To me to live is Christ

The book of John, please, chapter 12. I don't know how anybody could properly follow what we have been hearing. Our brethren have made me homesick for heaven.

And to think, dear brethren, what it's going to be like to step from earth, in all of its ugliness, as some of our brethren have said in prayer, to step from the ugly earth into the mansions of the glory. The majestic person of the Lord Jesus that my heart has been touched by this morning is the one that we are going to see. Not only see him, dear brethren, but have a body like unto his own.

It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he doth appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And today, to be like him makes me homesick for heaven. Some of the Lord's people are suffering.

Some of the Lord's people have physical ailments, mental ailments, and then to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. How marvelous. There's one word our brother didn't mention in view of the grandeur, and that is what glory we're going to be brought to him.

But I was waiting for him to say, follow. I want to speak this for five minutes, ten minutes maybe, maybe fifteen, on following. John chapter 12, reading in verse 21.

Same came therefore to Philip, which was at Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell 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 or a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth this life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Now here's my verse. 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. Him will my father honor. Acts, please, chapter 12, reading in verse 5. Acts 12 and 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side, and he raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly.

And his chains fell off from his hands. Gird up. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, bind on thy sandals.

God seems to be in a hurry here. Gird thyself, bind on thy sandals. And so he did.

And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. Hebrews 12, please. Hebrews 12, reading at verse 14.

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, and so on, lest any man fail of the grace of God. There's something that's been exercised on my own soul, and I trust will not take away with anything from the high quality of ministry we've been listening to.

But I'm thinking today that in John chapter 12, there is following that brought him honor. If I follow, I am going to be honored. Acts chapter 12, the following brought me to the house.

Hebrews chapter 12, the following brought me sights of him. What a marvelous thing that it would be to continue following. I have been watching a clientele of people for 50 or 60 years, and there's something that you have left with me, something that is written upon my conscience, and that is to follow.

Able to move in and amongst God's people, simply to appreciate what we have been hearing, and simply to appreciate the assembly as a whole. The older I become, the more I love God's lampstand, and because that lampstand is all that God is interested in, as far as this world is concerned. We were in New York City just about five or six years ago, and the mess, the mass of humanity that's in there, and I took a look at the skyscrapers on that street, and Trump's skyscraper sticks out above everybody else's.

But God is not interested in any of this. He's interested in that little company of gathered to the Lord's name outside the camp bearing his reproach. Following.

Do I know what it is to follow? After what we've been listening to, I shouldn't have a sad day the rest of my life, because I am going to see the one that has borne our sin in his own body on the tree. It should give us a great deal of incentive to be able to follow through thick and thin, regardless of circumstances, dear brethren. And I know that's a mouthful, but regardless of circumstances, in view of who he is, in view of what he became, in view of what he has done, in view of the tremendous price that was paid for our redemption, following, following.

I can follow him without the camp. I can follow him through the sufferings of the trial, the deep, deep trials that God's people go through. The suffering and the pain that perhaps are only to follow in the trial.

And so, as a result of following, that kernel of wheat that fell onto the ground and died. If that kernel of wheat didn't die, dear brethren, is it right for me to say, the blessed Lord would have went back to heaven empty-handed? Nobody there. But the kernel of wheat had to die.

And it had to fall onto the ground and die. And if it did, it brought forth much fruit. So Calvary was a place where, again, he suffered the untold agonies.

Is it not, dear brethren, the teaching here that if the kernel of wheat fell onto the ground and died, the blessed Lord died to bring forth fruit? Is there not a thought here that I, as a believer, I must die. I must die daily. I must die in order to bring forth the fruit.

In other words, is it possible to deny self? To put self in the back burner? To make sure that our blessed Lord's portion comes first. To be able to put Him in the forefront. So I know what it is to have self-sacrifice.

To self-denial. Deny, Al, the comforts. And if I'm not willing to sacrifice myself for the good of others, then I doubt whether there's going to be much fruit.

So the self-sacrificing plays an important part. The following. Romans 14 says to follow after the things that make for peace.

Follow the things that make for peace. Romans 14 tells us about the weak and the strong brother. And of course, the strong brother is to consider the weak.

If meat make my brother to offend, I'm not going to ask him to go to a restaurant that specializes in pork roast. So there is the necessity of considering my weak brother. There is liberty that the strong brother has that the weak brother doesn't have.

And perhaps the weak brother will come into liberty to enjoy those things that the strong brother has. But at this present moment, the weak brother doesn't have the liberty as the strong man does. And so the strong is to consider him and consider him in his weakness.

First Timothy chapter six says follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and maintenance. Thou man of God, says Paul to Timothy, flee these things. Flee what things? Well, in that particular chapter, Paul is talking about disputings, the strife and the love of money.

It isn't money that is something that is on his mind, but it's the love of more, the love of have to have more. So he says, flee these things and follow after righteousness. Follow after godliness and faith and love and patience.

So there are things that we need to follow. I think the following here is a strong word. It's actually to pursue it.

Not only to follow it, but to pursue it. To make sure that I am one that is giving again to the following and giving again to peace. Then of course in 1 Corinthians 14, there is the following after charity.

So, I follow. I follow after peace. I follow and pursue righteousness and godliness.

I follow and pursue charity. My father in the faith, Leonard de Boer, often spoke about love one another. I write unto you a new commandment, that you love one another.

And to me, dear brethren, that seems to be the key. If we can just love one another. Now what struck me about John chapter 12 was this.

That if I follow, if there's a following, the angel will come out and we will honor. No. If there's a following, the apostle Paul comes out and he honors.

No. But if there's a following, the Father honors. So, here we are in 2025.

Reminding, being reminded of the splendors of heaven. Of the majestic Savior that we're going to sue. There is no problem, is there brethren, to be able to follow.

Just a few more years, midst the darkness, storm and sorrow. One bright gleam we see. Well, we know the blessed morrow, Christ will come for me.

And just a few more years and we're all going to be there. Some with the gray hair, I don't know who they would be. But some with the gray hair will be there quicker than the ones that won't.

But we're soon going to be there. To be able to follow until we hear the shout. Acts chapter 12 tells me about not following for the honor.

But following to the house. Peter's in prison. And tied with chains.

Two keepers before the doors. And he is going to be the next one to be martyred. But, God intervenes.

There is the angel. There is the light. The light is the Word of God.

I believe it's possible for believers to be in a prison. I believe it's possible for believers to be in a spiritual prison where perhaps they're tied. Tied with something that maybe nobody else knows about.

Maybe a bad habit. Maybe unconfessed sin. Maybe there's something else that keeps the believer tied.

And you just don't have the spiritual energy to follow. Well, the light shone in. And when the light shone in, there was altogether different.

There's really... It's rising up quickly. No time for questions. No time to sit and wonder.

Is this really happening? I wonder what Peter thought. The cell doors are opening up. Click, click here.

And the only thing that you heard was the clicking of the doors being opened. And so, there is the hasten out of the prison. My dad used to say when there was work to be done, and the sun was shining, and the hay had to be made, and he didn't think maybe I was going as fast as I should, he would say, Son, shake a leg.

Work has to be done. I'm thinking that Peter must have moved quickly. The doors were open.

And outside he went. And he goes to the house where they were praying. And of course, they're praying for Peter's safety.

They can't believe that he's alive. And there is great rejoicing. Following brought him to the house.

I would like to speak a very short word this morning to any of our dear believers who have a love for God's Word, who have a love for the Gospel, who are baptized, but not brought into the assembly. My dear young believer, young man, you don't know what you're missing. That's the nearest place to heaven.

And I don't know what reason, I don't know what excuse that you might have to present this to God that I cannot enter into the assembly because of whatever it is. If it's an excuse, dear brother, you're robbing God. You're robbing the assembly.

You're robbing the Lord's people. And I would just encourage you in a very short sentence this morning to think twice. To be able to sit down with a loaf of bread and a cup of wine and to be able to enjoy.

You know what thrills me? What thrills me every single morning, every single Lord's Day, I believe it thrills me, that we get to do, we get to do what the Lord Jesus did, what the Lord Jesus instituted in the upper room with those favored men. We get to do that. My father used to, on one occasion, he got a little excited sometimes when he thought about the remembrance.

He'd come down with his fist on the steering wheel and he said, oh, just St. Lorraine, we get to go to remember the Lord. It was the highest part of the week. A dear man of 70 years old was rejoicing that he could get to remember the Lord.

So dear Christian following brought him to the house. At the house, there is the saints. My, those beautiful saints.

Sorry, men, if you've never been called beautiful, you are today. Those beautiful believers that have no flaws. They have absolutely no flaws.

Well, I won't go that far, but as far as my Bible is concerned, my Bible tells me that we are the salt of the earth. Wonderful people going to heaven just like having no favor as far as anybody else is concerned. But there is the saints at the house.

There is the Son at the house. The Sovereign is there at the house. Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.

At all other places, brethren, and I make no apology for it, all other places, their man that they're gathered to is still in the tomb. Bones, and it's only bones in the tomb. But our man, there's a real.

He's real. He's touchable. He's tangible.

I can speak to him every single day. He's alive and he's at God's right hand. A little boy asked a preacher one time, when is it the best time to talk to the Lord Jesus? The preacher says, well, you can talk to Him anytime.

But the little boy says, when is the best time to talk to Him when nobody else is talking to Him? He just wanted Christ Himself. And that's what we have, brethren. We have a whole man, a whole Savior to ourselves.

And every one of us, we have one who is touched with the very feelings of our infirmities. Not only is the saints there, not only is the Son there, but the Scriptures are there. The delight of the page of the Holy Scriptures.

That beautiful book that men have died for. Men and women have given themselves for the truth of this blessed book. Dear brethren, we need to read it.

We need to know what it is to grow in grace. And if I don't read it, I'm not going to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 12 reminds us, following brought me sights of Him.

Perhaps that is why I couldn't sit in my seat any longer. Because we have had sights of Him. Sights of Him.

Let me just suggest that in Hebrews 12, there were people that were lame. They were perhaps maybe letting the weak knees and the hands were dragging and the shoulders were stooped. There were believers that were hurting.

They were being persecuted. And that is why the writer to the Hebrews says, live peaceably with all men. So there had to be the frustrations.

There were persecutions. The frustrations were high. And of course, there were others there that knew what it was to be able to leave the camp of Jerusalem.

To come out from among them and to be separate. And holiness. Holiness.

Holiness had to be part of their life or they wouldn't see Him. So holiness is that truth that I could set apart. Just set apart for God.

Set apart from all the junk that's in this world. Just set apart for God only. And to enjoy Him.

Without holiness, this is perhaps maybe why I'm burning about this message. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. I want to see sights of Him.

I want to see more sights of Him. I want to have my mind filled with sights of the blessed Lord like those two on the road to Emmaus when they could not go any further. They brought Him in the house and as He took the bread, they saw who He was.

The nail prints in His hand. And their hearts were moved. All from a sad, sad day to a day of excitement because of who He was.

Do I know what it is to see sights of Him? I come to the book of Hebrews and I can only see that there are sights of Him right from the very beginning. He had become lower than the angels for the suffering of death. And of course, He is greater than a Moses, greater than an Aaron.

When I come to chapter 6, He is my forerunner. When I come to chapter 7, He is a high priest. Holy, harmless, and undefiled and separate from sinners.

What a man we have, brethren. What a man! Sights of Him. When I come to chapter 9, I see one that appears for us in the presence of Heaven.

And when I come to chapter 10, there is the forsaking. I can't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. How can I? Because of Him.

Because of the marvelous One who wears the royal diadems. The One that's going to give us a new name. When I come to chapter 13, going forth unto Him without the camp.

I have to understand that those people had relatives in Judaism. It was difficult for them perhaps to come out. It was a trial for them to say no to the Judaistic ways and the tradition and to all that they were brought up with.

And then to go forth without that. Why could they go forth unto Him? Because He went out. Why could they leave the camp? He left the camp.

And because He left the camp, then I can leave the camp too. So, dear brethren, may we know what it is to be able to follow Him that brings honor. Following Him that brings us to the house.

And following Him that saves the sights of Him.