Let us turn to the Word of God, to John chapter 12, reading at verse 20. John 12, verse 20. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came, therefore, to Philip which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. And we shall consider these words as the Lord is pleased to enable us. Now, these were Gentiles. It's interesting that the Gentiles were there at the birth of Christ. and they were also there at the death of Christ. They were Greeks, probably the most highly educated people of the time. Athens was like a university town, but they were not satisfied with the atheistic philosophy of the times, and they were drawn to study the Old Testament. and they became what's called proselytes, learners of the Jewish religion. As part of that religion, here they were going up to Jerusalem for the Passover, which was the Old Testament sacrament. Not that they would be allowed to sit, but they were interested. You must remember that circumcision was the qualification for the Passover, but that's been replaced by the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, and the qualification for that is faith. Circumcision in the Old Testament, but faith in the New Testament. And yet, here they were, holy city, holy sacrament, and they still were not satisfied. So they obviously had heard of the name Jesus because they used it. And they went up to Philip and said, sir, we would see Jesus. Now you see there the humility and the sense of unworthiness in these seekers. And they were seekers because they didn't go to Jesus directly at first. They thought it was such a high matter, because after all, this was the son of God. And they were rather afraid to approach him, so they went to Philip. You might say they were using a kind of means to attain to the end. They may have asked him, well, how do we approach him? Or can you bring us together? And we read that Philip then went to Jesus. Now, the Lord Jesus saw in this a fulfillment of verse 24. He would die alone, but here was the first fruits of the Gentiles. He would be lifted up and here he was drawing them already. And he did draw them in the Old Testament as in the New. The believers in the Old Testament and the New Testament are looking at the same cross, you might say. They were looking forward to the cross, the promise. We're looking to the same cross in the fulfillment. But there's only one Savior, and you can only be saved in one way, whether Old Testament or New Testament. And to make it clear here what was happening, when they said, sir, we would see Jesus, first of all, that's in the present tense. They were persevering in their aim and purpose and desire to see Jesus. And that's a good thing because there are many things to discourage seekers for Jesus. whether around them, or by the church, or even in themselves. They had this desire to see Jesus. They were not satisfied with anything less, and it had to be Him alone. Not Jesus plus the law, but Jesus alone. You remember the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were distracting Peter and they were taken away. And we read that when he looked up, he saw Jesus only, as it should be. So they were seeking his person above every other person because he alone could do something for them that nobody else could. He alone can give them what they were seeking for. Not just God, but peace with God. In the Old Testament, they have been told that they could not see God's face and live. But in the New Testament, it is made clear. You can see the face of God, the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ and live and live. Now let us consider this desire. Well, first of all, it's not a natural desire. We are not born with a desire to see Jesus, quite the contrary. Isaiah tells us that By nature, we see no beauty in him that we should desire. And there were many at that time who did desire to see him, but not for the right reason. It makes a great deal of difference between what you see in Jesus and how you see Jesus. That is going to separate the one from the other in this life and in the day of judgment. And that's why the Lord said to his inquirers, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And we shouldn't miss out that second part, whose son is he? Because that's important. There are three persons in the Trinity. If he's a son, he must have a father. And how do we know the son? Well, to see anybody, you need light. And it's the Holy Spirit who gives you the light to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's not a natural desire. It's not the desire arising from curiosity, like the crowds here. They came out at a festival, saw it, went home, lost interest. Curiosity can stir up a great desire, but when you've seen it, well, that's it. The desire just disappears. Sometimes the Lord wouldn't even speak to those who were seeking to see him for the wrong reason. Herod. We read that when the Lord Jesus was arrested, he was taken to Herod and Herod was glad. He had been looking forward to seeing Jesus and maybe seeing a miracle done. The Lord didn't even speak to him. So you can have a desire to see Jesus, but for the wrong reason. Or maybe you don't have the right teaching about who he is or his character. Sometimes you hear people say, oh, I wish I'd lived 2,000 years ago to see Jesus in the flesh, to hear him. Well, they did that. The crowd did that. And then they crucified him. It was just a natural desire, you see. And a natural desire arises not from the will, but from the emotions. You're attracted to something, and it's usually because of something you see or you hear. But when you're attracted to Christ, you can't see him with these eyes. You need the eyes of faith. And we read that the eyes of your understanding have to be enlightened. So it's not a natural desire. This is something that God has to put into you. Psalm 110, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Power, that's obvious. But think about day. What's in day? Light, light. in that purest light of thine, we will see. When the word comes to call sinners to Jesus, they cannot come. They must come, of course, to be saved, but they cannot come unless God makes them willing in a day of his power. And it's interesting that the Lord says here that if he's lifted up, he will draw. In John 6, we read, no man can come unless the father draws. And where do they get the power to come? Well, the new covenant tells us in Jeremiah, I will put my spirit within you. The three persons of the Godhead are at work in a synagogue. It's not a little power. Paul says the exceeding greatness of his power. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, and they will come. We were singing in Psalm 27, when thou didst say, seek ye my face, David's reply was, thy face I will seek. Now, not everybody responds that way. Why? Well, as God said to the Corinthians, Who is it that makes you to differ from other people? Is it yourself? Have you more natural power in you, more merit, more understanding? No, it is God that makes you to differ. Salvation is of the Lord, said Jonah in the depths. So if it's not a natural desire, secondly, it must be a spiritual desire. It's not in us by nature. Sometimes you look back after conversion and you think, it was so obvious. Why did not I believe it and come to Christ? Because it wasn't obvious at the time. You didn't see the way at the time. You maybe had an interest in Christ, but it did not set you in motion towards him. Very easy to have an interest and be a spectator. But when there's this interest, this desire to see Jesus, you're in motion. You're being drawn. And once you know that you're being drawn, you want to go all the way, and you say with the bride and the son of Solomon, draw me, and we will run after you. Rutherford said that, Since he has looked upon me, my heart is not my own. He has run away to heaven with it. Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. And Christ is the treasure in heaven. So it's a spiritual desire. Now, how does that differ from a natural desire? Well, a natural desire wears off. It's temporary. This goes on. It's in the present tense, it's continuous. They want to see Jesus, and when they see Jesus, they want to see more of Jesus, and deepen that vision of Jesus in this world. Now, we can't see him in the flesh, and yet, faith can see him. The eyes of faith, the eyes of the soul. Paul writes in Hebrews 2, But now we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. How? Well, faith, by faith we see the unseen. Moses endured to the end, seeing him who is invisible. This is how we are drawn, and we're drawn through all the distractions, and seeming contradictions of the visible by looking towards the invisible. If you contemplate following the Lord, looking unto Jesus through this world, following him, we are surrounded by invisible forces. We don't see them with these eyes, but we know they're there. And yet the Lord is drawing us to the midst of them. It's like a narrow path with enemies on either side. You remember Bunyan and the two lions up ahead? And then when he got up, he got through. It's a continuous desire. It doesn't stop. It gets deeper. Sometimes we are disappointed with ourselves that this desire falters. It's not as deep as perhaps we felt it was years ago. Well, as you go on, you might say you're meeting more resistance to following him and looking towards him. So spiritually, the spirit begins this work in you. It gives you this desire. And yet in this world, It's not satisfying because it's interrupted. It's imperfect. And as long as we are still in the flesh within dwelling sin, you might say that our vision is clouded, but it will be satisfied when we see him as he is. No longer within dwelling sin, and adapted to behold Christ in glory. You saw what happened to John, who loved Jesus, but when he saw him on earth, he was afraid and he fell at his feet. And the Lord said, fear not, fear not. Well, in heaven, we will not be told fear not. There'll be no reason for fear. I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy righteousness, in thy likeness. So you're not satisfied in this world, and that's why although you have a desire, it's a very restless desire, because it's not fulfilled yet, not filled full. But nevertheless, it is a great matter to be able to see God. to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Looking on to Jesus. Now, how do we know that we are looking on to Jesus? Well, we have to go by what the Bible says about who is the real Jesus. What is his character? What has he done, promised? What power does he give those who desire to see him? It's to be feared that many nowadays are following a Jesus of their imagination. We need God to tell us about his son. And you'll only find that in the word of God. And it's advice, good advice, not to spend so much books, studying books about the Bible, but to go to the source. These are the words that the Father gave to Jesus, and he passes them on to us as the prophet of the church. We've already looked at how he's going to be the high priest and the sacrifice, verse 24, but he's also the king. Now, you might say, well, how do I see the king? Well, use the means. These men knew about Jesus, but they weren't sure how to get near to him, so they went to Philip. And this is why we have the means of grace. But by using these means of grace, we will know more about God, the word and the sacraments. There was a woman about 20 years ago, And she met a retired minister at a post office. And he was telling her about the Lord and the glory of knowing him and the blessedness. And she said, well, I've never seen him. I've been to church, but I've never seen what you've seen. And he said to her, well, if you would like to see the king, where would you go? the palace. And he said, that's right. You go to the gates of the palace. The king is going to pass there sometime. So always be where the means of grace are. You will find that the king is there. And this king has a table also. He says, when the twos or threes are gathered in my name, he will be there. He will also be at his table, remember. Now perhaps you are not sitting at the table, but it's his table and he is there. He's the host. He invites the guests. He provides what's on the table and it all points to him. So you're having the word of the king and you're having the word and the sacrament pointing to the king. And the king does say, Seek ye my face, and if you faith, you'll respond, thy face will I seek. And it's a great comfort to know that the Lord invites sinners to his table. Some people say, well, I'm not worthy to sit at the Lord's table. Well, let's hope not. Let's hope not. It's only the unworthy that are fitted to sit at the Lord's table. Your sense of unworthiness is your mark of admission. Dr. Duncan was at a communion, and there was a woman there, and the cup was being passed around, and he noticed that she put it onto her neighbor. She didn't take it. She did the same with the bread. And he noticed this, and he came down, he took the bread, he took the wine, he said, take it woman, it's for sinners, take it. And she took it. So it's a spiritual desire, so it's constant, like a river, ever deepening. And as you come to the end of the journey, and you don't know when that is, but you will find your desires making you very restless. And this desire, you cannot get out of your mind. It will keep you from sleeping even. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit. And remember, that is what he does. He takes the things of Christ, and he shows you the glory of Christ, Increasingly, as you go on towards heaven, you think, this is what I was made for. Nothing else will satisfy me. This is what I was made for. This desire came at a price, remember. It's only because he dies, only because he is lifted up, that the Holy Spirit comes. If Christ had not died, the Holy Spirit would not have come. Because there would have been no death to apply. And in the Old Testament, he was applying the future death of Christ. Retrospectively, as they say. An old professor put it this way, the cross stands between the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints. And remember, it's pointing both ways. The cross is pointing both ways, past and future. All the people of God are there somewhere in the past or in the future. Certainly, we would see Jesus. You have to ask yourself, do you have that desire? Is it for him? It's not we would see Jesus because of the gifts, what he will give us. We would see Jesus for himself. Not the gifts, but the giver. If you have a desire, well, how strong is it? Has it grown? Has something or someone come in between? As we grow up, we become interested in things. And then something else comes in and we, it's as if you find a new toy, a new interest, and the old one goes. But this one never goes. Sometimes things can come in, to come between you and Christ. You have to be aware of that. Looking unto Jesus, sometimes that means looking by something, over something, beyond something. Is this your desire? Not just for the gifts, not just to get heaven, but to be with Christ, see Christ, like Christ, and forever. That is not a natural desire. That is a spiritual desire. And if you have it, Christ gave you that desire for himself. Everything for the sinner comes from the Father through the Son by the Spirit to the sinner. God deals with us through his Son, and we must deal with God through his Son. Now, when we do see the Lord Jesus in heaven, we're not going to see his divine nature, or God the Father divine nature, or the Holy Spirit's divine nature. Because as John Calvin reminds us, the essence of God, we cannot see. But as the Lord said, he that has seen me, has seen the Father. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We're not going to see it any other way. And remember, despite our prayers and best attainments, you might say, in the knowledge of Christ in this world, it will always come short of a full knowledge. And even in heaven, we will go on learning about Christ Jesus. Because we are finite, God is infinite. We will go on learning about the riches of the glory of Christ forever. In this world, well, it's as the Lord said to Peter, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those that love him. Now where there's love, there's desire to be with the beloved. Everything is involved in the heart. Rutherford again says, when the Lord gets the heart, he gets the whole being. Now this desire for Christ is a sign of life. And how do you know if a person is alive? They move. And if we're alive, we are moving towards Christ. in our desires. It'd be very strange if you loved someone and didn't want to be as near to them as possible. And that's what makes us restless. We're not yet there, but it's promised. And we're rather like the fisherwoman Rutherford talks about, down at the shore, and her husband's away on the ship. She's down at the shore every day saying, have you seen my husband? Is there any word of him coming back? And remember, we may see the Lord before we die. If he comes back while we're alive, well, we still have to be changed. We need that adaptation, that capacity to enter into eternity. As Paul says, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. Seeing produces motion. That's a desire to go forward, to see Christ as he is. Now you might think, well, I saw a lot of Christ in my experience when I was converted, but there's been a kind of gap in between. and I've never recovered that powerful vision as when I was converted. When you could kneel down and felt you could almost touch him, he was so near. Reverend Murdo, Murdo MacLeod, Murdo Alec MacLeod, he compared that feeling to being on a voyage. And we are on a voyage to heaven. And he said, you know, when the ship sails, the captain's on the bridge, you see a lot of the captain. But during the voyage, the captain goes back inside and you don't see him. But when you come to the other side, as you're nearing your destination, you'll see him again. And many a believer has thought, I'll never recover that until just before they die, they have it again. The beginning and the end of the voyage. Sir, we would see Jesus. And they weren't going to give up. And seekers should remember this. Keep seeking. The Lord says, seek and you will find. O all you that do seek the Lord, your heart shall ever live. Heart, that's where the love and the desire is. They wanted to see him of whom they had heard. Now, faith comes by hearing the word of God. Isaiah is here quoted, who has believed a report. And according to this description, not many, but there were two, two who did. And the result was, sir, we would see Jesus. Now, even in this world that has an effect on seeing Jesus. People forget that this is the way to sanctification. Some people say, well, I have to do this, this, and this, and that shows I'm growing in holiness and sanctification. Well, if you look at the end of 2 Corinthians 3, beholding as in a glass, a mirror, the glory of the Lord, and the mirror's the word, we are changed from glory to glory. We are transformed from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. So look into the Word of God. And it's like the more you look into it and see Christ on the page by faith, the more that will be reflected, so to speak, in your own soul. As if it's another mirror here. Beholding Him, you are transformed from glory to glory. What you hear with your ears, you're seeing now with your eyes of faith, and when He comes again, or when we come to Him, you'll be able to say with Job, with these eyes, I will see Him. I know that my Redeemer liveth, Sir, we would see Jesus. That is the response of faith to the Lord's invitation, indeed command, when he says, look unto me and be ye saved. Sir, we would see Jesus. Now a look is not a work, it's a grace. They persevered in their desire. They did not give up seeking. They made the choice, remember, and they were seeking Him for the right reason. They wanted Him, God manifest in the flesh. And there was something He could do for them and give to them that no other person could. And literally, spiritually, and eternally, They could not live without him. That's how they felt. In conclusion, there are a lot of studies nowadays in scripture characters, and they have their place. And about 100 years ago, there was a very able minister in Scotland, and he did a series on Abraham. 10 sermons in Abraham. And he finished that, so he thought, well, Life of Jacob, 10 sermons on Jacob. He thought, well, that went well, let's have another. 10 sermons on Nehemiah. He did four sermons on Nehemiah. He came into the pulpit the next week, found a little note. Sir, we would see Jesus. Next week, personal work of Christ. The Father giving the Son. The Spirit applying the Son. We come in the next week. Another note. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. He says, look unto me and be ye saved. When thou didst say, Seek ye my face, thy face, Lord, I will seek. May he bless his work to us.