WWUTT 926 Jesus Came to Save not Judge the World?

Jesus’ Final Sermon in John 12:44-50

Jesus said, I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world. Indeed, in his first coming, he didn't come as judge, but as a savior. It's the second coming in which God will judge the world when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of John, we'll finish up chapter 12 today, looking at the section that goes from verses 44 through 50. The apostle John wrote, 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 I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the father has told me. So we come back to the close of this section. Once again, Jesus cried out, Jesus preaching there in Jerusalem.

And this following his triumphal entry, following his teaching there in the temple. And this is this is kind of bridging the gap between the majority of the events that we read about in that week, what we call Passion Week, which is kind of what we're in right now or Holy Week.

What we read about taking place in that week and Matthew, Mark and Luke is summarized a little bit more in John. He spends more time on the discourse between Jesus and his disciples in the upper room, which is going to start in the next chapter.

That's what we get to starting tomorrow. John chapter 13, with Jesus washing his disciples feet. That's the first event in the Passover meal narrative that we have from John in this gospel. So instead of going through all the specifics of the things that Jesus taught in the temple in those days preceding the Last Supper, John just gives kind of this final sermon here, this summarized sermon in verses forty four through fifty, which was definitely something that Jesus preached.

But the actual sermon itself was probably longer. And John gives us the summarized version of this sermon here. Verse forty four. Again, Jesus cried out and said, whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

Now, it's an odd thing for Jesus to say, whoever believes in me, believes not in me. But it's mainly he's speaking of like the ultimate belief. What does this person truly believe in when they say that they believe in Christ?

Well, they believe not only in Jesus, not only in this historical person that existed two thousand years ago, but they believe that he is who he said he is. And that is the son of God who was sent from heaven from the father and that Jesus shows the father.

So they believe not only in Christ, not only in his incarnation aspect, the humaneness of Christ, but they also believe in the father who sent him to truly believe in Christ means that you not only believe that he existed, but you also believe the words that he said.

You also believe the things that he did, what he fulfilled, everything that was accomplished with his death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, that he actually ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, that he will deliver all he has promised, that whoever believes in him will not perish on the last day, but we will have everlasting life with him in glory.

And more of these promises, Jesus elaborates on when we get to, again, this conversation between Jesus and his disciples in the upper room, which is coming up in the following chapters. So Jesus, again, saying, if you believe in me, you believe in the father.

And I think also of what Jesus prayed in Matthew chapter 11, where in praying to the father before his disciples, he said, all things have been handed over to me by my father. And no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

So we have come to know the father through Jesus Christ, who reveals the father to us. Whoever believes in me, believes also in the one who sent me. Whoever knows Christ also knows the father, for Jesus has shown to us the father.

And Jesus makes reference to his father more in the gospel of John than anywhere else. Of course, in the book of Matthew is where we read the Lord's prayer with Jesus saying, pray then like this, our father who art in heaven.

And so he taught us there in the first gospel in Matthew to address our heavenly father as our father, because through Christ, we have been adopted into his family. But there are more references to Jesus talking about the father or to the father or pointing to the father.

There's more of that in John than the other three gospels. So Jesus, once again, saying, if you believe in me, you believe in the father. You believe in him who sent me. You see the father's will in what is being accomplished through his son and all that Jesus is doing in obedience to the father.

He says in verse forty five, whoever sees me, sees him who sent me again. Matthew chapter eleven, verse twenty seven. No one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

So if we see Christ for who he really is, not a not a painting, not a figure, not someone's imaginary image depiction of what they think Christ looked like. If you were to look at that, you still wouldn't be able to see Christ.

You would not be seeing him for who he actually is for that matter, because what his likeness appeared as his exact facial features and whatnot, none of those things matter in the grand scheme of what it is that Jesus actually did, what he said and what he did to truly see Christ.

You must hear his word, not imagine his human likeness, his form, but rather you consider the words that he said. What did he say? We must do. What did he accomplish? What did the apostles write down that Jesus did?

These are the things that help us see the son, and it is through Christ that we also see the father. If you have seen me, you have seen the father. Jesus says to Philip that's coming up in a couple of chapters here.

I have come into the world as light, Jesus says, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. You consider what John had said in the very beginning of his gospel. John 1, verses 4 and 5, in him was life and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. This is John using something from general revelation to help us understand the power of Christ and what he did and how it destroys darkness.

Whenever you walk into a room and you turn on a light, the light vanquishes the darkness. You don't turn on a dark switch to get rid of light. You don't do that. You just turn the light off, and then it's just dark in the room.

But there's not a switch of darkness that therefore overcomes light. So as light vanquishes darkness, and darkness cannot overcome the light, so we get a picture through general revelation of what Christ has accomplished through his work.

He destroys darkness. And as we read in 1 John, the reason that Jesus came was to destroy the works of the devil. It is also there in 1 John 1, verse 5, that we read, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth. We're not in the light. If we're walking in darkness, if we're walking in sin, we're not walking in the light.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. If we're in light, we're not in darkness. And we fellowship with others who are walking in the light. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

So we understand the difference between walking in darkness and walking in light. Now where it says that God is light, he is not literally light. There is certainly a holy light about him. And there will be no darkness in the place where we dwell with God.

For as it says in the book of Revelation, there's no need for sun. For God is the light, illuminates everything. We won't even need the physical sun in the kingdom in which we will dwell with God forever in glory.

But he's not literally light. I had a friend in college, my freshman year of college, who took that statement very literally, that God is light. And so when he and I had our first conversation about God, and I was asking him whether or not he was a Christian, seemed to be a pretty moral upstanding guy, although there were some things in his life that I wanted to ask him about that were not good behavior for a Christian, but I wanted to know first if he considered himself a Christian.

And when he started talking about God, he started saying, you know, the Bible says that God is light. 1 John 1 says God is light. So I see that all light all the way around us is God. And where there's light, I know God is.

And so here I am in the light, and I know that I'm in the presence of God. And I couldn't seem to convince him, no, you're the rationale that you're using there is you're pointing to the light and saying that it's God.

You're not you don't believe God is light. You believe light is God. That explanation that you just gave is that you worship light instead of worshiping the true God. But he's like, no, they're the same.

It's synonymous. If if God is light, then light is God. Anyway, I never could get him to see the the fallacy in his own argument. I don't know where he is today. I hope he's become a believer. But nevertheless, these are analogies to help us understand the qualities of God, which are so incredible and so high above us that we cannot fathom them with our feeble human minds.

Yet, he has revealed his invisible qualities to us. Romans 1 20 makes that plain so that no man will have any excuse when they stand before God in judgment. No one will be able to say, well, you were invisible.

We didn't know you were there. No, his divine attributes have been clearly seen in all that has been made so that men are without excuse. But the Bible writers will use general revelation, things that we can perceive with our senses to help us understand the holy power of God.

One analogy that I often use, I may have used this on the podcast last week or the week before. I don't remember. But the but one of the analogies I often use is the sun. Can you look at the sun? No, we're talking about natural light, our light source that heats the planet, warms us, gives life to things and illuminates everything during the daytime.

This thing that we live with every single day. And yet you cannot look at it. If you were to look at the sun for longer than like two or three seconds, it could burn your eyes. You could do permanent damage to your eyes.

It is a foolish thing to look at the sun. And yet God's glory is more magnificent than even this thing, this fireball in heaven that he created. He created the sun all the way out there at the center of our solar system.

And he set the planets in motion. God is the one who did these things. And yet he is greater than all of these things in the universe, the size of the universe itself. What is it? Thirteen and a half billion light years across.

It's estimated God is bigger than that. He created all of that. All of those stars. God has more power than all of that. And if you can't look at the sun, who are you to think that you would ever be able to lay eyes on God?

He is much more glorious than all of this. So through general revelation, even things like the sun, we understand the power and the glory of God. We can fathom a little bit more how his glory is greater than even these things.

We would not be able to look at God and live to even stand in his presence would kill you. And yet it is through Christ that we have come to know him. And through Christ, we see him and he is our mediator.

He is our fellowship with God. So now we have access to the father through Jesus Christ. And when we walk in the way of Christ, we walk in the light of God. We don't dwell in the darkness of Satan. But we walk in the light of our Lord.

And there is a day that will come when we will be rescued out of this world and we will be with him forever in glory in his eternal light. Jesus said, I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness, not remain in unbelief, not remain in sin and the wages of sin, which is therefore death and the judgment of God.

In Christ, we are delivered from these things. Verse 47, 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. So in this, this is in like the immediate context, Jesus is not here in his first coming to judge the world.

The judgment comes at his second coming. Verse 47 again, if anyone hears my words and does not keep them in Luke chapter nine, Jesus said, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him, will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels.

So it is by hearing the word of Christ and doing it that we are therefore delivered from the judgment of God. John three thirty six, whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Now our our ability to obey Christ and keep his word has been given to us by Christ in that we are clothed in his righteousness. 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.

And in this immediate context, Jesus is not judge. He is savior. He came the first time in peace, which we had in the triumphal entry earlier in chapter twelve, Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt.

So in doing this, Jesus signified that he came in peace, but he comes the next time at his second coming as a conquering king. How does Romans or I'm sorry, Revelation chapter 19 convey the return of Christ?

He's coming back on a white horse. So the first time he came into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, the next time he comes on a white horse as a conquering king, the one who rejects me, Jesus says in verse forty eight and does not receive my words, has a judge.

The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. Well, what about those who have never heard the word of Christ? His word will still be that judge. Consider again what it is that Jesus said here, the one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge.

So the one who is not even heard the gospel will still stand before the throne of judgment one day and be cast out from the presence of God because they still rejected Christ. They still rejected God.

Even the father, they didn't know the father because they didn't know Christ. So therefore, they didn't know the father, the one who rejects Christ and does not receive the word that he has spoken, has a judge.

And it's the very word that Christ has spoken. That word is going to judge that person, whether or not they had heard it. And so this should put inside us a desire to want to share the gospel with the whole world so that everyone has the chance to hear that word and turn from sin and repent and therefore stand before God, not in ignorance, but they will be received into the heavenly kingdom if they heard that word and turn from sin and believed.

But if they rejected it, they will be judged by it, whether they heard it and rejected it or whether they did not hear it. They still rejected the word of Christ. It is only by hearing that word and believing it that one is saved.

It is the only way anyone comes about faith in the gospel, saving faith, justified by faith. We are cleansed by God and declared a righteous when we believe in Jesus. Whom was crucified and rose again from the dead.

Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God, the true Christ, the historical Christ of the Bible, the son of God who is seated enthroned in heaven, it is only by faith in him that we are forgiven our sins and we have eternal life.

That's why we must preach this message. No one gets to heaven simply because they did their best or because they worshiped what, you know, I can see, I can see the sun. So I'm going to worship the sun.

No, it says very plainly in Romans chapter one, because they were not thankful to God, they worship the created things rather than the creator. And for that, they will be judged because they glorified in themselves instead of glorifying in the one who made them.

So it is by the teaching of the gospel, the preaching of this word that one comes to salvation and we must be diligent to preach it. 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 I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say, as the father has told me. What is what does this mean that the commandment is eternal life?

I thought that by keeping commandments, we wouldn't live. Well, no, actually, the Bible does tell us that if we keep the commands of God, we would have eternal life. If you could keep the law perfectly, you would not die because it is sin that brings about the wages of sin, which is death.

Sin is lawlessness, as it says in First John. So if you break the law of God, you have sinned and therefore incurred the penalty of sin, which is death. If you were to keep the law perfectly, then you will not have transgressed the law and therefore won't have to face the penalty for death.

Jesus even said in Luke chapter 10 that if you keep the commandments, verse 28, do this and you will live. If we could keep all the commandments, we would have eternal life. But the fact of the matter is we cannot.

We cannot keep the commandments. None of us have. If we've broken even one commandment, we're guilty of breaking all of it, as James says, as is also said in the book of Deuteronomy. And so we must have someone who has paid the price for us because of the sin that we've committed against God.

And that's Jesus who has done that. He kept the law perfectly. He became a sacrifice for us so that all who believe in him will have the commandment and therefore live and the commandment to love God and be able to do so in a way that is pleasing to God.

Jesus said Mark chapter one, Matthew chapter four, repent and believe the gospel. That's a commandment. And by following it, you will you will live by obeying the commandment of God. We live for the very thing that God demands of us.

He has done for us. Jesus kept the commandment and it is by faith in him that we are forgiven our sins and have eternal life.

Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at WWUTT .com.