But you might have noticed that
the passage that Brother Joe just read was the passage that
I dealt with this morning on television. I'm going to deal
with that today, too. I didn't plan it that way, but
that's just the way it fell, so you're going to get a double
dose if you watch the TV program. But I want to begin in John 15. Open your Bibles to John 15.
And I want to introduce a series of four messages that I'm going
to preach. on a subject called the planting
of the Lord. Now, the title of this morning's
message has to do with Christ planted in death. Christ himself. Christ planted in death. But you know in the Bible, all
through the Old Testament and much of the New, salvation in
its entirety, in the whole realm of salvation, is many times compared
to planting and harvest. Planting and harvest. The farm
analogy, the symbolism of a farmer who goes out and sows seed and
he plants and he waters and he cultivates and then comes the
harvest and we see many passages of scripture that speak of salvation
in that way. For example, here in John chapter
15, the Lord himself in verse 1, he makes this statement. He
says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman,
or the vine dresser. God the Father is sometimes in
the Bible referred to as the Lord of the harvest. What is
he talking about, the Lord of the harvest? What is the harvest?
Well, the harvest is the ingathering of his church. His people being
brought and called into the kingdom of God and coming unto its final
fruition and completion, final growth in glory. Here he's called the husbandman.
That is God the Father. He's the bind dresser. He's the
keeper of the field. It's like this. It's like the
farmer who plans his garden, his field. Chooses the seed that
he wants to grow. and plants that seed. And that's
the way the Father is. He is the sovereign of the universe
who chose his people, which are his seed in a sense, and he planned
the garden, he planned it out, where the rose would go, how
deep it would go, and how it was to be watered and fed and
cultivated and fertilized, and he planted his seed. God chose
a people before the foundation of the earth. It's like the wise
farmer. who plans it all out, lays it
all out, purposes it, and does it according to plan. And that's
why God the Father is called the husbandman. Here Christ refers
to himself as the true vine. Sometimes in the Old Testament
you might see Israel, the nation Israel, referred to as God's
vineyard or as the vine. This, Christ says, I am the true
vine. Now, that word true in the New
Testament is many times used in two ways in comparison here.
First of all, it could be true as opposed to something that
is false. And this is not the way it is
used here. In other words, Israel was the vine of God in the Old
Testament, the nation Israel. And Christ is not saying I am
the true vine, but Israel was the false vine. But another way
the word true is used is this way. It's the fulfillment and
the completion of that which was aimed at. So what Christ
is saying here is as Israel, the nation, was the vine of God
in the Bible. He says, I'm the true vine. Because
it is through the nation Israel that Christ was brought into
this world in His humanity. He was born of the seed of David.
And so He's the true vine. You see, life is in the vine. The life of the branches is in
the vine. Look at verse 2, he says, every
branch in me. The branches are his people.
Now, the life is not in the branch as a source. The life comes from
the vine. And if you're a branch, the only
reason you have life is because of the vine, Christ. Now, in
Israel, the nation, there was no life. There was no spiritual,
eternal life. In other words, you couldn't
be eternally saved, brought into the kingdom of God, and live
eternally just by becoming a Jew. No, sir, that's the work of Christ,
who is the true vine. So you see the analogy there.
You know the vine. Christ is the vine. His Father
is the husbandman. Look at verse 2 again. Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. Now that
kind of a branch is just a branch in profession. He's describing
here a person who has only a profession of life, but no spiritual life
within. And the reason you know that
is because this is a branch that bears not fruit. He says in every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. that it may bring
forth more fruit. He prunes it, just like you're
pruning a vine or a plant. You prune it so that it will
bear more fruit. I'm not a farmer. And I'm not
real good with plants. I tell Debbie if she's going
to buy a plant and wants a plant and want it to grow, she's going
to have to do it. Because I'll kill it. I'm not trying to now. I'm not trying to. But I'm just
not good. I don't have that green thumb
that some people have. But I know this, that sometimes
on certain bushes, that when you prune them, prune them back,
when it comes time for the flowers or the buds to come out, it has
more. It has more. And that's what
he's saying here. Those who bear fruit, they have
life from the vine. That's Christ and his people.
And he prunes them. How does he prune them? By his
word. By trials, he prunes them. By experience, he prunes them
and they bear more fruit. They grow in grace and in knowledge.
That's a good analogy, growing in grace and in knowledge of
Christ. And then he speaks of his word
and all of that. So, God the Father is said to
be the Lord of the harvest, the husbandman, Christ, the branch,
or the true vine. Sometimes he is called the branch
in the Old Testament, the branch of Jesse. That refers to his
humanity as a God-man. And then believers are referred
to as the branches that proceed from the vine. Back in the Old
Testament, Psalm chapter 1, believers, regenerated people, the elect
of God, His church are referred to as trees planted by the water. We read there in Psalm 92 in
the opening of our service this morning. Let me just go back
over that. He said, he's talking about God's
people here. In verse 12, he says, the righteous. Who are the righteous? I'll tell
you what, whenever you see that in Scripture, think this way
now. The righteous are sinners saved by the grace of God. If
you're righteous, it's not because of anything in you or from you,
it's because God made you righteous by His grace through His Son.
That's what He did. And that's the only way that
I can be called righteous, or you can be called righteous,
as we are in Christ. And so he says, the righteous
shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon. That's a strong tree. And it
says in verse 13, those that be planted in the house of the
Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They'll bring forth
fruit even in old age, which is what we by nature see as the
time of fruitlessness. It's not. especially for a righteous
person, a child of God, very fruitful. You see, young people
listen to the elderly in the faith. They have a lot to give
and to offer in this life as they guide us through their wisdom
and their growth in the things of Christ and the things of the
Lord. Think about this, the old are
not to follow the young, the young are to follow the old,
the elderly. And that's in the Lord, in the
Lord. So this is talking about the
planting of the Lord. Now, beginning today, in the
next four weeks, including today, I'm going to show you four passages
of scripture, four ways that cover the whole scope of salvation
in this comparison. of the planting of the Lord.
And today I want you to look at John chapter 12. Let me just
give all four ways here and you'll see what's coming up. First of
all today, Christ himself planted in death. That's the first planting
of the Lord. Christ planted in death. Secondly,
next Sunday morning we'll deal with Christ's people planted
together with him. And we'll see that. And then
thirdly, we're going to be talking about the word of God planted
in our hearts, the work of the Holy Spirit in us. And then fourthly,
and I'm looking forward to this myself and studying for it, is
Christ's people planted in our death. Now, you know, we sometimes
flippantly and humorously talk about planting some people in
the grave. But you know, for God's people,
it is a planting, but you know what comes forth from a planting?
is growth, life. That's the purpose of planting,
to bring forth life. It's not just to put a dead body
in the ground and let it decay. That's not the purpose of the
planting of the Lord now. When God's people are planted,
the purpose is that from that planting is going to come life,
and we'll see that in a few weeks. All right, let's look at John
chapter 12. Here's the basis, the ground, the foundation of
all of salvation right here. Christ planted in death. And let's look at this verse
in verse 23. Now, here they were at the great
feast and many came to worship and the Pharisees were among
them. The Pharisees were the ones who stood the firmest against
the Lord Jesus Christ. Back in chapter 11, he had raised
a man from the dead, Lazarus from the grave. What a marvelous,
marvelous, marvelous miracle. Life from the dead. So this context
here and everything is speaking of life, life, life in Christ. That's what it's speaking of.
And here these Greeks come. These Greeks who had converted
to the Jewish religion. They came up to worship at the
feast and they came to Philip. And they said, sir, we would
see Jesus. We want to see Jesus. I don't
know exactly what was in their minds, what they were thinking.
Not sure they even knew what the name Jesus meant. Maybe they
did. You know what the name Jesus
means? It means Jehovah who saves. That's what Jesus means. I told
the Sunday school class last week, I said sometimes we think
of Jesus being a name of derision towards him, but it's not. It's
a New Testament form of the Old Testament name Joshua. The Jews
would pronounce it today Yeshua. It means life. That's what it
means, salvation. For his name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." When
he rode into town here, back in the early part of this chapter
12, they said, Hosanna, Hosanna. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean just praise the Lord. You know, really, it's come to
mean this. Hosanna means thank God for salvation. That would be the best translation
of it. Thank God for salvation has come. That's what they were
saying. Now, it's sad that when we consider that the same crowd
who cried Hosanna this day, a few hours later, cried crucifying. But that's the way fallen humanity
is, isn't it? When things go our way, we get
our way and think like we think, you know, all right, Hosanna,
but then it comes crucifying until the Lord breaks our hearts
and brings us to a saving knowledge of Christ. Well, Philip brought
him. He said in verse 23, now look
here at John 12, it says, And Jesus answered them, saying,
The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now
what is he talking about? Well, we're going to see he's
talking about his death. And we see right away that he
didn't look at his death as the end. He didn't look at his death
as a feeble attempt. He didn't look at his death as
a defeat. But he looked at his death as
a glorification. What does that mean? That means
he's going to be exalted. That means he's going to be lifted
up, not just on the cross. He's going to be lifted up on
the cross. He says that. But he's going to be lifted up
in glory. And this is the hour of his suffering
unto death as the substitute of his people, the sacrifice,
the sin-bearer, the sin-offering. the one who was to be made sin,
all the sins of God's elect made to meet upon him, laid to his
account, and out of that he would suffer and bleed and die. He
would be buried, but he would be raised again the third day
and ascended unto the Father on high, where he is now seated
ever to live to make intercession for us. And so this is the hour
that he should be glorified. He refers to himself as the Son
of Man. That's a title of the Messiah.
That's not denying his deity. Some people say that when he
refers to himself as the Son of Man, he's denying his deity,
because there are times when some of the prophets, like, for
example, Ezekiel, was referred to as the Son of Man. But here
the phrase indicates the Old Testament title for the Messiah.
This is the Redeemer. This is the God-Man. And he's
going to be glorified. No mere man could be glorified
in death. No sinful man could be glorified
in death. Yet he who is God and man, who
died a great death because of sin, was to be glorified in death. And that's amazing. Well, look
at verse 24. He says, Verily, verily, or truly,
truly, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat, or a grain of
wheat, that's what that is, a seed of wheat, fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. Now listen to this, but if it
die, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Now, see that, if
it die, you take a grain of wheat, any seed of any plant, You just
hold it in your hand. Nothing's going to happen. Just
lay it on a table. Nothing's going to happen. Throw
it on the top of the ground. Nothing will happen. But when
you plant it in the ground, and it goes through that process
of which our Lord here describes as a death, it goes into the
ground and dies. Alright? Then what happens? Then
it brings forth its fruit. It has to die. to bring forth
the fruit. No death, no fruit. And what
he's teaching here is this. No death, no life. Life is in
his death. And it's in his. Not in ours,
but in his. If it dies. Somebody said this
verse here tells us the one condition of salvation. Now, you know,
religion is good at putting conditions on salvation. Man's religion. You must, you must, if you, if
you, there's one condition for the salvation of God's people,
one condition, the death of the Son of God. That's what he's
talking about. If it dies, then what? It doesn't say now if it
dies and everybody else does their part, it'll bear much fruit.
It doesn't say if it goes 99 and 44, 100 percent of the way
and then you make your move, then it'll bear. No, if it dies,
there's going to be fruit. Now, that's it. The one condition
of salvation. And he's speaking of his death.
Look at verse 25. Now, he uses this to teach them
a lesson about discipleship first. Because, you see, Christ was
the perfect servant of the Father. And he says, and he that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto eternal life. The application of that
is first to himself. Now, he's talking about his disciples,
but think of him. He was not of this world. He
wasn't connected to this world. He wasn't tied to this world.
He didn't love this world. He came into this world to do
the will of his Father. That's what he meant to do, and
that's what he did. And when he calls his people
unto discipleship, that's the way we're to see it, too. We're
not to be connected to this world, tied to this world. We're not
to love this world. We're to see our purpose here
for one and one purpose only, and that's to glorify God in
Christ and to pass through. We're just passing through. That's
what our Lord was doing. He was just passing through.
He kept saying the hour has not yet come. Here he says the hour
has come. Here it is. He says in verse
26, If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am,
there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my Father honor. You see, the only honor that
we can get from God is through Christ. There is no honor outside
of Christ. Because all honor is in the Son.
So he says in verse 25, Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?" Now, he
was beginning to experience the sorrow and the pains of sin upon
him. And he said, what shall I say?
Father saved me from this hour, this hour of my death, but for
this cause came I into this hour. I came into the world for this
reason. He didn't come to be an example. He didn't come to
be a martyr. He came to be a Redeemer. He
came to be a Savior. He came to save his people from
their sins, and it was a troubling death that he was to experience.
These are things that he had never experienced in himself
before. And he was troubled. So here's
the point, verse 28, Father, glorify thy name. Then came there
a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again." God the Father had glorified His name many times.
He glorified it in creation. He glorified it all through the
Old Testament. He glorified it in the life of the Son. At His
birth, the star shone and guided the wise men to the manger. The
angel spoke to the shepherds. At his birth, the Christ child
was delivered from the hands of men. Herod wanted to kill
him. And then at his baptism, the
Father was glorified, glorified in the Son when he said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. At the Mount of
Transfiguration, the Father was glorified through the Son when
he said the same thing. All through he was glorified.
But he says, now I will glorify it again. What is the glory of
God? It's the manifestation. It's
the revelation. It's the public display, you
might say, of everything that God is in every attribute of
His glory. You see, sometimes when people
get to know us, it's not our glory, is it? It's our shame. Is there anything about you that
you don't want me to know? Is there anything about me that
I don't want you to know? Huh? Think about it. But when
you get to know God, when you come to a saving knowledge of
God, the more you know, the more He's glorified. That's what He's
talking about. And when Christ died on that
cross, that is the greatest revelation of the glory of God that has
ever been and ever will be. That's the Shekinah glory, as
the old writers used to say. That's the glow. That's that
which comes forth to show us who God is, that we might fear
Him, and worship Him, and serve Him, and trust Him, and follow
Him. And the more we know of God, the more it is His glory,
not His shame. And so he says in verse 29, Now
the people therefore that stood by heard it, and said it thundered,
and the others said an angel spoke to him. They didn't know
exactly what was going on. But Jesus answered and said,
the voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. In other
words, this was for the people around him. Christ and his Father
have an intimate connection of nature. They're one. One God
who subsists in three distinct persons. And yet one in will,
one in nature, one in attribute. This wasn't for his benefit.
It was for theirs. Many times God will do things,
manifest things, work things in providence for our benefit.
And that's what he did here. And so he said, now look at verse
31. Now here's Christ planted in death. Here's what it means.
He says, now is the judgment of this world. God's judgment
upon this world was in the death of his Son. God's judgment against
sin was in the death of his Son. And he says, now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. Now who's he talking about? He's
talking about Satan. Satan, this goes all the way back to the
garden now. Satan was instrumental in bringing
the whole human race into condemnation and death. And he said it was
right there on the cross of Calvary that the prince of this world
was cast out. The condemnation on Calvary now. On Calvary. When Christ died
on Calvary. The condemnation that Satan brought
in was removed for God's elect. Totally removed, not partially
removed. Not conditionally removed upon their later on believing.
But right then and there, when Christ died that death and paid
the debt to God's law and justice by His sacrifice, His suffering,
His death on the cross, The ground of condemnation was totally removed. Sins were born away. Now you
think about that. And you see how the death of
Christ was an accomplishment. It wasn't an attempt. He didn't come down here to try
to save anybody. That's not what he did. He didn't
come down here to issue a general pardon to everybody without exception
and just hope that some people would accept it. That's not what
he did. He came down here to do a work
that he himself finished and completed at Calvary, and it's
a work that was given to him and to him alone. Now, how is
the death of Christ referred to in Scripture? Well, it's a
redemption. Now, what do you do when you
redeem something or somebody? You pay the price. It's referred
to as a justification. The Bible says Christ was made
sin. Christ who knew no sin. He was
made sin for us. He knew no sin and did no sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Look over at Romans
chapter 3. It's a redemption and a justification. Now look at verse 23 of Romans
chapter 30. You see Christ being planted
in death, this grain of wheat which is a symbol of Himself,
Him as God-man, He died that death and He was planted. And
what came forth from that planting is life, spiritual life, eternal
life, everlasting life. And it says in verse 23, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We missed
the mark. That's what that means. Transgressors
of the law. And that means that death is
the result. Sin demands death. But look at
verse 24. Being justified. Now that's referring
to what Christ accomplished at Calvary. How do I know that?
Well, look at it. Being justified freely, unconditionally,
without a cost. by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus." In other words, when Christ redeemed
us, we were justified. We were justified through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What did he do? He paid
the price. He paid the debt in full. It's like this. We, in our birth in Adam, born
in sin, And in our own sinful actions and thoughts and motives,
we have racked up a debt that we cannot pay to God's law and
justice. Christ on the cross paid the
debt in full. Now, if you don't believe that,
the next time we sing, Jesus paid it all, you don't sing. Don't sing. If you don't believe
that, you say, well, I'm just not going to sing when you all
sing that song because I don't believe that. But see, we do believe
it. He paid it all. Now, does that
mean do I have anything to pay? Absolutely not. Do you have anything? Not if He paid your debt. Now,
if He paid our debt and redeemed us, that means we're justified.
Look at it again. Being justified. Literally, it's
this. It would read this way in the tense of the original
language. Having been justified freely, unconditionally, without
a cause in me, In other words, there was nothing in me to bring
this about, nothing in me to motivate or inspire God to do
it. I'm one of those that was described in verse 23, all sin
and consure the glory of God. So therefore, my justification
through the redemption that was in Christ had nothing to do with
anything in me or done by me, anything I have done, am doing,
or will do. Freely. Free salvation. And it's through the redemption
in Christ. Now, we're justified. How did that take place? Well,
look at verse 25. Whom God hath set forth, that
word set forth means foreordained. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world to be a propitiation. Now, that word
propitiation, think of it this way. It's a satisfaction. What is a propitiation? It's
a satisfaction that comes through the death of a substitute. That's what it is. A proper,
qualified, willing substitute. And it brings full and complete
reconciliation. That's how Christ's death is
described in the scripture. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not charging them with their sins, 2 Corinthians
5 and 19, not imputing their trespasses unto them. So here
is propitiation, that is satisfaction that comes through the death
of a sacrifice. Now, how do you know the sacrifice
is the right one? Well, does it bring satisfaction?
You see, Cain brought an offering. You remember Cain brought an
offering. But it didn't bring satisfaction. Therefore, it could
not typify propitiation and reconciliation. Reconciliation, two parties brought
together. at peace with one another. And
look at it, through faith in his blood. Now, when the Bible
speaks of his blood, now listen to me carefully here. When the
Bible speaks of the blood of Christ, it's not talking about
the physical blood that was running through his veins. Now, he did
shed his physical blood, don't get me wrong. He did die. But when it talks about his blood,
it's talking about his death, you see. It's his death. When
the Bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission
of sin, here's what the picture is. You see, physical life is
in the blood. You know, as long as I've got
physical blood pumping through my veins, I'm alive. When that
physical blood stops pumping through my veins, I'm dead. And
it begins to coagulate, and I think they call that rigor mortis begins
to set in. And that's a type now. That's
what that is. It's a type. So blood, there's
life in the blood. Now, life in the physical blood
pictures spiritual life that comes through the blood of Christ,
spiritually. It's a picture. Now, the shedding
of that blood is what? That's death. If I start bleeding
up here and I can't get it stopped, what's going to happen? I'm going
to die. That's the shedding of blood. Some people will hemorrhage. And they can't stop the hemorrhaging.
That's bleeding inside, and that's death. So when it says, without
the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin, it means
without death. So when we say faith in His blood,
we're talking about His death on the cross. His satisfaction
to law and justice. Much the same way when we think
of the cross. We preach the cross. The Bible
says that. Somebody said, well, we don't
preach the cross, we preach Christ. We preach the cross. God said
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, for the preaching of the cross. But
what do we mean by that? We don't mean something you hang
on the wall or hang around your neck. We're not talking about
a piece of wood that some archaeologists might dig up over there in Jerusalem. Let me tell you this. If they
could find the remains of the actual cross, the wood, that
the Lord of Glory was nailed upon, you know what it would
be? Worthless. Does that shock you? Most of
you, I know it does. It'd be worthless. A worthless
piece of dead wood. Now that's right. But you know what people would
do. They'd either sell it or they'd put it in glass and everybody
would make a pilgrimage there to worship it. Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross. Now, what's he
talking about? He's talking about the person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ in his death to finish my transgressions,
to bring an end to my sin, to make reconciliation for mine
iniquity, to bring in righteousness. So that's what it means whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in what Christ
accomplished in my behalf, his blood. And why? To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past. I believe that's talking
about the Old Testament believers who looked forward by promise
to that great day that Christ is speaking of. And then look
over at Hebrews chapter 2. Now, you remember back there
in John 12, he said, now is the prince of this world cast out. Now, you know, Satan, as I said,
he brought in condemnation. But Christ on the cross brought
in justification. Now, how do you prove that? Well,
He was buried, but He was raised again the third day. He finished
His work. He accomplished it. He ascended
unto the Father, life from His death. But look here at Hebrews
chapter 2, look at verse 14. Now, it says, for as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Now what
he's talking about there is not Satan's power over physical death. Satan has no power over physical
death. When somebody dies, it's not
the work of the devil. God alone has the power of life
and death. The hairs of your head are numbered. The scripture says. Isn't that
right? Well, now, who did that numbering? Not Satan. The hairs
of his head are numbered. God did. When Job lost his family,
he said, the Lord giveth, and the Lord what? Taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
So what is Satan's power of death? What he's talking about is Satan's
power to keep sinners condemned by his accusations. Satan is
called the great accuser of the brethren. So what does he mean
here? When Satan accuses any sinner
for whom Christ died on that cross, I don't care who it is,
any sinner whom God pardoned and justified and redeemed through
his Son, Satan's power to condemn is totally removed. Why? Because
Christ died. He took my sins. He bore them
away. I mean, he moved them out of
the way. That's right. When God sees me through the
eyes of His law and justice, He sees me in Christ. And therefore,
when Satan comes along and accuses, his accusations, the arrows of
his accusations, as the Old Testament put it, They don't stick. Because you see, I have a ransom. I have a Redeemer. I've seen
Jesus. We would see Jesus. How do you
see Him? How do you see Him? As a defeated Reformer? As a
beggar leaning over the banister of heaven just trying to get
people to accept Him as their personal Savior? Is that how
you see Him? We would see Jesus, he said. I see him as my sovereign
substitute, redeemer, who bore my sins away and justified me
and made me righteous. So therefore, when Satan accuses,
his power to condemn me is void." I mean, it's gone. Satan will accuse you. Men will
accuse you. You know, in 1 John 5 it says,
condemn you, won't he? He will accuse. But you know
what God says there? He says God is greater than our
hearts. He knows us better than we know
ourselves. And that's what he's talking about. Look at verse
15 of Hebrews 2. And deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. That bondage is the
bondage of legal guilt that keeps a sinner condemned in his own
conscience. And when you see Jesus, look
back at John 12, now when you see Christ on that cross finishing
the work, when you see that he was buried and raised again the
third day because of your justification, then that legal bondage and that
conscience is removed. That's the purified heart. That's
the cleansed conscience. And how is it cleansed? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and the what? Finisher of our faith. What is my faith? My faith is
salvation by God's grace in Christ. That's my faith right there.
I believe I'm saved by the grace of God in Christ. So look at
it now. He says in verse 32 of John 20,
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto
me. Now, what's he talking about?
We'll go back to the context. If that grain of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it bringeth forth much fruit. The all who
will be drawn unto him are the much fruit." That's his people.
In other words, everyone for whom Christ died, was buried
and raised again the third day, will, without fail, by the power
of the Holy Spirit and the new birth and the call, the invincible
call of the gospel, they will be drawn unto him. He won't lose
a one of them. He said, And all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh me I will no
wise cast out. He said, This is the will of
him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
He said in John chapter 10, My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. He said, Nobody is going to pluck
him out of my hand. And verse 33 says, This he said
signifying what death he should die. You see, that's the issue. Christ was planted in death,
and Him being planted in death, my friend, is the salvation of
all who are drawn unto Him. There is life in the death of
Christ, life from the vine and from Him alone.