87
John 12:28 GLORY TO THE NAME OF GOD

Introduction:

	Jesus had explained publicly to a great crowd of people
at Jerusalem that He must die.  He said that even as it is
necessary for a grain of wheat to die in order for it to
produce fruit, even so it would be necessary for Him to die
in order for Him to produce the spiritual fruit that He
desires.
	As Deity God, He desired to provide a way of salvation
whereby all people would have opportunity to be saved.  Yet
as a man, He had no desire to die.  He especially had no
desire as a man to die the horrible death on the cross.  He
had no desire to suffer.  He had no desire to suffer the
kind of agony that He knew that He would experience on the
cross.  He had no desire to experience the kind of suffering
that He knew was necessary in order to provide salvation for
lost souls.  Just the very thought of that suffering caused
Him to be deeply troubled in His soul.
	Yet He would not ask God the Father to spare Him from
that suffering.  Before the foundation of the world God the
Father had laid plans for Him to be born in human flesh and
to die on the cross.  Revelation 13:8 said that He had stood
as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  He had
come into the world for the very purpose to dying on the
cross.  He would not now ask God the Father to change His
plans and to spare Him from the cross.
	Later in the Garden of Gethsemane He would pray to the
Father and say (and I paraphrase), "Father, if there is any
other way for man to be saved, then let me be spared from
this cup of suffering.  Never-the-less, not my will, but
thine be done."  Yet Jesus would not say, "Father, I want
you to spare me from suffering on the cross regardless of
what happens to lost sinners."
	To the contrary.  In our text we hear Jesus pray aloud
to God the Father in the presence of that great crowd and
ask God the Father to use His suffering to glorify the name
of God the heavenly Father.
	V. 28, "Father, glorify thy name..."  Or to put it
another way, Jesus was saying, "Father, I do not ask that
you spare me from suffering on the cross.  All I ask is that
you use my suffering to glorify your name."  You see, Jesus
knew that by His suffering on the cross lost souls would be
saved and that those who would be saved would praise and
glorify the name of God for sending Him to the cross.  This
was what Jesus wanted more than anything else in this world. 
More than anything He wanted lost souls to be saved and for 
the name of God the Father in heaven to be glorified.

I.  The glory which God the Father had already brought to
    His name through Jesus

	(V. 28), "...Then came there a voice from heaven,
saying, I have both glorified it..."  Jesus prayed to God
the Father in the presence of all those people asking God to
use Him to glorify His name and right there in the presence
of all those people God the Father spoke to Jesus in answer
to His prayer and said, "I have glorified it."
	God the Father had, indeed, already glorified His name
through Jesus.  He had glorified His name by sending Jesus
to the world to be born in human flesh.  The birth of Jesus
into this world was no ordinary birth.  That is, at least,
the conception of Jesus was no ordinary conception.  Jesus
was not conceived by an earthly father.  He was conceived by
the Holy Spirit of God in the womb of a virgin woman.  This
is the only such conception which has ever taken place in
all the history of the world.  His was a virgin birth.  It
is true that not many people in the world at that time knew
that Jesus was virgin born, but some did.  Joseph did and
Mary did.  They knew it from the beginning and at some point
of time in His ministry the apostles did.  He had taught 
them this and many other things in private which He had not
revealed to the general public.  God the Father had already
glorified His name by the virgin birth of Jesus in the
hearts and minds of all who at that time knew about the
virgin birth.
	God the Father had already glorified His name by the
perfect sinless life that Jesus had lived in the flesh.  He
had lived all of His life without ever committing one sin.
He had never sinned against His parents.  He had never
sinned against His brothers and sisters.  He had never
sinned against His neighbors.  He had never sinned against
any human being.  He had never sinned against God the Father
in heaven.  He never went against the will of God in any way
whatsoever.  Jesus is the one and only man to live in human
flesh without ever sinning in his whole life.  Jesus is the
only man who was always in all things completely yielded to
the will of God the Father in heaven.  God the Heavenly
Father was glorified by such a life which was completely
yielded to His will.
	God the Father had already glorified His name by the
ministry of John the Baptist which testified that Jesus is
the Christ.  The ministry of John the Baptist was like a
voice crying in the wilderness saying, "Get ready because
the King of heaven and earth is coming."  John the Baptist
announced to the nation of Israel that Jesus is the Savior
of the world.  In John 1:29 John said, "Behold, the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world." He was talking
about Jesus.  In John 1:34 John the Baptist said, "I bare 
record that this is the Son of God."  God the Father had 
already been glorified by the coming of Jesus to the world 
through the testimony that John gave the people about Him.
	God the Father had been glorified by the great miracles
which Jesus performed.  Those miracles were from the
beginning designed to show that Jesus is the Christ.  For
example, after Jesus calmed a mighty storm on the Sea of
Galilee, His disciples said, "What manner of man is this
that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"  His great
miracles showed Him to be the Son of God.
	God the Father had already been glorified by the great
spiritual truths which Jesus taught.  Jesus was about as
well known for His great teaching as He was for His great
miracles.  He was commonly called "Rabbi" by the people.
The word, rabbi, means "teacher."  Jesus was known more for
His teaching than for His preaching.  On a previous trip to
Jerusalem the Jewish leaders had instructed the temple
guards to arrest Jesus and they had refused to arrest Him.
When the Jewish leaders demanded to know why they had not
arrested Him, they answered, "Never a man spake like this
man."  God the Heavenly Father had been greatly glorified by
the teaching ministry of Jesus.
	God the Father had been glorified by the New Testament
church system of worship which Jesus had established.  It
was during His personal ministry here on earth that Jesus
called together a group of men who had been saved and
baptized under the ministry of John the Baptist.  Jesus used
those men to establish a whole new system of worship.  The
Old Testament law system of worship had served its purpose
and was coming to a close.  Jesus established the New
Testament church system of worship.  Jesus used those men to
establish a New Testament church and instructed that after
His departure that other like churches should be organized
throughout the world.  The name of God the heavenly Father
had already been glorified by the church that had been
established.

II. The glory which God the Father would yet bring to His
    name through Jesus

	(V. 28), "...and will glorify it again."  God the Father
would yet use Jesus to glorify His name.  Within a few short
hours Jesus would go to the cross and pay the redemption
price that the souls of men might be saved.  Through the
death of Jesus on the cross, the name of God the Father
would be greatly glorified.  It would stand forever to the
glory of God the Father that God had so loved the world that
He gave His Only Begotten Son to die on the cross that
whosoever believeth on Him would not perish but have
everlasting life.  I have said it before and I say it again:
There is nothing that glorifies the name of God more than
the sacrifice which Jesus made on Calvary's cross for the
souls of lost sinners.
	God would also yet glorify His name by the resurrection
of Jesus.  Three days and three nights after the death of
Jesus, Jesus was raised from the grave.  If Jesus had
remained in the grave He could not save anyone.  A dead 
person cannot save anyone.  But because He arose from the 
grave He is able to save every lost soul who will trust in 
Him.  
	God the Father would yet glorify Himself as Jesus would
save lost souls who trust in Him.  Every time a lost soul 
repents of his sin and calls on Jesus for salvation Jesus 
saves that soul.  He is not saved by his own works of 
righteousness.  He is not saved by religious ceremonies nor 
by church membership.  He is saved by the grace of God 
through faith in Jesus Christ and God gets all the praise 
and all the glory.
	God the Father would yet glorify Himself by the 
changed lives of those who are saved.  Saved people do not 
live perfect lives because they still live in sinful flesh.  
But they do live changed lives.  The change that took place
on the inside produces a change on the outside.  It 
produces a change in the outward conduct.  When liars 
become truthful, when thieves become honest, when drunks 
become sober,  when harlots and whoremongers become morally 
clean, God gets glory from it.  
	God the Father would yet get glory to Himself by 
sending Jesus back to the earth to raise the saved dead, to 
change thier mortal bodies to immortal bodies and by taking 
them to live with Him forever.  He will be glorified by 
the marvelous event of the rapture itself and He will be 
glorified by their praises forevermore.  

Conclusion:

	I am going to call upon every lost soul under the sound
of my voice to turn to Jesus Christ and call upon Him for the 
salvation of your soul.  Ask Jesus to keep you out of hell and 
to make sure that you get to heaven when you die.  
	I am going to call upon you who trust in Jesus to 
openly profess Jesus as your Savior so that God will get the 
glory from saving your soul.
	I am going to call upon every Christian who desires to 
do so to come and place your membership in this church.  	   
	Do it now.