Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of John, Gospel According to John, chapter 12. John chapter 12. I'd like to deal with verses
32 to 36. I got here a little early this
morning and began to go over my notes. I was struck with the sobering significance
of this passage of Scripture. This particular passage that
we're going to deal with today are the last words of our Lord
as He openly preached to the unbelieving Jews before His crucifixion. Where we end today in verse 36,
we're going to find the Lord fellowshipping with His disciples
in preparation for his crucifixion. And so knowing that a new era,
if I can say it like that, before his suffering, I pray that we
might truly hear what the Spirit of God has to say to us today
in this passage of Scripture. Remember, these are the last
words that our Lord openly said before His crucifixion. The Lord had been troubled. The Scripture says in verse 27
of John 12, Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? The Father saved me from this
hour, but for this cause came I unto this All that the Father had ever
purposed to do in the salvation of His elect, centered in that
act of obedience, His crucifixion, the cross, His dying. Now hear these words. And oh, I pray the Lord teach
me. I need to hear. I need to hear. Here's our Lord and He's speaking.
And there's a group. There's a group of unbelieving
Jews that's standing around Him. And this is what He says, And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
Me. And this He said signifying what
death. He should die. This was the death
according to the scriptures, how he died according to the
scriptures. John 3.14, the Lord says, and
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, in
that manner, what was being taught, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. You'll remember when Moses lifted
up that brazen serpent. Fiery serpents and snakes were
biting the people. They would bite them and they
were dying. And those fiery serpents, those snakes, that's a picture
of sin. It was biting. That's a tiger.
It was a picture of what is killing men. What kills men. Sin. And Scripture says that the Lord
told Moses, I want you to take a piece of brass, and I want
you to make it in the shape of a snake. Like the picture of
what is biting the people. You lift it up on a pole, and
whosoever looks, you're going to live. That's a picture, it's
a type of looking unto Christ by faith. Believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Calling upon Him. Because man
believes. It was Moses, God's preacher,
lifting up his Christ, looking to him. And be ye saved, even
so by the Son of Man. So the Lord told this group of
people, if I be lifted up from the earth, we'll draw all, men
is in italics, actually it says, we'll draw all unto Me. When men read that passage of
Scripture and they say, well, now there it proves. There it
proves that all men are going to be drawn to Christ. Well, does the Lord draw everyone
to Himself? So obviously there's something
here that we don't perceive if we see it in that light. Who
is He going to draw? Well, you know. He's going to
draw all of His people. All that the Father giveth Me.
As I've told you before, anytime someone tries to And if someone
asks me something and I truly perceive that they want to know,
I'm going to try to look it up. I'm going to try to find out
what does it mean. Try to give them some help. But
if it's somebody and they're in an arrogant way, a lot of
times I'll get emails. And if it's an email, I just
don't even answer it. I'm not going to argue with you. But here's the thing, if there's
a question and you're reading something, take that Scripture
and just hold it up. And if you can prove by another
Scripture that clearly sets forth Something that absolutely contradicts
what you think, that Scripture belief. Obviously, we just didn't
understand that Scripture. When it says, if I be lifted
up, will draw all men unto Me, well, then the question would
be this, did the Lord draw and is He drawing? Is everyone being
saved? No. Well, who's the all? Well, it's the all that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me. All that have been elected in
Christ shall come. But according to the Lord's truth
set forth, He's going to save His people. I will draw all men
unto Me. That truth set forth that God's
going to save His people is set forth over Over and over. All given Him from before the
foundation of the world. He's going to draw them. He's
going to bring them to Himself. Someone would say, well, then
you're just saying that believers are robots. As I've said, believers
come because they want to come. Well, why did they want to then
when they didn't want to before? Well, because they were made
willing in the day of God's power. He gave them a new heart. He gave them a new will. He gave
them a new mind for Christ. He's imparted life that was not
there before. They want to become a believer. You that believe, do you want
to hear? Do you want to call? Do you want
to love Him? Do you desire to hear His gospel? Sure you do. You're not doing
this against something that is just not there. You want to. He gave you a heart. I know this. No man can come to Me, the Lord
said, except the Father which has sent Me. Draw him. But if
the Lord gives a heart, he comes. Drawn irresistibly. The power
of God overcoming. enmity. See, I'm going to remove
from its power of reigning that heart of stone. And I'm going
to give you a new heart. Flesh. A heart pliable. Creates that willing heart. And
He draws. And they come. They come because
they love Him. They desire Him. The Lord said
in John 15, verse 5, I'm the vine, you're the branches. He
that abideth in Me, And I in him the same." The branches. He said, I'm the trunk. I'm the
vine. You're the branches. He that
abideth in me the same bringeth forth much fruit. They bear it is what it means.
They carry it. They don't produce it. Where
does the fruit come from? It's the fruit of God's Spirit.
Love. Gentleness. Love for Him. Love for others. They bear it. He said, for without Me, you
can do nothing. You can't do anything. If I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto Myself. This He said signifying
what death. He should die. The people, in
verse 34, answered Him. And this is what they said in
response to what He said. Now, we've 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? Now,
the Lord had declared Himself being the Christ. I am He. When I speak, I speak
what my Father says. He sent me. And they said, now
wait a minute, wait a minute. They said, now you're talking
about being lifted up from the earth, about what kind of death
you're going to die. Now, we have an understanding,
we've heard out of the law, that when the Messiah comes, when
the Christ comes, He abideth ever. And how sayest thou, the Son
of Man, that you must be lifted up? And then that last part right
there is a statement of ridicule. It's as if they were saying like
looking around at each other. Here's the Lord speaking. They're
saying, who is this Son of Man? Our understanding is that when
the Christ comes, He's going to have a non-ending and eternal
reign. He's going to come back. Remember
now, they were still looking for a Messiah that's going to
deliver them out from under the bondage of Rome, and is going
to raise back the kingdom, Israel, the prominence. that they had
back years before the Lord destroyed that temple. Listen to this. This is what they read. We've
read out of the law that Christ abideth ever. I'm sure they've
probably read this, Isaiah 9-7. Of the increase of His government
and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David. and upon His kingdom to order
it, to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth,
even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
And they're saying, now wait a minute. How can you say that
you must be lifted up? How can you say that you're going
to have to die when what we've read out of the Scriptures is
that whenever Christ comes, there's not going to be an end to His
reign. Your message is not lining up
with the Scriptures. That's what they're saying. Micah
4, 7, And I will make her that holdeth a remnant. and her that was cast off a nation. And the Lord shall reign over
them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever." They're saying,
now, the Messiah we're looking for is going to come here and
the reign that He's going to set up is going to be an eternal
reign, going to sit on the throne of David where His people And
we're going to have an everlasting kingdom. But they blindly missed
the spirituality, the significance of His death and what His kingdom... They saw this as the national
Israel. Set up and had a king, the Messiah
from God, going to sit and stay right there and it would never
end. Eternal reign. And the cross
was to them a conflict. You know, the preaching of the
cross, the preaching of God's redemption of His people is to
them that perish foolishness. What man does today is exactly
what they did then. What they're saying is that They
hear the gospel of particular redemption. Particular redemption. The Lord lay down His life as
sheep. They read that. They can take it and read that
in John 10, 15. I lay down my life as sheep. And they say,
now wait a minute, wait a minute. We've read the Scriptures. And
our understanding is this. And what they're really doing
is they're rebuking the Lord. You say, well, they're really
rebuking God's preachers. No, they're rebuking the Lord. They're refuting what God has
to say, and that's exactly what they're doing right here. We've
heard out of the law that Christ abided forever. How sayest thou
the Son of Man must be lifted up?" You're saying that you've
got to die. Now, the Messiah we're looking for is not going
to die. He's not going to die. He's going to come here, it's
going to rain here, and we're going to stay. And then our Lord did something. He left them with some truth
concerning following after Him. You know what will set a man
free? The truth. The truth. The truth. Men want
to argue about their interpretation of this. What was God saying? Listen in the wisdom of our Lord
what He left them with. They just rebuked Him. And here's
what He says in verses 35 and 36. 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 whether he goeth. 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. He concealed himself. He left
them with this truth. He proclaimed himself to be the
light. The light of the world. The light
of life. The light of God. in John 8.12, and that whosoever followed after
him would not walk in darkness. He said in John 9.5, as long
as he was in the world, he was the light of the world. And in their rebuke, he left
them with that word. He had a little while. He was
getting ready to go to the cross. Walk in the light. Follow after
Him. Seek after Him. He soon is going
to be taken out physically. Almighty God hides Himself from
a man or a woman. They have no hope. They have
no hope. Believe the light. Now listen,
this is the soberness of what I was talking about just a little
while ago. Yet a little while. Yet a little
while. I was watching this morning some
guy over in, movie star or something, I don't know, over in California
yesterday was riding in a car. I was listening to the report
this morning. The car hit a tree. Burst into flames. Two people. Gone. Just 40 years old. Gone. Somebody was talking this morning.
They made a little note or something. A tweet. I don't really know
what a tweet is. Maybe it's a message. And they
said, there's a new angel in heaven. And I thought to myself, How
do you know that? Really? I'm not trying to judge
a man's heart. I don't even know the guy. But
my guess is to the contrary. My guess would be, I don't know,
but I do know this. If that man that was talking
about, if he didn't know God in truth, he's not in heaven,
I can tell you that. Yet a little while. Listen, I
don't know what a day is going to bring. And I'm not here to
be anything other than honest. Yet a little while. I don't know what tomorrow is
going to hold for me. If there is a tomorrow for me,
I don't know. Yet a little while is the light
with you. If you're hearing my voice this
morning, and you just took a breath, I can tell you according to the
Word of God, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. I know this. God's going to have to give a
man a heart. But if He's purposed to save him, He's going to call.
But if a man doesn't call, it's his fault. Jeremiah 13, 15, Hear ye and
give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory
to the Lord your God before he calls darkness, and before your
feet stumble under the dark mountains. And while you look for light,
he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. The Scripture says after the
Lord spoke those words, they ridiculed Him, despised Him,
doubted His Word, questioned Him, whatever, whatever. And the Scripture says He departed
and did hide Himself. Whether He by a miracle disappeared,
I think probably what He did, He just walked away. And they
couldn't find Him. He was gone. the most sobering
thought a man or a woman that now cannot
see, cannot hear. I'm talking about just physically. Almighty God is going to save
His people. But I'm telling you, for all
that refuse, just refuse. They will not be found guiltless. It's a dangerous thing. It's
the most needful thing. It is absolutely needful to sit
under the sound of the gospel. I think that first message, I
would just approve that by Scripture. Hearing the gospel. You must
hear it. You must hear it. But let me tell you the most
damning thing to do is to hear the gospel and refuse it. The greatest punishment, remember
when the Lord said it would be more tolerable for Sodom and
Gomorrah than it will be of Chorazin and Bethsaida. Why? Because the
miracles that were done in those places, they saw, they heard. Sodom and Gomorrah didn't. And
he said it's going to be more tolerable for them. Based upon
that Scripture, I truly believe that remembrance is going to
be a great part of the suffering in hell. Remembering. Leaving this world, and I heard
a preacher. I heard a preacher preach the
gospel. And I would not come. I would
not. And the Lord departed and did
hide himself. I know this. Nobody's ever scared
into heaven. I know that. But I'm telling
you, the sobering truthfulness of God's Word is that. Sobering. Lord, bless, I pray. And I mean this in prayer. I
mean this. Lord, save Your people. Lord,
call out of darkness those that You have everlastingly loved.
Lord, bless Your Word. Lord, birth openly into this
open kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven and eternally been done in heaven.
May the Lord bless these words to the comfort of His people,
salvation of His land for Christ's sake.