Tiochu v'arichi yamadu ha-b'yad, yirganat
lev tis'let.
Coming down to us, that means thank you
very much for the invitation to the English
conference.
But as Havel has reminded us, we are
here as one in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and together we seek His face.
And I think it's appropriate that we turn
tonight in this first meeting to John chapter
12.
John chapter 12, and speaking especially of verse
21.
I'll read verses 20 and 21.
And there were certain Greeks among them that
came up to worship at the sea.
The same came therefore to Philip, which was
of the spider of Galilee, and desired him
saying, For we would see Jesus.
For we would see Jesus.
Now as we read through this chapter, we
see that others were at least interested in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
They wanted to see Him.
In some sense they wanted to follow Him.
For example, in the same chapter, in verse
9 we read, Much people of the Jews
therefore knew that He was there.
And they came not for Jesus' sake only,
but that they might see Lazarus also, whom
He had raised from the dead.
They knew that the Lord Jesus Christ had
raised Lazarus from the dead.
They wanted to see Jesus, but they also
wanted to see Lazarus.
Now perhaps, it's possible to interpret it in
a different way I know, but perhaps this
was a matter of curiosity.
They were interested in Lazarus as the one
who had come back from the dead.
They were interested in the unusual, in the
spectacular.
And John tells us that they wanted to
see Jesus, but Lazarus also.
And it is possible that some have come
perhaps even to this conference, looking for the
unusual, looking for the spectacular, looking for Lazarus
if you like.
Now it's possible, as I suggested, to interpret
that in a good way.
But it's also possible to interpret it in
perhaps what you could say a bad way.
To have that desire to be moved and
to be moved emotionally only.
To be moved on a superficial level.
And then we will have some kind of
experience, and then after going from here we
lose it.
And then we'll go somewhere else to find
another experience, and then we'll lose it again.
Of course we want to be moved emotionally.
Of course I'm sure we are one in
that.
Indeed it is our desire to be moved
to the very depth of our being.
I'm only suggesting that it's possible to be
influenced only in an emotional way.
Then again, later on in the same chapter,
verses 12 and 13, we read, On the
next day, following on from what we've read,
On the next day, much people that were
come to the feast, when they heard that
Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of
palm trees and went forth to meet him,
and cried, Hosanna!
Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh
in the name of the Lord.
Now surely they are more than interested in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
It appears to us that they believe him.
It appears to us that they are following
him.
They are ready even to crown him as
king.
And yet, we know as we read from
the context there, Thus, they had misread the
scriptures.
They had misread the Old Testament.
They had misrepresented and misinterpreted the scriptures of
God.
They did believe in a king, but not
the king that was prophesied in the Old
Testament.
They had their own ideas concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ.
They had their own concept of what it
was to believe in him, and to acknowledge
him, and to crown him as king.
They had prejudged the Lord Jesus Christ.
They had their own ideas.
They had their own preconceived ideas of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And it is possible that some have come
to the conference with preconceived ideas.
Not only concerning the gospel itself, but possibly
concerning the speakers.
Possibly you have already decided that some of
them are too hyper, and others are too
low.
Some of you have already decided that some
of them are not charismatic enough, and others
are too charismatic.
You have already decided what you want.
You have already decided what you want to
hear from this particular pulpit.
You have a preconceived idea of what this
conference should be.
Do you notice here that the Lord Jesus
Christ rebukes them, and in a sense rebukes
them without saying anything at all, as he
did with the first group of people.
More than just two examples.
Then we say, and there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at
the peak.
Certain Greeks, those who were interested in the
Jewish faith, God-hearers, those who are allowed
to come to the outer core, but were
not allowed to enter into the inner core.
Now they come.
They, certain Greeks, not the people who asked
to see Lazarus, not the people who prepared
the way for the Lord Jesus Christ to
go to Jerusalem, but certain Greeks, these people
come.
And it is they who ask, sir, we
would see Jesus.
We.
Whatever they say.
This is our desire.
This is our prayer.
We are seeking.
We want to know him.
That is what they are saying.
Sir, we desire to see.
Now it would be quite easy for them
to see Jesus, not only from a distance,
but it would be quite possible for them
to draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ
and have a good look at him.
And yet they ask, we desire to see
Jesus.
We want to meet with him.
We want to talk with him.
We want to share with him.
We want him to teach us.
We want to sit at his feet.
We want to see.
And we want to see Jesus.
And yet, although he is a human person,
we have some idea that he is more
than that.
We want to know.
We want to be sure.
We want to see Jesus.
And then the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't answer
them.
Sir, we would like, we would see Jesus.
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew.
And again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
And Jesus answered them, saying.
We are not quite sure who he is
referring to.
Then Philip and Andrew, obviously.
Possibly the Greeks as well.
And others who are listening.
But he doesn't answer the question directly.
Sir, we would see Jesus.
Jesus answered them, saying.
The hour is come that the Son of
Man should be glorified.
It's not an answer to the question.
And yet it is an answer to the
question.
This is characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't it?
We won't turn to the examples now.
But you remember chapter three.
And the question that Nicodemus asked him, Jesus
Christ didn't answer him.
We come on to chapter four.
And the question that the woman at the
well asked him, he doesn't answer her.
And yet he does.
The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't always answer our
questions.
That is, as we ask them.
But he always meets with our needs.
And this is what he is doing here.
And he is telling these people, you've asked
to see me.
Well, says the Lord Jesus Christ, let me
tell you.
How it is possible for you to see
me.
What does it mean to see me?
Well, says the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Here is the Lord Jesus Christ himself saying,
this is the way.
If you want to see me, then this
is the way for you to see me.
He doesn't answer, but then suggests the answer
in the verses that follow, especially from, say,
verse 23, forward, verse 24, verse 25, 26.
He suggests an answer there.
And at the same time, establishes a general
principle, before going on then to apply it
to himself in a particular way.
He goes on from verse 27 to say
what this means to him.
This is what it means to me, to
make it possible for you to see me,
and to see my glory, and to see
the glory of the Father.
This is what it will mean to me,
he says, from verse 27 on to verse
30.
Then from verse 31 to verse 33, he
elaborates on that particular point.
And he pinpoints his death and what he
will accomplish in and through his death.
31, 32 and 33.
And then with 34 to 36, there is
a further word of application.
There was application even at the beginning.
But then he comes back to it, and
he applies the word at the end there.
There is a word of exhortation to acknowledge
the light, to walk in the light while
it is light.
And then there is a warning, a warning
for them to realise what it means to
refuse the light, and to walk in darkness.
What then does it mean to see Jesus?
Well, the law of Jesus Christ himself tells
us that to see Jesus is to see
him in his glory.
But what does it mean to see Jesus
in his glory?
It is to see Jesus on the cross.
This is something which we find in John.
Now there are other uses of the term,
of the word glory.
He refers to glory, for example, in terms
of a miracle.
The turning of the water into wine.
And he manifested forth his glory in terms
of power, manifestation of power.
And of course there are references, John 17
for example, there are references to the glory
of heaven.
To be a presence of God, that is
glory.
But here, and in other parts of John,
he tells us that we must see the
glory of God in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is what he tells us here.
And what does that mean?
Can we just suggest a few things tonight?
And first of all we say this, that
we see the glory of the cross as
we look at this passage in its immediate
context and the more general context of the
gospel.
We see the glory of the cross as
Satan is cast out.
That we see the glory of the cross
as Satan is cast out.
Verse 31, now is the judgment of this
world.
Now shall the prince of this world be
cast out.
There is a prince that is this world.
In enmity, in rebellion against God.
That's the domain, the dominion.
But there is a prince, the ruler, and
he is Satan.
He is the devil.
And there is a world of enmity against
God, ruled and governed and controlled by this
personal being, superhuman, Satan, devil himself.
And now says this verse to us and
the following verses, now is the judgment of
this world.
And now shall the prince of this world
be cast out.
This is the judgment.
And the judgment was the death of Christ
on the cross.
As Christ died on the cross, as he
was crucified, there was a judgment.
As he was crucified, there was a casting
out.
There was a judgment.
The world is judged.
The world is judging Christ's death.
It is a judgment in this sense.
It is a judgment in terms of good
and evil.
Jesus Christ is the personification of good.
Satan is the personification of evil.
And here the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, cast out the evil one.
There is the judgment of good on evil.
There is the judgment of justice on injustice.
There is the judgment of righteousness on unrighteousness.
That is, there is a judgment in the
sense that he makes the distinction, he distinguishes
clearly, finally, in absolute terms, between what is
right and what is wrong.
And as Christ died upon the cross, then
he, the evil one, was cast out.
He is judged.
The other world here, as it were, meets
this world.
Heaven meets earth.
God meets Satan.
There is the meeting of contraries.
And it is here that we see the
condemnation.
He passes judgment on what is happening in
the world.
He passes judgment on the evil one.
What does the world desire?
What has the world done for us?
Well, we could express it in so many
different ways.
The world wants.
The world desires.
The world has its lust.
The world wants life, freedom, liberty, to live
its life in its own way, according to
its lust.
And here we look to the cross.
We look to this world.
And then we look to the cross.
And what we will see on the cross?
We see one was come to die for
others.
One was come to die in order to
give life to others.
This is not characteristic of the world.
It's uncharacteristic of the world.
But this is the characteristic, the characteristic of
God's doing, of God coming and giving his
son to die upon the cross.
What do we see in this world?
What is characteristic of this world?
What will we think of this world in
terms of power, and authority, and strength, in
the physical sense, in the mental sense, in
so many different ways?
It is power, and authority, and provision.
And here the almighty God, the eternal God,
who has no beginning and no end, he
comes into this world.
He comes into the world of God.
And how does he come?
As a little baby, born in Bethlehem, helpless,
conceived in Mary's womb, sucking her breast, depending
on the family, depending on his friends, the
helpless one coming into Bethlehem.
And as the baby comes into this world,
Bethlehem, lusting after authority and power, is God.
He passes judgment on it.
What do we see in this world?
Well, we see not only power in a
general sense, but we see so very often
the expression of military power, and military might.
The great powers of this world, they are
the powers that we must take note of.
They are the important influences in this world.
We must think of power in terms of
military power.
We must think of it in terms of
peace, and harmony, and so on.
When the eternal God comes into this world,
he comes to hang upon a cross, and
to be nailed to a tree, and to
hang helpless, as if he could do nothing
at all.
And in his helplessness, he passes judgment upon
this world.
This world lives in sin.
Not only does this world live in sin,
not only does it live in sin, it
always wants to hide its sin.
Sin is committed, as Scripture reminds us so
often, in the dark, during the night, in
darkness.
The world wants to hide everything.
What happened on the cross?
Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, revealed
clearly what sin is.
What an explosion.
We have been reminded in recent days, haven't
we, of what has been happening in Northern
Ireland.
And we are told by so many of
the papers, the exposure of the century, and
the read of Arthur's Supergraph.
Now whatever we think of him, we are
not going to discuss that.
But here is him exposed in such a
way.
But think of the eternal God coming, and
the only thing he did was to appear
upon this earth.
And the moment he stepped onto this earth,
this world was condemned.
Because we see in him what it is
to be sinless.
And it is in the sinless hand, in
the sinless person of the Savior, that we
really see what is the nature of sin.
It is to be different from him.
And if we are in any way different,
then we are condemned by his sinless love.
The exposure of the century in the Son
of God.
His person, his death, is a condemnation of
this world.
Now the word here in tears is the
word that we could say is crisis.
That is the word for judgment.
Now we know what a crisis is.
We know what it is in the medical
realm when a person is ill.
The doctor will tell you, well, perhaps tomorrow
the crisis will come.
The crisis will come tomorrow.
The crisis perhaps will come the day after.
That is, the turning point will come.
That is, at that moment it will be
life or death.
That moment will be the turning point.
And as we look to Calvary, and as
we look at the law of Jesus Christ,
at that moment when he died, it was
the turning point.
As far as Satan was concerned, as far
as this world was concerned, at that moment
it meant death.
It meant captivity for Satan.
It meant freedom and conquest for the Saviour.
It was the turning point.
Now from the standpoint of this world, there
was uncertainty.
And there is always an uncertainty in crisis.
It is part of the crisis.
There was uncertainty as far as this world
was concerned, but no uncertainty.
As far as God was concerned, He knew
what the outcome was.
He had ordained it from the very beginning.
He as Father knew it.
He as Son knew it.
They had agreed to it, even in the
councils of eternity.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, came
into this world, and as He died upon
the cross, He knew that this was the
turning point as far as Satan was concerned.
And therefore, Satan is cast out.
Some would suggest, cast down, because he is
no longer on the throne.
He is cast down.
Indeed, others would suggest he was thrown out.
But he was.
What of Satan before Calvary?
Well, before Calvary, Satan had been cast out
of heaven.
But after being cast out of heaven, he
really believed that he was the prince of
this world.
Not in a limited sense, as we see
it in the scriptures, but in a general
sense of this world.
And he believed now, of course, we know
that he was an usurper.
It wasn't his mind.
He was ruling as an usurper, and that
was true of him from the moment he
fell until Calvary.
But until then, he really believed that he
could rule and govern this world.
When Christ died, he was cast out.
He has no claim to the throne.
He can never sit on that throne.
Not even as an usurper.
In the same way that it is impossible
for Satan to go back to heaven to
rule, it's impossible for him to go back
to the throne of this world in space
and time to rule.
Because he has been conquered, he has been
changed, and will be changed from that conquest
even to his second coming.
And I won't elaborate on that particular question,
but he will be changed.
Because Christ is the victor.
But now is the prince of this world.
Cast out.
Now he spends that moment that Christ died
upon the cross.
He is cast down from the...
Because he is the deceiver, he is thrown
out.
We are greatly concerned, aren't we, with the
future of our world.
Not only the future of the present generation,
but literally the future of the whole universe.
And people are asking, is it possible for
us, for one person, usually referred to as
a fool, to express the truth of the
world, and that will be the end of
the world?
Now we don't know whether God will act
directly or indirectly to bring about the end
of the world.
The suggestion at least in Scripture is that
he will act directly.
But even if he acted indirectly by second
coming, then the end would be no accident.
It would be according to his plans.
It would be according to what he has
proposed.
How can we be so sure?
The prince of this world has been cast
out.
He hasn't got the right to bring about
the end of the world.
If he does so in any way, it
will be by God's permission.
Because he has set his own plan to
sit forever on the throne.
The Lord Jesus Christ is sealed to be
on the throne after Calvary.
He was on the throne prior to Calvary,
of course he was.
But now he is sealed to be.
And that's what it is.
To see the glory of the cross.
To see the glory in the cathedral of
the universe.
And then we could say, we see the
glory of the cross in the lifting up
of Jesus.
Verse 23, And Jesus answered them, saying, The
hour is come that the Son of Man
should be glorified.
And then, verse 32, And I, if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me.
Now will the Son of Man be glorified.
I, if I be lifted up.
And the glorifying, the glorification, the lifting up,
they both refer to the cross.
And there is the glory of the Father
and the glory of the Son in the
lifting up of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why the lifting up?
Well, I suppose there are a number of
reasons.
I can only suggest one or two.
First of all, I think it is the
lifting up.
It is the lifting up because the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ had to be
a spectacle.
Because it had to be accomplished in the
face, in the presence of all presence.
This was not done in a corner.
But for all to see, and to look
at, and to realize what was happening, it
had to be a spectacle.
And what a terrible spectacle the death of
the cross was.
What a terrible spectacle was it even in
the physical sense as we look to the
Savior.
And what do we see as we look
at that person hanging upon the cross?
What do we see?
We see the crown of thorns.
We see the pierced side.
We see the parched tongue.
We see the broken heart.
What a spectacle.
We see one suffering.
We see one dying in shame.
He has no form or comeliness.
No beauty that we should desire him.
Despite, rejected man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief.
Despite that he esteemed him.
Not, not worth looking at as he suffered
upon the cross.
And yet, in that spectacle there was a
lifting up.
And I, if I will be exalted from
the earth.
The lifting up was the exaltation of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the very act of dying.
The very act of hanging upon the cross.
Of course it does point to the resurrection
and the ascension and the glorification and the
coming again of the Son of God.
But here, John pinpoints the cross.
This was the way in which God exalted
His Son.
By giving Him to die on the cross.
And if I be lifted up, if I
will be exalted, then here will the glory
of the Father be redeemed.
This hour, this hour when He died, God's
time, this hour.
And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ then says
this is the hour, but then He says
save me from this hour.
Father, save me from this hour.
Now He says, is my soul troubled?
The soul of the Lord Jesus Christ troubled?
As He looked to the cross?
Is He a weakling?
Is He afraid to die?
Is it too much to say that He
did know fear?
As a human being, and as a true,
and as a perfect human being, yet that
He knew fear as He faced the cross.
He was never unwilling to die.
Never unwilling.
That does not mean that He experienced fear.
In the physical sense.
In the spiritual sense.
It's not surprising, surely.
Because He was the Son of God as
well.
And as Son of God, He knew what
it meant.
He knew what was involved in going to
the cross.
And as He looked to the cross, He
thought, God, save me from this hour.
That is not of necessity that He wants
to avoid it, but that God will be
with Him.
Save me.
Be with me.
I know how terrible it is going to
be.
Why was it terrible?
The Son addresses God as His Father.
Father.
Father, He says a number of times in
this passage.
And as He goes to the cross, the
Son knows that He has to meet the
Father in a new way.
He hasn't met the Father in this way
before.
He used to be in the bosom of
the Father, enjoying perfect bliss.
But now He's going to the cross, and
He's going to meet His Father.
And He's going to know the judgment and
the condemnation and the wrath of the Father
upon sin, because He is taking our sin
upon Him.
And He is terrified.
Save me.
But He's never unwilling.
But for this a cause came I into
this hour.
He was at the same time delighting in
doing the Father's will.
It was one of the great wonders of
the passage that we see here the Son
of God going in obedience to the will
of the Father.
He says, this is true.
I know what will happen.
It is terrifying.
It is terrible.
But for this cause came I into this
hour.
It is my need to do the will
of my Father and to accomplish the work
He has given to me.
I do it willingly, readily.
I obey You even unto death, the death
of a cross.
And as He did so, Father, glorify Thy
name.
What obedience!
In His obedience He had an eye to
the Father's glory.
And He said, Father, glorify Thy name.
And at that moment, when the Son cried,
Father, glorify Thy name, then came there a
voice from heaven, I have most glorified and
will glorify it again.
That is, says the Father, my name, my
very character will be revealed on the cross.
The character of God revealed in you, you
early person, on the cross.
It is here that we see His love.
It is here that we see His mercy.
It is here that we see His love.
It is here that we see His judgment.
All the characteristics of His being are revealed
as Christ died upon the cross.
I will glorify my name in your death.
And the moment the Son said glorify, I
will glorify because this was God's will and
this was the Son's obedience.
And the Son tells this in our nature.
He tells this in our nature.
Now is the Son of Man glorified and
I, Jesus, and I, the Son of Man,
if I will be lifted up, I will
glorify all names.
Now, of course, we are clear aren't we
on this?
This phrase, this term in Scripture, generally speaking
it's wrong to draw a clear cut distinction
between Son of God and Son of Man
and say Son of God stands for His
deity and Son of Man stands for His
humanity.
We can't be as clear cut as that.
We can't be, for example, as we think
of the Son of Man in Daniel.
Although the humanity is even suggested there.
But the main emphasis is on the supernatural
being connected with the clouds of heaven, the
Son of Man in power and dominion.
But occasionally, and I think this is true
of this passage, the phrase Son of Man
does concentrate on the weakness and on the
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here John tells us that the Son
of Man is lifted up.
That the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God did what He did in our nature.
The nature He took unto Himself.
A nature He took unto Himself in order
to live in this world and in order
to die upon the cross.
And therefore, when He was lifted up, then
human nature was lifted up with Him and
exalted and glorified in the person of the
Son of God Himself.
And we see the glory of God in
a human form as Christ died upon the
cross.
The glory of the cross in the lifting
up of the Son of Man.
And then, I think we can suggest one
other point, I think.
And it is this, I think.
We see the glory of the cross.
Not only the casting out of Satan, not
only the lifting up of Jesus, but also
in the drawing of sinners.
In the drawing of sinners.
And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto Me.
And you notice how He emphasizes it?
And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, I will draw all men unto
Me.
The drawing power of Christ.
The drawing power of the crucified Saviour.
The same power, the same drawing power as
is mentioned, you remember, for example, not in
the only chapter, for example, in John chapter
6, verse 44.
No man can come unto Me except the
Father which hath sent Me draw him.
That's the only way to God.
It is withdrawn by God Himself.
It is withdrawn by the Saviour Himself.
There is no other way.
And we are again told the same gospel,
John chapter 3, verses 14 to 16.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up.
That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
For God so loved the world.
In the same way, when He lifted up
His Son, even as Moses lifted up the
serpent, for God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
If you look by faith in an acknowledgement
of your sin and look to the Saviour,
He will draw you with the power of
His love and of His mercy in that
He died upon the cross.
We meet with God here.
We meet with Him here.
And as we meet with Him, we can
know and experience the transforming power of His
love.
In, first of all, as we suggested, in
bringing sinners to God.
In that act, in that experience of bringing
man, the sinner, into a new relationship with
God Himself.
It is the drawing power of God.
We can accomplish it.
It must be so.
It can't be otherwise.
Do you remember what the Hebrew writer said?
That is, he used the use of his
words to illustrate the point.
Do you remember his confession?
As he moved from verse to verse?
And here he comes and he says, Well,
I'm a Christian.
I haven't always been a Christian.
But he says, this is what happened to
me.
And then he explains, Lord, he says, I
was blind.
And if a person is blind, he needs
his sight.
And he cannot restore it himself.
I was blind.
I could not see, in thy mad vision,
any grace.
Is that true this evening?
Can you think?
Can you read of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Can you look to Calvary?
Can you see who the one is who
died there?
And then say, well, what does it mean?
Does it mean of you to ask yourself,
does it mean, well, am I blind?
It could be so.
And if it is so, then God alone
can perform the miracle.
I was blind, but now, I was blind,
but now, the beauty of thy face in
radiant vision dawns on me.
What has happened?
The Father has drawn me.
He has come to God through the sight.
I was deaf.
I could not hear the thrilling music of
thy voice, but now I hear.
I hear thee and rejoice, and all thine
uttered words are dear.
I was dumb, but now I can speak.
I was dead, but now, since thou hast
quickened me, I rise from sins, dark sepulcher.
Lord, thou hast made the blind to see,
the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak,
the dead to live, and lo, I break
the chains of my captivity.
It must be God's work.
And His alone.
As we look to the cross, and know
His grace and His mercy in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And then, lastly, not only we see the
glory of the cross in the drawing of
sinners, in the sense of bringing sinners to
God.
That's the first step.
But also, in enabling those sinners to live
a Christ-like life.
To enable those sinners brought to God to
live a Christ-like life.
That is that life, where the ruling, where
the governing principle is that you have to
die in order to live.
That's why He drew out, as it were,
the general principle at the beginning.
The hour has come that the Son of
Man should be glorified.
And we have concentrated on His death.
As we should.
But then you remember, verily, verily, I say
unto you, except the corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
That is, by itself.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit.
And we see it working in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, of course, there's the atoning factor that
is concerned.
But the same principle is there.
And when we are brought to Him, then
we are brought to such a life.
We are brought to a life where we
must die in order to live.
Where that corn of wheat, as we are
told there, must fall into the ground and
die.
If it does not, then it abides alone
by itself.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit.
It is in this way that we live
as Christians in this world.
If we have been brought to God, drawn
by Him, then we are drawn and brought
to this kind of life.
What we find in the world, the world
wants to find its own soul, as it
were, is unwilling to die and therefore will
die.
The Christian will die and therefore he will
live.
What does it matter if we gain the
whole world and lose our own soul?
If we lose the world, we will gain
our own souls.
It is, as one commentator puts it, it
is multiplication by death.
That's the principle of the Christian life, multiplication
by death.
We must die.
You have the seed, whatever seed you have,
you can place that seed in the palm
of your hand and you come back the
following day and the seed will be there,
the same seed, and only that seed.
You come back again, and you will still
find that seed, just that one seed there,
by itself.
If you take that same seed and plant
it in the ground and then come back
in a short while, not only will you
see the seed, you will see the seed,
well, if you dig deep enough, you know
the seed is there, you will see the
stem, you will see the wheat, you will
see the flower, you will see the tree,
or whatever it is there, because the seed
has been planted, it will bring forth.
That's the only way to live the Christian
life.
The Lord Jesus Christ tells us, if you
are ready and willing to suffer with me,
it will rain with me.
You can't rain with me if you won't
suffer with me.
It's impossible, because if you're not willing to
suffer, you're holding the seed in the palm
of your hand.
You haven't planted it.
This is the only way.
If we are to rain, then we have
to suffer with the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is true of the individual Christian is
true also collectively of the church, of the
company of believers.
The church within makes known the very life
of Christ in this world.
The life which is ready to die in
order to live.
That life in the church where we must
overcome pride, where we must esteem others better
than ourselves, where we die, that is die
to self, to live for others and for
Christ.
There was a little church, only about 20
members, and one of the leaders of that
little group really believed that he had been
called to work in another country.
And in a sense, that is a problem,
naturally so, to the small group.
Only about 20 members, and here is one
of them, the leader really, being called to
another country.
And some would react and say, well, it
can't be right.
Surely God has placed him here.
He is leading us, he is teaching us,
therefore it can't be right.
We must keep him.
We must keep him to ourselves.
But this person was convinced that he should
go.
And after discussing and praying with the others,
they eventually agreed, and he went.
And the moment he went, the little group
was blessed.
And after he went, in a very short
time really, he, this one person, was the
means of starting a number of new causes
in that other country.
Because he and the others had been willing
to die in order to live.
That is the way of God.
Then, perhaps, we could give another kind of
example, perhaps there are parents who have children.
And one of them is called to work
in a distant place.
And perhaps it would mean that the person,
the son or the daughter, would have to
go and stay there for a very, very
long time without seeing his parents.
Some parents can be very difficult.
They are not willing to leave their children
to go as if they possessed them.
I know that we can understand that to
some extent.
But yet, pride, whatever it is, has to
die.
That son, that daughter, has to go.
And the moment there is death, there will
be life.
Because it's the ruling, controlling principle of the
Christian life as we see it in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I trust that our prayer this week and
that our desire this week as we gather
together, Jew and Gentile, English and Welsh, that
we are gathered together to seek God and
His glory, and His glory in His Son,
and in His crucified Son, and our Saviour.
That we are gathered together to rejoice in
His victory, the victory in death.
That we are gathered together to survey together
again the Prince of Glory.
And that we are gathered together because we
feel that God is drawing us.
Possibly some are here who are not believers.
Surely, it's no accident that you have come
to this particular conference.
It could be that God is drawing you
to Himself through Christ.
If we are His, then we have come
to die in order to live.
The prayer of our heart is, Sir, we
would see Jesus.
Amen.