Category: devotional

John 12:31-33

 

31     Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32     And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33     He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

 

            In verse 33, John fills us in on what Jesus meant by the phrase “lifted up.”  Jesus was telling the crowd around him that he would die by being “Lifted up,” crucified.  And everything that he says he will here accomplish hinges on the fact that Jesus, God the Son, the perfect and sinless one, would willingly allow himself to be crucified.

 

            What would happen at Jesus’ crucifixion?  First, the crucifixion will seal the judgment of the world.  There are men who will look at the cross of Christ and will refuse to believe that it means anything.  For those who see Jesus’ death as nothing more than a sad historical event, they will be judged by God.  They will seal their own doom, as they reject the one and only way that they can be made right with God. 

 

            Second, Jesus says that the ruler of this world is cast out.  This is a reference to Satan who, though never in a position of power over God, has control and influence over the lives of so many.  Though Satan might have believed himself victorious at the death of the Son of God, in truth, his power was forever broken by the shed blood of Jesus.  In Zechariah 3 and Revelation 12, Satan is shown to be our accuser before God.  However, when Jesus died, he paid the price then and there for the sins of God’s children, and thus Satan lost any chance of accusing us.  Simply put, the cross defeated Satan, and we now only await his final destruction.  He may cause problems, even havoc, but he cannot win.

 

            Third, Jesus said that, at the cross when he is lifted up, he will draw all men to himself.  We must understand “all men” in a similar line of thought as the word “world” was used in verse 19.  Jesus will bring to himself people from every nation, from every tribe, from every ethnicity, because God has a global vision.  Jesus’ death purchased the forgiveness of people both Jew and Greek, Israel and gentile, rich and poor, young and old, male and female.  And Jesus, starting at the cross, will bring all those he died to save to himself, making himself the author and finisher, the founder and perfecter,  of our faith as Hebrews 12:2 says.

 

            And for you and me, as we look at this passage, we must see that the cross is absolutely central to everything in our lives.  IF we reject the cross, we are judged by God and accused by Satan.  If we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and his atoning work on the cross, we are set free from judgment, we are rescued from God’s wrath against us, and Satan’s accusations against us have no meaning.  Never for a moment belittle the  cross as something old, something simply historical, or something irrelevant.  Instead, see that the sacrifice of Jesus is the most important thing that has ever happened.

John 12:19-23

 

19     So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

20     Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21     So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22     Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23     And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  

 

            Just before this text, we saw Jesus entering Jerusalem, riding on a colt.  We saw that the crowds acclaimed Jesus the King of Israel.  We also saw the Pharisees bristle with jealousy, and plan to have him killed as soon as possible.

 

            Looking at verse 19, we see that the reason that the Pharisees want Jesus dead is because the “world” has gone after him.  This is a significant word, “world,” and it has great importance for our understanding of the next several verses.  By “world,” did the Pharisees mean that every living individual in the whole world, on the whole planet earth, was now following Jesus?  Obviously not.  The Pharisees were obviously not personally following him.  Nor were the great multitudes of the world who had never heard of Jesus following Jesus at this time.  So, clearly, the word “world” here can not mean that the Pharisees believe that every individual was following Jesus.  Nor is it enough to say that they simply meant a large crowd. 

 

            What happens next in the passage sheds light on what the Pharisees meant by the word “world” and why it matters.  Verse 20 tells us that some Greeks were in the city, and they asked to see Jesus.  Phillip and Andrew get together, and they decide to go ask Jesus if he wants to meet these people.

 

            Now, realize that Greeks was a very specific designation.  This is not to say that these were men from Grease, but for sure, they were gentiles.  Throughout his ministry, Jesus has focused very intentionally on Jews and occasionally Samaritans.  But now, we see true foreigners, true gentiles, interested in Jesus.  These men are people who had no connection by birth to the nation of Israel or to God’s covenant promises.

 

            And look at what Jesus says in response.  We see nothing in verse 23 that tells us whether or not he will meet with the Greeks.  All we see for sure is that something has changed.  Jesus declares that his hour has come.  What brought about that statement?  Greeks were asking to see him.  Why does this fact communicate to Jesus?  We can only guess.

 

            I think the best guess here is to recognize that the Pharisees say that the world is after Jesus, and now the gentiles come to ask about him.  What the Pharisees had to mean is that they have recognized that more than just Israelites, people from all over the world, from all ethnicities have started after Jesus.  Even the gentiles are curious about him now.  And this fact somehow brings about Jesus announcing that it is now time, his ministry is now coming to its fulfillment, his glory is about to be revealed, his purpose is about to be accomplished.

 

            And as we watch this simple event unfold, we have to stop and realize something for ourselves.  God’s plan for Jesus has always involved the whole world.  God has never intended that Jesus would be a savior for Jews only.  God never intended that Jesus be a savior for white Americans only.  God never intended that Jesus be a savior for the middle and upper classes only.  God sent Jesus to be the savior for people from every nation, every language, every tribe, every culture, every social class, every education level, every part of the whole world.  God’s plan for Jesus is global, and if we are to follow Jesus and honor him, we need to learn to think on a global scale.

 

            So, Christians, we need to catch God’s global vision.  Ask yourself today, what am I doing to see to it that God’s kingdom is being built among all the peoples of the earth?  How am I helping to spread the gospel to the far reaches of the earth and to the near reaches of my town?  How can I pray more globally?  How can I care more globally?  How can I give globally?  How can I go and share the gospel with someone from another people group?  Christians, pray that God will set your mind up to be like his, thinking that success in the church must include the sharing of the gospel with people all over the world.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

            Often I find myself struck by the beauty and glory of what God did through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. This thought came to me last night while reading through Russell Moore’s new book, Tempted and Tried. As Dr. Moore described his own struggles with temptation and sometimes failure, he made mention of the fact that God already punished his sin. This is not to say that God had done something to Dr. Moore for his failure like causing his car to be scratched or him to get sick. No, It was far worse than that. God had taken the sinful Dr. Moore, just like he has taken me as the sinner, and crucified him. God hung us on a Roman cross and poured out on us his full wrath, a full eternity’s worth of hell, for our sin against him.

 

            Hey, wait a minute Travis, you are not 2,000 years old. You did not live during the Roman empire. You most certainly were not crucified. That’s Jesus you’re talking about.

 

            Yes, I know. And I’ve still told the truth. Paul was able to say, “I have been crucified with Christ.” He also said God Made Jesus to be sin for us. The astonishing exchange that Jesus willingly went through on the cross is utterly amazing.

 

            If you could look at my legal record before the God of the universe, you would see that God has marked my account as fully righteous. This is not because I have always been good or that I am good now; rather, it is because God has made the great exchange between me and Jesus. God counts my sin as fully punished, the penalty fully paid, because of the fact that he poured out an infinite amount of wrath on Jesus, the infinite wrath that each of my sins deserved. God, in a very real sense, counts it as if he punished me on that cross.

 

            Not only did God do the exchange that way, he also made one more radical exchange. He made Jesus be sin for me so that in Jesus, I might be granted God’s own righteousness. Jesus willingly gives me his perfection. God’s books show that I have, credited to my account, the perfection of Christ.

 

            Christians, never tire of thinking about the cross. Never tire of looking deep into the gospel. Never tire of thinking how Jesus was punished in your place, as your sacrificial substitute. Never stop marveling at the fact that God imputes Christ’s righteousness to your account, calling you righteous even though you have never been righteous on your own. Never stop praising God for the miracle of mercy that is the cross of Christ.

Judges 5:1-2

 

1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

2 “That the leaders took the lead in Israel,

that the people offered themselves willingly,

bless the Lord!

 

            Here we see the beginning of Deborah’s song in praise of God after a particular triumph. Notice how, in this song of praise, we see a sweet affirmation of God’s sovereignty over man’s freedom.

 

            Deborah sings, in verse 2, three lines of Hebrew poetry. The first two lines tell us that the people did what they were supposed to do. The leaders led. The soldiers willingly answered the call. One would think, then, that the gratitude should be for the brave men who did what they were supposed to do. But the third line says, “bless the Lord.”

 

            Why bless God for the actions of free men? Why give God the praise for what individuals chose to do? The only way that this make sense is if those men, while acting freely, were led by the supreme freedom and power of God.

 

            Christians, this passage should give us great joy. God is God. He is the Sovereign One. He has the ability to move free men in such a way that they will work to accomplish his will. We have the comfort of knowing that God can and will answer our prayers, save souls, accomplish his plan, sanctify his church, etc. because he has the ability to change the hearts of free men so that they will freely act in a way that is to his glory.

Joshua 23:6-8

 

6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.

 

            With the most recent Christian media frenzy over Rob Bell’s latest book, we are reminded that, for centuries, people have attempted to mingle the worship of the one true and living God with the worship of other things. It is by no means new to see the people of God try to say that it is legitimate to worship other deities so long as one does so sincerely.

 

            But notice God’s challenge to his people through Joshua. There is no room in the words above to allow people to worship false gods, even sincerely, and to end up pleasing the one true and living God. No, God commanded his people to destroy those false gods. God commanded his people never to even consider bowing down to other deities. How can God do this? Is God closed-minded? Of course he is. God knows that there is one and only one God. God commands his people to worship him only. And God knows that he will judge severely those who refuse to follow him.

 

            Christians, while it may make us feel open-minded and tolerant to say that people who worship other gods will all end up in heaven in the end, this is not the testimony of the Bible. Making it clearer, this is not the testimony of God. If it were true that multiple roads, multiple names, lead to heaven, God would never have commanded his people to destroy even the remnants of Canaanite religion. But God did command this violent destruction. Why? Because those who refuse to bow to the true God are destined for violent and eternal judgment. Let us never, even for a moment, consider that we have a better plan than God’s. Let us never pretend that we are better than God by being more open-minded than the Scriptures. Instead, let us love and serve the God of the bible, a holy and jealous God. 

Joshua 21:45

 

Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

 

            When we read through the book of Joshua, it is sometimes easy for us to mentally check out. In my own reading for today, the word “pasturelands” occurred 45 times. That is a lot of pastures. And as a 21^st century pastor, I’m not really interested in pastures.

 

            But there is more to this text than simply borders, boundaries, cities, and pastures. Joshua’s second half is about the faithfulness of God. God promised Abraham that he would give a land to his descendants. Then, after hundreds of years, after slavery in Egypt, after wilderness wanderings, and after unbelievable battles, God kept his promise. God did exactly what he said he would do.

 

            Does this passage about pastures and borders matter to us today? Of course it does. This passage reminds us that God always, absolutely always, keeps his promises. He never lets his people down. God never goes back on his word.

Joshua 8:35

 

There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

 

            After God gave Joshua and the Israelites victory over Jericho and Ai, Joshua gathered the people for a formal reading of God’s law. Moses had written down the law of God for the people to follow. Part of what Moses had commanded before he died was that the people, once they entered the land, should hear the law of God and agree again to follow their Lord. So, Joshua did what he was supposed to do, and he gathered the people and read to them the law.

 

            What grabs my attention here is who listened. As Joshua read all the words of the law of God recorded by Moses, which I assume means Genesis through Deuteronomy, everybody listened. Men listened—no surprise. Women listened—no surprise. All the children listened too. Wait a minute. Are you saying that kids listened to an old dude read through the entire book of Deuteronomy? Yes, I am saying that, and they may well have listened to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers too.

 

            The fact that these children listened to the reading of the law of God tells me that we may well be doing our children a great disservice in many of our churches around the world. In far too many places, kids are removed from formal worship. They are not taught to hear the word of God and to understand that something special is being said. I understand, of course, that kids cannot always understand all that is said in the word. Yes, some of the concepts are very difficult. But God saw fit to tell us that, when his law was formally read by Joshua, the kids listened too. This apparently was a good thing.

 

            Integrating children into the grown-up worship service can be a struggle. Just last night, in a revival service, my son was just plain terrible. But we worked through it. And, all things being equal, I’m happy that he was in the room. I’m happy that he listened to daddy preaching the Scriptures. I’m happy that he knows what I say from the pulpit. And I’m thrilled when he actually hears something that he understands and grasps some point of eternal truth from a sermon. It is good for him, and it is good for my family to have the kids with us together in formal worship.

 

            I don’t’ know what you and your family should do for sure. I would not pretend to tell you how to handle all this stuff for yourself. But I would encourage you to think about the fact that children, in biblical times, listened with their parents to the formal readings of the word of God. Maybe they can do more than we think.   

Joshua 7:24-26

 

24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.

            It has become popular in recent days for supposedly Christian teachers to deny any concept of the wrath of God. These teachers tell us that God is not at all angry over our sin. They say that God has no willingness to punish our sin, that his justice is not an issue, and that, in the end, all people will end up in heaven.

 

            But a simple look at Scripture shows us that such people do not speak of the God of the Bible. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God has not changed. The God of the Old Testament is very much the God of the New Testament. God is both merciful and just.

 

            When Achan disobeyed God’s command by taking from Jericho items that were devoted to destruction, he sinned against God. If God were the wimpy deity of popular teaching these days, he would not have demanded his people do anything to Achan, especially after Achan admitted that he had done wrong and coveted the devoted things. But the God of the Bible is no wimp. The God of the Bible is just. He will punish sin. All human sin, every last one, will be punished. God is angry over our sin. God, in his holiness, is offended by our sin.

 

            How can God punish all human sin and still forgive? Ah the glory of Scripture—Jesus Christ, the Son of God, voluntarily took upon himself the just punishment for all of the sins of all of the people God will ever forgive.

 

            Because of what Jesus has done, you have one of two choices. Your sin will be punished. What God tells you is this: If you come to Jesus, your sin has been punished in Jesus. If you refuse to repent of your sin and come to Christ, you will suffer God’s right wrath for your sin by spending forever in hell. This is the teaching of Scripture, and it has not changed. 

Joshua 2:8-11

 

8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.  

 

        You never know what kind of Work God has done ahead of you in order to allow you to be a part of accomplishing his will. When the spies met Rahab, she told them that, as soon as Israel came out of Egypt, the fear of them and of their God paralyzed the inhabitants of Canaan.

 

        But do you remember how the Israelites failed to enter and take Canaan forty years earlier? Why did they not go in? They were afraid that they would not be able to defeat the Canaanites and take their land. The Israelites had no idea that god had already won the victory for them by terrifying the occupants of the land. The Israelites were too afraid to take the land because they did not know what God was doing behind the scenes.

 

        Is there somebody with whom you need to share Jesus? Have you been waiting for what you think is the right moment? Are you afraid that they will just never listen to you? Do you not realize that God is working in ways you cannot see? You have no idea what God has done in that person’s heart. They may look like an unconquerable foe to you, but it could well be that God has already moved in their heart to make them ready to turn to Jesus if somebody will simply call them to do so.

 

        Christians, our God is so great. He can work in the hearts of the hardest of people. He can prepare them for things that we could never imagine. We need simply to obey him. We need to trust God, and let God do the work that we could never accomplish.  

Joshua 1:8

 

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

 

            It’s hard to imagine a person taking on a greater burden than Joshua was starting to carry at the beginning of Joshua 1. Moses had led the people for as long as the people could remember. Now Joshua was taking command, and it had to be terrifying. But God told Joshua not to be afraid but to be strong and courageous.

 

            In the middle of God’s counsel to Joshua, we see verse 8. God called upon Joshua to daily, hourly, regularly meditate upon the word of God. Joshua, if he wanted to succeed as a leader, needed to keep the word of God ever before him. He needed to learn the commands of God so that he could obey those commands. He needed to keep the promises of God before him so that he could regularly be encouraged by them.

 

            Do you make God’s word a treasure?  God called Joshua to keep his word ever before him. Do you? Is it normal for you to let days go by without spending time in God’s holy word? Do you neglect it?

 

            Christians, if you want to be strong and courageous, you need to regularly spend time, serious time, in God’s word. Study the Scriptures so that you will know what God is like. Study the Scriptures so that you will know what God commands you to do. Study the Scriptures so that you will know how to avoid sin. Study the Scriptures so that you can remember the promises of God’s blessing for his children. Study the Scriptures so that you can learn to love the Lord who saved you and see his soul-satisfying glory.