Sunday
Morning Bible Study
August
16, 2009
Introduction
Announce: Baptism.
Servant School.
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church?
Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
This is the last week of Jesus’ life.
A few days
earlier, Lazarus was raised from the dead and there were a lot of people who in
awe of Jesus and at His power.
We are at
Sunday, the day of the “triumphal” entry into Jerusalem, people shouting
“Hosanna”.
Last week we
saw Jesus teaching about the “glory” of what was ahead.
He was going to
die. He was going to be crucified, to be
“lifted up”.
This was the very reason why He came, to die for our sins.
(Jn 12:32–33) 32 And I, if I am lifted up
from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying
by what death He would die.
12:34-36 Dealing
with Light
:34 The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ
remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who
is this Son of Man?”
:34 how can You say
:34 people – ochlos
– a crowd
:34 remains – meno
– to remain, abide
:34 lifted up – hupsoo
– to lift up on high, to exalt
The crowd is confused. Jesus is
talking as if He’s the Messiah, but He’s also talking as if He is going to die.
They had been expecting the Messiah to show up, kick the Romans out, and
rule forever. This was not what they
expected.
Daniel the prophet described the
Son of Man ruling over a kingdom what would not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13-14)
(Da 7:13–14 NKJV) —13 “I was watching in
the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds
of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before
Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all
peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which
shall not be destroyed.
Lesson
Not what you think
They had some correct ideas about
the Messiah.
He would one day be a conquering
ruler who will reign forever.
They also had some things wrong.
The world has a lot of wrong ideas
about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. Some people think:
You have to be an idiot to be a
Christian – check your brains at the door.
Science.
You have to learn to hate people to
be a Christian – Christians are known for all the kinds of things they hate –
like gay people, abortionists, and Muslims.
Jesus said,
(Jn
13:35 NKJV) By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another.”
:35 Then Jesus
said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have
the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know
where he is going.
:35 walk – peripateo
– to walk; to make one’s way, progress; to make due use of opportunities;
to conduct one’s self
:35 overtake – katalambano
– to lay hold of so as to make one’s own, to take into one’s self,
appropriate
:35 the light
It’s easy to walk
across a room if
the light is on. When the light goes off, you might run into something and
hurt yourself.
For these people, the “light”
in front of them is Jesus.
He’s not going to be around much longer.
Lesson
Light is good
George Lucas did a good job educating us about light and dark.
What’s sad is that there is among
some people, a trend toward the “dark” side of things, that “dark” is cool.
(Matrix pictures? Goth pictures?)
There is indeed a “power” of the dark side.
There is also a lot of deception.
“Light” is a
symbol of what is good and pure.
(1 Jn 1:5 NKJV) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare
to you, that God is light
and in Him is no darkness at all.
There is no “darkness” in God. Nothing evil.
Nothing deceptive.
Ultimately, there is no greater light than Jesus.
(Jn 8:12 NKJV) Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the
world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of
life.”
What mystifies
me is the “fear” that some people have of getting too close to Jesus.
Perhaps some
have been abused by a father or a husband and think that God let them down.
Perhaps it’s
because they’ve gone through some hard times, and have come to the conclusion
that God is out to get them.
But there is absolutely no darkness in Jesus.
He is not like
the person who abused you.
And though you
have been through hard times, and though we might not understand why, we can
rest knowing that it’s not because God has some sort of wicked sense of humor.
:36 While you
have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
:35 walk while
you have the light
Lesson
Carpe Lucem
or, “Seize the light”
There’s an old Latin phrase you might have heard of, “Carpe diem”, which means “pluck
the day” or, “seize
the day”.
It means to take
advantage of the opportunity in front of you.
It comes from a poem by the Roman poet Horace. Horace
was an “Epicurean”, a man who lived for pleasure.
For Horace (b. 65BC), the idea was to be take advantage of
the pleasure in front of you, because you never know when your end will
come. Horace’s motto might have been “Eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow we die”.
You might
remember the quote from “The Dead Poets’ Society”.
Play
“Carpe Diem” clip.
Robin’s
character challenged his students to “make your lives extraordinary”, perhaps a
better use of “carpe diem” than Horace.
His point is similar to ours – we will all one day be food
for the worms. Right now you have an
opportunity, to walk in the light, take that opportunity.
Jesus didn’t
say to seize the day; He said to seize “the light” (carpe
lucem).
The issue isn’t just taking advantage of the opportunities before you.
Some people will take advantage of evil things.
The issue is learning to take advantage of the good before you.
Seize the light. Seize the good.
Take advantage of
the truth before you.
That’s what’s
happening as you listen to the things in God’s Word, you are being exposed to
light.
Jesus says to do two things while they have light.
1. Walk
That’s how you live your life.
(Eph 5:8 NKJV) For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
When
you are in the light, you pay attention to the things that will hurt you and
you walk around them, not into them.
Play
“Flirting” clip.
You
make course corrections. Make wise
choices.
2. Believe
Believe in Jesus.
Put your life in Jesus’ hands.
The result is that we might become “sons of light”
(Col 1:12–13 NKJV) —12 giving thanks to
the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and
conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
:36b These
things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
This will be the last time that Jesus is out in the public.
12:37-41 Unbelief
and His glory
:37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not
believe in Him,
:37 signs – semeion –
a sign, mark, token; of miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men
sent by him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God’s
:37 He had done – perfect participle, perfect tense –
something done in the past and the results linger on to the present.
He had done powerful things, and the effects were still around.
:37 did not believe – imperfect tense; something
continually going on in the past. They
were not believing…
:37 they did not
believe
Jesus has spent the last three years doing some amazing things. Like …
He turned water into wine.
Healing the
paralyzed man.
Feeding the
five thousand.
Raising Lazarus
from the dead.
And yet the most amazing thing is after these three years, is that many
people still did not believe in Him. Why
is that?
It was no surprise to God. God
expected it.
:38 that the
word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has
believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
:38 report – akoe –
the sense of hearing; the thing heard
:38 the arm
– brachion – the arm; the
arm of God is a Hebrew idiom for the might and the power of God; The
“arm of the LORD” is talking about the miracles that Jesus had been performing.
:38 been revealed – apokalupto
– to uncover, lay open what has been veiled or covered up
John is quoting
from Isaiah 53, speaking of the coming Messiah:
(Is 53:1–5 NKJV) —1 Who has believed our
report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord
been revealed? 2 For He
shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He
has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we
should desire Him. 3 He is
despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem
Him. 4 Surely He
has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for
our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes
we are healed.
Isaiah spoke about the Messiah
who would suffer. He spoke about the one
who would have our sins laid upon Him.
Isaiah also dropped a hint that people would not “believe the report”.
:39 Therefore
they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
:39 could not – dunamai
– to be able, have power whether by virtue of one’s own ability and
resources, or of a state of mind, or through favorable circumstances, or by
permission of law or custom; to be capable
:39 they could not believe –
There’s more to the unbelief, more
prophecies.
:40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should
see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So
that I should heal them.”
:40 He has blinded
their eyes
:40 blinded – tuphloo
– to blind, make blind; in the NT metaph. to blunt the mental discernment,
darken the mind
:40 hardened – poroo
– to cover with a thick skin, to harden by covering with a callus; to make
the heart dull; to grow hard, callous, become dull, lose the power of
understanding
:40 understand – noeo
– to perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding; to think
upon, heed, ponder, consider
:40 turn – epistrepho
– to turn to; to the worship of the true God; to turn to one’s self; to
turn one’s self about, turn back
:40 heal – iaomai
– to cure, heal; to make whole; to free from errors and sins, to bring
about (one’s) salvation
If you're not careful, you can get the wrong idea about this passage.
It kind of looks like God doesn't want some people to come to believe in Jesus.
Maybe He's just hoping that they will not believe so He can have an excuse
to wipe them out! You might think that’s
what He’s planning for you.
Keep in mind:
(2
Pe 3:9 NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
God does not want ANY to perish.
(1 Ti 2:3–4 NLT) 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior,4 who wants everyone to be
saved and to understand the truth.
God WANTS everyone to be saved.
Lesson
The Hard Heart
John is saying that for some of the people in front of Jesus, they didn’t
believe in Jesus because of a process that God described hundreds of years ago
in the book of Isaiah.
God describes a process where a person’s heart gets harder and harder,
until they no longer have the ability to turn around and receive God’s help.
John quotes loosely from another
passage earlier in Isaiah:
(Is
6:10 NKJV) 10 “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”
John again quotes from Isaiah. When
you look at the LXX translation of the Isaiah passage, you find an interesting slant
on the text. It translates something
like this:
(Isa. 6:10 LXX/Eng) For the heart of this people has been thickened; and their ears
hear with difficulty, and their eyes are closed lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears and with their heart understand and turn and I will
heal them.
Who is it that “thickens” or “hardens” the heart? Is it God?
Is it man?
The answer seems to be both.
We see the
pattern way back in the book of Exodus when Moses is challenging Pharaoh to let
God’s people go. If you watch carefully,
you see a process developing where Pharaoh’s heart becomes hardened.
(Ex 7:13 NKJV) And Pharaoh’s heart grew
hard…
(Ex 7:22 NKJV) …and Pharaoh’s heart
grew hard…
(Ex 8:15 NKJV) …he hardened his heart …
(Ex 8:32 NKJV) But Pharaoh hardened his
heart …
(Ex 9:7 NKJV) …But the heart of Pharaoh
became hard…
(Ex 9:12 NKJV) But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh…
Over and over Pharaoh hardened his own heart until the day
came that God stepped in and finished the job for him.
Illustration:
Every
time that you hear the truth about Jesus and reject it, it’s like a little coating of plastic
is sprayed over your heart.
If you say “no” to Jesus enough times, there gets to be quite
a hard shell over your heart.
There
may be a day when you don’t care anymore about the things of God.
If you don’t want to believe in God, God is not going to force you.
“God’s law is that those who “will”
not see, “shall” not see.”
You can continue to harden your heart.
You can continue to say “no” to God.
And one day you will cross the point where God will oblige you and help you
harden your heart.
Are you getting close to that point?
Have you been hardening your heart?
How do I know
if I’ve crossed that “line”?
You probably wouldn’t be in church right now. You probably wouldn’t care about the things
I’m talking about.
If you care at all, if your heart is pricked in the
smallest way, there is still hope for you. But perhaps it’s time to stop saying
“no”.
:41 These things
Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
:41 His glory
Pay attention to what John is saying.
John is saying that Isaiah saw JESUS’ glory and spoke of Him.
When did Isaiah see Jesus’ glory?
The context tells us when - John just quoted from Isaiah 6.
As we read the passage, try to identify who Isaiah is looking at.
(Is 6:1–5 NKJV) —1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe
filled the temple. 2 Above
it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with
two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts; The
whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who
cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because
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.”
In verse 1, it is “the Lord”, the Hebrew is Adonai
In verse 3 and 5, it is “the LORD”, the Hebrew is God’s name, Yahweh.
Isaiah records that he has seen Yahweh.
John tells us that it is Jesus.
Throughout the gospel of John, we’ve pointed to how Jesus is being
describes as the “I AM”, which is the meaning of God’s name Yahweh.
Just in case you’ve missed the point, Jesus is God.
Lesson
Jesus is Yahweh
He is not an ordinary man.
He is God taking on human flesh.
He did this to be able to be the perfect sacrifice for your sins.
:41 These things
Isaiah said
Lesson
Value the small or you’ll miss the
great
Look at the contrast in the quotes from Isaiah.
(Jn 12:38 NKJV) “Lord, who has believed our report? (Is. 53)
(Jn 12:40 NKJV) “He has blinded their eyes …” (Is. 6)
They're both talking about Jesus and both talking about unbelief.
Isaiah 53 (Jn. 12:38) talks about how they did not believe
because Jesus took a form of humility.
Isaiah 6 (Jn. 12:40) talks about how their hearts are
hard, but in the context of Jesus being in all His glory.
Perhaps John is presenting a kind of progression.
If you don’t pay attention to Jesus when He came in His humility, you’re
going to miss Jesus when He comes in glory.
If you don’t value what is humble, your heart will be hardened for the
glory.
I think that sometimes we are just too much drawn to big, spectacular
things.
(Mk 9:33–37 NKJV) —33 Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house
He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent,
for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down,
called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall
be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.
And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one of these little
children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but
Him who sent Me.”
The disciples were interested in getting to “the top”.
Jesus was interested in children.
We want to get to know the superstars. We want to be
superstars.
Jesus wants to know the person who slipped in to church
late and no one has talked to.
Where are your priorities?
Are you looking for greatness or cultivating humility?
Do you want to be served or are you here to serve?