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You have
the light with you. You'll have the light for just
a short time. Now walk in the light, believe
in the light, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter
six, to those who ask, what shall we do that we might work the
works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He hath sent. All men, as we come into
this world, we come in guilty of original sin and then we add
to our sin. And among other things, this
means that we are under the power of darkness and need to be delivered. We need to be delivered. How
is a person delivered from the power of darkness? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk in the light. And when a person believes in
the light, he or she becomes a child of light. This is what
Paul calls us in Ephesians 5, children of light. It's interesting that our Lord
uses the word walk because the Christian life is a walk. Some of you walk for exercise. You have a starting point, don't
you? Maybe you're home, you start off here. Or you go to a trail
and you start off here. The Christian life has a starting
point, doesn't it? when we are born of the Spirit
of God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the starting
point. We begin to walk. And there's
progress. There's progress. The whole book,
Pilgrim's Progress, tells about Pilgrim's Walk, doesn't it? Pictures,
our walk, our life in this world. Walking, progressing, moving. Not stationary. And a walk has an end, a goal
line, if you please. And that, of course, is to be
with the Lord when we reach that end of our walk. to be with Him
forever. Walk in the light. Believe. Trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless this word to all of us here this evening. And if you've
never trusted in Christ, never confessed Him as Lord and Savior,
today's the day. That's what the scripture says.
Today's the day of salvation. Today's the day. Look to Him,
trust in Him, and walk in the light. We'll sing a couple of
verses of a hymn.