John 12:27-36 - The judgemen..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. In John chapter 12, we'll be reading from verse 27 through to 36. Well, brethren, as we always do, we work our way through the Gospel according to John.

We've been in chapter 12 for a little while now, and last week we made it all the way from chapter 12 to verse 30. And by God's grace, my intention this week is to just continue. That's what we do. We just continue. So verse 31 is where we're at.

Now, we already have come to grasp and realize that our Lord has come to a pivotal point in His earthly ministry. And that took place the very moment that the Greeks there in Jerusalem had come and spoken to His disciples with the intention to speak to our Lord. That seemed like it was the cue of our Saviour. Now that the Greeks, these are Gentiles, have come to speak to our Lord. And from that point on, things changed.

From that point on, the ministry of our Lord has taken a pivotal change in that the very next words out of our Lord's mouth is this, that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now Jesus is looking towards the cross. The time that He had spent in His three and a bit years of ministry, preaching and teaching and healing various diseases and casting out demons, that's going to give way now to the far more primary reason for the advent of the Son of God in flesh. And that primary reason, beloved, is this, that the Lord is willingly going to lay down His life for His sheep. And so it's at this moment, as our Lord contemplates the seriousness of what is about to take place, only in a day or two, maximum three, His soul is troubled.

as he thinks about the cup that he's about to drink. And what is required of him when he goes to suffer towards the path of suffering towards the cross, as he contemplates and thinks about these things, the inner anguish of his soul is put on display for us to see. Here in John chapter 12, we get a glimpse of the very heart of our Lord and our Saviour, when He opens His mouth and He says, now my soul is troubled, in verse 27. He's experiencing deep anguish. He's experiencing distress.

You could even say, right here, right now, our Lord is experiencing agony of soul because of what is yet to come. And beloved, we explored what is yet to come, not last week, but the week before, and we can all say in unison, it's not pleasant. That's what the Lord had to endure for you and I, Christian, in order to bear our sins upon that cross, for us to stand innocent, forgiven before the Father. Now last week we considered the first words from the mouth of our Lord when His soul was troubled, and we came to this conclusion Although He is going to go down the path that is to you and I just unimaginable. The suffering is, we just cannot fathom how He could bear such suffering.

Bearing upon His own shoulders the sin of the world and bearing the wrath of God upon unrighteousness, the one who knew no sin, had been made sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. And as he walks down that path, we explored what Jesus said with his mouth once he experienced this anguish of the soul. And to him it was all worthwhile, he says, if the Father is glorified. The exaltation of the Father was absolutely primary. It was paramount upon the mind of our Lord.

He was willing to be slain rejected, derided, abused, blasphemed, willing to be hung upon that cross because of no guilt of his own, be hissed by the people and cursed under God if the Father is glorified. That's the mind of our Lord. The glory of the Father is the absolute highest end in His heart. And indeed, the father is glorified. The father himself opens heaven and speaks with his own voice.

And he says, not only has he been glorified through his son, but he will also be glorified in his son. The very task, the very deed, the very event that is the cross of Jesus Christ will bring ultimate glory to the father. Now as we move on from that point, the cross of Christ is still in his mind. He opens his mouth once again to utter these words, the words that are before us in verses 31 and 32. And beloved, these are very weighty words.

We read them this afternoon, let me read them to you again just to bring them back to your mind. Jesus says, now is the judgment of the world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Now, when I divided up the text in my mind, when I thought about the bite-sized portions that I'm able to then preach one sermon at a time, I originally intended to preach through verse 31 and 32 in the one sermon. That was what I envisaged I'd be able to do. But however, as I thought through these verses, I quickly came to realize that I'd definitely bitten off far more than I can chew. The truths, beloved, in these two verses, in verse 31 and 32, they're very rich. They're very rich.

They're very theologically loaded as well. And so I decided to go a little bit slower than I originally first intended, especially in light, to be honest, of the second statement from the lips of our Lord. When he says, now the ruler of this world is cast out, I feel like I would like some time to flesh that out a little. So my intention, by God's grace, is to work through verse 31a, perhaps this evening, and perhaps we won't go as quickly as I first intended, but we trust that to the Lord. Now, to frame these verses up, that's verse 31 and 32, we simply need to realize that Jesus is making three absolute statements of fact.

Three glorious realities in these two verses that are about to take place because of His impending cross work, that is the work of Christ upon the cross there in Jerusalem on this Passover. You could say there's going to be three results, three outcomes, if you will. And they will be brought about through His death, and through His resurrection, and through His ascension to the right hand of the Father. And our Lord mentions them this way. First he begins by saying, now is the judgment of the world.

Point number one. Statement number one. The cross will bring judgment to the world. The cross will bring judgment to the world. Then he goes on to say, now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

Statement number two, Satan will be cast out. Whatever that means, we'll get there. Whatever that means, Satan will be cast out. And then he goes on to say, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. So what Jesus is saying here in point number three, or statement number three is this, through his crucifixion, our Lord will draw all people unto himself.

The cross will bring judgment to the world. Satan will be cast out, whatever that means. And three, through his crucifixion, our Lord will draw all people to himself. Now my intention, by God's grace, is to unpack these one at a time. But this afternoon, as I said earlier, we'll concentrate our efforts on the first one.

And that is, now is the judgment of the world. Now is the judgment of the world, our Lord is saying. The first question I have is, what does he mean by these words? And believe me, many people say many different things in relation to what these words could mean. But we know what judgment means.

We're Christians and we have our Bibles in our hands and we have a fairly good understanding, I hope, of what judgment is. But the question I need to ask, in what way is the world going to be judged? So this is due to the cross work of our Lord. In what way is the world going to be judged? Well, let's begin by understanding the audience of Christ, because He's not speaking in a vacuum.

He's speaking to a people there in the first century, a few days from His cross work, and He's speaking to a people, and the people He's speaking to is there in Jerusalem. As I've said over the last few weeks, He's very likely, according to Luke, in the temple space, and predominantly the people who have come to hear Him speak are Jews, they are Israelites, these are men and women who are very well familiar with the Torah, with the Scripture, they're well familiar with the Word of God. Now there has been a few that have come in who are Greeks, we know that, but the predominant amount of people before him would be most likely the Jews. Throughout the Old Testament, the topic of judgment is prevalent. The theme runs through the whole of the Old Testament, especially divinely appointed judgment.

It's everywhere in the Old Testament Scripture, and that's what Jesus is speaking about, judgment. Now brethren, although the term judgment may be translated decision, or determination, as in one to make a determination, a judgment, and is itself a neutral word, for the most part, when scripture uses that word judgment, almost always it carries a negative connotation. Almost every time. And that's why the word judgment is quite often translated to us, or for us, in the scripture, condemnation. Same word, judgment and condemnation.

It's very much a negative, negative outcome. Basically, when talking biblically, when we're talking about the scripture, judgment is divinely appointed condemnation upon the guilty. It's divinely appointed condemnation upon the guilty. Now it's also true, and we have to say this, that we find in Scripture many examples of judgment enacted by human institutions. And I have to preface that because I've just said that judgment is divinely appointed.

So what happens when you have a human institution like a judge or a king or quite often in the old covenant the priests were entrusted to make judicial decisions on behalf of the people of Israel. But beloved, as we know, as readers of the Scripture and the Jews, those who were before our Lord would have knew also, according to Holy Writ, the human judges were acting as vice-regents, if you will, or as representatives of Yahweh Himself. They themselves would sit upon the seat of judgment on behalf of Yahweh, on behalf of God. Because only Yahweh, only God is the true judge. That's a theme that runs through the whole of the Old Testament and in fact the New.

Only God is the true judge. And anyone who is under God's authority, enacting that judgment by way of human institution, they do it on behalf of God. Jehoshaphat, the king Jehoshaphat, in 2 Chronicles chapter 19, he brings out this point. Because he's one king who was to some degree righteous, and he put judges in all the cities. To adjudicate on behalf of the people.

And then when he does, this is what he says in 2 Chronicles 19. He says, Do you get that? On behalf of God and God is with you. Be careful how you judge. That's why judges in Psalm 82, you might remember back when we discovered or when we unpacked John chapter 10, Psalm 82, that's why judges are actually called God's small g.

Because it's so to speak they're sitting on the seat of God doing something that belongs to God on behalf of God. Because God is the ultimate judge. God is the true judge. And God's justice is massive throughout the scripture. Now beloved, we have to say this, so many in our day, they love to highlight the attributes of God all over and they're very eager to highlight many of His attributes, but they want to overlook His justice.

Emphasizing Yahweh is a God who is merciful. Amen. That He's gracious. Amen. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Amen and amen. Praise the Lord, that is so true. but we must take into account the whole counsel of God. And if we do, we must recognize that the God who's gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love, at the same time, He is a God whose throne is founded upon righteousness and justice. I mentioned that last week also, Psalm 89.

So to have a balanced view of God, A balanced view is a view that is revealed to us in Scripture because we know nothing of God apart from what is revealed to us in His Word. But to have a balanced view, we must exalt all of God's attributes. We must emphasize all of God's attributes, all of them, including His justice. And when we do this, beloved, we'll quickly come to realize that our God, our triune God, is perfectly just in all of His ways. He's perfectly just in all of His judgments.

All of them. We learn that our gracious, loving God, through Scripture, and in His good pleasure, we learn He's been pleased to dwell among His people. He's been pleased to dwell among the work of His own hands. We see that in the garden. How remarkable that the Creator God would create and then He would dwell among His people.

Is there a greater privilege for mankind than to know God? Than to dwell with God? For God to dwell with mankind. Beloved, there is no greater privilege. I've said that over and again.

There is no greater privilege for mankind than to be in the presence of God. But at the same time, He's perfect, and He's good, and He's righteous, and He's thrice holy. His standards must be met. You see, one needs to be fitting to stand before the Lord. If he's going to dwell among his people, if he's going to have an intimate fellowship or relationship with his people, then his people need to be filling or feeding for his presence.

That means they must be obedient in their heart to this good God. So He has revealed what that obedience entails. If one needs to be obedient to remain in the presence of God, then what is obedience? That's a good question. God has revealed that to mankind.

He's revealed what His righteous standards are, and He demands nothing short, beloved, nothing short of perfect obedience to them. If we work our way through Scripture, one thing we know thus far is God requires perfection. And the only disposition of the creature before the Creator God ought to be one of obedience. Your wish is my command. That should be the heart of the creature.

And therefore, beloved, if God demands obedience, then how does He look upon disobedience? If God has made His His law, what is required to please Him. If He made His high standards, He's put them on display for His people to see them and to obey Him in them, then a good and holy God, a God who's thrice holy, then what is His disposition to be towards those who disobey Him? Beloved, disobedience must be met with divinely appointed judgment. It must, it must, it must.

In this life or the next, all disobedience will be judged. We have so many occasions in scripture of the divinely appointed judgment in this life. We see the mighty hand of Yahweh through the Old Testament. We see that example in so many instances, both on the pagan nations who don't have his law. as well as the people of Israel who are the people of the covenant.

And what we'll see next week, we also see his divinely appointed judgment even upon spiritual beings created to minister to him. Beloved, disobedience, unrighteousness must be dealt with by God. It must be recompensed in this life or the next. Now one thing, any sincere person, even superficial understanding of scripture must acknowledge this, that Yahweh is just, as I said earlier, and therefore the recipients of his judgment are all guilty as charged. We have to realize that, we have to think that through.

That anyone who receives judgment from God, whatever that judgment be, because God is just and He sits on the throne of righteousness and justice, then whatever that judgment be, if one is the recipient of the judgment of God, we must, we must, we must agree. Scripture tells us that whoever receives that judgment, they are guilty as charged and they are without excuse. Unlike human courts, and we may have experienced or at least read of human courts, that can get things wrong. When the hammer comes down, when the gavel comes down, new information can come up and they have to revisit the case. How many people are put in prison or how many people have been punished or penalized when they shouldn't have been?

The human courts get it wrong because they lack something that God doesn't lack and that is omniscience. They lack all knowledge. God knows all, He sees all. He sees through the crepus of everyone's heart. There is no information that is required for God to judge that He doesn't have from the very beginning.

His decisions, His verdict, His judgment are final and they will never ever be overturned. He knows Who is guilty? And why they are guilty? And when he judges, when he recompenses, when he puts punishment upon the guilty, none of the guilty can say in sincerity, but I didn't know. Why are you punishing me for something I did not know?

The guilty know. They know when they've crossed the line of innocence, beloved. Because the Lord has made his expectations known in one way or another, and man will be judged accordingly. Let me give you an example, or give you a few examples. In the garden, let's go back to the creation of man.

Right back to the gardens, probably the best place. Sorry, I'm starting a little today. I'll get some water. The best place to start isn't in creation. If you remember, God created Adam, created Eve.

They had the glorious privilege of communing with the Lord in the cool of the day. What an incredible privilege. But God also gave Adam his expectations. That I will dwell with you, but there are certain expectations I require from my creatures, from my image bearers. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Lord said.

That's his command. Adam couldn't stand back and say, but I didn't know. I didn't know those details. You didn't tell me. No, no.

It was very clear. Do not eat. Eat of all the trees, but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was God's command. Obedience is required.

It's very clear. The punishment? Then the Lord added, for the day you eat of it, die you shall die. Is Adam with excuse? No.

The same can be said about His covenant people, the people who covenanted with God, the people in the lineage of Abraham. On Sinai, God revealed His law. In Adam, it was a spoken word of God, and on Sinai, it was the written word of God. He wrote the ten words on those two tablets of stone with His finger, we're told. gave them his law.

The summary of the law we're told is essentially to love God with all heart, soul, strength and mind and also to love neighbor as yourself. You do that and the law has nothing on you. Was Israel with excuse? No. Breaking the law would bring upon it curses and disobedience.

Pretty scary. But to obey would bring blessing from God and he'll be their God and they shall always be his people. That's good. So we know Adam and we know We know the covenant people, but what about the Gentiles? What about those who are not inside the covenant?

Those who are not part of the covenant? Those who didn't have the privilege of the oracles of God and the law of God and the statutes and the rules that God had given the people of Israel? Well, God also made the Gentiles aware of His expectations. He also wrote the works of the law in their hearts, we're told. For the works of the law is written upon their hearts, and their conscience bears witness to it.

Romans chapter 2. Violation of their conscience will bring an internal conviction. An internal conviction of wrongdoing. That means, if they did not have the law of God, they still knew innately inside here, because God has planted it in them, what is right. and what is wrong, what is good, and what is evil.

They may not have had the specifics of the people of Israel, but they knew innately what was right and wrong, and they will be judged according to what they know, according to their conscience. No one is with excuse, beloved. When judgment comes from God, it is guilty as charged and no one can stand before Him and say, but I didn't know. There were things you needed to tell me. God is a just God.

And when it's all said and done, no one has a say. No one can come back and, what's the word when you go back to court? Retrial. You can't get one because God's perfect in all His ways from the very beginning. So part and parcel of the Jews understanding of Yahweh is that he's a just judge.

And they've got that understanding from the scripture as we've explored some detail previously. And also that he's a God who must, who must judge all unrighteousness. He's a God who must judge wickedness and rebellion and sin. And no doubt, when the concept of judgment was uttered from the mouth of our Lord here in John chapter 12, no doubt it's the words like in the Ecclesiastes, which is so very clear, Ecclesiastes 12 verse 14, that rings in their ear where it's written, for God will bring every deed into judgment, every deed into judgment, with every secret thing. I don't know about you, but that's terrifying.

There are no secrets before his eyes. With every secret deed, whether good or evil, He will bring it out. He's the all-seeing God who knows all and He sees all. The question I need to ask of the audience of Christ is, did these Jews who are before Him, did these people in the crowd, did they understand these words to refer to themselves? Or were they thinking this judgment of God will be upon others?

You know, like the evil, uncircumcised people of the nations. Beloved, sadly, the judgment of God to come was deemed upon or by these people not to come upon themselves, but upon others. They didn't see themselves as unrighteous. They could read the Torah, they could read the Scripture, and they could see that their fathers committed many unrighteousness. They could see that their fathers were idolaters, and they believe now that they're back in Jerusalem after the exile, and they've come back, now they're under Roman rule, they believe that they no longer submitted to idolatry.

To some degree, that is true. They no longer put the Baals and the Ashtoreths and the Dagons and bent their knee to them. But what about the heart? Were they still guilty in the heart? Because of this understanding, when the Jews heard about judgment, what came to their mind more than likely is that great and terrible day of the Lord.

They were thinking of the day of the Lord. Because that's a theme that runs throughout the whole of the Old Covenant, and it's especially linked to the coming of the Messianic Kingdom. So when they thought judgment, judgment upon the world, they weren't thinking so much judgment's gonna come on us, the Messiah is on our side. Judgment's gonna come through the Messiah onto others. And so the Day of the Lord would be fresh on their mind.

Very likely there's passages that go throughout the text of Scripture. Let me give you a couple. Joel 2, 1 and 2. Maybe Isaiah chapter 13. A little bit further down that same chapter in Isaiah chapter 13.

Behold the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolate, sorry, a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. Give one more good measure, Ezekiel chapter 30. Wail alas for the day, for the day is near, the day of the Lord is near. It will be a day of clouds and a time of doom for the nations. I said that the day of the Lord is normally one that's associated in the mind of the Jews that is linked to the messianic kingdom that is to come.

Malachi chapter 4 is one of those texts that speaks to that. There we read, Behold, I will send you Elijah. When did Elijah come? Remember Jesus said, if you could have it, Elijah has come, John the Baptist. I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord.

They believe that the Messianic King will come and with the Messiah, he'll bring and usher in that great and terrible day of the Lord, which is very much intrinsically linked to God's judgment. And when Jesus opens his mouth and says, the judgment now is the judgment of the world, this may be what they're thinking. In fact, the Jews in their synagogues would sing on every Sabbath, they would say, Elijah, come, because they didn't recognize John the Baptist to be Elijah. They would sing, Elijah, come and bring with you Messiah, the Son, the Son of David. It's likely at first, our Lord's words, now is the judgment of the world, were understood as the day of judgment in the mind of these people, same day as foretold in the old covenant and although a number of prophecies pertaining to the day of the Lord had already been fulfilled and some of the ones I've already read for you had already been fulfilled, the principle still rang true because they knew there was still yet a coming day of the Lord.

And they thought in their mind that Yahweh will come through his Messiah and he'll judge our enemies and he'll exalt us, his people. So when Jesus says, now is the judgment of the world, they would be in agreement with him. Remember, they're still thinking at this stage that this could be our king, this could be our Messiah. They had no problems with Jesus speaking about the judgment to come, because they weren't going to be the recipients of the judgment. Why should they care?

The judgment's going to come upon the nations. It'll come upon Rome and the rulers of the day, but not so much upon them. And I can tell you, they didn't care as much. Because of the words of our Lord about judgment. Because as we go on in the text, their pushback against our Lord after he's finished speaking is not in relation with judgment.

They had no problem with judgment. They had a problem with the Messiah must die. That was the issue they took. That the Messiah would necessarily have to die. And from there, things begin going downhill very quickly for their, I guess, affection for Christ and them perceiving Him as King.

But more on that in coming weeks. They had no problems with the dawning of the day of the Lord because they were eagerly expecting it. It was a positive for them. As far as they're concerned, for centuries they looked forward to that day that the Messiah would come and judge the heathen and destroy the enemies of Israel and of course elevate the Jews to a position of honor as the privileged people of Yahweh once and for all. There was some truth in the day of the Lord coming, or being the dawn of the day of the Lord coming in through the Messiah.

There is a truth in that. But beloved, as we know the scripture, there's always an already and not yet element in that, that some of the things have been fulfilled and some are yet to be fulfilled in the final day. And judgment has been seen in the cross work of Christ. Our Lord opens his mouth and says as much before us. But there is a final day, a day in the final consummation when all things will be judged, the great white throne judgment.

The problem here and the devastating thing is that the Jews were mistaken as to who would be the recipients of that judgment. Because the judgment spoken of here in John chapter 12, the judgment that in their mind the Messiah brings in the first advent was going to be on others. But in fact, it wasn't primarily the heathen that was in the mind of our Lord, but the Jew, because it was them that crucified the Lord of glory. Imagine how devastating it is to get that one wrong. Here the Jews in Jerusalem are still somewhat, for now, excited to usher in the reign of the Messianic King, thinking Jesus in some way may still be that King.

Excited to see the day of the Lord because they're thinking that judgment will come on others, not on us. Thinking that they're automatically going to be accepted by God because they're the recipients of his grace and his mercy and his love, after all they are the people of the covenant. When Jesus is declaring judgment upon them and they did not know any better. blind to see, because they thought God would punish the nations for their sakes because they are the apple of his eye. But God sees the heart, and God cannot be mocked.

They thought that we worship Yahweh, we have the temple, we have the Levitical priests, we have the holy of holy place, we have the bronze altar, we worship Yahweh, we do all the right things, Can they not see that God can see the heart? That God is not so much concerned with the action as much as He's concerned with the heart. And if it's cold and mechanical and heartless, God will not accept it. Did they fear the Lord? Did they love the Lord?

How the God of this age has put a veil over their eyes and deceived them. as he has deceived many in our day. The dawn of the great and terrible day of the Lord ought not have excited them, but it ought have brought terror to their hearts. This is a day not of freedom, but of judgment. If only they heeded the warnings of the many prophets of the past who warned about this type of attitude.

Thinking that somehow you're protected because you have that label. That you are the covenant people of God. We're from Israel. We're from the loins of Abraham. We're okay.

From these rocks, I can make children for God, for Yahweh. What does it matter if that's your lineage, but your heart is far from him? That you worship with your mouth, but your heart is far from him? I love what the prophet Amos says. Generations earlier, the prophecy that he makes has already been fulfilled with the northern kingdom.

But it seems to me that there's a dual fulfillment because he speaks so prophetically about this faithless generation before the Lord. Let's open our Bibles to Amos. Amos chapter 5. Amos chapter 5. If you have bad memory like me, it's okay.

Let me give you a hint. Amos is the third prophet in the minor prophets. So you have the major prophets ending in Daniel, and then you have Hosea, and then you have Joel, and then you have Amos. Amos chapter 5, and we'll be reading from verse 18. Amos chapter 5.

Verse 18. Beloved, this sermon is going to be directed very much in the context of the people of Israel, of the Jews before our Lord in the first century. But please, by God's grace, know that the principle and the spirit of that age is still available and still alive now. So we need to be testing our hearts that we don't have a smug attitude towards the thing of God. Or that we don't have false ideas of protection or safety.

Thinking that somehow because we've said a prayer in the past or because we profess the name of Christ that somehow we actually belong to Him. This is what it reads from Amos chapter 5 from verse 18. in a way of warning. It says, Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. Why would you have the day of the Lord?

It is darkness and not light. As if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him. Or he went into a house and leaned his hand against the wall and a serpent bit him. Did you see what the Lord is saying here? Yahweh is saying, don't you get it?

You so eagerly desire the day of the Lord because in your mind you have nothing to worry about. In your mind you desire nothing more than to be rescued from your oppressors. If I was going to bring it back to the context of the first century, the desire to bring in the messianic kingdom, the desire for Him to bring with Him the day of the Lord will bring about judgment upon others and clean up and get rid of the rulers of the day and put us in the place of prestige on the pedestal where we belong. The day of the Lord, bring it on because it's only positive for us. And then the examples Amos gives is you're escaping a lion, you're thinking how bad is it under the Romans to come in the hands of God something more furious, more ferocious, a bear.

Or then he says, you think the day of the Lord is like taking refuge, you finally get out from the elements, because it's really bad out there, and you come to a home and you think, ah, I can find refuge, I can find safety, I can find security, and only to find that there's a deadly adder that bites your hand and puts poison into your body. Do you honestly think that if you haven't examined your hearts, that the day of the Lord is going to be a day of joy, Amos is saying it's going to be worse than what you've ever experienced. He goes on, verse 20, is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? And gloom with no brightness in it? Beloved, hear these words, I hate, I despise your feasts I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs. To the melody of your harps, I will not listen. I don't know about you, but it's passages like these that really are terrifying.

Here one gets the glimpse of the heart of God, the heart of Yahweh. And beloved, he looks beyond the action. His eyes are all seeing, eyes that peer in the very deepest part of the soul. And he looks right into the motivation of the heart. You're excited to see the day of the Lord?

Then you know, for you, it's a day not of light. God of darkness. But Yahweh, we did everything you asked. We observed your rules. We partook in your feasts.

We offered your sacrifices. Did you not know that God can see the heart? Do you not know that God can spot superficial worship devoid of love from a mile away? Those words, therefore I hate, I despise, just to make sure they get the point, your feasts. But you commanded those feasts, but I hate them.

I take no delight in the solemn assemblies, but you, you're the one who commanded that we assemble in this way, but I hate them. I reject your sacrifices, but Yahweh, this is a command, it's in the law. The Levitical system is all about sacrifices. Yes, but I hate them because they come from a heart devoid of love for me. You do it because you're just going through the motions.

Then he goes on, why I cannot even bear to hear your voices. So I come in judgment, he says, and they didn't understand. that the Lord is not impressed by their actions. He looks at the motivation of the heart. You see, beloved, this is very important that we know this and we understand it as new covenant Christians.

The old covenant, the rituals, the feasts, the sacrifices, hear this, even the law were not ends in themselves, but they were means to a greater ends. God is not impressed by the performance of the Israelites because they would always fall short of the mark. That's the plight of humanity. We all will fall short of the mark. That's what it is to be sinful mankind, to have a sinful nature, to be born in Adam.

Sinful man can never achieve the perfect righteous standards that God requires. Never! Never! If you can't reach the righteous standards of God, and we gave examples that Adam and Eve were created innocent. They didn't have a sinful nature, and yet they both sinned in the garden.

And ever since then, every single human being who's ever walked on this earth, bar our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is not polluted by original sin, every single one has never been able to meet the absolute high standards, perfect standards of the Almighty God, then how is it that these people, the people of Israel, who have been given the oracles of God, and the law of God, and the commands of God, how is it that they have been given the law, the righteous law? The standard of God for them to live by. The holy expectations that Yahweh demands and will not accept anything short of that. How are they going to act now that they know that they cannot, no matter what they do, observe it. They can't obey it.

They can't meet that perfect righteousness that God requires. And what are they to do? It is meant to bring them to their knees. It's meant to bring them in faith, to apprehend God, to say to God, if this is going to end well for me, you've got to do something about it. And I'm going to trust you because I can look nowhere else.

Everything you have given me is to point my eyes to you, O Lord, that you are going to provide. If this is going to end well for me, you must provide the atonement and I'm going to trust you. That's it. That's it. No hope in their obedience.

No hope in the rituals. No hope in sacrifices. Their only hope is God alone. That's it. Yahweh would have to provide, otherwise they'll be undone.

That's it. They will remain humble before Him to recognize apart from His provision, apart from His unmerited mercy and His unmerited grace, They have absolutely no chance, just like every other human being who's ever walked this planet. You see, the Old Covenant is predicated upon obedience. It was always meant to be prophetic. It was always meant to have Israel fix their eyes upon Yahweh, trusting that He'll provide whatever is required.

They had a brief understanding, they didn't have an in-depth understanding, but somehow, by having faith in Him, they would obey His rules and His statutes, not because they want to tick those boxes or go through the motions, but because they truly believed Him. and their obedience was a result of their trust, their trust in Him. And if He's the only one who can provide for their salvation, they had to look to Him by faith and walk, walk as He would want them to walk, because they themselves cannot provide what is required to be saved. Yahweh must provide. Now let's bring it back to Jerusalem.

Let's bring it back to the time of Jesus. It's the time of the Passover, and Jesus our Lord says, now is the judgment of this world. I said it earlier, the Jews ought to have been terrified by these words, but it doesn't seem like they were. Because in a few days time, that provision of Yahweh, The good and gracious and merciful God who knows that none of His people can fulfill His righteous standards, yet at the same time, we've spoken about His justice, He cannot look away and remain just. He needs to retain the perfection of His attributes, of His properties.

And here we have His provision. For millennia, these people are waiting for this fulfillment of the temple and the tabernacle and the sacrificial system and everything that God had spoke to them. The fulfillment of the law and the prophets and everything of the old. And finally God provides for them. Now how do we know that these people, how do we know these people take him in contempt because in a few days time, after he tells them now in a few verses time that the Messiah must suffer and die, he must be lifted up, they don't want any part of him and in a few days time they'll be crying out, crucify him.

Crucify him. They reject the Lord. They reject him. And you might be asking at this point, knowing how this all ends, and as Christians we know, we've read the book, we've read the gospel, we know how it ends. And you might be asking, how is it that God's judgment, how is it my project, this is God's judgment of the world?

It looks more like the world is judging God. It looks more like the world is judging Christ and therefore rejecting Him and then sending Him over to be crucified in the worst of deaths. That's exactly how the world is being judged. It's being judged through its rejection of the incarnate Son of God, the very provision of God for the salvation of mankind. That's how the world is being judged.

Because by rejecting Christ, they're rejecting God Himself, the only provision from God to bring atonement for sins, and they have rejected Him. Beloved, the Lord our God is the full expression of God in flesh. The fullness of deity dwells in Him bodily, we're told. He's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. He's the only hope of salvation.

And how did the people receive Him? How did they judge Him? Let's see. They called Him a glutton. They called Him a sinner.

They called Him a Samaritan, one of the Worst things you could say to a Jew. They called him a deceiver, a blasphemer, demon possessed. They called him Beelzebub. And then they went on to say that all his power, the power to heal, the power to cast out demons, his power is given to him by Satan himself. You know that thing called the unpardonable sin.

And right now having desire to declare him, at least for this moment, as king, Because at the moment they can still foresee Him being that Messiah that they would want to depose Rome and give them back the land and the temple and the autonomy that they once enjoyed when they shortly realized that He came to die. That's the last straw. Take Him away. We have nothing to do with this Messiah. Crucify Him.

And judgment has come upon the world because of their rejection of Christ. Because as I said earlier, to reject Christ is to reject the only true God. It's to reject salvation. The gavel from heaven has come down guilty. Guilty!

You reject Jesus and you reject your only hope of salvation. You reject the only true God. Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. John chapter 5 verse 23. Judgment has come and the divine gavel of God has come down guilty.

Now we can step back for a moment because there might be some questions in your minds regarding what Jesus just said about the judgment has now come. Jesus is going towards the cross and now is the judgment of the world. But we know that Jesus' advent, his first advent, wasn't to judge. You remember that. It wasn't actually to judge.

He says the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. That's His intention. That's His primary purpose. To seek and save that which was lost. Luke 19 verse 10.

He didn't come to judge. He didn't come to condemn. He even makes the point here, further down in the text, in John chapter 12, verse 47, he says, This is only a few verses after what we have before us. Now is the judgment of the world. The message of Christ has been a message of salvation from the very beginning.

It hasn't been a message of judgment. Even from the beginning back there in John chapter 3, when he finished with Nicodemus, that great teacher of Israel, we read, So how are we to understand when Jesus says, now is the judgment of the world, if Jesus came to save and not to judge? John 3 gives us the answer because it goes on. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn or judge. That's the same word, actually, as here in John chapter 12.

So it's the same word, same root word from judgment. He didn't come to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Then He goes on to say, whoever believes in Him is not condemned or judged, but whoever does not believe is condemned, is judged. Judgment has come already. Already.

Jesus says that word, already. Because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. So for unbelievers, Jesus is saying in John chapter 3, a few years back, He's saying for the unbeliever, He who does not believe in Me, although I have come to save the world, if you don't believe in Me, you're already judged. You're already judged. He goes on to say in verse 19, And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works are evil. Verse 20, But everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be seen clearly that his works have been carried out in God. You see, that's a lot of text. There's a lot in there.

But do you see how all this works out? The advent of the Son of God in flesh has a primary purpose to bring salvation to the world. But by virtue of the world's rejection of Him, the world is now judged. You know why? Where else are they going to go?

There's no other Savior. You reject the only Savior. You're judged. The only path is death because He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life. Whatever path, there's millions of paths you can take.

You reject this Savior and you're judged already. He's the only Savior. There's no other way to be forgiven of your sins. There is no other way to be reconciled to a thrice holy God who cannot look upon sin. To reject the Son of God is to reject God's provision for salvation.

To choose death and to reject life. The verdict from heaven, the gavel comes down. Guilty. Reject the Son and you don't have to wait for the final judgment. You are rendered guilty.

That's the consequence of rejecting the Lord even before the final judgment. You will bear the final judgment. The penalty of that rejection will come at a later point in time. But you're rendered guilty. You see, Jesus has come to expose the state of the heart.

Because the light has come, He says in John chapter 3 verse 19. And man has run into darkness because he loves his or her sins. The light has come and the rejection of that light is to run away from the light. We don't want to see it. The Jews have tried to snuff out that light by taking his life.

Jesus, beloved, is genuinely saying he has come not to condemn but to save. That was his primary intention. That was his purpose. But I want you to think about it this way. Jesus came to save.

But he is the brilliant light of God. He is the light of the world. And he who follows after me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. What is the purpose of light? It's to shine.

It's to reveal, it's to expose, and that's His purpose. To reveal the heart for what it is, and for man to recognize, I need this Savior. I'm undone without Him. When that light comes upon the soul, there is nothing you can do. You know you're under God's judgment.

You can either embrace Christ, or you can run. You can run into the darkness. But there's a consequence of that light, is there not? Because when that light shines on an object, the consequence is also it creates a shadow. And so those who don't remain in the light, who don't believe upon the light of Lord Jesus Christ, but rather are too ashamed because of the exposure and the revelation of their hearts and their seeing they cannot look upon him, then they run into the shadow.

By virtue of the fact that Christ has come to shine the light, He's also created a shadow for people to get into and run away from the light. Because they choose death rather than life. And they were judged already because they have rejected the Son of God. Whoever has the Son has life. And whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

1 John 5, 12. As I said earlier, they will have to wait the final judgment to bear the penalty of their guilt. But the verdict is out. If you don't remain in the light, you're judged. So let me ask this final question.

What about those who do remain in the light? What about those who have had that light shine and the revelation of what their soul is like, the filth and the dirtiness and the wickedness of the soul, and that light has exposed who you are, who I am. My sins revealed. What about those who remain in the light? Will we be judged?

I know a story, and I'll end with this. It's of a woman. She was caught in the act of adultery. Her accusers came and grabbed her and dragged her before the Lord. They've cast her down before him.

Rabbi, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. We've judged her to be guilty. And then the Lord looks upon her engages with them for a moment and looks down to the ground and he says to them, he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. And he looks down to the ground and does what he does.