John 12, and we'll start at verse
20 and read through verse 26. May God's grace, excuse me, hopefully
bring a message from this. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore
to Philip, which was of the Saviour of Galilee, and desired him,
saying, We would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew,
and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus our Lord answered
them, saying, The hours 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. But 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. 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, my father will honor." We would see Jesus. We would
see Jesus. I was reading a message What would make a church a good
pastor? And the first point of that message
was a man who preaches Christ. That's the first point that the
man said. The man who makes Christ is not
only his ministry, but Christ is his life itself. He said,
that's the man who makes a good pastor. And I thought about that
a lot, and I wondered if I'd do that. But, sir, I would see
Jesus. That's what they said here. I
would see Jesus. Our Lord's ministry, public ministry,
is almost at an end. In less than a week, our Savior
will be crucified. But before He laid down His life,
His glories must be borne witness to. Men's
got to see this glories of our Lord Jesus Christ. Men are going
to know that they've crucified the Lord of Glory. They're going
to know that they've crucified the Lord of Glory. You remember
in John 11, our Lord Jesus, when He raised Lazarus from the dead,
that shows His glory as the Son of God. Only God can raise the
dead. And he was God the Son, and he
gave life to the dead. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead came forth. So we saw his glory as the Son
of God. Here in John 12, when he came
riding into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass, and look
what it says back up here in verse 13 of John chapter 12.
We see his glory as the Son of David. Then when they heard that Jesus
was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees,
and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the
king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And they
know that the king of Israel is going to be the son of David.
And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat there on him,
as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh,
sitting on an ass's coat. So here in one place they cried,
O thou Son of David, thou Son of David. So here they are, we
see His glory as the Son of God, see His glory as the Son of David.
And now we're going to see His glory as the Son of Man, as the
Son of Man. And here it says in verse 23,
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. Here is His identity, His relationship
to humanity, Son of God, son of David to his title and his
office, son of man and his identity and his humanity, his relationship
to us as the sons of God, as people born in the flesh. Now
you keep this and look with me in Daniel chapter 7, just a moment. Daniel chapter 7. I want you
to see something. And the Scriptures tells us his
relationship as the son of man, his relationship to humanity.
And all people are going to be gathered unto him. And I read
to you this morning where it says, you know, that ask of me
the heathen for thine inheritance, and I will give them thee. And
so here's the first heathens that we see come to him, that
he actually, we see these Gentiles coming to him, seeking him. These
Greeks, and they're called Gentiles. And here in Daniel chapter 7
and verse 13, look what it says about our relationship to Christ
and His relationship to humanity. I saw in the night visions, and
behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven,
and came to the Ancient of Days, the Pile of God. And they brought
him near before Him, the Son of Man. And there was given Him
this Son of Man, dominion and glory and a kingdom that all
people and nations and languages should serve him. He that serve
me, what our Lord say, will be with me where I am. And what
I just read to you. And said, they shall serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. So all
these people are going to be glory. This is his relationship
to humanity. Every wall is going to be gathered
to Him. And so the Father saw to it that His blessed and beloved
Son have this threefold witness before He suffered on the cross.
And you know, truth progressively unfolds. Here a little, there
a little, precept upon precept. In John chapter 10, let me show
you what I'm talking about. Truth progressively unfolds.
In John 10, He's called the Good Shepherd, laying down His life
for the sheep. And he said, there's other sheep
which are not of this foal, them also I must bring, and there'll
be one shepherd and one foal. In John chapter 7, 11, excuse
me, he's seen as the resurrection, he's seen as life, as the one
who conquers death. You know, Lazarus was dead, but
yet because he, Christ, he had life in Christ. And even though
we were dead in sins, because life's in Christ, Christ gives
us life. And Christ in us is the hope
of glory. And so you see as the conqueror,
he's seen as the resurrection of life, as the conqueror of
death. He has the power to raise His
own and give them life who are dead in sins and create in them
life, the new birth, the nature of God in them, and make them
holy like Himself. And here in John chapter 12,
He's going to do both. He's going to be the shepherd
of the sheep, and He's going to also raise
them from the dead. You see, he's to do both. If
he's to save the sheep and the other sheep, then he must lay
down his life. Is that not right? That's what
he said there in verse 20. There were certain Greeks among
them that came up to worship at the sea. These are that other
sheep. If he's going to save his sheep and the other sheep,
then he's going to have to be the good shepherd that lays down
his life for the sheep. He must lay down his life. And
if he's going to raise them from the dead, in the resurrection,
he himself must be the firstborn from the dead. And there must
be a heavenly people, that's what he said, but if it dies,
a corn of wheat dies and abides alone, but if it dies, it brings
forth much fruit. And so, beloved, if it dies,
then he's going to be the firstborn from the dead, and he's going
to bring forth much fruit through his death. So a heavenly people
must be related to him by more than just fleshly ties. Fleshly
tithes. They must be joined to him by
the Holy Spirit. And this can only be after his
resurrection. Now, you keep John 12, and look
with me over here in 2 Corinthians 5, 16, just a minute. See, we
don't know man after the flesh. And there was a time we knew
Christ after the flesh. We don't know him after the flesh
anymore. And that's what I say. Fleshly tithes is not going to
do any good. No, no, those disciples and apostles
were with him, but they must be united, must be joined to
him and have union with him by the Spirit, and this is after
the resurrection. And here in John 5, 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 16, it says this, Wherefore henceforth we know
no man after the flesh, Yea, though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." Now, what
does that mean? That means there was a time that we only knew
Christ according to our carnal understanding, according to what
we thought about Him. And how many people and preachers
are out preaching today that only know Christ after their
flesh? They don't know a spiritual Christ. They don't know a living
Christ. They don't know a Christ sitting
at God's right hand. They don't know a Christ that
gives life from the dead. They don't know a Christ that
calls his people to himself. They don't know a Christ who
shed his blood to save his people and his people only. They don't
know a Jesus that stands with no power, no ability, that loves
everybody. and can't do anything for anybody
unless he lets them. That's knowing Him after the
flesh. Putting Him in a manger at Christmas, putting a cross
out in the yard at Easter and hanging purple scarves around
it, that's knowing Jesus after the flesh. We don't know Him
that way. That was a time we did. We don't anymore. We know
Him as a risen, glorified, exalted, sovereign Savior of His people. That's the way we know Him. And
we only know Him that way because we're those other sheep. So sir, we would see Jesus. Not
after the flesh. We would see Jesus. Now look
here in verse 20. I'm going to write an article
about this. Let's think another day. There's some love that I'm
sick of. I'm sick of this love that that
makes people live together and then they get tired of living
together, they separate. I'm sick of this love that people
get married and married for a few years and then throw in the towel.
I'm sick of this love that God loves everybody. I'm just sick
of it. But there's a love that I'm not
sick of. And that's the love of Christ
for His all. Look here in John's Gospel. Look at this great glorious desire
that these people had. And there were certain Greeks,
among them, that came up to worship at the feast. And the same therefore
came to Philip, which was the Beseda of Galilee, and desired
him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Now, I'll tell you, the
difference between these, and look at the ones in verse 19.
The difference between these Greeks who wanted to see the
Lord Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees therefore said
among themselves, Perceive how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is going after
you. The hating, hateful, envious Jew says the world is going after
him. And these Gentiles, These Greeks
that came there, they're the firstfruits of a coming harvest.
This is the other sheep which also he must bring. And you see,
beloved Gentiles, the Greeks here that says we will see Jesus,
that's what Paul was made an apostle to, to just strictly
the Gentiles. And that's why Peter stood and
said on the day, in Acts chapter 15, he said, God chose me. to preach and open the door to
the Gentiles when I went over there and preached to Cornelius,
and God gave them faith and the Holy Ghost like He did unto us. And who's to stay God's hand
if He wills to save Gentiles? And you know, beloved, it was
certainly, and listen, it was Gentiles, it was Greeks, heathens
like ourselves, wise men from the East that sought Him after
His birth. That was not Jews that went and
sought Him after His birth. Here it says some people asked
him to find it and kill everybody that was young, under two years
old. But those wise men that saw that
star and started following that star, every single one of them
were Gentiles. They came from the East. And
here are the Gentiles. And it was Gentiles come to him
shortly, shortly before his death. Now I want you to know something
else about them. These weren't idolaters. It says here, they
came among those that came up to worship at the feast. They
came up to worship. They came up to worship. They
came up, they were Jewish converts, I guess, and they came up to
take the Gentiles out of a particular place that they had to go. They
weren't allowed to mix and mingle with the Jews. They had a court
that was strictly for them. And here they was, they came
up among them that came up to worship. And look what they did.
They took a lowly place. Look what it says. They came
to Philip, first thing they done. They desired Philip. They desired
Philip. They came to Philip. They took
a lowly place. They didn't come running up to
Jesus. They didn't come running up to Him and interrupt Him and
think they had a right to Him. Think they had the handle on
everything, they could just walk right up into His presence and
talk to Him. They had some sense of who He
was. some sense of His power, some
sense of His glory, some sense of His authority. And they took
a lonely place, and they desired filled. And it was said here,
sirs, we would see what they're saying is, they asked, they prayed. And what they mean is, if it
is possible, if it's possible, if it could be granted, we would
like, we would see Jesus. Now that, listen to me. Sir,
we would see Jesus. They asked, they desired, they
prayed. And what that mean is, the leaders here, they desired
to kill him. But yet the Greeks desired to
see. Now listen to me. When it says, Sir, we would see
Jesus, it wasn't a physical sight that they wanted to see. I mean,
everybody around there could see him in his physical body. They could see him. They could
look at him. You know, He's with His disciples.
He's probably inside of them, wrapped in and there. But the reason they asked was
because they knew they had no right to Him. No power over Him. And they saw something of His
glory, and it wasn't a physical sight they desired. They could
have had that, and they were probably looking at Him at the
time. It wasn't we would have Him. Or we would like to see
his mighty works. It wasn't that we will hear him.
Sir, we want to see him. Could we have an audience with
him? Could we come to see him personally? Could we have an intimate conversation
with him? Could we come into his presence?
Would he give us an audience? I don't know why I sound like
this generation. All you've got to do to get Him
now is just raise your hand. All you've got to do to get Him
now is shed a few little old tears. All you've got to do to
get Him now is just say, have mercy on me, Jesus, I need you
before you leave this world, and He's got to jump too for
you. But these men are asking, Sir,
you reckon, do you believe that You would ask Him for us? Would you go to Him? You're close
to Him? You have this intimate acquaintance
with Him? You know what He's like, you
know who He'd receive, and would you please ask Him if we could
have Him come into His presence and have an audience with Him?
And then look what He says here. In verse 21, 22, Then they came
to Philip, which was Bethsaida, and desired him, saying, desired
him. That means they pleaded, and
they asked, and they asked respectfully. And Philip comes, and he tells
Andrew. Why did Philip go to Andrew? Well, you remember that Andrew
was one of the first ones that Christ saved. And Andrew went
and told Philip. So these two men were converted
at the same time. They were very close men. You
can see that in John chapter 1. And you know, let me show
you a couple of things. Look at Matthew 10, 5 with me
just a moment. Talking about why did Philip
go to Matthew. Look in Matthew chapter 10, verse
5 with me just a moment. Matthew 10, verse 5. Why did
Philip go to Andrew? Look what our Lord Jesus said. Now, these are Gentiles coming
to ask an audience for Christ. Gentiles, Greeks, is coming to
ask a presence to see the Lord Jesus, an audience with Him.
Look what it says in verse 5, Then these twelve Jesus sent
forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So you see, here's some
men asking for an audience that Christ has sent these men out
to preach. He said, don't you preach to any Gentiles, don't
even go to the Samaritans. Now look with me in Matthew 15
and verse 24. Oh, remember, it says there in
verse 22, And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same
coat, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But he answered her, Not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she cries after thee. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, but the loyal sheep of the house of Israel. Here's
a Gentile coming to him, and of course we know what he did,
but yet he said, I'm not sent but that the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. So here Philip went to Andrew. Now what in the
world are we going to do? Here's some Gentiles. Our Lord
told us not to preach to them. And he refused to even listen
to this woman when she came. So here's some drinks, wanted
to sing, some Gentiles wanted to sing, wanted an audience with
them. What in the world are we going to do? Oh, what are we going to do about
the Greeks' request? And what did our Lord do? Our
Lord's response. Our Lord's response. And Jesus answered them. They
came and they asked Him. They said, Well, these Greeks
want to see you. They want an audience with you.
They want to They want to come into your presence. They want
to come and be in your presence. They've got something they want
to say, do. And our Lord answers them saying,
the hour has come. The hour has come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. The hour has come. How many times
did our Savior say the hour? My hour is not yet. My hour is
not yet. But He said, the hour has come
now. The hour has come now. It's time. It's time for what? That the Son of Man should be
glorified. Now, what in the world is going
to happen here? It tells us that the Son of Man should be glorified.
His humanity is going to suffer, but not His deities. And there's
two references here of His being glorified. One is He receives
the worship of the Gentiles, and here's Gentiles coming to
worship Him. And he sees his seed, and he sees it before him. And secondly, the value is being
glorified, mainly his death on the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is going to be glorified by his death on the cross. You remember
when Peter says this, he says, you know, the prophets, the prophets,
who prophesied of the coming of Christ, the sufferings of
Christ, and Christ's glory that should follow, they searched
by the Spirit of Christ which was in them, when did Christ
would come, when He would suffer, and how He would be glorified,
because they didn't know. They didn't know when, they didn't
know how, and they were constantly seeking and trying to understand.
But here He's going to be glorified by seeing these Gentiles here
going to come and worship Him, and by His death on a cross.
And beloved, I'll tell you, our Lord Jesus Christ here, and to
His followers, to be glorified. Those that were following Him,
it was going to be the lowest depth of humiliation. The hour
has now come that the Son of Man should be glorified. To His
followers, to His disciples, those that were following Him,
is going to be the lowest depth of humiliation. It was going
to be to be cursed. Going to be cursed. Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a truth. He was so hated, so despised.
But our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, regarded it as His glorification. Glorified in being betrayed,
as a matter of fact. Look in John 13 with me just
a moment. And when our Lord Jesus was being betrayed, He counted
that as being His glory. Being glorified that. Our Lord Jesus Christ, I'm telling
you, beloved. He says, the hour has come that
the Son of Man should be glorified. Look what it says here in John
13, 20, 30, excuse me. Talking about Judas. He then,
having received the salt, went immediately out, and it was night.
Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus says, Now is the Son of
Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. Let God be glorified
in him. God also shall glorify him in
himself." In a straight way, glorified. Straight way. So you
see our Lord Jesus Christ. We talk about the hour has come
that the Son of Man should be glorified. It's the Son of Man
in His flesh. Salvation is not going to only
come to the Gentiles, and that's the only way it can come, is
through His death. Not to Jews only, but through
His death. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. It pleased the Lord to make His soul an offering for sin.
It pleased the Lord to see Him suffer there. And He shall still
be seen and shall be satisfied. And here's Christ looking at
His seed, looking at His disciples, looking at these Gentiles, and
said, and now, if you're going to see me, you're going to see
me as a man suffering, as a man being glorified, as a man glorified
in suffering and dying. And that's the only way I can
save you, and you Gentiles can have an audience with me, is
through my death on the cross. That's the only way you and I
can have any dealings with Him. And that's why, and our Lord
answered them, Philip and Andrew, and all the people, and all beloved. And then look what our Lord does
here now. And He says, in talking about how He's going to be glorified,
and He uses nature to illustrate the necessity of His own death.
And He says, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be
glorified very verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, except
a corn of wheat or a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and
abide it for long. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. A grain of wheat, one little
old grain, in and of itself can't do much. Couldn't keep you from
dying of starvation, but boy, you put that thing in the ground.
You see, the grain of wheat has life in it. The grain of wheat
has life in it, but the only way that life's going to come
out of it, it carries life with it through death. The death it
goes through is to produce more life than it had in itself. It
had life only for itself, but when you put that thing in the
ground, and it rots and it dies, it brings up a whole stalk of
corn with all kinds of wheat, and all kinds of wheat's hanging
off that one stalk. And that's what our Lord's saying
about His death. Accept that corn of wheat which
has life in it. It's got life in it. And if you
get enough wheat together, I mean, there's life in it for you to
eat bread out of and do all kinds, but that one grain of wheat,
kernel of wheat, has life in it, and when you put that in
the ground and it dies, up comes a whole bunch of wheat, and every
one of them's got life in them. Where from? That one grain. And beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ
says this about Hisself, except it die, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
unless except it fall into the ground, It's got to go into the
ground. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, by
His death, He fell into the hands of sinful men. He willingly gave
Himself into the hands of sinful men. He fell accepted all to
the ground, and our Lord Jesus Christ fell into the hands of
God's justice. This is how he's glorified. He
fell into the hands of death itself. He tasted death. He endured death. He felt death. He Felt it in
his mind. He felt it in his tongue. He
felt it in his soul. He felt it in his spirit. He
felt it in his body. He felt it as when he said, except
a quarter we fall into the ground and die. And he felt death. Then he fell into the hands of
the grave. That's why he said, except it
die. And they took him down and they held him a funeral. Held
him a funeral. Held his body and treated his
body with such care. And wrapped it in those cloths.
And they took him and put him in his grave. And what was the
result of that death? What was the result of it? a multitude that no man could
number. Oh, you reckon these Gentiles
here were saved by the death of Christ? I believe they were. Oh, except in time. And beloved, when He comes out
of the grave, When He come out of the grave, all the elect of
all the ages, because of the will and decree and purpose of
God, all of them are going to have life. All of them. And because He conquered death,
death cannot conquer us. And because He fell into the
hands of justice, justice can't come and get us. And because
he conquered the grave, the grave, we say, oh, grave, where is thy
victory? And I'll tell you, if he fell
into the hands of justice, could God possibly and justly come
back and get us for what he suffered for us? He said, except it fall
not. And I'll tell you, our Lord fell
into the hands of man. He says, oh, I said, don't you
know I've got power to take your life, power to let you go? He
said, you've got no power. You've got no power at all. The
only power you've got is what my father gave you. He said,
I could call twelve legions of angels, but I didn't come here
to do that. And, oh, beloved, it brings forth
much fruit. And the Scriptures tell us that
He's going to bring many sons unto glory. And then look what
he gives us, a little word of warning and a word of encouragement. Verse 25, look what he says.
It brings forth much fruit. And he died. And it brings forth
much fruit. I pray that he, today, would
quicken you. And you know whether you've been
quickened or not. You know whether you've got an
ear to hear the voice of the Son of God. Do you know whether
you've got life in you? Do you know whether Christ has
actually given you eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart
to believe? You're like these Jews. You're not like these Gentiles
who come and say, Sir, we would see Jesus. You know whether you
have seen Him or not. You really know. If you've seen
Him, you've got life. If God gives
you a sight to see Him, you've got life and you know you have.
And if you haven't seen Him, I pray that he would give you
eyes to see, a heart to believe in, and grace to trust him. But
the life's got to come first. And if that life comes, oh, you
reckon he'd give me an audience? And look what he says. He gives
us a little word of warning and encouragement. He that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. And if any man serve
me, Let him follow me. And where I am, I love this right
here, where I am, that's where they're going to be too. And
if any man serve me, him will father. Take the I out of there.
Him will father honor. And what our Lord Jesus Christ
says here, let's apply this to him first and foremost. He says,
if I love my life, And I'm not willing to fall into the hands
of sinful men. I'm not willing to fall into
the hands of justice. I'm not willing to bear your
sins. You know what would happen? You'd
perish. You'd perish. You'd perish. Everyone would perish. Huh? If
thou loved my life and I had a life of selfishness and indulgence
and ease, He says, if I remain alone, you'll perish. And all
beloved in Him, He says, take this for ourself. He that loveth
his life shall lose it. If you love your life, let your
affection, what He's talking about, let your affections be
to yourself. You want your independence. You
don't want Christ. You love your sin. You love yourself. You love your pleasure. You don't
see the need to come to Christ. I don't know how many people
I've talked to that when you talk to them and tell them about
their need of Christ and they say, well, you know, they'll
almost exclusively, they'll say, I'm not really that bad. I feel
like I'm OK right now. I feel like I'm OK now. I feel
like I'm all right right now. But, oh, listen, you let your
affections and let your life be to yourself. and your pleasure,
and what you want out of life, and not you don't want Christ,
our Lord says you'll lose your life. You'll lose it. You think you're loving it, and
you think you're having life easy, and you want everything
your way, and you don't want Christ, you'll lose it, and you'll
lose it eternally. And look what it said over here
in John 9, 22. Let me show you this. I know nobody here wants
to lose their life eternally. Nobody does. Nobody thinks. Nobody
thinks that I'll die lost. There's a few wicked people that
say, you know, I'm not afraid of dying. I'm not, you know,
and I'll have plenty of company in hell and that. But I tell
you, nobody that's rational, reasonable, human being says,
yeah, I want to die. I want to die eternally. I want
to stay in hell forever. I want God's anger beating on
me throughout eternity. Yeah, I want God mad at me all
the time. Not if you've got any sense,
you don't think. But he says, if you love your life, if you
love self more than you do anybody else, and you know how many people
love self more than they do anybody else? The scripture says that.
Men be lovers of their own selves. Proud, heady, high-minded. boasters,
unthankful, unholy. People love self more than they
love a wife and children. People love self when they've
ever had their drinks and their drugs than they would anything
else. People love themselves when they walk off and leave.
People love themselves more than they do anybody else. That woman
that got off down there in Florida, she loved herself The more she
loved her children, children. She loved herself more than she
loved her mother and her daddy. She loved the pleasure that she
had. Do you love yourself more than you do anything else? Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, you'll lose your life. Go ahead and
love it. Just love it and love it to death. Because that's what will happen.
And then look what he goes on to say. in John chapter 9, 22, talking
about here's the folks that's going to perish, that love their
life and going to lose it. They're trying to find out who
opened this man's eyes, and they know very well it was the Lord
Jesus. And these words speak to his parents because they feared
the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already
that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put
out of the synagogue. They were so afraid of the Jews
and being put out of the synagogue, and put out of the church as
they knew it, that they said, well, we're not fixing to confess
this Jesus. We're not going to confess this
Christ. I'm not going to do that. You know, to be ostracized, to
be put out of the church? To admit that I'm a sinner, to
admit that I have no ability, to admit that I'm lost, to admit
that I'm wretched, to admit that I have no goodness, that I have
no ability, that I have no worth, no merit, to admit that? If they loved their son instead
of themselves, they'd have said, yes! There was a man, Jesus of
Nazareth, that came by him and said, son, receive your sight!
And I love him and I honor him and I'm going to bless him all
the days of my life for nothing else but what he did for my son
who was born blind. But they didn't do that, did
they? And then look what he gives us
a little encouragement. That all he that hateth his life
in this world, and all my hates that sin in him, Haste that selfishness
in him. Haste that pride in him. Haste
that self-righteousness that's in him. He that hateth his life
in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. Oh, boy. And watch this. And I love this.
What encouragement. If any man serve me... Oh, Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ. If any man serve me, what do
you say to do? Let him follow me. You want to
lay it on me? Follow me. And oh, now listen
to this. He's talking about it incredibly.
How many times does he say this to his people? And where I am,
there shall also my servant be. Wherever I am, that's where they'll
be. You follow me wherever I am. You just have to ride out of
your pride, God. We are too. Listen now. And he said, if any
man serve thee, listen, and I love to read it this way, if any man
serve me, him will father honor. Father honor. Oh my. And beloved, you shall have everything
in Christ when you're willing to have nothing of your own.
When you lose your life, I hate your life in this world. You
have everything in Christ when you're willing to have nothing
of your own. And we must lose self in order to find life, to
find self. In giving up living to ourselves,
then you shall find yourself living, really living, living
in Christ. Is that not right? Oh, Barnard
used to make this statement. I've heard Brother Henry make
it. The man is never more free than when he's more in bondage
to Christ. Never more free than when you
bow to Christ and give up all your crown rights to Him. Oh,
you talk about freedom. Freedom, freedom. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for allowing us to
meet here today. Thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for the truth as it is in Christ. And Lord, we thank you
that we do see you. We have seen you. We see you. And one of these blessed days,
we shall see you face to face. Face to face. Walk with you. Talk with you. Not by faith,
but by sight someday. And Lord, what a day, what a
blessed day that'll be. God bless this gospel to the
hearts of those here today. Let it be an encouragement, let
it be an edifying to them. And blessed by the Holy Spirit,
for He's the only one who can. In His name we pray. Amen. Amen.