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John 12:29-30  WHAT GOD DOES FOR OUR SAKE

Introduction:
	
	Before the foundation of the world had committed Himself
to go to the cross of Calvary and to suffer that all mankind
might be saved.  That, of course,  was long before He lived
in human flesh and knew by experience what it is like to
live in a human body.
	Yet even after He was born into human flesh He was still
committed to the goal of going to the cross and providing
salvation for lost souls.  Even at the time of our text when
He would soon be arrested, He was still committed to going
to the cross so that man might be saved.
	There was two main reasons for going to the cross.  One
reason was because He loved God the Heavenly Father and
wanted God the Father to receive honor and glory through His
death.  The second was that He loved man and desired to save
man.  He loved all mankind so much that He was willing to
suffer the penalty that lost sinners rightly deserved in
order that they might be spared.
	In our text last Sunday we heard Jesus pray aloud to God
the Father in the presence of a great crowd of people.  He
did not pray and ask God to spare Him from the cross.
Rather, He asked that God the Father use His death to bring
honor and glory to Himself.  He was willing to die that God
the Father might be glorified.
	Also in the text last Sunday, God the Father responded
to that prayer by speaking aloud to Jesus in the presence of
that great crowd of people.  The people had heard Jesus
speak to God the Father and they also heard God the Father
speak back to Jesus.
	In our text today, John relates to us the two main
impressions which the voice of God had made upon the people.
Somehow the voice of God had not made the impression on
these people which God desired.  So Jesus points out to the
people the impression which God had intended that they
should get by hearing Him speak from heaven to Jesus.

I.  An examination of our text

	V. 29, "The people therefore, that stood by, and heard
it, said that it thundered..."  The people heard the voice
of God as He spoke to Jesus from heaven and many of them
said, "It thundered!"
	Now I confess to you that I cannot understand why they
thought that all they heard was thunder.  I can understand
that it may have resembled thunder.  I can also understand
that if God had wanted to do so He could have fixed it so
that even though the people heard the voice, they would not
have understood the words.  That is what happened when Jesus
spoke from heaven to the Apostle Paul on the road to
Damascus.  All the people with Paul heard the voice, but
only Paul, himself, understood the words.  I know that God
could have done it that way on this occasion if He had
wanted to.  But in light of what Jesus said later in our
text, I cannot feel that this is what God did on this
occasion.  In light of the explanation which Jesus later
gives, I am convinced that God wanted them to understand the
words which He spoke to Jesus.
	There are only two possible explanations that I can come
up with why many of the people concluded that what they
heard was thunder.  One is that the people were caught off
guard by this voice.  It was totally unexpected and their
attention was focused on Jesus rather than the voice and the
words that were spoken.  Therefore because they were really
not focusing on the voice and they failed to catch the words
that were said.
	Yet even this explanation is not completely satisfactory
to me.  I can understand why they would not catch what words
were spoken, but I cannot understand why they would not be
aware that words were spoken.  I have had people speak in my
presence when I was not focusing upon them and I did not
catch what they said, but I was aware that they said
something.  I did know that words had been spoken.
	The second possible explanation of their conclusion
seems more plausible to me.  It is possible that they simply
were not willing to admit that God the Father in heaven had
said to Jesus.  They were not willing to acknowledge that
God had, in effect, confirmed to all present that Jesus is
His Son.  Many of these people were perfectly willing to
acknowledge that Jesus might be the promised king who would
deliver them from the Romans and right at that point they
were also willing to accept Him as their king.  But they
were not willing at this point as to accept Him as the Son
of God.  They were not ready to accept Him as Deity God
dwelling in human flesh.  Therefore, they just blocked out
the fact that God had spoken to them and it was easy for
them to conclude that it must have been thunder.
	There were others in the crowd, upon whom the voice from
heaven had made a very different impression.  (V. 29), "...
others said, An angel spake to him."  These, in effect,
acknowledged that words had been spoken.  They must have
understood all or most of those words.  They even
acknowledged that the voice and the message was from heaven.
But they, too, came short of acknowledging that God the
Father, Himself, had actually spoken to Jesus in their
hearing.  They preferred to think that only an angel of God
had spoken.
	We can be sure of one thing.  Those who thought that an
angel of God had spoken to Jesus were not Sadducees.  The
Sadducees did not believe in the existence of angels.  These
were Pharisees.  I like to think that since the Pharisees
were the ones who said that an angel had spoken to Jesus
that the Sadducees were the ones who said that it was
thunder.
	At any rate, the people had failed to get the point that
God the Father wanted them to get and Jesus sought to point
out to them just what God was talking about.  V. 30, "Jesus
answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but
for your sakes."  That is, "This voice did not speak for my
benefit.  It spoke for your benefit.  It was for your sakes
that God My heavenly Father spoke to Me from heaven."
	God the Father did not speak to Jesus at this time
because He felt that Jesus needed some kind a special
encouragement from Him or a special uplift from Him.  These
words were not meant to encourage Jesus.  Rather they were
spoken for the benefit of the people.  God wanted the people
to know that Jesus is indeed, His Son.  He wanted the people
to know that He had sent Jesus to the world.  He wanted them
to know that Jesus is all that He claims to be.  Jesus is
the spiritual Light of the world enabling men to see.  Jesus
is the spiritual Water of the world and that those who by
faith drink of this water will have everlasting life.  God
wanted them to know that Jesus is the Bread of Life who
sustains life not only here but in the hereafter.  God
wanted the people to know that Jesus is the Savior of men
who can save men from their sins and carry them to heaven.
The people had expressed a desire to have Jesus as their
earthly king.  God wanted them to desire to have Jesus as
their Savior.
	At this time they had gathered around Him to listen to
Him.  Pretty soon many of them would gather before Him to
slap Him in the face, to spit in His face and to heap
insults upon Him.
	God did not expect to convert all these people just at
the sound of His voice from heaven.  But God wanted to give
them something that they would remember and that they would
not be able to shake.  After the crucifixion and
resurrection the disciples would spread the news that Jesus
had risen from the grave, God wanted them to remember that
they, themselves, had heard God's own voice speak from
heaven and, in effect, say to them all that Jesus is His
beloved Son in whom He is well pleased and that they should
believe in Him.  I am fully convinced that many of the
people who lived throughout this whole land of Israel would
later be converted under the preaching of the apostles.  I
am persuaded that they really got started in the process of
becoming persuaded that Jesus is the Christ because they
heard God Himself speak to Jesus here on this occasion.
	What somehow seems strange to us is that God actually
wanted Jesus to be crucified.  He wanted Him to be crucified
because He knew that only by this means could any man be
saved.  So God the Father was not trying to stop the
crucifixion.  He was just trying to persuade men that Jesus
is the Savior.
	God wanted to make such an impression on these people
that later they would remember this occasion and become
convinced that Jesus is the Savior of men.  He spoke aloud
to Jesus, not for the sake of Jesus, but for the sake of the
people.

II.  Things that God has done for our sakes

	God did this for their sake and He loves all of us and
has done many, many things for our sake.  Even the sending
of His Son Jesus to the cross was for us.  It was for all
men which includes us.
	God has also given the written word, the Holy Bible, for
our sakes.  He gave the Old Testament for our sakes.  We and
are not under the Old Testament law, but all of the  law and
all of the prophets of the Old Testament testify of Jesus as
the Christ, as the Son of God and as the Savior of men.  He
gave the New Testament for our sakes.  We do not have the
privilege that the people of Israel had on that occasion.
They heard the very word of God spoken from heaven.  But
they heard only two statements.  They heard God the Father
say that He had glorified His name and they heard Him say
that He would yet glorify His name.  We have much more.  We
have all of the Old and all of the New Testament.  We have
the whole Bible.  We have not heard His voice from heaven,
but we have His written word.  We have the Holy Spirit
inspired written word of God.
	God has given the New Testament church system of worship
for our sakes.  The church was given so as to teach us in
the great truths of God.  It is to teach us the will of God
for our lives.  It is given to correct us when we are wrong.
It is given to train us in the work that we are to do for
God.  It is given to guide us in the paths of righteousness.
	Even the Holy Spirit was given for our sakes.  He has
given the Holy Spirit to Comfort us in our sorrows.  The
Holy Spirit is called the great Comforter.  He has given the
Holy Spirit to guide us and to strengthen us and to be a
very present help to us in time of our troubles.
	God has given blessings on a daily basis.  The Bible
says that every good gift comes down from above from the
Father of lights.  They are given to us to encourage us and
to challenge us on to greater heights in this life.
	Even the chastisements which God gives to all His
children are given for our sakes.  If you are a child of God
then God chastens you when you do wrong.  Yet He chastens
you not to take out His anger on you, but to help you.  If
God did not chasten us we would not correct our way of
living.  We would continue on doing worse and worse things
in our lives, but because He chastens us, we make and effort
to correct our lives.  The end result will be that we will
have much greater rewards in heaven.  Yes, even the
chastisements which He gives are for our sake.
	In the future, God will allow us to die and to go to our
graves.  This old depraved sinful body will decay and go
back to the dust from which it came.  But He will send Jesus
to raise our bodies from the grave and give us new bodies in
which to live.  They will be sinless bodies.  They will be
diseaseless bodies.  They will be painless bodies.  They
will be glorified bodies like unto the glorified body of
Jesus Christ.
	God will even give us a whole new world in which to
live.  God will melt the elements of this world with fervent
heat.  He will purge the world from the curse of sin.  He
will purge it with fire and burn out the old curse.  He will
give us a whole new world in which to live and spend
eternity.  It will be a world free from sin, free from the
curse of sin, free from suffering, free from sorrow.  It
will be a world that will be filled with constant rejoicing.

Conclusion:

	God has even given us this service here today for our
sakes.  God wants this service to be to our benefit.  God
wants to draw us close to Him so that He can fill our hearts
with joy.
	I am going to call upon our musicians to come forward
and lead us in a congregational hymn and I am going to
appeal to each one of you to turn to God and yield your
heart and soul and life to Him.  You have not heard the
voice of god speak to you from heaven.  But you have heard
the word of God preached to you from this pulpit.  I am
going to call upon every lost soul to trust in Jesus for
salvation.
	I am going to call upon you who are saved and are
members of this church to dedicate your life to the worship
and service of God.  I am not asking all to become preachers
or deacons or Sunday school teachers.  But I am asking each
one of you to dedicate your life to serve God.  I am asking
you to be willing to serve Him in whatever capacity He
chooses for you to serve.  I am asking you to take up your
cross and serve Jesus.
	I am also going to call upon you who are saved and in
need of a church home to seek the will of the Lord in
finding a church home for you and your family.  All that I
can ask is that you let God have His way.