Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20060319.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XXXVI: Treating Spiritual Darkness Or Insight As A CHOICE
(John 12:23-24, 27-50)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Tuesday morning I checked my e-mail to find an ad from an area Christian leader. He was urging people to attend a seminar he would lead in support of the view that God created the universe.

However, his ad promoted the topic: "What Are the Days of Creation? And Why Does It Matter?" He holds to the Framework Theory of origins that treats the days of Genesis 1 as poetic snapshots of undisclosed ages of years in God's creative activity! These ages leave room for God to have used evolutionary processes to create!

Now, we have often before taught the "days" of Genesis 1 are solar days composed of 24-hour periods of time. (a) These Genesis 1 "days" are EACH composed of an "evening" and a "morning" (cf. Genesis 1:5b, 8b, 13, 19, 23 and 31b), and the terms "Evening and morning cannot be construed to mean an age, but only a day." (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Genesis 1:5) (b) Besides, "everywhere in the Pentateuch the word day, when used (as here) with a numerical adjective, means a solar day (now calibrated as 24 hours)." (Ibid.) (c) Also, God implied to Israel that the days of Genesis 1 were consecutive solar days when He patterned the 7-day week after them in Exodus 20:9-11. This fact (d) coupled with a secular authority's admission that "the seven-day week as a unit of time . . . [is] the only calendar unit that does not trace its origins to astronomy", we have evidence that God made the universe in six consecutive solar days, and Israel kept the Sabbath Day as a testimony to Scripture's True Creator God Who was to be worshipped over many pagan gods ("The Enigma of Time," by John Boslough, National Geographic, 3/90, p. 127)

Yet, as I read this Christian leader's ad that he had been theologically trained at Gordon-Conwell and Harvard, I wondered HOW an EDUCATED Christian like himself could MISS what seemed to be OBVIOUS, REPEAT clarifications in the Bible's account as to the "days" of Genesis 1 being consecutive solar days!



We may then wonder, "What response can we make to the GREAT BLINDNESS to God's truth we note in even educated CHRISTIANS?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "When I see extensive spiritual BLINDNESS regarding God's truths in even many educated CHRISTIANS, how am I to respond?!"
  1. As He closed His public ministry, Jesus' INSIGHT from the Father was presented in John's Gospel in IMMENSE CONTRAST to the spiritual DARKNESS in the observing crowd, Jn. 12:23-24, 27-34:
    1. Jesus and God the Father gave great spiritual revelation to the crowd:
      1. The crowd was presented great insight from Jesus and God the Father about Christ's death to pave the way for man's salvation:
        1. In parable form, Jesus announced to the crowd His death and resurrection to make salvation available, John 12:20-22, 23-24.
        2. Christ then told how troubled He was in anticipating His suffering, but that He wished to do the will of God the Father in glorifying Him through going to the cross, John 12:27-28a.
      2. Jesus' public announcement of this future work on the cross was ratified by a public announcement of the voice of God the Father given before Jesus' listeners and for their sake, John 12:28b, 30.
    2. Yet, the crowd dwelt in such deep spiritual darkness that it viewed even the Father's words as thunder or the voice of an angel, and they missed the meaning and significance of this great event, John 12:29!
    3. When Jesus then claimed He would overcome Satan's program by dying in being "lifted up" on the cross (John 12:31-33), the crowd understood He spoke of dying, but retorted that it thought Messiah would not die; the crowd in great spiritual darkness wondered if Jesus claimed the "Son of Man" to be "lifted up" was different from the promised Messiah, Jn. 12:34, Leon Wood, John (NICNT), p. 599-600.
  2. This CONTRAST between God's insight and the crowd's darkness is shown to be the RESULT of the CROWD'S CHOICE, 12:35-43:
    1. In place of answering the crowd's question, Jesus urged them to walk in the truth He had already given, for the time would come when He would be gone from them, John 12:35-36a.
    2. This word was followed by Jesus' hiding Himself from them, 12:36b!
    3. John explained this CLEAR REFUSAL on Jesus' part to expound His truths any further was His response to the crowd's CHOICE to REJECT His revelation,which choice had led to spiritual blindness:
      1. John reported the crowd had failed to trust in Jesus though He had done so many miracles (attesting to His identity as Messiah and God's Son) before them, John 12:37.
      2. Such unbelief was the result of a spiritual darkness that had arisen due to the crowd's choice to reject Christ's witness, Jn. 12:38-41:
        1. John noted how Jesus had fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah 53:1 that Messiah would not be believed regardless of His attesting miracles to His identity as Messiah, John 12:38.
        2. John also reported this unbelief had intensified into hardness of heart in spiritual darkness in accord with God's plan to do the same in Isaiah's day in Isaiah 6:10, cf. John 12:39-41.
    4. Even Israel's rulers had failed to follow Jesus not from a lack of credibility on His part, but from the worldly love of the praise of errant peers that kept them from being willing to follow Jesus openly for fear of suffering excommunication in the process, John 12:42-43!
  3. As Jesus thus ENDED His public ministry, He summarized the crowd's ACCOUNTABILITY for the CHOICE it had made that was BEHIND its DEEP spiritual DARKNESS, John 12:44-50:
    1. Concluding His public ministry in view of its choice to reject His witness, Jesus cried out to the crowd that He had not performed His own ministry, but had taught them the words and performed the works regarding salvation that God the Father had assigned Him, 12:44-46.
    2. Thus, the choice of the people to reject Jesus' ministry as they had only reflected their rejection of God the Father Himself, Jn. 12:49-50.
    3. Accordingly, the crowd would be held accountable in the final judgment for its rejection of Jesus, John 12:47-48. The eternal lot of these people would depend on whether they had accepted or rejected Jesus' witness in life and ministry unto them, John 12:46, 50a!
Application: (1) If we have not yet done so, may we TRUST in Christ as Savior to receive eternal life, Acts 17:30; John 3:16. (2) May we follow the EXAMPLE of Jesus to YIELD to God's will versus the lusts of the world in Christian living that we might enjoy His insight and its resulting blessing. (3) As for OTHERS who abide in deep spiritual darkness, we must recall that they have CHOSEN to opt for worldly lust gratification above the will of God, which CHOICE is BEHIND their darkness. (4) Thus, we must not fret over them, but (5) watch that WE not yield to such lust gratification, but keep doing the will of God! (1 John 2:15-17)

Lesson: Jesus revealed the DARKNESS of the people around Him arose from its OWN CHOICE to opt to gratify their lusts of the world ABOVE heeding God's will. Accordingly, Jesus REFUSED to try to explain Himself any further to the questioning crowd, and thus withdrew from having any further public ministry unto them!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 In our sermon introduction, I mentioned we may wonder why even educated Christians can seem to be so blinded to the obvious revelation in Genesis 1 that God created the universe in six solar days!

(1) Christian biologist, David Lane explained why in his article, "Theological Problems With Theistic Evolution," in the April-June 1994 issue of Bib. Sac. On page 174, he claimed: "Theistic evolution is . . . a misconstrued theology designed to appeal to Christians who crave to appear respectable in the scientific' forum." (emphases ours)

That is the same reason John 12:42-43 KJV reports why many of "the chief rulers . . . did not confess" Jesus as the Messiah! They sought (in Lane's words) "to appear respectable," for (as John put it) "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God"!

(2) Yet, holding to theistic evolution actually hinders one's effectiveness as a witness to God's truth before thoughtful unbelievers anyway! (a) Lane reported how atheist Jacques Monod, a Nobel prize winner in molecular biology, has criticized Christians who adopt Darwin's view of natural selection in order to hold to theistic evolution. Monod said: "[Natural] Selection is the blindest, and most cruel way of evolving new species . . . the more cruel because it is a process of . . . the elimination of the weakest . . . against which our whole modern ethic revolts . . . I am surprised that a Christian would defend the idea that this is the process which God more or less set up in order to have evolution." (Ibid., p. 167, brackets ours)

(b) Besides, over 500 scientists with doctoral degrees, including 154 biologists, 76 chemists and 63 physicists, many who are professors or researchers at major universities such as MIT, The Smithsonian, Cambridge University, UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley, have signed a statement by the Discovery Institute to voice their skepticism over Darwin's theory of evolution. These scientists would then be skeptical of theistic evolution, and so come to question the credibility of Christians who hold to it! (World Net Daily, 2/21/06)

May we like Jesus stick to the TRUTH of His GOSPEL and Word versus trying to appeal to worldly lusts by mouthing secular ideas that are in error! May we realize the DARKNESS in even other believers in this matter is the RESULT of a CHOICE they make, and focus on our OWN attitudes toward believing and heeding God's truths!