Lars Larson Live Stream

This morning, perhaps five minutes more than we normally have on a first Sunday of the month. I tried to abbreviate this a little bit. We only have nine pages of notes and so Lord willing we'll get through it without difficulty.

We're of course approaching the end of the public ministry of our Lord Jesus as recorded in John chapter 12. The arrest and crucifixion of Jesus within the narrative is just a few days off. And in this intervening time between now, the end of his public ministry and when he's arrested, our Lord of course will devote his time, devote himself to his own disciples and particularly his apostles who would carry on the work of the kingdom in not many weeks after this.

After he of course returns to his father and is enthroned as Lord, as king over the kingdom of God. Now to this point, John has recorded a number of exchanges between Jesus, his disciples and of course the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem.

And we've read of some that believed on him and of those who rejected him. Now we might pose the question or ask ourselves what was the reason for the unbelief, particularly in the light of the many wonderful signs, miracles that Jesus performed that nobody could deny.

What was the reason for their rejection of Jesus? He had shown them many proofs, many evidences of who he was and yet they refused to believe on him. Well some might wrongly conclude that the people's rejection of Jesus was indicative of a failure on the part of Jesus or perhaps his father to win over his people.

But in the verses before us, the gospel writer gave the explanation of why it was that so many Jewish people had refused and failed to believe on Jesus as their promised Messiah. And it was due to the judgment of God that was upon them.

Just as it had been foretold long before in the prophets. And here John cites some of those prophetic statements from the Old Testament to show that it was in the purpose of God and plan of God that these Jewish people would not believe on the Messiah.

But rather they would reject him and cause his crucifixion, which would be the very means by which he would save his people and come into his kingdom. And so this generation of Jews that rejected Jesus, who saw him and heard him directly, are set forth very much as the initial generation of Jews that had come out of Egypt and were traveling to Canaan, the promised land.

The entire first generation of Israelites suffered God's judgment for 40 years in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Until all that generation had died, their children survived of course and God brought them into the promised land.

But the entire first generation had died in unbelief. Moses declared of Israel in Deuteronomy 29, 3 and 4, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders and yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this very day.

And so even with that generation it was in the purpose of God wasn't it? God did not give them what they would need in order to really believe on him. He did not bestow grace upon them in that way, to that degree.

Well what was true of that generation of Jews under Moses is also true of this generation of Jews who had witnessed the ministry of Jesus. And this is one of the assertions of the Apostle in these verses, John chapter 12, 37 -41.

Again where he cites Old Testament scripture. Here are these verses, John 12, 37, but although he, Jesus, had done so many signs before them they did not believe in him. That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke, Lord who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn so that I should heal them.

These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. Two things are said about the unbelief of the Jews in these verses. First, John declared that the Jews did not believe, that's what we have in verses 37 and 38.

And then secondly John declares that the Jews could not believe, verses 39 and 40. They did not, they could not. And so as we consider these verses this morning I'd like us to consider it in a three point division or outline.

First in verses 37 and 38 we have the unbelief of the Jews was in order for the prophecy of Isaiah to be fulfilled. And then secondly, the inability of the Jews to believe was due to the sovereignty of God.

And then thirdly John identified the occasion when Isaiah spoke these words, it was when he saw the glory of God. And that's found in verse 41. And so let's first consider verses 37 and 38 in some detail.

The unbelief of the Jews was in order for the prophecy of Isaiah to be fulfilled. Again it reads, but although he, Jesus, had done so many signs before them they did not believe in him so that, this is a purpose clause, this is the reason they didn't believe, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke, Lord who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.

In spite of all the miracles that our Lord had performed in the sight of the Jews they refused to believe on him. And what our passage affirms, confirms for us, is that saving faith is ultimately due to a work of God's grace.

Saving faith is not the result of a sinful soul observing a great display of God's miraculous power. If that were the case everybody would have believed. Is that not right? But saving faith is not produced by seeing miracles.

And that's contrary to a great deal of teaching and preaching in so-called evangelical churches throughout the world. There's the idea that you have to show Christianity to be a powerful religion so that people will believe.

They have to see miracles, then they will believe. And the scriptures make it very clear that miracles do not produce saving faith. And clearly we can see through the Lord Jesus himself it did not result in saving faith on the part of these Jews.

J. C. Ryle wrote of this, we may learn from these verses the desperate hardness of the human heart. It is written of our Lord's hearers at Jerusalem that though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him.

We urge greatly if we suppose that seeing wonderful things will ever convert souls. Thousands live and die in this delusion. They fancy if they saw some miraculous sight or witnessed some supernatural exercise of divine grace they would lay aside their doubts and at once become decided Christians.

It is a total mistake. Nothing short of a new heart and a new nature implanted in us by the Holy Ghost will ever make us real disciples of Christ. Without this a miracle might rise within us a temporary excitement but the novelty once gone we should find ourselves just as cold and unbelieving as the Jews.

And that's a good statement. The statement that John gives in verse 37 speaks really beyond the immediate display of unbelief on the part of the Jews. It serves to explain the pervasive unresponsiveness of the Jews throughout our Savior's ministry.

They did not believe from the beginning. Verse 37 is a summary statement at the end of his public ministry an indictment against the Jewish people in general. And so of John's statement it was said that this is concluding judgment about the basic and lasting negative attitude of the people to Jesus and that despite Jesus's revelation of power among them.

Whereas another declared the narrator provides an interpretive reflection not only of the scene at hand but also the public response to the entire ministry of Jesus denoted by the more generic references to them and the focus of the all of his signs.

He's talking about the entire ministry of Jesus. And so in a way the public ministry closes as it had opened in John chapter 1. Both at the beginning and at the end of our Lord's public ministry there's a statement regarding the unbelief of the Jews.

Back in John chapter 1 we read of their unbelief. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. There's a declaration of the Jewish unbelief at the beginning of his ministry.

And then we had this statement in John 12 at the end of his ministry that they did not believe on Jesus. But understand that in this passage of John 12 that John was not just stating forthrightly the unbelief of Israel in Jesus during his earthly ministry.

He's going beyond the earthly ministry of Jesus. John declared in verse 38 that God's purpose for the Jews not believing in Jesus was so that the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled. This was 700 years before Jesus that Isaiah gave this prophecy.

And then John quoted Isaiah's words. It was a protest to God. Lord who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Isaiah was not getting a response of faith from his people that he was ministering to.

And he was appealing to God. He was objecting God who has believed our report concerning you. They haven't believed on you. And John picks this up from Isaiah chapter 53 verse 1 and applies it to the Jews in Jesus' day.

But really this is true of the Jews throughout their entire history as recorded in the Bible. And what we want to emphasize is that is John's point. It was God's purpose throughout the entire history of the nation of Israel that they principally be unbelievers.

For this would give way to the gospel going to the entire world, the Gentile world. And that's what's being stated here in John chapter 12. Now let's consider this statement that John picks up from Isaiah 53 verse 1.

It's in the well-known fourth servant song of Isaiah in which the prophet foretold the rejection of Israel by its Messiah. Israel causing the Messiah to suffer and die. Here are the verses of that song.

It was a prophecy of the coming Messiah. It should be familiar to us I hope. Behold my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men.

Obviously prophetic of Jesus on the cross. So shall he sprinkle many nations, carrying the idea of cleansing Gentile nations with his blood. Kings shall shut their mouths at him. For what had not been told them they shall see.

And what they had not heard they shall consider. Here's the verse that John picked up from Isaiah. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? And then Isaiah began to talk about this servant.

For he shall grow up before him. That is this Messiah, the son, Jesus will grow up before his father as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness or beauty and when we see him there's no beauty that we should desire him.

Apparently he was a rather ordinary looking man Jesus was. He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him.

That could describe the generation of Jews that Jesus ministered to. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, speaking of Jesus on the cross dying for sinners. And yet we esteem him stricken, smitten by God, afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, their substitution. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes. In other words the lashes of the whip on his back.

We are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of his all. And Isaiah is speaking of himself collectively as Israel.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before its shearers is silent so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment.

Who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death he was buried in the grave of the tomb of the rich man.

Because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. And yet it pleased the Lord, this would be God the Father, to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed.

That is Jesus would foresee and see Christians coming to believe on him, foresee his descendants, his spiritual descendants. He shall prolong his days. He wasn't going to stay dead, he was going to rise and live.

He'll prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and he shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. And by his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many. We read about that in Romans 4, even many nations.

For he shall bear their iniquities and therefore I will divide him a portion with the great. He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors.

He died between two thieves and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He prayed, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. I'm told that in Jewish synagogues they don't read Isaiah 53 publicly because it's so clearly and graphically portrayed Jesus crucified.

Now if you'll pay careful attention, the first three verses, 13, 14, and 15 are in Isaiah 52. This chapter division is rather unfortunate. But if you'll notice carefully in those first three verses, which is a prelude to the servant's song, God the Father is the one speaking of his son.

Notice that, verses 13 through 15, behold my servant, this is God the Father speaking of his son Jesus, my servant shall deal prudently. In verse 52, 13, my servant is the servant of God. Alright, and this would be God the Father and Jesus is his servant.

Here, God the Father declared that his son, though experiencing terrible suffering, would nevertheless sprinkle many nations. Again, speaking of their cleansing from sin. Even as he is extolled or exalted above even the kings of the earth.

It speaks of his resurrection and his enthronement as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. But notice beginning with verse 1 of Isaiah 53, God is not speaking but rather the prophet Isaiah complained to God that hardly anyone that he was preaching to in his day, hardly any of the Jews believed him.

Nobody believed Isaiah, or at least very few did. And so nobody believed his proclamation concerning the servant of God. Now John picks up Isaiah's exclamation in Isaiah 53, 1, of the unbelieving Jews in the 8th century BC, and he declares that this was a prophecy fulfilled in the days of Jesus' manifestation to Israel.

You see that? Well, what this indicates is that not just the generation in Isaiah's day and the generation during Jesus' earthly ministry failed to believe, but really the entire history of Israel's response to God was one of unbelief.

And if you look over the Old Testament record, oh yes God has his people. He has his individuals that have faith. We read of Abraham and David in Romans chapter 4, and there were many of course throughout the Old Testament record.

But as far as the nation of Israel, by and large they never did truly believe on God. As one wrote, the Jews' failure to believe during Jesus' day is shown to be part of the trajectory of Jewish unbelief throughout Israel's history, reaching back at least as far to the unbelief of the wilderness generation, which had witnessed God's mighty acts of power at the Exodus.

And so we see unbelief was characteristic of the Jews way back in the days of Moses, and it was true in the days of Isaiah, and it was also true in the days of Jesus, that the people of Israel were characterized by unbelief and rebellion throughout its history.

The unbelief of the Jews during our Lord's earthly ministry was not unique and only true of that generation, it was true of the entire physical descendants of Abraham throughout the Old Testament. They were characterized by unbelief, except for the ones of course that God had purposed to save through faith.

And so of Isaiah it was said, the prophet here, he's referring to Isaiah 53 .1, the prophet here complains to God that hardly anyone has believed what the people, himself included, have heard and what has been revealed to them as proof of God's almighty power, the arm of the Lord, but they didn't believe it.

And as is evident from the final clause in verse 38, that is John 12, 38, that the word might be fulfilled, the evangelist, that would be John, intends not merely to refer to the similarity between unbelief in Isaiah's day and in Jesus' day, but rather places this unbelief in the light of God's ongoing dealings with his backsliding people in the whole history of revelation.

This was characteristic of all of Israel throughout its history of unbelief. They didn't believe the prophets, they rejected the word of God, in spite of God being patient with them, merciful to them, they wouldn't hear God.

They wouldn't hear Moses throughout the period of the kings, they wouldn't hear the prophets, Elijah, Elisha, they would not respond and repent, they were a nation characterized by unbelief throughout its entire history, except for a remnant that God had purpose to save, thankfully.

And so this pronouncement of the unbelief of Israel within the context of the Lord declaring the soon great expansion of the kingdom to the Gentile world is set forth in Isaiah 53. We've considered this in some detail in the previous weeks leading up to today, particularly in the episode we just completed.

Jesus would be lifted up, that is glorified on his cross, which resulted in his enthronement as king over the inaugurated kingdom of God, and the result of this enthronement he would draw all people to himself, Gentiles, remember the Gentiles, the Greeks who wished to see Jesus, they came to Philip, Philip went to Andrew, let's go tell Jesus these Greeks want to see, these Gentiles want to see Jesus, they came to him, told Jesus, and Jesus immediately answered them and said, the hour has arrived for me to be glorified, and if I be lifted up, speaking of his cross, then I'll draw all peoples, the world, Gentile peoples to me.

And therefore the Jews' unbelief and the rejection of Jesus as their Messiah led to and resulted in Jesus becoming Lord over the Gentile nations of the world. That's what Isaiah declared in the servant song, right?

Even though the servant would be rejected, nobody regarded him, yet he is going to sprinkle many nations, Gentile nations, and it would come, it would flow out of the rejection of Israel, of their own Messiah, it was all in the purpose of God throughout all of history, and nobody understood it.

The Apostle Paul set forth the same teaching in a different way in Romans chapter 11, he was writing the work of God in history to expand the kingdom of God to the Gentile nations, the Gentile world, and so here are his words from Romans 11, I say that has God cast away his people, he's referring to Jewish people here, ethnic Jewish people, Paul says has God cast them away?

Paul reasons certainly not, hey I'm a Jew, and I'm a Christian, he hasn't cast us away, certainly not, for I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew, or do you not know the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying Lord they've killed your prophets, and torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?

But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, and then Paul makes this assertion about the Jewish Christians in the first century, himself included, even so then at the present time there is a remnant of Jews, of Israel, according to the election of grace, and if by grace then it's no longer works, otherwise grace is no longer grace, but if it's of works it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work, it's all of God's grace, not because of what people want to do, will to do, purpose to do, but what God purposed to do in his grace, and then Paul begins to draw a conclusion, an assertion, what then?

Israel has not obtained what it seeks, it was seeking a relationship with God and righteousness, it didn't obtain it, but the elect, that is chosen of God, have obtained it, the rest were blinded, same idea as John chapter 12, God blinded the rest of them, he blinded the non-elect so that they would not perceive, so that they would not respond, and then Paul quoted the Old Testament, and you might see it as words that are familiar, because they are the same kind of wording we find in John 12, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, ears that they should not hear, to this very day, and then David says, let their table, that is let their abundance, the abundance of God's blessing and provision become a snare and a trap to them, they thought their privilege meant that they were privileged, or they deserved privilege, not so, it became a stumbling block and a recompense to them, let their eyes be darkened so they do not see and bow down their back always, and then Paul drew this conclusion, I say then they have stumbled that they should fall, was that the purpose of God, that God just wanted the Jews to fall in their unbelief, certainly not, but through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles, that was the purpose of God, having the Jewish people fail to believe on Jesus, so that God would open up the kingdom to the Gentile world, and again that is exactly what John's gospel has told us, hasn't it, that because of the blindness and the unbelief of the Jewish people, my hour has come, if I be lifted up, I will draw all people, all Gentiles to me, it was through the rejection and unbelief of Israel, of its Messiah, crucified him, that actually resulted in Jesus becoming King and Lord over the nations of the world, this is a very significant passage, it's not just a little summary about the Jews rejecting Jesus in that short term ministry in his last week before his crucifixion, it's describing the entire history of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, how they rejected him, so the rejection of Jesus by the Jews resulted in the Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus Christ, that's what Paul declared in Romans 11, that's what John declared in John chapter 12, this was the essence of the worldwide expansion of the kingdom of God, God's purpose is to redeem people from all the nations of the world, as one wrote, had the Jews accepted the gospel, it is difficult to see how it could have gone out to all the nations, but when the Jews rejected it, it became a world religion, we cannot think that it took place apart from the will of God, wrote this commentator, and of course it took place according to the will of God, this was in the purpose of God, in fact after Paul set forth that passage in Romans 11, he just kind of fell back in wonder, glorifying God, who could have possibly perceived this, who could have possibly devised such a work in history other than our God, he ought to be praised for it, and so they did not believe on Jesus, and they didn't believe so that the prophecy would be fulfilled, it was in the purpose of God, but now secondly we read of the inability of the Jews to believe due to the sovereignty of God, and so here we come into our understanding of our reformed doctrine, our reformed theology, God is a sovereign God, dispensing salvation to his elect, and hardening all others, and God is just in doing so, and so John takes the matter a step further, attributing the cause of Jewish unbelief to the sovereignty of God, and so we read in John 12, 39, therefore they could not believe, now in verses 37 and 38, they did not believe, here John says, therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, he, God, has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them, you know there's a common notion in the evangelical world that God is up there hoping the world will make the death of his son meaningful, and successful, as though God were up there trying to make the world trying to save everybody in the world, and he's up there wringing his hands, just hoping that you poor sinner would make the death of his son worthwhile, that is such a Bible denying idea, it is so denigrating to the glory of God, God is accomplishing his purposes, and he's saving his people, and he is justly condemning those who refuse to believe on his son, God is sovereign in this, it was the decree of God in eternity that these unbelieving Jews would remain in their unbelief, God judicially hardened them in their sin, for he purposed to judge them and condemn them in their sin, again Paul said, for the purpose of the kingdom going to the Gentile world, and so as one wrote, here John says, not only that it was God's intention that the Jews should not believe in Jesus, but that they could not believe because their unbelief had been foretold, it was impossible for them to believe because of the prophecy, because of the prophecy spoken by Isaiah, it was in the purpose of God, there is such a thing as God's judicial hardening of sinners, and it's not unjust for God to do so, to turn people over to their sin in order to punish them judicially for their sin, judicial blindness and hardness are in the word of God threatened against those who willfully persist in wickedness, and when people persist in wickedness, God will, he doesn't always, but he will commonly, judicially harden them in their sin, preventing them from turning from sin so that he might save them, because he's purposed to judge them, to damn them justly in their sin.

I remember back in 1974, I was an associate pastor, I was just 21 or 22, and my pastor in Texas gave me a book to read, he wasn't very strong in his teaching or preaching about it, but he gave me a book by Arthur Pink on the sovereignty of God, and I read it, and I happened to pull that book off my shelf yesterday, thumbed through it again, read some of my old notes and what not in the margins, quite interesting, back in the 70s, and I remember very vividly, he asked me after I'd read it, what did you think of it, and I remember my response to him, it scares me, and he laughed, he was very pleased that I was taking the matter seriously and reading it, but he was really the first one to put that thought even before me, and it is sometimes a frightening prospect, God is in control of history and his world, now thank be to God, he's merciful and gracious and loving, but he's also just, and he'll consign and confirm people in their sin to their just damnation if they refuse the gospel repeatedly, sometimes he will be patient, getting merciful right up until the day a person dies, but sometimes not, I remember a friend of mine, he was one of my best friends through the time that I was converted, and I was young, I didn't know much, but I was concerned about Pat Robbins, he was three years older than I, he was my boss, he owned the laundry I worked for when I was 16, he was only 19, owned the business in our hometown, and I sat across the kitchen table from him and tried in my feeble way of witnessing to him, he had been to church every Sunday since he was about 13, because his girlfriend was a Christian, he was not, and he went every Sunday to be at church with her, so he knew a lot of Bible, more than I did probably at the time, and as I'm appealing to him, presenting the gospel in my feeble way and my ignorance, he said to me these words, I don't deny that Jesus is the son of God, I don't deny that, he may be, he is, I don't deny that he's the savior of sinners, that he died upon the cross, he rose again, I don't deny that, I just can't bring myself to worry about it, was his words, and he had so sinned through unbelief that the Holy Spirit completely left him in his sin, and he was not even interested, not concerned one bit for his soul, that was a judicial hardening of God, and God does that, and God is just in doing that, if he makes merciful appeals, long-suffering, appealing to people, say within a family, to children growing up, to come to Christ and believe on him, and if they persistently push that away, deny it, there's a certain point where God says no more, and that person then is just no longer concerned, the Holy Spirit stops convicting of sin, the Holy Spirit no longer gives a sense of interest or desire or concern for eternal life, that person is damned in unbelief, and God will judge that person and justly in doing so, there is a judicial hardening of God, and one wonders if that isn't happening in a large degree upon our western society in these days, I don't know.

So anyway, there was an inability, God had revealed to Moses of his intention in hardening Pharaoh, you recall that, Exodus 4 .21, before Moses even went to Pharaoh initially, the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I put in your hand, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let my people go.

God didn't want Pharaoh to let him go right away, he wanted to display through his great judgments and miracles that he was the God of Pharaoh and the God of all the gods of Egypt, they were nothing, and so he hardened Pharaoh's heart purposely, and for this purpose, God placed Pharaoh on his throne in order that God might be glorified in the eyes of his people and even all the nations of the world as to who he was in his great power.

And then later we read of the Lord's judicial hardening of the people of Canaan, who were displaced by the Israelites under Joshua, we read in Joshua 11, top of page 6, Joshua made war a long time with these kings, the kings of Canaan, there was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, why?

Except the Hivites, there was the exception, Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon, all the others they took in battle, why? Verse 20 tells us, for it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle that he might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses.

God was sovereign in that, and he was dealing with them justly, God is just in punishing sin, but thankfully God is merciful, God showing mercy is not giving us what we deserve, is justice, and God is sovereign in the dispensing of his mercy, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, no one can expect or demand mercy from God, it must be God who freely dispenses mercy, and thankfully he is willing to do so to those that are humble and trusting.