Wednesday in the Word...John 12:44-50...Important Words

We are flirting with winter here with a mixture of rain and snow.  I've heard this is common to go back and forth for awhile.  Also, we lose the sun pretty early in the afternoon, around 4 p.m., so the nights seem long and it makes you want to get up early to get as much of it as you can.

Words are important and we will see in this section of Scripture that Jesus is stressing His faithfulness to the words that His Father has given Him to give to us.

Wednesday in the Word is finishing chapter 12 of John with looking at verses 44 through 50.

v.44, 45 - And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.  He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me."

Notice that we have a lot of "red" to read today.  These are the very words of Jesus and we will find out also the very words of God given to Jesus to say to us.  Chapter 12 started with Mary anointing Jesus and there was opposition to that action.  It moved onto the Triumphal Entry of Jesus on a donkey into Jerusalem and some opposed that too.  Jesus then goes into a major teaching time about who He is as the "Son of Man" and "the Light" and some opposed this also.  Jesus is being met with opposition no matter what He says or what He does.

The last verse given was there were some who believed in Jesus but were not confessing Him because they feared being thrown out of the synagogue by the Pharisees.  They sought the approval of man and not the approval of God.  Jesus tells us in a loud voice that this action is not true belief in Him.  If it was true belief then the believer would confess immediately because they would recognize that they are standing before God Himself.  Jesus said this previously in John chapter 5 and verse 24, which reads,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life."

There is a connection for someone who believes in Jesus and the God who sent Him.  If you believe in Jesus then you also believe in God.  Jesus will say this again in John chapter 14 and verse 9, which reads,

Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"

Mathematically, Jesus = God and God = Jesus.  When you get that, when you see that, and when your heart knows then no man stands between you and your God.

v.46, 47 - "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.  If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world."

Jesus goes back to an imagery that He has used many times, the light.  A belief in Jesus takes someone from the darkness and into the light.  The Light is speaking and if they don't obey what the Light is saying then they don't need judgment from Jesus but rather salvation.  We, as a world, are already under judgment.  The curse of sin resides on all of us.  We are already condemned.  So, Jesus doesn't have to do anything about that with this first visit.  He has come to offer a gift that takes the curse away.  It will cost Him His very life, but He is the willing sacrifice that will fulfill God's will.  Jesus spoke of this in John chapter 3 and versea 17 and 18 which read,

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 

We are condemned and judged already.  We need Him to intervene for us so it can be different.  The Apostle Paul rings this truth out in Romans 8 and verses 1 and 2, which read,

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The condemned, you and I, if we believe in Jesus as the Son of God are set free from that condemnation and judgment.  We are set free to salvation and eternal life.  Is your salvation just a list of what you can do and what you can't do or is it that you went from being dead, judged, condemned and under the curse to being alive, pardoned, adopted and under the blessing of God?  What has happened is so much more than a new set of rules to follow that dictate my appropriate behavior.

v.48, 49 - "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.  For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak."

Judgment is coming on the last day and it will be directly related to what Jesus is saying right now.  Why?  Because Jesus is speaking the very words of God and also doing exactly what God has told Him to do.  Remember, He is not only a sinless sacrifice but a willing sacrifice needed for our salvation from the wrath of God.  If you reject Jesus then you are also rejecting God and from God comes judgment or redemption on the basis of your belief in the Son of God, Jesus.  Jesus prays for His disciples in John chapter 17 and verse 8,

"...for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me."

How much Jesus stresses His very words to what we truly believe.  We need to know what He actually says so that we believe what is truly true.

v.50 - "I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me."

Jesus ends this chapter with one more emphasis on what He is saying and its connection to salvation and eternal life.  He is determined to give to us the very words of God exactly because it is the difference between eternal life in heaven or eternal life in hell.  If our Savior, Jesus Christ, was so concerned about making sure we get God's words right then shouldn't we be so concerned about knowing His word better than any other words of this world? 

Let me end our time this morning with a scene earlier when Jesus has been teaching and the reaction of the crowd pitted against the reaction of Peter.  John chapter 6 and verses 66 through 70 say,

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.  So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"  Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have words of eternal life.  We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?"

May we answer as Simon Peter and make the connection that Jesus gives us the words of eternal life, but may we also realize that before that realization could occur God acted on our behalf.  He loved us before we ever loved Him.  We couldn't love Him without Him first loving us.  Our salvation is first about His sacrifice and then our appropriate response of submission to His very words and actions.  

Heavenly Father, these words of Jesus show us how much He wanted us to know You through Him.  Jesus will now walk into the Upper Room and continue to teach His disciples of the extent of His love for them before they will realize the full extend of it.  May our response to You be a believing and confessing of the gospel given to us by You and right from the Father.  May we stand before any man and proclaim it for Your glory.  Amen.

Pastor Adam