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John 12 and the Greeks Who Wanted to See Jesus

John 12 once again. We're slowing down a little bit as we're working through this.

Because it's it's so wonderfully rich, but we're in no hurry. This is the third occasion that we're considering this passage of John 12 20 through 36. Here of course our Lord declared, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified, as in verse 23.

Jesus made this statement in response to two of his disciples, two brothers, Philip and Andrew, telling him that there were certain Greeks, there were certain Gentiles who wished to see him. And so their desire and request signaled to Jesus that indeed his hour had arrived for him to be lifted up.

And in John's gospel this idea of Jesus being lifted up carries the idea of him being exalted, but by means of the cross, being lifted up on his cross, and then to be raised from the dead and enthroned as king over the inaugurated promised kingdom of God.

And so his exaltation, his glorification, as the Lord over all the world would result in him having the ability to draw all people, all kinds of people, from all over the world onto himself, including Jews and Gentiles.

And so the fact these Greeks wished to see him necessitated he saw the need for him to be exalted. And later in this passage, verse 32, we read Jesus saying, if I am lifted up from the earth, and he's talking specifically about his cross, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all peoples, and what is meant there is all kinds of people, Gentiles too, I'll draw all people to myself.

Let's read the passage again, John 12, 20 -36. Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast, and then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also.

If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

And therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake.

Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what death he would die.

The people answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? And Jesus said to them, a little while longer the light is with you.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden from them.

The Five-Part Outline for John 12:20–36

The outline that we have been using for the last few weeks is set before you in your notes. There are five divisions. We've addressed the first two almost. Alright. Of this outline, here's the outline again.

We have in verses 20 and 21, the desire and request of the Greeks. Two, Jesus speaks of the necessity of his cross in order to inaugurate and advance his kingdom. And then thirdly, Jesus' appeal for help from his father to endure his cross.

Fourthly, the father purpose to glorify Jesus before the people through his cross. And then fifth, Jesus exhorts those Jews who heard him to believe that which they had been taught and had witnessed regarding him.

And so, again, last week we began to address this second point more fully. And today we want to begin by again looking at this second matter. Jesus speaks of the necessity of his cross in order to inaugurate and advance the kingdom.

Now, last Lord's Day we were considering the words of our Lord Jesus when he spoke of the necessity of dying upon his cross in order to inaugurate and advance his kingdom. Before we move on, however, I'd like us to consider more precisely the instruction that our Lord gave his disciples when he announced to them that he was about to die.

And so verse 26, and read it carefully please. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. And we began to address this somewhat last week, what it is to be a servant of Jesus Christ.

The true Christian, that is the true disciple, is literally a slave of Jesus Christ. And that's what servant means. The Christian lives to serve his master, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the master. The Christian is the servant, the slave.

Of course, his occupation as a slave is a voluntary one. It's his delight. He takes great pleasure, receives great blessing in being a servant, a slave of Jesus Christ. And so the true Christian desires foremost that he serves his master faithfully.

The Lord put it in our hearts, that's our desire. But in the light of this passage specifically, how is that service to be performed by the Christian? Jesus declared, if anyone serves me, let him follow me.

We serve Jesus Christ by following him. What does this suggest to us? Well, following Jesus suggests following him in the course that he's traveled before us. He's gone ahead and we're following him. In doing so, we're to conform our way of thinking to his way of thinking.

And we are to act and react to what we face as he has acted and reacted to what he encountered and overcame. That's what we're to do in following him as his slaves, as his servants. And so to follow Jesus is to observe and consider how he lived regarding him and his ways as our pattern or as our example to live in the same way.

But again specifically, how do we follow him as set forth here in this context? And so let's consider this. We read that although Jesus, and we would qualify this in his human nature, of course as a divine person with a divine nature and a human nature, two natures in one person, in his human nature he desired that he would escape his suffering and death.

He denied himself, however, this desire, purposing rather to glorify his father through what he encountered and endured. Rather than serving himself first and foremost, he served his father. How is this translated into our lives as his servants, as his followers?

We too face tribulation in our life as he was about to do so. We have sickness and weakness of body. We have difficulty and disappointments due to events that transpire in our lives. We have heartache and hardship in our relationships.

None of us are immune, is immune to difficulties, tribulation. And we naturally want to escape these troubles. They're ever before us. We wish to be healed of our infirmities. We desire our sufferings to end.

And so we're, as the Lord Jesus first requested, we ask our father to remove what is burdening us or causing us pain or threatens our well-being. But if we're following our Lord Jesus rightly, we are to subordinate these desires, these personal desires, to the greater goal and desire of glorifying him in whatever we are experiencing.

And in this way we are following Jesus as set forth in this passage. And so we are to pray, Father, yes I desire and ask that you bring an end to my trial. Jesus asked his father, you know, do I have to go through this?

Do I have to go to the cross? But more importantly, we pray, may you enable me to glorify you through this trial that you've called me to face and endure. And so our natural human reaction and response, I want this to end.

And we pray to that end. And oftentimes that's right at the top of the list because it's pressing upon us. This was pressing upon Jesus, obviously. But then he subordinated this human desire in order, he desired to glorify God most through what he was about ready to encounter.

And what I'm advocating, what we're advocating today, what this teaches us, is that although it's perfectly right and we ought to pray and thankfully God does answer our prayers in bringing healing to us, bringing relief to us from our afflictions, rather than desiring primarily to escape these things, be relieved of these things, our primary desire is that we glorify God through these things.

And therefore if that means an ongoing enduring of it, so be it, Lord. We'll go through it. This is Jesus' purpose. Nevertheless, I'll go through it. May you be glorified in this. And so this is what it is in this context to follow him.

But again, sadly, we do not naturally think as our Lord instructs us to do. We wrongly think that it's not normal for us to experience difficult health issues, troubles in relationships, trials and troubles of every sort.

And when we do experience those things, and we all do at different times and different degrees, we assume that it's the Lord's will to relieve us of that difficulty, to bring healing to us of our infirmities, and to resolve our difficulties quickly on every occasion.

And we wrongly think that if we're living in a manner that's pleasing God, and we're praying rightly unto him, that he will fix our problems sooner or later. And so we ask our Heavenly Father, as did the Lord Jesus, Father may you remove this cup from me.

But again, if we're following Jesus rightly, we would append our request with this word of acquiescence. Nevertheless, Father, not my will but thine be done. Father, if you can glorify yourself through my enduring this hardship, then so be it.

If this is possible for me to do so, then I do not ask foremost that you remove me from my tribulation, but I ask that you give me the grace to endure it, and thereby glorify you through it. That's what the Lord Jesus is telling his disciples here, his servants, his slaves.

Follow me. And specifically, we're following him as he was dealing with his cross that was just before him. And one of the reasons we fail to respond initially in this way to our trials is because we falsely assume it's God's will for us to live trouble-free, with little difficulty or heartache.

And the whole health and wealth gospel is this idea, is that God wants you to be free of pain. God wants you to be healthy. God wants you to have all these wonderful relationships with you and your family and among friends.

And everything is supposed to be going very smoothly for you. But that's not how God works within this fallen world. That's not what the Lord Jesus experienced. And if you're walking with him in faith and fellowship, that's not what you're going to experience.

Because in actuality, tribulation is the normal for Christian in any one of its forms. The absence of tribulation in your life is abnormal and temporary. Tribulation's coming, you can be assured of that in one form or another.

And so let's underscore the fact that disciples, that is true Christians, are destined for tribulation in this world. It's clear from the scriptures that the abnormal life of the Christian is to live with little or no tribulation.

Our Lord himself declared to his disciples, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace, in the world you will have tribulation. That is the nature of the Christian life. One of trouble, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. It's the normal course of life for Christ's disciples to have tribulation. One of the first words of instruction the Apostle Paul gave to new churches, this is after he got stoned.

He came in, started a church, and then they drug him out and stoned him, left him for dead. Well he had to come back and tell these new Christians. You can imagine their puzzlement, their disillusionment.

This guy's of God, look what happened to him, he died, you know he was stoned out there, left for dead. And Paul came back and returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of these brand-new Christians, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.

That is the nature of the Christian life, tribulations. Then the Apostle Peter wrote, perhaps in 1st Peter he was writing to new Christians, maybe about ready to be baptized, something. Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.

Again, it's strange if something doesn't happen to you. Don't think it's strange when it does, because that's the way it is. But rather rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

If you reproach for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he's blaspheming, but on your part he is glorified. They're the idea of being glorified even in the tribulation, in the difficulty.

And so God has not promised that we will escape tribulation, he has not even promised that we'll be delivered from tribulation in this life, but rather he's promised us that he will save us through many tribulations.

This is the course that our Lord took, and it's the course that we will take if we're following him. His path to glorification was through his cross, and so the path of our glorification is through the crosses that we bear in following him.

Paul expressed it this way in Romans 8, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, we're the children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God, join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together.

And then Paul says, I regard the suffering to this present time not even worthy to be compared with the glory that's going to one day be bestowed upon us or revealed in us. And so if we see this truth rightly and clearly, then when we encounter tribulation, particularly when it's heaped upon us by unjust unbelievers, we'll rejoice in what we encounter.

And this is what Peter himself expressed along with the other Apostles in the book of Acts, they were both beat, they were all beaten. When they had called for the Apostles, this was the Jewish leaders, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for his name, and daily in the temple in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

They glorified God in and through their persecutions, in and through their tribulations, and that's what we're to do. And when the Lord enables you to do so, you're going to find yourself also glorying in Jesus Christ, rejoicing in that, even as it might be a very, very difficult thing that you're going through.

They were companions in tribulation, as they stood forward and testified of Jesus Christ the Lord. They suffered public shame for doing so, but rejoiced that the Lord had counted them worthy to experience this great blessing of being beaten and abused for him.

Incredible. And of course, that shows you to be quite different than the world, right? In fact, it's a wonderful testimony that you're a Christian. When somebody can look at you, look at the misery that person is going through, getting beat down, and it's been unrelenting, and yet he or she still rejoices in Christ.

There must be something to this. And of course, that was the testimony of the early Christians in the Roman era of persecution, wasn't it? There were many people converted who went to the games to see Christians slaughtered by animals and through cruelty, and they concluded what they believed must be true, for who would go through this if it weren't true?

And that's the kind of witness you and I can bear to the world, too, is that in the midst of and in spite of what we're enduring, we're rejoicing in Jesus Christ, and that's what it is to follow him. We're attempting to glorify God in our tribulation.

We bring most glory to God through our tribulations, not from being delivered from them, although one day we will be delivered from them all. And so this enduring in faith through tribulation, not deliverance from tribulation, is one of the major lessons, we would argue, of the last book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

John wrote of himself while in exile for his witness of Jesus Christ. I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation, is what John wrote. By the way, I might just interject this at this time, our dispensational friends argue the church is not going to experience the tribulation, a future seven-year tribulation, they argue, that's going to come right before the second coming of Christ.

So we're going to escape that. God doesn't want us to encounter tribulation. But the book of Revelation speaks of the entire church age as one of tribulation. He saves us through tribulations, not from it.

What John was experiencing was not unique to him. He was on an island, you can see it from the shore of Turkey, looking out across the sea, the island of Patmos, just off the shore of Ephesus on a clear day.

But even though John was in Patmos, probably him alone, what he was experiencing was not unique. The Christians in the seven churches of Asia Minor to whom he was writing were also experiencing tribulation, of a different form maybe.

John described himself as a companion with them in tribulation. It is our lot as Christians, it is what our Lord faced and overcame, and as his followers we are to face and overcome our tribulations as well.

Not to escape them, but to endure them with a strong testimony of your faith in Christ. And we can take the step further. We often speak of our present citizenship in the realized kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We're presently reigning with Christ. Now this is an important principle that few people understand. We're reigning with Christ presently in this church age, and that's what it means when Paul says, as Christians we're seated with Christ in heavenly places.

He's on the throne and we're seated with him in heavenly places. We're reigning presently with Christ. But how is our reign best seen in this life, in this world, fallen world within Christ's kingdom?

Greg Beal, who was our Bolton Conference speaker a couple weeks ago, wrote in his wonderful commentary on Revelation in verse 9, John identifies himself with his readers and with Jesus as one who reigns in the initial form of the kingdom by persevering through tribulation.

You see what he's saying there? How do you and I reign in the kingdom of God in this current world? It's through persevering in our faith through tribulation. That's what it is to reign with Christ. And then he explained it more fully.

John and his community are people who even now reign together in Jesus' kingdom. But this is a kingdom unanticipated by the majority of Jews. The exercise of rule in this kingdom begins and continues only as one faithfully endures tribulation.

This is a formula for kingship. Faithful endurance through tribulation is the means by which one reigns in the present with Jesus. Believers are not mere subjects in Christ's kingdom. Fellow partaker underscores the active involvement of saints not only enduring tribulation but also reigning in the midst of tribulation.

Such kingship will be intensified at death and consummated at Jesus' final parousia. That's the Greek word for second coming appearance. This ironic exercise of rule is modeled on that of Christ who revealed his veiled kingship on earth before his exaltation by enduring suffering and death in order to achieve his heavenly rule.

Again in John's gospel remember being glorified was being lifted up on the cross. And God is glorifying you as you are enduring in faith in your tribulations. The way of the world is we have to escape tribulation, get it over with, God delivered me from it.

And we're missing out entirely on actually what God is doing in our lives. Just as Christ ruled in a veiled way through suffering so do Christians which argues further against the proposal that saints do not exercise kingship until the final coming of Christ when they're exalted over their enemies.

Now we're reigning now and the way that reign is seen is that we believe on Jesus regardless of what we are encountering or facing in life. Tell you what I reflect over our people and I could give you a list of people that suffer a great deal and yet they are very devout sincere believers in Jesus Christ.

They're glorifying God a whole lot more than some sports star pulling down twenty million dollars a year you know and lifts his finger to heaven when he hits a home run. It's the person that's believing on Jesus in spite of what they are experiencing in life that brings great glory to Christ.

I forget her name now but we had a young lady out in Sacramento. She had rheumatoid arthritis when she was from four years of age. She was crippled over she could hardly walk and she just wanted to grow up and have a family and whatnot but she just was ravaged with pain.

And through her teenage years she was taken to all kinds of Pentecostal meetings being promised that she'd be healed of her disease if she had enough faith. Of course she never had enough faith. They would argue she was never healed.

And then she learned that's not the way of the Christian life and she had a just a wonderful testimony and sweet spirit. And then she contracted lupus which is like an arthritis of the soft tissue it's been described.

This woman would suffer and then she finally died probably in about her middle 30s. But I've never seen such a beautiful testimony of glorified God in her tribulation. And that's what we're talking about here.

It's not to escape our trouble and difficulty but it's to persevere in faith bringing glory to God through that thing whatever it is that God has called you to face. And so it's human it's natural to want to escape.

Jesus wanted to escape. That wasn't sinful. It's part of being human. But he relegated that subordinate to bringing glory to his father through it. And that's what it is to follow Jesus closely and in fellowship with him.

And so this is what Jesus declared in John 12 26 when he said if anyone serves me let him follow me and where I am my servant will be also. If anyone serves me him my father will honor. And so we are to follow Jesus by desiring and seeking first and foremost to glorify God in what we suffer rather than principally to seek first and foremost to escape our suffering.

That's the way the world thinks. And this is very important for us to understand for there's great ignorance and error among Christians regarding the nature of our present reign in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Most Christians think that they're only reigning when they're delivered from suffering. When the Lord brings our tribulation to an end. When he heals us of our difficulties and sickness. And so they might say to themselves I must not be right before God.

It would not seem that I'm reigning with Christ seeing that I have this continual unrelenting issue and problem. In other words tribulation. But in reality you're reigning with Christ because you were sustained by God's power in your faith in spite of what you're going through.

Now this is Christianity ABC but it's something it would seem that not a whole lot of people see. The Christian in this age is reigning by persevering in the midst of their tribulations in this life not in the escape or deliverance from them.

That will take place one day thankfully. Again in Revelation 1 .9 John wrote of his camaraderie with the Christian brethren in their tribulation. I John your brother and companion or partner in tribulation and the kingdom.

Not only did he share in tribulation but he shared in the kingdom with them. To reign as a Christian in this fallen world is to live in faith and fellowship with the Lord Jesus through all the hardship and difficulty of this fallen world that we encounter.

On page five of your notes I'm going to drop down a little bit. I have another block quote of Greg Beal. John and his community are people who even now reign together in Jesus' kingdom. They're partners in the kingdom he said, companions in the kingdom.

But this is a kingdom unanticipated again by a majority of Jews. The exercise of the rule of this kingdom begins and continues only as one faithfully endures tribulation. This is the formula for kingship.

Faithful endurance through tribulation is the means by which one reigns in the present with Jesus. Believers are not mere subjects in Christ's kingdom. Fellow partaker underscores the active involvement of saints not only enduring tribulation but also reigning in the midst of tribulation.

This ironic exercise of rule is modeled on that of Christ who revealed his veiled kingship on earth before his exaltation by enduring suffering and death in order to achieve his heavenly rule. And that's how we are to live as his slaves following him.

The Sufferings of Jesus in His Human Nature

Now let's consider in a measure the difficulty that Jesus endured. Letter C there on your notes on page 5. The course that Jesus was to take of course was very difficult for him wasn't it? This is suggested in other places but here the writer of the Hebrews wrote of Jesus in his sufferings.

Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him that be the father who was able to save him from death was heard because of his godly fear.

Though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He learned in the way he suffered and what the writer of the Hebrews is talking about here what how could how could the infinite omniscient Jesus learn anything right?

He learned experientially what he had never experienced as God. As a man he learned suffering and this actually qualified him to become a high priest to you and me. He learned through his suffering. Now this might lead us to a matter that we'll just touch upon briefly here.

In all of Jesus's struggles and his temptations and what not the questions long been asked in all of his trials and troubles was Jesus Christ capable of sinning? Was he? Was he not in his human nature?

Some argue that he was capable of committing sin. Others say he could not have committed sin. Some argue if he could not commit sin how can you say his temptation was that real? I remember probably 35 years ago thinking this question how could Jesus really relate to me because he never succumbed to temptation?

How can he really know what I'm like? You know because I'm a sinner and I came across a sermon by Spurgeon where he talked about the temptation Jesus endured. He says his temptation was infinitely greater than yours because you never endure temptation to where it is very great because you always yield.

He never yielded. His temptation must have been infinitely greater than yours and that's of the matter for me. But the fact is Jesus could not have sinned and when we speak about Jesus and his incapability of sinning we speak of his impeccability.

That's the word that's used. If we talk about Jesus and say that he had the ability to sin we would say that he was peccable but we would argue that he was impeccable. He was not capable of sinning but the temptation nevertheless was very very real.

Arthur Pink addressed this matter. We're living in a world of sin and the fearful havoc it has brought is evident on every side. How refreshing then to fix our gaze upon one who is immaculately holy who passed through this scene unspoiled by its evil and such was the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate.

For 33 years he was in immediate contact with sin yet he was never to the slightest degree contaminated. He touched the leper yet was not defiled even ceremonially and just as the rays of the sun shine upon a stagnant pool without being sullied thereby so Christ was unaffected by the iniquity which surrounded him.

He did no sin. In him was no sin. He knew no sin. He was without sin. He was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners. But not only was Christ sinless he was impeccable that is incapable of sinning.

No attempt to set forth the doctrine of his wondrous and peerless person would be complete without considering this blessed perfection. Sad indeed is it to behold the widespread ignorance there on today and sadder still to hear and read this precious truth denied.

The last Adam differed from the first Adam in his impeccability. Christ was not only able to overcome temptation but he was unable to be overcome by it. Necessarily so for he was the Almighty. True Christ was a man but he was the God-man and as such absolute master and Lord of all things being master of all things as his dominion over the winds and waves diseases and death clearly demonstrated it was impossible that anything should master him.

Jesus Christ was impeccable. He could not sin. Well our Lord concluded his struggle on this occasion with an affirmation of his true desire and commitment. Jesus said in prayer father glorify your name and so the father was glorified in the death of his son and later we'll read in John 17 to our Lord's prayer to the father.

Father the hour has come glorify your son that your son also may glorify you as you've given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him and so the Lord Jesus desired that glory be given to him so he could glorify his father and Jesus Christ glorified his father perhaps most clearly and fully when he died upon the cross.

What do we mean by glory? Well when we speak about glory we're talking about the weightiness of a person, the importance of a person. In the ancient world oftentimes the glory of a king was displayed in the ornateness of the throne he sat on and of the garments he wore.

Solomon all his glory was not arrayed Jesus said as a say as the lilies in the field but Solomon's authority and glory was showed forth in in the way he dressed and showed himself and so the idea of glory is literally heavier weighty and so to glorify the father is to help people see the weight the majesty the you know the unimaginable power and authority and greatness of who God is.

And of course again the fullest manifestation of the glory of God was in the person of his son Jesus Christ and the place and way in which Jesus Christ most fully showed forth the glory of the father was in his death upon the cross and therein of course all of the attributes of God was displayed openly in his love for the world and his wisdom in saving sinners in his justice and punishing sin.

Every one of God's attributes was fully on display through the cross of Christ the glory of the Lord was revealed. The brightness of God's glory was displayed through Jesus hanging on the cross. And of course only eyes inspired by the Holy Spirit could see that nobody saw just looking at him hanging there.

But we see it through the IFA. And so where is the glory of God most fully revealed in Christ. It was when Jesus died on his cross to secure the salvation of his people. And it was Jesus's primary desire that when he died upon that cross he would glorify his father.

Jesus' Appeal for Help from the Father to Endure the Cross

Now in verses 20 and 7 and 28 we're on page 7 now of our notes I have to kind of skip through or we're not going to get through may not. Anyway we see it verses 27 and 28 Jesus appealed for help from his father to endure his cross upon our Lord announcing that the time had arrived to die that is be glorified.

We read of his personal struggle as he was facing death. We read his words of distress and petition in verse 27. And his father's response in verse 28. Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say father save me from this hour.

But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father glorify your name. By the way in that translation if you're looking at your notes carefully there's a question mark father save me from this hour. Probably shouldn't be a question mark.

It probably ought to be a statement where Jesus is actually requesting all right. Do I have to drink this cup father. And so it's not. It's not like a positing it. And then he just said no no you've called me to this hour.

This is a struggle Jesus was having. He knew it was a lie before him. Now when we think about this this brings another matter up. And we have it under that first division. Letter a the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his human nature.

Jesus said now my soul is troubled. The trouble that lie before him. The cross pressed upon his soul and he was troubled by it. His soul was troubled when he would cure us of the trouble of our souls.

Later he'd tell his disciples in John 14 1. Let your hearts not be troubled. But here he says my heart is troubled. Matthew Henry wrote of our Lord's words. Now the black and dismal scene began. Now we're the first those of the travail of his soul.

Now his agony began. His soul began to be exceedingly sorrowful. The sin of our soul was the trouble of Christ's soul. And when he undertook to redeem and save us and to make his soul an offering for our sin my soul is indeed troubled.

Now as we enter this portion of John's gospel here John chapter 12 in which the sufferings of our Lord Jesus are recounted issues of difficulty arise as we reflect precisely on how Jesus faced his cross.