Thank you, Sir Lord. May you
graciously help me, I would turn your prayerful attention to the
12th chapter of John's Gospel, John's Gospel chapter 12, and
reading the 32nd verse. John 12, verse 32. We were looking together here this
morning at this 12th chapter of John, And Jesus is really
speaking in response to this question, so as we would see
Jesus, and he's explaining what Jesus was and how precious he
is. John 12, verse 32. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. That's John 12, verse
32. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. We looked this morning
firstly at what he was saying in verse 23, and Jesus answered
them saying, the hour is come. And we've read that also together
in John 17, how that this was so much on the the mind of the Lord Jesus, the
fact that this was the central hour of history, the time that
the whole Old Testament had been looking forward to and the time
that we look back to. It wasn't the hour of his birth.
It was the hour of his standing in the place as sinners. When
he had completed all that he needed to do here below, completed,
he was ready to be offered. And then you see there was that
lifting up. And Jesus said in verse 24, 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. And that he was showing that
he was showing that as a corn of wheat is put into the ground
and it then germinates and it appears to die itself, really,
but then it gives fruit to all those other corn that comes from
it, that multiplication. So the Lord Jesus is saying that
in his death, there will be a multiplication. There will be, for him laying
down his life, there will be an abundant fruitfulness. And
of course, it's totally above the abundance of this earth,
that God has given an abundance in this earth to have an increase
when we sow the seed to get a harvest. But God has showed that that
a harvest, that fruitfulness that comes from Christ. It is
a number that no man can number, of every kindred, nation, tribe
and tongue. And how that he lay down his
life, but we need to lay down our lives. We need to lay down
a life that's self-centred and self-seeking. That we might be
like him, humble, and seeking to do his will, as he sought
to do his father's will. When he was in Gethsemane, he
said, if it be possible, let this cut pass from me, nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou wilt. And we are to follow that example. We are not here to do our own
will. We live in a world that encourages
so much to do our own thing. And yet Jesus, Jesus said, I
came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. It's such a different way, isn't it? Committing our way
to the Lord. And you might say, well, if you
haven't got a good idea where you're going, you'll get nowhere
in life. Well, you see the Lord Jesus, he committed himself to
him that judgeth righteously. And you see, he was not disappointed.
Oh, what an accomplishment Christ accomplished. He had a baptism
to be baptized with, and how was he straightened? Oh, he committed
himself to his father. Well, and then we look then at,
we come to verse 26 in this passage. If any man serve me, let him
follow me. There is to be a following of
Christ. And where I am there shall also my servant be. If
any man serve me, him will my father honor. and this idea of
being together. And of course, that's so much
reiterated in Jesus's prayer that we read in John 17. As he
prays, he prays to bring his people into union, that intimate
union that there is between him and his father. If we hadn't
got it written in the Bible, we would think it was perhaps
irreverent to think that we could ever enter into something like
that union. But this is what he prays for
his people, that they might be one as we are one. And you see,
the desire is that we might come to know the love of God. It was
the same desire in the Apostle Paul, that you might know the
length, the breadth, the depth, the height, and to know the love
of God, which passeth knowledge. This was the great desire that
the Lord had for his people. He laid down his life that they
might receive life and might know it. But then in verse 27
of John 12, he says, now is my soul troubled. You see, he was
coming to this hour, but this hour was going to be an hour
of tremendous sufferings. And you see, if we just read
together that John 17, It's a prayer of intimacy, of love, of union,
of perfect fellowship. But you see, this is what was
going to happen. There was going to be the sword of divine justice
was going to come and lay its hand, smite the shepherd. You see, but this was no reflection
of a lack of love in the Godhead. But this was in perfect love,
being willing to stand in the place of his people, and to receive
the just reward of their sins, and yet be in perfect love with
the father. There was no rift, you see. It
was not as if there was a rift between the father and the son,
and then the father laid his hand of wrath upon his son, no.
We come from a situation of perfect love and yet perfect willingness
to bear the sins of his people. This is a tremendous deep. You see, it was like that if
you think of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham loved Isaac. He was his
only begotten son of Sarah. There was no rift between Isaac
and Abraham and yet, in faithfulness and obedience to what God had
told Abraham to do. He took that son and he was going
to go through with the offering of him up. Not because there
was some rift between Abraham and Isaac, no. It was because
he would do his father's will. It was the ultimate act of obedience
that God asked Abraham to do. demonstrate. And of course, the
greater was the Lord Jesus himself when he would be in that garden
of Gethsemane. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. There's an apprehension you see
here of what it was going to cost. And now is my soul troubled.
Jesus was troubled. The wrath of God was going to
fall upon him. He who always had perfect union
with his father was now going to feel the anger of his father
for the sin that he was bearing, not his own sin, but the sin
of his people. And now is my soul troubled. What is he going to say to his
disciples in the next two chapters. Chapter 14 of John opens with
these words. Let not your heart be troubled. You see, this is the love of
Christ. His heart was troubled. Now is my soul troubled. He's
troubled, you see, because he's going to bear the wrath of God
for his people. And yet His desire is that the
people that He's standing in the place of, He says, let not
your heart be troubled. What a Savior. What a love there
is. Was there ever love like this?
The love of Christ. Now is my soul troubled. What
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I to
this hour. This was the whole plan of salvation.
This is why he came. And yet, you see, we're brought
into this realization that this was a tremendous thing for him. To receive the wrath of God was
a tremendous thing for God the Son. But for this cause came
I unto this hour. And verse 28, Father, glorify
thy name. See, this is his great aim. And
may it be as we come into difficulties, when we walk through difficult
circumstances, things that we naturally recoil from, When we
have news and we have things that come into our life and we
naturally recoil for them, they're difficult. We don't want to go
that way naturally. It seems a very difficult way
to go. He comes back to this, Father,
glorify thy name. See, this is the great motivation. There's an apprehension of what
the cost is going to be, but the desire is that the Father
would get glory to His name in those things that take place
and in our pathway. Perhaps we've known something
of that as we've walked through difficulties and there's a sense
that what we're walking through is bringing glory to God. Ah,
then it makes a difference, doesn't it? We say, that's the right
way then. If it brings glory to God, If
it shows forth his praise, then it's difficult, but it's the
right way. You see, the Westminster Confession
starts with, the catechism says, what is the chief end of man?
The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. But what was the chief end of
Christ? Was it not the same? to glorify
God and to enjoy Him forever. You see, we are to have the mind
of Christ, and His mind was to ever glorify His Father. You
see the perfect love that there is in the Godhead, and the Godhead
totally free from jealousy. Father, glorify Thy name. And
then you see there's this voice comes from heaven. In verse 28,
then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified
it and will glorify it again. He's saying to his beloved son,
what you're going through and what you're doing is going to
bring eternal glory to God. Of course it is, isn't
it, in glory when we look in those scenes of revelation When
there's this number that no man can number of every kindred,
tribe and tongue around the throne and before the Lamb as it had
been slain, this is what was happening. This is the preparation
for this. He was about to be the Lamb slain,
which in one sense was from the foundation of the world in the
mind of God. But this was the hour that it
was actually going to happen. This was when it was going to
happen in history, that this time he would stand in his people's
place. Father, glorify thy name. That was the desire of the Son. And the Father says, I have.
Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified
it and will glorify it again. What you're going to go through
in the sufferings of Calvary is going to be ultimately for
the glory of God. Ye meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good to save much people alive. This is going to
be for the glory of God. Then it says, Then people therefore
that stood by and heard it said, it thundered, others said it,
the angels spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. To show that
there was, the father was involved and there was this perfect agreement
between the father and the son. Perfect agreement that that is
what they should do. In John 8. Verse 50, we have
these words. John 8, verse 50, and I seek
not mine own glory. See, what right have we to go
around seeking our glory? The Lord Jesus, who was truly
glorious, he said, I seek not mine own glory. There is one
that seeketh and judges. And verse 54 of chapter eight,
Jesus answering, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my
father that honoreth me, of whom you say he is your God. And Jesus
was constantly realizing that honor, true honor comes from
his father, from God. But then in verse 31, now is
the judgment of this world, judgment of this world. You see, Satan's
head was going to be bruised at Calvary. This was the time. Satan, you see, had reigned. And now, you see, there was going
to be one that would stand in the place of his people. You
see, Satan had sinned and been cast out of heaven. In the plan of God, the mind
of God, there never was a plan to save angels. There was no plan to save Satan.
But in the goodness and mercy of God, God has made a way for
the human race, lost and ruined in the fall, that there should
be a way back to God, a way back from rebellion, a way back from
far offness and to come to be brought nigh by the blood of
Christ. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. Satan is going to be judged. But you see, it was at such a
time when it appeared that Satan was going to triumph. It appeared
that Satan was in control, and he was in the driving seat, and
he was causing all these things to work together for his plan,
which was for the downfall of Christ. But of course, ultimately these things were
gonna bring glory to God. I think a type in the Old Testament,
a character in the Old Testament that pictures this very vividly,
a strange character really, but Samson. Samson was that one who
was, he fought all his battles single-handedly. But yet, you
see, and he was, though he had troubles and difficulties, we
read one particular thing. If you look in Judges chapter
16. Judges 16. and verse 30. We read this, if you remember,
at Samson's end, he had his eyes put out, his hair was cut, if
you remember, he lost his strength, and the Philistines gloated over
him. They mocked him. They felt that
they had gained the victory over him. And yet, In the midst of a scene
that seemed utterly to the shame and the ridicule of Samson, God
so ordered it that that very scene ended up with Samson being
victorious in the sense that we read this statement, so the
dead which he slew at his death were more than they which slew
in his life. Samson had been a great warrior.
He had been a great enemy to Israel's enemies, the Philistines.
And yet in his death, his death was used to be the
greatest damage done to the kingdom of the Philistines. And pictorially,
spiritually speaking, that was so of Christ. This was the, Jesus
had done damage to Satan's kingdom in bringing people like legion
back from the powers of the devil, casting out devils. He'd done
damage to the kingdom of Satan. But when it came to this hour,
there was a damage done to the kingdom of Satan that was greater
than any other victory. He triumphed. over sin, death,
hell, and the grave. This was the hour. This was when
he was going to break, you see, the power of death. That, you see, Satan said, they've
sinned. They need to go into hell with
me. They need to be in the lake of
fire with me. But you see, the Lord Jesus was
going to Enter that and stand in those people's place and enter
into that suffering that they should have suffered through
a never-ending eternity in hell And that's why you see in in
the Lamentation of Jeremiah we have those words Just look at that Lamentations
chapter 1 verse 12 is it nothing to you or ye that pass by and
Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which
is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger." Prophetic of Christ. You see, is there
any sorrow like unto my sorrow? You say, oh, but there's been
lots of sorrow in the world. But you see, here there was a
unique sorrow. You see, it wasn't unique for
somebody to be crucified. That's not unique. Others have
been crucified. But it is absolutely unique for
the sin of the entire church to be put on one person. And
that which should have been the due reward for their sins for
the entire, the time that they should have been in hell, to
be put on one person. and to bear it away. And that's
why his sufferings, of his sufferings so intense, angels have no perfect
sense. His sufferings. He said, now
is my soul troubled. But he came to this hour, he
did it, and it was gonna be for the glory of God. And it was
gonna be for the putting down of Satan. When Satan thought
that he was triumphing in destroying and bringing to death the Lord
of life and glory. Yet, he didn't realize that in
his death, he was opening a door that the whole of his church
should be liberated. The whole of his church was delivered
from the grip and power of Satan. in that time when he thought
he was triumphing over Christ, was the very time when Christ
was liberating his entire church, liberating from the power of
Satan, from the due reward of their
sins. Justice cried, slay. You see, there was a justice
required death. because of their sin. But the
Lord Jesus, who gave the law at Mount Sinai, in all the thunderings,
he gave the law. He was not now going to say the
law doesn't matter. He was going to keep the law.
He was going to satisfy all the requirements of the law by standing
in the people's places and standing in the place of his church. And
this was going to be his hour. And this was going to be for
the glory of God. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And so, then we
come to what we've named as a text. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. The drawing power of
the cross of Christ that place where justice and mercy have
met together, the justice of God that could not release sinners
from their sin without paying the debt. Justice declared there
had to be the payment. But the Lord Jesus satisfied
that payment so that it can be declared in Romans, there is
therefore now no condemnation. to them that are in Christ Jesus,
the debt has been paid. And I, if I be lifted up, lifted
up, and we read in verse 33, this he said, signifying what
death he should die. So clearly this lifting up was
the picture of him being lifted up upon that cross. This was
the death he was going to die. This was the lifting up, and
yet in that that naturally difficult scene. It seemed that Satan and
his enemies were triumphing. But Jesus says, and I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. He recognizes
that this will be a great draw. This will be something that will
draw sinners to himself. This will be something that will
be so attractive to his people that come to realise
their need of redemption. Attractive to those who realise
the enormity of their sin, who've come to be brought by the Spirit
to reveal that they are sinners, that by nature they are far off
from God. separated from him by wicked
works. And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men unto me. We read in the Song of Solomon
1 verse 4, draw me, we will run after thee. The drawing. You see, it's a kingdom of love.
It's a kingdom of what he has done for his people. It's such
a different kingdom than any other kingdom. A kingdom where
the king pays the price of all his people. We normally have
a king that is supported by the giving of the people. But no,
here we have a king that lays down his life for the people.
Just like I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep. A normal shepherd doesn't do
that. A normal shepherd, he cares for the sheep, but ultimately
it's a commercial venture. And to lay down your life for
the sheep is not commercially sensible. But here you see it's
a kingdom of love. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now is the prince of this world cast out. And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, when I'm going to, be, as it were, on that cross
at Calvary. The meeting together of the justice
and the mercy of God. This is going to be something
that is going to draw God's people down through the ages, drawn
by love. Was ever love like this? You
see, love and justice and mercy all meet together at Calvary.
It is the greatest display of God's love. His mercy and His
grace is at Calvary. I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me. Has it drawn you? Has it drawn you? Has it drawn me? Drawn me to
say, let worldly minds the world pursue. It hath no charms for
me. Once I admired its portion too.
Grace has set me free. I've seen something till a new
object reached my eyes. As John Newton put it, I saw
one hanging on a tree in agony and blood, who fixed his languid
eyes on me as near his cross I stood. It seemed to charge
me with his death, though not a word he spoke. You see, there's
love here. I've done this for you. I've
stood in your place. Say, poor sinner, lovest thou
me? Is there not a response? It's
a response of love, isn't it? It's a response of, were the
whole realm of nature mine? That were an offering far too
small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my life, my soul, my all. Another of our lovely hymns says, Yes, so immortal honest rest
on Jesus' head. Oh that my soul could love and
praise him more. You see, naturally if we've got
a wrong spirit in things we try to, well the spirit of the world
is to try and get as much as you can by giving as little as
possible. But here you see we understand
what he's given us and whatever we give, it's a small amount
to what He's done for us. And so, you see, this raising
up of the Lord Jesus on the cross at Calvary becomes the great
drawing attraction that this man received with sinners. This
man stands in his people's place. This man has dealt with the wrath
of God. This man has made peace between
God and man. This one is the only mediator
between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus and I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. But you see,
this shows the difficulty of what he was doing. Oh, you see,
if you've got somebody who's very capable, and you see them
doing something, whatever they do, they do it with such ease
often. And they show how capable they are, and I would say that's
Go to Genesis 1, you see somebody who's extremely capable. You
see God in his majesty commanding, let there be light, and there
was light. Let there be a firmament, and there was a firmament. You
see one working with such ease, such difficulty of things that
they're doing, but such ease. But you come to redemption and
you see something different. You don't see God standing there
saying, and let there be redemption, and there was redemption, no
you don't. You see one hanging on a tree
in agony and blood. That's something different than
saying let there be light, isn't it? It shows that the What was
achieved at redemption was so much harder than what God did
in creation. That's not to undermine creation
in any way. It's tremendously great and we
can't fathom the depths of it. But God did that just by the
word of his mouth. When it comes to redemption,
he came and dwelt among us. He came and received. He endured
all those sufferings. He sweat as it were, drank great
drops of blood. And that's why you see, and I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. This is the
one. This is the one who prayed to
his father. The hour has come. Glorify thy
son, that thy son also may glorify thee. This was his great end.
This was his great aim. And may it be in our lives the
glory of God, that we may lay down our lives, not as Jesus
did, you see, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone. And all the time we're seeking
our own glory and seeking to live to self, we're achieving
no fruitfulness. But as we have union with Christ,
as we lay down our lives, as we seek in the spirit of our
saviour when he said, what will thou have me to do? And we go
in, we walk in that way and we lay down our lives for the brethren.
Then you see there's a blessing, there's a fruitfulness, an abundant
fruitfulness. From me is thy fruit found. Well, this great word that the
Greeks said, sirs, we would see Jesus. And the Lord Jesus here
doesn't directly speak to them, but he profoundly speaks of his
work, all that was to be accomplished. The fact that he was going to
lay down his life, that corn of wheat that would fall into
the ground. And but it had to happen. The disciples didn't
want it to happen, but it had to happen. And if it didn't happen,
there would be no church. There would be no salvation of
the disciples. It had to happen. It was something
they didn't want to happen. But he was gonna show them that
this ultimately was gonna be the very center of their preaching. The very thing they didn't want
to happen was gonna become the very center of their preaching.
Jesus Christ, am him crucified. They didn't want it. They didn't
see the necessity of it. But you see, the Lord brought
them, opened their eyes, then opened to their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures and realize that this
is the centerpiece of glory, Christ and Him crucified, laying
down His life at a ransom for many, showing what true love
is, and the lengths it will go, and the depths it will traverse
for His people. Father, glorify Thy name. this
great desire of the Lord Jesus to glorify his Father and the
Father to glorify the Son, the perfect love that there is, the
perfect love that you see in that high priestly prayer in
John 17, and then that complete willingness to go and to to lay down his life, a ransom
for many. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And then when that servant, Peter
cut off the high priest's servant's ear, Jesus said, put away thy
sword. The cup that my father giveth
me, shall I not drink it? You see, he was then working
out what he had prayed. He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. And the father had, by his silence
in a sense, had replied, it is not possible. This is the way. And therefore
he went through the ultimate acts of obedience. You see, obedience,
if somebody tells you to do something that's quite easy to do, or you
like to do it anyway, the fact that you're obedient isn't so
amazing. Because you wanted to do it anyway, or it was an easy
thing to do, and it fitted with what you wanted. When somebody
gives you something to do, like Abraham, offer up thy son, thine
only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. That's obedience at a different
level, isn't it? It's obedience, the obedience
of Christ. He laid down his life. Abraham,
you see, was spared that obedience. He demonstrated that he would
have done it, but he didn't have to ultimately go through with
it, because God stopped him right at the last moment. But not so,
not so with the Lord Jesus. There was not something that
stopped just at the end so that he didn't actually have to die.
No, he had to go through death. But then there was going to be
that corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died, and
yet it brought so much more fruit. And then Christ rose again as
the firstfruits. And so all his people shall rise
again. As they die to self, the world
would say, you're a loser. You've lost everything. You haven't
gained by it. But you see, the world is wrong. The world doesn't know the power
of Christ. And the fact that he says, I
am the resurrection and the life. And those who lay down their
life for the things of God, they will receive that resurrection. with the Lord Jesus, in union
with God. And so this is so much the central
theme of the gospel. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto thee. All, that's not every
single human being, but all, and men is in italics, it's not
in the original, all unto me. all types, of every kindred,
nation, tribe, and tongue, not just of the Jews, of the Gentiles
also. What a mercy for us. I will draw
all men, all unto me. There'll be a drawing power as
we see Christ and Him crucified, and our need of Him, and the
suitability of Christ, and the love of Christ, and that these
things may make us run. in the ways of His commandment.
When He has done so much for us, surely we are to follow Him. We are to take up our cross and
follow Him in obedience, as He was obedient to His Father. And
as we lay down our lives in walking obedience to Him, herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. There will be that
fruit, you see, as we lay down our lives and do what God tells
us to do and not what we want to do ourselves. then there will
be that fruit unto eternal life, that fruit that glorifies Him,
and therefore it is a great blessing. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will, there's a certainty here, it's not what we hope that
this will have a good effect on people, will draw all men,
all unto me. May we be amongst those that
are sweetly attracted to all that Christ accomplished at Calvary
and that we might run in the ways of his commandments. May
the Lord have his blessing, amen.