But you don't seem to have got rid
of me yet.
I think you're taking a liking to me.
I'm beginning to feel older.
Shall we turn to the Gospel of John,
and read a little in chapter 12.
John chapter 12.
We remind ourselves that this is following the
raising up of Lazarus that we have in
chapter 11, and then Jesus in Bethany with
Lazarus, Martha, Mary.
And then we follow it through, and we
find that the Lord sat upon the earth,
and he was riding into Jerusalem.
They cried, Behold thy King cometh sitting on
earth his court.
Now, when we get down to verse 19
in chapter 12, we find that the Pharisees
therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how you
prevail nothing.
Behold the world is gone after him.
This is how they summed it up.
They said, perceive ye how you prevail nothing.
Behold the world is gone after him.
And there were certain Greeks among them that
came up to worship at the feast.
The same came therefore to Philip, which was
a Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him saying,
Sir, we would see Jesus.
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew
and Philip tell Jesus.
And Jesus answered them saying, The hour is
come that the Son of Man should be
glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the
corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it,
and he that taketh his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow
me, and where I am there shall also
my servant be.
If any man serve me, him will my
father honor.
Now is my soul troubled.
Now what shall I say?
Father saved me from this hour, but for
this cause came I unto this hour.
Father glorify thy name.
Then came there a voice from heaven saying,
I have both glorified it, and will glorify
it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard
it, said that it thundered.
Others said an angel spake to him.
Jesus answered and said, this voice came not
because of me, but for your sake.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be
cast out, and I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men
unto me.
This he said signifying what death he should
die.
Now with this portion of scripture before us,
we remind ourselves that evidently, because of these
miracles that Jesus had been doing, and more
so with regard to this raising up of
Lazarus from the dead, that people everywhere were
talking about this Jesus of Nazareth.
The Pharisees were beginning to realize that the
position was somewhat hopeless as far as they
were concerned.
They said the whole world's gone after him.
Everyone seemed to be occupied talking about Jesus
of Nazareth.
What a wonderful person he was.
What a tremendous work he was doing.
The miracles that he was performing.
Jesus of Nazareth.
And so they came up to the feast,
and among those that were there at the
feast, we find there were certain Greeks.
And I like to picture this for myself.
I like to get the setting of these
things.
I sit and I find pictures in my
mind what to say.
And so I can see these crowds, people
moving around, greeting one another.
They'd come up to the feast, and among
them these Greeks.
And as these people are moving about, it
seemed to these Greeks that the name of
Jesus of Nazareth was upon every lip.
They were all talking about him.
This marvelous thing, raising this man that had
been dead for a day, raising him from
the dead.
Tremendous thing.
And so, on every lip, Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus of Nazareth.
So, there was kindled in the hearts of
these Greeks a desire to see him, to
see this Jesus of Nazareth.
I rather think that they would make inquiries.
Where was he?
Well, he was somewhere in the city.
He'd come up there to the city, come
from Bethany, and he was there somewhere.
Well, where was he?
Had anybody seen him?
Well, yes.
Last we saw him, he was in such
-and-such a place.
And I think these Greeks made their way
to this place.
And when they got there, they didn't see
Jesus, but they saw some of his disciples.
And I don't think these Greeks were very
sure of themselves.
They were Greeks, and they knew it, and
they were not so sure of themselves.
So, I suppose they stood there for a
little while, looking at the disciples, and then
suddenly they heard one of them call thy
name, and his name was Philip.
And when these Greeks heard somebody call out
to one of the disciples, say, Philip, they
said to themselves, well he's evidently a Jew,
but he's got a Greek name.
Philip is a Greek name.
So, they said, well, we're Greeks, and he's
got a Greek name.
Let's go to him, and let's tell him
we want to see Jesus.
So, these Greeks went along to Philip, and
they said, sir, we would see Jesus.
What memorable words these are!
They've been echoed and re-echoed all through
the years.
Sir, we would see Jesus.
Well, I don't think Philip was very sure
of himself either, because you notice that he
went and told Andrews.
It may be that Philip remembered a time
when a Greek, a Gentile woman, she followed
the Lord, and she cried out, thou son
of David, have mercy upon me, because my
daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.
And he answered not a word, and she
continued to follow, and to call out unto
him, Lord, have mercy upon me, my daughter's
grievously vexed with a demon.
Not a word, and at last he came
right up to where he was, and he
said to her, you know, is it right
to give the children's meat to dogs?
Maybe Philip was remembering something of it.
These were evidently Greeks.
They wanted to see Jesus.
How would he treat them?
Would he say to these, I'm sent not,
but they're a lost sheep of the house
of Israel.
As he said to this woman, would he
say to these men?
So Philip wasn't very sure of himself, and
he probably said, well I'm going over and
tell Andrew about it.
So he said, Andrew, yes?
He said, there are some Greeks out here,
and they're expressing this desire.
They're saying, sir, we would see Jesus.
What do you think we should do about
it?
And I'm pretty sure that Andrew said, well
let's come and see Jesus, because you may
have noticed that it says Andrew and Philip
went and told Jesus.
So Andrew evidently took the lead.
So they went along to Jesus, and they
said to him, there are some Greeks out
there, and they're expressing this desire.
They're saying, sir, we would see Jesus.
Now when Jesus heard these words, he said
something very remarkable.
He said, the hour has come that the
Son of Man should be glorified.
Now I've read this over and over again,
and never questioned it.
I dare say you have also read it
over and over again, and you never questioned
it either.
But a little while ago I did question
it.
I said to myself, now just why did
he say that?
You've got the picture before you.
Certain Greeks standing there, and they wanted to
see him.
Philip, not sure of himself, tells Andrew.
Andrew and Philip go to Jesus, and they
say to him, there are some Greeks outside
there, expressing this desire, sir, we would see
Jesus.
And he answered, the hour has come that
the Son of Man should be glorified.
Now had I been one of those disciples,
I would have looked at him for a
moment, and then I would have said, Lord,
I don't think you heard what we said.
We were saying that there are some Greeks
outside expressing this desire, sir, we would see
Jesus.
He would say, yes, I heard what you
said, and I say, the hour has come
that the Son of Man should be glorified.
And I would still be somewhat mystified.
I would look at him, and I say,
well, I don't see any connection.
There are Greeks out there saying, sir, we
would see Jesus.
You say, the hour has come that the
Son of Man should be glorified.
Now what has that got to do with
this?
The hour has come that the Son of
Man should be glorified.
What has that got to do with these
Greeks standing out there, and expressing the desire,
sir, we would see Jesus?
Where is the connection?
We've read it many times, and never thought
about it.
Now we face up and say, well, yes,
it is remarkable.
Why did he say those words?
Well, I believe that when our Lord Jesus
heard those words, he was stirred in the
depths of his prophetic soul.
He was moved by those words.
Remember, they were Greeks, Gentiles, and this is
the desire, sir, we would see Jesus.
Those words moved him, coming from the lips
of these Greeks, these Gentiles.
Now, these are really memorable words.
I remember going up onto a platform to
speak, and I saw in the corner of
the desk a little chart, and being curious,
I looked at it, and I looked at
it, and I read these words, sir, we
would see Jesus.
So, I thought, well evidently they don't want
to see me.
They don't mind me being here, but they
don't want to see me.
They want to see Jesus.
These words have been echoed, and re-echoed
all through the years.
And they moved our Lord Jesus Christ in
such a way that he looked on, and
he saw his glory.
Greeks saying, sir, we would see Jesus.
He looked on, and there he was.
He could see his glory.
He could see that in a few days
they would take him, and they would nail
him to the tree.
He would suffer, he would die.
He would be forsaken of man.
He would be forsaken of his disciples.
He would be forsaken of God.
He saw that he would be taken down
from that cross, and buried in the tomb,
but the third day he would rise again
from among the dead.
He would stay with his disciples, encouraging them
for 40 days, and then he would be
received up.
He would be there in the very presence
of God, and on the day of Pentecost,
when they were all gathered together, he would
come in the power of the Spirit.
He himself, in the power of the Spirit,
would come, and they who were gathered together,
they would be baptized into one body.
They would be formed into his body.
Not his personal body, but his body, the
church, which is his body.
They, on the day of Pentecost, would be
baptized into one body, and he himself would
come, and he would take up his abode
in that body, the church, which is his
body.
And then he saw that they would go
out to preach the gospel, and as they
went out to preach the gospel, they would
preach it not only to the Jews.
They might preach it to the Jews first,
but they would also preach it to the
Greeks, to the Gentiles.
And he saw that, as a result of
their going forth to preach that gospel in
the power of the Spirit, that he would
be with them.
Lord, I am with you always, even until
the end of the age.
He would be with them, and he would
be working through them to reach men and
women, Jew and Gentile, to convict them of
sin and righteousness and judgment, and to lead
them to repentance and to faith in himself.
And so, there would be a great gathering
in.
There would be a great harvest, not only
out from the Jews, but out from the
Gentiles.
He could see, as they went out to
preach the gospel, men and women would be
brought in.
And not only so, he could see that,
as they went out to preach the gospel
into these various localities, that many will be
saved and baptized and brought together, and they
will be scattered all over the world in
due course.
These little companies of followers of him, Christians,
and he could also realize this, that whenever
they came together they would have the same
desire.
They would be saying, just as these Greeks
said, they would be saying, sir, we would
see Jesus.
And, whenever we gather together, this is our
heart's desire.
When we come together on the first day
of the week to remember our Lord Jesus
Christ, these are the words, sir, we would
see Jesus.
And, our Lord Jesus, he looked on, and
he could see all this taking place, and
he said, the hour is come that the
Son of Man should be glorified.
These are just the beginnings, sir, we would
see Jesus.
In a little while, then the gospel is
going out into all the world, and there
will be a great gathering in, there'll be
a great harvest.
He could look even beyond that, and he
could see himself as the very center of
an innumerable multitude gathered around him, singing unto
him and praising him, because he had redeemed
them by his precious blood.
The hour is come that the Son of
Man should be glorified.
There was going to be a great gathering
in, there was going to be a great
harvest, but you know, whilst he was standing
there, and because of those words, stirred within
his prophetic soul, he was looking on, and
he can see that glory, that great gathering
in, that harvest.
He saw something else.
Rising up between him and that great gathering
in, between him and that harvest, he saw
something else.
He saw the cross, and all that that
cross would be, and did you notice?
Having said, the hour is come that the
Son of Man should be glorified, he saw
it, the great gathering in, the great harvest,
he saw it, and between him and that
great harvest there comes the cross, because immediately
he said, verily, verily, I say unto you,
except the corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone, but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Oh yes, he could see the harvest, but
there could be no harvest, unless he were
willing and ready to fall into the ground
and die, unless he were willing or ready
to go to that cross to suffer and
die.
There could never be a great gathering in,
there could never be a harvest, there could
never be the preaching of the gospel.
That was it.
The hour is come, the Son of Man
should be glorified, but there will be no
glory, no harvest, unless the corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die.
You know, this is a very remarkable thing,
that according to what we see in the
word of God, the condition for the bringing
forth of the harvest is death.
Have you ever thought of that?
That death is the condition of fruit-bearing.
That in every country throughout the world, there
are millions, billions of tons of seed put
into the ground every year, but unless it
die, it will abide alone.
If it die, it will bring forth much
fruit.
There's a principle that God himself has kept
to all the way through the ages, that
death is the condition of the harvest.
Death is the condition of fruit-bearing.
Let your minds go back to the book
of Genesis, back to when God made man
of the dust of the ground, breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life, and the
man became a living soul.
Remember the words in Psalm 8?
What is man?
That thou art mindful of him as a
son of man that thou visitest him.
Thou madest him a little lower than the
angels, crowned with him with glory and honor.
They set him above the works of thy
hand.
They placed all things in subjection to him,
that nothing was left that was not subject
to him.
What is man?
So, God brought in the man, and made
all things subject to him, and the very
first lesson that this man had to learn
was the lesson of death.
You say he had to learn to die
and be buried?
No.
He had to learn the lesson of death,
the death of self, the denial of self.
What is this man?
That thou art mindful of him.
God placed all things in subjection to him.
Nothing left that was not subject to him,
and then God waited.
What did he wait for?
He waited for this man to take all
this that he had subjected to him, to
survey it all, and then to say, I
only hold it for the giver.
Not to take it for himself, but to
say, I hold it for thee.
Not to express himself in this that God
has brought in, but to deny himself.
And if this man learns this lesson of
death, the death of self, if he denies
himself in these circumstances, and what is subjected
to him is only held for God, then
God's going to get a harvest.
But, if he doesn't learn the lesson of
death, then God is going to lose the
harvest, and we know that the man did
not deny himself.
He asserted himself.
He took it all for himself, and all
through the ages he's still got it for
himself.
He is still asserting himself.
He does not deny himself, and so God
has lost the harvest that he sought to
have.
That was the first man.
When we look at the second man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, we follow him through the
life that he lived down here, and we
do not find in any place where he
asserted himself, but all the way through we
find where he denied himself.
There was nothing else from himself.
He did always those things that pleased the
father, and the father said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
So, the second man, he did not assert
himself.
He denied himself, and God got a harvest.
He got fruit out of the life of
his beloved son.
So, this principle, you see, applies to the
first man.
It applies to the second man.
But, did you notice that it applies to
you and me?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except that
corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, divide us alone, but if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it.
He that asserts himself in this life shall
lose it.
He that hateth his life, he that denieth,
he that hateth his life in this world
shall keep it unto life eternal.
See, the principle applies to you, it applies
to me, and unless we learn that lesson
of death, there can be no harvest in
your life or mine.
There can be no fruit in your life
or mine until we learn the lesson of
death.
Now remember, he says that except the corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone.
You can take a corn of wheat, and
you can preserve it for as long as
you like.
You can preserve that corn of wheat for
thousands of years, but so long as you
preserve it, it will abide alone.
They found, when they unwound some of these
mummified bodies that they discovered in Egypt, bodies
that had been mummified 2,000 years or
more, they found in the palms of the
hands a few grains of wheat.
Why were these placed in the palms of
the hands when they were mummified?
Well, we don't really know.
Some reason, but they were very anxious to
find out.
Now, these grains of wheat have been there
for a thousand years, two thousand years, and
all that time they abode alone.
No fruit.
And some of that wheat, we're getting to
understand, when it was put into the ground,
it died, but it gave forth fruit after
thousands of years.
So, you can preserve a corn of wheat
for as long as you like, but so
long as you preserve it, there's no fruit.
The Lord Jesus could have preserved his life,
but so long as he preserved it, there
could be no fruit.
You and I can preserve our lives for
as long as we like, but so long
as we preserve it, there'll be no fruit.
Only death, the death of self, will yield
fruit.
This is a remarkable thing, isn't it?
And yet, as we look into the truth
of Christianity, it is there, but how slow
we are to learn the lesson of death.
We look back, and we think about Cain
and Abel, and we see that Abel, he
brought the firstling of the flock, and of
the plant thereof, he brought a sin offering.
He was identified with that sin offering, and
it revealed the condition of his soul.
And there you can see that he is
bringing out the truth that the sin offering
was his substitute, and it was accepted by
God as such, so that the sin offering
died for him.
And I think it's very remarkable that that
was not enough, but that Abel had to
die himself, and he died at the hand
of his brother.
Many of us have learned this, and we've
learned it well, that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for us on that cross, but many
of us have not yet learned that we
died there on that cross.
We've not got to this yet.
We've got the one side of it.
He died for us, but we hadn't died
with him.
There has not yet been that real denial
of self.
We're still living to ourselves.
Said the apostle Paul, I'm crucified with Christ
dead.
Reckon yourselves indeed dead, but don't leave it
at that.
That's negative.
Reckon yourselves indeed alive unto God.
But, you see, you can only come to
that position of life where you bear fruit
as you're identified with that death of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Our trouble is, of course, that self hides
itself so well.
It's very difficult indeed to deal with self.
We're up against it all the time.
I sometimes hear people say, oh well, so
-and-so, you know, yeah, just full of
self, just full of self.
Yeah, and sometimes I say, well why don't
you go and tell them?
Oh brother, you couldn't do that.
Why not?
Oh well, they would be terribly upset.
Well I guess they would, but I'll tell
you this, you ought to go and tell
them.
Why?
Because I'm sure of this, that they haven't
the faintest idea that they're full of self.
You say they are.
You can see that they are.
They haven't the faintest idea, and if you
told them they would be shocked.
That self is hiding itself so well, full
of self, yet you don't realize it.
And you know, there's even a faith with
self.
A self that exalts itself in denying itself.
I don't know what you're going to do
with self.
Yes, I do.
You've got to put it there where it
should be.
I am crucified with Christ.
That self, he that loves his life, he
that keeps his life, shall lose it.
May not be good.
He that takes up his life in this
world, put it where it should be on
that cross, shall keep it unto life itself.
But, what a lesson to learn.
The death of self.
And yet, this is the very heart of
Christianity.
And until we learn the lesson, then God
is not going to get much fruit out
of our lives, only as we are ready
and willing to put ourselves there where we
should be.
Do you remember that when the Apostle Paul
was writing his epistle to the Ephesians, that
he spoke of some people as being the
enemies of the cross of Christ?
Not necessarily enemies of Christ, but enemies of
the cross of Christ.
You know why?
Because these people were trying to produce something
in the flesh, in the natural man.
They were trying to produce something.
And he said, I've told you about these
people, I've told you often, I tell you
even now weeping, they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ.
But, because in self they're trying to produce
something for God.
What they ought to do is to put
self where it should be on that cross.
I'm crucified with Christ, that's me, that's myself,
that's the end of me.
And when I come to that, I find
it's the beginning.
It's the beginning of Christ in me.
Sometimes I think about Abraham and Isaac, and
in thinking about them, I try to picture
this, you know, I can see this, I
can see this young fellow, I can see
Isaac, and I can see Abraham taking Isaac,
and he binds into that altar that he
built, and Isaac doesn't understand what's going on,
but he's bound to the altar.
And I see he's watching his father, and
he looks at his father, and he sees
in his father's face a look of determination.
He doesn't understand that.
And then he saw his father pick up
that glittering blade, and he came across to
him, and he's lying there, and he's looking
up.
He looks into his father's face.
He looks at that knife.
You know what he says?
He says, this is the end of me.
I'm finished.
There it is.
Any moment it'll be plunged into my heart.
I'm finished.
It's the end of me.
Was it?
Well, it was as far as he was
concerned.
He had the sentence in himself.
That was the end, but he wasn't.
Isn't it wonderful?
It says, Abraham received him back from the
dead.
Well, he'd been in the place of the
dead, all right.
He received him back from that, in a
figure, from the dead.
I can see there what God wants to
do with you and me.
He wants to bring us right there to
that place of death.
Well, we say, I'm finished.
This is the end of me.
I'm crucified with Christ.
Yes, nevertheless, I live yet no longer.
It's Christ living in me.
My little children, for whom I travel in
birth, until Christ is formed in you.
Christ in you.
That's it.
The worst self must be there.
So, you must keep it there, and come
down again and again, put it back.
Only if you keep self there, will you
find the big forces of the gospel.
So, Lord bless these thoughts to us, and
enable us to lay hold of him now
for a short time in prayer.