Why Did Jesus Come?

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 50:1-6
• Hymn — The Mighty God, the Lord
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Confession of Faith 8.5
• Scripture Reading — Psalm 6:1-10
• Hymn — Be Still My Soul
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
• Sermon
• Hymn — The Power of the Cross
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

---

Sermon Title: Why Did Jesus Come?

Scripture: John 12:27-36

I. The Cross Brings Glory to the Father

A. Jesus's soul is troubled (John 12:27) as the cross looms — a strong word conveying revulsion, horror, agitation, and anxiety

1. A similar anguish appears more intensely at Gethsemane, where Jesus prays three times that the cup pass from him
2. Yet here, as at Gethsemane, he resolves: for this purpose I have come to this hour

B. The Father's audible voice from heaven declares: I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again

1. The crowd cannot fully understand the voice — some say thunder, some say an angel has spoken — yet it serves as a cosmic witness to Christ's words
2. I have glorified it (past) refers to Christ's entire public ministry in John 1–11, in which the Son perfectly reflects the Father (Hebrews 1:3)
3. I will glorify it again (future) refers to the cross

C. The cross glorifies God by spreading the fame of his name to the nations

1. Malachi 1:11 — From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations — fulfilled through the pure offering of Christ
2. The Great Commission extends that glory: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
3. The cross is the symbol of perfect obedience — where Israel failed to spread Yahweh's glory through obedience, Christ succeeds, obedient even to death on a cross (Philippians 2:8)
4. The last Adam, unlike the first Adam, turns away from the serpent and spreads God's glory rather than the shame of sin to the ends of the earth

II. The Cross Brings Judgment on Satan

A. Now is the judgment of this world (John 12:31) — not the final eschatological judgment, but a judgment realized as the world places the Son of God on the cross

1. As seen in Romans 1, part of God's wrath is giving people over to their sin — climactically displayed as fallen humanity crucifies the Lord of Glory
2. The cross simultaneously represents grace and mercy and the heinousness of fallen mankind; as Jeremiah 17 cries, the heart is deceitful above all things
3. The cross draws a line: either you are putting Christ on the cross and are subject to judgment, or you are covered by his blood and subject to redemption

B. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out (John 12:31) — Satan is defeated at the cross

1. Hebrews 2:14 — through death Christ destroys the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil
2. Revelation 12 — the accuser is cast down, conquered by the blood of the Lamb

C. Satan's two lines of accusation are cut off at the cross

1. Accusation toward man against God — as in the garden, Satan slanders God as untrustworthy and withholding; this lie is silenced as God spares not his own Son
2. Accusation toward God against man — as in Job 1, Satan parades sinners' failures before God's heavenly court; at the cross those sins are counted against Christ, fully expunged, and Satan is cast out of that court
3. Luther: When the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him: I admit it — but I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf; his name is Jesus Christ, Son of God

III. The Cross Brings Salvation to the World

A. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32) — the cross as the means of universal gospel proclamation and saving attraction

B. The crowd's objection (John 12:34): the law says the Christ remains forever — how can the Son of Man be lifted up?

1. Their understanding draws on passages such as Isaiah 9:7, Psalm 72:17, Psalm 89, and the Davidic covenant of 2 Samuel 7
2. Jesus does not answer their question directly — the full understanding of the kingdom's fulfillment awaits the Spirit's illumination at Pentecost (Acts 2)

C. Jesus's call: Walk while you have the light … believe in the light, that you may become sons of light (John 12:35-36)

1. Christ the Light of the World is about to be taken away; believe now, so that the darkness will not master you
2. John 1:5 — the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it

D. The great irony: the very moment Christ calls others to walk in the light, he himself will be plunged into darkness — the sun hidden, the face of God turned away — so that his soul is troubled for us

1. John 14:27 — Peace I leave with you … let not your hearts be troubled — our hearts are no longer troubled because Christ's heart was troubled in our place
2. He swallows up the darkness at the cross so that all that remains for those united to him by faith is the light of the Son
3. The darkness will surround believers until Christ returns — but it can never be as dark as Good Friday, and it has no match against the light of Resurrection Sunday