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John 12.37-43—Rejected to SaveIntroductionWhat we love most is what we value most. That’s essentially what “agape” love is. We love a particular thing because that’s what we have willfully chose to delight in. About the time Kimberly and I got married, someone ruined me. I had some friends take me duck hunting and I was hooked. It was the best hunting had to offer. Shot guns, boats, food and good friends. You can’t get any better than that. At least, that’s what I thought. I had the fancy Columbia jacket, the best Lacrosse waders, two shot guns, and several calls that cost way more than I want to admit. I loved everything about duck hunting. I dressed the part and I gave it my all. It’s all I wanted to talk about. I watched all the Phil Robertson videos called The Duckmen over and over and over. I was consumed with it. Then something happened. My life began to fall apart. I found out that duck hunting was insufficient to fix my life. I mean, if you don’t have a job then you can’t duck hunt because it takes a lot of money. I eventually found a job and it wasn’t too long before a new guy was hired to work with me. And guess what, he was a follower Jesus. He talked about him as though he knew him personally. His life was consumed with following Jesus. I had never met anyone like this man. You can imagine what God was up to. I soon became a follower of Jesus as well. And I recall a conversation with my duck hunting buddies not long after that. I said something like this, “This isn’t fun anymore. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I think I love Jesus more than all this.” I share that story because I loved duck hunting more than anything. I spent more money, time, and my thoughts were consumed with it. I did not want to follow Jesus. Jesus’ demand to come follow him was not beautiful to me. So, how did it become beautiful to me? Grace! Main PointThe rejection and failure of Israel to believe in Christ was for the salvation of the world.OutlineIsrael did not believe so that scripture would be fulfilledHow God harden their heartsWhy God harden their heartsWhat do you love most?ExpositionOur previous passage ended with this crowd that had heard Jesus pray for the Father to glorify his name and they heard the thunder. They question Jesus about what the Law said concerning the Christ remaining forever. How can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Jesus had said, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. I recall hearing those words before. In (Isa. 6:1) In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.Whatever all of that means, we know that Isaiah sees a vision of the LORD and the train of his robe filled the temple. Remember, the temple was on the earth in Jerusalem. But as the angelic beings cry out holy, holy, holy they expand the glory of God beyond the temple and say the whole earth is full of his glory. If you were to read the first 5 chapters of Isaiah, this would sound absurd. Just like Jesus had ended our previous passage, telling the people of Israel to walk in the light, Isaiah also said, (Isa. 2:5) 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.But guess what, they didn’t want to. (Isa. 2:6-8) For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. 7 Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. 8 Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.Just before that famous passage in Isaiah 6, chapter 5 ended in darkness. (Isa. 5:30) And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.Take note that God begins by saving the prophet Isaiah. When he saw God’s glory, here’s how he responded. (Isa. 6:5-7) "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."After Isaiah was made clean, God asks, who will go for me? Isaiah responds, send me to which God replies, (Isa. 6:9-11) 9 And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." 11 Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste. Israel did not listen then nor in our text today. And it was to fulfill what Isaiah said. Notice what John says in verse 37…and remember Jesus has hidden himself from them…that’s how our previous passage ended. (Jn. 12:37) 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,I think “them” is certainly the crowd that had been with Jesus but for good reason I think John also has in mind all who have rejected him from the beginning of this Gospel. (Jn. 1:11) 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. The signs this crowd saw were obvious but they refused to believe. But why do they…why did we reject the obvious? (Jn. 12:38) 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"This is a quote from Isaiah 53:1. What is the report Isaiah speaks of that wasn’t believed? Just before 53:1 it says (Isa. 52:13-15) 13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind-- 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.This servant sounds like Jesus. He will be lifted up (that’s the cross). He will be exalted (that’s the resurrection). His appearance will be so marred that he will not even look human. Yet, the nations will take notice. They will see and understand when he is lifted up. Over and over again, Isaiah had said that God would send this promised one to save them. (Isa. 7:14) Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.(Isa. 9:6-7) 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.(Isa. 11:1) There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.(Isa. 28:16) thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: 'Whoever believes will not be in haste.'(Isa. 40:1) Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.But is this the same person as the servant in 53? My answer is yes! Is this not the arm of the Lord being revealed? John then says (Jn. 12:39-40) 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." This seems strange doesn’t it? Israel didn’t believe all the obvious signs in order to fulfill what Isaiah had prophesied. They didn’t believe Isaiah’s report on who and how God planned to comfort and heal his people. They picked the parts they liked while disregarding that this one would be the Suffering Servant.God blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.Why does he do this? God’s ways are mysterious to us. If we knew what he knows then it would make more sense to us. We do not think this way is fair. We do not see how this could possibly end well. God, I thought you wanted to comfort and heal your people. Why did you do this? The first and most simple answer is that if they had seen Jesus for who he really was they would not have put him on the cross and no one would have been saved from God’s wrath. No cross, no salvation. No cross, no comfort. No cross, no healing. But there’s more. I can’t go into detail, but Paul explained this even more in (Rom. 11:25-26) I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved.The way to fill the whole earth with God’s glory to all nations was to harden the hearts of his people. In other words, God blinded this crowd to save you and me and all nations. But not just the nations but all of Israel will be saved. It had to be this way. How did God harden their hearts? He did it by sending the suffering servant. The arm of the Lord came like this: (Isa. 53:2-5) 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.We can be healed because he was rejected, pierce and crushed. Did you notice how God hardened their hearts? This One God sent had no form or majesty. No beauty that they should desire. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came riding a colt of a donkey not a warhorse. He wasn’t cladded with armor and a sword. He wasn’t tall and handsome. He wasn’t built like a warrior. Mighty men did not surround him, only those smelly fisherman from Galilee. In other words, Jesus wasn’t the savior/messiah they were looking for even though he was the savior they needed. That’s how God hardened their hearts. I hope the answer to point 3 is already clear. Why did he hardened their hearts? God did that to save the nations and Israel by lifting Jesus up so that all people, Gentiles and Jews alike, will be drawn to Jesus and be healed. But really, how does anyone come? How did we who rejected him come at all? (Jn. 6:44) 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.(Jn. 10:14-16) 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.Amazingly, (Jn. 12:41) 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.Isaiah saw whose glory and spoke of who? Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Just remember why John wrote these things, (Jn. 20:31) these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.Yet, even though most of Israel and even more so the rulers of Israel had rejected Jesus, John says, (Jn. 12:42) 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him.With all the evidence from what they were to be looking for and all the signs that were performed before them, many even among the rulers believed in him. Jesus was real. The signs were clear. Any person with half a brain could not deny what they had witnessed. If they were to be intellectually honest, they had to believe in Jesus. I will let you be the judge as to whether accepting the clear facts about Jesus and the signs he did are enough to save a man. It seems John put their belief in contrast to their fear. (Jn. 12:42) many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.I think there is more to belief than intellectual agreement. You know James says that the demons believe and tremble in fear. These rulers seem to see and understand but do not turn. They seem to see his glory but do not speak of it. WHY? (Jn. 12:43) 43 for (or because) they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.They see the glory of man as more valuable than the glory that comes from God. So they keep their mouth shut. They do not acknowledge Jesus publicly. Isaiah asked the question, who are the people of God? (Isa. 33:15) 15 He who walks righteously (in the light) and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions.These rulers are afraid and love the gain that comes from men more than the gain that comes from God. They would not say, (Phil. 1:21) 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.Application/Response The crowd isn’t always right. I’m certain the majority of Davidson county intentionally did not gather to worship Christ today. The amount of people who believe a particular thing does not determine whether it is true or not. John has said some hard things. This truth about God may be hard to accept. But I would encourage you to humble yourself before the Word and believe everything the Bible says. Let it say what it says. Sure, wrestle with it. Just know it is the authority not us. We do not get to decide what is true about God. He does. With the Lord’s Supper coming up next week, I would encourage you to examine yourself in light of what we’ve heard here. Is your faith private but not public? Do you love the glory that comes from man more than God? Our faith is most certainly private AND public. We are his witnesses. Do your neighbors and coworkers and family and friends know that you are Christian? Do you openly confess Jesus as Lord? Do you share the wonderful good news of how sinners can be saved? ................
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