Title: John 12
By: Dan Pancake
Intro
We are going to talk about the cross to some degree today. That is what I want to concentrate on today. We are going to talk about that for a few weeks here before Easter. Do you know that four weeks from today is Easter Sunday morning? It is coming right up. Whatever plans you have be sure you are here on Easter Sunday morning in service.
Rembrandt Painting
So, we look at this wonderful scripture today. We are thinking about the cross. I read this illustration the other day and I thought I would include it here.
When you look at Rembrandt painting of the three crosses. Your attention is drawn to the center cross on which Jesus died. Of course, it should be. Then when you look at the crowd gathered around the foot of the cross you would be impressed by the different facial expressions and actions of the people involved during the time of the crucifixion of the Son of God. Finally, your eyes would drift to the edge of the painting and you would catch a glimpse of a figure almost hidden in the shadows. Art critics say representation is of Rembrandt himself as he realized that he was guilting of crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ as well.
The Cross
That is true of all of us. Our sins put Jesus on the cross. Would you say amen to that. I love our Lord. He is positive. He is a positive speaker and a positive thinker. Now He didn’t always talk about positive things but when it came to the salvation of your soul it is all good news. Amen! The Bible says here before us, we have read it with our own mouth, and heard it with our ears; Jesus said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. He does. Doesn’t He? We will talk about the magnetism of the cross as we go along through this. The cross is the central theme or the central symbol that is recognized as Christianity.
Christianity
When we see the cross, we think of Christianity. We think of Christ dying on the cross. It symbolizes a lot of things in our lives. For us, it symbolizes the sacrifice of our Lord. We remember that Jesus died on the cross. We also remember that it’s through the death of Jesus on the cross that you and I have this thing called redemption. He brought us back from a life of sin. We are His by the grace of God.
Hope
It also symbolizes the hope because of the cross. We have a hope for the future. Aren’t you glad of that? As I said this morning, we sang that song “Because He Lives”. I am glad we sung that today. I am glad He lives. The hope for our future is not in our political world. It is not in our financial world. It is in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our hope! Amen!
Self-denial
In everyday life, the cross also symbolizes other things. It symbolizes the fact that there should be a time of self-denial in the life of those of us that believe in Him. The Bible tells us in Luke 9:23 that we should take up our cross and follow after Him daily. Following Jesus daily with the cross.
Character
Also, it causes us to reflect on the character of this person called Jesus Christ. What kind of a person was Jesus? We know He was humble. He humbled Himself and became obedient even unto the death of the cross.
Hope & Assurance
Something else this cross does is that it gives us hope and assurance. The hope is that you and I will be saved through simple faith in his name. The assurance is that He died to be sure that we can.
The message of the cross is so important in everyday life. It is the good news of God’s love. The cross says, God Loves you! Who loves you? God does! God loves you! I will tell you something else about God. He loves you as you are although He does want you to change. Are you with me today? God loves everybody just like they are because He loves all of humanity. He is the One that created all of humanity so He loves humanity. However, God loves you with the idea that you need to trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. When He comes into your life, there is going to be a change. There has to be a change. There is no way out of it. There is a change that comes when you know Jesus. The cross also tells us that this message from the cross is a personal message. Would you say amen to that? The message is to you and I personally. Jesus Christ died for our sins.
Isaiah 53:4 & 5
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The cross was a personal message to you and I, that God loves you enough that He is willing to die on the cross to take away your sins. The cross also tells us that the work of the cross was a willful activity for the work of Jesus Christ. He went there willingly. He says, in John 10:18:
John 10:18
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
This willful act of Jesus dying on the cross; He willfully died in your place because He loves you. We know that. So many times in the Bible we are told that we are loved by God. It is the love of God that brought Him to this world. It is the love of God that held Him to the cross. It is the love of God that kept Him on the cross no matter what goes on. Amen!
Looking at our text today, that is what I want to spend a moment or two with. I am not going to take too long today. He just says some simple words. First of all…
John 12:32
32 And if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me
That is not a question with the “if”. It is just a statement in our Bible. If I be lifted up and it should be “When” I am lifted up on the cross. There is a time coming—when Christ was on the earth—He said, there is a time coming when I am going to be lifted up on the cross. If you went back to verse 20, of this same chapter; you find out that there were some Greeks who came along. They were not Jewish proselytes. They were just people who were interested in the Jewish religion. They heard about Jesus and they wanted to see Jesus and somehow from that the Lord said, the time has come for me to be glorified. What in the world did He mean by that? Jesus knew when these Greeks, Gentile nations of the world began to seek after Him, it was time for Him to go to the cross.
Why did Christ come to the earth? Did He come just to be a great teacher? He is the greatest teacher of all teachers, but He did not come for that purpose. He did come to die on the cross so that anyone who believes in Him could be saved and go to heaven forever. Amen! So, this very group of people; the Greeks came up for the very reason of looking to see who Jesus was. He knew that was coming, He realized that it was time for Him to start going to the cross.
He goes on and He talks to His disciples. He says:
John 12:25
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
You look at that and you say well that’s an odd verse to have in the Bible. Here is what it means. Jesus said, if you are going through life to try to protect your life and to try to live only for this life; you are wasting your life. You are going to lose it all anyway. It does not mean if you hate your life; it simply means if you put Him first before everything else in your life then you are going to live for all eternity. We know that is true. Amen! That is the purpose, the plan of salvation.
When we came to Jesus, we came because we were sinners and we were sure we were going to die and go to hell. How about it today? Can I hear a witness? Are you one of those? I knew I was going to die and go to hell if I did not get saved. I will tell you when I came to Jesus, He gave me hope for the future. I will tell you that wonderful hope that is in Christ comes only because He is lifted up from the earth.
So, the cross was necessary. It is the most necessary act that has ever been accomplished on the face of the earth and for all humanity. It is the most necessary thing that has ever been done. No other person could have died on the cross to save you from your sins. Do you realize that? Because it took the perfect sacrifice. Didn’t it? The cross was necessary. Jesus had to die. How come Jesus had to die? Through the death of Christ, through that death on the cross, He was exalted. Being exalted He is like a magnet that draws all the peoples of the earth to Him. Isn’t He the central figure in our world we live in today? Isn’t He the individual that His birth marks the changing of our calendars and time. We mark our calendars because of the time when He came to the earth? Isn’t He the only One that ever came to the earth that said, “I am He that liveth and was dead. I am alive forevermore.” He is the only One that overcame death of His own power. Nobody else has ever done it. Amen! He is the One and only. Praise His name! So, the cross was necessary. Why? Because humanity is broken. Would you say amen to that? You know that is true.
You know that no matter what goes on in your life; you need the help of the Lord in your life. Before you got saved, you were roaming in sin. You did not have any idea what was going on in your life. You did not have any care or concern about what life was going on in your life. You were just living in sin. However, when the Holy Spirit convicted you of your sins, then that changed something in your life. Why? You were no longer satisfied living in sin. You were sick and tired of being sick and tired. Therefore, you came to Jesus. You came to Him, to ask Him to save your soul from sin, and He did. Humanity is broken. You in your lifetime are broken because of the sin that was in your life. The only redemption for that is Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Is that right? Amen! We are all broken because of sin. We are completely broken because of our sins. Christ had to die on the cross because of our brokenness. He was broken for our sins. That is what it means in Isaiah 53:5.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Do you remember that picture? That picture, the scene of Him being beaten with the cat-of-nine-tails. He was wounded. The word wounded itself means pierced. He was pierced for our sins. He was bruised and beaten for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The cross is the centerpiece of God’s redemptive plan. The cross is the center work of God’s redemptive plan for all of the ages. When you think about being saved. When you think about coming to know Jesus Christ. I believe everybody pictures Jesus on that cross dying for their sin. The cross is God’s centerpiece because that is the way God intended it from the foundation of the world.
Our most favorite verse and the most famous verse in all the Bible is John 3:16.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What is that saying to us? It is saying that very work of Christ of God giving His Son for the sins of the world was the very purpose of His coming to this earth to begin with. So, He came to die on the cross. Consider the humiliation Jesus must have felt when they striped him naked and hung Him on the cross. He was dying there for our sins. Think about the triumph of the cross. Think about what the cross has accomplished in life as we go along. Since Christ died on the cross, millions and millions, literally millions of people have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Not only does Jesus save you from your sin; you know that to be true. Anybody here today? He saves us from our sins but He changes our life so completely that He makes our life worthwhile. Amen! Life without Christ is it worthwhile? Well, you had better keep living as long as you can if you don’t have Christ because that is all the life you are ever going to have. If you come to know Jesus Christ; He changes your life. He gives you new friends. He gives you new things to do, a new excitement for life, a new vision for the future in your life. I will tell you. That is all because of the cross. There is a triumph there.
Jesus declared in John 19:30:
John 19:30
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
When He shouted that, it is a shout from the cross. It was the last thing He said, but it was a shout from the cross. He said, “It is finished.” It means “Paid in Full.” The debt for our sins is paid in full. Through the cross He defeated the power of sin, the power of death, and the power of hell. Aren’t you glad of that? He has defeated the powers of all of the world, that they are scared of. The world is living in sin but they don’t know how to get free of it, so they can’t do anything about it. They are scared to death of death because death is coming. Every individual that is alive on the earth realizes death is coming someday in their lifetime. Then there is a fear of that. If you don’t know Christ Jesus as your Savior; there is hell ahead of you in your eternal future. You ought to be scared of that. Would you say amen to that? However, Jesus gave us power through the cross to overcome that…
Colossians 2:14
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
What did He do? The law said we are guilty and worthy of death and hell. However, Jesus Christ on the cross said we can be forgiven through His act of mercy and grace. Then I want to tell you that the resurrection validates Jesus Christ in every way.
Not only is there a cross and if Jesus just came and died on the cross, a lot of people have died on a cross. As a matter of fact, the cross was revived by the Romans because it was a tremendously cruel way for people to die. The Romans wanted this to be a deterrent for any kind of crime that was in their society in that day. Therefore, they would hang them on the cross. I have been told that some people would live for six or seven days hanging on the cross. That was a sign for everybody walking by. Don’t do what they did. God turned it into something wonderful. When He put His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world on the cross. The cross validated what Jesus did three days later. When He rose from the dead, it promised everyone that what God did through the cross is done for all eternity and that you are guaranteed a place in heaven. You are guaranteed a place in heaven when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. Amen! Now Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Listen to these words again.
If I be lifted up from the earth—what will I do—I will draw all men unto me. I am glad that there is a wonderful magnet in the cross that draws people to the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is offered to all people. It crosses all boundaries. This wonderful thing called faith in Jesus Christ because of the cross. It does not matter the color of your skin, the station in life, or where you came from, or what country you live in; it doesn’t really make any difference. What color your skin is, what language you speak; doesn’t matter. How much money you make per year doesn’t matter. You can be saved. That is what the cross says. Anybody, everywhere can be saved. Amen! Because of what Christ did for us. He draws men to himself.
Muslims
I have heard stories and perhaps you have too from the voice of the martyrs. They talk about the revival going on among the Muslim nations. It is all underground. Why wouldn’t it be? If the Muslims realized some of their people were turning to Christ, they would kill them. We live such a comfortable life here in the United States of America. We can believe or not believe and it doesn’t seem to make any difference. However, I will tell you in some of those countries, if you come to saving faith in Jesus Christ and they find out about it; they persecute you and kill you. They do it publicly so that everybody that sees will say “I better not do that.” Many of them have given their lives to Christ anyways. Some of the strangest ways you ever heard of that they are realizing and learning about Jesus Christ. Some of these people are actually having visions of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and they are turning to Jesus Christ in saving faith. You say, boy if that would happen to me, I would surely get saved. Move to a Muslim country, maybe it will.
I tell you; Jesus is appearing to people in whatever form that He can to draw people to himself. How is He drawing them? He is still drawing them through that same old cross. Remember the old song that said, “the old rugged cross, so despised by the world has a wonderous attraction for me.” Doesn’t it though? We are attracted to that Savior on the cross. He said, “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.” Who does He draw? I have already said this—all people.
Story
I have told you this story, but I am going to do it again; because it is important to me. Years ago, we went on vacation like we always do, down to the Smokies. We had a room. There was a guy polishing his Cadillac down on—we had a little balcony in the back of the room—and he was just down below about the height of that chair below me. He was polishing his Cadillac down there. We got to talking back and forth. I found out he was a deacon in a southern church. This is way back there in the late 70’s. So, it’s been a long time ago. He was polishing up his Cadillac and I am talking to him. I said oh that’s good. He’s a deacon in his church. I said how are things down in southern Alabama is where he was. He said, “All those black people down there are running everything.” He went on to talk about how vile a person is because of the color of their skin. Let me tell you something today. The Lord Jesus Christ was not a white person. He might have looked down on Him too had He been on the earth at the time this guy was. Let me tell you something. God takes everybody regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of where they came from, regardless of their station in life, and regardless of what your past life has been. He will take you just like you are and save your soul. That is the attraction of the cross. Amen!
Response We Should Have
As Christians we ought to respond this way. We ought to say ourselves, Jesus lifted the cross, and died for my sins. I must follow Him, bearing my own cross. We wear these little trinkets around our necks and those little symbols are great. I’m okay with that. No problem at all. However, a lot of people wear a little trinket of a cross around their neck that have no Jesus in their life. The cross means nothing to you if you don’t have Jesus in your heart. I say to you today. Although that symbol, that emblem of a cross is important; if Christ has not come into your heart, there is no hope for the future for you. I don’t want to be bleak and I don’t want to be dark today. I want to tell you that this is real. Why did Christ come to the earth to die on our behalf anyway. To keep you and I from having to go to a place called hell.
Are you with me today?
Story
I heard this story
A fellow named Danny. Chuck Coleston told this story a long time ago. Chuck has been dead a long time. He had this prison ministry. He talked about this fellow named Danny, that was in prison. Danny was in prison for killing someone. He was guilty. He was completely guilty. There was no doubt about it. He knew he was guilty. He had been committed to prison for a life sentence. In that prison, in the darkness, someone gave him a Bible. Somewhere along the way, he began to read a little bit of it. By all the things he read, he started reading about the fact that people who don’t know Jesus are going to die and go to hell. He reads this. He gets scared about it. He is wondering about it. He has given a lot of thought to it. He realizes. I am a murderer. If anybody deserves to die and go to hell; I do. I deserve to die and go to hell. During that week when he was going through all of this, they come along Sunday, and said there is a church service. Does anybody want to go? He said, “Cell 16 wants to go.” He went to the church service that morning and as he sat in listening to the pastor speak; he sat there quietly. He couldn’t hardly pay attention to what the pastor was saying. He was listening—not to what was going on there—but in his heart he had one question. When everything was over, he got the pastor aside. He said, I have one question for you. Is hell real? The pastor said, God sent His Own Son from heaven to the earth to die on the cross, to make sure that people don’t have to die and go to hell. He said, absolutely, hell is real. The pastor gave him a Bible, and he went back to his cell. That afternoon and evening, in his cell, he was down beside his bed praying, with that Bible in his hand. Something wonderful happened to him in that jail cell and his life was totally transformed. He knew that his sins had all been forgiven. Even though he was guilty, his sins had been forgiven. He spent his life sentence in prison. When he got out, he started a ministry for prisoners. Amen! Bringing people to Christ. Isn’t it an amazing thing the transformation that Christ can bring to your life when you realize that He died for your sins so that you don’t have to go to hell.
If you are in this room this morning, I am telling you, you don’t have to go to hell. There is nobody says you have to go there. I have heard people in my lifetime, and you have too; who think they are really rough and tough. They say, all my family is going to hell, and I am going to hell too. If they did, you don’t want to go.
Closing
Listen. There is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. There is some sort of fire there that burns and does not get quinched. Someobyd says, you are scaring me. You ought to be scared to death if you are not ready to go to heaven because hell is real. The cross says that hell is real. It also says God loves you and he wants you to come.
If you are in this room this morning and you don’t know Jesus; I am going to ask you to step out and come.
Come and pray.