I want to bring the message this
morning out of John chapter 12. I'll start with verse 23, and
we will look at several of these verses. The title of the message
is this, The Necessity of the Death of Jesus Christ. Now in this chapter, our Lord
is anointed by Mary before his death, there in verses three
through five. Then in verses 12 through 15,
he comes to Jerusalem before the Passover and comes riding
into town on a donkey as the scripture said that he would.
And all the people cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Then in verse 20, there
were certain Greeks who had come to see him. They said, we would
see Jesus. Everything looked great to the
disciples. Everyone looked happy to see them. But our Lord knew
the hearts of men and knew that that same crowd would crucify
him in a week. He never lost sight of his purpose
for coming in the flesh. He was to fulfill all righteousness
and he never lost sight of that. And that fulfilling of all righteousness
included his death on the cross. You see the righteousness of
Christ is his obedience in his life and also in his death. Now in verse 23, it says, and
Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the son of
man should be glorified. Our Lord speaks of his death
as a glorification or as a part of him, of him being glorified.
And this really is how the saints of God, the believers ought to
see their dead parting out of this life as a glorification
is to go to the father and be glorified. His glorification
is not going to be in a way that they thought it would be. It's
going to come by way of the cross. Who would believe that life and
glory would come through such a death? And so what our Lord
does here, he takes an earthly example to convey a heavenly
meaning. And he says in verse 24, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it brings forth
much fruit. Our Lord notes the great benefits
of his death here. He sees it not as a loss, but
as a gain, not as a tragedy, but as victory. Does the farmer
weep over the corn that he has planted? No, no he doesn't. He looks with joyful expectation
for the harvest. After he has planted the corn,
he now waits for the harvest. Here is a great truth. If the
grain of corn is not buried in the ground and die, there will
be no harvest. Corn on the shelf bears no fruit
of its kind. Only corn buried produces more
corn just like itself. But if it dies, our Lord says,
it brings forth much fruit. If Jesus Christ does not die,
he remains the son of God, but he has no glorious church to
share his glory with. He said in John 17, father, I
will, that they be with me where I am, that they may behold the
glory that I had with thee before the world was. If Jesus Christ
does not die, if he does not suffer on the cross and die and
be buried and rise again, there's no one to see his glory. There's
no church to see his glory. Let me give you an example here
in Genesis 1.11. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind. whose seed is in itself upon
the earth. And it was so. God planted the
seeds of all the plants in the earth and said, let them bring
forth after their kind. And it was so. Those seeds were
buried. They were planted in the earth.
They germinated and they brought forth after their kind. God planted
in Christ. He put into Christ before the
world was a multitude of centers chosen by him before the world
began. He put them in Christ before
the world began. And then in time, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is spoken of throughout the Old Testament as the seed,
in time, he came. He was buried in the earth. That is, he died on Calvary's
tree, and then he was buried and he rose again. And now heaven
is going to be populated with a people just like himself, after
his coming. Our Lord gives us here the necessity
of his death. If he does not die and be buried,
there will be no one else like him. This is what he's saying.
Life comes to us through his death and resurrected life and
ascension to glory. Just as the corn must die and
then rise up out of the ground and reach toward heaven, even
so Jesus Christ must die, rise again and ascend to glory if
there is to be a people just like him. It was only by his
death that he would be glorified in the salvation of men. It was
written in Hebrews 2.9. We see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor. And then in Philippians 2.8.9,
it says, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him. And then in Hebrews 12 too, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. You see the corn must be buried
in the ground if it is to rise up and produce more fruit, just
like itself. And the Lord Jesus Christ had to come into this
world, die in the place of a multitude of sinner, be buried, rise again.
And now heaven is going to be populated with a people just
like him. All the laws that God established in nature, and this
is what he's telling us, all the laws that God established
in nature must take place. They must be fulfilled for the
corn to grow and produce more corn like itself. Even so, all
the laws of God for life must be fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
He said that he must fulfill all righteousness and dying for
the sins of his elect is one of the requirements. He must
die. He must be buried. He said that
the son of man should be glorified. As a son of man, he was despised
and rejected. As a son of man, he is to be
glorified. As a son of man, he was humiliated.
Now it's time for the man Christ Jesus, the son of man, to be
exalted by his father. Now the next verse, he gives
us plain truth. He does not deceive us with vain
hopes. He says in verse 25, he that
loves his life shall lose it. And he that hates his life in
this world shall keep it until life eternal. They did not want
him to die. And they did not want to die
themselves. But if we are not willing to part with this life,
even as he was willing to part with it, we shall abide alone
as an unplanted corn. We cannot love this world and
God. But if we hate this life, that
is the sin of it, the principles of it, the glory of it, and the
love of it, then we shall keep real spiritual eternal life,
and that's the only life worth keeping. If any man serve me,
he says in verse 26, let him follow me where I am, there shall
my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. If we would serve Jesus Christ,
we must bear the cross that he's called us to bear. We must love
what he loves, hate what he hates. We are sold out to Jesus Christ,
lock, stock, and barrel. He's telling us that this is
what it is to serve him. He's not going to trick us with
lies. He tells us it will be costly up front, but the end
will be great. For where I am, there shall my
servant be also. Where is he? At the Father's
right hand in glory. And listen here, and him will
my father honor. Who would you rather be honored
by, the father or the world? I would much rather be honored
by the father. The world is fickle. The world
is fickle and its glory is vanity, it's vain, it's empty. Now verse
27, now is my soul troubled, the Lord speaking here. And what
shall I say? Father saved me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. As our Lord thought
upon his death, it troubled his soul. We cannot enter into the
unspeakable horror of his sufferings and death. He is to be made sin
for us. He who knew no sin is to be made
sin. The Holy Son of God, the one
who knew no sin is to be made sin. That is, he's to be made
a substitute. He's going to be made a substitute
in the stead, in the place of a multitude of sinners no man
can number. And he's going to be dealt with
as a sinner by the Holy God of heaven and earth who said he
will by no means clear the guilty. Our Lord says this, what shall
I say? Or what shall I ask? Father, save me from this hour.
This is the purpose of my coming, to suffer and die. The grain
of corn must die. I must go through this death
if there is to be more corn like me. The law must be fulfilled
and this is what it requires, the death of the soul that sinneth.
And we have sinned, therefore our substitute must die in our
place if we are to have life. Someone has to pay for our injustice. It's gotta be me or it's gotta
be Jesus Christ dying for me. He says in verse 28, father,
glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
Here's what I say, father, glorify thy name. This is to be the one
great desire of the sons of God. This is the one great desire
I know of the son of God. And it is to be the desire of
all his sons and daughters that our father be glorified. Honor
your law in my sufferings and death, honor your law honor your
name, father, honor, glorify thy name. This is our desire
is that the father would be glorified. When we go through a trial, God
puts us through a trial. Our first prayer ought to be
glorify thy name through this trial. In my conduct, glorify
thy name. And then a voice spoke from heaven. He said, I have glorified it
and I will glorify it. The father glorified his name
when he spoke at his baptism on the Mount of Transfiguration,
he glorified his name and he glorified his name through the
truth spoken by our Lord, by the miracles that he performed,
by his resurrection. And every time he saves a sinner,
the father glorifies his name. And one day he'll do it in the
end of the world when he comes to be admired in his saints. And then in verse 29, the people
therefore that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered. Others
said an angel spake to him. Those who know not the voice
of God know not when he speaks. How dead must a man be who cannot
hear when God speaks? In verse 30, Jesus answered and
said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Christ
needed no assurance. He speaks that we may hear and
believe. The gospel is preached that you
and I may hear and believe. verse 31 he says now is the judgment
of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out our
lord lets all around him and us also know whose judgment is
really about to take place there at calvary the world and satan's
judgment is taking place the jews and gentiles are guilty
of putting to death the son of god You can read that in Acts
chapter two, verse 22 and 23. Satan is judged. His power over
the hearts of men will be broken by Christ and him crucified. It is through the death of Jesus
Christ that Satan received his death blow. Then the judgment
of the sins of his elect, which were chosen out of the world,
will be judged and done away with. And he says in verse 32,
and if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto
me. like a serpent of brass on the pole, it's look and live.
Now he says, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me. The
meaning of that is this, all sorts of men, rich, poor, educated,
uneducated, people out of every kindred, tribe, tongue and nation
under heaven, I will draw all sorts of men to me. Just like
in the ark, there were all sorts of animals that went into the
ark. Now listen, our Lord is saying this. Do not let my dying
on the cross trouble you for by it I will draw all sorts of
men unto me. All that the Father has given
me will come to me. That's what our Lord says. All
that the Father has given me shall come to me. They will come
by way of the crucified Son of God. That's how they'll come.
This he said, signifying what death he should die. I must die
the death of the cross. It's ordained of God. It's in
the purpose of God. It's the only way to bring forth
much fruit. It's the only way Jesus Christ
can put away sin. It's the ground in which the
corn must be buried. It is the only way for God to
be a just God and a savior. It's the only way for God to
be a just God and justify the ungodly. It's the only way for
heaven to be populated with a people just like Jesus Christ. If there
is to be a harvest of believers like Jesus Christ, he must die
and be buried and rise again the third day and ascend to glory. Yes, Jesus Christ must die if
there is to be a people in heaven, just like him. May the Lord bless
his word.