Now

John 12:31 “Now is bthe judgment of this world: now shall cthe prince of this world be dcast out.”[1]

I.   Judgment

     A. Sense

     B. Sentence

II. Justification

     A. Safe

     B. Secure

Introduction:   Maybe the most asked question about anything is when.  When is all this stuff we are subjected to on the media going to be about something other than pitting different people groups against each other?  When are we going to hear about some sickness in the world other than Corona Virus 19?  When are teachers going to start being teachers again instead of protesters?  When are we going to stop covering our faces and show ourselves again?

The least asked question now is the one that once was heard more often than the others.  When is Jesus coming back to set all this world back into His perfect will?

There are other more personal questions of when.  When are our children going to remember and return to the church attending Christians that we raised them to be?  When am I going to stop worrying about what will become of my children so that I can be a vibrant server of love for others as Christ intended when He gave me His name?  When am I going to give up on what I want so that I can concentrate on what He expects from me?

The answer to all these questions can be rolled up into the two answers that Jesus gave to the Greeks that had asked Philip to introduce Jesus to them.   Jesus had earlier been welcomed with palm branches as He entered Jerusalem.  Jesus knew that His hour was approaching.

Scripture:  The scripture is John 12:31.  When you have found it please rise for the reading of God’s word.

Prayer: Please be seated

Message:  Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent.  We are counting down the days to Easter when Jesus arose from that temporary tomb.  He is contemplating all that He must go through and some of what He would endure is physically painful yet the most dread that He had was for the spiritual pain of not being as close to His Heavenly Father.  There would be that portion of that day when God The Father would turn His gaze away.  There would be that portion of that day when Jesus would bare the weight of all the sin of the world on His shoulders.

Let’s listen as we hear His story and His words from John 12:20-36.

It is almost mentioned like an afterthought yet had it not been for Jesus’ willingness to accept an audience with those Greeks, there might have been no audience for anyone other than the Jews.  There surely would have been another opportunity but this was given to Philip as His mission.  Andrew accompanied Philip to tell Jesus.  Not much is mentioned of those two disciples.  There’s was a ministry of bringing others to Christ.  What is our ministry?

The hour is come that Jesus was to be glorified.  Jesus had told his disciples this same message but now Jesus was including the rest of the world into His glorious truth.  Unless something dies and is reborn into something more, it will not thrive.  If you hang on to what you have instead of trusting what He expects from you later, you will lose even what you have here and now.

To serve Jesus means that you must follow Jesus.  You have to be willing and ready to go where He goes.  He did not come to make you a better example of yourself; He came to make you what He wants you to be.  He came to make you a new creation.  So if you want to be with Jesus then come to Him.  When you do you will also receive the honor from Our Heavenly Father that is due Christ.

In essence Jesus was saying this is not an easy journey.  It is so arduous that it troubled even Jesus to His deepest self.  Do not think this is easy.  He said that though He was troubled over what was to come, should He ask God to let Him pass through unscathed?  This is why He came here. The approachinghour is His hour.  Let Our Heavenly Father be glorified.

There had been others who heard the voice from heaven proclaiming that Jesus was His Son.  Now God’s voice spoke with a confidence that the world had not heard.  It is You that will be glorified My Son.  Let all the world know that I have already glorified this that You do now!

What was Jesus’ explanation of why God spoke that day?  Was it because Jesus needed confidence to go on?  God spoke that day for those to hear directly from Him that Jesus was there because He is His obedient Son.

Some thought it was an angel talking.  When God spoke they misunderstood who He was.  God is still speaking.  Who do the masses think is speaking now?

Now is the judgment of this world.  The question of when is on everyone’s hearts and minds.  When is all that is going on in the world going to make sense again?  Why are there so many who are guiding people into division instead of finding the common thread that keeps all of us really together.  There is a sense in the world that the right thing to do is figure out what the majority of the people want to hear and say those things.  Many times the Bible makes the statement, “He who has ears to herar let them listen.”  People are surely led by their ears to judge what they consider worthy or unworthy.

When God judges this world it will not be about what makes my ears tickle.  God will judge by the same measuring that He has provided as His rule.  There will be no negotiation that day.  Jesus said that day is now!

With judgment comes a decision of punishment.  In today’s idea of judgment the guilty are excused while the true victims are made to feel as though they must tolerate what the intolerant decide to inflict on them.  It is not a God ordained judgment unless there is punishment that covers the crime.  The sentence for sin is death.  As Paul informed, all have sinned and have fallen short.  Therefore the sentence that we sinners are to receive is the death sentence.  There is no free pass.  Living apart from God’s will is not something to be taken lightly.  It is intolerable to God and therefore is intolerable for those who know God as God.  Jesus said that now is the judgment of this world.  Jesus took that judgment because He alone had to tolerate the death sentence for whosoever will accept Him as Lord.

Now is the time for the world!  Now is the time for the Israelites!  Now is the time for the nations!  Now is the time for the church!  When is your time as an individual Christian to take Him as Lord?  NOW!!!  Now is the time for us to judge what we shall do, what we will be, and how we will live in this fallen world that is nearing its bottom.

The devil will not always be the overlying evil that he is and has always been.  He was defeated that day when Jesus took our punishment.  The devil was shown what God’s love can overcome when Jesus came out of that tomb in His glorified body.  The devil is still active in this world but his time is shorter every day.  Jesus said that Now is the time when the devil would be cast out of this world.

Justification is defined by some as that miracle of grace from God that takes away the penalty of separation from Him.  Now is the time that the devil is cast out of our world. 

God is Holy.  God will not and therefore cannot even see sin.  He can’t look on sin.  When Jesus carried our sin that day God The heavenly Father turned His gaze away.  To be with God means that there must be no sin in our life.  The devil must be cast out of our world!

Justify!  When Jesus forgave sin He told the one that He justified to go and sin no more.  When Jesus accepted the penalty for my sin it was as if I was just as if I had never sinned.

If you have accepted the grace from God that receiving Jesus gives to you, the prince of this world now has no power over you anymore.  Does that bother the devil?  You better know it does!  He is fighting tooth and nail to upset all who will cave in to his emptiness.  Instead the Christian is filled with the joy that will not be overtaken anymore by the deceit and lies of the devil.  He has been cast out.

Along with the removal of emptiness of separation from God that justification brings, there is that sense of safety knowing that no matter what this world throws at us, nothing can separate us from the love of God ever again.  Paul said in Romans 8:35-39. “35 lWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall mtribulation, or mdistress, or mmpersecution, or famine, or nnakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, nnFor thy sake owe are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things pwe are more than conquerors through qhim that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither ldeath, nor life, nor rangels, nor sprincipalities, nor stpowers, nor things uwpresent, nor things uto come, 39 Nor xheight, nor xdepth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from ythe love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.[2]

There is no other security in this world that is that safe.  Fortunes come and go.  Unfortunately health also comes and goes.  Cynics say that even friends come and go.  In the crazy world we live in now even spouses often come and go.  There is no security that is more safe than the love of God.  Johns 3:16 "For zGod so loved the world, that he agave his bonly begotten Son, that xwhosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."[3]

Prayer:  Let us pray

Invitation:  Now is the time for each of us to decide what we are going to do with the truth that Jesus loves you.  Now is the time that does not change.  Now is each and every moment of each and every day.  Now is the time to recommit what you committed to just that moment before.  That is how we get through this now to the next now.

What are you going to do now?  Think about and commit to Him now as we sing…

b ch. 16:11. Comp. Luke 10:18 with 1 John 5:19.
c ch. 14:30. & 16:11. So Luke 4:6. 2 Cor. 4:4. Eph. 2:2. & 6:12.
d ch. 9:34, 35. So Rev. 12:9.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 12:31). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
l Comp. Cant. 8:6.
m 2 Esdr. 16:19. Esther 11:8. Wisd. 5:3. See ch. 2:9.
m 2 Esdr. 16:19. Esther 11:8. Wisd. 5:3. See ch. 2:9.
mm See 2 Cor. 12:10.
n See 1 Cor. 4:11.
nn Cited from Ps. 44:22.
o 1 Cor. 4:9. & 15:31. 2 Cor. 1:9. & 4:10, 11. & 6:9. & 11:23. Comp. Acts 20:24.
p 1 Cor. 15:57. So 2 Cor. 2:14. See John 16:33. Comp. 2 Esdr. 7:45, 58.
q Gal. 2:20. So Eph. 5:2.
l Comp. Cant. 8:6.
r See Matt. 18:10. Comp. Gal. 1:8.
s 1 Cor. 15:24. Eph. 1:21. & 3:10. & 6:12. Col. 1:16. & 2:10, 15. Comp. Luke 12:11 (Gk.). Tit. 3:1.
s 1 Cor. 15:24. Eph. 1:21. & 3:10. & 6:12. Col. 1:16. & 2:10, 15. Comp. Luke 12:11 (Gk.). Tit. 3:1.
t Song 39. 1 Pet. 3:22.
u 1 Cor. 3:22.
w 1 Cor. 7:26. Gal. 1:4. Heb. 9:9.
u 1 Cor. 3:22.
x Eph. 3:18. So Isai. 7:11 (Gk.).
x Eph. 3:18. So Isai. 7:11 (Gk.).
y ch. 5:8.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ro 8:35–39). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
z Rom. 5:8. 1 John 4:9. So 1 John 4:16.
a So Rom. 8:32. Comp. Gen. 22:16.
b ver. 18. See ch. 1:18. Comp. Heb. 11:17.
x See ver. 36.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 3:16). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.