Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the purpose of John's gospel, just to reorient ourselves into the gospel of John again, is that we may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing in him have life in his name. And in order to be drawn to Jesus, in order to believe in him, that he is the Son of God, John shows us his glory. He refers to Christ's glory throughout his gospel. In fact, one of the first things that he says about the Lord Jesus Christ is that he is the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So throughout his life, John and the disciples beheld his glory, not only in his miracles and in his person, but most especially in his cross, a Shekinah glory that dwelt in the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament. It's that same word or a word very similar to it that is used when John the Apostle says the word became flesh and dwelt among us or tabernacled among us. And so Jesus is the glory of God. the true glory of God revealed, but in a paradoxical way, that is, in a surprising way, a way that initially seems contradictory, that doesn't make much sense to us. But when we take a deeper look, we begin to see it is the glorious truth, and it's that much greater because it's that much more surprising. It is that Jesus' glory is revealed most clearly in the time of His greatest humiliation and degradation at the cross. See, in our text, it begins with, at least in verse 23, Jesus saying, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And that begins the rest of the message of John chapter 12. A time of urgency. Jesus is going to the cross. He's going to his death. That's the hour of his glory. He says in verse 32, when I am lifted up from the earth and I will draw all people to myself. And as he goes into this, this hour in verse 27, he says, now is my soul troubled. But shall I pray that the Father will save me from this hour? No, this is why I've come. Father, glorify your name in this hour. And the Father says, I have and I will. It's the hour of Jesus' glory in a paradoxical way that in the most loathsome and the most humiliating depths of his suffering, that is the beginning, or shall we say the moment of his glory. the cross to the grave risen from the dead and then exalted but it all begins at the cross and so Jesus announces this is our theme this afternoon Jesus announces that the revelation of his glory is at hand Jesus announces that the revelation of his glory is at hand first of all we'll see the proof of his approaching glory. The proof of his approaching glory comes when these Greeks say, we want to see Jesus. Secondly, we'll see the principle of his kingdom glory, that it is through death that life comes. It is through the cross that Jesus enters into glory. It's through the cross that he establishes his kingdom and crown. And then finally, we'll see the pattern of We see the pattern of glory for his disciples, that is for you and for I, that we pattern our lives after his. First of all, the proof of his approaching glory. The section, this section of scripture begins at the Passover feast. where we read there were some Greeks there, and they came to Philip, and they said, we want to see Jesus. Philip goes to Andrew, and together the two of them go to Jesus to give him this news. There were Greeks in that time, Gentiles, who admired Judaism. Cornelius, for example, from Acts 10 was such a man. He was a Greek. But he admired Judaism, and these Greeks would have been here at the festival to celebrate. They weren't allowed into the inner parts of the temple, but they could stay in the court of the Gentiles, and they could worship with the other pilgrims at the feast. And they say to Philip, probably because his name is Greek, and he came from a city, Bethsaida, that was relatively close to Greek-speaking cities in the Decapolis, Probably why John gives us those details. They come to Philip and say, we want to see Jesus. Now, whether they had an audience with Jesus or not, we don't see. John doesn't say his focus is elsewhere. His focus is on how Jesus responds to this request and what it means for Jesus and what it means for redemption and for the entire world. Jesus' response is, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Up until this point, that hour was future. It was coming. Even when we read in the triumphal entry, the disciples initially couldn't understand what was going on until Jesus was glorified. So it's always future. It is to come. And now Jesus says, now it is at hand. Now that hour has arrived. Now, why would this request from Gentiles to see him prompt this statement from Jesus here now? Well, we know from the Old Testament prophecies that when the Messiah came, he would first of all restore Israel, he would gather in the lost sheep of Israel, and then he would be a light to the Gentiles. He would draw all the nations of the earth to himself. We read, for example, in Isaiah 11, verse 10, In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious. Jesus, as the eternal Son of God, didn't need that prophecy, that Jesus is not only God, he is also truly human. And Jesus, the person of, the whole person of Jesus Christ, according to his human nature, he learned obedience, says Hebrews 5, chapter 7, through what he suffered. That is, the word of God was how he came to know, by the working of the Holy Spirit, in communion with his Father, it was here in the Word, in the Old Testament, that he learned about who he was and what his mission was. And so knowing these prophecies, knowing what the Bible said about him as the Messiah and his mission, when the Gentiles now come seeking him, it is to him a sign, it is a signal and proof that the hour has now come because it is only through his cross and being lifted up, as he says in verse 32, that he will draw all peoples to himself. And so the proof, the proof for the approaching hour is the Gentiles seeking him. The second thing that we hear from Jesus is the principle of his kingdom. If now is the hour of his glory, now he goes to ascend the throne, now he goes to claim the kingdom and establish the kingdom and draw and summon all the nations to himself. You think of those prophecies in the old covenants where how Jerusalem now would be set up as the head of the nations. And everybody would say, let's go up to Mount Zion. Let's worship the Lord there. And everybody would stream to Mount Zion. And this is what the pilgrims are thinking of. They've just welcomed him as king. The Gentiles are seeking him. Everything is right for Jesus to claim his earthly glory. But as he came riding in on a donkey, so he says now. How will he ascend that throne? How will he claim the kingdom? How will he establish his kingdom? 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. Take a little seed. It looks apparently lifeless. There's life in that seed. It's dormant, but there's life in there. But when you plant it in the grounds, The outside dies and becomes nutrients for the embryo inside that gives life to the plant. And when you go later on and pull up the plant and go looking for the seed, it's gone. What has happened? The seed has given its life in order to produce fruit, to produce a plant, to produce a harvest. And so sowing a seed is like a burial. The seed ceases now to exist in the form in which it was sown. The seed then dies or is destroyed for new life to appear. Jesus says, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And that hour will be like a seed planted, a seed that dies in order to bring life. In other words, unless I die, You will have no life. Unless I die, there will be no fruit in the nations. There will be no redemption. There will be no atonement. This is the principle, the operating principle of Jesus' kingdom glory, and it's always been the operating principle of redemptive history, ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin. It's that principle of death and resurrection, of life coming through death, of the flood judging the world and then a renewed creation coming out of it, of the firstborn in Egypt dying so that Israel can come out into life with God, of Israel, figuratively speaking, going through the depths of the Red Sea, drowning, figuratively speaking, being baptized in the water, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, to emerge into newness of life on the other side. It is the temple, decorated like the Garden of Eden, with this message, if you want to get back to the tree of life, if you want to get back to God and his glory, there must be blood, there must be death, someone must die for your sins, for your offenses. It is always through death, and only through death can life come. Many false religions know to this in nature, and even pattern their own religions after that cycle of winter time. There's death, and then in spring there's new life, and then the cycle comes all over again. It's always death coming into life again, and repeating itself. But the reason God has placed that in nature is in order to show not only in scripture but also in his general revelation in the book that he has written in creation of our need for the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all of those promises. And the glory of Christ then is seen in the cross. And maybe we're not surprised by that because we've sentimentalized the cross, but we need to remember that for the Jews to hear something like that, to see him hanging on a cross, a place of unspeakable agony and of shame and curse. It was loathsome, disgusting, unimaginable, unconscionable that the Messiah would hang on a cross. And there's the paradox, that his glory His hour of glory is there on the cross. He was innocent, he'd done nothing to deserve trouble, but he would experience betrayal, brutality, and death before he was 34, before he was 33, but he had come exactly for that reason. He is the seed of the woman. promised in Genesis 3.15 through doing battle with Satan at the cross, where Satan thought for sure he had triumphed. Judgment came and the serpent was cast out. His power, his dominion, the back of his power was broken. He is the seed of the woman and it's through the offering of himself for sin. And Isaiah 53 says that he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Here is the glory of God revealed most fully in the cross. That this is the God we worship, who after all that we did to him, said, I will take your place. And the son of God said, take me instead. That this is where God desired to reveal his glory most supremely. What then does this mean for us? Well, Jesus said, this will be your pattern too. If you will follow me, if you also will know glory and honor, if you also will know a meaningful life now, an eternal life yet to come, then this pattern, this principle becomes your pattern. How the kingdom has come in Jesus Christ will now then set the pattern for how we live in this kingdom. verses 25 and 26, whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." So there's that paradox again. Life through death, in this case, you save your life when you lose it or hate it, and you lose your life when you love it. The way up is down. Jesus said similar words in Luke 9, 23. If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Discipleship means that Jesus' life and suffering becomes the pattern for our lives. The only Christ that anyone can confess is Christ crucified, and the only way to confess him is to follow him all the way to the cross. Now, when we read these words about loving life means losing it and hating our lives means finding them or finding it, we need to carefully define what that means. It doesn't mean an absolute hatred for ourselves. It doesn't mean an absolute loathing of who we are. We are made in God's image, God's image bearers. It would be wrong, sinful to hate ourselves as though we are worthless creatures. But it is this, it is to loathe our sinful nature. It is to loathe everything in me, in the old I, in the old me, like Paul says. The I that is living under the law of sin, the I that never wants to do what is right. It is that sin nature filled with lust and hatred and resentment. and selfishness, it's that I, it's that life, that sinful nature that we need to lose in order to truly save our lives. And before we can even speak about being disciples of Christ, before we can even talk about losing that life and dying to our sin, we need to remember, first of all, that to lose our lives It's not simply an act of the will. It's not pulling up our bootstraps and trying really hard. It is, first of all, surrendering our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the grain of wheat that has died that we might have life. We have life in him. If we are going to try to do this first in our own strength or apart from Jesus Christ, it'll never happen. We can't first deal with our sins and then come to him. We must come to him and surrender. There's no entrance exam, no hoops we need to jump through. You come and you surrender to Him. It's His life for yours. Your sins imputed to Him and His righteousness imputed to you. You have a new self now. It is Christ now who lives in me. The life I live, says Paul, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who died for me. So that, first of all, we lose our lives by surrendering our lives to Jesus. But then, as we follow him, if we are disciples of Jesus Christ, this also takes on an active and ongoing call, an aspect to our lives in which we are to die to our sinful nature, in which we are to put away our ungodly attitudes and unhealthy relationships and our self-indulgence We are also to take stock of those good things in life that we've made too much of, that we hold too dear, that are getting in the way, that are threatening to stand in the place of Jesus Christ. Good things that have become idols. That's also the part of our lives we must lose. And it's also fighting against those feelings, those attitudes of I just don't feel like going to church today. I just don't, I just don't feel like reading my Bible. I don't feel like praying. Why don't I wait till those desires come along? No, no, we die to that sinful nature. Also through that attitude, I must, I will for the love of God and for his praise. Think of it this way. Your life is a seed. Jesus has just used that image. Your life is a seed and you can either preserve it, you can live in a way that preserves you, yourself, preserves your kingdom and all of your selfish desires. You're going to hang on to this. At all costs, everything else will be sacrificed for the sake of preserving your life. You'll be afraid to die. That will be the most frightening and terrible thing ever. You're afraid to lose the things that you love and worship and cling to and the sins that you want to protect. But the fact is, you'll still lose it. Because that seed, if it's not planted, It's going to shrivel up eventually and die alone. That's what Jesus said. Unless you plant that seed, it remains alone. It lives a lonely, meaningless life, and then it shrivels and dies and applied to us, applied to human beings. Not only do we lose this life, that we spend an eternity in the hell of fire in the next. By contrast, we can keep in mind that this seed, this life that we've been given, it has so many heartbeats, ordained by God, so many breaths, so many days. And I can't keep that. I can't get those back. I can't hang on to them. They will be spent, right? We die simply by living. So how am I gonna live that life? If I hang on to it and I try to preserve it and keep it for myself and my own sinful desires, I lose everything. But if I surrender it to the Lord Jesus Christ and live my life for Him, then I will truly gain it. Not only will I gain a meaningful life now of joy, of the fruit of the Spirit, of a forgiving attitude and the freedom that comes from that, not only will I begin to enjoy no longer being enslaved to the fear of death, think of that in the past year and a half. Isn't this been exposed in so many of our own hearts? I'm just afraid of dying. I can't even live anymore, I'm so afraid of dying. How should we then live? pampered and stress-free life? Were you just trying to hang on to every last bit before it's all up? Or a life where you know that in Jesus Christ you are safe and you will gain eternal life and that if he laid down his life for me and if that's the pathway to glory And if he has promised, so surely it will be for me, that this life is short. My days are numbered. There is one life to live on this side of eternity. So take up your life and follow him. Face trouble. As Nate Wilson, in his book, Death by Living, writes, he says, Shall we die for ourselves or die for others? Lay down your life. I can be giving my fingers, my back, my mind, my words, my breaths to my wife and my children and my neighbors, or I can grasp after the vapor and the vanity for myself, dragging my feet, and like Adam, I will still die in the end. So how will you live this life? Those who follow the Lord and who serve him, Jesus promises the Father will honor him. You will hear that well done good and faithful servants. whether it's a short life or a long life, whether it's a rich life or a poor life, whether it's a life lived with all kinds of degrees behind your name or a more simple kind of life. One thing above all that matters is that we believe in him and follow him. As Jim Elliott famously said with this week end, he is no fool. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Amen. Let's sing in response, hymn 22, and let's stand to sing.