THE GOSPEL OF JOHN III. The Opposition to the Son of God (5:1–12:50)A. At The Feast In Jerusalem (Jn 5:1-47)B. During The Passover (Jn 6:1-71)C. During The Feast Of Tabernacles (Jn 7:1 – 10:21)D. During The Feast Of Dedication (Jn 10:22-42)E. Because Of The Death And Resurrection Of Lazarus (Jn 11:1-57)

F. Because Of The Triumphal Entry (Jn 12:1-50)1. The Thanksgiving Dinner (12:1-11)2. The Triumphal Entry (12:12-19)3. The Total Sacrifice (12:20-36)4. The Troublesome Response

(12:37-43)5. The Timeless Challenge (12:44-

50)a. To Believe in Christ is to

Believe in the Father. (vv. 44-45)

b. To Believe in Christ is to Come to the Light. (v. 46)

c. To Disbelieve in Christ is to Be Judged by the Word. (vv.

47-50) Read Jn 12:47-50.

~ The main purpose of Christ’s first coming was not to bring

condemnation but salvation – to show them the way to find salvation and eternal life.

So why does Christ choose not to condemn them?

~ It is because He sets aside, for a time, His role as Judge and offers salvation to everyone indiscriminately and

stretches out His arms to embrace everyone, so that everyone can be encouraged to repent.

~ He emphasizes through an important detail (that He came “to save the world”) the crime of rejecting an invitation so kind and gracious.

Read Jn 12:48. In case the ungodly should flatter

themselves that their reckless disobedience to Christ would go unpunished, He adds the dreadful threat that even if He did nothing in this matter, His teaching would be enough to condemn them.

~ There is a unique standard of judgment applied to those

who hear Jesus’ words but do not keep them.

“...and does not receive my sayings.”~ This explains the previous clause,

“He who rejects Me”.~ Since hypocrisy is innate in people,

nothing comes easier to them than to verbally boast that they are ready to receive Christ.

~ Until you present to them the claims of the Gospel.

~ We cannot overemphasize this truth – that we reject Christ when we do not embrace the pure teaching of the Gospel.

~ WE MUST LEARN TO RECEIVE CHRIST ALONG WITH HIS

WORD AND TO GIVE HIM THE WORSHIP OF OBEDIENCE THAT HE DEMANDS AS HIS SOLE RIGHT.

THE SAME MESSAGE THAT PROCLAIMS LIFE AND FORGIVENESS TO THE BELIEVER PROCLAIMS CONDEMNATION AND WRATH TO THE UNBELIEVER, AND THIS JUDGMENT ON THE WORLD (Jn 12:31) IS NOW IMPENDING.

~ The last judgment will be simply the ratification or confirmation of the

teaching of the Gospel.

Read Jn 12:49-50. The reason why the Son’s words are so

final and threaten unbelievers with judgment (vv. 47-48) is that they are the words of “the Father” (cf. 5:19ff.).

~ For Jesus, the Father’s command not only shapes and sanctions His

speech, but leads unavoidably to the cross (Jn 10:18; 12:20-33).

Jesus’ mission was to faithfully convey the words of God to all who would truly listen.

~ He knew that those who rejected those words would be rejecting life.

Some have used verses like this to say that Jesus was not God because He was so subordinate to the Father.

~ But Jesus’ essential, divine being was not subordinate to the Father – in all things He was equal with God (Phil 2:6;

Col 2:9; Heb 1:3).

~ Rather, Jesus coordinated His will to fully comply with the Father’s will.

~ Thus, to respond to Jesus is to respond to God.

~ To believe in Jesus is to believe in God. To reject Jesus is to reject

God.~ To hear Jesus’ words makes each

person responsible before God for what he or she does with them.

The instruction given to Jesus was to procure, to reveal, and to proclaim everlasting life.

When Jesus comes again, one of His main purposes will also be to judge people for how they lived.

~ People will be condemned because they would not accept and obey Jesus. DECIDE NOW YOUR FUTURE FATE,

FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR DECISION WILL LAST FOREVER.