Did you ever hear the truth about a matter and yet you refused to believe it? The Bible says that God said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” In John 12 we see the public ministry of Jesus comes to and end and He cries out with one last public appeal. He gives a final invitation to Israel to believe and accept Him as the Messiah.

Tragically, the unbelief of Israel has hardened into permanency and the call of the Messiah is refused. and so the call is silenced by God.

Jesus Offers a Final Chance to Believe

John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, “Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walks in darkness doesn’t know where he is going. 12:36a While ye have Light, believe in the Light,

Jesus offers a final appeal and He says the day of grace is about to be gone, now is the last chance to believe.

Take the walk of faith before the daylight ends, and don’t be left groping around in some kind of permanent darkness.  The idea of walk means believe. Make the journey of faith while it’s still light, before the darkness falls. If one does not, act while it is light they will become a lost traveler forever.

God’s Spirit does not always strive with man. There can come a point in a persons life when over and over they have heard about Christ and have rejected Him over and over, and God will stop calling, then it will be impossible for them to believe.

Hosea 4:17 “Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.

God said let them alone, no more grace, God just cut off dealing with Israel, it was their choice. God said I am done with them.

Hebrews 10:26 “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin.”

If you have heard the truth of Jesus Christ and have repeatedly said no, and repeatedly refused the only one sacrifice for sin, which is Jesus Christ, then there is no more sacrifice. If you willfully after hearing of Christ knowing the facts refuse Him, you’re hope is gone.

Jesus offers a final call to the people of Israel and all men to believe while they can believe, while they have the light before God removes the light. And so, Jesus warns Israel and then comes the frightening statement, He leaves, and their chance is gone.

John 12:36 While ye have Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the children of Light.” These things spoke Jesus, and departed and hid Himself from them.

The Fatal Causes of Unbelief

Why was it that Israel didn’t believe when the Messiah was so good, so legitimate and His miracles were so obvious.

John 12:37 But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not in Him,

John carefully reminds us that the problem was not with Christ, the problem was with the callous, insensitive, hard hearts of men.

God Had Said Through Isaiah This Would Happen

John 12:38 that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

The Jewish people through their own fault failed to receive Christ in genuine faith and when they did that of their own choice, they were fulfilling the absolute plan of God prophesied in Isaiah.

The divine order demands that those who willfully hardened themselves shall be hardened. Pharaoh, hardened his heart, and God hardened it for him after that.

Exodus 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,

Exodus 8:32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart

God could see the human hardening and then prophesy His own response. God said this is how it’s going to be because they’re going to refuse and thus I’m going to harden their hearts. Between God’s two sovereign acts, the prophecy of hardening, the act of God hardening, was the choice of Israel to refuse Christ.

The Everlasting Consequences of Belief & Unbelief

John gives us the consequences of belief and unbelief. It’s a recap, a final declaration of the importance of Jesus Christ’s ministry and the fatal error of disbelieving it.

The forever consequence of belief.

A personal knowledge of God and Christ. Believers have a light to live by, a light in the dark world.

The forever consequence of unbelief.

The unbeliever is in the dark and will remain in the dark. “If any man hear My words and believe not, If a person refuses to hear the teaching of Jesus Christ, they sentence themselves to judgment.