Just the other day I was driving behind a great big John Deere combine tractor which was going down the road, moving from one field to another field to harvest corn, and it reminded me of a verse of scripture, which to my mind is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. It is found in Jeremiah 8:20 which says, “Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Every year around this time it seems that this verse comes to mind. Once Labor Day passes, it is obvious around this town that the summer season has ended. The opportunity for so many people to hear the truth preached has passed. They go back to there homes and lives on the other side of the bay. Obviously, we are still out here preaching the word, but for many folks, their opportunity has passed.

And I cannot help but wonder how many of those people were saved? I wonder how many people that are here today are truly saved. I can’t tell by looking at you whether you are saved or not. You all look like fine, respectable people from here. But God doesn’t look at us as man does, as he looks on the outside, God looks at the heart. He knows those who are His. And He knows those who are not.

Today’s text is really the last time that Jesus preaches publicly to the multitudes. This is really the Jews last opportunity to respond to the gospel of Christ. John said in vs.36, “These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.”

And John goes on to explain I think, why Jesus hid Himself from them. Because as it says in vs.37; “…though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” They had plenty of opportunity to believe. Jesus had done many tremendous signs in Judea. The seven signs that John records in HIs gospel were but a fraction of the total number of miracles that Jesus did in His ministry, and many of them had been in Judea. John 20:30-31 says, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” However, John says here in this passage that just a few days before His crucifixion they had not believed in Him. Harvest was past, summer was ended, and they were not saved.

It’s possible that for many people in His audience, it was simply a matter of procrastination. They believed in Him to some degree, they recognized that He was doing incredible things, that He spoke like no man had spoken, they believed that He could be the Messiah, but they had not committed themselves to Him. They had not decided to walk with Him, to follow Him, to become His disciple. Maybe someday, they might have thought. Maybe someday I will leave everything and follow Jesus. I know that I should. But right now I’m young. Right now I have a good career opportunity that I want to pursue. Right now I have a girlfriend that I really like and I don’t want to take a chance on losing her. But one day I will. One day I will become His disciple.

But I think in most cases, it was just simply a matter of unbelief. It was just a matter of rejecting the truth because it wasn’t convenient. It didn’t fit with what they wanted to believe. So when you reject the truth in favor of another way, you are an unbeliever. You are unsaved. There are not many paths to God. There is not such a thing as your understanding of God, versus my understanding of God. There is no such thing as worshipping God as you understand Him. Jesus said that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And He also said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me.” We must believe in God as He has manifested Himself to be. Nothing less will suffice. Jesus said, You MUST worship Him in spirit and in truth.

So they rejected Jesus, and consequently they were still dead in their sins, they were still unsaved. And they would suffer the consequences of their decision.

But the fact they had not believed in Him did not affect the purpose and plan of God. God’s purpose was to manifest Himself in the person of Jesus as Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.” And His purpose was to redeem a chosen people from the earth to become His church, the bride and body of Christ.

So John illustrating that fact quotes from Isaiah 53, one of the most famous Messianic passages of the Old Testament. He quotes in vs.38, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” John says that this rejection of Israel was to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of Isaiah 53. Now how was that prophecy fulfilled? Well, because Isaiah 53 says that the Messiah would be rejected.

For instance, in Isaiah 53:3 it says, “He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah prophecies in this text that the Messiah would be rejected and despised. Rather than being accepted and adored as the Messiah come to save the world, He would be rejected by the world, the very ones He came to save. So this was being fulfilled in John 12. The Jews for the most part had made up their minds. The vast majority at that time rejected Him. He didn’t fit into their plans, He didn’t fit their paradigm. They rejected His message.

That’s what Isaiah is saying in that phrase “the arm of the Lord.” The arm of the Lord is the power of the Lord. And the power of God is the gospel. Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Yet though the gospel was presented in power, by the very presence of God in the flesh, with all signs and wonders, they would not believe. They chose to not believe. Because to believe means so much more than just an acceptance of certain facts, it is to follow, it is to humble yourself, to recognize your need for a Savior and confess Him as your Lord. But they would not. That’s why Jesus wept just a day or two earlier when He came into Jerusalem. He wept over the city and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto you; how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Luke 13:34) They would not accept Him, they would not believe.

So then John says, because they would not, they could not. That is the progression of unbelief. They would not accept Him, so eventually they could not believe. Vs. 39, “For this reason they could not believe.” Their hearts became hardened. And again John quotes from Isaiah to illustrate his point, this time quoting from Isaiah 6; “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.”

Many theologians want to get hung up on the doctrine of election at this verse. But I don’t think that is what is being taught here. I think it is speaking of the progressive nature of unbelief. When you reject the truth repeatedly, there will come a point when you can no longer believe it. Your heart becomes hardened to the point of becoming unfeeling, insensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. This is the danger of coming to church year after year and hearing the truth, but not believing it unto salvation. Eventually, your heart gets so hard that you cannot believe. Your capacity to believe is diminished every time you reject the truth. You will not believe, therefore you cannot believe. John Murray said that if the Word of God does not quicken, it will deaden. The fire that melts wax will harden clay.

Blindness and hardness does not happen without involving the will of the people. God’s hand is in the consequences of their choice. Romans 1:18-22 describes this process of rejection; “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.” And so Paul then says three times in the following verses of that chapter, that God gave them over. God gave them over to impurity, He gave them over to degrading passions, and He gave them over to a depraved mind. He gave them over to the very things that they wanted, and as a result they became so deadened that they could not believe.

We just looked at a similar passage in Ephesians 4 in our Wednesday evening study. The same progression of unbelief resulting in a hard heart that is cursed to being unable to respond anymore. Eph. 4:17-19 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” Their futile minds and willful ignorance results in a darkened mind, a calloused conscience, living purely for sensual pleasure, and their heart becomes so hard that it is impervious to conviction.

It is a dangerous thing to reject the truth of God. It is a dangerous thing to quench the Holy Spirit. To harden your heart against the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God is patient. But there will come a time when the light goes out. When He shuts the door. Peter said that God was patient in the days of Noah. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, he said, for 120 years as he built the ark he was preaching the judgment to come. And during that time God was patient, not willing for any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But one day God told Noah to go into the ark, and the Bible says that God shut the door. And the world was destroyed by the flood.

You don’t know how much time you have. As today our nation remembers 9-11, we should also consider that no one who went to work that morning, or got on a plane that morning, knew that would be their last day. None of us know how much time we have. None of us know when the Lord will return. But the Bible says that the world will mourn when they see Him who they rejected. They will mourn and wail that they crucified the Almighty God, the Lord and Savior whose gift of eternal life they rejected. The One to whom they would not bow.

Then John speaks of some who were sympathetic to the teaching of Christ, who believed in Him, but not unto salvation. Notice vs.42 “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.” I believe that this refers to the ruling party of the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of Israel. Some of them believed that He was the Messiah. Nicodemus is a classic example that we know of. And he came to Jesus at night, afraid of being seen by the Jews. But yet he said, ““Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” So there was a form of belief there, they believed that God had to be with Him in order to do the miracles that He did. But yet they are not confessing Him publicly. Now I believe the scripture indicates that Nicodemus did become a believer. But it wasn’t until His crucifixion or perhaps even later. Tradition says that he did eventually become a believer and he was persecuted by the Jews. He had been very rich and because of his faith he became a pauper. He suffered a lot of persecution in his family as a result of his eventual confession.

But I think at this stage in Jesus’s ministry, we can suppose that there were many like him. Many that had a degree of belief, but an unwillingness to confess Him as their Savior and Lord and follow Him. And we know that means that they were unsaved, because vs 43 says, “for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” To love the approval of men is a hallmark of the unsaved. 1John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

So we can know that they weren’t Christians, because he says, they were not approved by God. That is what salvation is, being approved by God. And how are we approved by God? By our good works? By our inherent goodness? Because we go to church? Or because we believe in God? No, we are approved by God by being clothed in Christ’s righteousness alone. Made faultless to stand before the throne, though faith in Him, by the transference of Christ’s righteousness to us, and by our sins being transferred to Him. That is the only way to be approved by God. Hebrews 11:1-2 teaches us that the only way to be approved by God is through faith in Christ. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.” But John says that these rulers were not approved by God because they did not have saving faith, that confessed Jesus as Lord, and renounced the world.

And the supporting evidence of that fact is that John says they loved the world rather than the approval of God. They loved the approval of men more than the approval of God. That is not evidence of being saved. That is evidence of being lost.

That is exactly what Jesus is referring to in vs. 46. Jesus said, “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” If you come into the light, you cannot remain in darkness. That is a characteristic of being saved. 1John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Believing the truth of Christ means that you leave the course of this world, you come out from the darkness of this world, and you walk in the light, even as He is in the Light. If you love the Lord, then you will reject the world. If you want approval of God, then you will not care about the approval of men.

Now in response to this rejection of truth, notice what Jesus does. He cries out in one last attempt to reach these people with the truth. One last attempt to turn them, to cause them to believe. One last invitation to believe in the truth of the gospel. And He does this by restating the great themes of the gospel which He has been preaching all along.

First of all, Jesus restates clearly His unity with the Father. He states His divinity, as being equal with God. Vs. 44 and 45, ““He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” Jesus is emphasizing His unity with God the Father. He would tell Phillip later in John 14, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Fundamental to our salvation is a the belief that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. No one less than God could possibly atone for a world of sinners. So that doctrine is fundamental. You cannot be saved without believing that Jesus is One with God, He was in the beginning with God, and He was God. Without believing that you cannot be saved.

Secondly, He says “I have come as light into the world.” Jesus stressed that He is the truth, and the need man has to leave the darkness and follow Jesus as the source of light, the source of truth, resulting in life. As we said earlier, you cannot remain in darkness. You have to come out of darkness into the light of truth, and walk in the light, even as He is light.

Thirdly, He speaks of judgment to come. “And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” The coming day of judgment is an important doctrine that needs to be emphasized today. It is out of fashion to speak of judgment. “Don’t judge!” Or “Who are you to judge?” is the watchword of a superficial Christianity.

And we are not the judge of who is saved and who is not. I said that at the beginning of my message. You all look alike to me from here. But God will judge the secrets of men’s hearts. And Jesus said that we will be judged by His words. The word of Christ is the law of God. And you will be judged by God’s law.

This is why we need a Savior. If there were no judgment to come, if there was no eternal damnation, then we would not need a Savior. Jesus came from God not to judge us, but to save us. He spoke the word of God which we will be judged by. But Jesus came to be the sacrifice for our sin. He came to take our place by offering Himself as our substitute. The judgment that was due to us has fallen upon Him. Going back to Isaiah 53 we read, “But He was pierced through for our transgressions,He was crushed for our iniquities;The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray,Each of us has turned to his own way;But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Only by faith in Him, can we appropriate His substitutionary atonement for ourselves. To reject Him is to remain condemned.

And then He offers the invitation to salvation. “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” Notice that Jesus correlates the gospel of Christ with the law of God, and the law with the commandment of God. And He says His command results in everlasting life, eternal life. The word of Christ, the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation. It is the means of believing unto eternal life. Believe His gospel and you will receive eternal life. You will be delivered from the judgment which results in death, and instead be given eternal life.

Today you have heard the words of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is both the word of truth and an invitation. Paul said in Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as the children of Israel did. Do not love the world and the approval of men as the rulers did. Do not put off this invitation to life. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. You do not know if you will have tomorrow. Today, call on the Lord while He may be found. As Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”