By
Rev. Todd W. Allen
Villa Rica Communion 4/3/05
John 12:20-33
The scripture we have read today
records a rather curious and unusual incident in the gospel of John. The
reason it is unusual is that in a narrative of important events at
Jerusalem we should be told that Greeks had come to the feast of the
Passover.
Since these men had come to worship
it is likely that they were “God-fearers”. They may have been proselytes
but if so they would scarcely have been described simply as Greeks. The
“God-fearers” were men who were attracted by the lofty morality and
monotheism of Judaism, but did not care to become full proselytes by
circumcision. They might visit Jerusalem for the great feasts, but they
could not pass beyond the court of the Gentiles when they went to the
temple.
These men would not necessarily
have come from Greece itself. There were many Greeks in Decapolis, for
example, and they could have come from such a place. At Passover time
worshipers came from widely scattered places throughout the Roman Empire
to join in the festivity.
They came to Philip and began to
ask him, saying,
“Sir, we wish
to see Jesus.”
Now anyone could see him as he moved
among the people but these men obviously desired to get to know him. We
are not told that they ever got to see him and talk with him. In the
continuation of the narrative Jesus neither immediately nor subsequently
makes any reference to them whatever. They appear briefly and then
disappear from the narrative, but obviously their coming had important
meaning for Jesus because he sees it as evidence that his mission has
reached its climax and that he is now to die for the world.
Jesus is the Savior of the world
and this group of Gentiles symbolically represents the world seeking
salvation from Jesus.
Jesus
answered^ them, saying,
“The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Had Jesus said this and no more it
would have been understood to mean that Jesus was about to establish
himself as the Messiah and take over the rule of this world. After all,
this was the expectation of the Jewish nation. Their messianic concept
was that when Messiah came he would reestablish the Davidic Kingdom,
deliver them from the Roman yoke and establish a worldwide dominion of
unparalleled prosperity and peace. That is undoubtedly how they would
have understood him to mean,
“The hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
But he follows up that tremendous
statement with words that do not sound as though he is to be glorified.
24“Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
In parabolic language he tells them
that he is about to go to his death in order that he might bear much
fruit. If he does not die there will be no fruit, no souls brought to
life out of his sacrifice of himself.
The gospel was for the Jews first
but not only for the Jews but for the Gentiles as well. The coming of
the Greeks asking to see him symbolically marked an end of that Old
Testament dispensation which was limited to one nation and her
proselytes. Now there will be a worldwide gathering in of the elect from
all peoples, tribes, tongues and nations. But first he must be glorified
though the cross.
His soul
became troubled. Let no one suppose that Jesus looked forward to the
cross. Humanly speaking he shrunk from having to go through with this
awful ordeal, this pathway to glory. But we see his resoluteness in the
rhetorical question to himself in which he queries whether he should
pray for the Father to save him from this terrible hour and then
immediately, in the same breath, answers his own parlay with himself to
proceed according to the divine plan:
{27}"Now my
heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this
hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. {28}Father,
glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it,
and will glorify it again."
We get this same troubled and
distressed state of heart in the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed
three times that he might be spared the cross and its agony and shame,
Father, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
And then two more times,
My Father, if
this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done.
Jesus might have backed out of the
cross. It was within his power to do so. He could have prayed to the
Father and, as he told Peter in the garden at the time of his arrest,
twelve legions of angels would have been dispatched to deliver him out
of the hands of his enemies. And even in that prayer in the Garden he
could have prayed differently. But his will was ever the Father’s will
and he would not do that.
Oh, beloved friends, do we have any
sense, any appreciation, any idea of the extreme agony that Jesus went
through for our souls to be saved? Is it not just some cosmic drama that
we are spectators to without any response of love and awe at what the
Son of God endured for our sakes? He was not compelled to do what he
did. He could have aborted the mission at the eleventh hour.
As that hour of darkness and horror
came upon him, knowing that it involved total rejection by both church
and state and a fleeing from him by all of his closest friends; knowing
that he must in that awful hour of death be abandoned even by the Father
as he bore the wrath of God against sin for all for whom he would die;
knowing that in that blackest of all hours all the forces of hell would
be arrayed against him to destroy him, he had the option of opting out
but would not and did not.
The glory
of the cross is to be seen in the sublimity of what was accomplished by
his death for us. For one thing, it is the only way that any of us could
possibly be saved from death and hell. He alone of all the persons who
have ever lived or ever will live could have saved you and me from our
sins. Why do I say that? Because in order for anyone to be saved there
had to be a perfect man, a sinless man who could stand in our stead
before God as our substitute, taking upon himself our sin, our guilt,
our shame.
The wrath God must be poured out
upon every moral agent who sins against his Creator. He is the holy God
who cannot and will not even look upon sin, who must punish sin because
it is disobedience against His government, against his divine Being.
Paul Van Gorter tells of 900 German
soldiers summoned to appear before the World Court for violating
International Law after World War I. Their condemnation was certain. In
a dramatic move the former crown prince of Germany volunteered to be
their substitute. The noble offer was rejected. Even royalty did not
have in his person the value to atone for 900 men.
No angel could bear man’s sin. It
must be a man like Adam. It must be a man of pure and holy character who
had no sin debt of his own. There is none who could be found except
Jesus. There is none other name under heaven given whereby we must be
saved.
His glory is also in drawing to
himself through the cross a vast host of otherwise lost and doomed
sinners to spend eternity in heaven as glorified beings through nothing
that they had done but solely by what he did. There will be no other
ground for any soul being there save the cross of Christ. The glory for
their salvation will belong to him alone. Every redeemed soul will sing
the song of redemption:
In the cross of Christ I glory,
There for all was grace made free.
None deserving, yet receiving
Life thru death at Calvary.
In the cross of Christ I glory,
Not in power, wealth or fame.
In the cross sins curse is broken
For the sake of Jesus name.
--Tricia Walker
Yes, as He came to that hour it was
to be glorified, and so he prayed,
28“Father,
glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both
glorified it, and will glorify it again
Have you seen the glory of the
cross? Come to the Lord’s Table today with Thanksgiving and praise for
what Jesus Christ did for you, a redemptive feat that no other could
have done?
As we remember Him today may we see
in the bread and the cup his agony and shame as the glory of God for us
sinners. Ours is the sin, but his the righteousness, ours is the guilt,
but his the cleansing blood. In the cross we find our robe of
righteousness, our refuge from the wrath of God that would surely have
come to us had he not taken that cup of death and wrath on our behalf.
Beloved
in the Lord, hear what gracious words our Savior Jesus Christ says to
all who truly turn to Him.
Come unto Me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls.
I am the
bread of life: He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on Me shall never thirst. Him that cometh to Me I will in no
wise cast out. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled
Truly,
truly, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I
am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and
are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the
bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of
the world.
We invite all who repent of their sins
and who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and desire to live
as becometh followers of Christ;
also all
communicants in good standing
in any evangelical church to participate. We also invite all
non-communicants to remain as well.
WORDS OF
INSTITUTION
1st Corinthians 11:23-34
Hear the Words of Institution of the
Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, as they are delivered by the
Apostle Paul:
23For
I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the
Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and
when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
“This is My body, which is for you; do
this in remembrance of Me.” 25In the same way He took
the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My
blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the
cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
27Therefore
whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28But
a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread
and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks, eats and
drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number
sleep. 31But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be
judged. 32But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the
Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
33So
then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will
not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange
when I come.”
Let Us Pray
-- Most gracious Father, who
callest us to the Holy Table of our Savior, to show His death and to
receive His gift of life: enable us to come with earnest faith and
kindled devotion,. Help us to make the memorial of our Savior's
sacrifice with adoration and praise. Open our eyes to behold the vision
of His love, and pour into our souls the fullness of His grace. And
grant that, yielding ourselves to Thee, we may henceforth live as those
who are not their own, but are brought with a price; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen
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The paper and sermon manuscripts from
Pastor
Todd W. Allen
are made freely available for review and
distribution. We only request that proper
web page attribution be provided if
distributed for any reason. Please be
gracious to forgive typos and errors of
expression. These notes are faithful
approximations of what has been preached.
May God be glorified in the preaching of
His Word.