The Gospel of John 12:1-26
John 12:1-26 · Vern Peterman · Jun 30, 2013
Gospel of John (2013), No. 25
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926355545038

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

On the handout here, by the way, there's a supplement in the back that we'll be referring to, but I just wanted to point that out as well. This, at the top there, again a correction, should be John 12, 1 through 26, not 19. Now, we've been going through several different passages here that are related and connected here. What I'd like to do is start off by looking at kind of our slide set. Some of it will repeat from last week, but I just want to keep us in context.

Jesus is in the area around Jerusalem in Bethany. This is an aerial view looking towards the east, and here's Jerusalem in the foreground, Old City Jerusalem. There is the Temple Mount, and what you see there now is the Dome of the Rock, but that was where the Temple was located. And just to the east of that is the Mosque of Omar. Here is the Mount of Olives, and we're going to be seeing just in the weeks ahead here where the Mount of Olives has a place in those last days before the Crucifixion.

Here's the Dead Sea off in the distance from this view. Bethphage, a little village that's relevant to the passage we're looking at here, and Bethany. Bethany was the place then where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived and where Jesus resurrected Lazarus. From Bethany to Jerusalem, a little less than two miles. This is the old road to Bethany, still available in use.

Here are the Jewish feasts in the Gospel of John. We showed this in last week's handout. And basically, we've been looking at here the Passovers. This is the last one that shows up mentioned at the end of chapter 11. And now here in this passage, we'll be looking at today 12-1.

Mention of the Passover, not because this is the time, but it's just days before the Passover. The Passover, this particular one, I have marked as April 3rd, 33 AD. That's not what the Bible says, but the evidence is increasingly mounting that that was the day of Christ's crucifixion. April 3rd, 33 AD. And just over a year ago was the latest confirmation of it, believe it or not, by some geologists who timed the earthquake in the middle of the crucifixion. This is another circular calendar that we included in last week's handout. And what we've added to it here is Chapter 7. We went through that, and that was the Feast of Tabernacles.

And then Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, chapter 10. That's the only mention of Hanukkah in the Bible, because it came up between the Testaments. But it's John 10, 22, and 23. And then now we're getting into chapter 12, starting into the season of Passover. In the Jewish year, the Passover was the first mosaic. feast that they had followed immediately after, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits. And as you'll see and hear, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, is to follow shortly thereafter. So that's Acts 2. So now, let's look at the calendar, what happened.

And what I present here is the traditional chronology, which as I check things out, look things over, and examine some of the alternatives, I think the traditional chronology is correct, is the correct one. Here is Friday before Christ's crucifixion. That's Zacchaeus and Jericho. And Saturday is the resurrection of Lazarus and Bethany.

And that includes by that evening, by our count, by that evening, we'll start into the events that we see here in this passage. Here's the triumphal entry, as it's called, and we'll talk about why that's not necessarily the best name for it, but the triumphal entry on what we call Sunday.

The Jews, by the way, didn't use those names. What's wrong with using those names according to the Jews? Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, yeah. That's right. They were named after pagan gods, many of which the Jews would consider abhorrent. So what did the Jews do? They had the names of each day of the week by the number. The first day, the second day, the third day.

So they counted to get to the day rather than giving it a name like we do. Here's, on Monday, he drove out the money changers. And by the way, there's two events of driving out the money changers. We have to sometimes think about Jesus driving out the money changers and don't realize there's actually two different events.

The Olivet Discourse, this is recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, and that's from the Mount of Olives is where that name comes from. So on Tuesday of the week, Jesus gave that discourse, talking about what was going to happen in times ahead. Largely talking about the time of the Tribulation period and immediately thereafter. On Wednesday, he went into the Temple in Jerusalem. On Thursday, what we call the Last Supper, the beginning, sundown on Thursday would have been the Passover. So Jesus was setting up for the Passover. We'll get to this eventually, but here's Jesus, and he tells the disciples, look for a man carrying water. When you find a man carrying water, then he'll lead you to the place you're supposed to go.

Now, wouldn't you think there'd be lots of men carrying water? Why not? Women did it. It was a woman's job, so to see a man carrying water would be unusual, and that's why it was a particularly specific marker rather than, boy, the six guys carrying water, which one isn't, right?

So, and then next, crucifixion and burial on Friday. And then on Saturday, in the grave, this was the time when the Jews said, hey, you know, you guys need to get a guard in place. The Jewish leaders said, you guys need to get a guard in place because we don't want this tomb messed with. Anybody taking the body or anything like that. So they set up a custodian, a guard, there to guard the grave.

And then resurrection, early Sunday morning. We're looking at this Saturday evening as the events that we're looking at in this passage, and the Triumphal Entry, as it's called. We'll talk about that in more detail. So those two times are what we're going to cover in today's passage. Now, a little bit more.

John 12.6. Here's Jesus. Judas is going to reveal his motives for what we're going to see in this event by betraying Christ to the soldiers in the temple gardens. For what? Money. He's really into the money. Show me the money. That's his motto. Thirty pieces of silver. So let's go to the handout and we'll start our way through it here.

So John 12, 1-3, Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made him a supper there, and Martha was serving, but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. So Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Put yourself in the place of Mary and Martha here. Okay, so earlier that day, were Mary and Martha expecting that their brother Lazarus was going to be alive?

No. Were they planning dinner for him? No. And beside that, Jesus had not arrived at the time that they had anticipated. So here they're having a dinner, that was totally unexpected. We're going to serve dinner to our brother who's been resurrected just hours ago. And the one who resurrected him is also going to be there, and we're going to serve dinner to them.

Now, it was not according to custom, as we pointed out before, it was not according to custom for the Jewish rabbis to teach women. And yet, when Martha talked to Mary, What did she call Jesus? The teacher. Not just a teacher, the teacher. The one who teaches us.

Now, so there, you imagine, here they are at this evening's dinner event, the supper, and they're going to serve Jesus and Lazarus there, and this is like mind-boggling. Here this brother of mine has been resurrected, and we're going to serve my brother, who was just hours ago in the tomb, all wrapped up. About a hundred pounds of wrappings. And now we're going to serve him. And the one who resurrected him, the teacher, we're going to serve him too. So this is quite a time. I mean, this has got to be overwhelming to them.

If you look at it, Jesus had taught these women, which of course was contrary to Jewish custom. He raised Lazarus on what day? The Sabbath. And what had the Jews constantly harassed Jesus about? Doing things, including miracles, on the Sabbath. So Jesus does a grand miracle on the Sabbath and raises Lazarus. And of course, the Jews are very pleased at this, right?

Not so much. Now, so then she took Mary, anointed Jesus' feet with really expensive perfume. I mean really expensive. Then wiped it with her hair, contrary to any Jewish custom. That would have been completely outside of any Jewish custom. So a lot of what has happened this day is contrary to Jewish custom. So here's John 12, 4-8, But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, plural for denarius, and given to poor people? Now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief and he had the money box he used to pilfer what was put into it.

Therefore, Jesus said, let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." Let's take a look at the top of page two on the handout there. So you think about this. Think about what Jesus thought about Judas and what the other disciples thought about Judas.

Did the other disciples have any suspicion that he would be the one to betray? None at all. None at all. Even at, as we'll see, even at the Last Supper, celebrating Passover, when Jesus brought up betrayal, they had not a clue which one. Why would that be? Why would they have not a clue that Judas would be the betrayer? He's going to be the treasurer, even though this guy is all about money.

Was there anything about Judas that Jesus was ignorant of? No, not a bit. The disciples, however, could not tell that Jesus loved Judas any less. Jesus loved Judas any less than any of the rest of them. And let's ask this question. When Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, just days after this, having been betrayed by Judas, was Jesus dying for the sins of the whole world except for Judas? No. Jesus would die for the sins of Judas because, well, his betrayer, the one that he knew was pulprit, the one that he knew, when he picked him, would be the betrayer.

That's amazing. It's amazing when you see the Lord's grace there. Here is the Denarius coin that you see on the top of page two. This is one that later on, Jesus, in fact, we might see it in just a matter of a few short weeks here, Jesus is asked, should we pay taxes to Caesar? And so he says, show me the coin. This is it. And by the way, this has, on the back of it, Maxian Pontiff. It's because the Roman Emperor was called the Pontiff. That's where the title Pontiff comes from, and it's from a Babylonian title, from the chief bridge maker. Alright, so Judas was in this for what was in it for himself, especially financially. Show me the money, what's in it for me. And Judas could see that the money flow from being the disciple's treasure was close to the end. How could Judas tell that it was close to the end? How did he know?

Pardon? Because he was spending it. Yeah, he was spending it, okay. You're right. And why else would he know that this was getting close to the end? He knew the authorities were after Jesus. Word was getting around. It might take a little bit more, a little bit less, but pretty soon here the gig is up.

So I've got to look for plan B. As a matter of fact, if I can make money off of plan B, that's even better. Jesus was talking about his time, his time was coming. Yeah, my time has not come, my time has not come, my time has come. Chapter 12, chapter 13. He begins to point that out, my time has come, my hour has come. Yeah, good point. The last statement we just read there, you always have the poor with you, was based on Deuteronomy 15, 11. It reads, for the poor will never cease to be in the land. So Jesus is essentially paraphrasing that statement. Here's John 12, 9 through 11.

The large crowd of the Jews then learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. Now, it would only take about maybe an hour to make this trip to see Jesus. So if you were in Jerusalem and an hour's trip to go see Jesus and Lazarus who had been resurrected, that's got some entertainment value at least.

And besides that, without anybody, you know, texting and tweeting and all the other stuff that people do, I mean, you'd have something to talk about when you got back home, right? Hey, I saw this guy, he was resurrected, he was dead, everybody said he was dead. They saw him resurrected, you know? There was plenty to talk about. I saw him resurrected, I saw the place he was resurrected from, I saw Jesus who resurrected him.

Hey, we got lots to talk about back home. So there's plenty to see and get interested in here. And this was a time when the population of Jerusalem would go to like five times normal population. So there's lots of people around to be interested in this very special event. And if you weren't there at the time, at least, boy, everything's real fresh.

Did you see it? Yeah, yeah, I saw him. Did you see him? Yeah, yeah, I saw him. There's the place where he was buried. There's his wrappings over here. You could point out everything real fresh, lots of people, and boy, for just an hour's side jaunt, that's not bad. So they would draw lots of people, you can well imagine. Everything was quite verifiable. in that fresh instance there. And those who would ponder it more than just being ready to see a show, those who would ponder it would think, something really extraordinary just happened here, and someone really extraordinary is among us. Someone really extraordinary is among us here.

So here's John 12, 12-19, On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is she who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming, seated on the donkey's colt.

And these things his disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things to him. So the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about it. And so this wasn't just gossip, it was testimony. For this reason also the people went and met him because they heard that he had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you're not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after him.

Let's take a look at this. One of the things on the last page is the Palm Sunday Synoptic account. brings together what is called Palm Sunday or the Triumphal Entry from all four Gospels and puts them in sequence. In some cases where there's duplication, I've just chosen one of them, But you can see there it starts with Mark and Matthew. One of the things that John's account does not include, that is included from the other accounts here, is Jesus told them to go ahead of them and they would find a donkey and colt. tied up, and then if somebody asks, you know, what are you doing, then here's what you say. And so that event, essentially a small prophecy, if you will, and the fulfillment of it, and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is brought out here in this passage. So then what we have here, and we'll refer back to this in a minute. Let's go back on page 3, and the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the middle of page 3, we'll take a look at those. Several respects in which the traditional Palm Sunday triumphal entry depiction of this event is not really the most accurate portrayal. And so I have these points.

The things that they were saying of Jesus were part of the traditional Hallel. You ever heard Hallelujah? Right? So, praise God. It's Hallelujah. And so the Hallel is praise. And what that would be is Psalms 113-118. The Jews would often sing as they were traveling toward Jerusalem. Okay? And so they would sing those together, and as they would get groups of people singing together, one person would sing one part, and then they'd let the other person, or other group, sing another part, and they'd go back and forth like that, repeating the Hallel, the Psalm 113-118, sometimes called the Psalm of Ascents. As you're ascending up to Jerusalem, you would sing these.

And those are included in the things that are said of Jesus. So it's not like people all of a sudden started saying these things and they'd never said it before. They were included in the traditions that were already, and for many generations, had already been sung and said. And so Jesus coming into Jerusalem and these things being said and sung was not unusual, it was in fact traditional. So they were saying things they would have sung anyway.

The next here, point two, there is much more mention of the donkey and or the colt almost a dozen times in all four Gospels than the palm branch once in John. Yet, what do we do? We call it Palm Sunday. For some reason, people get upset if I suggest it ought to be called Donkey Sunday. I don't know why.

But, anyway, the donkey and colt are a matter of fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that Zechariah 9-9 prophesied about the donkey and colt, as well as the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy about the donkey and colt, and where you would find them, and what words the owners would respond to. So it was both a matter of fulfillment of prophecy, as this would happen from the Old Testament, as well as a fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy just in the near term. The palm branches do not have the same prophetic connection. Interestingly, the donkey is of great prophetic significance, both from the Old Testament and from Jesus' mouth, but the palm branch is not.

3. Though Jesus was indeed the King of Israel, the Jewish leaders' broad and severe rejection of that message meant judgment for the Jewish people. Because the Jewish leaders objected to Jesus being honored so greatly and acknowledged in that way. Because they rejected him, that meant that the people of Israel, in great part, ultimately rejected Christ as their King.

Judgment was going to come. When Jerusalem came into view, Jesus' response was not smiles and joy and cheer, but weeping and lamenting over what was going to come upon the city of Jerusalem and its people. His triumphal entry, here's Jesus, he just crests over the top of the Mount of Olives, he can see the city of Jerusalem in front of him, and what does he do? He bursts into tears for what was coming. Is that the triumphal entry?

Not so much. Let's take a look on this supplement. It's the very last page. There's a bolded part there. When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of the visitation. What's he talking about here in Luke 19? What is this? This is the 70 A.D. event. In fact, this is the one time when Jesus actually very explicitly talks about the 70 A.D. attack on Jerusalem by the Romans. And by the way, the Romans didn't initiate the attack.

The Jews had initiated it in 66 AD, but when the Romans came in, horrific tragedy, even among the Jews. Those Jews who refused to fight were slaughtered. So thousands and thousands of Jews were slaughtered. The last known by name descendants of Esau came into the city of Jerusalem. to help fight with the Jews, alongside them, and that's the last we heard of them. The last of the descendants of Israel. 70 AD, all slaughtered, by any record we have. So this was a horrific event.

The stones from the temple were all dumped off the Temple Mount, not one stone left upon another. The only thing that was left from that, aside from the rubble and heap, was the stones on the edge of the Temple Mount, which are still visible in the Western Wall and other portions. But that's it. Just what Jesus was talking about here, they'll hem you on every side, and they will level you to the ground, and the children within you will not need and you one stone upon another, because, why? You didn't recognize the day of the visitation.

Here, at what is called the triumphal entry, Jesus is weeping and he's lamenting that many, many, many, many thousands will be slaughtered. Even the kids. And even Jew against Jew. Horrific time. So that's what he's lamenting. Okay, now back to The last point, point five. All this apparent welcome and cheering would change to the riotous shouts of, crucify him! Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar!

And calls to release the robber Barabbas instead of Jesus by Friday morning of that very same week. Let's imagine what this is like. Here it is Sunday. Today is Sunday, right? So here would be the day that Jesus would come in on this so-called triumphal entry, on this Palm Sunday. By Friday of this week, if you were to make comparison from Sunday to Friday, by Friday of this week, early in the morning, because Jesus was crucified at 9 a.m., so early in the morning, Plenty of people up and whether you're a mourning person or not, I guess people got pretty cranked up.

Crucify him. Crucify him. We have no king but Caesar. Give us Barabbas. Pilate looked desperately for ways to get out of this thing. His wife even passed him a note. Don't mess with this guy. He wanted to get out of this mess. How about if I release him? He's not guilty. And then finally washed his hands of it. So Jesus was crucified, and the crowd there would be the ones demanding. So I would suggest to you that this is not so triumphal an entry. I would suggest to you that the palms are not the real marker of this day and this event. Now what really comes out is in the next passage here. So let's talk about that.

John 12, 20-26. Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. These men came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." So this is what you were pointing at, Craig. The hour has come. The time is short. It wasn't time, it wasn't time, it's not my hour, but now it is. It's happening this week.

Verse 24, he says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. For if it dies, it bears much fruit. Verse 25, He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." Let's look at the top of page four. So, this is not the only time, because how did he respond to the request from the Greeks? Did he say, sure, send those Greek guys over here? Is that what he said? He ignored it, didn't he? Interesting. He ignored it. Did Jesus die for the sins of those Greek people? Yeah. So why did he ignore it?

Okay. Alright. Yeah. And why else? Yeah, one is the time is getting short. That's another good reason. Time is getting short. And let's ask this question. Do you do kind of casual, incidental things when your time is short? No? Time is short, I've got to make sure I clip my nails. The time is short, I'll make sure I dust the bookshelves. Now, usually when people have realized their time is very short, they want to do the stuff that they figure really matters, the stuff that really counts, that's top priority, it's very likely what they're going to do. They're going to choose the events that are most important, because the rest of it is just going to go away. So that's one thing. Here's another.

Here's Matthew 10, 5 and 6 on the top of page 4. Then the twelve, these twelve, the twelve that he had picked, the disciples, he sent out after instructing them, and he said, ìDo not go in the way of the Gentiles. Do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.î So here's Matthew chapter 10. Here's Matthew 15 right below it, 21 through 28.

Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. By the way, Tyre and Sidon was a pagan area, but it was within the area that the Jews were supposed to have taken. Jesus went on more than one instance into places where the Jews were supposed to have taken the land.

Why would he do that? Why would he go to those places if the Jews did not take it? It was a part of the land that was promised and to be included in the coming kingdom, and he was king over Israel, the land and the people. So he would go there. So here's Tyre and Sidon, where he would, in great part, meet only Gentiles.

And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, Have mercy on me, Lord, son of David, my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. But he did not answer her a word. So this is consistent. And his disciples came and implored him, saying, Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us. This lady is persistent.

He answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Which, by the way, is a phrase you'll hear out of the Old Testament by the prophet Jeremiah. But she came and began to bow down to him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

But she said, Yes, Lord, even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus said to her, O woman, your faith is great. It shall be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed at once. Dogs is a euphemism for Gentiles.

That's Jewish speak. So it was in fact Jesus' pattern to put the emphasis on ministry to Israel. I was sent only the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He rarely had interactions with the Gentiles. In this case, only because the woman was incredibly persistent.

Incredibly persistent. Now, let's go back to the start of the passage I just read here in John. I want to clarify verse 24 by pointing out that the Greek has it as the grain of wheat, not a grain of wheat. Very important distinction. I think the translators oopsed when they did that. So it would read more like this.

In verse 24, on the bottom of page 3, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it, the grain, dies, it bears much fruit. What's he talking about? The grain of wheat dies. His own death, that's correct. He's talking about his own death, that's why he used the definite article rather than just simply, you know, a grain of wheat, like the translations seem to have it. It's the definite article, he has to die first.

He's telling these guys, look, you all just saw this triumphal entry, you know, event, and it was really incongruous. You know, here you come in, you know, all these, you know, Hail King Jesus and all that, praise to God, you know, Hallel, all these words of praise, and at the same time Jesus is sobbing at the same event. The Jewish leaders are challenging Him and saying, Rebuke your disciples. Really strange event. And basically He's telling them, Look, I'm the King, but this isn't the time.

My time to die has come. And that's got to happen first. And that's why you didn't just witness the king being embraced as the king here. Because I've got to die first. Degrain. Degrain. Not agrain. Because he hasn't given some kind of principle in general. It's him. And he has to die first, and that's why this isn't a triumphal entry. And that's why I was not embraced as king, because I have to die first.

And then I will bear much fruit, and later I'll come as the king. Later I'll come as the king. Now, the next thing, verses 25 and 26, was a call to discipleship, but the principle of the grain dying is applied to the disciples themselves. You get the picture here in verse 25. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. Who is the one who loves his life and will lose it? Judas is the one who will love his life and lose it. Does he love his life?

Yeah. Give me the money. Show me the money. Let's end it for me. Right now. Will he lose it? Yeah, in less than a week. See that? He loves his life, loses it. But for the rest of you, for the rest of you, you hate his life. Does he mean that he wants you to hate his life? I mean, just hate your life? Is that what he's talking about?

This is Jewish hyperbole, where where it's hate by comparison. It's hate by comparison. Stan? Yes, it's a relative statement expressed in extreme. Expressed in extreme. It doesn't mean that, boy, I just get up in the morning, boy, I hate life. That's not the point. Is that the same word that Paul used in Romans when he said that God said, I have to look that up. I don't know that offhand. It may be, but I don't know. Yes, and that's one thing that's important to take a look at is when there's Jewish hyperbole like this, and this isn't the only place that shows up. You mentioned that place at the moment.

When we look at passages like that to understand, it's even one about hating your parents. How do you honor your parents and hate them? The point is to see the Jewish use of hyperbole as compared to love for the Lord. The love for parents is, by comparison, hate.

So that's an important thing to look at, especially in the Jewish context there. So you have the one who loves this life, Judas, would be the one who would lose it before the week is out. But the other eleven, who don't understand a lot of this yet, the other eleven are the ones who would come to, using Jewish hyperbole, hate this life. and continue on to be used of the Lord. So he's spelling out in here not just some general statements about discipleship, but he's talking about himself, himself as the grain that falls and dies, he's talking about Judas, the one who loves this life, and he's talking about the rest of the disciples who would go on and be used of the Lord as his apostles.

Okay, I think there's one thing. He has a particular context that he's talking to them about. That being said, there is a broader principle. In other words, we can make application elsewhere because this is not true for everyone, right? So there is an immediate application and context that he's talking about, and we start that out by looking at it's really not A-grain, but Z-grain, referring to himself. So he's making differentiation among himself and even the disciples there.

Is there application for us? Most certainly there is. Because the broader application that we can take home is that this very same thing applies. The one who loves this life and does everything for this life will lose it. So there is a broader application that goes to everyone. Does that help?

The immediate perspective where he says follow me, he must follow me in these verses. That's what he asked or invited his disciples. That's right. At the beginning what did he say to his disciples? Follow me. And what's he saying now that his time on earth is coming close to an end?

What's happening is the following will be different for the first three years than it would be for the years after that. So the following will be different, but the invitation sounds very much the same. What the disciples still haven't caught on to is that the grain must die. They haven't caught up to that yet. OK. Thoughts on this? Insights? Yeah.

The love-hate hyperbole there, you could probably say the disciples had an eternal spiritual perspective that overshadowed this earthly perspective. So it wasn't the heathen's life. I guess, and we'll understand it more later, but it's love, the eternal life, or first following Christ. Because they gave their lives. Yes. Yes, yes they did. Yeah. Yeah, Steve?

Is there any place in Scripture that it talks about, you know, there was an inner circle for the disciples, like James, John, Matthew, right? So what about Jesus? Is there anything you can draw off that says anything about if he was clearly associated with anyone or who did he belong to? Well, you know, that's a very interesting thing. What we observe is not so much that Jesus said, well, here's my inner circle and you're the next or something like that. If we look at the 12, and by the way, were the 12 the only disciples? No, no, there were others as well. At one point in time, it talks about 70 that get sent out, okay?

So there were others, but here among the twelve, there are particular ones we sometimes see special attention given to Peter. Peter, James, and John, sometimes special attention. So it's not because of any statement, but just observation. That particular attention is paid to Peter, and Peter, James, and John, if you look at three.

And then some of them, it's interesting, you see them on a list of disciples, but almost nothing is said directly. So the disciples were not supposedly, I guess you'd say, created equal. The disciples were not all evenly dealt with and evenly addressed.

And yet, here on the other hand is Judas, here's Jesus, you know, I'll pick that guy, knowing full well that's going to be my betrayer. That guy is going to pilfer. That guy is going to say, show me the money, every time. And I'm going to pick that guy. And can you imagine the creepy feeling that you would get if you were sent out with Judas two by two? Here's Matthew 10, you sent him out two by two, and you went out with that guy. That would probably make your skin crawl. Yeah, looking back on it.

Jesus says nothing about this guy. Jesus loves him just like everyone else and never says or does anything that makes you suspect that this guy is a rat. This guy is scum. And you have no idea. Jesus loves him just like all the others. It is astounding. It is amazing. Jesus loved Judas so much and expressed it so that they never knew up to the last hours. This is love where Jesus loved Judas and expressed it so that none of the disciples ever had a clue. And this is grace. This is love that does not depend on the lovability of the recipient. This is love that does not depend upon the lovability of the recipient.

Amazing. It should be. It should be amazing. It should be astounding. And then, that's the exact same word that is told to husbands. Husbands love their wives. completely without regard for the lovability of the recipient. That kind of thing. This is amazing stuff to ponder, and as we go through the events of this next several days in the weeks ahead, as we study in the Gospel of John. It's just something to ponder and let it sink in, just how amazing God's love and God's grace is. And it was not hypothetical. Christ expressed it to the point that the disciples hadn't a clue who it was who would be lived there. Not a clue. It seems that he had that love for the Jewish leaders. Yeah, yeah.

One of the things that we saw as we were going through earlier the Gospel of John, here Jesus would tell the Jewish leaders, and at one point he says, unless you believe you will die in numerous sins. But he continues even after that to give the Jewish leaders the Gospel. continues to give them opportunities to believe even though they're in a desperate situation, and spiritually it does not look good for them.

He still gives them the gospel. Really, God's been doing that for centuries. You go through the Old Testament prophets, you hear, okay, go in and warn these people. Well, they're not going to listen. You warn them anyway. Yeah, this is amazing the way God shows His love. Again and again and again. God's grace should be amazing. Yeah, Tom? What you really need to accept is that in the end testament times God would save two people through the prophets.

Of course you won't be listening to it, but this is what's going to happen after you receive So, you know, if you think about it, the Lord could simply be real efficient and say, I'm only going to have Christ die for the ones that are going to believe. And I'm only going to have the gospel given to those who are going to listen and respond. Is that the way God works? Christ dies for the sins of the whole world, even those He knows will not believe. And the message is given, even to those that He knows will not respond.

That's grace. That's amazing grace. And I think that's something for us to ponder. We're going to see more of that as we go through this rest of the Gospel of John. By the way, we're at the halfway point. I had to turn for time. As we continue to go through this Gospel of John, we're going to see that God's grace is indeed amazing. God presents the Gospel. God provides for people to believe, even though those people never will. God's grace is like that. It's not efficient, but that's not the point. If God wanted to be efficient, He could, but He doesn't. He's not talking about efficiency here. He's talking about love and grace that are infinite, way beyond human incapacity. For us, we'd be able to demonstrate it here or there, but not always, not in every situation.

Years ago, before Nancy and I were even engaged, I was taking a philosophy class. To make a long story short, it came out at the very final of the exam that I was a Christian. And so after the exam, a guy came and pursued me just outside the class. His name was Vince. And he said, you know, I'm an atheist. And I said, that's great. Let's have you come over for dinner and let's talk about it. So that night he came over. Gave him dinner, the steaks off the ranch, and we talked. But one of the things I talked about is that God's grace is amazing.

You don't believe in him, and you don't believe in the price that he paid, but I believe he paid it anyway. Vince walked away. That night, he was still an atheist. But a year later, I saw him across the room, like 10 years old, through those windows at church. After the service, Vince, what are you doing here? You're an atheist. He says, correction, I'm a former atheist.

Sometimes people's hearts will be touched by how amazing that grace is. I think that was the case with Vince. So there are times and places where people do respond, but to what otherwise you would look at and say, well, where's God's opportunity here? Sometimes people's eyes are open, and it was forbidden. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you. Thank you for this passage. Thank you for the truths in it. Thank you for the insights that we have from it. And Lord, as we saw here in this last little bit, thank you for amazing grace that dies even for those who will refuse it. Thank you for amazing grace that shows love even when the recipient is completely unlovable. And Lord, we are amazed. We are astounded. And we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.