There we go, John chapter 12
verse 1, Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to
Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom Christ raised
from the dead. They made him a supper, and Martha
served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with
him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment and spikenard, very
costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with
their hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples,
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why
was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? Then he said, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and
bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let her alone.
Against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor
always you have with you, but me you have not always. Much people of the Jews therefore
knew that Christ was there, and when they came not for Jesus'
sake only, that they might see Lazarus also, whom Christ had
raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted
that they might put Lazarus also to death, because by reason of
him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. Now on
the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when
they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 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 Jesus, when he had found a young ass sat thereon,
as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh,
sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not his
disciples at the first. But when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that these things were written of him, that
they had done these things unto him. The people, therefore, that
was with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him
from the dead bear record. For this cause, the people also
met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. And the Pharisees, therefore,
said among themselves, perceive ye how ye prevail nothing. Behold, the world is gone after
him. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came,
therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and
desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh
and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew, Philip, telleth Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying,
The hour is come, and 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 eternal life. If any man serve me, let him
follow me, and where I am there shall he also my servant be.
If any man serve him, my Father will honor him. Now is my soul
troubled, And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. I would like us to
zoom in, look at a couple of verses, namely verses 20 through
22. We've seen what's going on. We've seen
the ointment spread forth and fill the room. We've seen the
anger and the hatred of the Pharisees, and then we all of a sudden,
just kind of in this narrative, right in the middle here, we
see these Greeks. They were certain Greeks. Among them that came
up to worship at the feast. The same came, therefore, to
Philip, which was a Passaic of Galilee, and desired him, had
respect for him. And they said, sir, we would
see Jesus. And then Philip talks to his
brother, both from Galilee, and then they told Christ. Now we
don't know what the outcome is, but the fact of this phrase,
Sir, we would see Jesus, captivated my attention. These Greeks, or
Gentiles, they came from a distance. to worship at the feast. But before we look at this verse,
this particularly verse 21, and that phrase, Sir, we would see
Jesus, I would like to firstly look at the difference between,
there's two groups of people here. Just like in all of scripture,
there's two groups of people. They're different. There's as
much difference between Cain as there is Abel, and Jacob's
as there are Esau's. There's two groups of people.
Pharisees and these Greeks. These Pharisees they like all
of us naturally born sinners hating God. They wanted to kill
Lazarus and they wanted to kill Christ. They despised the mention
of him and his grace They despise Christ's teachings, his doctrine.
Look at verse 19. And the Pharisees therefore said
amongst themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing. Behold,
the world is gone after him. Self and self-made religion despises
rivals. They cannot stand for someone
else to get glory. Self loves all the glory and
all the attention, as does free will, man-made religion. It loves the attention. It despises
competition. That's one beautiful thing, and
it amazes me that we here, gathered as sinners, saved by the grace
of God, but we still have that sin nature in us. It's amazing,
and it's got to be the grace of God that there's such unity
and cooperation and love. It amazes me because I know what
I'm capable of doing and I know my thoughts. This promotion of self, that's
the Pharisees, that's the one group of people. And I ask a
question, does the gospel that we hear or the church that we
attend, does it honor God or does it honor man? This is the
basic litmus test that has been used throughout all ages by preachers
of the gospel. Where you go, this place here
is my concern, this place here Do we come in and gather together,
as the song says, and concentrate on Him, forget about ourselves,
and worship Him? Or are we got little sects, like
the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and all these little groups,
and do we try to promote self? Like I say, self does not like
any rivals. Self does not like any rivals.
Does the gospel that we hear and the church that we attend,
does it exalt God or does it exalt man? Does it point the sinner to God
as our all in all and our only sufficient one or man as self-sufficient? These were religious folks. These Pharisees were in this
place, this Jerusalem was the epicenter of religion for the
world. The most religious folks in the
world. And I told you this example and
it just amazes me. I can't remember where I read
it. I read it years ago. That the scribes and the Pharisees
were so accurate in the scriptures, they had scrolls, they didn't
have book form, they could lay two or three layers of scrolls,
take a pen and run it through and tell you every Greek alphabet
letter it went through. That's how well they knew the
scriptures. I don't know the scriptures that
well. So these folks were religious, but they promoted self-religion. They started bringing the traditions
of men as the traditions of God. They were simply trying to put
Christ out of the public eye and to kill him. In Luke 19,
we won't turn there, but the parable of the noblemen, it's
the same thing, and they say it this way. We will not have
that man to reign over us. But if Christ, if you think anything
of Christ, if Christ has made you think that which the Father
thinks of Him, you want Him to reign and rule over you. But
the world will not have Christ to reign over them, and they
will not stop their vicious attacks until Christ was hung on the
cross. But the beautiful thing is, is
all the while, these folks, these religious folks, never knew and
never understood that God's will was playing out in every external
and internal, everywhere, every turn, every which way, His will
was being done in earth. as it was in heaven, to the T. to reign over us. But now let's
spend a little while here in this verse 21. These Greeks, they came to worship
at the feast, so they knew a little bit of something, but they said,
Sir, we would see Jesus. Now these Greeks, they had evidently
left their idols and were coming to worship, the verb to worship,
as the language in the Greek is, or the Amplified, it says,
what the Amplified version says, Sir, we desire to see Christ. Now that word see in the Amplified
and the Greek is to know. We desire to know Him, to love
Him, to worship Him. They were excited to commune,
to worship, to seek Christ, to know Him better, to converse
with Him, to fellowship near Him and cherish Him. This is
what I see here. They came to worship. They didn't
come because of Lazarus, but they came because God had already
done a work of grace in their heart. And that's the other group
of people. As stated earlier, these having
eyes of the heart now opened by free and sovereign grace of
Christ, they came and they sought Christ. Sirs, ladies, gentlemen,
We would see Christ. We, as it is in an expanded version,
we desire to know Christ. Isn't that what Paul said? To be known of Him. To be known
of Him. In Psalms, I think it's worded
this way, and there's so many, we talk about desire, Bruce talked
about desire in Bible class, that word desire, the believer's
desire. This is it right here. In these four simple words, sir,
we would see Jesus. In Psalms 73 in verse 25, I like
how it's worded. He says, whom have I in heaven
but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. That's the attitude of one who's
been redeemed and called and quickened by the grace, the free
grace that's in Christ. What a contrast, brethren. One
group desires to kill Christ, and the other group desires to
know Christ, to see Christ. These Greeks, or Gentiles, I
think, and I agree with a lot of the writers here, I think
this is prefigured what was going to happen because Christ was
on the very edge of his death, burial, and resurrection, and
then the Gospels preached to the Jews, and what did they do?
They rejected it, and they said, you know what? You rejected it?
We're going to the Gentiles. So these Greeks, these are Gentiles. This prefigures here when Christ
would draw all men, Jews and Gentiles, unto himself, John
chapter 11 and verse 52, and not for that nation, let's see,
verse 51. And this spake he not of himself,
but being a high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus
should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but
that also he should together gathered together and won the
children of God that were scattered abroad. The Jews rejected them,
lo, we go to the Gentiles. This is a prefigure of that,
and this is the same thing he says in Haggai chapter 2, and
again in Daniel chapter 7. Chronologically, Christ was on
the very edge of his sufferings and death. Then he would draw
all men unto himself, all of his elect from every nation,
kindred, tongue, and tribe, unto himself through the Holy Spirit.
The Jews as a nation will reject him, and lo, the gospel is turned
to the Gentiles. I want us to do, there's one
thing that I want us to do this morning, and that is may we be
as our Greek brethren. Let us be as our Greek brethren. Sir, we would see Christ. We would see Him, our desire
to see Him and to have faith and lay hold on Him. And I ask
you this as I step back and look at these, and I just love simple
phrases in the scripture. Is this phrase, is this not the
short definition of what worship is? We come. Moose Parks would say it this
way. We have gathered in this chapel having come from far and
near. We are weary from our travels.
Some good news we long to hear. So to him who is our teacher,
we would make this one request. Prove yourself to be the teacher
of one who will give us rest. Tell us not of self-salvation
through an act of man's free will. It will bring no consolation
having heard we're hungry still. Oh, we long to see the glory
of our God in Jesus' face. Tell us now that blessed story
of His freedom and sovereign grace. So that is a short definition. When you all go, when you all
go there, you hear the same thing. Yes, sir, or if you're talking
to a lady, lady, we simply want to see Christ. You want to expand
it? We simply desire to know Christ. Well, I thought you were saved.
Peter says, unto whom coming? If you come to Him, you keep
coming. If you've come once and you've stopped, you haven't really
came. Isn't this the short definition of what the church is? We gather
together, concentrate on Him, to worship Him, to see Him. Isn't this the short definition,
and I know I'm oversimplifying it, but when you get me, that's
fine. Isn't that the short definition
of what prayer is? How do you pray? Father, I desire to see
Him. Isn't this the short definition
of what fellowship is? We're here together, and I'm
just here, I'm just a mouthpiece. The Lord takes me out, raises
somebody else up. May they be a mouthpiece to point
the people to Christ. We desire to view Him fully and
clearly, to see our blessed, potentate, and only wise Savior,
our trusted Redeemer, Should not this be our attitude, one
towards another, to see Christ dwelling in each of us, to grow
together in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
not physically, but spiritually, by the eye of faith? Sirs, ladies,
we desire to see Christ formed in you, in me, in us. I've got six or seven things
here. Let us see These things, let us see Christ in these number
of ways. Every time we gather together
to hear of his gospel, how Christ the just died for the unjust.
He became just and justified the ungodly every time we gather
together. Because you're not going to hear
it when you go to work. You're not going to hear it when
you go talk to your neighbor. You're going to hear about the
weather, you're going to hear about profitability, you're going to hear about money,
you're going to hear all these things that the world loves. We are
not of the world. We desire to see Christ, to know
more about Christ every time we gather together. I was talking to David Pledger
yesterday on the phone and I told him a story about Moose Parks.
And I said it really affected me because it really affected
Moose. Moose was tremendously convicted over it. He said that
in the island several years back, abortion was going around the
island. People talking about it all the
time. So he says, you know what? I'm a grace preacher. I'm going to
prepare a message on abortion out of the Bible. And you know
Moose, it was thorough, it was accurate, and it was scriptural.
But he said, when he got up and he preached it, he said he noticed
there was a visitor that came in, a visitor who never came
back. And he said the Lord ripped him
up, convicted him, chastised him, because she is not going
to be saved by a biblical knowledge of abortion. He said he was convicted
because he did not preach Christ, which is what we saw in Peter.
The word whereby the gospel is preached unto you, that incorruptible
seed. It can't be corrupted. I can
do a lousy job of preaching, and I question some of the things,
my antics, and I'm just not a very good preacher. That's fine, but
if I come out of the scriptures and show you Christ, that's what I need to do. And
you pray for me, and I pray for you, that we would see Christ. every time we gather together.
And secondly, to see him as the gospel of God to men, to see
him as the only good news whereby we must be saved. Thirdly, we
must see Christ in this blind, lame, and overly Christless religious
town, county, and country. We must make him known. We don't
promote, and I have to be very careful here, we're not in this
to promote Calvinism. Okay? And yet, I will stand and
avow myself a Calvinist. No problem. We're not trying to promote Pauline. Matter of fact, Paul says, I'm
glad I didn't baptize any of you, because you start to attach
yourself. Well, I got baptized by Ralph
Barnard and so on. Or, I sat under the feet of Gamaliel.
You see how good that did Paul. He took all that and cast aside,
dung. That's what he said. So you sit there and you listen
to people talk religion. And just cut right through it.
Don't be rude. I see what you're saying. But,
don't you want to see Christ? Don't you want to meet Him? Don't
you desire to know more about Him? So may we see to it that we are
exalting Him, and not ourselves, and not our doctrine necessarily,
but Christ Jesus, the God-man. May we go to Mars Hill and preach
the unknown God, because He is the unknown God in this country,
as religious as it is. The God of the Bible, the God
of the grace of God, free salvation, found only through the blood
and righteousness of Christ, is the unknown God. In this town,
you want to go further south, go to the Bible Belt, go to whatever
belt you want to call it, they still need to see Christ. Fourthly, let us view Him in
our conduct at work, at home, or abroad. to see Christ. Let the light so shine. That
light is Christ. It's not about ourselves. That's the fifth thing.
May we see Him as our repentance, our faith, and our only belief. Years ago, they wanted to know
what we preached. And I said, I know I read your
statement, I read your, you know, but there's got to be more. He
was wanting to hang his hat on, are you premillennial, are you
amillennial, are you superlapsarianism, what are you? And I just said,
it's Christ, there's got to be more. When I hear that, no, there
isn't. If we are going to spend eternity
learning and worshiping and adoring Christ. Why do we think we need
more now? We don't. We don't. So let us
see Him as the center of all these things. Sixthly, let us
see Him as the firstborn among the dead, our very resurrection
of life. Without the resurrection, we
have no hope. We have no salvation, we have
no gospel. Well, how do we do these things,
Pastor? Well, by the grace of God. But it's interesting, and
you continue on in chapter 12, and you keep things in context,
and it answers itself. Verse 24, Verily I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. You preach
Christ. You preach to death, burial and
resurrection of Christ. He must die. He must reign. He did die, so we might live.
Verse 25, He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that
hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life.
We lose ourselves in him, so we may exalt him evermore. Verse
26, if any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am
there shall also my servant be, and if any man serve me, him
will my father honor. We see him by serving Him, not
self. And if you, I garner, I venture
to say, if you look all the way to the end of chapter 12, it
is all about looking to Christ and not believing or looking
or trusting in self in any manner. It's all in common. Somebody
said this Bible is Christocentric. It all is about Him. It all is
about Him. Well, I ask myself this every
time we gather and I ask you, have we come here today expecting
to hear or to see our Beloved? Are we approaching this time
together in a similar manner as these are Greek brethren,
humbly, respectfully, and in full anticipation? Because you
remember they gathered and they knew that Jesus didn't have much
dealing with Samaritans. He didn't have much dealing with
the Gentiles. And they came forward and they saw, they wanted to
see Christ, but they asked out of respect, they asked Philip.
So there was a humble adoration. There was a gathering together.
not cockiness, not cocksure-ness. They gathered and they came humbly
and respectfully and full of anticipation. And thirdly, may
our focus be so singular, so simple, and so earnest that we
must see Christ or e'er we perish. Or e'er we perish. I was talking
to the pastor last week, and he's getting old. I said, how
are you doing? He said, you know, all I want
to do is just gather together with the brethren. I thought,
wow. And I believe, when he said that,
I believe he meant it whether he was the pastor there or not. Gathering together, not to see
a one-man show. I got a tickle out of the Methodist
church. last week, piano recital, I don't
know if there was any room in that riser for a pulpit. I'm
sure it was right in the center. There was musical instruments,
hundreds of dollars worth of musical instruments scattered
on that stage. So I'm thinking, is this a concert?
Is this a rock concert? Or is this for the gospel? Ah,
that was my mistake. The gospel's not preached there.
And you could tell by what they emphasized. Now, I love music. And I told you what Henry said.
If Henry said he wasn't a call preacher, he'd be a leader of
music because he loved it. I enjoy music. But even in our
music, and we do that here, we see Christ. May God, the Holy
Spirit, place within us a sense of urgency to worship Him and
Him only. we would see Christ. That's my
desire for myself and my desire for each one here. Bruce, would
you close us please?