In fact, I started reading here with the 12th verse. That's Monday of what's typically called Passion Week. He will die on Friday. And here's our Lord. The week begins with him. He's already performed a great miracle the day before, which was the raising of Lazarus. And now our Lord makes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem as Zechariah prophesied that he would do.

And as he enters in, as he rides upon an ass that had been appointed for him to ride into, many people gather around him, multitudes flock near him and lined the streets and they cut off palm branches and laid their coats in the road and the branches in the road. And it was a big celebration. They yelled, Hosanna to the son of David. Hosanna means, has several meanings. Really it means be merciful to us, be propitious to us. It also means be victorious for us.

Now, the victory they're looking for is not a victory over sin. It's not a victory over evil. The victory that they're really interested in is a victory over all the opponents, over all of the enemies of Israel. They want to see all of the Romans run out of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem and all of the nation of Israel to be restored to the glory days of King David and King Solomon. So the people yell, Hosanna, Hosanna to the highest. You could read in Matthew chapter 21, they praise the son of David. Be merciful to us, be victorious on our behalf. Literally save us, save us, deliver us.

But it's not a spiritual deliverance or salvation that they're interested in. It is a deliverance and a salvation from their physical enemies, the Romans. And this goes on, and then the next thing that happens is these Greeks come to Philip, and Philip goes to Andrew and relays their message. The message was to Philip, Sir, we would see Jesus. We want to see Him. What was the reason for their desire to see Jesus? We don't know. Maybe it was a heart interest, I hope it was. Maybe it was only out of curiosity, but some came near to the Lord Jesus out of curiosity.

And they gathered, they got far more than they sought for. And a good example of that is Zacchaeus. He was one, out of curiosity, climbed up in the sycamore tree to see Jesus. He climbed up because he, Zacchaeus, was short of statue. He came out of curiosity, but he was an object of God's saving grace. So the Lord drew him there and for some reason in the purpose of God, in the promise of God, he drew these Greeks to Philip, Philip being a preacher of the Lord Jesus.

There's no question in my mind but what these Greeks were there when the great celebration broke out when our Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem. After all, the whole city was astir. The whole city was excited about Jesus moving in. In fact, moving into their city. Hold your place there and look at Matthew 21. I'll show you a very interesting word here in Matthew chapter 21, which is an enlargement upon John's recollection and his statements concerning our Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Matthew says this in verse, chapter 20 of Matthew, look at verse number 10. And when he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this? The word moved, it's the same word that is used when speaking of an earthquake. In other words, all the city was stirred. It shook up the city. Here is this Jew riding on the back of a donkey. And they knew, especially the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees, they knew this was a fulfillment of the words of Zechariah. And here He comes riding in on this animal, and there's all this celebration, and then when He gets into Jerusalem, then the whole city is moved. It's like an earthquake happens. As He enters into the city, there's shockwaves just go throughout the city. Who is this? Who is this?

And I am persuaded that the Greeks were there. They got caught up in the celebration too, because the Greeks were there, as you go back to our text in John chapter 12, the Greeks were there because of the Passover. They were there because of the feast day. Evidently, they had converted to Judaism. These were Gentiles. These were heathens. They were Greeks. who though they remained uncircumcised and could not therefore partake of the Passover meal, yet they were there in remembrance of a historical event, that is, when Israel was liberated from Egyptian bondage, and of course that was by means of the death of the firstborn, or the death of a lamb in the stead of the firstborn,

And of course that death was to avert the anger and wrath and vengeance of God. So hear these Greeks. They hear all this going on. This is fresh in their ears. Hosanna to the Son of David. And the city is stirred. Everybody's moved. It's like a great shockwave going throughout the city. Who is this? And the Greeks hear somebody say, This is Jesus. This is the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. And so the Greeks find somebody who's preaching about Jesus. And our Lord had preachers. And one of them was named Philip. And another one was named Andrew. And the other disciples as well. So they go to Philip and they say, Sir, literally Lord with a lowercase l, we want to see, we want to gaze on Jesus.

Well, Philip goes and talks to Andrew. And Philip and Andrew go and talk to the Lord Jesus. And they tell him, there are some Greeks here who want to see you. They want to spend some time with you. They want to get to know you. And upon hearing that news, it's interesting the way the Lord responds to them. He says, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. But He will be glorified not in leading Israel to victory over the Romans. He will be glorified in His victory over our sins and over all of our spiritual enemies, crushing the head of the serpent.

An unusual response to people who are seeking Him. But people who are seeking Him need to know the reason that He came into the world. And verse 24, He deals with that. He doesn't say anything about going to battle against the Greeks. He has nothing to say about being victorious over the enemies of Israel. He immediately begins to speak of the way he's going to be glorified, which is by his death. He says in the 24th verse, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, not fall by accident, but actually sown. it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

The Greeks need to know, and Philip and Andrew need to know, that that which is on our Lord's mind right now is His impending death. And one of the things that you'll notice as you study the days before our Lord's crucifixion, the nearer He got to that time, the more He was anxious for that time to arrive. He kept saying, the hour has come, the hour has come.

And you'll remember back even as far as the second chapter of John that the Savior told Mary that His hour was not yet come. And several other verses of Scripture, chapter 7, verse 30, chapter 8, verse 20, chapter 12, He says that. In this verse, verse 23, the hour has come, and look what he says in the 27th verse.

Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? Is that what you think I'm going to pray? Father, save me from this hour? And the word hour is not like 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock. It's rather the idea of an appointed, ordained time. an ordained season, literally. This is the season of His death. This is the time appointed from all eternity for the Savior to lay down His life for His beloved ones.

He looked forward to it. The hour has come. And the closer the hour came, the more He spoke of the hour. He was anxious. He was anxious for this. Do you remember He told His disciples on one occasion, just before this last Passover, He said, I have longed to celebrate this Passover with you. Why is that? Because it would be the last one. It would be on the occasion of His death.

You see, this hour, this season appointed to Him, He had looked forward to that from all eternity. This was not something to be avoided. It couldn't be avoided.

When Peter sought to defeat the enemies of our Lord, had his sword out, cut off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. He said, put your sword back in the sheath. Don't you know that if I wanted to, I could call 10,000 angels that come down and release me as if I needed them. But he said, but then how should the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it is appointed for me? From old eternity, this had been written down in covenant grace, that the Savior must lay down His life. He must forfeit His life if we're going to be saved. All of the elect that God gave to Him in covenant mercy, the only way we could be saved is for Christ to die for our sins according to the Scriptures. And so the closer He gets to this time, The more anxious he is for that to be fulfilled.

Now, these Greeks said, sir, we would see Jesus. I don't know how much they knew about Jesus of Nazareth. They were apparently converts to Judaism, and so they knew something about the promised Messiah. And they hear this shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. And they want to meet him. Is this the son of David? Is Jesus the son of David? Is he the appointed savior? No doubt having been converted to Judaism, they knew a lot of things about the promised Messiah. They knew he was the Ancient of Days from the Old Testament, that he was the bright and morning star, that he was the branch that should come out of Jesse's rod, that he was the son of righteousness who should arise with healing in his wings. They had heard, no doubt, having been educated already in Judaism, They'd heard already that the seed of the woman would come someday and crush the serpent's head. And they knew that His name would be Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So they want to know, who is this Jesus? We want to meet Jesus. Sir, we would see, gaze upon, fix our eyes upon Jesus.

And I would ask you, do you want to see Jesus? Would you see Jesus? Well, let me tell you where he may be found. Where do you see the Lord Jesus Christ?

Number one, you see him in the Godhead. You see him in the Trinity. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 7, there are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. You want to see Jesus? See Him as God. He's God over all, blessed forever. You want to see Jesus? See Him standing as our surety in the covenant of grace. See Him as the mediator of that great covenant. See Him as that one through whom we're saved and that one to whom the rest of the Trinity, the Father and the Spirit entrusted our salvation to Him. He's the surety of their everlasting covenant. When we were chosen in grace, we were given to Him. All that the Father giveth me, Christ said. Remember John 6.37. All that the Father giveth me. When were we given to Him? Before time began. Back in the eternal covenant of grace. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He who owns us by gift right will also own us by purchase right and by irresistible grace. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and when they come to me I'll never cast them out. He won't cast us out because He promised in the covenant of grace He would care for us eternally.

Sir, we would see Jesus. Where will you see Him? In the Trinity. I know the Trinity is a mystery, and I'm not here to explain the Trinity. A fool would deny the Trinity, and another fool would try to explain the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God, but three distinct persons in the Godhead. Would you break that down for me? No, I can't break it down for you. This is a mystery. We receive this by faith. The Lord Jesus is as much God as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father. The Father is as much God as the Son. Three in one, one in three, the Trinity. Don't deny it. Rejoice. You say, there's so many things about God I don't understand. Of course there are many things about God you can't understand. If you could understand God, you'd be God. These are mysteries that we receive by faith.

And we see Him not only in the Trinity, but we see Him in the Covenant of Grace as our representative. Do you remember in Isaiah 49, eight? The father said to him, I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people. He is the covenant. He is the covenant. This is the promise of God the father to his son. I will give thee for a covenant to the people. The covenant head, the Lord Jesus Christ, has agreed from old eternity to save us. And as He cannot lie, and as He cannot fail, Isaiah 42 says that. That our salvation is as sure as His eternal suretyship.

And then, I'll give you a few more. You want to see Him? See Him with the eye of faith in Genesis chapter 1 as the Creator. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He made all things by the Word of His power. We see Him throughout the Old Testament, in every offering. You want to see Him? Look there in Genesis 3, as it were, at the end of chapter 3. As our Savior, the Lord Jesus, we would see Jesus, we'll see Jesus as offering a sacrifice for Adam and Eve, and then clothing them with that robe, the skin of animals, See Him shedding the very first blood that was ever shed in this world, typical of the blood that He would shed in order to save His covenant people.

See Him in Genesis chapter 4 as the firstling of the flock that Abel offered. See Him as the offering offered throughout the Old Testament. See him in every promise and prophecy of Messiah. Would you see Jesus? See him coming into this world 2,000 years ago. Coming to save. Coming to be ridiculed and mocked and hated and despised.

I was watching a little bit of the sport news. I guess it was Monday morning. And I guess some football player spit on another guy. I don't know if y'all saw that or not. And he's going to be suspended for a game, I think, and deducted pay. He spit one time on somebody.

Lots of people spit in our savior's face. Nobody flagged them. Nobody fined them. As they spat in the Savior's face, they got praised for their mockery.

See him hated. You want to see Jesus? See how much popularity he had. His popularity reached its very climactic point when he fed the 5,000 plus women and children, probably 20,000 people. Then he began to talk about how, I am the bread come down from heaven. And gradually his popularity died. till finally all of that crowd left Him, and wasn't anybody left but His disciples. He said, will you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure Thou art the Son of God.

And when He came down to die, see how popular He is now. Everybody who's anybody turned thumbs down on him. They all hated him. All the religious leaders of Judaism all said, we hate that guy. Pilate said, what do you want me to do with him? They said, crucify him. Let him die the most horrible death that we know anything about. Let him suffer and agonize on the cross. There's his popularity. When he told those people he was God, they'd had it with him, ready to kill him.

See Jesus, see him despised and rejected of men. But see him as the law-obeyer. He not only obeyed God's law, he obeyed man's law. Every precept. He said, I always do those things that please the Father.

You want to see Jesus? See him die on the cross. And I know men did horrible things to him, stripped him naked, They had beat him and mocked him and crowned him with thorns and all of that. But see him agonizing in his soul because the Father forsook him. He was bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. He was wounded for our transgressions.

You wanna see Jesus? see his lifeless body taken and anointed for burial, see him laid in a borrowed tomb. And the soldiers said, well, we've done our job. But then the Jewish leaders went to Pilate and said, you know, he talked about being raised from the dead. Probably his disciples will be up to some kind of trickery. They'll steal his body and say, he arose from the dead. Let us seal his tomb.

See Jesus in that silent tomb. That's his body. His soul's gone back to God. And they seal that tomb. See our Savior in glory, in His spirit, in His soul. And then Sunday morning comes. See Jesus. So He comes back to that lifeless body. And when life meets death, death has to go its way. and his body becomes alive again. But this time glorified. Glorified.

See him after his resurrection. Who's he want to spend time with? His people. His people, his disciples. people who loved him. And I'll tell you this, you want to see Jesus, wherever his people meet, that's where he'll be found. Wherever his gospel is set forth, wherever preachers brag on him and declare his glories and his greatness and his majesty, that's where he'll be. That's where you'll see him, not with these eyes.

I'll tell you this, you want to see Jesus, go hear His Phillips. Go hear His Andrews as they preach the Savior. He will be seen. There's a people in this world who will behold His glory. And I'll tell you this, One of these days, we will see Him face to face. And 1 John 3, 1 and 2 says, when we see Him, we'll know Him.

Something about our life as a child of God has quite a lot to do with seeing the Savior. Over in Isaiah, the Lord Jesus, Jehovah Jesus, says, look unto me. That's how you start. Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. For I am God, there's none else. And how do we live the Christian life? Hebrews 12 says, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. We begin this journey with a look, looking to Christ. We continue it by looking to him. And when we leave this world, we'll see him face to face. We shall see him as he is.

Oh, God, give me a faith sight of him now. Let me look more intently upon him. And I'll tell you this, the closer you look at Jesus, the more glorious he appears. See, any of us, the closer you look at us, well, we look better from a distance, let's just put it that way. But that's not true of our Savior. You can take a magnifying glass to him and you ought to Look at Him in His Word. You want to see Jesus? He's in here. He's in here. Look unto Me, He says, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.

Well, let's sing