Jesus Predicts death, Again

16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Jesus is going to speak to the disciples about His glorification for “all” not just Israel.

He is the Son

Cleansed the temple (fulfilling Isa56:7; Jer7:11)

John 3:16 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Cursed fig tree

HE is the Savior of the world

John 4:42 NASB95

42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

He is about to give His life for the world and gives life to the world

John 6:33 NASB95

33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

John 11:51–52 NASB95

51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

John’s gospel is the only gospel bringing in the Greeks, but we we can know about them is they are worshippers or they would not be there for the feast. In the story book it goes from (vv.20-36) today we are only going to focus on (vv.20-26) and the rest we will do next week.

(Slide) Open Story book to pg. 117-8; Jn12:20-36

(Slide) What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?

In this passage I see a couple of different things going on (vv.20-26)

(slide) Jesus tells the “hour has come” - v.23

(slide) Speaks in non Jewish terminology - v.24

(slide) Tells the demands of discipleship (follower) -vv.25-26

There are some literary nuances we need to pay attention to while we look at this passage.

(slide) What is the question (v.21) from who (v.20)?

(slide) Who did they ask and what happened after that (v.21-22)

They went to Philip the any Apostle who has a Greek name.

Phillip went to Andrew who brought him to Jesus. Seems that is Andrews and Philips pattern, bringing people to Jesus. (you can see Jn1:40-45)

Is that our pattern to bring people to Jesus? Now we can bring them to Jesus by the Word. I entitled this message today “Sir I want to see Jesus” and that is what we want people to see, Jesus. I will come back and expand on that after we finish going through the verses

John 1:40–41 NASB95

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).

(Slide) What was Jesus response to the question (v.23)?

(slide) Now would this further fuel the fire that the Jews were thinking that the kingdom was about to come? - Sure it would; but we need to pay attention to the passage here.

Jn1:40

John 1:42 NASB95

42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

(Slide) Who is Jesus speaking to (v.23)?

Since this story is not in the synoptic gospels and only here we can go only off the information we have, there is no indication that Jesus spoke to the Greeks directly, but only to the Apostles, in this case Andrew and Philip.

So moving on now Jesus continues to speak, but now he does not speak in a parable but an illustration (v.24)

Though Jesus response was not in parable that the unbelieving Jews would not understand it was a simple illustration that the Greeks would understand. If it were the JEws they might ask for a sign

Matthew 12:38 NASB95

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

but these men ask to see Jesus, but Jesus had responded that it is time for the Son of man to be glorified (v.23) you will see Jesus mention glory to God in (v.28) too when we get there.

(Slide) So what can we learn from (v.23)?

(slide) There is no glory without suffering

(slide) No fruitful life without death

(slide) No victory without surrender

(slide) “In and of itself a seed is weak and useless, but when planted, it ‘dies” and becomes fruitful” - W. Wiersbe

Jesus spoke of seeds before, and we as God’s children are like seeds, we are planted and unless we die to ourselves we cannot bear fruit. We need to be willing to be planted, rooted and reproduce

Galatians 2:20 NASB95

20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

That is what Paul had to say on the subject, he expands more in Rom6, but that is another day another sermon.

Jesus challenges us today through His Word to surrender our lives (more than salvation surrender) so we can bear fruit for Him. The rest of the passage he goes on to expand and show some contrasts

(slide)Loneliness or fruitfulness

(slide) Losing your life or keeping your life

(slide) Serving self or serving Christ

(slide) Pleasing self or receiving God’s honor

(Illustration) missionary visitation team goes to see missionaries in remote area, and comment is made that they really “buried” themselves in the work there, and the response was “no we did not, we planted ourselves.” - We too need to be planted, dying to self so we can multiply. Don’t take the seed of salvation and keep it to self or bury within yourself, it is meant to die to self so others can live.

(slide) What must happen in (v.24) to bear fruit?

(slide) What does Jesus say must happen (v.25)?

(slide) What does Jesus say must happen (v.26)?

(slide) What are the results if you do the above (v.26)?

This brings end to this part of the passage exegetically but now I want to talk topically on this some.

II. “Sir we want to see Jesus”

In our passage today we have some Greeks who want to see Jesus, not just see but want to have time with him. They are not worried what anyone else thinks, they are not worried about any supposed danger as the Jews were.

They go to Andrew and make the request but Jesus response knowing if they really want to see Him has to be in the light of the cross. His time has come to be Glorified.

No one then, no one now can fully understand Jesus, see Jesus without seeing the cross. The cross of suffering, the cross of shame. Sometimes in our lives we don’t understand what is going on. With the recent weather tragedies and the mass killing in Vegas, to unexpected deaths, we need to see these things in the light of the cross. We can come to Jesus in prayer, come to Him in His word but without the cross we cannot see Him for who He is (God’s perfect sacrifice) and what He did (died so we can live eternally).

In light of the cross we see God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice. He lived, He died so we could see Him. When we understand the significance of the Cross then we will want to follow Him.

John 12:25–26 NASB95

25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. 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.

Think about this a single seed can make a stalk, take the seeds from the stalk and replant and do it again, again and again and in 14 years it would cover the earth.

(Slide) Mortification brings multiplication (death brings life)

Is it an easy thing to do, die to self? No way, it was not easy for Jesus in fact in His flesh it was troubling

John 12:27 NASB95

27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

The word troubled is the same as the word “agony” so to die to self was agony. Christ knew what He was going to have to do to take on the sins of man so man could see Jesus, He had to go to the cross.

Even in the troubled time, Jesus wanted the Father glorified and the Father did not abandon Him, but spoke to Him.

John 12:28 NASB95

28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

So in the hard times, troubling times, the times you don’t know, don’t understand, remember to keep things in light of the cross and know by Jesus sacrifice you are not alone.

JEsus calls us to live for Him and follow Him.

John 12:26 NASB95

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.

Luke 9:23 NASB95

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

(Slide) IN THE LIGHT OF THE CROSS!

So if you have questions, want understanding, the answer is found at the cross. if you want to see Jesus you have to see Him in the Light of the Cross. When you take the Lord’s supper today do it in the light of the Cross, when you sing them in the light of the Cross

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