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Great Things God Wants Us to See
The Gospel of John
John 12:17-26
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - May 24, 2017
(Revised December 13, 2019)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to John 12:12.
Last week, we looked at the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.
It was a very public entrance with strong visual testimony that Jesus was the promised King who was coming to His people in peace.
The well-known sign that the Lord came in peace was the donkey Jesus rode into the city.
By riding on that donkey, Jesus was also deliberately fulfilling the prophecy of the coming Messiah in Zechariah 9:9.
*It was just a few days before the cross, and we read about the Lord's entry starting in vs. 12:
12.
The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13. took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' The King of Israel!''
14.
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
15.
Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.''
16.
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
17. Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.
18.
For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.
19.
The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.
Look, the world has gone after Him!''
*That's how it seemed to them on Palm Sunday.
But just a few days later a mob of those same people would be crying out for the Lord's crucifixion.
And even the Lord's closest followers would be scattered.
Jesus told them about that on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane.
In Matthew 26:31 Jesus said, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'"
*But in tonight's Scripture, we are still a few days before the cross, and we will read about some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus.
Those Greeks wanted to see Jesus in an up close and personal kind of way, and God wants us to see some very important things in their story.
Please think about that, as we read vs. 17-26.
INTRODUCTION:
*I've seen some great things in my life.
On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m.
I was standing in front of the TV with my dad, and there we watched Neil Armstrong take man's first step on the moon.
Over 500 million other people were watching when Neil climbed down the ladder and said, "That's one small step for man.
-- One giant leap for mankind."
(1)
*That was a great thing to see, but I've seen much greater things than that!
In 1984, I saw my 68-year-old mother receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
I also got to see all of my children put their trust in the Lord.
*I have seen all kinds of great things in my life, but those Greeks wanted to see the greatest thing anybody ever can see.
They wanted to see Jesus!
And God wants us to see some great things in their story.
1. FIRST: HE WANTS US TO SEE THE ESSENTIAL DESIRES IN THIS SCRIPTURE.
[1] SO THINK ABOUT THE GREEKS' DESIRE TO SEE JESUS.
*Everybody needs to have the same kind of heartfelt desire they had in vs. 20-21: "Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.
Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.'''
*John Phillips helped us understand the scene: "These Greeks were not Jews.
They were Gentiles, but they had come to the feast of Passover because they believed in the Old Testament Scriptures, and they had come to worship God.
*Since these Greeks had come to the feast, they were probably in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and they had seen the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem."
*They must have also heard a lot about Jesus, because vs. 17-19 tell us that:
17.
The people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.
18.
For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.
19.
The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.
Look, the world has gone after Him!''
*These Greeks had heard a lot about Jesus, enough to know that Philip was one of the Lord's closest followers, and that's one of the reasons why they approached Philip with their question.
It also helped that he had a Greek name.
*On top of that, John Phillips noted that a few days had possibly gone by since Palm Sunday.
By this time, the Lord might have cleansed the moneychangers from the Court of the Gentiles.
Mark 11:15-17 gives this report:
15.
So they came to Jerusalem.
And Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.
16.
And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.
17.
Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?
But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'''
*All of that shady business had taken place in the Temple's Court of the Gentiles.
That was as far as these Greeks could go in the Temple.
And the Lord's cleansing of the Court of the Gentiles might have shown the Greeks that Jesus cared about them too.
(2)
*So in vs. 21, they politely pleaded with Philip, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus.''
It was the greatest desire of their hearts, and it ought to be the greatest desire of our hearts too!
Nothing in this world could ever be more important than seeing Jesus Christ!
*And we don't see the Lord physically right now, but by faith, we can surely see Jesus with the eyes of our soul.
That’s why Hebrews 2:9 tells Christians: "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone."
*Christians: We can spiritually see Jesus! -- And getting our eyes on Him puts a new perspective on everything else.
I saw a great example of this truth on a 1997 mission trip to Ukraine.
We were on a small tourist ship traveling down the Dneiper River.
We witnessed, gave testimonies and preached in almost every city along the way.
We were on the streets, in parks, or sometimes in a tent the local Christians set up near apartment buildings.
The praise music always drew a crowd.
*Sometimes we also met in local churches as we did in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol.
The Lord had done a tremendous work in that city.
Three former drug dealers had been wonderfully saved by Jesus, and they were called by God to start churches in the city.
We had an evening service in one of those churches, and the next day about 20 of the young adults came on board for fellowship and food with us.
We met on the deck of the ship.
*You must understand that back then those people were very poor.
The average income was $50 a month when you got paid, and lots of months they didn't get paid.
One of our interpreters was a high school teacher who hadn't been paid for 6 months.
*The people of Ukraine were poor.
But there on the deck of that ship, those young Christians stood singing with all their hearts: "Give thanks to the Lord above.
Give thanks to the Holy One.
Give thanks, because He's given Jesus Christ His Son.
And now, let the weak say, 'I am strong!' Let the poor say, 'I am rich!
Because of what the Lord has done for us.' -- Give thanks."
(3)
*Even though they were very poor, those young people could sing that song with joy, because their eyes were on the Lord.
They were seeing Jesus, and that should be one of the greatest desires in our lives!
[2] THE GREEKS' DESIRE WAS TO SEE JESUS.
BUT DON'T MISS THE DISCIPLES' GREAT DESIRE.
*In vs. 22, the disciples’ desire was to help other people see Jesus.
Their great desire was to bring other people to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so vs. 22 says, "Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus."
*By this time, Philip and Andrew had been following Jesus for three years.
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