One of the exciting realities that is highlighted in the book of John is that we get a taste now of what one day will be. In one such example, we read Jesus proclaiming in 5:25, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." That is to say, it is not simply either this or that, but the hour is coming and is now here. We will be raised from the dead one day when Christ returns to have eternal life with him forever. And yet even now we get a foretaste of that as we have eternal life, are no longer dead in our sins, and serve him as our ever-present Lord.

Yet the frightening reality of this is that there is also a negative example of this, and this is the reality that we see in our text this morning. Yes, those who will one day have their eternal fate sealed as those who will only know God's wrath for eternity in hell also have a foretaste of their eternal judgment. This seems to be the over-arching, sobering message of our text this morning.

In John 12:37 you come to the surprising and disturbing reality that a majority of those who heard Jesus' words and witnessed his signs (e.g. opening blind eyes and raising Lazarus from the dead) did not believe. John begins this section writing, "Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe him." I say surprising because it is, isn't it? John tells us that signs of Christ were to bring about faith. He writes in 20:30-31, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

The signs of Jesus were to bring about faith in him, and yet still many did not believe. This is the reality we find as we begin our text this morning. And the rest of the text is simply a commentary on this reality of hearing the word, seeing the signs, and not believing.

But did that mean that somehow Jesus had failed? As we asked last week about his death, was this somehow a glitch in God's plan that could not be accounted for in eternity past? No. In fact, John's answer is that this rejection of Jesus was fulfillment of prophecy. Immediately after writing that they did not believe in Jesus he writes, "So that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 'Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' Therefore, they could not believe" (12:38-39).

This is a quote from Isaiah 53:1. However, when the Old Testament is quoted in the New, the New Testament writer is most often pointing the reader to the full context of the quote. Thus, as you look at Isaiah 53 you see first the quote, showing that neither the words nor the miracles (i.e. "arm of the Lord") produced faith. Then, you read of Christ's suffering to atone for our sins. The next verses of Isaiah 53 read: "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 hid their faces; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (53:2-6).

Therefore, even Christ's rejection was part of his redemptive mission. It was prophesied that he would be rejected and esteemed to be stricken and smitten by God. Thus, his rejection was not a failure in God's plan but the outworking of God's plan, and it could have been no other way.

However, this reality of unbelief communicated in these verses is not to hit us lightly, for there is a grave warning about unbelief in this text. In fact, there is a grave warning in these verses that needs to be spoken to a crowd like this on Sunday morning. And I think this warning that we will see this morning is the main intent and message of our text. However, before turning to this warning, let's see a couple of other realities that are true from the text.

First, the only right response to Jesus is faith

The demand of the gospel is that you believe. Again, John says that Jesus was speaking and performing his signs in order that men might believe. That is John's intent in writing the gospel, that men might believe and that, by believing, they might have eternal life.

And this is not simply an assumption in the text. Rather, in response to their unbelief, Jesus makes clear in verse 46 that the demand of the gospel is that one must believe. He says, "I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (12:46).

However, the faith demanded by the gospel is not just some faith. In other words, Jesus isn't saying, "I have come in order that you might believe something, whatever it might be, and believe seriously. For it is through faith, regardless of the object of such faith, that one is born again." No. We see more.

Saving faith must be in Jesus and in his words

People are not saved simply by having faith in whatever and believing whatever, so long as they believe something. You must believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be and hold to his words as true. Jesus says in this text, "Whoever believes in me, believe not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me ... The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment - what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me" (12:44-45; 48-50).

You cannot claim to know the Father unless you believe in Jesus Christ to be who he claims to be, and you cannot claim to know and love Jesus while rejecting his words. There is no holding to Jesus and rejecting his words.

Finally, there is a kind of belief that will not do, that is not saving

What's interesting in this text is that a group is said to believe. After saying that many could not believe and explaining why, John writes, "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God" (12:42-43). What does this mean?

It is no doubt a confusing text because we only have one category for believing in our heads. Believe, and you are saved. However, it is not uncommon for John to talk about men believing and yet still be lacking, as if they have a kind of spurious or not true faith. For example, we read in John 2:23-25, "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man." Then again we read again a conversation that begins in 8:31 with John commenting, "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him ..." and ends with Jesus saying to them in 8:47, "You are not of God."

There is then, it seems, a belief that is not true faith, a belief that bears no fruit and is dead. This is the faith, it would seem, that James labels "dead faith" or the believing "in vain" that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 15:2.

So, we see that the right response to the gospel is faith. It is a faith in Jesus and what he has done and said. And it must be a living faith that results in true following of Christ, obedience to his word, and keeping his commands.

Thus, this is it, this is the response to the gospel. As we share with men the reality that Jesus came to earth as God in the flesh, lived a perfect life, died to pay for our sins and take the judgment that should have been ours, and was raised from the dead three days later, the response we must plead with them to give is the kind of faith we have just described.

Is this not a grand proclamation, that Christ died, was buried, and was raised for our sins and that it is not by our own works but by faith in him, producing life in us, that we are saved unto eternal life with our glorious Savior, Lord, and King forever? It indeed is.

Yet there's a danger even in you hearing that proclamation. And I think this is the main point of our text.

Now, we might exclaim, "Danger!? Isn't this the only hope for eternal life, that someone hears and believes the gospel? How can you say there's a danger in hearing that?"

Well, first of all, yes, our only hope of salvation (of anyone's salvation) is to hear the gospel and believe. And the intent of proclaiming the gospel is to bring one to saving faith so that he might have eternal life. However, there is another truth depicted in our text as well. It is a warning. It is:

Though the gospel is proclaimed for the purpose of giving sight and life eternal, it can blind, harden one's heart, and seal one's judgment

Let's see this in the text.

The flow of the text begins with the startling statement that despite all of Jesus signs, many still did not believe in him (37). Then, we are told that they did not believe in him so that Isaiah 53:1 might be fulfilled. They did not believe in order to fulfill prophecy (38). Then, John tells us that indeed, they could not believe, for it is written in Isaiah, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them" (Isaiah 6:10 - John 12:39-40). Finally, John notes that many did believe, yet they loved man's glory more than God's glory and so never obeyed and confessed their belief. This leads to Jesus' statement about faith and judgment in verses 44-50.

Therefore, let's begin with this group who "believed" in Jesus in verse 42 and work ourselves out from there. You have this group that believe in Jesus and yet will not act on their faith, thus Jesus reminds them of the purpose of his mission in coming "so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (46).

Then, however, he warns them. He says in 47-48, "If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day."

He tells them that those who hear his words and do not keep them will be judged by the very word that they heard. But what does this mean? How will the words be their judgment?

I think the answer is in the effect that the words have on men. For what are Jesus' words? Jesus says in verses 49-50, "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment - what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me." Jesus' words are words of eternal life. He himself is the light shining before men. He is coming to save men.

Yet, what are the effects of his words? Well, they can produce life, but they can also harden men's hearts, blind men's eyes, and seal their judgment.

We see this as we back up to verse 41. There, after quoting Isaiah 6:10, John writes, "Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him." Who is "his" and "him" in this text? We might be tempted to say God the Father. However, John could have written that Isaiah saw God's glory and spoke of him. But he doesn't. Instead he says, "He saw his glory." And the only proper antecedent for "his" in this text is Jesus.

In other words, John is saying that when Isaiah saw the Lord in Isaiah 6:1, he was looking upon Jesus. This fits with John 1:18, in which John writes, "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."

Thus, John is saying that Isaiah saw Christ's glory and said (in verse 40 of our text), "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." That is, if Jesus is the "his" and "him" of verse 41, then he is the "He" of verse 40. Jesus was blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart. But how? How was Jesus blinding their eyes and hardening their heart so that they could not believe?

It was with his words. His words were to them judgment. Now this wasn't the purpose. He says in verse 47, "I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." However, light can be both illuminating and blinding. Sound can both arouse your hearing or make you deaf. Isaiah saw the glory of Christ and was moved to say he was undone. Jesus' warning is that his words can have the effect of bringing final judgment into their present situation. His truth, the gospel, if rejected can blind their eyes, harden their hearts, and seal their judgment so that they cannot believe. For them, repentance would be impossible. They would have been given over, in judgment, to their wicked desires.

So, I say to you this morning who may be in this crowd. Maybe you claim to believe and yet you do not keep Christ's word. You do not walk in active obedience and serve him with your all because you love the glory of man more than you love the glory of God. You are in a dangerous place as you sit and hear the gospel week in and week out. For as you continue to fail to love the light, to hear and keep God's word, to fail to have his Word produce life in you, your eyes might be growing blind, your ears deaf, and your heart hard.

That is not the purpose of the gospel declaration. It is that men might be saved. But those who reject can have in this life a foretaste of final judgment. Their judgment can be sealed in this life as they are made blind, deaf, and without understanding. So, I plead with you this morning. If your eyes are open, believe. Do not love the glory of man more than the glory of God. Do not be given over to evil desires. Look to the light and embrace Christ as your Lord.

Even as we come to the table this morning, may our declaration be, "We embrace our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE MYSTERY AND MAGNITUDE OF UNBELIEF