John 12, we're going to read verse 20 through 33 in just a moment. Here's our proposition this morning. You're going to recognize it sounds pretty basic, maybe to some of you. Here's our proposition. Through his willing death on the cross, Jesus judges the kingdoms of this world, kingdom of this world, and establishes his own eternal kingdom populated by men and women who serve and follow him drawn from among all the nations of the earth. We're going to see that fleshed out in John chapter 12, verse 20 through 33. And as I said, that might sound pretty basic to you. That kind of just sounds like the gospel. Don't tune out yet though, because we're going to see in this passage that Jesus unfolds those truths in a very significant way. In fact, he's going to do it wrapped in a series of intriguing paradoxes. In this passage, we're going to uncover a few things. The surprising makeup of Jesus' kingdom. We're going to wrestle with the costly nature of discipleship. We're going to see the explicit purpose of Jesus' coming. We're going to see the efficacy of his death upon the cross. And again, we're going to see all of that wrapped in a series of paradoxes. So with that, let's read John 12 20-33. It says, now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls in the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it. 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. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. One of the keys to understanding this passage is to understand what spurred on Christ's words. What is it that sparked this discourse? Look in verse 20 through 22. It says there, now among those who went up to the worship of the feast were some Greeks. You might be surprised to learn that at any time in the New Testament where you see Jewish worship, there were always Greeks or Gentiles among the Jewish worshippers. These were individuals who were not necessarily proselytes, though proselytes were there as well, but there were always Gentiles or Greeks, it says here, which sometimes is just shorthand for Gentiles. who came to reject the idolatry and the polytheism of the Greco-Roman world, and who came to embrace the God of Israel. And so these were men and women who worshipped Yahweh. These were men and women who would even partake in synagogue worship, who would participate in prayers. who would attend feasts, though oftentimes they were not able to eat of the feasts because they remained uncircumcised. And so these were individuals who were not quite proselytes. They did not hold to a strict adherence to the law. The men were not circumcised, yet they worshipped the God of the Jews. And what we find in our passage is a contingent of these Greeks or Gentile God-fearers have come wanting an audience with Jesus. Think of people like Cornelius. Remember Cornelius being mentioned in Acts chapter 10? He's one of those God-fearers. Think of Lydia that Paul met as she was praying by the river and she gave her life to Christ. She's one of those God-fearers. And so, a contingent of these Greeks come and they want to see Jesus. They want an audience with Him. So, verse 21, they come to Philip. who is from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, we wish to see Jesus. Why does he come to Philip? We don't really know. It says there that he's from Bethsaida. Philip is. And Bethsaida was in proximity to some Gentile regions. And so Philip may very well have known these individuals. We don't know. But he seems to be a appropriate liaison here. So him and Andrew go, and they tell Jesus. And what's remarkable here is that many Jews that we've been learning over the past months, I don't know how long we've been in the Gospel of John, but what we've learned is that most of the Jews have come to reject Jesus. Most of, especially the Jewish leadership, have come to reject him as a potential Messiah. But what we find here is that there are some Greeks some Gentiles, some uncircumcised God-fearers who seem to be coming to the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, and so they want to speak with him. These individuals on the fringes of Jewish worship seem to have more spiritual insight than even the Jewish leadership, which I find to be pretty remarkable. But what we find here is that these Greeks never do get an audience with Jesus. And this is what's pretty interesting to me. They come and say, we want to see Jesus. Jesus does not give them an audience, but he begins to speak about a series of things. And so what we want to do this morning is understand why is he saying these things now? What connection does anything Jesus says in verse 20 through 33 have to do with the fact that Greeks have come seeking an audience. And that is the key to understanding all of this. So Jesus responds to the news of their coming with a discourse about the makeup of his kingdom. He speaks about the nature of discipleship. He speaks about the purpose of his coming. He speaks about the efficacy of his coming death upon the cross. And all this in response to the fact, hey, some Greeks have come to talk to you. Very interesting. What he teaches here, again, is not unrelated to their coming, but it is spawned by their coming. And so he begins to talk, or we say it this way, this passage points to a future where those Gentiles and those Greeks would be included in the kingdom of God. What we find is the time is not yet for it, but what Jesus begins to do is to speak to the things that must happen before that inclusion can take place. And so John 12 verse 23 says, Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. And again, this is related. The Greeks come. We want to see Jesus. Jesus says, the hour has come. A milestone of sorts has taken place here. And Jesus is responding to this. This is the first of quite a few references to timing in this passage. And so the coming of the Greeks in some way signals to Jesus that a milestone has been reached in his earthly ministry. This reminds me of John chapter 17 when Jesus prays to the Father and says to the Father, Father, I've accomplished all the work you've given me to do. And then he begins to talk about what that work was. He says that those that you have given me have come to understand that I've come from the Father. They know that I'm sent. What we've been saying, they know that I'm the sent Son of God and only source of eternal life. And because they now know that, mission accomplished. Kind of a similar feel here. What he's saying is the Greeks have come and there's something about their interest being piqued in that faith that they would like to express in Jesus that makes Jesus say, The hour has come. The hour has come. Through Jesus' earthly ministry, what we learn is He did not come just to reach Jews only. He went to the Jews first, but He did not come to reach Jews only. Matthew records in Matthew 4, verse 13, it says, in leaving Nazareth, Jesus went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region in shadow of death, on them a light has dawned." From the beginning, Jesus came, and with His coming, what? A salvation would be offered, not just to Jews, but to Gentiles as well. And that's what we're seeing play out in this passage. So, the day would come, remember, with the Great Commission, when He would send His disciples out to what preached the gospel to all nations. So the coming of these Greeks to see Jesus signaled that Jesus' earthly ministry up until this point has been a success. The pump was primed for a massive expansion of the kingdom of God by the inclusion of men and women from every nation. So, this gives us a glimpse of a point in time before the birth of the church, one which foreshadows what the makeup of the church will be. And so this morning we could say, look around, right? Look around. There's a diversity, even here at Calvary Baptist Church in Windsor, Ontario in 2025, there's a diversity represented here. Different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different racial backgrounds, and so on. The church as we know it today is a church of diversity. But the church as we know it today is just a mere shadow in this text. Just a mere shadow in this text. But Jesus knows exactly what is coming. And as we're gonna see, he's moved by it. Look at verse 23. Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And this is what helps us to see that within this passage, we're not reading too much into it to say that this is a passage that foreshadows the coming diversity of the church and the inclusion of the Gentiles into the broad worldwide church. Because Jesus here says, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And that's intentional. It's not just a throwaway phrase. By calling himself the Son of Man, he's giving a nod to Daniel chapter 7. And in Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, we see this prophecy. Daniel says, I saw in the night visions, behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom. This is some individual who can ride the clouds. And there's another individual we read about in the New Testament that says the day is coming when he's going to come on clouds. This is Christ. And what's going to happen to this other man? Well, he comes before the Ancient of Days, the Ancient of Days, God himself presents him or gives him what? Dominion and glory and a kingdom. And what's the makeup of the kingdom? That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. So even from the Old Testament, With these prophecies of the coming church, it was always intended to be a diverse church made up of people from all nations in all languages, and heretofore in the Gospel of John, Jesus is basically just going to Jews. They have not grasped this concept that the kingdom of God will be a diverse kingdom, but that's what's being signaled by the Greeks coming to Jesus. And so, Notice again in Daniel 7, verse 14, it says that he will receive both dominion and glory. And what does Jesus say in John 12, 23? The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. He's saying the time has now come for me to receive the kingdom prophesied in Daniel 7. The time has now come for this kingdom to expand so that all people's nations and languages will come to be part of that kingdom. So, the coming of the Greeks to Jesus is significant. It signals that everything is prepared for a universal and eternal kingdom to be inaugurated, the kingdom of Daniel 7. A kingdom in which people from every nation, every language might serve Him. And what? That the time had arrived for Jesus to be glorified. And so I said that we see a series of paradoxes in this passage. And John, in general, in the gospel, loves paradox, loves irony. But here we come to our first paradox, and it's found in the way that Jesus uses the term glorified. What does it mean to be glorified here? He says, the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Well, generally, it means to be honored and to be praised and to be exalted, generally what it means. And it does mean that in our passage, but it means something more as well. Look at what it says in John 12, 24. Jesus says, "...truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls in the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Suddenly we're talking about farming? If you're not really tracking with what's happening here, this is such an odd thing for Jesus to say. Greeks come to talk to Him, and now He's talking about being glorified, now He's talking about wheat. What's the connection? He's using a farming metaphor here explaining what it means for him to be glorified. How will he come to receive honor and praise and exaltation? How will this happen? How will he come to receive an eternal and universal kingdom? How will he receive a kingdom in which he's served by people from every nation and every language and so on? How will it happen? It will be accomplished through his death. It will be accomplished through his death. And how would he die? We know he's going to die through the humiliation of the cross. And so we find our first paradox here. This is a humiliation that leads to glory. A humiliation that leads to glory. And with that paradox, we learn that the kingdom of Jesus is not like anything else mankind has ever experienced. This is a kingdom that confounds human wisdom. This is a kingdom that destroys human pride. It's a kingdom ruled over by an exalted king who received his dominion through humiliation. But then he adds to this paradox here with this metaphor of the wheat dying. And again, he's picturing a grain of wheat falling to the ground. You picture the seed, it falls on the ground. It's got to be absorbed into the earth. It's got to be buried, frankly. It's got to be planted. When that seed is planted, what happens to the seed is it sort of mimics like a death. The outer shell of that seed disintegrates and it gives way to germination. So now life emerges from that apparent death. That's the idea. And then it emerges from the ground and then it becomes fruitful and produces fruit or seed. Well, like that kernel of wheat, Jesus is saying, I must die and I must be buried. But also like that wheat, my death will actually result in life. And so we find another paradox. Not only do we find a humiliation that brings glory, but here we see a death that brings life, a death that brings life. So the time for Jesus to be glorified has come. How will he receive praise and honor and exaltation? How will that happen? He's gonna die. How so? Because once he dies, that death is gonna result in an exaltation by the Father, but also, he says, with some sort of harvest. The wheat goes into the ground, is buried, it comes up, sprouts up, it dies, appears to die, comes up, and fruit. Well, what's the fruit going to be here? If you take it out of the metaphor, what's the harvest that he's talking about here? Well, he's using, again, some sort of axiom here with the wheat. If you want fruit, you've got to plant the seed. You want harvest, the wheat's got to disintegrate. The wheat's got to be buried. Before life, there has to be a sort of death. And Jesus is saying, before there's fruit in the kingdom, I have to die. But what type of fruit is he talking about here? He tells us in verse 25. It's not going to look like fruit to you at first. He says, 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. And again, it just kind of seems disconnected at first blush here. Son of man be glorified, and now we're talking about wheats, and we're talking about, and now we're talking about people losing their lives. Like what's the connection here? As we read verse 25 and 26, we should put the emphasis on the whoever's. Put the emphasis on the anyone's. Because this is how Jesus is defining the much fruit produced by the wheat that died and was buried. You know what the much fruit will be as a result of his death? It's going to be an open offer of salvation to anyone the world over who will follow Jesus. The fruit is the free, impartial, universal offer of eternal life to whoever serves Jesus. The fruit are the anyone's and the whoever's that follow Christ. The anyone's and the whoever's that serve Jesus. The anyone and the whoever's spanning the ages and spanning the globe who give their lives to Christ. That's the fruit that'll be produced as a consequence of He being dying, being buried, and rising again. Now remember, this discussion is sparked by the coming of the Greeks. see Jesus. Jesus' point here is that the time was coming to accomplish all that needed to be accomplished so that the Greeks and multitudes of others, non-Jews, could be included in the kingdom of God. It was time. It was time for Him to die so that these Greeks and anyone else who believed in Him could receive eternal life. He would receive glory when he died a death that would bring them life. And that's another paradox in the passage. We see, again, the humiliation that brings glory, and we see a death that brings life. So, who are the whoever's and who are the anyone's in our passage? Who are these who are among the fruit produced by Jesus' death? Well, again, they are those who serve Jesus. They are those who follow him. And this spans every nation and every ethnicity. No single group has a monopoly here. Jesus spells it out clearly. They are whoever, what does he say, hates their life in this world. Whoever serves him and whoever follows him. So the time had come for Jesus to die like a grain of wheat falling into the ground. Just as the grain must die to bear fruit, His death had to take place in order to bring forth life, an abundant harvest of souls. This harvest would be men and women from every corner of the earth who have surrendered their lives to serve Jesus and through that receive eternal life from the Father. Now that's a harvest. And so the question this morning is this. We say, who are the anyone's, who are the whoever's? I mean, this abundant harvest that comes as a result of Jesus' death. We say, who are they? We can say this morning, are you one of them? Are you one of them? Are you an anyone? Are you a whoever? Again, Jesus says, whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in his world will keep it for eternal life. So we have a test. We can ask a question. We can do some personal assessments. Jesus says, whoever loves his life, loses it. Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it. You say, well, shouldn't we love life? Yes, we should love life. But Jesus says here that you ought to hate your life. Jesus says that if we love life, we're going to lose our life. What's going on here? He says that hating life will result in gaining eternal life. What does that mean? Well, we're not just constrained to this passage because Jesus on multiple occasions, multiple times in the same Gospels, use very similar phrases because these concepts are fundamental to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. And so let's just read some parallel passages and maybe get a better understanding of what it means here to hate your life in this world. Luke 9.23, and he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." That makes it a little bit more clear, doesn't it? Because he talks about a cross, but not a cross that brings physical death for his follower. He says, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. So more self-denial than martyrdom, right? Luke 17 verse 33, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. And so now what we understand is that we're talking about those individuals who are so in love with life in this world, so immersed in this society, so immersed in culture and what the world says are the priorities of this life, that person who's so desperate to preserve all of that, Jesus says, will lose their life. will lose all of that. And then Matthew 16, 25 says, whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And so what Jesus is addressing here is that mentality that only cares about this life. This is not a call to martyrdom, though there are wonderful individuals who have given themselves in defense of the faith. and as a result of persecution. But that's not what's happening here primarily. What Jesus is addressing is the short-sighted, spiritually dead, worldly-minded mentality that only cares about the present life. He's talking about the person that has no concern for eternity. He's challenging the mindset of the person that refuses to follow him wholeheartedly because they have divided loyalties and divided affections. These are those who love the world too much. These are those who want to live for themselves in this world to get as much as they can out of this present life as they can. For these people, Jesus' call to discipleship seems to be a threat to them. They want to preserve their life from Jesus instead of giving their life to Jesus. That's the idea. John addressed this in his first letter. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not from the Father, but it's from the world, and the world is passing away along with his desires. Whoever does the will of God abides forever. Same ideas. So the category of people Jesus is addressing in John 12 here are people who love life in this world to the expense of an eternal priority and spiritual perspective. Spiritual priority, eternal perspective, works both ways. He's addressing people who are desperate to preserve or save their present life. He's addressing people who see a life of service to Christ as loss instead of gain. But what does Jesus say about those types of efforts of self-preservation? I hear Christ calling me to serve him, but hey, I'm so desperate to preserve what I have in this life that I see that as loss. How does he address that attitude? Verse 25, whoever loves his life loses it. All the efforts at preservation ultimately do not produce the intended result. And so we find another paradox. Jesus here is talking about a loss that brings gain. A loss that brings gain. When someone refuses to follow Christ in the name of self-preservation, their rejection of Christ actually has the opposite effect. In trying to preserve it all, they lose it all. The life they're so desperate to preserve is lost. Yeah, they experience good things in this life. Absolutely. Achieving goals, amassing possessions, attaining power and influence. But with all that earthly gain, they forfeited eternal life. Paradoxically, however, the person who readily gives up their current life to Jesus is the one who actually gains. The person who says, I'm going to use the short blip of time that I have in this world to serve Christ, which to others might look like self-sacrifice, is actually gain. Again, we're not talking primarily about martyrdom here. There are some faiths that teach that the greatest good you can do is to give yourself as a martyr. Interestingly, when you come to the Hall of Faith in the book of Hebrews, what do we see commended? We see commended those who suffer trials and persecution while maintaining their faith in this life, who actually live this life committed to Christ through faith. Unless we think that Jesus is talking about some sort of literal martyrdom here, he goes on to define what it means to lose one's life for his sake. He says in verse 26, if anyone serves me, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there will be my servant also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. And so, losing one's life, or as parallel passages says, taking up one's cross, is a matter of serving Jesus instead of serving self. It's a matter of following Jesus instead of following our own impulses. It's a matter of following Jesus instead of following one's own desires or even following one's own heart. And so maybe this morning there's someone here who needs to hear that. Maybe you've heard the gospel. Maybe you've understood what it means to be saved. You've understood the offer of salvation through the death of Christ. Maybe you understand that Jesus is calling you to give your life in service to him. Maybe you know he's calling you to follow him. But you hold back, and you hold back as a matter of self-preservation. Why? Because you love the world, and you love everything that you think you can get out of the world. You count its pride and its possessions and its passions of greater worth to you than Christ. And what Jesus' message is, is in all your efforts to preserve all of that, you're going to suffer loss. We need to have the attitude of Paul in Philippians 3. He says, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." That's the attitude of any genuine follower of Jesus. That's the test as to whether one is among the whoever's or the anyone's in our text. A follower of Jesus is one who counts Jesus as greater value than anything the world has to offer. This is one who sees salvation as gain, even if it means temporary loss. In what ways is the person who loses his life actually gained then? What is gained? Right? You give your life, you say, okay, I've got a short life and I'm going to spend it serving Christ. And many will look at you and say, well, look at everything you're losing. You say, well, no, I'm gaining. Well, what are you gaining? Look in verse 26 again. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. This has a couple of implications. First, Jesus is saying is that the very nature of servanthood, you think about it, you have a master and you have a servant. Wherever the master goes, there's the servant, because the servant's always ready at hand to serve the master. So you're following Jesus, which means you're always with Jesus. Wherever Jesus is going, that's where he's going. And now we're not literally following Jesus like the disciples in his day were, but what are we saying? Jesus's priorities are my priorities. Jesus's perspectives are my perspectives, and so on. We're saying, oh, I'm with Christ, and I'm ready at hand to serve Christ at any time. So he's saying like a servant and a master, the servant is always with Jesus. Where Jesus is, the servant is. And that's significant because at the moment that Jesus says this, at the moment that Jesus says this, where's he going? He's going to the cross. One of the marks of an anyone or whoever in our passage is that they're willing to follow Jesus, even to death. But we see primarily that that means a death to self, by taking up one's own cross. One can't say that they serve Jesus unless they're willing to follow him, and following him means following him wherever he goes. And Jesus says in Matthew 16, verse 24, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. We've already seen this. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. And so serving Christ means accompanying him wherever he is. And he leads the way, and he leads the way to the cross. For him it was a cross of execution, but for us it's a cross of self-denial. It's a cross where our life lived for our own glory and for our own priorities goes to die. A servant of Jesus follows him to the cross. But there's another significance to that statement, where I am, there will my servant be also. What happens after the cross? Resurrection. Just like Jesus, that kernel of wheat that goes into the ground and dies and produces life, and so we follow him, so we follow him in death, and so we die to sell, but then we rise again to live a new life for him, but we also look forward, having benefited from his death, we also will experience his resurrection. And so he speaks of another sort of gain here. He says in John 14.3, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. So he uses the same phrase, that where I am, you may be also. John 17.24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory. And so this is talking about eternity. This is talking about having a place in the eternal kingdom. This is talking about after this life, like you're gonna die. The lights are gonna go out, you're gonna be put in a coffin, you're gonna be lowered into the grave, dirt's gonna be piled on top of you, there'll be a little marker there saying that this was this person's name and this is when they lived, but then that's it. Unless you're a follower of Jesus. Like Christ, who overcame death through resurrection, so those who are united to Christ also will experience death, sure, but resurrection, victory over death. And Jesus is saying that those who are mine will be with me where I am. That's a place in the eternal kingdom. So yeah, is there a loss in this life when one follows Jesus and says, it's not about me, it's about him? Yeah, there's loss from an earthly perspective, but there's far more gain. There's far more gain. There's more gain, by the way. Look again at verse 26. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, what does it say? The Father will honor him. The Father will honor him. Jesus says that the person who gives their life in humble service to Christ will be honored by the Father. So we find another paradox in our text. If you're keeping track, this is what we have so far. We've seen a humiliation that brings glory. Christ goes to the cross and he's glorified. Doesn't seem to make sense. Next we see a death that brings life. The seed goes into the ground, appears to be dead, it sprouts up and brings a harvest. Christ dies on the cross, he's buried, we think it's done and over, but he rises from the dead and he bursts the church. We've seen a loss that brings gain. Those who give their lives to Christ appearing from an earthly perspective to give it all up for him only to gain eternity. And then here we see another paradox. We see a servitude that brings honor. A servitude that brings honor. A servant or a slave was not an honorable position. Here Jesus is turning that concept of being a servant on His head. The man or woman who gives their life to Christ to serve Him in humble service will be honored. You don't expect the servant to be honored. You expect the noble to be honored. You expect the leader to be honored. You expect the king to be honored. You don't expect the servant to be honored. And what's happening here is, humble yourself in service to Jesus, and you will be honored. And you say, now wait a second. If I look at life in this world, when I make decisions for Christ, I feel like I'm not being honored. Think about the young woman who values the role of wife and mother. Are you honored in this world? No, you don't seem to be honored. You're saying, well, I want Christ's priorities, and I want to serve Him. You make decisions for Him, and you're not honored. You're actually dishonored by the world. The young man who chooses to maybe give up a lucrative salary or a potentially lucrative career in order to pursue ministry or to serve Christ, are you going to be honored by the world? No. You're going to be looked down upon by the world. The person who chooses to forgive past hurts instead of holding bitterness and exacting vengeance. You're not honored by the world. The business owner who's determined to operate ethically, placing people ahead of maximum profits, for instance. Not honored by the world. The person who gives themselves, again, to missions, to serving the poor, and so on. Not honored by the world. The young man or woman who's determined to honor God with their sexuality. Not honored by the world, you're mocked by the world. So where are we getting this idea that there's going to be honor for those who follow Jesus and place his priorities before their own? Well, it doesn't say you're going to be honored by the world. It says, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. The follower of Jesus has determined that the time he or she has in this life is best spent preparing for eternity. The follower of Jesus has determined to live their life not serving themselves, but serving Jesus. It's that kind of person and only that kind of person who's going to receive honor, but not honor from the world. Honor from God Himself. A follower of Jesus has decided that his life is best lived not in search of honor and praise from the world, but for honor from the Father. And so this is a matter of trading the temporary for the eternal, trading the physical for the spiritual. The servant of Jesus is one who counts being loved and honored by God the Father as the greatest gain, even if it means sacrificing the honor from the world. Jesus would later say in John 14, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said, Lord, how is it that you'll manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered them, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and he will come to him and make our home with him. That sounds like a lot of gain to me. Loved by the Father, experiencing the manifest presence of God, being honored by the Father as a consequence of serving Christ. So in our text, the anyone's and the whoever's are those who live their lives for Jesus. These are those who recognize that the greatest consolation they could ever receive is standing before the Father and hearing Him say, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the joy of your master. And so I asked, are you included in the whoever's? Are you included in the anyone's? Are you part of Jesus' kingdom? You can know this by answering some questions. Have you decided to devote this present life to serving Jesus? Have you determined to follow Jesus, including His teaching, His commands, and His example? Have you determined that eternal life is far greater than the value of this present life? Have you determined that you're not going to keep your life, seeking to preserve your life from Jesus, but instead you're willing to lay it gladly at His feet? Have you determined that being honored by the Father for your service to Jesus is far greater than any gain you could have from this world? If so, you're part of the harvest. You are part of the fruit produced that Jesus produces as a consequence of his sacrificial death, like that wheat going into the ground and producing life. So, what paradoxes have we seen so far? We've seen a humiliation that brings glory. We've seen a death that brings life. We've seen a loss that brings gain. We've seen a servitude that brings honor. And so, when the Greeks arrive to speak to Jesus, he glimpses a preview of the coming kingdom, a kingdom he had established through his death upon the cross. His substitutionary atonement throws open the doors of salvation for all people, so that citizenship in his kingdom is not depending upon ethnicity, but solely upon how one responds to Jesus. The result will be a vast harvest, men and women from every corner of the earth spanning all ages who serve Jesus." And they're all reconciled to the Father and receive eternal life. So, as Jesus sees the Greeks coming, and he says, my earthly life, my earthly ministry, I'm seeing the evidence, it has accomplished its purpose. I've come, I've done miracles, I've taught, I've revealed to the world that I'm the Son of God and the only source of eternal life. His disciples believe, and now he's seeing even the Gentiles coming on the fringes, starting to come to him. And he says, here we are on the cusp of it. The kingdom's ready for a vast expansion. And so now he comes face to face with the reality that the time has come. It's time for the cross. It's time for my sacrifice. And how does He respond to that? Look in verse 27. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I've come to this hour. And so, as Jesus contemplates His coming death, He displays a tender vulnerability before His disciples. He's experiencing soul anguish, and it's real. It reminds us that Christ in his incarnation took on real humanity. As Jesus considered what he needed to do to secure the salvation of those Greeks, and the multitude of those from every ethnicity and every nation and every tongue, he feels a genuine emotional burden. He didn't just have to die for them, but he had to bear the weight and consequence of sin. He had to experience what felt like being forsaken by the Father upon the cross. His coming sacrifice on the cross and the experience of bearing the sins of all who believe in him, that feeling was horrific. And he's struck by it in this moment as the Greeks come to talk to him. And how does he respond to it? Kind of with a rhetorical question. What am I going to say? Yes, I'm overcome. Yes, I'm feeling the soul anguish. Yes, I'm anticipating the most excruciating thing that anyone could ever experience. But what am I going to say to that? Father saved me from this hour? Of course not. Because I've come for this hour. Yes, my soul is in anguish. Yes. As I consider what's coming, but what am I going to do? Avoid it? No. Yes, it'll be horrific. Yes, it'll be excruciating. Yes, it will be soul-rending. But that's why I came. And with that, Jesus shows us that He does not ask His followers to do anything that He has not first done. He said that no one can follow Him unless they're willing to give this present life for eternal life. He has said that anyone who would be honored by the Father must serve. In demanding this from his followers, again, he's not asking anything he hasn't first modeled. Mark 10.45 says, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. And how would he serve? By giving his life a ransom for many. Jesus is our perfect example of what it means to live in the eternal perspective and spiritual priority. In this life, there was something, in his life, there was something that took precedence over everything else. There was a priority that surpassed all other things. There was something to which he dedicated the entirety of his earthly life that made moments like that actually easy to answer. Hard to experience, but easy to answer. Yeah, the experience is going to be excruciating, but how am I going to respond to it? Save me? Of course not. What was the priority that drove him? What was the priority that made answering temptations or struggles or trials like that easy to answer? Hard to experience, but easy to answer. What was the priority that drove his response? We see it in verse 28. It says, Father, glorify your name. Even beyond the pain that I'm going to experience, I know what I have to go through. I'm not going to seek salvation from it. Instead, I'm just going to say, Lord, be glorified. Lord, be glorified. Then a voice came from heaven saying, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Jesus had dedicated his life to the glory of the Father's name. He wanted God to be honored above all. He wanted God to receive all praise and worship that he deserved. Above all else, he desired that the name of God be glorified. And that, in some way, made it easy to answer the difficulties of life. And the same is true for us. When we fix our lives on that one priority, glorify God. That's my commitment, glorify God. Then all the difficulties of life become easy to answer. Temptations, struggle, decisions that confuse us, things that leave us guessing. We might wrestle with how to live out our devotion to Christ. We might wrestle with what it looks like to obey, but we never, never wrestle with the fact that we will obey. And this is where Christ is in our passage. All of that's settled for us. Christ is first. God's glory is first. That's the priority. Everything else and what that looks like and what those decisions will be when trials come and difficulties come, that'll be determined in the moment. But the guiding principle is not going to change. God's glory is paramount. And that's Christ's attitude here. Every choice, every sacrifice falls in line behind that priority. I'm gonna skip over some stuff for the sake of time and try to wrap it up here for us, and maybe we'll come back and cover some of this next week. But look down in verse 32, and we'll end here. Jesus says, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. And here he's referencing his crucifixion. He says that when my crucifixion happens, I'm going to draw all peoples to myself. Now remember the context. There's another passage where Jesus says that no one can come to him unless the Father draws him. And some people read that passage and they compare it to this passage and say, well, see there, it says he's going to draw all people. Completely different contexts. One's talking about the necessity of drawing for salvation. The other one's talking about the diversity of those who will be drawn. This is talking about the diversity of those who will be drawn. Remember the context with the Greeks and so on? He's saying, I'll draw all people to myself, all kinds of people, Greeks, Jews, doesn't matter. When I'm lifted up, I'm going to draw all peoples, all ethnicities, all races. They're all going to have equal access to eternal life. Salvation is going to be available to all sorts and types of people. My church, my kingdom will be diverse. That's the point. But first he's got to be crucified. So in conclusion, What is Jesus revealing to us in our passage about the makeup of the kingdom, the nature of discipleship, the purpose of his coming, and the efficacy of his death? His death, his willing death on the cross, what we learn is no defeat, not at all. Through it, he judges the world's kingdoms. We kind of just skipped over that part. He defeats Satan, he defeats sin, he defeats death. But through it, he plants an eternal kingdom. A kingdom that will eventually burst forth with life, open to all nations. The Greeks who come, they're kind of the first ripple there of that harvest. They're kind of like the first fruits right there at the gate. There's going to be a harvest of whoever's. There's going to be a harvest of anyone's from every corner of the earth. All those who decide to serve Christ, who decide to follow Christ. And so here's the question. Simply, are you in that harvest? Are you part of the fruit produced by the sacrificial death of Jesus? Through His death, He judges the world's fading kingdom. Are you going to cling to that world? Are you going to remain desperate to preserve everything you have in this life and actually preserve it from Jesus instead of giving it to Jesus? Or are you willing to lose it all for Jesus' sake? He's established an eternal kingdom, and He has invited you into it. The offer's there. It's wide open. But ultimately, it's your move. So follow Him. Lose your life. Gain eternity. Serve Him. face the world scoffing at times, rejection. I mean, you've got some family who's going to be upset with you, right? You've got a world system who could scoff and persecute you, but serve Him, face all of that, and then what? Dishonored by others, but you'll be honored by the Father. God has explicitly said that if we'd honor Him, we must honor the Son. So we stay close by his side, wherever he leads, and we will find ourselves close by his side in eternity. And so that's the harvest, the anyone's and the whoever's. And I trust that the majority of us here this morning are already believers, and so you are one of the anyone's and one of the whoever's. And you have benefited from the enormous gain here and now. and we look forward to that gain in eternity. The enormity and diversity of Jesus' church as we know it today, foreshadowed in the text, who wanted to just come and talk with Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the church. We thank you for all that Jesus has accomplished through his death upon the cross. We recognize that his death was necessary to bear the penalty of our sin. There's some here this morning who are caught up into a legalistic mentality that says that they must earn their own salvation, they must work off their own sin, they must try to attain that salvation. In their minds, they might have a sense of humility about it or inferiority, but in reality, exposed to them that that's a matter of pride. What they're saying is that they have the ability to earn salvation. What they're saying is that through their own self-effort, they can warrant eternal life in relationship with you. But what we recognize is that you are so holy and so far removed from us that there's nothing that we could ever do in our own power to enter into your presence, but instead we need Christ. We need Jesus to bridge the gap between the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. And so we confess Christ as the only means and the only way to relationship with you. So we pray this morning for these, help them to give up their self-effort, help them to recognize that there's nothing they can do to earn your favor. Help them instead to place their faith in Jesus Christ because it's through that faith that they will be honored by you and not by their meager and vain attempts at works of righteousness. I pray that you would save some this morning who come to recognize Christ for the first time as their Savior and Lord, the sent son and only source of eternal life. And then help us who are already saved, already believers, just to recognize the incredible value of the diverse church that Jesus Christ has produced through his sacrificial death. We thank you for him, and we pray you would bless us as we continue to dwell upon all that you've done for us through him. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.