[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       John chapter 12, starting in verse 36: “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 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. For again Isaiah said, “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 said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 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” (ESV).

       Even after the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, even after the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, after all that, there were some Jews who didn’t believe. That’s where we find ourselves today in the text toward the end of John chapter 12. This is the dilemma that Jesus finds himself in. Interestingly, God had thought this would be the case. He had prophesied it, and now it was becoming fulfilled. Jesus hides himself from the crowd since the time hasn’t quite come, but it is pretty much at hand. Events are about to go down, about to go the way that the unbelieving Jews want them to go, a way that is against God, and yet interestingly, it is a way that is being guided along by God to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. In actuality, Jesus is going to lay down his life for the people. It’s not that they are really killing him, but he is voluntarily laying down his life. Satan thinks he’s about to accomplish something great by killing the Messiah, but actually God is accomplishing what he wants to accomplish.

       Thus, the Israelites didn’t believe. That’s what the text says. The question Isaiah asked was “who has believed?” “[W]ho has believed?” That’s right, that’s right. A choice whether to believe in Jesus or not was their’s to make. A free choice in fact. While many of them choose to believe in him, many of them didn’t. But the text seems to demonstrate that, after the power of God is revealed to them and they willingly choose not to believe, it’s at some point that God hardens their hearts so they aren’t able to believe. It says God blinds their eyes and hardens their hearts. That was on the part of God. Not from the beginning. No, this isn’t a play, a big stage performance where everyone is automatically programmed to respond to the Gospel in a certain way. That’s not what’s going on. Christ is going to die for the sins of the whole world, and all the Jews who heard Jesus had the opportunity to believe. It’s just that many choose not to by their own volition. It wasn’t that God decided who would believe and who wouldn’t, but God can, after a period of time, decide to no longer give that opportunity, and to no longer use his Spirit to try to draw people to himself.

       Brought to our attention next is those who have secretly believed. Those who have secretly believed. Actually, they are Jewish leaders; people who are in the higher ups. It’s not trendy within that group of officials to believe in Jesus. It’s taboo, and therefore they decide to hide their faith. Belief is present, but they don’t want anyone know they believe. They likely don’t want to lose their prominent positions. They didn’t want those other leaders to think them traitors. Their comfort was what they loved, their praise even, more than that which comes from God. Very effective, it probably would have been, if these people had spoken up. Who knows? If they had spoken up, perhaps the Pharisees themselves would have eventually caved. Perhaps they would have changed their minds and their hearts if only these folks would have said what they really thought. Events could have gone differently in that case. Maybe somehow, someway, Jesus would have been able to reign as King much, much sooner than he is actually going to. If only those Jewish leaders had taken a different position. They had the power to change destiny—to change what would happen—and they choose in the wrong direction.

       Verse 44: “And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 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. 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.”

       If people were preordained in one direction or another, to believe or not to believe, then verse 44 wouldn’t make any sense. Why would Jesus cry out? Why the emotion if everyone is predetermined in one way or another. It could have just calmly been said, and that’d been that. But, instead, Jesus cries out, “Whoever believes in me.” “Whoever believes in me.” Ah, a choice that a person can make. A free choice. The situation is made clear. A choice for him is a choice for God. And so, the reverse would also be true, in that a person cannot just be for God but not for him, like many of the Jews want to be. This belief takes a person out of the darkness and into the light, as Jesus had already noted a few other times here in John’s Gospel. He said that if a person believes in him, that he will “not remain in darkness.” That’s the point. Everyone, before Christ, is in darkness, and we have to come out of that darkness. It’s not that were all neutral before Christ and that Christ is simply an option for us among all the religious offerings of the world. That’s not what it is. A person is either in light or in darkness. The only way to come out of darkness if through belief in Christ.

       Jesus notes the importance of his words, the importance of his words. His words aren’t just any words. Again, they are not just the words of a Jewish religious teacher from the first century. That’s not what’s going on. A person can hear his words and choose not believe in them, not to follow them. It’s not Jesus who condemns them, but in actuality, they condemn themselves. Rather, saving people is the focus. Offering the Gospel in hopes that they will believe. He didn’t descend from Heaven to walk around and say how bad people were, and how they were all going to go to Hell when they die. Sure, that message is in there, but it’s the end result of the rejection of the truth, not the main message. Not the crux of the message. Listen to some teachers and you might think that it is; but in reality, it really isn’t. Anyway, what Jesus has been walking around and teaching is truly what the Father is saying to everyone. The personal words of the Father, the personal words from God. That’s why one cannot say they are following the Father, or God, but not following Christ, since these words Jesus has been speaking are God’s. It’d be like trying to say you’re a part of a group when you truly don’t believe the tenets of that group.

       “[H]is commandment is eternal life.” “[H]is commandment is eternal life.” What a great verse, a great saying, that seems to often go overlooked. What a great commandment! Who can think of a better offering toward us? That’s what we all need. All of us when we come into the world and try to live our lives, we all find ourselves with a problem. We cannot, no matter how hard we try, live up to God’s standards. We do wrong, and we make mistakes. Yet, here Jesus again shows us that God has a way to rectify our problem. He’s the only one who has ever, ever been able to offer a solution to the world’s problem. Everyone has a sin problem, and everyone is going to die. That’s a certainty, and no one has been able to figure out a solution to either problem. To act perfectly. Nope. Only one was able to do that. The Person we are currently studying. To figure out a way around death. Nope. No one has been able to do that either, expect for the One we are currently studying. Therefore, Christ, through the Father, accomplishes both. He makes it possible for us to overcome our sin problem, and he makes it possible for us to defeat death, to live forever. What more could a person want? What more is their to desire in life? If one is granted both of these things, he has received everything.

       John chapter 13, verse 1: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (ESV).

       We have come to the final sequence, the setting in motion of which everything we’ve been going over, everything that has been building up, is coming to its high point. This is where God is going to accomplish what he has set out to accomplish, and that of which he has desired to accomplish since the beginning, since all the way back in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned. It’s what he had a plan for even before that, even before he created the world, when he knew it was possible some, if not all humans, wouldn’t do right. And Jesus, about to accomplish the completion of everything the Father had set apart for him to do, spends some of this time loving those who were his closest friends, the Twelve. He loved them, and he wanted to spend close time with them demonstrating that fact with an outward action. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t truly love them, or was simply putting up with them all this time, but just couldn’t wait to get out of there and leave them behind in the dust. That wasn’t it. He loved them. We are at the very end of Jesus’ life, with the crucifixion set for the next day. Indeed, the next day. We are under 24 hours at this point.

       As they ate their last meal together before the crucification, John notes that Satan had already given Judas the idea to betray him. That was the temptation which had been set before Judas. Judas could have chosen otherwise; he didn’t have the betray Jesus. Satan presented a temptation before him, and he willingly chose it. He chose to yield to his evil heart, which had already built up. This was his last opportunity to choose right, but he doesn’t end up choosing right. A person always has that choice as long as they are consciously aware that they do. But Satan was about to posses him, and at that point, it would be too late.

       Jesus knows that God has “given all things into his hands.” This shows the trust of the Father to the Son. He is allowing Jesus to willingly lay down his life for the world, for whoever will believe. It’s not that Satan is about to pull a fast one, even though he thinks he is, but Jesus is in control of the situation. It is in his hands.

       Some of us have had the privilege of taking part in what is commonly called a three-fold Communion service at a local church. This is where it’s not only the bread and the cup, as is the common experience nearly everywhere, but it also includes the footwashing and the feast. Brothers wash the feet of brothers and sisters wash the feet of sisters. In the personal experience, a few churches have been attended where this was practiced. In the big picture, most churches do not practice it as part of their Communion. The practicing of it comes from later verse 14, where Jesus says, “you also ought to wash one another's feet.” Most appear to see this statement as an invitation to be humble, rather than an invitation to literally wash one another’s feet. It definitely, when practiced, does cause one to feel that way—to feel humble. Indeed, that’s really it’s purpose, to show that nothing is really too beneath us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we should be willing to serve one another in all ways. It pushes pride out of the picture for anyone, and makes us less and less like Satan, who is full of pride. The more pride we have, perhaps the more likely we risk, at least initially, becoming like Judas, and then eventually, not even having the opportunity to love others. To be so selfish in the inner-core that we genuinely and frankly don’t care about anyone but ourselves.

       Verse 6: “He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean” (ESV).

       Actually, within this paragraph there is a lot going on, a lot going on. Let’s go ahead and start tackling it. First, we can observe with how Peter responded to Jesus is that he sees him as the person who is on the pedestal. It is true that we want to serve Jesus like Peter desired, but Jesus was pointing out that the greatest there is should be the most serving of others. It doesn’t seem we often view God in that way, or maybe we do. Hard to say. But more importantly, Jesus was modeling for us how we are supposed to act toward others. Even the Apostle Paul would point to this concept when he said, “Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly” (Romans 12:16, ESV). Or, when he said, “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13, ESV). This is supposed to be our attitude in life; we are supposed to be humble. A second thing we can note, and this in regard to Jesus’ response to Peter, is that there are things even now, as we live out our Christians lives, that we don’t understand and of which we have to have faith with. Answers aren’t always available to everything we want to know, unfortunately. A person, for instance, may struggle with the creation account, in believing that, because they formerly believed in evolution, or still currently do. Or, a person may not understand why their child died so young, and yet they have to accept with faith that God wasn’t the cause behind it.

       A third thing we can see from the passage is that while we are already washed completely clean when we believe in Jesus for the first time, it’s also true that we need a continual washing that occurs regularly. It appears most Christians believe, at least in America, in the inherent sin-nature, that we are born into the world with bodies that are affected by a sin-nature, a disposition to sin, and this stems all the way back from Adam and Eve. This passage certainly seems to support that notion. Most Christians also believe that after we become saved, that we still unfortunately have to keep that sin-nature. There is a group of Christians, which came to be called the Holiness Movement, who think that for people who have believed, there is no sin-nature. In fact, they might say there never was a ‘sin nature’ but that everyone has chosen to sin out of a place of neutrality. Anyway, after believing, if they sin again, they in essence lose their salvation and need to be saved again. It seems most other Christians don’t believe that as it doesn’t seem to be experientially true. For one, we can recall when we were a child and use to sin, say at three or four years old. Why, it seemed we could even ‘invent’ sin at times. No one taught us this; it wasn’t environmental, it just was inside our flesh. Another point is that even after we become Christians, we still feel that tendency, probably specifically in certain areas, to sin. It’s not our experience that after we were saved, we no longer had the desire or even felt pressure from temptation to sin.

       Quickly, before we move on, we can notice in this passage that Judas Iscariot is present at the footwashing, which has lead some to believe that it shouldn’t be part of the Communion service since he is absent then for the bread and the cup. Their argument would be that it shouldn’t be included because if it should be, then Judas would have been absent for the footwashing as well. Another argument against it is that it obviously was a cultural, or really time-period thing, where, back at that time, footwashing was a necessity, in that people had to have their feet washed regularly. Nowadays, at least in America, we obviously don’t need to do that; we have shoes. So, truly, if one wanted to practice it, translated into the American culture, it seems it would be something like washing one another’s shoes. Perhaps people would keep the shoes on so it would have the same effect, but we obviously don’t wash our feet in our culture nowadays when entering a residence.

       Verse 12: “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me” (ESV).

       The acknowledgement is still made by Jesus that he is their “Lord and Teacher,” and he has shown them how a person in a position of authority, like they are, as supposed to be. He says, “I know whom I have chosen.” Best, it probably is, is not to understand this in a salvation sense, for contextually, he is speaking of the authority of Apostleship. As a matter of fact, Jesus had chosen Judas Iscariot to be part of this group from the directive of the Father. It doesn’t seem likely that a bad guy was deliberately chosen, but rather that at some moment early on, Judas decided to make incorrect choices, and has continued to make those incorrect choices. Anyone, anywhere can be saved, can make right choices, unless their heart has become too hardened past the point of no return. But a person doesn’t know what that point is. Nevertheless, Jesus notes that the Scripture will indeed be fulfilled about the betrayer. Perhaps this verse, in the Old Testament, would have only kept its original meaning had Judas not done this, but now, now, because he has, it will be put forth to have a double meaning. Judas has already set his heart toward the wrong thing. Jesus and the Gospel writer John will use this Scripture to show a parallel with the Old Testament, this time in a way that’s doesn’t feel too good.

       Verse 21: “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, since Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night” (ESV).

       We are presented with, again, the emotional side of Jesus. This wasn’t only human emotions, as if Jesus was struggling with his flesh, but this was emotions from God himself. Thus, we see that because Jesus was “troubled in his spirit,” that this shows that Judas Iscariot didn’t have to do what he was doing, well, at least originally. At this moment, it appears things are too late. But if Judas was Calvinistically predetermined to betray Jesus, then why would Jesus be greatly troubled about someone betraying him? Why not look at it with a neutral reaction. Why not, “Well, God has predetermined this to happen, and therefore it’s going to happen. It’s supposed to be this way.” Yet, that’s not what we see, is it? Jesus is greatly troubled as Judas is making the wrong decision, and has made the wrong decision, and is going to spend eternity in Hell. And he knows there’s no way to prevent that at this moment. Yet, he couldn’t prevent it anyway because ultimately it was Judas’ free-will choice to do what he was doing. Yes, the Scripture bore record of it, but this didn’t make Judas obligated to betray the Christ. He could have chosen otherwise, at least, at some point.

       Anyway, the disciples have no idea who is at fault or what is really going on. Even after Jesus says what he said about handing over the morsel of bread, and he hands it to Judas, they still don’t understand. This is a common theme with them. Their eyes are still fixed on the Millennial Kingdom—the material, glamorous kingdom. We actually know that since Luke has recorded in his Gospel, remember, when the disciples take two swords when they are leaving (see Luke 22:38). Sounds like they want to fight. Sounds like they are still thinking about that kingdom. It seems like it would have been inconceivable to their minds that one of them, one of the elite Twelve, would betray Jesus.

       We see that Satan then has the ability to possess people, which surely should come as no surprise to us since we know demons possess people. The hardening of Judas’ heart has seemed to of led to this, where he had become so depraved that Satan was able to enter into his physical body. This is a strong indicator that Judas wasn’t saved, as Evangelicals would call it. He wasn’t a true born-again believer. Now, it can be debated whether or not Christians can be demon possessed, and it’s not fitting to get into that discussion here. Nevertheless, John finishes up the section by noting that it was night when all this occurred. It may add to the narrative, but at the same time, it seems to align with what Jesus had said previously many times. Remember, for instance, back in John 9 he said, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (4, ESV). Or, as he said in the last chapter, in John 12: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (35, 36, ESV). Indeed, while you still have opportunity, respond to the light, respond to Jesus, lest it become too late, and darkness and Satan get you to a place where you can’t.

- Daniel Litton