Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John 12. John 12, verse 20. Let me read verses 20 to 25.
This is the text. John 12, verse 20, and there
were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the
feast. And the same came, therefore,
to Philip, which was of Bethsaida, Galilee, and desired him saying,
Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew,
again Andrew, and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them,
saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. If it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it, unto life eternal. Now this passage of scripture
opens with a very honest inquiry from a group of Greeks, Gentiles,
that had come to worship. And what they wanted was they
wanted to see the Lord, They weren't there, obviously, to
ridicule him or speak against him, but from all appearances,
it seems as though that they wanted to meet with him and to
just hear what he had to say. And I can't help but believe
that provenient grace caused them to come to Philip. And then the scripture says that
Philip came to Andrew with the request that these Greeks had
made concerning seeing the Lord. And we're not told why Philip
didn't take the Greeks immediately. to the Lord Himself, but a couple
of questions may have arisen in their minds. Did not our Lord
say in Matthew 10.5, He said, Go not, when He sent His disciples
out, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not. And then, didn't our Lord say,
and the disciples heard Him say concerning this woman of Canaan,
this Syrophoenician woman, Matthew 15, 24, He told her when she
came and talked to Him about her daughter that was grievously
sick. And the Lord said to her, He
said, I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, those words had to have
echoed in the minds and the hearts of the Lord's disciples, and
the right thing to do would be, let's go talk to him about it. Philip was approached by these
Greeks, and they said, we'd like to see the Lord. We'd like to
see Jesus. Philip came and talked to Andrew.
Now, I know this. Our Lord truly, according to
His Word, was sent to the house of Israel to seek His lost sheep. But I know too that our Lord
said, John 10, verse 16, He said, "...or the sheep I have." They
are not of this fold. They are not of this yard. Judaism. He said, them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice. There
shall be one fold and one shepherd. I know this. Our Lord has a people
that God Almighty has chosen out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation. And all that the Father has given
him, he said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, said our
Lord in John 6.37, I will in no wise cast out. So here are some men, some Greeks,
and they desired from Philip, Philip to Andrew, We'd like to
see the Lord. So our Lord is approached. And based upon His words that
we just considered, I'd like to ask this question. What happened next? I know that a sinner given a
heart to come to Christ, is never refused. I know that. He that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast him out. You that hear my
voice this morning, I pray that Almighty God might bless these
words to the truthful hearing in heart. Come to Christ. You say, well, I know this. I've heard you say, I've heard
you read from Scripture, no man can come. That's right. No man can, except it were given
unto him of my Father. I know this. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of His power. Well, let me ask you this. Do you want to come? Do you desire
to come? Do you long for life in Christ? Our Lord has said, I am not sent
but the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Here are some Greeks
right here. What are we going to do? Well,
Philip, Andrew, they came to the Lord. And the Scripture says in verse
23, "...and Jesus answered them." You know, you might say, well, if I read this correctly, and
I looked up the word, answered, just in case, He responded to
them. He responded to them. These Greeks
came with two of the Lord's disciples and approached the Lord. And
the Scripture says, without straining these Scriptures, I wouldn't
want to venture to say anything that the Scriptures does not
set forth. But my question when I read it
was this, to whom was the Lord speaking? Was he just speaking
to Andrew and Philip? I don't think so. These men came,
and Andrew and Philip brought them to the Lord. And these fellows
had a question that they had not verbalized. And the Lord
knew it. Because the Scripture says He
answered them. There's no record they ever asked
him anything, but he answered them. You that question in your heart, what must I do to be saved? What is it going to take for
me to have life? I know, I know. My body is telling
me. Physically, I'm dying. I know that. I'm reading right
now concerning many that actually walked on this earth. And they
were actually here. They were actually breathing
air. Just like we are this morning. They're not here anymore. I mean,
we're here for just a few minutes. We're just here for a moment,
just a vapor. We're going to die. And when we die, we're going
to be eternally wherever we are right then. So in my heart, I'm asking this
question. What is it going to take? for
a man to have life eternal and to know it. The Lord answered
them. He answered. And this is what
He said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. The hour that God Almighty And
the Lord Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God. Here's God in human flesh. All the fullness of the Godhead. Here's the fullness of the Father,
the Son, the Spirit in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God said, The hour has come that the Son of Man, God incarnate,
God in flesh, God walking among men, and these men approached
the Lord, and He knew what they thought. And He answered them,
the hour has come. The Son of Man should be glorified. This is the hour that the Father
has always seen concerning the Son dying. Here's the hour of
the Lamb slain. This is the hour that He's eternally
trusted Him. This is the hour in which everything
that God Almighty has ever purposed. Here's the foundation. of God
justifying His people before they were ever born. Almighty
God has eternally declared His elect just. No guilt. No charge. Never, never
charge. Never. Based on this hour right
here. Now is the hour. The Son of Man must, should be
glorified. This is the reason He came into
this world. Our Lord was, by the vast majority
of the Jews, rejected. And following His open rejection
by the Jews, Acts 15, verse 14 says how God did at the first
visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. He's coming to the end of His
ministry. He's going to the cross. Now
is the hour. Now is the time. Were not these
Greeks, could they not be the first fruits of the harvest that
would be gathered out of the whole world? We're all Gentiles. Here we are.
We're Gentiles. All of us. Didn't Caiaphas, who was the
high priest, under the inspiration of God's Spirit to say what he
did, he was a man that didn't know God. And this is what he said, directed
by God's Spirit, that he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad. Who? God should. It's experienced that one man
should die, the whole nation, not perish. That's correct. Well,
having sought after our Lord, our Lord graciously gave them
an answer. to that question that these Greeks
needed to hear and surely didn't know how to ask. I tell you,
I think about this scripture, Ephesians 3.29, to Him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think
according to the power that worketh in us. I don't know what to ask
for. I don't know what to say. When we try to pray, how do you
know? You don't know what to say. You
don't know what to ask. You want to pray for your kids.
I don't know. Thanks be unto God that our Lord,
our intercessor, takes that which shouldn't be there and by the
effectiveness and effectual working of His power and His blood, puts
in there what ought to be there. God accepts it upon His merit. These Greeks desired an audience
with the Lord. What is the need of my heart? What do I need? What do I need? You're the Lord. Our Lord graciously
revealed what they needed to know for them to have life. And here's what he said. For
a sinner to live, he must have a substitute. For a sinner to
live, he needs a redeemer. He needs one to die in his place. He needs for one to bear his
guilt. Verily, verily, verse 24, I say
unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. The Lord has a people. as a people that He's always
had. And He's going to save His people. Any representation that men try
to set forth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, any man that stands
in a pulpit and does not set forth the Lord Jesus Christ,
number one, as God, who shall not fail, he shall not fail. Any man that sets forth that
the Lord Jesus Christ is not absolutely saving his people,
there's nobody in hell that Christ died for. There's nobody that's
going to be in hell that Christ died for. He's going to save
his people. Any man that sits forth that
Christ is trying to save somebody is a liar. He's a liar. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides
alone. It abideth. It always will abide
alone. Life is found in one perfect
corn of wheat. One. Christ Himself must die. God's law must be satisfied. Sin must be punished. God's law
must be honored. The soul that sinneth. Now here's the mystery. Here's
a great mystery that is only known by faith. He who knew no
sin was actually made sin and died under the judgment of
God Almighty. I found sin there on that cross. And justice must be satisfied,
except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die to bite it
alone. But if it dies, it bringeth forth. It bringeth forth. It
will bring forth fruit. Our Lord used nature to prove
His point. Glenda and I were coming back
from a little vacation a few weeks ago. We passed, coming
through Ohio and everything. Field after field after field
after field of corn. Corn. There was so much corn. And I got to thinking about that.
Here is nature itself. Preaching. Declaring that except there's death, there's
not life. Except that corn or wheat fall
into the ground, it dies, it's dead. But do you
know in that death, in the death of that kernel of corn, there's
life. There's life in it. There's life
in it. It gets in there and it died
and it rotted. You dig it up and you plant it. If you went back and dug it up,
it's going to be a little rotty looking thing. But there's a
little green shoot that's coming out of it. Life was in it. Life from death. And our Lord set forth in this
answer to these Greeks that there must be suffering. There must
be death. And I can't do it. Because I
deserve what I get. And if I died, I'd eternally
be dead. His suffering. before the exposed glory of God's
will. He must die that His people live. That natural occurrence. Romans 1.20 says, For the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead, So they are without excuse. I'm
telling you a stalk of corn preaches that life comes from the death
of that kernel. And our Lord said that nature
declares the handiwork of God. Nature! God's preacher before
the eyes of men daily. without excuse. Verse 25, he that loveth his
life, and here he is answering these Greeks, he that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. That blessed verse right
there, is the result of verse 24. Here's the source. Here's the source of life. Except
a corn of wheat, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, fallen
to the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, bearing
the guilt of all that the Father had given him, if he die, It
bringeth forth much fruit. God's going to save His people.
That's the source of life. Now here's the evidence. Here's
the evidence of it. He that loveth his life shall
lose it. He that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. There's only two kinds
of people in this world. Those that die loving this world
and those that die hating it. having revealed that he must
die to save his own. Our Lord now sets forth that
all that die loving this world, loving this life, loving this
man-centered, man-exalting, false religious world, those that love
the things of this world, the cares of this world, and think
nothing of the world to come. He that loveth his life is going
to lose it more concerned with the temporal, more concerned
with the fleeting, more concerned with that which has no sustenance
to it. But he, through regenerating
grace, by the grace of God, has a heart, and a heart I know that
struggles with the old heart that's still there. He that has
a heart that has no love for this world, has no love for the
cares of this life, He that has a heart that is satisfied to
forsake the pleasures of this world for God's honor. Those that see this life to be
failing and feeble and has nothing to offer. You know, I put an
article in the Bulletin here last week, I think, about those
that coming closer to the end of their
life. Older. I know that there's no guarantees
of anything. I know that. But the older we
get, the more we begin to think about leaving. And the more we've
begun to see something of how little or how nothing, let me
say it like this, how nothing in this life comes through. It just doesn't come through.
Whatever it seemed to promise, it's just not there. It didn't give me any satisfaction.
It didn't give me anything that I could hold on to. And I see
that everything's failed. Those that see this life fleeting,
failing, and feeble, get a good job. Let me ask you something. How
many have come real close to retirement and they get let go?
Mark, you've seen that. They're gone, you think. It wasn't
fair. I exercised. Tried to take care of myself.
Tried to do some exercise. Tried to eat right. You know,
I still get sick. He that sees this life and hates
this life and this world, sees that this life is a lie, a Satan
lie. Those that are content to lose
whatever they lose for His honor, for His glory, for His grace.
Those that have no confidence in their flesh, given a heart
to live by faith, on Christ who loved them, gave themselves for
them. The Lord says they're going to
keep their life. It's a life eternal. What's it going to take for me
to have life eternal? I need a substitute. I need a
redeemer. I don't have anything in this
life, starting right here, I have nothing in me that can do anything
for my eternal soul. I have nothing in me, there's
nothing in this world that will give me life eternal. God Almighty
must save me by grace or I'm going to perish. Lord, for Christ's
sake, bless these words, we pray.