Gospel of John, 12:1-25
John · Mike Doyle · Jun 22, 2008
Gospel of John (2008), No. 25
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492614305412

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

May I make a comment? Yes. Happy birthday by the way. Well thank you. We thank the Lord for the air conditioning. You notice that there is air conditioning? Yes, coming down. Did you guys get Phil's email? I didn't. Saying that you are doing your best to tone down the noise. You can speak loudly. By the way, also praise for Caroline. She gave me a stone's pass, so she's all better and back to work and everything. Cool. Wow. Oh, awesome. That's great. It wasn't a three-week affair, only a week affair. That's good. Hi, Calvin. Hey, good morning. How are you doing? Good, how are you? Good.

Okay, we are in John, I think, right? John chapter 11, right towards the end, and maybe to help put this in some context. The Lord Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead. He's gone away for a few days. He's come back fairly close. Now how close are we to the crucifixion here? Have you thought about that? A little closer, a week to 10 days away. And what's interesting is from now through chapter 19 spans about 8 days.

Because at the end of chapter 12 he's going to stop teaching the nation of Israel, he's going to just focus on his disciples. spent most of what Saturday or Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, like Thursday in there, teaching the disciples specifically what the chapters were going to discuss. And the raising of Lazarus from the dead in Bethany, which is a town that's close to Jerusalem, had a different effect on different people. Lots of Jews believe on him and we'll see that as we go forward. Because of this one miracle, would you say this is the most, that's what I'm looking for, the greatest demonstration of God's power in the miracles that he did? The resurrection? They're calling Lazarus back to life?

No. What would have been a greater one? His son. What do you mean? But up till now. For the Jews to see it. Now, there are two groups of people, believers and non-believers. Those who, because of what he's done, believe that he is what? The Messiah of Israel.

So, but then there's this other group of fellas, who, this display of power, rather than having a positive effect on them, has a negative effect. In question 12, I said, how did the display of God's power in Jerusalem, in front of the Jewish leaders, affect them, the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders? Number one, I think you have to consider who controls these religious guys. No, Satan controls them.

And so it's offensive to them that God would come in the midst of his stronghold and demonstrate resurrection power. decisive act is that Satan has had since the garden the power of what over humanity? The power of death. That's always been his lever. So here comes Jesus into the middle of this environment and raises somebody back to life. Not a good thing from Satan's viewpoint.

So his followers, which is everybody in Adam, they're not happy about this. So their immediate reaction is to plot to murder him, is to get rid of him. So the chief priests and the Pharisees are immediately on the alert. They assemble a council, they wonder at their own inactivity in the presence of the mighty signs done by Jesus. They fear that if they leave him alone, he may become universally acceptable and that they may provoke the Romans to destroy them, both Jewish religion and the Jewish state, which would take away their office of power. How affecting to see the power of Satan binding those most who take the highest place of zeal for God after the flesh. how affecting, A-F-F-E-C-T-I-N-G, to see the power of Satan blinding those most who take the highest place and zeal for God after the flesh. A very interesting thought when you think about it.

In 2 Thessalonians 2.10, And with all deceivableness and unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness so you have this group of people which are Jewish leaders they're the Pharisees and the truth is standing right in front of them and demonstrating his power as the son of God and their reaction is to plot the killing that's what their reaction is It's kind of hard for us to understand that that's the way it is. We would think the leaders had their act together, right? These must have been Democrats.

Now, so when we get down to verse 50, Acts 49, Caiaphas is the chief priest this year. And oh by the way, just so you know, if you were chief priest, you were chief priest for life. But the Romans had come in and taken control of the system. So what they did is they rolled the chief priest office once a year. So they had a different guy in every year. But if you were elected chief priest under the Mosaic system, you were that for life. It's like being an elder at Holly Hills, you're that for life. So do the Jews go along with that?

That's why we don't have a lot of guys in line waiting for the job. Anyway, and one of them, Caiaphas, being the high priest for that year, said to them, you don't know anything, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. Now this he did not say of his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. So my question is, in verse 50, does prophecy always come from a godly man? Obviously it doesn't. Obviously it doesn't. Caiaphas isn't a godly man. But he's prophesying.

Do we have examples of that anywhere else? How about our friend Balaam? Remember good old Balaam? He was hired and paid to speak curses on Israel, and when he opened up his mouth, what did he do? He could only speak blessing. He could only do that, and he was paid to do otherwise, but he couldn't do it.

So, the same thing with Caiaphas. He has no idea really what he's talking about but he prophesies that one man is going to die for the nation and that man is Jesus. So it shows one confusion by most people that but by why the Lord Jesus is there, and it also points up the fact that God is sovereign and he can employ any means necessary to carry out his purposes, even through an evil man. So, even though Caiaphas was an unprincipled person, had no sentiment for Christ at all, he still prophesied that Jesus will die for the nation. In the mind of the spirit it was not only most holy but expressed the foundation of God's righteousness in Christ. The death of Christ is the basis on which God is going to do everything and he uses this Caiaphas to prophesy it.

How would you describe at the end of the chapter, but not for the nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then from that day on they plotted to put him to death. Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. He went from there into the country near the wilderness, a city called Ephraim. and where he remained with his disciples in the Passover with Jesus. So what did the Pharisees do in verse 57? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where he was, he should report him, that he might be seized. So what was the command? I ask that question.

It's an APB. If you see this guy, we want him. Bring him back. So everybody in the nation knows that the religious hierarchy, which is the hierarchy in the country, is after Christ. Everybody knows. So why does he go and hide himself, not hide himself, but just kind of go in a place where they can't find him? That's the reason.

He's moving up now. He's a week away from being arrested. We're about to do what we call Palm Sunday. where he enters Jerusalem, but he's only less than 10 days away from being crucified. The Pharisees have put out this APB to arrest him and bring him, because they want to kill him. Yet, whose timing is Jesus running on? It's the Father's timing.

So for him to step out of the picture for a couple of days makes a lot of sense. I wonder about that. How does he, you know, I still think it's somewhat miraculous. That's like when he gets, you know, in a crowd and they're going to stone him and suddenly he gets away.

They're crowds he knows where, they know where he's at, you know, this all points bulletin. You know, they're crowds, they're people, they're... And they're wondering. Yeah, they're wondering. They're looking for him just to see if he'll show. Yeah, I mean, there's still miraculous protection of him or... No question. You know. There's no question they know probably, and they should know where he's at. Yeah, there's absolutely no question that some of the people knew him, but he wasn't...

How do I say this? The week before the Passover, there was this process where people would go up to Jerusalem and to the Temple to purify themselves, depending on what was going on in their lives, so that they could participate in all the events of the Passover, because it was the highest feast in the Jewish system. So the town is filling up, you know, and I'm sure that there are Xerox posters around. If you see this guy, let us know. The word had gone out, and so people are speculating, and at this point there's a number of people that believe in him, and they're wondering, well, with all this pressure, will he show? And they're talking among themselves about that.

So, chapter 12. Then six days before the Passover, now what day are we? What day is the Passover? Saturday, right? So we're probably talking Monday, right? Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead. And there they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spinknard, anointing the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil." Stop there. In the beginning of chapter 12, where is Jesus spending his time? And we just talked about that. So who made this supper for him in verse 2? I think it was all the disciples. And where did it take place? In the house of Mary and Martha. Nope. Where did it take place? This is where Lazarus was raised. Let me find it here. He was in the town of Bethany. And Mary and Martha lived in Bethany. I have written down that a feast took place in the house of Simon the leper.

And I don't know why, now that I'm looking at the verses. Where did they find that? I don't know where I got that. It's from the Gospel of Mike. Oh, that's right. That's where I got it. No, I got it from one of the other Gospels. That's where I did get it. Not a big deal. Now, I want you to notice something. Maybe you didn't notice.

I asked the question, there are three groups represented in, I say, Lazarus's house. Don't you love that? Who are they and who do they represent? First of all, who are the three groups here? That came from Matthew, by the way. What's that? That came from Matthew. Is that where it was? I'll tell you who the three groups are and see if you can figure out who they represent. The first group is Martha, the second group is Lazarus, and the last group is Mary. What do we know Martha for?

She's a servant. So what she does is she represents servants who had faith that attached them to Christ needed to be members of the kingdom. She's a good godly Jew. She's a servant whose faith had attached her to Christ as the king of the kingdom. He was the hope and blessing of Israel. Right. And she's serving. What's Lazarus doing here? Sitting with Jesus. He's hanging, right? He's just hanging. Talking. That's what he's doing.

So he represents all resurrected remnant saints that would be brought back to the kingdom to do what? To fellowship with Christ. See, Mary doesn't fellowship, but Lazarus does. Would it represent the new man in Christ's resurrection? It could because that's really what the new man in Christ does. He fellowships with the Lord Jesus. That's really what his role is.

Mary represents those who have... Now what's Mary doing here? She's doing a whole different thing. She's anointing him. So she represents those who have an understanding that there was something more than the hope and blessing of Israel, namely Jesus himself, whom they could worship.

Now, it's interesting, I'm picturing in my mind this dinner going on, Lazarus is sitting there just talking to the Lord, that's what he's doing, Martha's busy working in the kitchen, you know what that's like, thanks to Courtney. Actually, it was really fun. Wednesday, we went down to Camp Elam and worked in the kitchen all day. It was really fun. But, you know, if you've got a choice to work for somebody other than Courtney, take it. He drove us right into the ground. I had to take a nap in the middle of the day just to keep up.

And Mary is not necessarily serving. She's not sitting there, but she does this incredible thing where she pulls out this Spignard stuff, and the value of this, as best I can determine, is a year's wages. So this is pretty expensive stuff. And she starts to anoint Christ for what? For his death. Now once she starts to do that, and if you read in the other Gospels, there are different accounts where she is told, Jesus says she'll be remembered for all of history for doing this. And I'll ask a couple of questions about that in a minute.

Now, as this is going on, our pal Judas, verse 4, but one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. and had the money box and he used to take what was put in it.

But Jesus said, let her alone, she has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not have always. So, Judas's behavior displayed what about his lack of what maybe? What didn't Judas have that was critical?

He wasn't concerned about the poor, just how much money he was going to have in his purse. No, that's not it. He didn't believe. He was not a man of faith. So if you're not a man of faith, you don't see things from the perspective of what's really going on. You see that? If you're a total experiential, worldly kind of focused person, then you say, well gee, this is a waste of money. You've got to take the money and give it to the poor.

Of course, typical of the Gospels and the writers, there's no protection of the motives of any of the disciples. You know, Judas is busted right here. And the reason he's busted is because he's not a man, he's a man of unbelief. He views the circumstances from the world's point of view. There's no faith. And so you could say an Adamic man is always seeing things from this earthly and sinful point of view. So he never sees things from God's perspective.

And a believer walking in the flesh is the same way. So what is the reason for Mary's actions? She's obviously anointing Jesus for burial, which means what? He's going to get crucified real soon. Six days. six days and he's on the cross. It was his love and grace towards her.

Well, let me ask you this question. How'd she know? She'd seen all those wanted posters around. Yeah. She figured the jig was up. He's going to get it. They're going to get him. You think that's it? Here's the question that intrigues me. How does she know in here that this is the time to do this and that it should be done? I mean it's a really, can you imagine sitting around, let's say we're all down at Courtney's house. Peggy comes and anoints Courtney for death. What? That's exactly right. What? What is going on here? Do you see that?

And yet nobody says anything except Lazarus, the guy who's stealing the money. No, you mean Judas. Judas, the guy who's stealing the money. But the Lord Jesus responds and says, look, let her alone. She's kept this for the day of my burial, for the poor you have with you, and that kind of thing. So he's saying, look, the poor are always going to be here. So the argument that you give that we should give the money to the poor is a superfluous one, because I'm going to leave. I'm going to die.

And she is doing something that shows she worships me, because her heart's been shaped by her love for me. She knows. She's the only one, I mean, I think of all the disciples being with him and what he's told them and different things, and she's the only one who seems to know of his pending death. You know, does anybody else have a clue?

I think so, you know, like when they went to raise Lazarus from the death and the apostles are saying, you know, we're not sure we want to go up there. You know, our man Thomas, Mr. Grave, you know. We're going to go die with him. Yeah, we'll go. OK. But I don't think that was just the most wanted poster and kind of. Sure. You know. Well, and not only were they were they seeking to kill that Jesus, but thereafter Lazarus, too. They want to kill him also. Don't you find it interesting he raises him from the dead and the natural man's reaction is, well we better kill him.

Hello? In other words, out of sight out of mind. It's the same mentality that will permeate the earth after the rapture. People will be concerned for about 24 hours and then it will be over. We'll be on to something new. There will be millions of people gone lots of free clothes around, and no one will care after 24 hours. We'll be gone.

And the other thing which I always think, germane to the politics of today, you know, and the epidemic nature for the poor you'll always have with, you know, we try and solve all the poor. You know, the government will try and take, we're going to get rid of the poor. And I always think of this verse when there's another government program to take care of all the poor. I keep thinking. they'll always be poor. There will always be the poor among us.

That's exactly right. And the Adamic nature is, oh no, we'll fix it. You know, in the politics of today, it's always, we've got to get rid of the poor. Yeah, and they don't do it, and two or three years later, we'll try to do it again. But you know, I was thinking this one, the poor will always be here.

That's right. You know, most of the people live on the street because they want to. It's not because they have to. They want to. And you think about it, those people that are standing on corners asking for money, they're working a lot harder doing that than they would have if they'd have gotten a job. Some of those people make 70, 80 grand a year doing that. Really? Yeah. But I'm back to question six.

How did Mary know that her behavior was appropriate? How'd she know? because I don't think she got any prophetic intimation from the Lord. How did she know? I think this is a question that really goes to, and even greater for us as believers, to know stuff like this. How did she know? Did she read the book?

She spent a lot of time with the Lord, listening to him. Yeah, I think there's a lot of truth in that, Terry. Here's what William Kelly said. It was the spiritual instinct of a heart that had found the Son of God in Jesus, of a heart that felt the danger that hung over him as man. She was so close to him.

She recognized the danger of what he was doing. Yeah, and she knew him. And she knew the law because she had lived under that. through the Pharisees and all, by Caiaphas. Let me tell you something else I think she knew. The other thing I think she knew, she knew Jesus well enough to know that he was the one that was going to give his life. They weren't going to take it from him. She knew him that well.

Now, the reason I ask that question is for us as believers, how do I say this right? It's one thing to know how you're to behave. which is legalism. It's another thing to function by faith and to behave in that manner. It's a whole different thing beyond that to have such intimacy with Christ that you have this kind of spiritual instinct. That the reason you don't sin is because you know it would be offensive to the one you love, not because you're not supposed to do it.

Do you understand what I'm saying? It's like, Don and I were married about five or six years and we were going to a Bible study with a guy who turned out not to be so cool. And one of the Bible studies, this guy was asked the question, how do you function as a husband in your marriage? You know what his answer was? She just tells me what to do when I do it. And we're driving home in the car and she said to me, A marriage can't work like that. I said, I know. It can't. Because there's no intimacy there. She just tells me what to do. Isn't that the way most Christians think? The Lord just tells me what to do when I do it. What about relationship? What about intimacy and fellowship?

To the degree that why wouldn't my marriage to Donna be, I would know her well enough to know that I have, like Paul said, I have the freedom to do anything, but it's not always expedient. Because I don't want to do anything that's going to in the least way offend her. Even if I'm free to do it.

I think Mary had that kind of intimacy with the Lord Jesus. She knew. And I think every believer, and Mary isn't even resurrected or in Christ. I think real Christianity is intimacy with Christ. where we know him well enough and intimately enough, we know what is and isn't of him. And we learn it through the word of God, not the refrigerator list, but just him. I think that's why Mary is such an appropriate person.

Okay, seven. What are the choices made crystal clear by the resurrection of Lazarus? And I'm talking about here the choices that the people have who have observed it. There's two of them. You only get two choices. If you're standing there and you watch the resurrection of Lazarus, you get two reactions. What are they? Believe or don't. That's right. That's right. You either believe what you see or you don't. You either believe in the Lord Jesus or you reject him.

There's no middle ground. And the reason is because his power was so evident that they've got to do one or the other. You don't stand in front and observe a resurrection and be apathetic about it or say, well I got to think this one over. He was the resurrection power. That's right, that's right.

So a man raised after four days and alive among the people no longer left any possibility for them to be indecisive. That's the problem with the resurrection of Lazarus and look at what happened. Those that didn't believe immediately plotted to kill him. those that believe became his disciples. You don't see them, you know over the last few chapters we have seen a lot of discussion where Jesus is talking to the Jews and he's saying, and they're asking him questions like well, yeah we saw what you did but are you really the Messiah and he's saying yeah I am and he's explaining. There's none of that discussion now. You're either on his side or you're not. And there's no more persuasion about people who might be living in the middle. There's no more middle people anymore. And that's what the power of resurrection did.

In Luke 8, what role is Jesus taking in the manner of his entrance into Jerusalem? Now, let's move ahead. In verse 12, the next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it as it was written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt." His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him. I'm going to go down through 19. who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead for a witness. For this reason the people also met him, because they heard that he had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, you see that you are accomplishing nothing.

The world has gone after him. So my question eight is, what role is Jesus taking in the manner of his entrance into Jerusalem? The Lord is assuming a role here. What role is he assuming? The king coming? Sure, son of David, king of the Jews. And it's prophesied, Zechariah 9.9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jews! And behold, the king comes unto thee. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon a colt, and upon a colt the foil of an ass.

Zechariah 9.9, a thousand years before this happened. Psalm 118, Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, send new prosperity. Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

So he's coming into Jerusalem triumphantly as king of the Jews and son of David. So what understanding did the crowd have about him at this time? The crowd now, what are they thinking? They're the ones that are doing all of this, so what are they thinking? He's the one that raised Lazarus. He's the one that raised Lazarus. He must be the one prophesied about. Now, what's interesting about this, within five days the Pharisees convinced them otherwise, but right now...

Sounds like the American people. Right? Yeah, and they didn't have CNN. So, why didn't the disciples understand what was going on here? Now, these disciples are Jewish people. You know, they've been, at least some of them have been educated. They went to temple every week. They were taught.

Why didn't they understand what was going on here? Because they knew him as an ordinary man. They knew him as an ordinary man. Did you think they thought he was the Messiah? Some of them did. Yeah, I think they did. What is it specifically don't they understand? That the trial of the world and of man and of Israel was all over. That's the one thing they didn't understand. That Judaism was done. See that? Did they understand at this point that he had to die? I don't think so yet. I don't think so yet. I think that they're a little skeptical, but look at what's happened. Over here is the all points bulletin. If anybody sees this guy, get him or come tell us and we're going to arrest him. We're going to kill him.

On the other side of the street are all of the populace, the mob, the what did Falvo call them? What did Falwell call that group of people that he... all the people in the middle, the flyovers maybe. And they're saying they've all gone to Jesus because of this miracle that he performed with Lazarus and they're welcoming him into Jerusalem as king. King of the Jews, son of David.

And the disciples are thinking, well, What's going on here? They don't understand. I mean, are they going to kill them? We've been afraid of that, but now the people are saying, but if they're observing, they say, well, you know, the people's fervor will die down and the Pharisees are still going to be in charge. What's going to happen? But what didn't they understand? Why do I say this?

Notice that the verse says that the disciples did not understand these things at first, But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things were written about him. When was Jesus glorified? Before then. When he was assumed into heaven. And at Pentecost, they all of a sudden got really smart about all of this. How come?

The Spirit showed them. And we'll see in 15, 16, and 17, the Lord Jesus talks to them. And it wasn't that they were ignorant. to observe the physical things that were going on. They didn't have spiritual understanding about what was happening here. That was what they were ignorant about. What was the reason for the gathering of the people?

It was the raising of Lazarus. What is the other thing that Jesus has offered here? I think as King of the Jews, he's going to offer salvation and the promise of glory to the people of Jerusalem. He's going to offer them that. Because He's going to die as their Savior. Now, in verse 19, what activities had the Pharisees done that accomplished nothing? What did they try to do that didn't work? The APB. They didn't throw them out of the temple. Well, no, the APB. Find a guy and bring him to us. Didn't work. So now they're complaining. They're saying, then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees and a council and said, what do we do for this man does many miracles.

If we let him alone, all the men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation. What they did is they threatened them and they threatened excommunication and they threatened, they said, get him. Nobody obeyed them. They were threatening themselves because they put out an APB on him and he walked right into them. Yeah, well he comes right into Jerusalem and all the people are following him. And what they say, the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, you see that you are accomplishing nothing. In other words, everything we did isn't working. Look, the world has gone after him. So, now, alright.

20. Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip, who was from the city of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus. Okay, who are the Greeks? And what did they want?

Two schools of thought. Gentiles. Are there dispersed Jews from the Greeks? Yeah, there are two schools of thought. Gentiles. strictly Gentiles, who had, like if you study the book of Acts, you'll see there are quite a few Gentiles around that had believed in Judaism, a monotheistic God, and stopped believing in polytheism, lots of gods, and were investigating Judaism as probably maybe the real way to go. And so that's one school of thought.

Greeks themselves. The second school of thought is, as Jack mentioned, the Hellenists. The Hellenists were Jews, like Paul, who were born outside of Jerusalem and didn't live in Jerusalem. And they lived in Gentile nations. And they came back for the required feasts because they had to. And so they're referred to in the Book of Acts as Hellenists, or sometimes Gentiles. I don't think it matters who they are. Lots of references that I looked up say that there are these Hellenist Jews who were born and lived in Greek countries. Plus it could have been the Diaspora Jew because they were conquered so many times and spread out. That's what happened. They just never came home. They never came home or they could have been just Gentiles, people that weren't Jews.

But it's interesting, now my second part of the question is, what did they want? They heard of his fame and just wanted to know. Yeah, they said, well gee, we've been out of town, and we've been hearing all this stuff. Could we get it straight from the horse's mouth? In other words, is this really the Messiah? And why did they go to Philip?

You know, he was a Jew. But he spoke Greek. He spoke Greek, and Philip is a Greek name. That's why they went to him. They thought, ah, you know, I forgot. I wrote down the translation of what his name meant. So they went to him and they thought, well, we'll go to the guy that identifies with us the most and see if we can't get an audience. Right. And so we can ask him our questions. So they wanted to hear for themselves and see for themselves if he was the one to satisfy their searchings for a Messiah. Now look at Jesus' answer. Jesus answered them and said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat fall in the ground and die, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me where I am. There my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. Now, the hour has come where the Son of Man is to be glorified. How is that going to be accomplished? And why was his name, why was he going to be glorified? What was the reason? The hour has come. Anybody?

He did the will of the Father. God's covenant. What's that? The covenant he made with the Father. That's right. It's the eternal covenant. What's the eternal covenant? It's a transaction between the Father and the Son. Right? If you'll become a man and die for the sins of the world, I will raise you up. He said, OK. Here I am. I'm about to fulfill my end of the covenant.

So once his end of the covenant is fulfilled, gee I thought he was God and he was always glorified. So what is this? Notice the term son of man? He hadn't been glorified with godly glory as a man. And that was what was coming. And it was all going to be based on the fact that he was going to die. and that's what he's saying. So then he begins to describe when I say what did Jesus mean in verse 24 when he says unless a grain of wheat fall on the ground and die it remains alone but if it dies it produces fruit. What's he mean?

In 1st Corinthians 15.13 it says those who see will believe.

In 1st Corinthians 15.36 thou fool That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.

Romans 6.3 Quote that, 4, 5, 6, 7.

What's going on here? What's he talking about? See, what's interesting here is that people say, well, you know, a lot of the truths that we study in Paul's epistles aren't mentioned in the Gospels. Oh yeah, they are. They're there, but there's no understanding of what's going on there until Paul comes on the scene and explains them. But what's he talking about here? The Lord's the seed. Okay.

What's got to happen? He's got to die so we have new life in Christ. So the life is restricted to him only, and unless he dies, the life stays restricted to him. But if he dies, he brings forth a month's fruit. Now how does he pull that one off? You bring forth after your own kind. But how did you get to be his own kind? Believing in him. Trusting him. What are the mechanics of how you got to be his own kind? Death. You died with him.

Romans 6.3 says what? Don't you realize that when you were baptized into Christ, you were baptized into what? His death. So that's what he's talking about. When he dies, we're all going to die with him. Why? So that when he was resurrected, the much fruit he's talking about, we're the fruit. See? And like begets like. There's nothing of the old man that can be produced in the new man.

When a grain of wheat falls in the ground, it does have to go through a dying process in order to reproduce. Now, what's the word death mean? Separation. So when Jesus dies, what separation is going on here? Separated from the Father. What else is he separated from? the world, mankind.

The verse that says He was made sin for us. So everybody in this room was born with a sin nature, right? When Jesus died on the cross, he was made your sin nature and my sin nature. He was identified with those sin natures. All of them. And so when he died, slash, was separated, what was he separated from? Sin. Your sin nature and my sin nature.

So I'm in Christ when the separation process goes on. I get separated from my sin nature because I'm in Christ. when I'm resurrected in him, what happens? I'm now identified or attached to him and not to sin anymore. So now, because he is bringing forth much fruit after his own kind, I'm after his own kind, I'm now totally accepted, totally, by God himself. So here he is, six days before his crucifixion, What's he saying that nobody understands, of course? He's laying out identification.

That's what he's doing. There it is. Isn't it? Don't you think that's what he's talking about? And then he says, and to add to it, he says, if anyone serves me, let him follow me where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, I'm sorry, verse 25, he who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. What's he talking about? Next week is the answer. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and how we thank you for the resurrected life that we have in your precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray in his name. Amen.