John chapter 12. John chapter
12. I titled the message, A Political
or a Spiritual King. A Political or a Spiritual King. I got too many notes. Got too
much. So I'm gonna do the best I can to cut through them pretty
quick and give you the baseline and get where we need to be.
John 12 and verse 20. It says, And there were certain
Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The
same came, therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and desired him, saying, We would see Jesus. I preached in quite
a few places and several podiums. I've stood behind and this one
at some points, maybe again, uh, one place, anybody gets up
to preach or read way in the back on the wall, big letters,
sir, we would see Jesus. I've seen this often and it's
good instruction. It's a good reminder and it's
good instruction for preachers. If I'm going to be showing you
something, it ought to be Him. If it ain't Him, I might as well
be telling you how to play water polo. It ain't going to do you
no good. It ain't going to do you no good. They said we would
see Jesus. And instead of isolating that
verse or a part of that verse and just pounding on that, I
want to see what's before it and what's after it so we can
get the context of that. Because we say things. So flippantly,
don't we? And we don't know what we're
talking about. We don't know what we're talking
about. And the self-righteous religion is going to get mad
at that. I know what I'm... It'll get poppy, won't it? And the child of God will say,
I don't know nothing. Lord, you know. You know all things. Forgive
me. Teach me. Teach me. I want to
be taught. Do you want to be taught? Or
do you want to teach somebody else? I want to be taught. His
people do, don't they? I want to get the context of
this. I pray the Lord teach us something here. And for context,
how are we going to do that? Well, what happened before this
is said, these Greeks come and said, sir, we would see Jesus
in every words. Important, isn't it? The Lord
says, Philip, I want you to have myself. Philip, which was of
Bethsaida of Galilee. You think that's important? Lord
kept it there for 2000 years, ain't he? That's important. What
happened before this, and what happened after this? That'll
give us the context of what's said there. So what happened
before? Well, in John 11, Lazarus was sick. He was sick. And it's suggested by those old
writers that that family, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, they were blessed
of God, and that they were a well-to-do family. And I don't know about
that, but they were at least well-known in that community.
Everybody knew them, and everybody respected them, and I believe
that. I know that, so how could I think such a thing? They were
children of God, and they walked through this life acting like
it. They were matured, the Lord had taught them things, and when
Martha learned her lessons, she understood that and moved on.
And when Mary learned her lessons, she had to work for that spike
in her, didn't she, that alabaster box? She went out saying foolish
things and doing foolish things at work, was she? No, her mind
was on things above. That's what she was doing. They
were children of God. And when they had a burden, what'd
they do? They'd have seance. They took it to the Lord, didn't
they? They took it to the Lord. Abimelech, he saw Abraham, he
said, I know your God's man. I can tell. People could tell
there. We read over in John 11, his
sister sent for him, saying, Lord, behold, the one that thou
lovest is sick. The one you love's sick." And
when he heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified
thereby. This is something that happened
before. These men said, this is who they've
come to see, wasn't it? He said, this is the whole reason Lazarus
is laid up sick, so I can be glorified, that's what he told
them. That's what he told his apostles, wasn't it? And he got
there to the tomb. He said, where is he? Where is
he laid? Take me to him. And they wept, and he wept. And
he said out loud, Father, I thank thee thou hast heard me, and
I know you hear me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it. Everybody in earshot, I'm saying
this out loud, he knows this, don't he? You ever said something
out loud to teach your children? Like, I know it, I don't need
to learn it. I'm gonna say it out loud so you can, I'm gonna
say it loud enough so others can learn from a mistake. And
that's what the Lord did. He said, so all these people
around that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And he
said, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus came forth, called him
by name. And he said, loose him, let him go. He was all bound
up, wasn't he? He had to get unwound, hadn't
he? And many of the Jews which came to Mary, they seen this
thing he did, and they believed on him. But some of them went
their way back to the Pharisees, and they told them what Jesus
had done. They said, this man came out of the grave. We saw
this. And the chief priests gathered,
and the Pharisees gathered, and they had a council. They had
a council. And they said, what do we do?
What do we, for this man doeth many miracles, if we let him. If we let him thus alone, they
thought they could let him. They thought they could keep,
they didn't think much of him, did they? They said all men's gonna believe
on him, at the rate he's going, especially after this last one.
What's gonna happen? Well, what happened before that?
Lazarus was raised from the dead, we know that, most people would
know that. You guys say, what's the Lazarus? Say, that's the
one that come out of the grave, come forth. People down the street
tell you that. Well, before this one, there was one named Jarius.
He was a ruler of the synagogue. And he had a daughter there in
Luke 8. She had just died. But she wasn't in a coffin yet.
She wasn't in a coffin yet. And they come and said, she's
dead. Don't bother the master. And he said, you just hush. Let's
go. So everybody went to his house. And they all gathered
around. Everybody wept. And they bewailed her. And the
Lord said, weep not. She's not dead, but sleepeth,
wouldn't it? And he said, Lazarus was asleep. Might be a pattern
here, huh? You think? And they laughed him
to scorn. We think we're so pious and so goody-two-shoes. And we'd
say, oh, we're weeping. Oh, weeping and flailing our
arms and all this nonsense. And the second, the Lord says,
why are you crying? She ain't dead. And then they
laughed at him. Laughed at him, knowing that
she was dead. They knew she was dead. And he
pulled them out. He said, you get out of here.
And he took her by the hand. He said, Madam, arise. Maid, arise. And she sat up, straight ready
to roast, and he said, give her some meat, give her something
to eat, she's hungry. And her parents were astonished, but
he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. Don't
you tell anybody what happened. Well, we just read it then. Somebody
leaked it. Documents were leaked. Keep from telling them. God does
work in you, you can't keep from telling somebody. That's so. There was another there's a widow
names. She's at a funeral of her son.
They had him in a coffin is bringing him out. He told that woman he
said weep not. She's a widow and there's our
only son. There wasn't a coffin a pine box, whatever. He said
weep not. And he came and he touched that
buyer that coffin. And they stood that barren stood
still. And he said young man, I say
to the arise, and he that was dead sat up and began to speak.
and delivered him his mother. He took him right to his mommy.
And fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying that a
great prophet has risen up among us, and that God hath visited
this people. And this rumor, that's what it
says in Luke 7, 17, this rumor of him went forth throughout
all Judea and throughout all the region round about. And both
those, somebody could argue, and they could kick at it, and
they'd say, but, but, but, won't they? That girl was raised, but
she hadn't even been put in a coffin yet. Maybe she wasn't dead. And
now that man, he was in a coffin. They had him in a coffin. But
now that could have been wrong. They used to put bells in coffins back
in the 1800s. You know that? So you could ring a little bell
in case they buried you and you wasn't dead yet. He was in a coffin, but
now they hadn't put him in the ground yet. She hadn't put him
in a coffin yet. He hadn't been put in the ground
yet. Now Lazarus been buried for four days and everybody knew
it. Whole big group of people was around. And what'd Martha
say? He said, take away the stone.
And she said, Lord, he stinketh. He's been dead four days. And
everybody there heard it. And they knew it, they'd been
there for a couple days, hadn't they? Here in John 12, verse
nine, this is after that anointing at Bethany for his burial, John
12, nine. Much people of the Jews, therefore,
there's a bunch of them, knew that he was there. And they came
not for Jesus' sake only. Now they wanted to come see him,
this fella that these rumors were about and this talking was
about. I want to see this guy. But that they might see Lazarus
also. Their heart wasn't fixed on him yet, was it? There's a
pattern here. They want to see Lazarus too,
whom had raised from the dead. But the chief priest consulted
that they might put Lazarus also to death. They said we'll kill
him. Because that by reason of him, many of the Jews went away
and believed on Jesus. If they could just kill Christ,
and they could just kill Lazarus too, then this would all be over.
They'd snuff it out. We'd get our problems behind
us. We'd get through this trial. I bet they whined about trials
too. Verse 12 says, on the next day much people, they didn't
have a chance to, on the next day much people that were come
to the feast when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
they took branches of palm trees. That declares the victory, that
declares joy. They were happy because of a
victory that was about to take place. What victory? And they went forth to meet him
and cried, Hosanna, I mean save now. Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now why was there so many
people there? in this two-mile stretch between Bethany and Jerusalem.
There's a whole mess of people. Why were they there? They were
there for the Passover, weren't they? They were there for the
Passover. That was the feast they were there to see, the Passover
feast. Why'd they do that? Why was they having a Passover?
It was a reminder. It was to bring into remembrance
that those Jews of old, they were freed from Egyptian rule,
wasn't it? That's what was on their mind.
They said, you know what? Long time ago, 400 years, We
was in bondage in Egypt. That was bad conditions. And
it's getting bad here. You know what they said? You
listen to me. You ever said this? This nation's going downhill.
You ever said that? It's going to pot. It's getting
bad. And we're going to be just as
bad off as our brethren long time ago, her kinsmen after the
flesh, that was in Egypt. But Lord sent Moses, didn't he?
And he brought him out. We walked through some water,
I think there was, or something. They didn't really care. They
might have quoted some verses, had some facts or something.
They didn't know what they was talking about. And they said, he got
them out of that mess. Here comes the one they talked about. He's
going to get us out of our mess, isn't he? That's what they were
looking at. These people thought there's
going to be an earthly kingdom of Israel was going to be restored
instead of this Roman rule. Because Moses wrote up in Deuteronomy
18. He said, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet
from the midst of thee. of thy brethren like unto me."
Just like me. Unto him shall ye hearken. You gonna hear him. I said, y'all
ain't gonna listen to me, but you'll hear him. I say that thing.
People ain't gonna listen to me. They'll hear him if he sees
fit to speak to them, won't they? The Lord got a lot of attention
when he raised Jairus' daughters, and he got a lot of attention
when he raised that widow's son, but the raising of Lazarus was
what sparked it all. That's what lit the wildfire.
This really happened. This one was the king messiah
they saw coming. This was God's prophet. This
was that special person sent to free them, to get them out
from underneath that Roman rule, just like Moses led them out
of Egypt. And they wanted things to get back to being good. That's
what they wanted. He was a political king, not
a spiritual king that they sought after. They wanted a political
king. We remember after he fed 5,000 back in John 6, he said
he perceived that they would come take him by force. Buddy,
they put their back shoulder to the plow, didn't they? We're
gonna make things happen if it's to our house. If it's gonna benefit
us, we'll get after it then. Everything's just a theory until
it hits you in the pocketbook. Until it hits you where you live.
Until it comes in your living room. Now you'll do something
about it, won't you? And they said, they'll take him by force
to make him king. And he departed again into a
mountain alone. Walked right through him. They saw a man that
could feed 5,000 with five biscuits of sardines. They saw a man that
could purge the temple of thousands and thousands of people with
a little whip. They saw a man that could heal people that was
lame and hot and deaf and blind. And they saw a man that could
make money appear out of a fish's mouth. And he could raise the
dead, too. I don't want to camp out on this,
but the first thing I thought, oh, man, we might finally get to
see mommy and daddy again. Can you go raise my mommy and
my daddy from the grave? I love my father. I love my mother.
Would you have them back? No. No, no, no, no. No, they're with him. They're
without sin. I wouldn't want them back in
this sin-curse world. If they're with him, if they're
not with him, send them back now. Get them ready to say out
the gospel, wouldn't it? Health, wealth, safety, nice
home, get a brand new camel. They wanted this king to get
in there, go take over. He's heading right for the White
House. On a donkey's ass. Verse 14,
Jesus, when he found a young ass, said to her, how'd he find
it? Well, we read that last time. He was sending his people after
it, didn't he? On purpose. Purpose. He sat there
on, as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy
king cometh, sitting on an ass's coat. We looked at that donkey
last time. There's something significant about this. He wasn't
riding a horse of war, was he? He didn't have an up-armored
horse with plates on it and thick leather and armor. He was coming
in peace. This king, they don't want him
to go take over, and he's coming in peace. What's he doing? The
Prince of Peace is going to make true peace when he gets there,
not just political peace. He's going to make atonement.
At-one-ment. That's what he's going to accomplish.
That's what he's going. He comes as the sacrifice, not
the warring earthly king, but the spiritual king that's going
to fulfill his covenant that he put his name on. That's what
he's coming to do. After each one of those miracles
or conversions he did, the Lord always told him, be quiet, be
quiet, don't tell anybody, not yet, not yet, not yet. They went
to stone him, they went to make him king, walked right through
him, and now he's made known to everybody. He's right out
in the open, isn't he? He's right in the middle of them.
Every eye in Jerusalem was on him. It was packed with all the
religious folks and all those leeches that come with them,
that accompany the religious folks. And every one of them,
with this happening, they're fully accountable They're without
excuse to acknowledge him and his word. This is him. He come to save his people according
to the scriptures. We looked at that last time there
in Zechariah 9, 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem. Those true ones. Not just anybody. Don't just get yelling. You shout,
behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation
lowly. He's on a mighty stallion, lowly,
and riding upon an ass and upon a colt of the foal of an ass.
He told us how he's gonna come. Why? Why did he come? Why did
he come riding that horse? Why'd he come ride that ass all
lowly? In chapter 13 of Zechariah, read
this. In that day where there shall be a fountain opened to
the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin. What's
he coming to make a fountain of? What's it for? For sin and
for uncleanness. There's a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that fountain. That one coming on the ass, young
ass, that one. That's what he said he's gonna
do. He's doing it. They'll lose all their guilty
stains. Not they're gonna lose all that, those rules and regulations
and taxes and all that stuff over top of them. No, not a political
savior, a savior from sin. He came to save his people from
something, their sin. Their sin, because they're sinners.
They didn't want that. They wanted him to come and make
Jerusalem great again. Life avoidant. People's got it
on their bumper stickers. Why would people want Jesus to
come right now, make America great again? And so they make
a prophet or whatever, savior out of whoever it is. Don't matter,
does it? But not for sin. Lower our taxes. Make sure there's eggs down at
Costco. Make sure our robes are paid and them sirens going past.
Make sure them fellas are paid. We like them, too. I don't need
you here for sin. Because I've churched myself
up. I clean the outside of my cup
up. I quit watching dirty movies and cussing and doing all kinds
of things. They don't want him. He's the
reason, isn't he? He came unto his own. and his own received
him not." They're right there in front of him, ain't they?
They would take him as their king if he made life better,
but not as a king of king who is our life. Everything. Would you be saved? Would you
be made whole? It's gonna cost you something.
We'll see it in a little bit. John admits he didn't know what was
going on. And you know that they got caught up in the politics
of that worldly stuff too, didn't they? They didn't know he was,
understand what he was doing. Remember whenever they said,
Lord is it I? He said, one of y'all is a devil, one of y'all is gonna
betray me. They went around the room, Lord is it I? Lord is it I? Lord is
it I? You said, Master, is it I? And
he said, you just said it. What'd they do? Immediately they turned
and said, which one of y'all do you think's gonna be the greatest?
Didn't they? James and John, their mama come
and said, she understood some things. She didn't get it. She
said, whenever you're in your kingdom down there, can one of
them sit on one side, one on the other? That's what they're
looking for. You know they got caught up in
it. That's what they heard. All this time, don't draw attention. Don't,
don't, don't draw attention. Don't bring reproach on the gospel,
didn't they? Now the city streets are filling up with people cheering.
They're walking with him. A pre-victory parade. That's
what they were there for. And they were going to be in
the inner circle of the king's court. What would you think? How would
that make you feel? I know how it'd make me feel.
I know what I'm prone to. Verse 16 says, these things understood
not his disciples at the first, John was honest. But when Jesus
was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written
of him. Oh, I remember next time after
the Lord was glorified, he was up sending the glory, and they
might have been sat down reading Zechariah 9, Zechariah 13, and
they said, idiot, how long has that been there? You ever said
that? They ain't no different than us, are they? But when Jesus
was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written
of him, and that they had done these things unto him. They knew
after. After he was glorified, they
knew it. Peter got up and preached there in Acts 2, and he said,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly. without question that
God made that same Jesus, the one you all threw all stuff in
front of and said all stuff about, whom you've crucified. All these
people here cried Barabbas afterwards, didn't they? He's made him both
Lord and Christ. Well, he ain't sitting down in
Jerusalem. Yeah, I know where he is now. I ain't worried about Jerusalem. Verse 17 says, the people, therefore,
that was with him when they called Lazarus out of his grave and
raised him forth from the dead, they bear record. All those people
that stood around, whether they believed or not, they went and
told everybody. Wouldn't you? You think about that. What if
you saw somebody get hit by a tractor trailer out there on that road?
And I mean, there are 10 different pieces. And some fellow walked up and
said, get back together. And them pieces just went back together.
And he said, set up and live. And they set up and lived. And
he said, go on about your day. And they went. What would you do? Hey,
stranger, you know what just happened? I got something to
tell. I didn't have nothing to talk about five minutes ago,
I do now. They bear record. And because they went around,
verse 18, for this cause, the people also met him. They come
out of the woodwork for that they heard he had done this miracle,
this one. Raising Lazarus is what kicked
it all off. To what end? Remember what we read back in
John 11? This sickness is not unto death.
but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified.
He knew exactly. The Lord willed this. He purposed
it. Absolutely everything leading up to this and through this for
the glory of Christ and for the fulfillment of scriptures right
in front of their eyes. Now, whenever you don't like
Providence and there's too much traffic or there's a car wreck,
what's he doing now? Is he doing something different
today? Ruining and reigning all things as he always has? They
didn't understand, did they? Boy, what a lesson for us. What
do we do? There's things that happen, and
boy, I'm encouraged by believers. You go see somebody in a hospital,
they got a horrible disease or something, whatever. It's bad.
We think it's bad. You all right? Well, I'm fine.
Lord sent this. I don't know why yet. I don't
know why he's done it. And I may never know, but I know
he did it. Grown-up stuff, isn't it, Paul?
That's maturity, isn't it? The Lord's taught you that, if
you know that. The Lord willed all this. They read the Old Testament
just like we read the New Testament, and we read the Old Testament,
too. And they knew passages that talked about this, and this prophesied,
didn't it? And worldly, these people did not want anything
to do with glorifying Christ if it did not benefit them. Like
I was saying, Becky, they're anybody's dog that'll hunt. And
there's people who preach this, they'll preach that, they'll
preach whatever, as long as you just keep gas in their tank and
food in their belly, they'll do whatever you want. They're
puppets, ain't they? These people, they glorify Christ all day long,
we'll throw down all the palm leaves you want, as long as we
get something. Quid pro quo, what's in it for us? This for
that, isn't it? Those that believed did not understand what happened,
but they weighed on the Lord. See what he's pleased to do.
Verse 19. Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive
ye how that we prevail nothing? Behold, the world's gone after
him. They said, everything you did
to stop his failure, you ain't done enough. This is a problem. The whole world's going after
him. We're going to be out of business. We're going to go back to working.
I can't do that. Verse 20. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. Now, what's these
fellas from Greece doing up there? They're Gentiles, ain't they?
Proselytes. What's that mean? They're Jewish
converts. They said, well, we left our
idols, and we know that Greek stuff ain't no good, and we know
that there's a true and living God, and it's supposed to be
Israel, so yeah, we'll convert, we'll be Jews. And so they traveled
up there to go to this feast. They were coming up to Jerusalem
to worship, and they could go there. You can go read about
that in the Court of the Gentiles. They couldn't go all the way
in, but we'll let you get close. You can sit on the outside. You know
a real famous one everybody knows that they don't know who did
this? It was one of these proselytes that came up there to worship,
the Ethiopian eunuch. Wasn't it? That man from Ethiopia,
he had come to Jerusalem for to worship. He was there for
the same thing these Greeks were. That was the best thing they
had going. They knew where they was wasn't the truth, and they
know this here probably ain't the truth, but this garbage better
than that garbage, I guess. I hear the same thing this day
and age. They were allowed to come to the feast, get pretty
close, but they couldn't go in. And so they had to stay out there
in the courts of the Gentiles. Would that make you happy, to be in
the outer ring? They traveled from Greece to get up there. I had to take a boat and a carriage
ride and walk and a camel. You know how hard it was for
me to get here? And then I can't even go in? I want to see what's
in there. I gave up everything. My people
back home don't like me because I come up here. That's not fair,
is it? You think they might want something
out of it? Verse 20, and when there were certain Greeks among
them that came to worship at the feast, they came therefore to Philip.
They went to Philip. Well, who was Philip? Well, he
was the one which was of Bethsaida of Galilee. What happens there?
That's either the town of hunters or the town of fishers. Well,
these are island boys. You think they fish? Yeah. I said, we're going to go to
the fishermen. And regardless of what some theologians say,
commercial fishermen were not high society back in that day.
They're just like today. They're commercial fishermen. And I said,
there's a ruffian like us. We'll go to somebody that's like
us, and we're going to weasel our way in there. They weren't
fools. They went to him. Philip and
Andrew's mom and dad, they lived there with Greek folks, too.
They had some common ground. What did Philip do? They came
to Philip and said, Sir, they're polite, as they should be, Sir,
we would see Jesus. Verse 22, Philip cometh and telleth
Andrew, Well, they didn't say they wanted to see Andrew. Why'd
they go to Andrew? And again, Andrew and Philip
tell Jesus, why would Philip go to his brother? Well, first
off, they're Jews, and these are Gentiles, ain't they? They
might be converts, but what'd they call Gentiles? Gentile dogs.
Gentile dogs. And they showed up, and they're
wanting to see this one who's just about, in their minds, about
to take an earthly throne. Now, all these Jews, they're
paying attention. There's a bunch of them throwing down palm leaves
and taking their clothes off. We probably got 51%. Maybe more. If we can get them Romans, they
see where this is going, and they think where it's going,
and they're planning ahead, ain't they? And now these Gentiles
show up. What are these Jews and Pharisees
going to think if they see our master talking to these Greeks?
The election's a shoo-in. You see what I'm saying? Don't
throw any mud right before the election night, right? They're
screening the Lord's calls in modern times. Now, you don't
talk to him. Hold on. Now, you can wait till next week. We got
some important stuff going on, and don't you go talk to him.
He was considering personal gain, wasn't he? They were about to
hit it big, and he didn't want to let anything mess that up.
That's what it was. And there was conflict, and he
knew that Christ had sheep that were not of this fold. I know
he's got some Gentiles. Even the Old Testament says that.
He's torn, isn't he? He's torn. What's he gonna do?
So he went to his brother. He went to his brother. And if
you have a brother, or sibling, or a real good friend, hey, ask
your parents if I can come stay the night. I ain't asking them,
you ask them. No, no, you ask them. Well, let's
go ask them together. Philip went to Andrew and said,
you ask him. He said, I ain't asking him, you ask him. You tell him
about it. Well, we'll go together and tell him, isn't it? Lord,
there's some Greek Gentiles here that want to talk with you. They
want to see you. And Jesus answered them. Verse
23. People say, well, he didn't answer
this and he didn't deal with it. It says right there, he answered
them. Saying, here's the answer. The hour has come that the son
of man should be glorified. They want to see me. They're
about to see me. They're not gonna see some man
named Jesus, some fella named, some dude named Jesus. They're
not gonna see that. They're not gonna see some guy that's gonna
get them out of a bind, and it's a lucky rabbit's foot to them.
They're about to see me. It's ours here. That's what it is if they're
truly made to seek. That's what they need to see. Not somebody
that's a golden parachute. They need to see Him glorified.
Remember when James and John, they asked Him, they said, grant
unto us that we may sit one on the right hand and one on the
left hand in glory. And He said, you don't know what you're asking.
He told them that. You don't know what you're asking.
He said, can you drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized
with the baptism I'm baptized with? We were getting pulled
to signify the Lord's baptism, right? Our Lord was baptized
to show us his baptism, that baptism of fire. He said, can
you drink of the cup I'm going to drink of? Can you drink the
drinks thereof? And they said to him, we can. I don't know
what he's talking about. And he said, you shall indeed
drink of the cup. that I drink of, and with the baptism I'm
baptized with, so you should be baptized." He said, yeah,
we're one. We're together. You're just dumb
little children, ain't you? You'd be like a child entering
his kingdom. They didn't know what they was talking about.
These Greeks, I don't know their heart. The Lord does. Maybe they
wanted to truly see the king, the king, the spiritual king,
the eternal king. Or maybe they wanted a handout.
They wanted to get in before he took office so they could
be the first in line to get a government handout. I don't know. He knows. He knows. That ought to terrify
those that are faking it. God looks on the heart. You can't
fake it. And that ought to be a comfort
for us, because he's the one that gives the heart. If you've
got a new one. What did Peter say? He said,
do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things.
You gave me this heart that loves you in the first place. If I
don't, it's yours. He said, go feed my sheep. If
you're going to see the king, you're going to see him glorified.
What our Lord is saying for these Greeks is that an earthly king
won't do you any good. You don't need a political king.
You need a spiritual king. And the hours come for you to
see just that. Will he be riding on a big white horse? Nope. Young
ass. Will he be lighting up the sky while the cities are burning
down? Nope. The whole world's going to go
dark for three hours. Is he going to kill all those mean rulers?
Nope. For a bunch of them sitting around
there that crucified him, he's going to lay down his life for
them. That give you goosebumps? That he might take it up again.
Why were those Greeks there? They heard about a man named
Jesus. What did they hear? He raised Lazarus, and he might
be the next world ruler, and they wanted to drop in and say
hello before he got in there. What happened before? All this,
wouldn't it? What happens after? They asked
this question. We would see Jesus. That's what's led up to it. And
what happened during? Now what happens after? Verse 23. And
Jesus answered and said, The hour has come that the Son of
Man should be glorified. If the Greeks were going to have
any true benefit of seeing Christ, they must see him glorified. How is he glorified? Well, he's
crucified, lifted up, he's buried, and he's risen, and he's exalted. That'll do those fellas some
good, won't it? See that holy one, the innocent one, go to
the cross, why? He's bearing our sins. He died,
not pretend, he died. How could he? I don't know, that's
between him and the Lord, and that's the cause of me, isn't
it? They laid him in a tomb, he was buried. He didn't see
corruption, he rose. What's that mean? The father
was satisfied. When he said he was finished,
he wouldn't lie. He was the sacrifice, and that sacrifice has been accepted. Who gets all the glory for all
that? And he planned it all. Him. Him. It said in John 12, 32, if I be
lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men to me. If I'm glorified
all that are mine, they're going to come to me. The blessing of
Christ are to the Jews and the Greeks alike, ain't they? The
rich and the poor, the bond and the free. but not by an earthly
throne, by a cross, isn't it? By a cross, that's what he accomplished
there. In Isaiah 53, we read this, yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When, when, when thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. Whenever he sees his seed, his
seed's gonna see him. That's what we're gonna see.
When? When? His soul's made offering for
sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. What was he saying?
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the
burden of my heart rolled away. I had a burden in my heart up
until I saw a substitute. What? Until I saw satisfaction.
What now? Here's the necessity of this.
Simple illustration. He's still talking to the same
people, Philip and Andrews there, about these Greeks who said they
would see Jesus. He said, they're about to. They're about to see
the Savior. Saving. Doing his job. What he'd
come to do. The hour of it. And he gives
a simple illustration a farmer would understand. A kid with
a pack of seeds could understand. Johnny Appleseed could get a
hold of this. Verse 24. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall unto the ground
and die. It abideth alone. Well, they won't see me, they
ain't gonna see nothing. If he goes and dies, and that's it,
ain't done you no good. Abides alone, but if it die,
and it bringeth forth much fruit. If he goes and lays down, he's
dead, and he's bore our sins, and he's bore that judgment,
now there's gonna be a bunch of fruit come out. That is the
savior we must come to. that one that accomplished salvation,
that one that bore our sins in his body on a tree, that gave
up his ghost. No man took his life from him.
He laid down his life of his own will, didn't he? And he raised
it up again. That's who we come to. We don't
come to baby Jesus. We don't come to some little
nativity scene that's an abomination to God. And we don't go to some
30-something Jesus that's smiling. flowing hair, some handsome Caucasian
fella. We don't come to the one that
just heals. That's a healer. We don't come to the one that
just raises the dead, do we? Not even a man on a cross. The one that's glorified where
he is now. All these people that wear crosses
and little Jesus is on their necks. You'd think they'd have
a cave with a stone next to it. That's what they ought to have.
If they was going to do something like that. That's who we got to see. The hours come that the Son of
Man might be glorified. Paul told us in 1 Corinthians
15, he said, if Christ be not raised, your faith's in vain.
You're still in your sins. If you don't have an empty tomb,
it ain't finished. Now it's works. You're done.
And I'm done with you. He's got to be glorified. When's
he glorified in our eyes? I've heard by the hearing of
the ear. But now I see high and lifted up in him. And he's exalted. Not while me and Jesus got a
good thing going, or a co-effort, or, well now he's saved us, but
we gotta, now we gotta kick in our part. Mm-mm. He's all. He's all. When you see him as
the victorious spiritual king, that he's our all. Well, for
that matter, victorious political king, too. What's all this government's
going on? Well, if they ban our gas stoves.
Say it! That government is on his shoulder
singular, isn't it? He rules and reigns all things.
That's the king of kings. That's the lord of lords. You
get that? We see him high and lifted up. Here's what's strong caution
to us. We'll look at it probably again next time too. But verse 25,
he that loveth his life shall lose it. To those Greeks, if
you're here for personal gain, you're going to lose everything.
It's going to burn. And he that hateth his life in this world,
because he's got his eyes on things above, shall keep it until
eternal life. I've seen this across the world.
People, you've got the gospel in one hand. The Lord Jesus Christ,
who he is and what he accomplished for his people, that's plum done.
And people, they glorify him. We praise him, we thank him,
don't we? And on the other hand, absolutely anything else. A house,
a job, a daughter, a son, a grandbaby, whatever. Cricket, I don't know. Anything. And it comes down to
which hand you gonna take. Him or death. Him or death, isn't
it? Go read Matthew 10 sometimes,
verse 34 through 39. That says conditions of surrender. If you get ready to put all that
away and follow me, you ain't mine. Father won't do it. What's
it say here? Verse 26, if any man serve me,
what's a servant do? What's a bond servant do? Does
the Lord save people? And he says, you're my profitable
servant now, and you go sit in my basement and play video games
all day. No, that ain't what a servant does. That's what a
lazy person does. He has bond servants, love servants,
bond servants. They're willing there and they
serve, don't they? So we get the name servant. He
said, if any man will serve me. That's got one man said, would
you be made whole? It's gonna come a cost to it. All this worldly
stuff, the cars and the houses and the families and when I just
can't leave because of so and so. That's what are you gonna
have? It's gonna burn. It's gonna burn. Let him follow
me. And where is beautiful where
I am. There shall also my servant be. Where is he? He's accepted to the Father,
isn't he? He's in glory. There's no condemnation
in him. He's right there with him, made
at one. That's where you are. You serve him, do anything you
want. Yes, Lord. Where he is, there
you will be also. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Ain't that night and day? That's
what that king come right on a little young ass, an unbroken,
had no man containment. He come into town, they threw
down palm leaves. And that father, holy God, that
we've offended and done nothing but been at war with, our savior, our king says, father's
gonna honor you. That's too good to be true, Brian.
It's so. I know it is. Why? He said so.
He said so, Dick. That's the king. That's what
I want to see. That's what I want to see. I
don't care if I'm broke, if I'm starving to death. I don't need
to eat food. He can keep me alive anyway. I don't care about that
stuff. I want to see him, him, high and lifted up where he is
now. That's pretty good.