Living with Christ in the Shadow of the Cross (John 12:42-50)

August 14, 2022 in Living with Christ in the Shadow of the Cross

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Living With Christ in the Shadow of the Cross John 12:42-50

INTRODUCTION:
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11. We are told in 11:55 that the Passover Feast was happening soon. This puts us within the last week of Jesus on earth. Lazarus’ sister Mary anoints Jesus’ feet in 12:1-8. In 12:9-11 we are told that the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus because people were believing on Jesus because of him. This was not just wishful, wicked thinking or desires. The text says they are planning to kill Lazarus.

Jesus enters Jerusalem in 12:12-19, an event which we have studied recently. In 12:20-26 we have non-Jews seeking Jesus and Jesus makes the powerful statement in verse 23 that His hour had come. In other words, it was time for Jesus to go to the cross. This was not going to be an ordinary Passover Feast. In 12:32, Jesus compares His crucifixion to the bronze serpent which Moses made when Israel was being bitten by the venomous snakes in Numbers 21. He says, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” Verse 33 tells us that Jesus was referring to His crucifixion. That tells us that Jesus knew He was going to die at the hands of the Romans and not at the hands of the Jews, who stoned as a matter of the death penalty, which we see in the case of Stephen in Acts 7.

The Jews were confused that Jesus was going to die when they thought the Messiah would remain forever (verse 34). Of course, both statements are true, aren’t they? The Messiah would die but He would also remain forever - the resurrection would happen in-between. In verse 36, Jesus challenges the Jews to believe in the Light while the Light remained with them, so they could become “sons of light.” This is, of course, a Hebrew expression meaning that we - Christ’s followers - have the characteristic of being enlightened. Paul uses the exact expression in 1 Thess 5:5 in the context of the second coming. We are enlightened as to the fact and the nature of Jesus’ return. It will not take us unprepared.

While many Jews were believing in Jesus because He raised Lazarus from the dead, in verse 37 we see that many still refused to believe in Jesus despite the many signs He was doing. The nature of the Jews fulfilled the words of Isaiah the prophet from Isaiah 53:1: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” That is, despite the fact that God revealed Himself to Israel over and over again, they still refused to trust God’s word and do what He said. Analogously, Jesus revealed Himself to Israel over and over again - John emphasizes the signs Jesus did - but they still refused to trust Jesus’ word and do what He said to do.

From one perspective, Israel “could not believe,” John writes in verse 39 because Isaiah had also said in Isaiah 6:10: “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them.” God did not blind the hearts of the Jews in violation of their free-will. He did not harden Pharaoh’s heart in violation of his free-will. But God does know exactly what needs to be done to harden one’s heart so that consistent with that person’s will, God can motivate that person to do something that fits within God’s plans. With Pharaoh, it was to drive out the Israelites from Egypt. With the Jews of Jesus’ day, it was to nail Jesus to the cross. I am not omniscient but I know what it would take to make Rachel mad. I know certain things I could say that would make her mad. Even as I did that, it would not violate her free-will; I just know her. Well, God knows each of us - Pharaoh and Israel - even better. So He can do things that will compel a response from them without violating their free-will.

In verse 41, Isaiah “saw” God’s glory - even Christ’s glory (remember, John is quoting from the famous Isaiah 53) and spoke of God and Isaiah spoke of Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment of these expectations of the prophets.

I’ve given all this background information to set the framework for our study this evening… Living with Christ in the shadow of the cross. We have nine verses in front of us. With Jesus on the way to the cross, what does He have to teach us?

FEAR OF MAN KEEPS US FROM FAITHFULNESS - 12:42-43:
These “rulers” were Pharisees and perhaps some others who did believe in Jesus - men like Nicodemus. Nicodemus was courageous enough to push back against the Pharisee’s unfair treatment and unfair judgment of Jesus back in John 7:46-53. But there were others who refused to confess their faith, their confidence, their trust in Jesus. How many people today might come to faith in Christ but they are afraid of what their family would say? How their family would treat them?

Notice that these men “believed” but they refused to “confess.” That shows that faith by itself is not sufficient to bring one to salvation. Confessing Christ was commanded back in Matthew 10:32-33. And that confession is not the confession we make before we are baptized. That confession is illustrated in Acts 8:37. The confession referenced in Matthew 10 includes the pre-baptism confession but it is broader than that. Jesus means He wants us to confess our conviction in Him every day in every context in which His teachings are put to the test.

The motivation for this lack of obedience, this lack of confession in our context (ver. 43) is that these men loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. I want you to notice that the word “approval” (NASV) is actually the Greek word for “glory.” In other words, Isaiah saw the “glory” of Christ but these Jews loved the “glory” from men rather than the “glory” that comes from obedience to God. How can we overemphasize that our highest conviction and desire must be the approval of God, before anyone or anything else?

In Galatians 1:10, Paul wrote: “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” In other words, if I am willing to alter what Christ’s message says because I am trying to please men, then I simply am not a servant of Jesus Christ. The servant does not change the message of the Master.

In the same way, in 1 Thessalonians 2:4, Paul says “we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.” God knows whether we are defending His truths because He has our allegiance, or whether we are weakening His message because we want the approval of men.

I think about all these Protestant preachers who simply do not teach the truth on the purpose of baptism. Satan has influenced them to talk a lot about baptism but they have separated baptism from salvation so they are seeking the approval of men and not of God. God does not take kindly to false teachers. There was a prophet in Jeremiah’s day named Hananiah - the story is told in Jeremiah 28 - who likewise counseled rebellion against God’s message and God struck him dead.

May God help us to love His message supremely and stay faithful to it.

TRUST IN JESUS MEANS TRUST IN GOD - 12:44-46:
These verses are certainly relevant for us today, but they were even more relevant to the Jews of Jesus’ day. They were the ones who needed to come to faith in Jesus Christ. They claimed to believe in God the Father, but they too frequently refused to believe in Jesus, His Son.

But in a real sense, you can’t separate Jesus and the Father. If one believes in Christ, he believes also in the One who sent Christ. That expression “Who sent” is used 27 times in the Gospel of John. Jesus emphasized over and over again that the Father had sent Him with the message of the Father.

Notice in verse 45 that Jesus associates Himself in His essence with God the Father: “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.” That is a statement regarding the very nature of Jesus Christ. Rachel and I are one because we are married, but it is not true that if you have seen me, you’ve seen Rachel. We are too different for that statement to be true. But it is true with Jesus and the Father.

Paul wrote in Colossians 1:15: “He is the image (the icon) of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

The Hebrew writer states in 1:3: “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”

If you were to ask, “What would God do if He were on earth?” The answer is: “Exactly what Jesus did when He was on earth.”

How does God want us to live? Exactly the way Jesus lived. That’s why it is so important for us to study and imitate the life of Jesus.

Then in verse 46, Jesus states once again that He is the light of the world, so that mankind can believe in Him and not walk in the darkness of ignorance and the darkness of moral depravity. John begins his gospel stating that Jesus was life and that life was the light of men (1:4). The Light shone in the darkness of the Jewish world but that darkness was not able to overwhelm the Light nor was that darkness actually able to comprehend the light - that’s a foreshadowing of the fact that the Jews would crucify the Light because they did not understand Who He was. John uses the word “light” 23 times in his gospel and 10 more times in his letters and the book of Revelation.

You and I have a different perspective on this world because we walk in the light of Jesus Christ. The less we study the life and teachings of Jesus, the more we will be overwhelmed by the darkness of this world. We need to be careful that we do not allow uninspired man to influence us more than inspired men, Jesus and His apostles and prophets.

In fact…

THE SAYINGS OF JESUS GIVE US LIFE - 12:47-50:
Not only can you not separate Jesus and the Father, but you also cannot separate Jesus from His teachings. That’s why it is so important for us to trust the words of God from Genesis to Revelation. You can’t separate the teachings of God from His nature. If you don’t trust what God says in Genesis, how can you say that you respect God?

John also wrote in 2 John 9: “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” The question is does the phrase “teaching of Christ” refer to teachings about Christ - that is, His divine or human nature - or does it refer to teachings from Christ - including the teachings of the apostles. In the Greek, the phrase could refer to either position and the fact is, it does refer to either position. The nature of Christ is no more important than anything else the rest of the NT says, because it all came from the same Father in heaven. There are no teachings that are more important than any other. Some are more basic than others but none are more important than others.

Notice in verse 47 that Jesus says that if we don’t keep His sayings, we are not judged by Jesus Himself. It is true that He came into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world. Jesus said something similar back in 3:17: "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” The world was judged already because the world was lying in darkness.

Here, Jesus says He didn’t come to judge the world; the world’s lack of trust in the words of God has judged them already. Notice verse 48. If someone rejects Jesus’ teachings, His sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. What sayings of Jesus can we reject and not be judged? Is Jesus just talking about His nature? Can we reject His teachings that Adam and Eve were the first human beings and not be judged? Can we reject His teachings that divorce and a second marriage is unscriptural if it is not for sexual immorality and not be judged? Can we refuse to forgive, as we discussed this morning, and not be judged? What can we reject out of the mouth of Jesus and not be judged?

Jesus has given us the information for our “final exam” and we will not be surprised by what is on that final exam. When I was teaching at Faulkner University, I spoon-fed those freshmen and sophomores. I gave them 100 questions for their mid-terms and finals and then had them over to the house and we went over those questions and made sure they all had the right answers. Then I took 50 of those exact questions for their exam. And something like 40% of them still failed the tests! I was so disappointed that I decided I did not want to be a college professor!

There’s going to be a final exam on the day of judgment and Jesus has told us exactly by what standard we are going to be judged - His word.

Why is Jesus’ words so important? Because in verse 49 we are told that He did not speak on His own initiative, but God the Father commanded Jesus what to say and what to speak. When Tom Holland was teaching at David Lipscomb, he taught communications and homiletics (how to preach a sermon) and one young man got up and started his lesson by saying, “I’m going to tell you something you’ve never heard before.” Brother Holland said, “You better not.” When it comes to biblical teaching, there is nothing new. I may say something in a different way than what you have heard before, but if I am teaching the truth and prior preachers were teaching the truth, there should be nothing different in what we say.

Now, if Jesus did not take any initiative in teaching something new, nor should I. If Jesus only taught what the Father commanded Him to teach then I should only teach what Jesus has commanded me to teach. And the only way to do that is to use book, chapter, and verse and only interpreted correctly in their own context.

Finally, relative to the commandments of Christ, Jesus says in verse 50 that His sayings, His commandments “are” eternal life. That is, His commandments are what lead to eternal life. Do we have to obey commandments to be saved? Absolutely yes! Do we contribute anything to our salvation? In the sense that we have to obey Jesus Christ to be saved, the answer is yes! Now, the theological foundation of our salvation is not our righteous acts but the righteousness of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us. That’s the foundation of our salvation. But Jesus is absolutely clear that there are commandments He has given us to be saved and we are obligated to obey Him if we want to be saved. That’s what Jesus spoke, because that’s what the Father told Him to speak. And God help us today to speak the same thing.

Take home message: On the way to the cross, Jesus taught us we should stay faithful despite our fears; we should trust Jesus because He is one with the Father; and we should follow Jesus’ sayings because they will give us life.