The Greatest Request Ever Made

WELCOME:

Evangelism today

Prayer meeting this Wednesday (no meal)

SCRIPTURE READING:

Revelation 1:4–8 NASB95

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!

“The Goodness of God”

Words and Music by Hillsong’

PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS

Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS

Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen

SERMON

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to everyone! What a privilege it is to be here on this day, worshiping the Lord Jesus in this church together!

I want to begin with a prayer for our nation. I’m sure most of you know what is going on in Iran and Israel and and US. And so I want us to pause and to pray for God to glorified through this and He would watch over His people.

~PRAYER~

Here is the 2,000 year old question: How can I find Jesus? People have been looking and searching for Jesus for 2,000 years. They’ve looked in the tomb, He’s not there. They’ve searched for Him in the ark, they cannot find it or any trace of it. They’ve read about Him in the Bible but still cannot find Him. And many come into churches all over the world searching for Jesus and not really ever knowing how to find Him.

That’s just what happened in John 12:

John 12:20–22 NASB95

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then 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; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.

“We wish to see Jesus”

I do believe that is the greatest request request ever made. I can’t tell you how excited I would be to have someone comer into the church and say, “I’m looking for Jesus”….”do you know how I can find Him?”

That is exactly what these Greeks were saying.

And it is so interesting that Jesus does not respond to them (directly). He never says, here I am! Come over here and let me solve all of your problems! Let me give you eternal life. Let me love you unconditionally.

He turns to the crowd (which certainly includes these Greeks) and explains to them in great gospel truth exactly how they can find Jesus.

And we are going to pull out three spiritual truths out of this passage today about how the world can find Jesus.

~PRAYER~

1) You must die before you can live

John 12:23-26

Start Here:

“truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”

Jesus uses the illustration of a seed to illustrate that death actually has the ability to bring about life.

Think about a Wheat seed

For a seed to do what a seed is designed to do, it must die. So when someone takes a seed and put’s it into the ground, that seed then sprouts into a plant (which destroying the seed) but then that plant then produces a crop. If the seed does not die, then it remains a seed.

When Jesus said the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, He is referring to His death and His resurrection.

So the seed illustration is what he is using to illustrate what he is going to do when He is hung on the cross and then resurrected from the dead.

He is the seed that will die, He is the seed that will be put into the ground. And through His death and resurrection and glorification, He will produce a great harvest.

But look what he says immediately following that illustration: (v 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 he talking about now? Anyone who would desire to come to know Jesus. Just like these Greeks who came to this feast and heard Jesus was there and said, “we would like to meet Jesus!” Or anyone in the entire world who is interested in Jesus, THESE ARE THE CONDITIONS:

“He who loves His life loses it”

That is, anyone who clings to own life in such a way that he is not willing to allow God to have it, direct it, giide it, own it, he will lose it in the end.

Lets go back tot he Seed Illustration

When the sower goes out to sow the seed, he has to give up that seed. Let’s say that seed is a kernel of corn.

He could keep that little kernel, save it and eat it, and it would bring him a little tiny bit of satisfaction….but tomorrow he is going to have the same problem and eventually he’s going to starve to death and lose his life trying to hang on to what he has.

“and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal”

Now lets first clarify what Jesus means by “hates his life”. And I know because you are such an attentive group that you already know what that means. I bet you Devron is about to burst at the seams wanting to tell us and that makes me so happy.

In light of what we just learned in Romans chapter 9, does Jesus want us to “hate” our earthly life or does he mean something else?

He means “to love our life less”.

So lets put that in there and see if it makes more sense: “and he who loves his life less in this world will keep it to life eternal”

Back to the Seed Illustration

Now lets say that same sower had that same kernel of corn and instead of clinging to that kernel, he was willing to give it up, lose it, and put it in the ground.

And he did that, and then a plant grew and produced a crop.

Heres the point and I want you to listen very carefully: This truth is about self-denial. It is the willingness to not make our own interests and our desires, and our dreams, and OUR SELF THE PRIORITY IN OUR LIFE!

For ONE TO DIE (spiritually speaking) we must love ourselves less than we love God. We no longer become the individual who has rights to HIS LIFE but have willing lost his life to gain life eternal.

(v 26) “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.”

Notice where the change of focus happens here: it is no longer about me or what I want, but now the focus is now on Jesus.

“If anyone serves ME, He must follow ME

That is the one who comes to Jesus no longer get to determine his direction in life. Those rights are gone! Now it is Jesus who leads us

“where I am, there My servant will be also”

Where is Jesus? Our priority is no longer about serving self, but about serving Jesus. He becomes our Lord, he becomes our Master, our life ends and new life in Jesus begins..

You hear me speak often about repentance and faith. That is exactly what this is. Turn from this world, from sin, from self worship and turn to Jesus (the focus is on Him).

But the condition:P He who loves His life loses it, and he who hates his life will keep it to life eternal.

No one comes to Jesus without dying to this world first.

It doesn’t matter if you raise donkeys from the dead and speak in a thousand tongues of angels or preach and teach the gospel for 80 years!

No death to self, to life in Christ.

2) The cross is the place of judgement and the place of salvation

John 12:28–32 NASB95

“Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”

Explanation:

(v 31a) “Now judgment is upon this world”

The word “now” is denoting time just like when Jesus says, “the hour has come” he is saying the time is here for His death and resurrection. God’s appointed time.

And what He connects to His death is that it will bring judgement upon this world.

And when we say hold on a minute, I thought the cross was about saving people? Yes, that will happen too, but not without judgement.

When we think about judgement, we think about standing before God at the end of this age when we die and that being the judgement.

But the judgement Jesus is speaking of here is when his hour comes on the cross

That is because those who reject the Son also reject the Father, and bring God’s judgement upon themselves.

The Greeks who stood here listening to this invitation and said, nope that’s not for me, even if they said it in their hearts, they received judgement

What is that judgement?

John 3:18–19 NASB95

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

The judgement in the cross is made known known by the fact that men would rather live in their sin than they would walk in the light of Jesus!

And then we say, how is that judgement? Because sin has devastating consequences and when it is full grown it brings about death.

The judgement upon the world is that those who reject the light, choose sin, which in turns destroys them and their soul, and they do not even realize it!

And the majority of the entire world is under the judgement of God because the majority of the world rejects Jesus and chooses to embrace sin which in turn leads to to death

(v 31) “now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”

But the cross has brought judgement in another way as well: judgement upon the ruler of this world

Satan thought by entering Judas at that last supper, leading hi to betray Jesus, hang Jesus on that cross that he won….but all He did was defeat Himself.

Satan actually fulfill God’s plan that through the death of Christ, taking on the penalty of sin Himself, overcoming death and making a way for sinners to be made right with God.

Application: Let me just make a point here church: Your enemy has no more power over your life! He has no more right to condemn you! He has no more right to make you feel guilty. He is no longer your Lord and He has been defeated at the cross which means that ever soul in Jesus Christ is victorious because of the cross!

Hebrews 2:14–15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

The devil is powerless in your salvation, he cannot do anything to you concerning the eternal life that comes through the cross.

Romans 8:33–34 “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Now that’s the judgment, but here is the salvation of the cross

(v 32) “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself”

Lifted up is a reference to the cross. When Jesus speaks of being lifted up, He is referring to in just a few days they will nail his bloody body to those wooden beams and raise Him up in the air to hang and die.

But when He is lifted up, He will “draw all men to Himself”

I just want you to notice that this says “draw”. That word means to attract, to woo someone in to them.

And what when will this happen? When he is lifted up on the cross.

See what attracts men to Jesus for salvation is not to live a better life! It is not to have the earthly things fixed in our life. It is not to get honor from men or popularity.

What is so attractive about the cross is that is the place where my sins are bore on the back of my Savior!

That’s what the cross is about! Thats what the cross must be about in your life and if you want to find Jesus, you will not find Him in the prosperity gospel, you will not find him in the enthusiastic religious gatherings full of excitement, you will not find him at the cross!

You will find Him when your sins are too much to bear, when your burden is so heavy you cannot carry it anymore, you will find Him when you see Him AS THE ONE WHO CAN SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SIN AND NOTHIN MORE!

3) You must walk in the Light that you have

John 12:34–36 NASB95

The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.

Explanation:

Here Jesus gives the final instructions to the crowd, and then He goes away and hides himself from them. Walk in the light, while you have the Light.

What is Light?

In its simplest form, light gives us the ability to see. We have lights in our house, lights on the streets, and God created a natural light for us to be able to see on earth.

Light illuminates things for us and spiritually speaking light illuminates the spiritual realities of this world that otherwise are invisible to the world.

Jesus is speaking of THE Light referring to Himself. The sun gives us the ability to see God’s creation, the sky the mountains, the ability to see what is natural, Jesus is THE LIGHT that gives us the ability to see spiritually.

Jesus was saying to that crowd that day, to those who were listening to Him that what Light He had given them in His teaching, in God affirming His mission to go to the cross, of His miracles, to walk in His Light. That is the revelation of truth that He has given them, they were to embrace it and live it out…while they had the Light..

Where was the Light going? The Light was going to the cross. The physical manifestation of divine truth was leaving, and what Jesus was saying if you do not respond now to what He was saying then they would lose what Light they had. It speaks of urgency, of limited opportunity, but nevertheless it was opportunity.

And then He says, “so that the darkness will not overtake you”

What is darkness?

Darkness can be summed up in two categories:

A darkened mind

This is the person who has no spiritual light to understand. Just like we spoke about Jesus giving us light to see the Spiritual things, darkness is not being able to see or understand.

Having a darkened mind is like walking through life at night, not seeing the details of the trees, not seeing the clouds in the sky, not seeing the dangers around us, not seeing all of the details of creation.

He knows nothing other than the things of this world as he sees them. His only hope is the hope of living a long life before death overtakes him. He walks in darkness, ignorant of real life now and hereafter

A darkened heart

This is in reference to morality. Those who have a darkened heart break God’s Laws, God’s commandments, refuse God’s direction without any remorse or repentance.

They do this because they do not se the danger of sinfulness. They do not see the danger of transgression or living in sin which pits them against God.

A darkened heart has no fear of God.

What does this mean to us?

It means that there is accountability for the light Jesus gives to people.

Let’s say someone comes into a service and hears preaching, and knows whatever truth is preached applies to their life and it requires some kind of change, some kind of human response. And then we must choose. We either choose to believe what the Bible says, what Jesus says, or we reject it and by rejecting it I mean we do nothing. Our lives stay the same. And the Light (understanding) Jesus gave to us, He will take away and we will be overcome by darkness.

And we see this all the time in the church. People come in and they gain some kind of understanding, whether it be in Bible Study on Wednesdays, or preaching on Sundays, or personal Bible and revelation of tru God gives to people.

Once God gives that truth, we become accountable for what we do with that truth.

Some people hear their specific sins mentioned and instead of turning from them they get angry and leave.

Some people have trust issue and when God calls them to a deeper level of truth they refuse and “play it safe” with their lives.

But whatever it may be, we become accountable to it whether it be repentance or faith.

CONCLUSION

(v 36) “while you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light”

Believe the Light. Whatever Jesus says to you, do it.

And maybe there is something He has placed in your heart, in your mind, something that aligns with Scripture, and He is saying to you, walk in the Light.

How can we find this Biblical Jesus who left the earth 2,000 years ago and seems so far away?

Die to this world

Come to the Cross

Walk in the Light

~PRAYER~