Well, will you turn with me to
John's gospel, chapter 12, John chapter 12. I've entitled this
message. We want to see Jesus. And it's
taken from verse 20 and 21, where the Greeks, certain Greeks came
to Philip and said that we would see Jesus, sir. We would see
Jesus. We want to see him. We want to
see him. This chapter, chapter 12, marks
the end of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, as
far as John's gospel records it. In verse 44, we read, Jesus
cried and said, he that believeth not on me, but on him that sent
me, and so on. He cried out loud, a public proclamation. But then chapters 13 to 17 are
all the private discourse between Christ and his disciples. They're
the upper room discourse at the Last Supper. They're that intimate,
close dialogue that we'll see in coming weeks, God willing,
in chapters 13 to 17. And then of course they go out
and there's the arrest and the crucifixion. So this marks the
end of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
chapter 11 we had already seen how Christ had raised Lazarus
from the dead and how he performed that greatest of all miracles. Even though he'd raised others
from the dead, Lazarus was four days dead. I mean not only beyond
medical hope absolutely I mean he was four days dead and he
was raised and many witnesses because in chapter twelve and
verse seventeen we read the people therefore that was with him when
he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the
dead bear record many people were there and they saw it and
they bore record to the others saying This was just amazing
what we saw. This dead man, four days dead,
was called out of his tomb. This is who we're speaking of.
This isn't something flippant. They bore witness of him. They
witnessed to the fact that he truly was, as he said, the resurrection
and the life. In a world and experience of
death, here is the resurrection and the life. What a glorious
hope. But the Pharisees had remained
hard. And in verse 50 of the previous chapter, chapter 11,
Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, and by virtue of his
office, not by virtue of the state of his soul, which was
hard and lost, but by virtue of his office, he spoke the truth
of God in verse 50. He says, nor consider that it
is expedient for us that one man should die for the people.
and that the whole nation perish not and this he spake not of
himself but being high priest that year he prophesied that
Jesus should die for the nation and not for that nation only
not for that nation only but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad there we
saw the gospel according to Christ's enemies the gospel according
even though he Caiaphas Hated this man and sought to destroy
him yet by virtue of his office in the purposes of God He preached
the gospel the gospel according to Christ's enemies Now chapter
12 begins six days before the Passover. And this is the fourth
Passover of the ministry of Jesus that we read about in John's
Gospel. So that's how we know that his ministry was about three
and a half years long. You know, he started, then there
was a Passover, and this is the fourth one. And it's the last
one. It's the one at which He is going
to be our Passover Lamb. For Christ, says Paul, 1 Corinthians
5, 7, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. At this coming
Passover, in six days time, He would be the Passover Lamb. He
would be the Lamb of God. He would be the spotless, perfect
substitute for his people. His blood would be shed that
the angel of death should not touch those who lived under that
blood. He was to be the sacrificial
lamb. And not only was it to be the last of his ministry,
but in truth, I know, I know those who are Jews celebrate
a Passover every year and have done ever since, but it's not
really, it's not been a Passover in the economy of God. Not at
all. This was the last Passover of
the economy of God, if you know what I mean by that. In the purposes
of God. All other synths have been an
empty sham. This was the last one. It fulfilled
all things. What did Daniel prophesy under
the inspiration of God that when Messiah came he would put an
end to all of these things. And these things ended. This
was the last one. And so he came to Bethany. You
know he wouldn't walk in Judea because they sought to kill him
and his hour had not yet come? Now he comes to Bethany. two
miles or so from Jerusalem, very close, six days before the Passover. And it's the place where Lazarus,
which had been dead, had been raised from the dead. And there,
at Lazarus' house, they made a supper for him. This supper,
six days before. You'll read of another one, just
so there isn't confusion. In Matthew 26 and verse 6, there's
another supper in the same week, four days later, in the house
of Simon the leper, also in Bethany. It's not this one. another one
the same week and so they they have supper they make a supper
and Lazarus look in verse 2 Martha served but Lazarus was one of
them that sat at the table with him this man who'd been four
days dead You know, he wasn't on a gentle diet, he wasn't on
Complan or something like that because he'd been dead. He's
enjoying a good supper with Jesus. He's fully alive. He's been raised
from the dead. Not in some imperfect way, but
absolutely. He's raised from the dead. And
they're having a supper. And I can imagine, can you, sitting
around that table, What blessings? You say, oh, if only I'd been
there. Do you know, Jesus said, if I go not away to my Father,
then there'll be blessings that you will miss. There are blessings
that we have as we sit round his table, as we'll do at the
end of this service. and share bread and wine together
and think on him and we'll have his presence with us in a way
that these people here didn't really understand. You know how
much light shone into their hearts after he was risen? On that Emmaus
road, how those disciples that had spent three and a half years
with the physical bodily presence of Christ as he walked this earth,
yet he sends his Spirit. And now, though he's not here
with us in a physical form, yet by his Spirit, do our hearts
burn in us as we think on the things of the Lord Jesus Christ?
and what he's accomplished and how rich and how sweet the moments
rich in blessing which we spend around bread and wine at the
supper with our Lord Jesus Christ. These are great things. These
are tremendous things to think about. how though he's not here
physically yet we have supper with him they made a supper for
him there the blessings of being with him and in that supper there
there's there's the devotion of Mary you know she Martha did
the serving that doesn't that doesn't detract in any way from
her devotion to Christ but we see Mary was so devoted she got
this pound of ointment of spikenard this precious, precious ointment,
very costly it says, and she anointed the feet of Jesus and
she wiped his feet with her hair and the whole house was filled
with the odour of the ointment. Total devotion. The true child
of God who sees Christ. To you who believe, he is precious. What will you give for him? What
will I not give for him? Is this ointment too costly to
give for him? He is my all. He is my everything. There is
nothing that is worth living for outside of Him. I know outside
of Him I have a lost, just nothing other than the prospect of a
lost eternity. But in Him what hope I have.
What would I not give? And there are echoes here of
the Song of Solomon. In the Song of Solomon, don't
look it up, I'll read it to you. Song of Solomon chapter 1 and
verse 3. Because of the savour of thy
good ointments, Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore
do the virgins love thee. And verse 12 of the same chapter,
while the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth
the smell thereof. It filled the house. Devotion. What was it for? It was for his
burial. Jesus said, verse 7, let her
alone, against the day of my burying has she kept this. You've
always got the poor with you. Here we are 2,000 years later,
we've still got the poor. You've always got opportunities
for charity. But him, he wouldn't be there
much longer. Against the day of my burying
she's kept this. Leave her alone. This is devotion. What should a disciple not give
in devotion to his or her Lord? And we see in contrast Judas
Iscariot, the hardness and the bitterness of Sanctimonious hypocrisy. Religious sanctimonious hypocrisy.
What waste. This could have been sold and
given to the poor. 300 pence. But we know why. Verse 6. This, he said, not that
he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. In his heart,
he was a thief. And he had the bag, the money
bag, the treasury. He was the one who looked after
the money and bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let
her alone. You see? Judas, hardness of heart,
as different as day is as night from that of Mary in her devotion. You know, it teaches us that
all, all outward displays, mere outward displays of charity are
just filthy rags righteousnesses without heart devotion to Christ.
There must be heart devotion to Christ. There must be. And
then we see in the next few verses, verses 10 downwards, the next
day, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. You read it for yourself.
You know the story well. Palm Sunday, we say, the Sunday
before Easter. Palm Sunday, the people cried,
Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. The triumphal entry. Despite all of the Pharisees'
plots, to do Jesus down, to kill him, to kill Lazarus even because
the people were so impressed with that miracle. Yet they couldn't
stop the purposes of God according to the Scriptures. You know these
words, these timeless, out of time, eternal words had been
written. Zechariah chapter 9 and verse
9, rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout! O daughter of
Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having
salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon the colt,
on a colt, the foal of an ass." Here comes the King, Hosanna,
prophesied, and exactly as prophesied, despite everything the Pharisees
wanted to do, they couldn't do anything but fulfill the eternal
unchangeable purposes of God and the people who would a few
days later cry crucify Him, crucify Him at this time they could do
nothing but praise nothing but praise as Jesus said in the account
in Matthew's gospel 21 verse 16 They said to him, the rulers,
they said, can't you hear what these people are saying to you?
Surely you must reject their praise and their honor. And Jesus
said to them, have you never read out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings thou has perfected praise. He says that even the
dumb stones of the ground will rise up and praise him if nobody
else will. praise from a crowd that would
later call for his crucifixion. But now, to fulfill prophecy,
they're praising him. Hosanna. Hosanna means this.
It means, save me, I pray you, Lord. Here comes the Messiah
King, and the people, whether they know what they're saying
or not, I don't know. But what they're saying is, save
me, I pray you, O Lord. Or, an alternative rendering
would be, preserve, Lord, this Son of David, this Messiah Son
of David. Preserve him that he might accomplish
his purposes. And many all around had testified
of the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead. And so
the Pharisees were further confounded. What could they do? The crowd
was there saying, it's absolutely amazing. Well then let's come
to the passage, verse 20. in amongst this all there were
certain Greeks among the crowd and they'd come to worship at
the feast the feast of the Passover they'd come to get ready for
it and to be there they weren't Jews they were Greeks the same
came therefore to Philip one of the disciples which was of
Bethsaida of Galilee it's on the northern tip of Lake Galilee
slightly over to the east and desired him saying sir we would
see Jesus and Philip cometh and telleth Andrew and again Andrew
and Philip tell Jesus and then we have Jesus' answer. These
were probably proselytes, or converts to the Jewish religion,
though they weren't of Jewish descent. They realized, like
so many others did, you know, like the Queen of Sheba did,
she came from the south, they realized that here in Jerusalem,
in the Jews' religion, was the truth of eternity, was the truth
of how can a man be just with God. If it was anywhere in the
world, it was there, and they must go there, and they must
find out about it. And they'd probably studied the
scriptures, the Jewish scriptures. And they'd probably seen some
of the prophecies that it wasn't just for the Jews, but for the
Gentiles too. They maybe had read Isaiah chapter
60 and verse 3. And the Gentiles shall come to
thy light. and kings to the brightness of
thy rising. Maybe they'd read that and said,
you know, like we used to sing in that hymn, and if free grace,
why not for me? I'm not a Jew, but the Gentiles
shall come to thy light. I'm going. I'm going to find
out what this is about. I'm going to dig into these things.
I'm going to look into these things and see if I can see salvation
and some good for my soul. They were probably Greeks from
the region, because you know the Greek Empire had spread everywhere,
so there would be people of Greek descent from the reign of Alexander,
all around the Mediterranean world. And these perhaps were
in the region of Tyre and Sidon. We're not talking mythical places,
you can look at your atlas, you can go there today, Tyre and
Sidon, they're real places. And it's not that far from Galilee. And Bethsaida, although it's
in Galilee in the north, and Philip was brought up with Jewish
parents, no doubt they were surrounded by people of Greek origin, because
the name Philip, it's of Greek origin. And so perhaps these
Greeks thought, ah, here's somebody who understands us, here's somebody
who knows what makes us tick, Philip, he's got a Greek name,
and he knows Jesus really well, let's ask him, let's approach
him. Yeah, that's what you would do,
isn't it? You would approach the one that you would think would
be most amenable and sympathetic to your approach. So they approach
Philip. They're aware of the ministry
of Jesus. Perhaps they'd seen some of the miracles. They'd
certainly heard of them. Perhaps they'd been studying
the scriptures, like the wise men of old, the magi. Perhaps
they'd been digging and delving into these things, and they wanted
to see him. They wanted to see him. The whole
city was buzzing with the talk of this one, Jesus of Nazareth,
and what he'd done. They'd maybe been impressed,
they wanted to see more. Or perhaps even they could see
clear signs of the Messiah. Whatever, Philip was persuaded
of their sincerity. So he goes and tells Andrew,
another disciple, and they together go and tell Jesus, there are
some Greeks who would like to see you. There are some Greeks.
Now, Many today, many today have an interest in one called Jesus,
but they seek the Jesus that they want to see. They come seeking
signs, don't they? They seek a Jesus who will do
certain things for them. They come burdened with all sorts
of absolutely dysfunctional, dreadful family situations, and
they come seeking one who will fix all their problems for them.
They come seeking signs. They come seeking what they believe
to be miracles. They come looking for a gospel
of man's will, a gospel of man's will, a gospel of their own imagination,
a Jesus of their own imagination. I remember many years ago when
a certain Bill Clark came to Barrow-in-Furness to preach in
the Brethren Assembly there and he preached on 1 Corinthians
1.30, Christ is made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption and he spoke clearly how it was
that Christ was made unto his elect those things and how salvation
was accomplished absolutely for his elect and the elect is a
multitude that no man can number but yet God did not just make
a possibility for all men he made a certainty for those whom
the father had given before the beginning of time And the next
morning in the brethren assembly, I remember one of the elders,
pseudo elders, standing up and saying how horrified he had been
the night before. when he heard that his Jesus
hadn't died for everybody in the world. Well, his Jesus did
die for everybody in the world because his Jesus was a figment
of his imagination and was not the Jesus of this book. We want
to see Jesus, the Jesus of our own imagination, the Jesus of
our own making, the Jesus who's on a thread that we can dangle
and he'll do what we want, the puppet Jesus that will save whoever
we want him to save. and not whom the Father has ordained
to save. You see, people want to see Jesus,
but they want to see a Jesus of their own imagination. What
answer will Jesus give to this request? We want to see Jesus. Well, look in verse 23. 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
now." What are you thinking as we start, as you read this, and
as we start to read these words? Are you thinking, hold on, he
was asked a straightforward question. Can we see you? What's the answer
that should be given? Yes or no, isn't it? Straightforward,
yes or no. Can they see me? Yes? No. Straightforward. But he doesn't answer the question,
does he? He says the hour has come. What's he talking about? I'll tell you what he's saying.
He's saying this. I think he's saying this. I suspect
that they wanted to see more miracles and that Jesus is saying
if you want to see more miracles that phase of my ministry is
now finished the raising of Lazarus was the last one there were no
others that phase of my ministry of authenticating the words I
speak is now finished the hour has come now the hour that had
not yet come again and again and again my hour is not yet
come now he says the hour is come It's six days before the
Passover. The hour is, well now it's five
days before. The hour has come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. It's here. There's not going
to be any more miracles. No more miracles in the sense
of feeding 5,000. and of raising Lazarus from the dead. No. No
more miracles. That phase of ministry is finished. Now is the time for glorification. How is that to be achieved? A
great triumph over the Roman invaders, perhaps. Something
like that. Some great, enormous sociological
benefits for this nation. No. No. Look what he says. 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. This glory is only going to be
achieved through death. It's his death. That's what they'll
see. All they got, we would see Jesus.
All they're going to see is not a miracle from this man, but
his death. His death, for the hour has now
come. His glory is going to be achieved through His death. The
glorification of His Father and the gospel fruit that will flow
from all that He does will be achieved through His death. And
he goes on to say, verses 25 and 26, 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 honour. If you want to
see him, sirs, we would see Jesus. If you want to see him, you must
serve him, is what he's saying. You can't just see me peripherally,
as a spectacle in a show, performing miracles. If you want to see
me, you must see that all the glory is achieved through the
death of this one that they came to see but also it's only seen
through serving him you cannot see him unless you serve him
you cannot see him unless you follow him you cannot see him
unless you go where he goes you cannot see him unless you let
go of your own life lose your own life hate your own life as
Stephen said in the sense that the King James uses that word
Don't regard it with any grasping, clinging on to desire. You must sacrifice it, self-sacrifice
for His sake. You see, you can't just sample
the benefits of Christ. You Greeks coming, we would see
Jesus, yes, what do you want to do? Do you just want to dibble
in and enjoy some bits and then go off as you were? No, you can't
just sample the benefits of Christ. without commitment of self-sacrifice
to follow him. But if you do, verse 26, if any
man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall
also my servant be. And if any man serve me, him
will my father honour. Ah, how much we'll lose if we
serve him. How much of this world will we
give up? Oh I'm young I want to grasp onto all of these things
I want the benefits of what I see my friends having before I tie
myself down and before I limit what I can do and before I restrict
the places I can go and the things I can I want to enjoy all those
things first and then maybe later when I'm a bit older like you
I'll settle down into following these things which have such
a ring of truth about them No, he says, if any man serve me,
any one of you, him will my father honour. Oh, you don't lose anything. My friends, you don't lose anything
in following the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the things that this empty
world can give, but oh what riches and oh what blessings. You know
that Peter said to him at one point, Lord, we've left all for
your sake. And what shall we have? What
are we going to get in return? Do you realize the sacrifice
that we've given for you? I don't know if that's the tone
of what Peter said, but you can read it that way. And Jesus said,
there isn't one of you that's left husband, wives and children
and families and all these things and houses for my sake. And yet
in this world will not have such an abundance. of all of these
things. And I've often said, you know,
even at the most flippant level of it now, you know, I can cross
the Atlantic Ocean and I can go to people that I hardly ever
see and I know I'll be welcomed into their houses because they're
the children of the same Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father
honors us. He honors those who serve him. Verse 27. Let's read on. Jesus then says, 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, it thundered.
And others said, an angel spoke to him. And Jesus answered and
said, this voice came not because of me, not for my benefit, but
for your sakes, that you might hear and know and believe. We see there the sole trouble
of the man. Do you remember last week we
saw how as omniscient, omnipotent God he knew exactly what he would
do with Lazarus for he had ordained all of it the illness and the
death, he'd ordained it all that he might be glorified in it and
yet the man wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus wept there
at the tomb and Here we see his soul troubled. Now is my soul
troubled. He would go on in a few days
time in the Garden of Gethsemane and he would say, Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. This dread cup
that he had to drink. This dreaded, dreaded cup of
the judgment of God, the justice of God for the sins of his people
that he must drink. As a man he dreaded the prospect. What was he going to do? Was
he going to bottle out at this stage, as we say? Was he going
to take the easy option because there was one? If you read Matthew
26 and verse 53, he said when they came to arrest him, he said,
don't you realize when Peter cut off the ear of one of the
high priest's servants with his sword, he said, put away your
sword. He said, don't you realize that if I wanted to, I could
call for legions of angels who would come and rescue me from
this situation. Is he going to bottle out in
his soul anguish, my soul trouble? Is he going to bottle out? No,
no. For this cause came I to this hour. This is for what he
came. This was the purpose of his mission.
Look at Hebrews chapter two. Because with the light and the
knowledge of after the events, the writer to the Hebrews, who
I believe was Paul actually, Verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 2,
you see he's already said that he's
going to bring many sons to glory in verse 10 and then in verse
14, for as much then as the children, those he would save, are partakers
of flesh and blood, weak human flesh, that's us, he also himself
likewise took part of the same weak human flesh that through
death in that human flesh he might destroy him that had the
power of death that is the devil. The devil was destroyed in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ and deliver them this is why
he came in the flesh to deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage the bondage of fear
bound in fear of eternity and of judgment to come and he delivered
them By destroying the devil, destroying the power of him,
destroying the power of death that is the devil. For verily,
verse 16, he took not on him the nature of angels. you know
this flesh and blood he didn't take on him the nature of angels
to redeem angels but he took on him the seed of Adam no it
doesn't say that does it what does it say the seed of Abraham
the seed of Abraham are those with like precious faith as Abraham
the children of Abraham by faith those who are counted righteous
with righteous Abraham not because he was righteous in and of himself
that because of the righteousness of Christ that was imputed to
him. Wherefore in all things it behoved
him, he had to be made like unto his brethren. Our Lord Jesus
Christ had to be made like unto his people that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation for the sins of his people. This was the purpose for which
he came. This cause, for this cause, verse
27, came I to this hour. And so God says, the Father pronounces
the glorification that will take place. Because in verse 31 he
says this, he says, that voice you didn't hear it for my sake,
but for your sakes that you might know and believe. And then verse
31, now, remember the context, we would see Jesus, we want to
see this miracle work. Now is not the time, it's finished,
that phase is over. Now is the time for glorification,
which is achieved through the death of the substitute, the
death of the Passover substitute. Now is the judgment of this world
in this. 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. Judgment and triumph. The miracles
are over. Now is the time for judgment
and triumph. Now he's going to be lifted up
on a cross to die, a shameful death, but in that death he will
triumph. What's the judgment about? Now
is the judgment of this world? Immediately it was the judgment
on the entire Jewish economy, on the entire Jewish nation. As you know, a few years later
in A.D. 17, Tiberius, the Roman emperor,
absolutely flattened Jerusalem, and it was destroyed exactly
as had been prophesied in the Book of Daniel and other places.
It came to an end, and it's never been resurrected, it's never
been put back together, and even the modern political attempts
in the Middle East And nothing, nothing, nothing compared with
what it was before. And it never will be. Because
this was never the purpose of Scripture, to restore that nation. It was destroyed. It was finished. That was the end of it. The judgment
of this world. Because the prince of this world
will be cast out. and triumph will be the result. Christ will triumph in this because
Satan is defeated. Now is Satan defeated in this. We read in Matthew 12 and verse
29 Jesus says that if you want to rob somebody's house What
must you do? You must tie up the strongman
of the house, because if there's a strongman there to defend his
territory, you're going to struggle. But you must tie up the strongman
of the house. The strongman of the house is
the prince of this world, who is Satan, and our Lord Jesus
Christ in his death on the cross. tied him up, bound him, limited
his power. You say, oh, well, there's plenty
of it still going on. Ah, yes, but it's all on a chain,
on a leash within the permissive will of God. In Colossians 2.15,
we read about him spoiling principalities and powers, of making a show
of them openly. Because why? Because when he
died, Christ's people died in him. And this is the point. Satan
has no power at all over a dead man. No power at all. There used to be a saying in
the Navy. It's not that long ago that they
used to have physical corporal punishment in the British Navy. And I used to work with a lot
of people that had been young cadets, sea cadets, in the days
when there was corporal punishment. And they used to jokingly have
the phrase where the Master of Arms would say, flog that man
and they'd say but that man's dead sir and so there was no
point flogging the dead man so they'd say well flog his kit
put his put his kit bag on the floor and give that a good beating
just to teach him but there was no point flogging the dead man
because the dead man wouldn't feel it he's a dead man and in
Christ we're dead We're dead to the law. Satan has no more
condemnation that he can bring. Christ has paid, as we just sang,
every sin. All my sin on Him was laid. He's paid for all the sins of
His elect. So what charge can Satan bring?
Who shall bring any charge, says Paul in Romans 8, 31? Who shall
bring any charge to God's elect? Christ has died. He's already
paid for them. There's no debt. There's a debt
outstanding. No, there isn't. The books are
clear. He's paid for it. And so in that, the prince of
this world will be cast out. And verse 32, I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. In that moment
of apparent weakness, Oh, how weak could he get. Oh, how must
Caiaphas and his high priests and all those around him have
been rubbing their hands with glee. At last we've done it.
We've got rid of him. What a thorn in the side this
man has been to us and our situation for so long. But at last we've
got rid of him. There he is, hanging on a cross
between two thieves to die a shameful Roman death. We've tried... No,
they haven't. No, they haven't. In that very
moment, the veil of the temple which kept people like you and
me from the holiness of God was torn from top to bottom, right
down the middle. In his submission to that shameful
death, in his being lifted up, what does that remind you of?
Moses, brazen serpent, the serpent, the fiery serpents, biting and
killing the people, make something that looks exactly like it of
bronze, and lift it up on a pole, so that all who look, look, there
is life in a look at the crucified one. Life in a look. All who look shall live. Lifted
up, the Son of Man be lifted up. He said that to Nicodemus.
Jesus said, John 3 verse 14, For 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. in that in that shameful death
was justice satisfied and salvation accomplished. Do you notice when
we read Zechariah 9 verse 9 in the middle of it it says he is
just this king this Messiah King coming on an ass's foal the colt
of an ass he is just and having salvation and you think quickly
yeah that goes together do you know that's a contradiction he
is just and having salvation If he's just, and he's dealing
with sinners, he is just and bringing condemnation is what
it should say, isn't it? Because what goes with justice
and sinners is condemnation. justice the strict absolute justice
of God but this one comes who is just and has salvation but
has salvation perhaps would be better he is just but despite
justice being satisfied he has salvation, because he satisfies
justice in himself. I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all. The men in King James is in italics,
it's not really there. I will draw all unto me, and
so we can rightly ask, who are the all who will be drawn? All
his elect. He will draw all his elect. I
don't need to Press the point, because we've seen it so many
times. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up at the last day. All that the Father
has given me he will draw to himself. Would you see Jesus? Do you want to see Jesus as these
Greeks wanted to see Jesus? You must see Christ crucified.
Do you want to know anything about eternity and eternal life? You must be determined with the
Apostle Paul to see everything in the context of Jesus Christ
and him crucified. And it's the only basis that
God deals with people outside of strict justice and condemnation. We see, sadly, But all in the
purposes of God, these people go on in unbelief. In the following
verses, read those following verses. Despite that great light
of which Christ spoke in verses 34 to 36, shining amongst them,
they continued in their unbelief, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah
in Isaiah 6. fulfilling that perfectly when
he saw the Lord Jesus Christ before he came to earth in all
his glory in the temple in Isaiah six and yet they continued in
their unbelief. My friends which Jesus do you
want to see a figment of your own religious imagination or
the one of scripture who died in the place of his people. And
it's that that we're going to remember as we share bread and
wine together now.