Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 12:27-50 (Ep. 34)

Episode Date: May 18, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John.In this episode, Jonny covers John 12:27-50 which details the troubled soul of Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples that they must be willing to lose their lives in order to save them. Only those who surrender everything to Jesus and leave all else behind can truly claim to be His follower.Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis, and this is Dial In. In this episode, we will conclude the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John, and with it, the public ministry of Jesus Christ. In this episode, we're in John chapter 12, verses 27 through 50. Let's dial in. John chapter 12, verses 27 through 50. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? John chapter 12 verses 27 through 50. that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,

will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. When He says, Therefore they could not be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. And Jesus cried out and said, Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me.

And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day, for I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak. And this I know, that his commandment is eternal life.

What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me. I mentioned at the beginning that at the end of this 12th chapter in verse 50, the public ministry of Jesus is over. Starting with verse 13, Jesus will talk only to his disciples in the last night of his life, and then we will see his death and his resurrection. Jesus had said in John chapter 6 that he is the bread of life, the bread that can satisfy our hunger forever. And now in verse 25, as he is approaching the final hour of his life,

he gives another example from the production of wheat. Verse 25 says, Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. It's worthless. Jesus is saying for anything to come from that seed, it has to fall to the earth and die so that when it dies, it will bring forth a harvest in abundance. What is Jesus saying? Jesus is telling us that he must die in order for there to be a harvest of salvation. Jesus cannot be the Messiah of sinners if he is

nearly a good man or nearly a profound teacher or a miracle worker. He must die in order for God's wrath to be satisfied and for salvation to be available to all those who believe. Jesus continues in verse 25, whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Jesus tells his followers, you must be willing to lose your reputation, your comfort, and possibly even your own life for my sake. That is the only way to live. Jesus tells them and he tells us today, If you keep back anything from me, you don't really belong to me.

You must be willing not only to die for me, but to die to the world, to what it has to offer. You must treasure me more than anything else. You must serve me more than anyone else. Jesus previously told his disciples, If you want to follow me, you must walk in the shadow of the cross. You can't participate in my glory if you do not participate in my suffering and humiliation. The ultimate losers, Jesus says,

are those that try to save their lives. The winners are those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ. And now following these words, we see in chapter 12, verse 27, that Jesus's soul is troubled. He is troubled. This word means next to nothing to us anymore.

We might read this and think that Jesus is slightly perplexed, but the word here is far more than that. It means that he is horrified. It means revulsion. Jesus is saying that he is horrified and terrified by what he is facing. Here we see the reality of his humanity. Jesus is a sympathetic high priest. He understands us because he was like us in every single way, yet without sin. He understands trouble because he himself was troubled. He understands betrayal because he himself was betrayed. He understands pain because he bore our pain on the cross.

Spurgeon says, if it had been no pain for Jesus to die as the substitute for sinners, there would have been no atoning sacrifice in his death. And if no dread had overtaken him at the thought of his death, it would have proved that he did not die as we do. And therefore, he would not have been able to take our place as he did. But our Lord did experience fear and he did experience pain and grief and sorrow. And in the midst of it, he prays in verse 27, what shall I say? Save me from this hour? No, for this purpose, I have come. Father, glorify your name.

Jesus is saying that the suffering that he is about to bear is no surprise to him because that's why he came to suffer and die. Jesus says, the hour that I am dreading is the hour for which I came. And then he says, Father, glorify your name. But wait, how is God glorified in the slaughter of his son? It's because God's justice is satisfied as he pours out the full measure of his wrath towards sin on his one and only son. And God is then glorified in the rescue of sinners, which is made possible through the

death of Jesus. In response to Jesus praying that God would be glorified in verse 27, God himself responds in verse 28 and says, I already have and I will glorify it again. John Piper says that the deepest reason we live for the glory of God is because God himself lives for the glory of God. We as Christians are passionate about God's glory because God is passionate about God's glory. Jesus then says in verse 31, now is the judgment of this world. There will one day be a final judgment. But if you're in Christ, you have already been judged. How so? Because Jesus in verse 32 tells us that he is going to be lifted up, that he is going

to be crucified. And if you trust Jesus, you are united to him in that crucifixion when he was lifted up. Galatians 2.20 says that I have been crucified with Christ. And now, because you believe in him, his condemnation is your condemnation, as we see in Romans 8.3. Once again, the Jews listening to the words of Jesus will reject him. Verse 37 is truly heartbreaking. It says, though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe him. We saw this at the beginning of John's gospel. He came into his own and his own did not receive him. And with that, in verse 50, his public ministry is over. Starting in chapter 13, Jesus will prepare his disciples for his death

and the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins, but he tells all of his followers then and today that they must be willing to die to themselves, to die to the world, to die to their lusts, and to live for him. Stay dialed then.