A Corn Of Wheat

John chapter 12 again. You know, one thing I've learned in life, and I want to encourage you all in, is to take, when you take in the Word of God, as you all know, it can be as more knowledge, more head knowledge, we call it, and learning truth and seeing things, and it does have some satisfaction to understand truth and to know truth, but it has to come to the place where in the heart we say, I need to respond to that and make that truth a part of me. And that's where faith without works is dead.

That's where there must be a response to truth. Truth just laid up in the mind, truth just laid up as knowledge, is not going to help you in this life nor in eternity. And so truth must go deeper than that.

And as I share, and as even as I, in my own personal life, as I go through these things, it forces me to have to make decisions personally in my own life. Okay, here's what I've learned. How does this affect me as a person? What do I need to do? And it's a motivation, and I think as Duane was saying, if we meditate in His Word and keep it on our hearts, it is also a motivation and it is life, spiritual life.

So we're going to look here in John chapter 12. This whole chapter I've tried to lay out is a preparation for what's coming. It's Passover time that people are coming to Jerusalem from distances.

They're traveling. This has become probably a giant reunion, and people are seeing each other. They don't see, but maybe once or twice a year, and they're coming into Jerusalem.

And this is the last week of Jesus' life. And as I've shared, these last eight or nine chapters in John will be in a space of six days, the whole last week of Jesus' life. We'll be looking at it very in-depth as He prepares not only Himself to be crucified, but also gets the disciples ready for His departure.

And so we're looking in John 12, and there are three major characters that are associated with this last week and the crucifixion. And we look, first of all, at Judas. If you've been listening on the Zoom or over the phone, Judas is a major character, and he is a betrayer.

And Judas has for three years, and probably before that, he's been exercising his heart. And he's been exercising it in covetousness. Probably before he was called to be a disciple, he was a thief.

And he was probably stealing behind the people's backs. And then the Lord brings him into the discipleship, the apostles, and he is a thief there. And maybe daily, but certainly weekly and monthly, he is stealing from the bag that they're carrying.

And he is exercising his heart. And finally, that exercising his heart is starting to come out. And it's going to actually be the sin that leads him into betraying the Lord, covetousness.

He is going to make a deal for 30 pieces of silver, and he is going to deliver the Lord up to crucifixion. So he is one of the major characters here. And then we also have the multitude.

The multitudes show up a number of places. And I, from what I understand, many of these people who are crying, Hosanna to the King, welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, claiming that he is a great king. Those same people, and many of them are going to be crying, crucify him in about six days.

This multitude. And we learned that this multitude wants a king that will better their world, wants a king that will deliver them from the Roman rule, will deliver them from the Roman taxation, will set the nation free, will make Israel a great nation. In the world, a supreme nation.

And so when they say, blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord, they're thinking of a king, like a Donald Trump or a political ruler. Well, they're going to be greatly disappointed. And as I shared last week, Jesus is riding in on a donkey, and a little one at that.

A colt of a donkey. And he's telling them, if I were a king to come to conquer and overthrow the Romans, I'd be coming in on a horse like I am going to be coming in Revelation 16 or Revelation 19 with a great army. I'm not coming to overthrow the Romans.

I'm coming to be a king. But a king that is on the inside of your heart. And I'm going to start my kingdom within.

The Bible says the kingdom of God comes not with observation, but the kingdom of God is within you. And so the kingdom of God starts on the inside. The first work God does in the kingdom work is he quickens the spirit.

You are born again. He makes you alive in Christ Jesus. And then he moves to the soul and he begins to change your thought patterns, your habits.

And then he moves outwardly. And finally, as he returns, he's going to change this body and salvation will be completed. So the kingdom of God, we learned, was a process.

I believe he's going to come on a horse. You're going to see it. But before he comes on a horse, he's coming on a donkey.

And we just read it. He is coming with humility. He is coming to lay his life down to wash humanity from sin, that he might be their king on the inside.

That's the important part of what's happening here. And so we have this multitude. They don't get it.

And even the disciples didn't get it at the time. And then we're going to look at this third and most important character here, and that is the Lord and his heart. His heart's where I want you to have a heart.

Because he's got the right heart. Many people have the heart of Judas. Many people have the heart of this multitude.

But it's the heart of Jesus that we all want. And so I want to look at that heart here this morning. I'm going to start here in verse 20.

We left off in verse 19. I'm going to try to go down to verse 33 and see if we can take this large section here. Verse 20, it says this, and there were certain Greeks among them.

These are the people that are coming up to this feast that came up to worship at the feast. The same came, therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee. Philip is one of the disciples there, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. Now, these are Greeks. They are probably proselytes, meaning that they are not natural Greeks, bloodline, natural Jews, bloodline Jews.

They're not of the seed of Abraham, but they're Greeks. Maybe they're from Corinth. They're up north, and they have been converted.

They're a proselyte, and they're coming down to Jerusalem and Judea for this Passover. Now, because they've not lived in this area, they've not been able to see the miracles of Jesus. Perhaps every year they come, they hear about this guy.

Who is this Jesus who we hear all year long is healing blind people, and he is raising dead people, and we get to come here for the Passover once a year. We travel here, but we don't get to see anything. And so these Greeks are coming, and not like the Jews, who even those who witnessed Lazarus coming right out of the grave, many of the Jews got to witness that.

These Greeks are not able to see many of these miracles that Jesus is doing, and so they hunt up some of the disciples and say, we want to meet this Jesus. This one who is doing miracles, we want to meet him. And so they pull Philip aside, Philip tells Andrew, and they go to ask Jesus or tell Jesus that these Greeks are wanting to meet with him.

Now, from verse 23 all the way down to verse 33 is the answer to Philip and Andrew about these ones who want to come and see him and maybe do a miracle, see a miracle in their midst. And so I'm going to start here in verse 23, because this is the answer that Jesus gives. And Jesus answered them saying, the hour is come that the son of man should be glorified.

Now, here is his answer to them. And it just begins here. We'll look at the rest of it in a little bit.

But he says, the hour has come or the time has come that the son of man should be glorified. Now, there is a major shift here in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has been for three years in a public ministry of teaching, preaching, and doing miracles.

We've been looking at them in the book of John. It began with turning water to wine. It ended with the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

And there are many, many miracles in between. And people are glorifying God. People are getting saved because of the miracles.

But now those miracles are going to cease. As a matter of fact, the miracle working ministry of Jesus publicly is now coming to an end. There's only one miracle Jesus is going to do from here on out.

And I'm not talking about raising himself from the dead. Does anybody know what that miracle is? It's not a public miracle, but it's a miracle he is going to do here in a few days. That's right.

He is going to heal the ear of that one servant who came. And Peter, remember, he cuts the ear off. This is not a public ministry.

He is responding to Peter's mistake. He picks the ear up and actually heals the man's ear. But this is the end of his public ministry here of miracles.

And if you jump down here to verse number 37 in chapter 12, you'll see it. It says here in verse 37, But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.

So the Lord comes and he does these miracles and he gives people an opportunity to enter into the kingdom of God, but they will not hear. And they reject him. And now his miracle working ministry is closing off.

No more public miracles from the Lord Jesus Christ. Lazarus is going to be the last public miracle. And what a miracle that was.

Saved the best for last. Being someone being raised up from the dead. So it went from changing water to wine to the last miracle being raising Lazarus from the dead.

Well, I want to share this with you because here's what's happening. The Lord is glorifying himself and his Father with these great miracles. And we've seen this.

You remember when Jesus did not go to Lazarus's grave and he waited two days. He said, I'm doing this. I'm waiting because I want to glorify God.

We talked about that. But the miracles have been glorifying God. But now there's going to be a change.

There's going to be a change in direction. And no longer is the Lord going to be glorifying his Father through miracles. But now he is going to glorify his Father through his death.

Through his death. And he says in verse 23, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. I am going to now glorify my Father through my suffering and through my death.

And look ahead here to verse 27. What Jesus says here, 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. Father, glorify thy name. That's his heart.

Father, even in this, even in this suffering and death, glorify your name in this hour of suffering and death. And I love what happens here in verse 28. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

You notice the tense there. I have glorified in the past with your miracles. But I will in the future here glorify it again through your death.

So Jesus's life from start to finish was a life that was given over to the glory of God. Not only his miracle-working power, but we're going to see as we go down through this, even in the next months ahead, that God is going to glorify Jesus even in suffering and in death. I'm going to read to you, you can turn if you would to John 13, just a few verses over, a few chapters over.

In verse number 30, he's speaking here of how Judas betrays him. In John 13, verse 30, he then having received the sock, went out immediately and it was night. Therefore, when he was going out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him.

Jesus recognized that, yes, I'm sure God was glorified and I was glorified when I raised up Lazarus from the dead and the people glorified God. But now my life is going to glorify God even in suffering and in death. And so Jesus lived for the glory of God.

His life, whether it was his miracles, his preaching, his ministry, it brought glory to God or even in his death. Jesus Christ glorified God. And there's every indication in the Bible that his death brought more glory to God than his life.

His death even brought more souls into the kingdom than his life. He would go on here in John chapter 12, and he would say this in verse 32, and if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. And so, you know, oftentimes we think, my, if I could just do these wonderful miracles and I could just be an amazing testimony, it would bring glory to God.

But in reality, another way that we are to glorify God is through suffering and death, like we're suffering right now with that young boy. I thought of Hebrews chapter 11. And Hebrews chapter 11 is a good example of this.

You have all these men, especially at the beginning of Hebrews 11, Noah and Abraham and Abel, and how these people live by faith and how they did amazing things. And we look back and say, wow, what a great man. He was living by faith.

Then it comes to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13, and it says this. These all, what? Die in faith. These all, yeah, they lived in faith and they did amazing things, but they all died in faith.

And the last part of that Hebrews 11 gets the same thing again because it talks about so-and-so conquered and Samson conquered and David conquered and all these wonderful things. And then it goes on to say these who suffered, who were sown asunder, who were tormented, who wandered as sheep and goat in wildernesses, these all died in faith and obtained the promises. And so Jesus here is going to exemplify to us something I think is very important.

We think about living in faith and living by faith and glorifying God, but it's just as important and maybe even more important to learn how to die in faith. And to die and to leave this world in faith. And of course, you're going to see a beautiful example of this in the life of Jesus and he's going to die.

He's going to die looking to his father. He's been living looking to his father and he's going to die looking to his father. And I know how important it is for us to live by faith, but it's also just as important to die by faith.

And so God wants to glorify himself. Not only in your life, but also in your death. I just heard recently on the news, this COVID thing has brought out a lot of testimonies.

And yeah, it'd be great if we could see people getting healed and boy, that would glorify God. But I know this is a Catholic event, but I thought what a glory to God in a sense. Here's a man.

This is a man. I heard the story. He's probably 75, 76 years old.

And the news, major news said that this man was a priest or a Catholic leader of some sort. And when they came to give him at the hospital, he had this COVID-19. When they came to give him his ventilator to keep him alive, he said to them, I don't want to give it to someone younger than me.

Let me die. Now that got the national news because here was an individual who took a step of faith in death. And yes, he may have professed to be a Catholic, but I like the step of faith.

I like the idea of I'm ready to die. You give that to someone who is younger than me. That brought glory.

It brought glory to God. I appreciated that story. And so these Greeks here that are coming, they have heard of the glory of Jesus through what he was doing, his miracles.

But now the Lord says, hey, you're going to see a different kind of glory. You're going to see a glory in my suffering and in my death. Let's keep reading here in verse 23.

And Jesus answered them saying, The hour has 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.

And now we oftentimes, and I've used this verse a lot. I bring a corn of wheat. You know, we talk about how if you set it up here and you just let it set, it's going to stay there for a hundred years.

Nothing's going to happen to it. And if your life is professing a Christian and you're living a selfish life and you're not going to die and your life is going to sit in a pew for 50 years and you're going to come to a church and your life is going to bring forth no fruit. It's just the way it is.

The only way that a life can bring forth spiritual fruit is if that life actually will die. And lose its life. And the Lord's going to go on here and he's going to talk about it.

But Jesus here in verse 24, he uses nature. And I just love how much nature is teaching. You've heard me say this before.

There's so much in nature that teaches. And the Lord would oftentimes use nature to teach spiritual principles. But here he uses nature again.

Just go out, he said. Go out and look. Everywhere in nature.

You have to have that seed fall and fall into the ground and die before anything of life is going to come out of it. I don't know. I don't know.

I never thought about this before. Maybe some of you have. But how did we get this season called fall? I don't know.

I didn't look up it. But I believe it's probably because of all the things that fall to the ground. Spring is the opposite.

I think spring, things are springing up out of the ground. You go out in the fall and you watch the things fall. Because you know what's happening? Those seeds are separating from their mother plant.

And they're falling all to the ground. And I believe that's why it's called fall. The separation.

The seed falls to the ground. You see it everywhere in nature. And if that seed gets in the earth.

You know, that's why I think we go out and throw grass seeds all over the place. It doesn't really do much. You've got to get that grass seed into the ground.

You've got to get it underneath the surface of the ground. So that it can die on the outside of that shell. And life can come forth from that seed.

So all over nature you're going to have, even the dandelions. They turn those white things, you know. And then the wind just blows them.

It is releasing its seeds. And those seeds are going to fall somewhere in the ground. And if those seeds get buried anywhere in the ground next spring.

They're going to have light come out of them. And so the Lord uses this idea of falling. You know, that's why I cut down probably eight walnut trees in our yard.

Because we're tired of these walnuts falling. In late summer and fall. And the lawnmower banging all these walnuts.

So I've been cutting all these walnut trees down. Because things are falling out of the tree. I heard a cute story one time of an atheist who was sitting underneath a tree.

And he didn't believe in God. He was kind of laughing at God. Because the Lord would put watermelons on something as weak as a little vine.

You know, and run these watermelons off these vines. He thought in his mind, being a brilliant person that he thought he was. That if God was wise.

He'd put watermelons on this big old tree he was sitting underneath. And as he's thinking about it, he's sitting there and an acorn falls and hits him right on the head. And the revelation comes through his mind.

Oh, God is pretty wise. Putting watermelons on the ground and not in the tree. Because he'd have been a dead man if God would have put watermelons in the tree.

So Jesus says here, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground. Did Jesus fall? Well, you know, when those seeds fall, they're separated from their mother plant. That acorn, when it falls, it lets loose.

From its mother plant, it falls to the ground. It's no longer connected. Remember when Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He fell to the ground.

And he was buried. They took him and they put him in a grave. And they closed up that grave.

And he is giving us a beautiful picture of the same thing that happens everywhere in nature. Every fall is going to happen to me. I'm going to fall.

And I'm going to be buried. But I'm going to bring forth much fruit. And praise God, all of you here, most of you here are some of that fruit.

And we are here today because he was willing to fall and to be buried. And that brought forth much fruit. And you see here what Jesus says in verse 24, that if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

And if you go out into nature, you'll find this to be the case. That little dandelion out there, it was started by one seed, right? But when it spreads its seeds, there will be hundreds of seeds that will spread. And that corn cob that we plant, that one seed will bring forth hundreds of seeds.

And that's the way our life ought to be. One life buried for Jesus ought to bring forth hundreds of other Christians. Amen? That's a good picture there of our life.

If we're truly dead, if we've truly fallen and been buried, then we ought to have a life that brings forth fruit. Well, the Lord is going to make the application here of this natural principle in verse 25. And I've shared these verses with you before, but I want to emphasize them again.

In verse 25, this is for us. He has given us his example of nature and how he is going to fall. And now he turns to the disciples, turns to us.

In verse 25, he says this, He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. That little acorn that is holding on to the mother tree, that will not let go of life, will never produce anything.

Verse 26, if any man serve me, let him follow me. Follow my example of laying my life down. And where I am there shall also my servant be.

If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now, what does it mean for us to lose? It says here to love life or to hate life. Let me ask you this.

Do you love life in this world or do you hate life in this world? Wow, ever thought about that? Just ask yourself the question. Do I love life in this world or do I hate life in this world? Bible says if you love your life in this world, you're going to lose it. But if you hate your life in this world, you'll keep it unto life eternal.

There's a lot of Christianity today, but I don't know if it's getting to the root of what Christianity really is. Do you love your life? Or do you hate your life? Well, when you think of loving your life, it simply means this. I want to live my life for my purposes.

I have some selfish interests. I want to get out of life what I want. That's living life for me.

And if you live life for those things, you'll probably love life. You're going to get what you want. You're going to try to get what you want.

And so you're going to love life. Life is good. I got a nice car.

I got a nice boat. I'm living in a nice house. I got a nice job.

I married a nice wife. Everything is good. And we're enjoying life.

I love life. But Jesus says we're to hate life. What does that mean? Hating your life is to live life for the Lord's purpose.

Having His work as your interest. To live life for what He wants. Now, just stop and think.

Let's take Paul, for example. He's a good example of this. Here comes Paul.

He's going to stand before us on Sunday. He's going to preach to us. He's going to talk about, I've been beaten.

I've been three days and three nights in the ocean. I've been in perils all over the place. And he goes through this incredible list.

And you know, here's a guy that says, I would rather depart and be with Christ, which is far better. You say, how does a guy say that? Because he's having a hard life. You know, in serving God and trying to win souls, he is facing a lot of opposition.

The devil is fighting him at every turn. And so it's a hard, difficult life. He's being persecuted.

He's being hunted down. And Jesus is too. And so he wants to get out of this life.

You know, it's amazing. I throw myself in this category too. But you know, so many people today, we had this virus thing and it's still going on, but they're all trying to save their life.

That's the whole spirit of the age. Very few people are willing to lose their life for a greater cause. Well, there's a very similar passage we've talked about and when we went through the book of Mark, but I'd like to read it to you.

And in Mark chapter 8 and verse 34, you don't have to turn there. Jesus says this, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel, the same shall save it. Now, here's a purpose that's given to us. Lose your life for me and the gospel.

That's what you use your life for. So you go to the book of Acts, you see people who are losing their life for the Lord's sake and the gospel. And do you think Jesus lost his life for the gospel? He is the gospel.

He laid down his life for the gospel. He is the gospel. The gospel is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ.

I lost my life for the gospel's sake. And we're to do the same. You ever thought about it that way? You know, I think the greatest tragedy in Christianity and the greatest reason why we don't see the power of God is because most of us are living life for our own sake.

We go to church, we go to the prayer meeting, we go through the forum, but how many of us truly are losing life for the purpose of Jesus' sake and the gospel? I'd like you to turn to 2 Corinthians with me here and read a passage. 2 Corinthians chapter number 5. Paul explains this very well in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And, you know, after you've preached for 33 years, it's hard to bring out anything new. But I've shared this with you before, but I think it's something that we really need to get into our bosom and really start to live it out, to understand what is happening here.

And Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm going to start reading in verse 15. And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. This is the problem today.

I'm a Christian, but I'm going to live for myself. That's just, it just doesn't fit. Do you understand what I'm saying? It doesn't fit.

That we should henceforth not live unto ourselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh. That man that was before, the unconverted man, he lived for himself.

Now you're a different man. I don't even know who you are. You know, I think it's a good testimony after you get converted, the people who knew you before your conversion come to you and say, man, I don't even know who you are anymore.

You're such a different person. I mean, you used to live for yourself. You used to go out and drink and smoking.

You used to party. You used to be self-centered and you used to curse God. And now, now you give of your goods to people.

Now you love God. Now you serve him. What happened to you? Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.

Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Behold, things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new. Now notice verse 18. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.

Now notice what God's part in this is. Jesus reconciled us to himself through his death. This is what he did.

You know, I can't die for your sins. Do you know that? It doesn't matter. You can put me on a cross and I can't die for a single one of your sins.

And you can't die for mine either. There's only one person who can die for sins. That's the one who is without sin.

He is the one who died for the sins of the world. He is the one who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. But notice what he has done, he has given to us.

The last half of verse 18. And he has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation. This is our responsibility.

Verse 19. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Again, you and I can't do that.

And then the last half. Not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word reconciliation. Now here's something that's beautiful.

I just love it. Jesus came and he showed us an example of dying and losing his life for the sake of paying for all sin and reconciling man to himself. Then what did he do? The disciples saw him after he had finished that work ascend up.

And who can tell me what he did next? Sit down, right? Sat. He sat down at the right hand of God. You know why he sat down? When you sit down, what does that mean? You're finished.

You're resting. You're done. Your work has been finished.

He sat down. All right, fellas? I have done the reconciling the world unto myself through my death. I have showed you an example.

No, you cannot get on a cross and reconcile the world like I did. But I'm going to give you a responsibility. And that responsibility is what I said to you as soon as I ascended up.

What did he say? No, you go out into the world and you reconcile the world by preaching the gospel and laying your life down for the sake of carrying this message to the world. Isn't that obvious? And so Jesus did his part, sat down. Here's the beautiful thing.

He sent his Holy Spirit in us to empower us to do that next work. And I don't think, and this is just me. I think it's the Bible too.

I just don't think that a church is on the right track unless we really see that clearly. That we're here and empowered by the Spirit of God to go out and reconcile the world. I just don't think we're on the right page if we don't see that.

I mean, that's at the very heart of why we're here is to reconcile. And that's the very thing that the Spirit of God ought to be motivating in us. I mean, everyone that was filled with the Holy Spirit of God in the early church seemed to understand it and they seemed to be compelled to go forth and to reconcile the world through the preaching of the gospel.

And so here's something that is a beautiful thing. Jesus came and laid his life down to pay for sin. We lay our life down to bring sinners into the kingdom.

And you see this throughout the entire New Testament. These disciples, these apostles laying their life down. I think 11th, 12th of them were martyrs.

What were they martyred for? That second half to go forth and to take this ministry of reconciliation to the world. I wrote it this way. Jesus lost his life in this world to die for sins.

And we lose our life in this world to reconcile sinners to God. So after he died for our sins, he was raised to sit at the right hand of God. And he says, now you go.

I sit, you go into all the world and carry the message of salvation to the ends of the earth. And you're going to suffer. In a minute, you're going to die just like me.

But you lose your life for my sake in the gospels. Just like I showed you how to lay down your life. So you and I can't lose our life to pay for sin, but we can lose our life to win sinners to the gospel.

And I don't, you know, I sat there and I was thinking about this thing. Sometimes we get so confused in our minds. I remember when I was a young Christian down in Houston, Texas.

I still remember this vividly. It came to my mind when I was going through this. I was probably a Christian two or three years old.

I was pretty ignorant. I mean, it was really ignorant. The Bible, I just knew I was forgiven.

I was a real babe in Christ. But God did a real deep work in my heart there. And just, I was ready to surrender.

You know what I thought about when I said, Lord, I want to just surrender my life. I'm going to die to me. I want to surrender my life to you.

Do you know what I thought I should be doing? I mean, it's just in my ignorance. Not my ignorance. Maybe there was something that God was impressing upon my heart.

I remember sitting there as a 22, 23 year old young man and saying this in my heart. I'm just going to walk out from this job I had. And I'm going to go out into that world.

I'm going to live my life going door to door. Just telling people about Jesus. Just tell people about Jesus.

Every day of my life. And I'm sure God will take care of me. But I'm just going to go out and give my life to tell people of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

22 year old, 23 year old kid. Whose heart is just surrendered. I'd like to be back there in my heart right now.

Sometimes Christianity becomes so confusing. But it's pretty simple. Pretty simple.

You know, I don't understand how people can say, well, this Christianity is kind of boring. I don't know what to do. Well, it's pretty simple what you need to do.

Well, let's keep reading here in John. The Lord has set forth an example. He says in verse 25, He that loveth his life shall lose it.

And he that hated his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Now I can go on. And I know most of us would like just to go on.

And that's the truth there. And we'll just let it float around. But it would be wonderful if everyone would kind of reach up in the air and just grab it and take it in.

And really say with an honest heart before God, am I truly losing my life for Jesus' sake? And if not, what do I need to do? Change it. Talk about having a revival. That would be good, wouldn't it? So let's really bring that in.

Let's keep reading verse 26. If any man serve me, you want to serve me? Let him follow me. Where am I going? This is where we're heading.

God is going to glorify me through my suffering. I'm going to die. You need to also follow me and lose your life for my sake.

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. Do you want God to honor your life? Some of you older. We pick on the younger ones.

Some of you older. You want God to honor you? Jesus says if you'll follow this example, if you'll lay your life down for my sake in the Gospel, God will honor your life. He will bless your life.

As Duane was saying, if you meditate day and night, you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. God will bless your life. Do you want to have a discouraging life? Claim to be a Christian and just kind of live for yourself, do your own thing.

That is a depressing life. God doesn't honor it. And it leaves you with no vision, no direction.

Well, the Lord will honor it. And I remember when Peter asked the Lord, Lord, listen, we have forsaken all and followed you. What are we going to get for it? He said, listen, I'll tell you what you're going to get.

When the Son of Man is regenerated and He sits upon the throne of His glory, you're going to sit with me. Those of you who have forsaken houses and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters for my sake in the Gospel, you are going to have a place in the kingdom. And when Jesus comes back on that horse, forget the donkey, when He comes back on the horse and He brings all authority and all rule under His power, He is going to establish His kingdom forever on the earth and you are going to reign with Him and He'll be giving you a position.

We don't believe that, do we? A position based upon your willingness to let this life go for a greater and higher purpose. And that being the Gospel. Now, verse 27, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I into this hour.

Father, glorify Thy name. I'm going to throw this out here because I think some of us, we've experienced this and we ought to experience it a lot more. When Jesus looked at what was coming and His suffering and death, He says, my soul is troubled.

I mean, He was troubled. And when He saw what was before Him, it was a troubling thing. You just go to the Garden of Gethsemane, you see that picture of Him crying out to His Father and Him sweating great drops of blood because of what He's about to have to face to die for the sins of the world.

Now is my soul troubled. But let me ask you something. I thought about this.

Brother Clay, he's probably experienced this recently a little bit. When you thought of going to Greece and taking your family, did it trouble you a little bit? Say yes, because I wanted you to say yes. Oh, yeah.

You know, here's one of the reasons. Thank you, Brother Clay. Here's one of the reasons why very few people are going into difficult situations, missions, reaching out, suffering, dying.

Do you know why? Because when they think about it, their soul is troubled, right? You know, like Jesus. I got to go to the cross. Oh, that's tough.

I'm going to have to just really die. And in the very same way, if we follow Him and we take the gospel to the ends of the earth and do His work, whether it's here or around the world, there ought to be some troubling in our hearts. Wow, that's a big calling.

You know, most of us like to stay here, don't we? It's comfortable. It's easy. We have church, added pews, nice meals.

We're not going to have one today. All these things are nice. Families, gatherings.

And yet, yet there's a world out there that's perishing. And we need laborers, right? And so just like Jesus, if you follow Him, you can also find... I know when my family went to Colombia, this is what I wanted you to say, Brother Cleat. When my family went to Colombia, it was troubling.

We had to extend ourselves. It was kind of a fearful thing for us to go into Colombia. It was a very dangerous country at the time.

My soul was troubled. And maybe when you think of even ministering here, your soul is troubled. There's persecution coming.

If I go and preach to this person, they're going to hate me. My soul is troubled. Just like Jesus.

Well, He is troubled. And then in His trouble, He says in verse 28, Father, glorify Thy name. And I love this.

Then came there a voice from heaven, boom, thundering, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood by and heard it said it thundered. Others said an angel spoke to Him.

So God is into glorifying Himself through your life. I want to bring something out here that I think is important for us. I know it's good for me, but notice what Jesus says in verse 27.

Now is my soul troubled. There's something I learned a long time ago about how the Lord addressed life or dealt with life. You know, the Lord did not.

If I was the Lord in my weakness and I'm not, obviously. If I was the Lord, when I was 20 years old and I understood that sometime in my future, I'm going to be crucified, it probably made me a nervous wreck. Because I've been thinking about that even at 20, 21, 22.

And you know, the future looks so dim and I have to go through this great trial out there in the future. And I would just be a nervous wreck, just thinking about what's coming way out into the future. But, you know, there's no indication that the Lord ever allowed His heart and mind to go into that direction, those thoughts.

But when it came time for those things to happen, He says, now is my soul troubled. You know, I've learned this. A lot of people are afraid of dying.

You say, it's like in this virus thing that we're going through. People are afraid of dying. But you know what? You know when God gives you the grace to die? When you're ready to die.

So people say, well, I don't know that I don't know that I can handle dying because I don't think I have the grace. Well, you're not given any grace until it's time for you to die. Some people say, I don't think I can go through the great tribulation.

And they worry themselves sick about some future event out there that they have no control over and their mind is preoccupied with it. And the Lord says, listen, it's not time for that yet. There's no grace to give you for that yet.

Just let it alone, lay it down. And when you get there, I'll give you the grace. So you know what? Jesus says, now is my soul troubled.

Do you know He got grace then? Remember those two angels that came to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane to strengthen Him? They didn't come to Him at age 20 to strengthen Him. They didn't come to Him at age 30 or 31. They came to Him when the time was that He needed the strength.

Listen, you don't need grace right now to die because you're not going to die, I don't think. So don't worry about it. You don't need grace to go through the great tribulation right now because we're not in the great tribulation.

You just by faith trust God to give you the grace when you need it. Just let it off to the future. I don't need to think about that.

I know there's a lot of people that are so consumed with what might happen in the future and they waste their life. Worrying about some future thing. Well, the Lord didn't do that.

So this voice, it comes out of heaven. And notice what Jesus says here in verse 30. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sake.

It's for your sake. Now these disciples need this because this next week is going to be very difficult. They're thinking the Lord's still going to be a mighty king and overthrow the Romans.

He is going to be crucified and they're going to be perplexed. And their faith is going to be shaken. As a matter of fact, Peter's going to deny the Lord.

And so God gives them this thundering from heaven as a testimony and preparing them for what is coming. Now verse 31, Jesus says, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Here's something very important that you ought to know. The judgment of this world is about ready to happen. You know what that means? Jesus is going to judge the sin of the world.

He's going to die and God is going to judge the sin of the entire world upon the back of Jesus Christ. And when Jesus says, now is the judgment of this world, He is saying that God is going to judge this world in my body on the cross. And you know what's going to happen because of that? The prince of this world is going to be cast out.

And do you know that the prince, the devil, the prince of this world has control over people because of their sin. As a matter of fact, Hebrews chapter 2, I believe it says that that people live in fear. The devil has them in bondage because of the fear of death all their lifetime.

And so when Jesus says that the judgment of this world is now here and the prince is going to be cast out, he is talking about how he is going to judge sin in his own body. And he's going to free people from the power of the devil, not only through the fear of death, but also he's going to give them his Holy Spirit and free them from the slavery of sin. And that's what Jesus meant when he said to be free indeed.

If you're free indeed here this morning, number one, you have a free conscience. You're not guilty. And number two, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you're not a slave to sin.

That's what being free is. Free indeed. So the Lord is going to judge the world.

He's going to judge sin. 1 John chapter 2 says he died for the sins of the whole world. And the devil is going to be cast out.

The devil can no longer terrorize us with sin. He no longer has the ability to bring us into bondage and slavery because of the power of God's Spirit within our heart. Verse 32 says, And I, if I be lifted up, that's the cross from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.

I understand that those miracles drew a lot of people. And God got a lot of glory with those miracles. This cross, Paul says the cross is the glory of God.

And you know, the death of Jesus brought more glory than even his life. He is going to be lifted up and he's going to draw all men unto him. Verse 33, this he said, signifying what death he should be.

He should die. So are we going to follow his example? We have the same heart. Is our heart like Judas? Or is our heart like the multitude, you know? We just want someone to make our temporary life better.

Give us a king. Or is our life truly like Jesus willing to die and to lose our life in this world? I think truly if we all had a heart to lay our life down and lose it, wouldn't it be great if everybody said, as far as my life is concerned, I'm done. It's over.

I'm giving everything to the Lord Jesus. He can send me anywhere he wants. He can give me any ministry he wants.

My life is totally given to him. I have no doubt that the Lord would take your lives and we'd all be doing different things than we are now. Would you agree with me on that? So lose your life.

I need to lose my life more and more. I was sitting meditating on this subject, true story, one morning here this week and my phone, I get an email. And I get an email from a young man in Columbia, South America that we had known when we were there 12 years ago.

I don't know if you ever heard from him. So I'm sitting there thinking, Lord, are you telling me something here? Am I willing to lose my life? Oh, we've got it nice. You know, we got it easy for Jesus' sake in the gospel.

Well, let's close. You can ponder that for your own heart. We're not here to build big churches.

We're here to train laborers. And it's not going to matter in the end whether you had 500 people in a church what's going to matter is how many people were trained to go out into the world and labor. So that's the heart of the Lord, not to enclose ourselves, but to go out.

So let's pray. And we'll close this morning. We'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share.

Heavenly Father,