Alright, John chapter 12, a passage
I read a few moments ago. I began looking at this passage,
and I was reminded of the trip that Janet and I took back in
February to New Jersey. Brother Clay Curtis is the pastor.
It's a three-day meeting. I preached three days there.
And to open that meeting, a young man named Ravi, read this passage
of scripture that I'm going to preach from this morning. And
he made very few comments, but they were memorable, powerful
comments. He read this scripture and he
said how everyone had been looking forward to this meeting. They
were looking forward to meeting some new brethren. They were
looking forward to a time of fellowship. But Robbie said the
purpose of this weekend is to worship. to worship our Lord
Jesus Christ. I was sitting, it was to his
left, sitting on the front row. And he looked at me and he said,
Sir, we would see Jesus. We're happy you're here. We look
forward to a time of fellowship, getting to know you and your
wife. But Sir, we would see Jesus. It was a powerful moment. And
I'm very glad he said it. And I'm telling you the truth,
if I do not preach Christ, I'm wasting my time and yours too. Because one thing we need more
than anything else, we need the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only
way we'll know Him, the only way we'll be saved by Him, the
only way we will see Him is by somebody preaching His Word to
us. Somebody's got to preach Him. How should they believe
in Him of whom they've not heard? And it has been my prayer all
week as I've looked at this text, how I pray the Lord, by His grace,
would enable us this morning to see Him, to see the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our text begins in verse 20,
and there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship
at the feast. Now, these are Gentile proselytes.
They had converted to the Jewish religion. like the Ethiopian
eunuch, Cornelius, they're Gentiles who converted, become Jewish
proselytes. But they were still second-class
citizens. Nobody would ever let them forget
who their mom and daddy were. They're Gentiles. You can convert,
you can be a proselyte, you can come pay your tithe, but you're
a second-class citizen. They couldn't go into the temple.
They could just come to the outer court. If they were uncircumcised,
They couldn't eat the Passover. They were forbidden from that.
You know, the Jews were very good at racial discrimination.
That didn't begin with us. The Jews, I mean, they were good
at it. You know, I won't say that. Anyway,
they were good at racial discrimination. But these Gentiles, they didn't
let that bother them. They did not let that stop them. They came to the feast to worship. They knew they were going to
be treated as second-class citizens. They knew they were just going
to be treated as mud in somebody's shoes. But they came to worship. They had a need. They came to
worship. I wish we'd always follow that
example, don't you? That we'd not let petty differences
and these things that come up stop us from worshiping the Lord. To come to Him and worship. He's worthy of being worshiped.
He ought to be worshipped. I hope that we always follow
this example of these Gentiles. Well, they came to worship. In
verse 21, the same came, therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida
of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. That's the title of the message.
Sir, we would see Jesus. Now, these Gentiles said they
wanted to see the Lord. They wanted to do more than just
lay eyes. upon the Lord Jesus. They wanted more than just a
polite introduction to Him. They wanted to know Him. They
wanted to have time to commune with the Lord. They wanted to
get to know Him. They heard things about Him,
but they wanted to know who He is. They wanted to know who He
really is. Now remember, these men are second-class citizens.
So they didn't feel free to come right up to the Lord and begin
a conversation with Him. Republicans did. Harlots did, but these second-class
citizens, they thought, I'm beneath them. I'm beneath those Republicans. I'm worse than those Harlots.
I don't feel free to go right up to the Lord. But they knew
Philip was a follower of Christ. So they went to ask him if he
could get them an audience with the Lord. Now, again, it would
be an awful good idea to follow the example of these Gentiles.
If you want to commune with the Lord, I'll tell you a real good
way to do it. Find one of his preachers and
let them tell you about Christ. God's preachers are sent as guides
to guide men, to lead men and women to Christ. Christ is seen
in his word, and our Lord's going to tell us this in just a minute.
It's not just a fleshly view of him that's going to do these
Gentiles any good. He must be seen as he is. in His Word. If you're going
to commune with the Lord, you're going to commune with Him through
His Word. Well, then I'd find somebody preaching it. Because
that's how you're going to see Him. That's how you're going
to commune with Him. And you know, we usually get a blessing
when we come to the worship service really hungry and truly seeking
the Lord. Isn't it surprising how often
when you are truly seeking a blessing, when you're truly seeking the
Lord, You find Him, don't you? Isn't that what He said? In the
day you seek Me with all your heart, you'll find Me. These
men, they'd heard about the miracles, but they didn't come seeking
miracles. They didn't want the Lord to perform a miracle. They
were seeking Him. They wanted to commune with Him.
They wanted to learn of Him. And we'll get a blessing when
we come seeking Christ. Seeking to have more dependence
upon Him. Seeking more conformity to him
and to his will. There's nothing a believer enjoys
more than being in the presence of the Savior, where his gospel
is preached. That's how you commune with him.
And that's what these Gentiles want. They want to commune with
the Lord. They want to get to know him.
But that gives old Philip a problem. Now, this is a problem. There's
three problems I see here. After all these years of being
on the fringes of society, suddenly the crowds are seeking the Lord.
Philip has kindly been an outcast, you know, from society. And finally,
all these crowds are clamoring after his Lord. And he's bound
to like that better. I mean, don't you reckon he's
bound to like it better when everybody's shouting, shouting,
Hosanna! Hail to the King of Israel, you
know. than being out there on the fringes
of society. Well, now all that's going to
get messed up if he brings these Gentiles to speak with the Lord,
because the Jews hated the Gentiles. If he brings these second-class
citizens to speak with the Lord, a bunch of that crowd may leave,
and he's bound to be worried about that. Secondly, Philip
knows this. It's no secret that the Sanhedrin
wants to put the Lord to death. Well, if he brings these Gentiles
to the Lord, he's just throwing gasoline on the fire, isn't he?
And he could have thought this. All these crowds, they never
cared anything about the Lord all this time. And suddenly they're
all clamoring after the Lord. Maybe if he waits long enough,
the Sanhedrin will come around, too. No point in throwing gasoline
on the fire. If we could wait, maybe they'll
come around. And thirdly, this is a problem for Philip. Because
the Lord himself told his disciples, don't go the way of the Gentiles.
Philip was right there when he heard the Lord tell that Canaanite
woman, I'm not sent to you. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. It's not right for me to do something
for you. It's not right for me to give the children's bread
to dogs. He heard the master himself say
that Gentile woman was a dog. But, hadn't Philip also heard
the Lord say, I've got other sheep for which you're not at
this fault, them I must bring. Philip doesn't know what to do.
It seems like Philip's in a difficult spot. So, Philip says, all right,
I know what I'll do. I'll go get somebody else to
talk this over with. I'm going to go find somebody smarter than
me to talk this over with. And that's a good idea. You know,
we can help one another out. It's a good idea if we talk to
one another, we help one another out. Solomon said two are better
than one. So, verse 22, Philip cometh and
telleth Andrew. And again, Andrew and Philip
tell Jesus. Now, Andrew and Philip, neither
one had a good answer, clear answer to this situation that
they were in, so they did the smart thing. This is the other
thing I wish we'd do. Go tell the Lord. Go tell the
Lord. In every situation, Go tell the
Lord. Just go tell Him. Take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. I was talking to Brother Marvin
Stoniker one time, and years ago he'd been in a very, very
bad situation. Marvin didn't tell one person
about it. Not one. And I said, Marvin, I'm impressed
with that. I've been talking to somebody
about it. And Marvin told me, he said, sometimes it's best
not to tell anybody but the Lord. Just talk to the Lord about it.
That's what they did. When you don't understand. Go
tell the Lord. When you don't understand what's
going on, when it causes you pain and grief and you don't
understand why is the Lord letting this happen? Go tell the Lord. No one understood back several
chapters ago when word came to the Lord that Lazarus whom he
loves is sick. And nobody understood why the
Lord stayed there. Why did he delay? Now we've seen
that. He delayed so that his glory
would be seen. He had to stay there and let
Lazarus die. So his glory would be seen when he raised Lazarus
from the dead. Well, I'll tell you another reason
he delayed. So these very Gentiles hear about
a Lord raising Lazarus from the dead. So they'd come seeking
him. Our Lord did that on His purpose
that none of the disciples ever could have seen way back there.
So when you don't understand, go tell the Lord. I promise you,
He understands. He knows exactly what He's doing. He's working out His eternal
counsel. Go tell the Lord. And that's
what Philip and Andrew did. And then look at our Lord's answer
in verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying,
the hour has come. that the Son of Man should be
glorified. Now, it's unclear if these Gentiles, if they actually
received an audience with the Lord or not. We don't really
know. And it almost seems like the Lord is not really answering
their question or answering their request, but he is. He is answering
their specific request to see him. If these Gentiles or anybody
else, if we're going to see Christ, I mean, see him. If we're going
to know Him as He is, and we're going to see Him in His greatest
glory, now is the hour. The hour has come. Now is the
hour that Christ's purpose in coming to this earth as a man
is to be revealed. Now is the hour when the true
nature and character of Christ the Savior is going to be revealed.
Now is the hour. You know, so often our Lord said,
mine hour has not yet come. The Pharisees wanted to take
him and kill him. They couldn't lay a hand on him because his
hour was not yet come. And now, after three and a half
years of him saying, my hour's not yet come, my hour's not yet
come. Now, he says, the hour's come. The hour of his glorification
is not coming into Jerusalem and taking control of the government
and whipping the Romans and driving the Romans out. That's not his
power. That's not his glory. The hour
of his glorification is his death. It's not him rising to the throne
in Rome. The hour of his glorification
is his substitutionary death for sinners. That's the hour.
The death of the Passover lamb is going to put away the sin
of God's elect. Now is that hour come. That's how he's glorified.
And that sacrifice, that death, is going to be accepted by the
Father. The Father sees the sacrificial death of Christ as a glorious
death. Most men saw that as defeat.
About everybody did. Even the disciples did. Saw it as defeat. We thought
this was Him. We thought this was the One.
He's going to restore the kingdom. We thought this was the One.
They saw it as defeat. The Father sees a glorious death. Sees a death that accomplishes
His eternal purpose. And I know that death was glorious
to the Father. I know He accepted it. That death
accomplished the eternal salvation of God's people. I know that
because the Father raised him from the dead and brought him
back to glory. I mean, you imagine what a glorious
homecoming it was when the Lord ascended back to glory. And the
Father said, sit here, my right hand. Your enemy is your footstool.
What a glorious homecoming. And he gave him the seat of honor.
because of the glory of his death. Now, I know to many this looks
like an hour of humiliation and defeat. And it was an hour of
humiliation, but our Savior calls it the hour of his glorification. If you and I are going to see
Christ, it's going to be just like these Gentiles. We're going
to see Christ crucified and risen on high. If we're going to see
Christ, it's not the babe in the manger we need to see. Now,
that's a miracle, but that's not who we need to see. It's
not the miracle worker that we need to see. You know, the man
turning the water into wine and giving the blind sight, making
the lame walk and raising the dead. That's not who we need
to see. It's not even the prophet or
the king that we need to see. First, first, we must see Christ
crucified as the sacrifice for our sins. This is a necessity,
this hour that he's speaking of is the most necessary hour
that there is. If Christ does not die, he's
not going to do these Gentiles any good. And he's not going
to do anybody else any good either if he does not die. If Christ
came as the babe in the manger, God incarnate, God in human flesh,
that'd be a miracle. And if he grew to be a man and
he walked this earth, preaching the Kingdom of God, performing
many miracles, fulfilling all those Old Testament prophecies
of the Messiah. And then He did ascend to the
throne on earth. Maybe He ruled and reigned here
on earth for a thousand years. And then He ascended back to
the Father. There'd be no salvation. The
Jews would have liked that thousand year reign, wouldn't they? But
there'd be no salvation. Every son of Adam must be damned. if Christ does not die. Christ
must be lifted up before we can ever see his preeminent glory,
his glory and the salvation of his people. If you look down
verse 31, we'll get to this in a week or so, this death, this
glorious death is what draws his people to him. Now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all And you see that word men is there in italics. It was
added by the translators. That's not what our Lord said.
He will draw all unto me. He's going to draw all of his
people unto him. This, he said, signifying what
death he should die. It's his death that draws his
people to him. The purpose of our Lord's incarnation
was so that he would die as a substitute for his people. The purpose of
him dying, of his incarnation, is for him to save his people
from their sins. Isn't that what the angel said?
Call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Well, the only way he can save
them is to die for them, to die in their place. And if Christ
is going to be seen today, he's going to be seen through the
eye of faith in preaching. We're going to see him through
the preaching of his word. And the only way Christ is going
to be seen in this preeminent glory is through the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. What did He accomplish in His
death at Jerusalem? If Christ is going to be glorified
in our eyes, if we're going to see Him in His glory, He's going
to be glorified and seen in His glory of His redemptive work
for His people. And in order for that to happen,
Christ must die. He has to die for the sins of
His people. Look at verse 24 in our text,
John 12. This is what our Lord is teaching. 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. Now our Lord is going to use
a very simple illustration that everybody can understand. The
farmer plants seed and gets a harvest. That's an illustration everybody
here can understand. You see it happen all the time.
Now, you've got a grain of corn. You can do whatever you want
with it. It's yours. You can do whatever you want
with it. A little old dried up thing. It doesn't look to me like you
can do much with it, but it's yours. You can do whatever you
want with it. You can eat it if you want to. I mean, it might
be kind of hard on your teeth, but you can do that. But there
won't be any more corn after you eat it. You can hold on to
it, and you can save it for all of eternity if you want to. But
if you do that, It'll forever be alone. If you keep it because
you're afraid something will happen to it, you can do that
if you want, but it'll always be alone. There'll never be another
grain of corn. There'll never be a harvest.
The only way that grain of corn can produce more corn is if it
dies in the ground. Then you'll have a harvest. Then
it'll produce more corn. Well, our Lord's liking Himself
to this seed. Christ is the Son of God. He's
perfect. And He's glorious. And in eternity
past, before God created the world, the Father and the Son
were together. God alone in glory. And Christ
was daily, He said, the delight of His Father. Now, could the
Father keep the Son there as His delight forever? Certainly
He could. But if he does, there'll never
be a harvest, will there? He could be alone in heaven with
his father forever, but they'll be alone unless Christ comes
and dies as a man. There's a lot of similarities
to planting corn and getting a harvest compared to the death
of Christ for his people. When you plant corn, you plant
it on purpose. You have ground that's prepared.
And you plant that seed in the ground. I suppose people that
do it right, you know, they know how deep in the ground y'all
put it and everything. You know, it's real scientific.
That corn is planted on purpose. Christ was planted on purpose. This was not an accident. This
was not the will of man suddenly rising up and this wickedness
of man sweeping across the earth. Christ died on purpose. On God's
purpose, at God's appointed time, at God's appointed hour, to save
God's appointed, purposed people. That's why he died. He died on
purpose. But now when you plant a seed, what happens? You put that seed in the ground
and you go in the house. Nightfall comes and you go to
bed. You don't go out there and check that seed. You forsake
that seed in the ground and you go about your business. Christ
hung there on Calvary's tree, the Father forsook Him. There's
the seed, the promised seed, and He forsook Him. My God, my
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? The Father forsook the Son on
Calvary's tree. Just like you forsake that seed
when you plant it. And when you plant a seed, what
do you do? You don't set it there on the
top of the ground so, you know, it can get lots of sun and, you
know, you can see it and check on it. You don't do that. You
bury it under the ground. You push it down under there
and you cover it up, you know, maybe heat the ground up a little
bit. But you bury that seed out of sight under the ground. Exactly
what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ. He died and he was buried
underground out of sight from everyone for three days. Nobody
saw him. Out of sight. But, you know,
when you plant corn, you put it down under the ground, you
know, it's surprising to me how quickly you see it again. That
little green sprout springs up. There it is. That came from that
seed. That seed died and germinated
under the ground and it produces life. I mean, that was a hard,
dead-looking to me, you know, seed. But that thing produces
a green sprig. Comes up out of there and it's
soft and got life and it just keeps growing and growing and
growing to a full stalk and full ear and many seeds, many grains
of corn. While our Lord died, He is buried,
but He didn't stay dead for long. Three days He lay in the tomb
and He came out victorious. He arose again for the justification
of His people. He arose again because the sin
that was charged to Him is gone. Death could not hold Him because
His blood put away every sin that was charged to Him. And
He arose. And that single seed that you
plant produces a great harvest. That produces many more kernels
of corn than you planted. The death of a single man, the
God-man, produced a harvest no man can number. Now that grain
of corn, when you plant it, you know what that kernel of corn
never produces? Ever. It never produces wheat. If you want wheat so you can
bake your own wheat bread, don't plant a grain of corn. That corn
will never produce tomatoes. Jan and I got a few little tomato
plants. We love tomatoes. She got tomato seeds, not corn
seeds. Do you want blackberries? Blackberry
cobbler? You're going to have to plant
blackberries. You can't plant a grain of corn because the seed
can only produce its kind. All of creation produces after
its kind. Isn't that what Scripture says?
God created all these animals and all this plant life and all
this life. All that life produced after
its kind. Christ is the exact same way. His death produced a people exactly
like him. Someone said, I don't know who
said it first, but I like it. God loved his son so much, he
looked at him and he said, I'm going to fill heaven with a people
made just like him. And that's exactly what he did. Look, 1 John chapter 3. Now you
might think, I don't see much of me like him. That new man born in the new
birth. We talked about that in the lesson
this morning. It gives you a good hope. Christ is formed in you. Christ is formed in you. That new man is born in the image
of Christ. 1 John chapter 3 verse 9. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in
him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Who's that
describing? Christ. That's also describing
his people, isn't it? Absolutely it is, because the
seed produced after its kind. It produced fruit just like Christ. Look over in chapter 4, 1 John.
Verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as He is, so will we be in the future." That's not what that
says, is it? As He is, so are we in this world,
because the seed produced after its kind and produced a new man
just like our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the death of Christ,
there has been a great harvest. But now before any of his people
could have life, the giver of life must die. Except a man be
born again, our Lord said, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Well, except Christ die, he can't be born again. The only way he
can be born again and given new life is if the life giver dies. Life must come from death. And
there's going to be a harvest now, a great harvest because
of the death of Christ. Here these Gentiles are, coming
to see the Lord. Sir, we would see Jesus. Earlier in this chapter, the
Pharisees said, don't you see how you have prevailed nothing?
The whole world has gone after Him. They say that, and then
who shows up at the doorstep? But Gentiles, showing exactly
what they said is true, the whole world has gone after Him. There
is a hint here that this harvest that's coming is going to include
Gentiles. You and me. This great harvest
is not confined to the nation Israel. It's Gentiles, spiritual
Israel. Now, if Christ is going to have
a people, if He's going to have a harvest, if there's going to
be a blessing, if there's going to be life, He has to give up
His. That's what that says, isn't
it? He must die. And He's produced a seed, produced
a people, Just like the sea. So what applies to our Lord applies
to you who believe. The same thing applies to every
believer. And that's what our Lord says
in verse 25. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal. This is what our Lord is teaching
us here. Don't be selfish and don't be a coward. Every person here has got a life
to live. It's yours. God's given you talents and resources. He's giving you time and energy.
And just like that grain of corn I talked about earlier, it's
yours. Do with it what you will. But now, what are you going to
do with it? Well, I'm telling you the only way to have a harvest,
the only way to have a blessing is to throw it away. I'm telling
you the truth. That's what God's Word is teaching.
But don't throw it indiscriminately. Cast it all upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Throw it all on Him. Don't be
selfish with it. Cast it in the field for the
good of others. Don't be a coward. Don't say,
I've got to hang on to this. How am I going to live if I don't
have it? Don't be a coward now. It will
rot in your hand and you'll die with it and leave it here if
you don't cast it out in the field. Don't be a coward. Trust the Lord to provide. Did
he say he'd provide? Then when I don't trust him to
provide and I think I've got to provide for myself, not only
is that a lack of faith, I'm being a coward. He said he'd
provide, trust him. If that farmer is selfish and
he says, I've got this corn and he don't just have one seed,
maybe he's got a barrel full of it. And if he's selfish and
he said, I'm going to keep this corn for myself, Then he can
do that if he wants, it's his. But the whole world's going to
starve and he will too. Because there'll never be a harvest
if he doesn't go out there and plant that seed. He's got to
throw it out into the field. If that farmer's a coward, and
he says, I'm afraid to let this seed out of my sight. This is
good seed. I mean, this is the best seed.
I'm afraid to let it out of my sight. I don't know what happened
to it if I let it out of my sight. If he does that, The whole world's
going to starve, and him included, because there's no harvest. It's
a true story. I've heard this story from two
different missionaries. People, when they were in false
religion, send them money, and they want a financial report. When I was at the warehouse,
we had a financial statement every month, and it broke down
in Many categories, everything we spent so we could see here's
our income, here's our outgo, here's the profit. Well, these
people want these missionaries send them a financial statement.
Moose Parts told me this story the other day. He did that for
years and years and years. And he went to he was a landmark,
he went to the scriptures to prove the bride of Christ. And
he couldn't do it. He couldn't, you know, how those
landmarks believe there's like, you know, the bride of Christ,
they're the best and everybody else in heaven, they're, oh,
they're saved, but they're guests, you know, they're not. Well,
he went to prove that separation, you know, that some are better
than others. And he couldn't do it. And he said, well, I can't
preach it then. If that's what the scripture
says, I've got to say what this says. Well, he lost about 95%
of his support. I forget what city he went to,
and guess who was in that city that very day? Jeff Shanks and
Henry Mahan. And Henry talked to him, and
he said, you come see me when you come to Kentucky. We'll talk.
So he did. And he preached there, and Moose
said, 13th Street gave me an offering, a generous offering. So he said, I went back home,
and I did what I always did. I made up my financial statement.
Put a list on here from every church that gave me money, why
I spent it on, you know, everything. And I mailed it out. He said,
a little while later, I got a telephone call from Henry. Henry said,
Danny? He said, I got your financial statement. He said, well, did
you like it? Henry said, no. No, I don't.
He said, we're going to support you. He said, don't put on a
financial statement what we give you. And don't put anybody else's
gifts either. I don't want to know. I don't
need to know. He said, people in religion,
he said, they're afraid that missionaries are going to make
too much money. And they're worried. What's happening? So you've got
to send me this financial statement because I've got to know what's
going on with my money. Henry said, I don't need to know.
You can't give God's man too much. He'll take what he needs
to support his family. He said, we want you to take
care of your family. And he'll put the rest to the
ministry. I'm not worried about it a bit. The Lord gave it to
us. We're going to give it to you. You do with it what you
will. I don't need to know. That's what this is saying. That's
exactly what this is saying. Throw it away, cast it out and
let the Lord take care of it. I'll tell you what this means,
what the Lord is teaching here. If you treasure this life so
much, that you neglect the Lord. And you can do that. You can
treasure this life and hang on to it and want to provide for
it so much, you won't have time for the Lord. And you're going
to lose spiritual life. If you pursue the things of this
life so much, money, jobs, and promotion, and influence, and
you pursue those things so much that you don't have time to worship,
you don't have time for the Lord, you don't have time to hear the
gospel preached, You don't have time to read the Word. You'll
lose your eternal soul. And what have you gained? What
if you do gain money? What if you do gain influence
and prestige and you gain the whole world? And you lose your
soul. What have you gained? Not one
thing. You've lost it all. Now I'll
give you a couple of examples. One of you men, you got an opportunity
at work to get a new job. big promotion, give you a big
pay raise, take care of your family. Tell you the first question
you ask, they want you to move off somewhere. Tell you the first
question you ask yourself, is there a gospel church there?
Is there? If there is, go. We'll miss you
like the Dickens, but you go. If it's better for you and your
family, you go. But if there's not a gospel church
there, I'm telling you, don't go. I'm telling you, don't go. You'll have more money, but you
won't have time for God. You won't have time to seek Him.
You won't have the ability to worship Him. You won't have the
ability to follow Him. And you'll lose. I'm telling
you the truth. Now, you children, you listen to me. Eventually,
you're going to be surprised how quickly this comes. You're
going to graduate high school. You're going to have a chance
to go to college. There'll be a lot of choices. You remember
what I'm telling you. You'll be a whole lot better
off Going to a city where there's a gospel church and going to
college there. I'm telling you the truth. I'm a big fan of going
to University of Kentucky. Big fan. Not because of the basketball
team. Because Todd's Road Grace Church
is there. And as much as I hate to say this, I mean I hate to
say this. Go to the University of Louisville.
Go to WVU. Go to Vandy, because at least
there, they don't have good basketball, but at least there you can hear
the gospel in those towns. I'm telling you, I know of a
young woman. She graduated high school. She
was recruited by many Ivy League schools, Harvard, Yale, Brown,
and she could have gone to those places. They were throwing a
lot of money for her, you know, scholarships and stuff. And she
chose to go to University of Kentucky. Because Todd Nyberg's
in that town, she said. He's not in these other places,
but he's there. She got her education, she graduated, she got a job,
and the Lord's provided, provided well. Now, suppose she went to
Harvard. That's pretty impressive, isn't
it? Would she have had a better education? I don't know. She'd have had more opportunity
for bigger and better things, you know, according to this world,
certainly. Would she have been better off?
No. She'd have been worse off. She'd
have had more money. She'd have had more of all this
other stuff. But more than likely, she'd have missed Christ in that
place. Because as far as I know, He's not preached there. But
He is in Lexington. What's the scripture say? Seek
the Lord first. Seek Him first. And all these
other things will be added to you. Now you remember that when
it's time. And none of us should say, I need this for myself. That sounds pretty selfish, doesn't
it? I need this for myself. You just give. You want to give
the Lord. Don't be a coward. Don't say,
I'm afraid I won't have enough if I give this up. Trust the
Lord to provide. Throw it on the care of the Lord. I promise you this. He'll do
better with it than we will. I promise you he will. You can
hang on to the things of this world so tight, you can be so
tight-fisted that you'll starve to death. That farmer, when he
plants, he doesn't plant with a fist. He has to plant with
an open hand, doesn't he? And if he doesn't, if he doesn't
plant with an open hand, plant that seed with an open hand,
there'll be no harvest. This week, we've got Vacation
Bible School coming up. We've got teachers. And you know
what everyone's going to say Friday? I'm exhausted. Just exhausted. They spent time
in preparation and preparing and they're going to pour themselves
into teaching classes this week. And they're going to be tired. You've got to give with an open
hand. You've got to give of yourself. Plant that seed. I know you're
going to be tired. Give with an open hand. Give
of yourself. How many years? If we had Vacation Bibles, I
don't know when the first one was, many years ago, 40, more
than 40 years ago. Has the Lord blessed it? Pour
yourself into it. Give of yourself. Could be, Lord,
if you plant seeds in the next generation, maybe He would. He's
not going to do it if we don't give with an open hand. Put ourself
into it with an open hand. 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. If any man serve the Lord and
follow Him, to the exclusion of following these other things,
he'll never be sorry. Never. Because he'll be with
the Lord. If you're with the Lord, all
this other stuff is just stuff. But if you're with him, you'll
be blessed. Well, where is the Lord? He's
among the poor and needy. Then I will be, too, if I'm following
him. And I'm glad he's among the poor and needy, because I'm
poor and needy. That's who he's with. Where is the Lord? He's among sinners, publicans
and heartless. That's who he came to save. Then
I will be, too, because the gospel's for sinners. Where is the Lord? He's among His people. Then I
will be too. I'll seek y'all out before I
seek out other things. Not 100% of the time. Under the
general rule, I would seek you out before I'd seek anybody else
out because I enjoy your company more than anybody else. Because
that's where the Lord is. He's among His people. Where
is the Lord? He suffered outside the camp. You can't be with the Lord in
popular religion of the day. I don't care what day you live
in. You can't be with the Lord in popular religion. If you're
with the Lord, serving Him and following Him, you're going to
be outside the camp. And where is the Lord? He's on the throne
of glory. One day, I will be too. But you know what? Scripture
says I am right now seated in the heavenlies. with Christ Jesus
in him. If you serve Christ and follow
him, you'll be honored by the Father. Does that mean you'll
be honored with more blessings of this life and riches and all
these things? Maybe. Sometimes he blesses that
way. Most of the time he doesn't. But you will be honored with
his presence. You'll be honored in eternity. You'll be honored
being made just like Christ. You'll be honored being able
to worship him now. And one day face to face, there
can't be a greater honor. There cannot be a greater honor. Seek ye. All right, let's bow
in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
that in your mercy and your grace, you answer this prayer to sinners.
Sir, we would see Jesus. How thankful we are that you
revealed yourself to your people through the preaching of the
gospel. You revealed yourself to so many here throughout the
years. You've revealed yourself, raised
up a people to follow you and to serve you. And Lord, in this generation,
we desire how we desire to see the Lord Jesus Christ. How we
desire that you give us the faithfulness to continue to preach Christ,
to continue to lift him up so that sinners would see Christ
crucified and come to him. How we desire that you continue
to preserve and protect the people who would serve you and follow
you. We know we ask a great blessing
and we beg of thee this blessing for our town's sake, for the
sake of our children and grandchildren, But Father, especially for Thy
great glory, we pray that You preserve and protect the people
who would serve You and follow You by continuing to faithfully
preach Your Son, Christ, and Him crucified. It is in His matchless
name we pray and give thanks.