The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'An Overwhelming Desire,' explores the profound and overriding passion of Jesus Christ to glorify His Father through His redemptive work, despite the deep turmoil in His soul. Using the passage from John 12:27-30, the sermon delves into the significance of Jesus' troubled soul as He anticipates becoming a curse for sinners, contrasting His righteous nature with the burden of sin He is about to bear. This overwhelming desire to honor His Father and fulfill His purpose on earth overcomes His internal disturbance, illustrating the maturity and submission Christians should aspire to. The sermon also highlights the moments when God the Father spoke from heaven, reinforcing Jesus' mission and identity. These divine affirmations serve as marks of the Messiah, affirming His role in the salvation of humanity and urging believers to prioritize God's glory above personal tribulations. Ultimately, the sermon calls Christians to mature spiritually, governed less by worldly troubles and more by the desire to exalt God in their lives.

Thank you for that exhortation, brother. That's a sweet, sweet song. And as we take in the sermon text now, the text is going to be verses 27 through 30. For context, I'm going to broaden out from 23 to 36. But marvel, continue to marvel as we're exhorted as we sing for one another.

Marvel that this great God that we sing praises to would leave a word for us like this. Just amazing. So let these words minister to you now as you prepare to hear well today. John chapter 12, starting in verse 23. But Jesus answered them saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, It produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me him, my father will honor.

Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.

Others said an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out, and I, if I am lifted up from this earth, will draw all peoples to myself." This, he said, signifying by what death he would die. The people answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever and how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up?

Who is this son of man? Then Jesus said to them a Little while longer the light is with you Walk while you have the light less darkness overtake you He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden from them." I know some of you look to the number of tabs for sermon length. Does anybody else, anybody do that?

There's a lot of tabs this week. It doesn't correlate, by the way. You never know. I never know. Scary.

The original plan was for the sermon text to be 27 through 36, those 10 verses. About midday on Friday afternoon it was apparent to me that that was insanity. That would never make it that far. So it's actually going to be 27 through 30. I'm just going to have four verses this morning in order to give both of these sections their due or more of their due.

I hope that will prove to be a good decision. The title of the sermon this morning is An Overwhelming Desire. We are faced by Jesus Christ and his overwhelming passion that overrules every trouble of his soul. And this is important. This teaches us about Jesus and This teaches us about what we must become also.

God is bringing a people to maturity. What does it mean to be brought to maturity? It means to be brought to a place where an overwhelming desire for the exaltation of God overwhelms, overrules, and governs all the troubles of our souls. This is what we see in the life of Jesus now and I pray it will make us long to have this be true of us as well. Our text is very, very connected with the words that came right before it.

In fact, there is no break in what Jesus said. We just had to have somewhere to stop the sermon last week. And so this is a continuation of what he said. So I point you back to two verses to make sure that we're staying connected. The first is chapter 12 verse 7, Earlier in the chapter, verse 7, look back at that.

That is where Mary has just lavished a tremendously expensive oil on Jesus and Judas has objected to the waste. Here's what Jesus says in verse 7, But Jesus said, Let her alone, She has kept this for the day of my burial. It's not clear at all that Mary was thinking of the day of Jesus' burial. She was honoring Jesus. She was lavishing love and devotion on Jesus.

It is not clear that she was thinking about the death of Jesus, but Jesus was thinking about the death of Jesus. His death and burial was looming in his thoughts in verse 7. Then We have the immediate precursor to our text verses 23 and 24. Look again to this portion of last week's text. Jesus answered them saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. Again, this is looming in Jesus' thoughts. He is the grain of wheat that is falling into the ground and dying, that remains alone unless it dies. But, if it dies, it produces a harvest.

He is thinking and speaking of his glorification through his death there. So now in our text when Jesus says his soul is troubled, This is exactly what is in view. This is why Jesus says that. This is why his soul was troubled. Because he is thinking about his burial.

He is thinking about him being the great grain of wheat that is falling into the ground and dying for a great harvest. Let's go to our text praying for help. Jesus, thank you for your overwhelming preoccupation with your great redemptive work that would cause your Father's name to be great in the earth for sending you to redeem. Thank you for this overwhelming desire in your heart to do what you were sent to do and thereby glorify your Father in heaven. I pray that you would help us to be like you.

I pray that you would draw near to us as your Word is preached. Please, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. I'd like to begin by looking at verse 27 and just the first part of verse 28. Follow along as I read that again. John 27 and the first part of 28.

Jesus says, now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father save me from Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. In this text we have the challenge and the victory. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's challenge and victory.

The challenge, Jesus' soul is troubled and the victory, the story doesn't end with the disquieting of Jesus' soul. He governs it by an overwhelming desire for the glorification, the exaltation, the lifting up of his Father. In reflecting on his great redemptive work as we have already seen earlier in the chapter in reflecting on his great redemptive work, Jesus' soul was troubled. We know because He says so. Now my soul is troubled.

We have seen this word troubled once before and we will see it once again in chapter 11 verse 33 when Mary is weeping the text says, He, Jesus, groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. Same word. Jesus came to these sisters and Mary is weeping. Jesus knows exactly what is about to happen, that the weeping will be turned into dancing, will be turned into joy shortly. But now in that moment, before Him is the effects of sin in the world.

Sorrow, tears, death. And He groans in His spirit and is troubled. So we have seen it. We will see it in chapter 13, which we are not to yet, but in the next chapter, in chapter 13, verse 21, Jesus identifies Judas as his betrayer. In his thoughts and then in his words is one who he has taken into most intimate fellowship, the one who will kiss him to betray him, and the text says he was troubled in spirit.

This word troubled means a deep internal disturbance of the heart. Deep internal disturbance. Internal disturbance. It is to be deeply disquieted in your heart. Now what could so disquiet the God man?

The God God-man has walked on water. The God-man has made the blind to see and the deaf to hear. The God-man has raised the dead. Listen to Galatians 3.13. This is the answer to the question, what could disquiet the heart of the God-man?

What could trouble the soul of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Romans 3, 13. Paul writes, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Who is the cursed one who hangs on the tree?

It is Jesus. This is speaking of the cross. Paul is speaking of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus becoming a curse. Jesus in unbroken fellowship and eternal love with the Father is facing becoming the curse of the law for sinners.

He is standing on the cusp of His great redemptive work that He would stand in the place of the law breaker. He that has not only never broken the law throughout all eternity, never broken the law, but hates the breaking of the law. Don't ever think God hates the breaking of the law, but Jesus is sort of ambivalent to that. No, Jesus is as perfectly righteous and holy as God the Father. Jesus hates sin.

He hates law breaking as much as God the Father. And now he is going to stand in the place of the law breaker to be made a curse for those who deserve the curse. Here's an interesting point of fact. There is no agonizing in Gethsemane in the Gospel of John. The word Gethsemane does not appear in the Gospel of John.

In Matthew's account, Jesus agonizes in Gethsemane. In Mark's account, Jesus agonizes in Gethsemane. In Luke's account, Jesus agonizes in Gethsemane. In fact, Luke is the only one who said he sweated like great drops of blood. Think of that kind of agony and pressure upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

No Gethsemane in John. This is the record of that in John. This is the record of Jesus' soul being disquieted and troubled over being made a curse for those who deserve a curse. For he who knew no sin, being made sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5, 21.

We quote it all the time. It doesn't matter who is in the pulpit. We are always quoting that. He who knew no sin was made sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him. This is why Jesus' soul was troubled.

He was being made the curse. Listen to Gethsemane in Matthew 26. So this is Matthew's record, or a portion of it, Matthew's record of Jesus agonizing in Gethsemane. I'm reading Matthew 26, 38, and 39. Then Jesus said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

Stay here and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, Oh my Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Every element of what Jesus says in Gethsemane is here. The troubled soul is here.

The agonizing is here. The desiring for the cup to pass is here in our text. But the ultimate submission to the will of God for the glory of God is here in our text and in Gethsemane. This is John's account of what was happening in Jesus' heart as he approached his great redemptive work. So John has our text, the text that we are studying today, but not Gethsemane.

What does that mean? This was not restricted to Gethsemane. If all you had was Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you would think, well, you might think that Jesus dispassionately approached the cross except for Gethsemane. Not true. This was looming in Jesus' mind, pressing upon him all of this week in the lead up to his great redemptive work.

It weighed on his soul. The separation from his Father. An unknown separation from eternity past was weighing on Jesus' soul. The white hot anger, the coming anger of God against sin as He was made the curse for those who deserve to be cursed for their sin was pressing on Him. What should he say?

Father, hold me back. Father, I am righteous. I have only ever cheerfully obeyed you. Don't turn your face from me. Do not forsake me.

Don't pour out your anger upon me. How could Jesus say that when this great redemptive purpose was the reason for which He left heaven? How could He say that? He would be right to say that. Father, hold me back.

He would be right. He would be right to say, I am righteous, I have only ever cheerfully obeyed you. True. He would be right to say, don't turn your face from me, don't forsake me, don't pour out your anger on me. But how could he say it?

When this is why he left heaven. He did preach, he didn't leave heaven to preach. He did do miracles, he didn't leave heaven to do miracles. He left heaven to purchase back rebels. He left heaven for me.

He left heaven for you. How could he be held back now? How could he ask to be held back now? So Jesus was troubled in his soul. How could he not be?

But he was not governed by the disturbance of his soul. What is governing Jesus? Father, glorify your name. That is governing Jesus. So it is a fact that he was troubled, disquieted, agonizing in his soul.

But that is not the fact that governs him. The fact that governs him is that his overwhelming desire is to honor his father, the exaltation and greatness, that the greatness of his father would be known. No father, don't treat me as I deserve to be treated in all my righteousness. Glorify your name. No father, don't treat sinners as they deserve to be treated in all of their unrighteousness glorify your name.

Do not concern yourself with my troubled soul, Father. Fulfill your great purpose for sending me into this sin-sick world. Pour me out. Pour me out. Just as you planned, Father, let this grain of wheat fall into the ground and die that there may be a great harvest of souls through the ages.

Jesus' overwhelming desire was that His Father would be high and lifted up through His great sacrificial death in the place of sinners. That overwhelmed the trouble of his soul. It overwhelmed it. He didn't care about the trouble of his soul as much as he cared for the glorification of his father through the redemption of sinners. He cared more about that.

It overwhelmed the disquieting of the soul. Listen to chapter 7 verse 18. We've already studied this many weeks ago. Chapter 7 verse 18. Jesus said, He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory.

But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him. The point is, we've already been seeing this of Jesus over and over again in the Gospel of John, and really every Gospel. Jesus cared most about His Father's glorification, His father's exaltation. He was not seeking his own glory in the incarnation. He was seeking the glory of the one who sent him.

That's always been true in everything we've been studying week by week by week. Jesus is seeking the glory of his father. So again here. Father, glorify your name. Even at this cost, glorify your name.

Let's look at the rest of our text. The second half of verse 28 through 30. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, an angel has spoken to him.

And Jesus said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. In these verses, God the Father speaks. So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it speaks. God the Father speaks. During Jesus' lifetime as a man on earth, the Father spoke from heaven three times.

The first time was at his baptism. Listen to his baptism. This is Matthew chapter 3 verses 16 and 17. When Jesus had been baptized, He came up immediately from the water, and behold the heavens were open to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.� When the voice came from heaven at Jesus�s baptism, The Father identified Jesus as His Son.

This is My beloved Son. And He spoke of His love and His pleasure in Jesus. Jesus as the object of his love. This is my beloved son, Jesus as the object of his pleasure in whom I am well pleased. Later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John high up on a mountain.

And there Jesus met with Moses and Elijah. What a scene. What a scene. Jesus, and Moses, and Elijah. Here is that account picking up in...

This is Matthew 17 picking up in the middle of verse 5. Matthew 17, second part of 5 and verse 6. Suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

I would like to make a couple of observations. First, these are the exact same words from heaven as Jesus' baptism with the addition of two words. So the first part is exactly the same. This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And then these two words are added.

Hear Him. So again, it's the identification of Jesus as being the Son of God, and it is God the Father speaking of His love of the Son and His pleasure in the Son. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, and then a command that they would hear his voice. The authoritative voice of the Son of God. Second, this voice struck fear in Peter, James, and John.

Listen again. When the disciples, when Peter, James, and John heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. They could not stay upright when they heard the voice of God from heaven. They fell on their faces. They were greatly afraid.

They were filled with fear. And now, in our text, God speaks from heaven. God the Father speaks from heaven for the third and last time that there is a voice from heaven. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. I would like to look at three things now.

One, what was said. Two, how people reacted. And three, Jesus's explanation. One, what was said. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

I have both glorified my name and will glorify my name again. That's what it is. It is God the Father's name. I have glorified my name. And I will glorify my name again." There are two ways to interpret that he has glorified it already.

I don't think there is any doubt that when he says, I will glorify it again, he is talking about the great redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That's not in dispute. But what does it mean that God has glorified it already? There are two ways to interpret this. First, we could think that God is saying that He has always been in the business of revealing Himself as the all-glorious God throughout his dealings with mankind.

That's one way to understand this. God the Father has always been in the business of revealing Himself as all glorious to humankind, throughout all of human history. He revealed it to Adam and Eve, didn't he? Whether this is what Jesus meant when he said it or not, that's true. God the Father has always been in the business of revealing himself as the all-glorious God in all of his dealings with humankind.

He wants to be known. He has been revealing himself as all-glorious throughout all of human history. But a second way to interpret this is that every aspect of the incarnation has glorified the Father. I think that's it. I'm not too fussed at which way you think It should be understood.

But I think it's the second way that every aspect of Jesus' life on earth, every aspect of the incarnation has glorified the Father. Turn over to John 17. John chapter 17. This is the great high priestly prayer. I can't hardly wait to get here.

So I'm fast forwarding and sort of giving a sneak preview. John 17. Listen to what Jesus prays to his Father about his incarnation. In verses 4 and 5, John 17, Jesus prays to his Father, I have glorified You on the earth. This is pre-crucifixion.

I have glorified You on earth. On the earth. I have finished the work which You have given me to do. And now, oh Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was." In the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, the Father glorified Himself. In the sending of the eternal Word into the world in human flesh to dwell among us, God the Father has glorified himself.

In Jesus' teaching of perfect truth, the perfect revelation, the most complete, thorough revelation of God, Jesus' teaching, God the Father has glorified himself. In Jesus' compassion on the suffering throughout all of the Gospel accounts, when He is healing the sick and making the lame leap, and giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, In Jesus' compassion on the suffering, God the Father is glorifying Himself. In Jesus' working of miracles, God the Father is being glorified. I think This is what he means. I have both glorified it in every aspect of the incarnation.

From the time that he fulfilled so many prophecies, even as a baby, throughout the course of his life he has glorified it. And He will glorify it again and more in Jesus' substitutionary death on the cross. So, that was one, what was said. Two, how the people reacted. Everyone heard something.

Some said, was that thunder? That was thunder. Some said, that was an angel. That must have been an angel. A couple of thoughts.

God the Father's voice doesn't sound like my voice. Some thought it thundered. Some thought it was an angel. Nobody thought, who's the person who said that? Nobody thought that.

We got that from the Mount of Transfiguration. When Peter, James, and John fell down and they were greatly afraid. Listen to Revelation 14 verse 2. Written by John the Gospel Writer is John the Revelation Writer. Revelation 14 verse 2.

This is John's experience. And I John heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of loud thunder." I so appreciate how Jim read the text. His voice was thundering. I love that deep voice. It wasn't even Jim.

You weren't made greatly afraid. It wasn't the voice of many waters like loud thunder. Another thought. So back to the first thought. You don't have a frame of reference for what they heard.

You've never heard anything like this. You might mistake it for thunder, but you wouldn't mistake it for somebody who you can't see. You might mistake it for the mighty voice of an angel, but you wouldn't mistake it for somebody who you can't see. You might mistake it for the mighty voice of an angel, but you wouldn't mistake it for somebody who you just can't see. A disembodied voice.

John, trying to describe it to people who don't have a frame of reference, says, It's like the voice of many waters. It's like the voice of loud thunder. Another thought. It takes the Holy Spirit. It takes the Holy Spirit.

You can hear a voice from heaven and not understand because the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. A voice could come from heaven today and you miss the benefit of it, Because the Holy Spirit is not present to make it worth something to you, to make it effective for you. One could rise from the dead and come and talk to you. But unless the Holy Spirit makes something of it, it will be nothing to you. Not because there is a problem with the voice from heaven, or there is a problem from the testimony of the one who has come forth from the tomb, but because there is a problem with you, you are dead.

You are dead. It takes the Holy Spirit. A voice from heaven or a person coming up out of the tomb is only, if it's to be effective, is only a tool in the hand of the Holy Spirit who can raise the dead spiritually. Takes the Holy Spirit. Did everyone miss it?

No. John the Gospel writer either then or later said that was God the Father. That was God the Father. That's why you have it. John the Gospel writer didn't miss it.

We don't know whether he got it right that moment, or whether he got it later, but he got it and he gave it to us. That was God the Father. So we don't have the misunderstanding, we have the right understanding of what was really happening there. It was God the Father speaking from heaven. We don't have the account of thundering or the voice of an angel.

We have it told to us in truth. It was the voice of God the Father from heaven. So number one was what was said. Number two was how people reacted. Number three is Jesus' explanation.

Look again at verse 30, our last verse. Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. This was not for me. This did not tell me anything I didn't already know. I and my Father are one.

This was to tell you something you didn't already know. It was for your sake. Like the many fulfillments of prophecy in the Gospel accounts. Like the many very public miracles in the Gospel accounts. This is a mark of the Messiah.

Why is it here? It's a mark of the Messiah. It's Jesus again, like His baptism, like the Mount of Transfiguration, identifying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God the Father is very publicly putting his stamp of approval again, like the other two times of the voice coming from heaven, like the fulfillment of prophecy after prophecy after prophecy. Let me ask you this question about that.

Did you determine where you were born? Did Jesus determine the manner of his death? Many of the things, I guess a person could look back through the prophecies and say, I'm going to try to orchestrate events so that it looks like a fulfillment of prophecy, but can you choose your birthplace? That is a good trick. Like the previous instances of the voice from heaven, God the Father, like the fulfillment of prophecy, like the very many mighty works that He worked before multitudes, This is God the Father very publicly putting his stamp of approval.

This is my son. I sent him. He is mine. He is God. This is very much like chapter 11, 41 through 43.

Flip back over to chapter 11, 41 through 43. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that you sent me now when he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and Lazarus came forth this is for the people who were standing by Jesus didn't pray to his father For his own benefit It was for the benefit of the people who were standing there who would know when Jesus said, Laserus come forth, and Laserus came forth, that God heard him.

The same here in our text. The voice didn't come from heaven to tell Jesus something. It was to identify Jesus to the people who were standing there. This is the same. Some conclusions and applications.

Three of them. Number one, if you are a Christian, Jesus' turmoil is your peace. If you are in Christ, the disquieting of his soul, that his soul was troubled, is your peace. He was being set at odds with his father, so that I would be brought together with his father." That's what this text is about. He was disquieted so I could know peace.

I'm at peace because of this. I'm at peace with God because of this. You should be troubled if before you the anger of God towards your sins is looming. You should be troubled. The Son of God was troubled when the anger of God for sin was on His horizon.

So many people walk through this life and They are footloose and fancy free, but judgment is looming. The anger of God to be poured out against sin is looming. This is madness. That God would awaken you to be troubled in your spirit. Jesus was being set at odds with His Father.

His father was going to forsake him. Think of what he said on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is what was troubling his soul. He was being set at odds with his father so that I could be brought together with his father.

That's in this text. Rejoice, Christians. Be at peace, Christians. Be at peace, Christians. His troubling brought you peace be at peace number two if You are a Christian as you become more like your master You are governed less and less by the things that disturb our souls.

We're used to that. Being governed by what disturbs our soul. My desires, my lusts, my circumstances. They govern me. Well, to be more like Christ, you have to be less like that.

And more and more, governed as Christ was, by the exaltation of God the Father. Governed more and more by the exaltation of God the Father. This is both the target and the test. What does that mean? It's the target.

We're aiming at that Christian, governed less and less by the things that trouble our souls and more and more by the glory of God. Let the glory of God loom more and more in our lives. That is the objective and the test. It's a good way to determine. Am I making progress?

Am I growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is a great test that you are making progress. Less and less governed by the things that trouble your soul. More and more governed by a desire to see God glorified. Oh God, do whatever pleases you in my life.

Do you know how dangerous that prayer is? Most of us do know how dangerous that prayer is, which is why we don't pray it. Whatever, Whatever would glorify you in my life, whatever would bring you pleasure in my life, do that. Glorify your great name in the days I have left. You know their number.

Exalt yourself. Number three. Consider this. Christians revel in this, glory in this. God wants to be known.

He wants His reputation to be the reputation of a Savior. God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He wants to be known as Savior. God is omniscient, He knows everything, He wants to be known as Savior.

God is omnipresent, He is everywhere at once, There is nowhere where He is not. But He wants to be known as a Savior. God is just, but He wants to be known as Savior. We need to keep this in mind. How does God want to be known as a God of compassion?

How do we know that? He sent his son to die for sinners. More than anything else, he wants to be known as the Savior of sinners. How else do you interpretate this verse? Friends?

Father, glorify your name. Don't hold me back glorify your name