Crisis of Faith

John 12:37-50

Last week as we studied the Scriptures we saw that in John 12:20 that there were some Greeks who were in Jerusalem for the Passover. While there they sought out Philip to see if they could meet this Jesus whom they had heard so much about. So Philip and Andrew went to Christ Jesus with these men's request and something unexpected happened. Christ Jesus told the parable about the grain of wheat and spoke of the son of man being lifted up. We now know that Christ Jesus was talking about His impending death.

But the disciples and “the people” who were there that day were upset and baffled. They had welcomed Christ Jesus as the Messiah of the Jews, assuming that He would reign as a permanent King here on earth. “we have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever...” (vs. 34). So what did Christ Jesus mean by talking about His dying? He had shattered their assumptions. So when they asked, “Who is this Son of Man?” it was their last opportunity to hear.

Christ Jesus did not answer them directly. He repeated language He has used before in John's Gospel, saying the Light would be with them only for a short time. They must either believe in Him, walk in the Light, or deny Him and continue in darkness. One does not gradually become a son or daughter of the light. You are either all in or all out, there are no degrees. In this same way one passes decisively out of death and into life. After telling the crowd this Christ Jesus hid Himself from them. The message was clear there was nothing else to say, now they just needed to decide – light and life or darkness and death.

In verses 37-50, our Scriptures of study, John writes about the crises of faith, first is a crisis of faith in the prophets, next is a crisis of faith in the Father, and finally a crisis of faith in the message.

John 12:37-50
37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

"Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" 

39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40 "He has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn-and I would heal them." 

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

44 Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."

There had been many prophets who brought the Word of God, but the Jews seem to miss their point or just chose to ignore them. Now John reminds his readers of the words of the prophet Isaiah, which they seem to have forgotten.

1. A Crisis of Faith in the Prophets (vs. 37-41)

Here at the conclusion of Christ Jesus’ public ministry John is compelled to ponder the darkness of unbelief which engulfs His people. “Although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him” (v. 37). In verse 39, “they could not believe”; and in verse 42, “they would not confess their faith.”  

What tragic words! John had witnessed Christ Jesus facing the stubborn misunderstanding and angry rejection of the very ones who should have accepted Him at every turn. Although not understood by the disciples at the time this had been a fulfillment of those words in the prologue, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (1:11).

John emphasizes the repeated opportunities his own countrymen had to know who Christ Jesus was and why He had come by quoting from Isaiah 53:1. They had neither heard nor understood Christ Jesus teaching from the Father.  

“Who has believed our report?” The religious leaders had belittled and spurned Christ Jesus and His mighty works of provision and healing. “To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The longer Isaiah faithfully called his people home, the more their eyes were blinded and their hearts hardened. The repeated rejection of the Lord, although He graciously deals with His people, is an old and sad story. A story that continues to this day.

There is no neutral ground when God calls. Once Christ Jesus appears and makes His claim you must decide. Rejection moves at its own pace from misunderstanding, to ridicule, then to anger, and finally death. Do not let your ears be closed and your heart hardened to the message of Christ Jesus this morning.

A crisis of faith in the Prophets, but that was not all. The Hebrews, who had such a profound understanding of a sovereign God, were afraid to say that He might just be the Messiah. This leads to the second crisis of faith in these verses a crisis of faith in the Father.

2. A Crisis of Faith in the Father (vs. 42-46)

Did this mean that the door was closed? That this unbelief of the Jewish people was predetermined before Christ Jesus ever came? No, the Jewish leaders had a choice, but many of them let fear and love of self make their choice.  

Ann Landers once said, “At age 20 we worry about what others think of us. At 40 we don't care what they think of us. At 60 we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all.” - Ann Landers, via Context, quoted in Signs of the Times, March, 1993, p. 6. 

How sad that even those leaders who wanted to trust in Christ Jesus felt they could not – a fear not unlike that of many people today. It seemed even those religious leaders who dared to believed insisted on being at best “closet Christians” not for fear of their lives, but because they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 

I think we all know or have known Christians like that, it may even be you. You are faithful to attend church on Sunday, but away from church...  

You may be a good person, not given to “bad habits,” but you don't really show Christ either. Neither hot or cold just lukewarm.

John was writing, not only for non-believers, Greek and Hebrew, but for those who had come to believe in Christ Jesus and were now struggling with the issue of being ostracized from their synagogues and cut off from the only life they had known. This was a word of encouragement and challenge for them from a fellow Jew. And it should be a word of encouragement to you. You do not need to become a preacher or missionary to be a follower of Christ Jesus, but neither do you have to live in fear. You do not need to remain in the darkness of fear and doubt. The Light which is Christ Jesus has come to dispel the darkness once and for all. Will you take that step, will you leave the darkness behind and move into the glorious light of Christ Jesus this morning.

Christ Jesus now cried out a clear, strong word in the face of the unbelief of the people. You see there was a crisis of faith in the prophets and a crisis of faith in the Father, now we see the third and final crisis John addresses in these verses, the crisis of faith in the message.

3. A Crisis of Faith in the Message (vs. 47-50)

Is there anything more awful than abused patience, and grace trampled on? When it comes to God the answer is no. For awhile mercy triumphs against judgment, but there will be a day of judgment without mercy. What will be the basis for judgment of the final day? Judaism believed that God's law was the standard by which He would judge His people at the end times.  

Christ Jesus states one more time that His words are equivalent to those of God the Father. But His message has been one of mercy and salvation, “so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness,” (vs. 46). He did not come judge the world, but to save it (vs. 47).

So if judgment is not going to come from Christ Jesus, who is it going to come from? The focus of judgment will be the actual Word of God. All through Christ Jesus' ministry He spoke only the message of the the Father – “repent and turn from your sins and you will be saved.” God's words through Christ Jesus as well as through the prophets and other biblical writers form the final authority for obedience. God will ultimately judge you by how you receive and respond to what the Bible says. 

 

Rabbis sometimes explained that keeping even the smallest of God's commandments warranted eternal life, whereas disobeying even the smallest forfeited that life. Christ Jesus' message here is not some suggestion to be taken lightly. The Father has issued a command, through Him; for you to turn away from darkness to light and from death to life. I pray you do not take this command lightly this morning. If you do not know Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour this today I pray that, that would change.

Conclusion: There is an old story about some tourist wandering through a European art museum casually making critical comments about some of the paintings they did not like or did not understand. Finally, one attendant, unable to hold his tongue any longer responded, “The paintings in this museum are not on trial; only the spectators are.”

That is how it is with God's Word. For over two thousand years religious leaders and atheists, wealthy, poor, brilliant and ignorant, have critiqued God's Word, but in the final analysis as John say so well, “It will judge us all.” So my question to you this morning is, “How will you fair in that judgment?”