Last Call

If you would open up your Bibles to John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

It's on page 1068 of your pew Bible.

!

We've got something controversial here.

Let me just pray for us one more time.

Father, would you pour out your Spirit upon us that Jesus would be magnified now.

Cause all hearts in the room to rise to the King.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You know, there are certain names of people that if you bring up in a conversation,

you're going to get an immediate response because they're controversial.

Do you remember the whole Bad Bunny situation in the Super Bowl?

Controversial.

If you bring up Anthony Fauci's name in conversation, it's going to be controversial.

If you bring up Donald Trump's name in a conversation, it'll be controversial.

But the most controversial person that has ever walked on the planet is Jesus Christ by far.

You bring his name up in a conversation.

And you're going to get a variety of responses.

And Jesus is controversial because of who he claimed to be and what he has claimed to do.

He claimed to be God in the flesh.

And he claims to be the only way by which a sinner can be saved.

And the question is, is that true?

Is he the King?

Is he your King?

Two weeks ago, when we were in John 10, there was controversy over these two titles that Jesus had claimed for himself.

The Christ or the Messiah, this long-awaited king, and the other title, Son of God, which means he's fully God.

And last week, after he raised Lazarus from the dead, in great controversy, the religious leaders started to plot his death.

They wanted to assassinate him.

And so here's John 12.

And John 12 is a bit of a pivot in the entire gospel of John.

Because John 12 is essentially Jesus' last call for people to believe in him.

It's his last public engagement of the crowds.

Next week, we'll start in on John 13, where Jesus will be interacting with his disciples.

And from there on out, we're going to have smaller interactions in more private settings between Jesus and people.

So this is a pivot.

This is a last call.

And there are a variety of reactions we're going to see in chapter 12.

We're going to first see an extravagant response.

It's going to be shocking.

And we're also going to see a response of false pretense, of some people who are trying to make the savior of their own making.

We're going to see unbelief of various kinds.

We're going to see the unbelief that's the result of loving money.

We're going to see the unbelief of fearing man.

All sorts of different responses.

Jesus is controversial.

Is Jesus the king?

Let me show you how we're going to walk through the passage.

We're going to look at his anointing.

We're going to look at his arrival into Jerusalem.

We're going to look at him and say, it's go time.

And then we have an explanation for why the Jews are not believing.

And then there's the last call.

The last two scenes of unbelief and the last call, I'm just going to touch on briefly.

So, is Jesus the king?

Is he your king?

And how do you respond to him?

So, let's look at verses 1 through 11.

Because of the amount of scripture we're going to be getting through, I'm just going to be summarizing as we work through the passage.

And in this passage, scene 1, this anointing, we see something unforgettable.

It's in verses 1 through 11.

Last week, we learned that after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees wanted to kill him.

And so, he left the area into the wilderness.

It was not his time to die.

But here, in chapter 12, it's now six days before the Passover.

And the Passover is this huge feast the Jews would observe in Jerusalem,

where they would remember God's deliverance of them from Egypt,

and they would kill lambs.

So, now Jesus, who had left the Jerusalem area because it was not his time to die,

is now comes back to Bethany because he's invited to come to a feast,

because he's the honored guest, because he's raised Lazarus from the dead.

And so, he goes back to Bethany, which is just under two miles away from Jerusalem,

and they gave a dinner for him.

Martha is there, and she's doing what she's known for.

She's serving.

Lazarus is there, who was raised from the dead.

He's reclining at the table next to Jesus.

And then the focus falls on Mary.

Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard

and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

The house was filled with fragrance of the perfume.

If you were in the room at this moment,

my guess is you'd be saying, this is extraordinary.

This, this is, it almost feels over the top.

The perfume, the nard, estimates have it in modern day money as around $45,000.

This is one of her prized possessions.

They would have been a wealthy family.

But, but in order for her to pour the nard onto his feet,

that means she had a certain posture.

Where do you think she was?

She was at his feet.

So not only is she offering her most prized possession,

her posture is one of at his feet.

And then the pride of women in the first century was their hair.

And what is she doing?

She's using her hair like, like a towel you clean somebody's feet with.

She's, she's, it's all submitted to Jesus.

It's, it's, it's the posture.

It's the prized possession.

It's, it's how she is anointing and spreading this perfume upon his feet.

It's, it's a picture of extravagance.

It's a picture of, this is extraordinary.

It's a picture in which, oh, she's all in.

It's a picture of full surrender.

She's all in.

All that she is, all that she has at the feet of Jesus.

She knows something.

This is the man who raised her brother from the dead.

This is the man who is the Christ, the son of God, the son of man.

This is the one who had healed a man born blind.

She knows who this is, even though he, she, he hasn't died.

And he hasn't been raised from the dead.

She has enough knowledge to know this is her king.

And so she's responding in kind.

What we see next is Judas in verses four through six.

Judas is like, hey, wait a second.

We're told here in verse four that he was the one who betrayed Jesus.

He's one of the disciples.

And in verse five, he says, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?

Sounds godly.

It sounds merciful, but it's just full of pretense because he's really a thief.

If you see in verse six, he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.

And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it.

Here's the thinking.

You know, we should sell this to the poor.

Put that 45 grand into the money bag and I'll help the poor.

You see what's going on there?

You know what it's a picture of?

It's the opposite of Mary.

It's selfishness, self-serving.

And so here we have at the outset of chapter 12,

a contrast between Mary's selfless devotion, extravagant,

and we have Judas's self-delusion.

And he's a disciple.

This goes on.

Something else happens in Bethany in verses nine through 11.

A large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was in Bethany.

They came because not only they want to see Jesus,

they want to see this guy who's been raised from the dead.

And then the Pharisees respond.

They're like, oh no.

People are going away and believing in Jesus.

And so you know what they do?

Look at verse 10.

They expand their murder plot to now include Lazarus.

So the evidence gets lost.

This is controversial.

People are willing to kill over this guy.

It's all revolving around Jesus.

We see extraordinary devotion.

We see this extraordinary delusion.

A disciple who's pilfering from the money bag.

And this extraordinary death making.

There's no question that the appropriate response being presented here is the Mary response.

And so maybe the question that you need to be asking yourself right now is,

what is keeping you from responding to King Jesus like Mary?

Full surrender.

All in for Jesus.

Posture.

Prize possessions.

The pride of your life.

All for him.

The second scene we come to is Jesus' arrival.

And that takes place in verses 12 through 19.

It's John's triumphal entry.

John's version of Palm Sunday.

And note, it's now the next day.

So five days closer to Passover when these lambs would be killed.

And now Jesus is entering Jerusalem.

Do you remember how John 11 ended?

There are these people from all over the countryside coming to Jerusalem.

And they were like, is Jesus going to show up?

Is he going to come?

And here he is.

Jesus is no coward.

He is on mission to bring glory to God his Father through his death and resurrection.

Well, he is met by a crowd.

And you can see that crowd.

12, the next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

And if you look at 17 and 18, this large crowd had heard about Jesus from the people that actually saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.

Word has spread.

The sign, verse 18, has gone out.

And now this huge crowd comes to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem.

And look what they're saying.

Hosanna!

Verse 13, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.

Our King has come.

Our King is here.

It's Psalm 118.25.

The thing is, they're missing why he has come.

There's a Hebrew word here.

Hosanna.

It means save us.

It means deliver us.

Save us.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Our Savior is here.

Even the King of Israel.

Our Deliverer has come.

The King has come.

What do you think they are planning this King to deliver them from?

Roman occupation.

To make Israel great again.

To cause Israel to stand on its own two feet.

To bring back glory to Israel.

But that's not why Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Jesus isn't coming into Jerusalem to deliver this people militarily or politically.

He's not on a war horse.

He is on a donkey.

Look at verses 14 and 15.

And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it.

Just that it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion.

Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

That's Zechariah 9.9.

Humble.

Seated on a donkey.

Coming into Jerusalem.

Bringing salvation with him.

Zechariah 9.9.

You see, Jesus is coming into Jerusalem.

Not to deliver people from the enemy of Rome.

He is coming into Jerusalem to deliver a new people from a greater enemy.

Sin and death and the devil.

That's why he's coming into Jerusalem.

He brings eternal life with him.

And so the misunderstanding is the crux of it is in the word Hosanna.

Save us.

They had made Jesus into a Savior King of their own making.

Make us great again.

You're the guy.

It's kind of like when someone claims to become a Christian

because they think that Jesus is going to, quote unquote,

make them the best version of themselves.

And what they have in mind in that is that Jesus is the means

to accomplish their appointed end.

This is what I want to do.

Jesus is going to get me there.

Jesus, you're great.

You're the King.

But the reality is when Jesus comes,

he takes over.

He doesn't exist for us.

We exist for him.

He's the King.

So in 14 and 15, Jesus finds the young donkey,

goes in,

and what we learn is that the disciples,

in verse 16,

they did not understand what was going on here at first.

But it wasn't until after Jesus was glorified,

after that he died,

that they remembered

and that these things had been written about him

and had been done to him.

It wasn't until after he was glorified

that they had the aha moment.

They were a little slow on the uptake.

We have a bunch of people who totally miss.

They want Jesus to be something that he wasn't.

And then we have these disciples

who are kind of slow on the uptick.

And the Pharisees again,

in verse 19,

said to one another,

you see that you are,

they're talking to one another,

you see that you are gaining nothing.

Look, the world has gone after him.

They're seeing Jesus entering into Jerusalem

to great fanfare.

And they're like,

we've lost the crowd.

Everybody,

the whole world is going after him.

It's like, oh no.

There's a variety of responses

to King Jesus coming into Jerusalem.

You have misunderstanding,

a distorted view of Jesus as King,

that he has come to make me what I want to be.

He's seen as a threat by the Pharisees.

There's confusion among the disciples

of what this really means.

And so, let's ask this question.

Like the misunderstanding crowd,

are you seeking to make Jesus

a King of your own making?

Are you wanting Jesus to make America great again?

Is that how you're seeing him?

To that end?

Or are you seeing Jesus

as a King of his own kingdom?

And when he calls people to himself

from every tribe, tongue, and nation in the world,

he doesn't call them to become Americans.

He calls them to become citizens of his kingdom.

That's what he died for.

I like to think of myself as a monarchist first

and as an American citizen second.

These disciples

who eventually realized

that Jesus is coming in humble

to establish a spiritual kingdom,

to bring spiritual salvation.

These men were eventually radically changed.

Radically changed.

They realized that Jesus came

to establish a kingdom

that will never end.

It's indestructible.

It's the Daniel 7 kingdom

given to the Son of Man.

Jesus' arrival.

It's controversial.

Who do you say he is?

Is he the King

who's come to take over?

To take everything over?

Scene 3.

Go time.

Go time.

This starts in verse 19.

So the Pharisees said to one another,

you see that you are gaining nothing.

Look, the world has gone after him.

And then look at verse 20.

Now among those who went up

to worship at the feast,

Passover,

were some Greeks,

some Gentiles,

some non-Jews,

people from very different nations

than Israel.

They are coming into Jerusalem

and look what they do.

They came to Philip

and then Philip went and told Andrew,

verse 22,

and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus

and they told them

that these Gentiles are like,

sir, we wish to see Jesus.

The whole world is going after him.

Gentiles are now seeking out Jesus.

And what Jesus says next

is the king speaking.

And Jesus answered them,

the hour has come.

It's go time.

The hour has come for the son of man

to be glorified.

The son of man is that title

from Daniel 7

in which God the father,

the ancient of days,

gives a kingdom

from every,

of people from every tribe,

tongue, and nation.

He gives them

to this son of man

who will establish a kingdom

that will last forever.

And he's saying here,

the hour has come

for the son of man

to be glorified,

to be exalted,

to be revealed.

And now the question is,

how will he be glorified?

God,

which makes verse 24

very interesting.

Here comes another

truly, truly.

We've seen this before.

It's Jesus saying,

hey, let me set the record straight.

Let me set the record straight

in what it means

for the son of man

to be glorified.

And he says,

unless a grain of wheat

falls into the earth

and dies,

it remains alone.

But if it dies,

it bears much fruit.

Well, that's really interesting.

When I think of

someone being glorified,

I don't think of death.

And what Jesus is saying,

I am going to be glorified

in my death.

I am going to be

like a grain of wheat

that falls into the ground,

dies,

and then brings life,

fruitfulness.

See what he's doing here?

The son of man

is going to be glorified

in a surprising manner.

This king,

who's coming in

on a donkey,

is saying that

he's going to be glorified

through his death.

And then he says,

verse 25,

whoever loves his life

loses it.

Now remember,

he's speaking to both

Jews and Gentiles here.

It is a crowd,

verse 34,

who's listening to him.

It's a mixed crowd.

He's like,

anyone who would come after me,

whether you're Jew

or Gentile,

whether you are

red, yellow,

black, or white,

you are precious

in his sight.

Anyone.

He says this,

whoever loves his life

loses it.

Wouldn't he?

I tend to think

if you love your life,

you're going to preserve

your life.

But that's not what

Jesus is saying.

Let's go on.

What else does he say?

Whoever loves his life

will lose it,

and whoever hates his life

in this world

will keep it

for eternal life.

What is going on?

Whoever hates his life

in this world,

he's the one,

she's the one

who has eternal life.

What?

This is how the kingdom works.

You see,

the way you enter

the kingdom of God,

how you're saved,

is informed

by how the king

established his kingdom.

Jesus died

in order

to gather

a people

for himself,

and now we,

his people,

come to him

not saying,

I'm going to live

my life my way.

We come to him saying,

I am all yours.

This is,

this is a revisit

to Mary.

This is,

this is,

I'm laying my life down,

posture,

price,

possessions,

the pride of my being.

It's all yours.

I am coming to you.

You,

you're the controlling center

of my life.

You've always been

the controlling center.

Now I,

I gladly come under you.

I gladly lay my life

in full surrender

to you.

That's what he's talking about.

Here,

here's,

here's another way

to say it.

You cannot

be fully devoted

to yourself

and fully devoted

to Jesus

simultaneously.

You got to choose

one or the other.

And the,

and in order to become

fully devoted to Jesus,

you need to hate yourself,

which is another way

you need to die

to yourself.

You need to die

to saying,

I'm in charge.

You need to die

to saying,

I'm living for my own glory.

You need to die

to saying things like,

I'm going to control

everything.

You got to die

to these things

and release them

to Jesus.

This is quite,

quite a way to say

it's go time.

Jesus is just days away

from dying on the cross.

And he says,

the hour

has

come.

And then,

he says,

if anyone serves me,

the father will not honor,

will honor him.

That's,

do you want to honor God,

the father?

Devote yourself

to Jesus Christ

and all that you are.

He delights in it.

Jesus is glorified.

God is glorified.

There's a couple other words

I want you to notice.

In verse 24,

excuse me,

in verse 23,

the hour has come

for the son of man

to be glorified.

Verse 27,

now

is my soul troubled

and what shall I say?

For,

father,

save me from this hour,

but for this purpose,

I have come

to this hour.

This hour,

this hour,

now.

It's,

it's go time.

And what Jesus is saying

is,

I am feeling

the weight

of what is about

to happen.

He's like,

what am I going to do?

Ask my father

to deliver me from that?

He's like,

no.

It's for this very purpose

that I have come

to this hour.

And the purpose

is to lay his life down.

To give his life for us.

That's why the king

has come.

It's go time.

And then we read

in verse 28,

Father,

glorify your name.

Then a voice

came from heaven.

I have glorified it

and I will glorify it again.

This is one of three spots

in the Gospels

in which God the Father

audibly speaks

with Jesus the Son

and present.

His baptism,

his transfiguration,

and hear.

And what do the crowds hear?

Did you hear that thunder?

Or other like,

there's an angel

speaking to him.

And what Jesus says

is extraordinary.

He's saying,

this voice has come.

This is verse 30.

This voice has come

for your sake,

not mine.

It's for our sake

that this voice

of God the Father

spoke.

spoke.

And here's why that is.

It assures us

that what is unfolding

before our eyes

is the plan

of God Almighty.

This is no accident.

This is right

according to plan.

God is sovereignly

carrying out

his plan

for the fullness

of time

in which he will

be glorified

with Jesus

at the center

of it all.

It's for us.

We hear this voice.

And then comes

another now.

Jesus is going to die.

The time has come.

The hour is here.

It's go time.

Now is the judgment

of this world.

The death of Jesus

is a judgment.

God pours out

his wrath

in judgment

upon all

of the sin.

The penalty for sin

on all who would believe.

It is judgment

at that moment.

Good Friday

which is just days away

from Jesus speaking this.

God would pour out

all of his wrath

for all of our sin

for one time

done.

Judgment.

Now will the ruler

of this world

be cast out.

When Jesus dies

on the cross

you can read this

if you want

in Revelation

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12

the devil gets

cast out of heaven

thrown down.

Victory.

Victory over the devil.

He no longer

is able to

make any kind

of accusation

against the brethren.

It's victory.

This king

on a donkey

coming into Jerusalem

it's go time.

he's going to die

and his death

is going to

bear God's judgment

for all who would believe

and it casts

down

casts out

the devil.

And then he says

in verse 32

and when I'm lifted up

from the earth

I will draw

all people

to myself.

That lifting up

is him referring

to his being

lifted up on the cross.

and that

is the thing.

His death

is the thing

when those

who hear

and understand

is what draws

us to Christ

because

his death

for our sin

is the greatest

news you can ever hear.

John said

he said this

to show

by what kind

of death

he was going

to die

but

it's met

with confusion

in the crowd.

The crowd

is like

we've heard

from the law

that the Christ

remains forever.

What do you mean

you're going to get

lifted up?

How can you say

that the Son of Man

look at what they're doing

they're saying

the Son of Man

and the Christ

are the same person.

How can you say

that the Son of Man

must be lifted up?

What do you mean

lifted up?

When the Christ

comes

he's going to

stay forever

he's going to

establish

a kingdom

that will never

end.

Who is the Son

of Man?

They're asking

Jesus.

And what Jesus

says is

I'll condense

it for you

I'm the light

of the world.

If you believe

in me

if you walk

in the light

you will not

you will no longer

be in darkness

but if you do not

walk in the light

you're going to

walk like one

walks in the dark

you're not going to

know where you're

going.

And so he says

while you have

the light

while you have

me here

because I'm just

days away

from my death

believe in the light

that you may

become sons

daughters

of light

to those who

received him

to them he gave

the right to

become children

of God

children of light

pulled out of

darkness

brought into

the light

delivered

from the domain

of darkness

transferred into

the kingdom

of his beloved

son.

What we have

going on here

is

is

is Jesus

just

saying

I'm here

I'm here

for all people

I am the king

who's come

into Jerusalem

and if you

believe in me

regardless of

your background

I am happy

to be your king

I will pay

for your sins

I will give you

eternal life

it's go time

Jesus has come

into the

to Jerusalem

it's go time

to die

it's go time

to glorify

his father

it's go time

to judge

it's go time

to cast out

the devil

it's go time

for those who

would believe

to become

children

of the light

are you a child

of light

do you know

that Jesus

went into

Jerusalem

to die

for you

the son

of man

the king

had to be

lifted up

that's scene

three

scene four

is a surprising

explanation

for unbelief

in verse 36

we read

while you

have the

light

believe in

the light

that you

may become

sons of

light

and then it

goes on

when Jesus

had said

these things

he departed

and hid

himself from

them

even though

it's five

days out

he says

these things

and then

he departs

and hides

himself

his time

to die

his moment

of death

has not yet

come

but look at

verse 37

though he

had done

so many

signs

before them

they still

did not

believe

in him

they still

did not

believe

and so

what John

does here

the writer

of the

gospel

of John

is he

then explains

their unbelief

why they

wouldn't

believe

and he

does so

by quoting

two passages

from Isaiah

the first

is Isaiah

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

chapter 53

so that the

word spoken

by the prophet

they did not

believe so that

the word spoken

by the prophet

Isaiah might

be fulfilled

their unbelief

fulfilled

what I'm about

to read to you

you ready

the first

verse may

not be

familiar

but the

second and

third will

who has

believed

what he has

heard from

us

and to whom

has the arm

of the Lord

been revealed

for he

grew up

before him

like a

young plant

and like a

root out

of dry

ground

he had

no form

or majesty

that we

should look

at him

and no

beauty

that we

should

desire

him

he was

despised

and rejected

by men

a man

of sorrows

and acquainted

with grief

and as one

from whom

men hide

their face

he was

despised

and we

esteemed

him not

that's

why they

weren't

believing

that

the

suffering

servant

the

Christ

had

come

and

they

they

rejected

him

he came

to his

own

and his

own

his very

own

did not

believe

him

and

they

are

personally

responsible

for

their

unbelief

they

still

did not

believe

they

didn't

believe

they're

responsible

for

their

unbelief

they

have

rejected

the

one

bringing

salvation

but then

we have

further

explanation

in

verse

39

and now

we get

into the

deep

end

of the

pool

listen

to what

he

says

therefore

they

could

not

believe

not

only

did

they

not

believe

and

they're

responsible

for

that

they

could

not

believe

why

couldn't

they

believe

listen

to where

he goes

this is

out of

Isaiah

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

chapter

6

he has

blinded

their

eyes

and

hardened

their

hearts

lest

they

see

with

their

eyes

and

understand

with

their

heart

in

turn

and I

would

heal

them

Isaiah

is

saying

the

reason

why

they

don't

believe

is

because

they're

responsible

for

that

but

underneath

that

all

God

has

hardened

their

hearts

it's

God

behind

this

that

can

make

you

uncomfortable

if

that

makes

you

uncomfortable

it's

actually

good

that

that

makes

you

uncomfortable

we're

seeing

God

sovereignty

operate

on a

level

that

we

tend

to

not

think

about

and

so

what

we

have

here

what

what

John

is

showing

us

is

both

human

responsibility

and

God's

sovereignty

when it

comes to

people

believing

in

Jesus

and

what

John

is

showing

us

it's

not

either

or

it's

both

and

it's

called

compatibilism

we

believe

that

it's

compatible

for

for

people

to be

fully

responsible

for

their

own

decisions

and

yet

God

is

completely

sovereign

over

all

things

it's

it's

mysterious

we

don't

get

it

let me

ask

you

this

question

or

let me

make

this

point

if

human

beings

this

is

John

Piper

point

if

human

beings

!

are

able

to

turn

a

life

threatening

virus

into

a

life

protecting

vaccine

think

of

polio

then

I

think

God

can

figure

out

this

whole

thing

between

human

responsibility

and

his

sovereignty

I

think

he's

got

it

covered

we

come

up

short

in

being

able

to

understand

it

but

God

doesn't

what's

even

more

amazing

is

what

John

says

next

Isaiah

said

these

things

because

he

saw

his

glory

and

spoke

of

him

contextually

he's

talking

about

the

vision

of

Isaiah

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

chapter

6

where

Isaiah

sees

these

angels

crying

out

holy

holy

holy

is

the

Lord

of

hosts

the

whole

earth

is

full

of

his

glory

and

the

foundations

of

the

threshold

shook

at

the

voice

of

him

who

called

and

the

house

was

filled

with

smoke

and

I

said

woe

is

me

for

I

am

lost

for

I

am

a

man

of

unclean

lips

and I

dwell

in

the

midst

of

a

people

of

unclean

lips

for

my

eyes

have

seen

the

king

the

Lord

of hosts

this

this

humble

man

riding in

on a

donkey

into

Jerusalem

is

is the

God

of

Isaiah

6

and

then he

points to

a particular

type

of

unbelief

it's

it's

crazy

verse 42

nevertheless

many even

of the

authorities

believed

in him

think of

the word

believed

in quotes

but for

fear of

the

Pharisees

they did

not

confess

it

so that

they

would

not

be

put

out

of

the

synagogue

for

they

love

the

glory

that

comes

from

man

more

than

the

glory

that

comes

from

God

were

they

genuine

followers

of

Jesus

no

they

weren't

these

authorities

who

believed

in

Jesus

they

would

say

yeah

I

believe

in

Jesus

but

they

would

not

publicly

before

man

say

it

and

so

their

real

God

was

what

people

thought

of

them

that's

who

they

were

serving

and

what

John

says

here

is

that

keeps

you

out

of

the

kingdom

if

you're

not

willing

to

confess

Jesus

the king

of kings

before

man

you know

what I love

about this

afternoon's

baptism

whether it's here

or by

Eichelman

we have five

people who are

going public

with their

confession that

Jesus is their

king

they're not

fearing man

what we have

here

is an

explanation

of

people's

unbelief

in

verses

44

through

50

there's

a

last

call

in

publicly

Jesus

saying

believe

in me

he goes

to his

death

inviting

these

Jewish

people

and you

and me

to believe

in him

here's the

point of

this

passage

Jesus

is the

king

he's the

king who

has come

and the

question

is

is it

true

or not

is this

the real

king of

all

who

would lay

down his

life

so that

you could

live

eternally

there's a

variety

of responses

the one

that should

stand out

in your

mind

is Mary's

response

it was

extraordinary

her posture

giving of

her

prized

possessions

wiping

his feet

was the

pride

of her

being

her

hair

that's

how we

should

respond

and the

question is

why aren't

you responding

that way

what's keeping

you from

that

is it

love of

money

Judas

is it

losing

control

Pharisees

is it

saying

silent

like these

authorities

who wouldn't

confess

Jesus

or is

it

like the

crowds

making

this

king

into a

king

of your

own

making

is that

what's

keeping

you

from

going

all

in

for

Jesus

for

complete

surrender

remember

you

can't

simultaneously

be fully

devoted to

yourself

and fully

devoted to

Jesus

the king

you can't

have two

kings

and so

let me

urge you

this morning

bend your

knee to

king

Jesus

if

you're

not a

Christian

this is

the last

call

you don't

know what

tomorrow

holds

bend your

knee to

Jesus

today

you've

got

everything

you need

to know

and if

you are

a

Christian

bend

your

knee

to

Jesus

today

confess

him

again

as

your

king

of

kings

and

lord

of

lords

Jesus

is

the

most

controversial

person

in

human

history

and he

should

be

because

he's

God

in

the

flesh

and

he's

made

one

way

one

and

only

one

way

to

be

saved

through

his

death

he

calls

for

an

extraordinary

response

there's

this

verse

in

psalm

96

for

great

is

the

lord

and

greatly

to

be

praised

we've

got

an

extraordinary

king

and

we

gladly

give

him

an

extraordinary

response

do

I have

an

amen

let

me

pray

God

in

heaven

we

thank

you

so

much

for

these

words

of

Jesus

and

John

12

we

thank

you

for

what

you're

going

to

do

in

the

balance

of

this

day

we

commit

our

way

to

you

in

the

name

of

Jesus

amen