Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the Gospel of John, chapter 12, as we have the privilege of coming to the table this morning. What a passage that we providentially land on to come to the table and to consider what this is all about. And so we're going to be looking this morning at John, chapter 12, verses 20 through 36. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. We'll pick up the reading at verse 20. 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 him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And 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 into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 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. Now my soul is 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 the ruler of this world will 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. So the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. And there, well, actually, I want to read the last part of verse 36. When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. There we'll end the reading of God's word. The triumphal entry has always been, at least for me, pastorally, Everyone expects a Palm Sunday sermon, and those are some of the most challenging sermons to preach. I don't know if you knew that, because Palm Sunday is a confusing event for me. It's always been a confusing event when I study it in the Bible, Jesus riding on the donkey into Jerusalem to his death. It's been confusing because it seems like there's great emotional excitement for Jesus. There's a moment everyone has been caught up in, and it seems like the success of everything of Jesus' ministry has culminated here right in the triumphal entry as he goes to his death. But it's hard because you don't really know how to read the diversity of the crowds, which are fickle. You don't really know how to understand where they are and what really they believe and why they're there. John presented a whole bunch of different reasons last time, and it's difficult for the preacher to try to assess and to give a straight line of thought as to exactly what's happening when you've got all these different responses going on to Jesus and his work. One of you asked and said last week, well, it seemed like the Pharisees had said they were going to arrest him, and if anyone had seen him, they were to report him. Why did they really come out? You seem to suggest that maybe they came out not at all to praise him at actually to see the show of his arrest. And I think that's fair. I think there's so much curiosity about Jesus. I think there's so much interest in Jesus. He had raised the dead. There were a variety of reasons that people were coming out. The shocking thing of the triumphal entry was they all broke out into praise. And that's what should strike us. This is why Jesus said, I can make praise come out of the stones if I want. Everyone broke out in spontaneous praise of Jesus, fulfilling the scripture, singing Psalm 118. Here's Hosanna. Here's our king. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But it's a mixed crowd. And that should be shocking to us. How could you see all of this and still not believe? It's always been the enigma of the church, really, if you think about it. One of the challenges of the church, one of the saddest things that I've witnessed in the life of the church, to watch, just like Israel, a generation who just doesn't share the faith of their parents, but they're kind of loosely attached to it. You know how much I've seen that in the life of the church? More than I ever care to see it. It's a real challenge, just like Israel, not appropriating the faith of their parents, not taking it in themselves, but just there, just sort of loosely attached for a variety of different reasons. Their heart's not in it. They're absent. And typically, ties to Jesus are just like the sort of ties that we see in this text. If he gave them a show, remember this is what Paul would say, the Jews are always looking for signs. If he gave them a show and he wowed the people, they were more interested in him. They would follow him. But that wasn't the reason that he came. And this is important today, it's always been a problem. But I think something different is happening now in the text. Something important is happening in the text. The Gentiles are starting to press into the kingdom. It's a big moment in the Gospel of John. We're about to end the first section of John. The next sermon ends it at the end of chapter 12, the book of signs, and then it's the book of glory. And it's interesting that right at the end of the book of signs, the Gentiles are coming, and they want to come in. And what is that going to mean for Israel? so it's this big moment that Jesus is saying here to the Jewish nation. Remember John 1 began when he said he came to his own and his own did not receive him, and John is now saying to the Jews, so showing us that Jesus is saying your time's about over, and I'm going elsewhere with this, so come now. Come today. That's the heart of this passage, if you understand it, but there's a kind of giant, what we call chiasm here. You'll notice that the Gentiles are asking to see Jesus and the text ends with him hiding himself. All the crucial middle of that chiasm being he has to die. Then there's going to be fruit. So this is a very important text for coming to the supper today to understand the mission of Jesus, what he's after from us as John continues to to show us and you'll see it here in this question that is asked of jesus and the answer that he provides and then the warning that he gives at the end and this is an important passage i think for us to consider and then to see how wonderful it is that our parents are standing there asking to come in the kingdom your parents are right here if you see it correctly can we come in and we see and that should be a great encouragement to us today that our forefathers stood there and asked this and have we embraced it as they wanted to see. So something very powerful happens in verse 19 that the Pharisees make a statement that really is angering them, that is really frustrating them. They say in verse 19, look, you're accomplishing nothing. We can't stop this guy. The whole world's going after him. And that leads us to the issue that comes up in this particular text, to verse 20, that they are watching all of these Greeks come up to the feast who are seeking Jesus. They come to Philip, Philip was from Bethsaida, asking him, Sir, we wish to see him. We want to see him. We want to see Jesus. It's a powerful plea that during the Passover in Jerusalem, the city would swell with all these people, that the name of Jesus through all this time has gone out into the region. And they are hearing about him and they're wondering about him. Is this the Messiah? Is this the Jewish Messiah? We want to see him. They've heard he's raised the dead. We really want to come and lay our eyes on Jesus and talk to him. Big moment. So they come to Philip. Philip goes to Andrew. They both go up to Jesus and say, all these Greeks want to see you. is that okay? Is that okay? And I think it's a fair question for them to ask. Jesus had said in their mission, you only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You don't go out there. So they're curious, what are we going to do with all these other people who are really wanting to come in the kingdom? What do we do with them? Are they allowed to come and to see you and to touch you. And I think you see here in this important shift, remember that there's a big shift taking place now of a sort of transition that is anticipated in the ministry of Jesus in Acts. But that in the last section in chapter 11, after they all had plotted to kill him and put him to death, it said Jesus no longer walked among them publicly. That was the end of his earthly ministry. That was 11, verse 54. And I think at least the public ministry among the Jews. I think it's an interesting moment that Jesus was speaking the whole time of a plan, and he was giving indications through the unbelief of the nation of Israel what that plan would look like. And remember the parable that he told when he gave the parable of the great banquet. Remember that one? that important banquet where Jesus had told of a master who gave this great invite to a great banquet and he went out to the people of the kingdom and every one of them made excuses and did not want to come. And by the end of that parable, Jesus said, the master said, that's it. They're not worthy of the kingdom. You go out to the highways and the byways. You go out there and you bring them in. You bring in the bad, weak people, the sinners, into the kingdom. Theirs will be the kingdom. I saw a meme this week. I see them every now and this one really made me laugh. The meme said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We love that verse. And then the other person shout back in the meme, what do you mean you can't even go to church when it rains? I think that sort of captures the attitude of many people. They claim big things about being Christians. But are they really willing to follow him for who he is? We're going to come back to that. How many in the church are loosely connected who make all the excuses in the world, and if they could get away from it, they would? If they could get away from it, they would. You ask me, how much care, I ask you, how much care do you give on the privilege of coming to a banquet today for you, a table that's spread for you? It's an important question in line of this text. I remember Calvin reading one of his sermons one time, and he chided his congregation for loving breakfast more than the testimony of their salvation. And I think that's something we have to think about through a text like this. Mary last week showed us something that was so beautiful. Mary showed us gospel response. Mary showed us embracing the Savior. Mary showed us what following looked like. Mary understood in the anointing what the death he was going to die. I still stand by that. She had an understanding of it. And it changed her life. That's the beautiful point. It changed her life, the gospel. Well, in this text, there's nothing that leads me to believe that Jesus let these Greeks come, which is sort of an enigma for us. He seems to stand back from the question, and then by the end he hides himself, which I've always been perplexed. He seems to stay away from them. He doesn't seem to give them any access. And the question that is in this text, sir, can we see Jesus, I think gets to the heart of the passage this morning. People want to see Jesus. I look, I can't wait for the day actually to gaze a resurrected eyes on Jesus and see our risen Lord and be able to talk to him. Can you imagine that day? When he actually gazes his raised eyes on you and you have a conversation with him, Him whom you've heard preached your whole life. It's a chilling thought. Why do you want to see Jesus? Why do you want to see Jesus? What did these Greeks understand? The fact is, is as we look at this passage and study it, the only way that they could see Jesus in any sort of meaningful way is to have an understanding of why he needed to come in the first place. So picture the scene. The disciples are standing there. The Jews have encircled him. On the outside are all of the Gentiles who went in, who went into the middle circle, who really would do anything to get into the circle. Jesus now explains in verse 23, but Jesus answered them, the hour has come, look carefully at it, for the son of man to be glorified. 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 he just answered he just answered the question um i'm going to give them access i'm going to give them access you're going to see their access to the ends of the earth but for that to occur i have to die i have to die nobody will ever be saved nobody will see god nobody will ever have access to god unless there is a cross is what he's saying and the cross is going to have this great function when i die it's going to have this great function of revealing who i am to the ends of the earth that you can't see yet I believe that's the heart of this passage, that the Lord wants us to come to him for the right reasons. The Lord wants us to want to see him for the right reasons, which I've constantly maintained. And I've tried to say, that's why, what are our motivations for coming to church? It's just the battle in the American church that people still want to come for the entertainment and they're never quite happy unless they're emotionally charged up and revved up. And I think Jesus would ask the same question. What do you want to see? You want to show? You want to feel good? What do you want to see? What do you think this is about? What do you think Christianity is about? What do you think's been passed to you? And he breaks in at this moment to one of the most sobering statements in all of the Bible. Now my soul is troubled. and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came. Father, glorify your name. As soon as he said this, the passion we talk about, the passion of Christ, something's happening here. And John has structured things so differently than the other gospels. But he's really giving us an indication into the intense suffering that's beginning to happen in his soul. This had always been going on. Jesus said throughout the ministry, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am until this is accomplished. You think you're stressed? You imagine having to come here and then go through the anxiety and the pain and the stress of having laid on you the sins of the world. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? And you're going to face the wrath of God in body and soul being poured out on you for the sins of somebody else. That's a remarkable thing. And he's distressed. His soul is thrown into intense agitation here. He's distressed. The horrors of the cross are already beginning to hit deeply upon him because John is now going to show that his hour has come. It's coming. It's really close. And he cries out, Father, save me from this hour. Shocked to its very depths, as he enters in Gethsemane, we remember all that we've studied from the Gospels, he's descending into hell for you. I mean, when we say the Apostles' Creed, you understand. We don't believe that after he died, he went to hell. We believe that when he was going to the cross, the passion that hit him, he was actually suffering for you the torments of hell that you would deserve and get outside of him. You see why it would matter to him why people are coming to him? You see why it would matter why people are worshiping him? This is pretty serious stuff. What do I say, Father? Is there any other way for me to be safe from this? And then to make clear that Jesus had no rebellion in his heart to the will of the Father, But for this purpose, I came forth. I came here. I know this is why I'm sent. I'm doing your will. I came to save those who you love. I came to lay down my life for my sheep, and none of your sheep are going to perish. Those whom you've loved from the foundation of the world, I love, and I'm going to die for them. That's you. Father, if there's any possible way in accordance with your will, if there's any other way, But don't save me if it means I lose this harvest. Because you sent me with the command to lay down my life that there might be eternal life for them. So he just answered. He just answered the question of the Greeks. He just answered Andrew and Philip to make clear that if they're going to have access, I've got to go into the ground and I've got to be buried and I've got to get up. All of a sudden as they're standing there with the multitude as jesus prays this a voice shakes the heavens so this third time the father spoke to the son it's a glory to study the trinitarian and the the work of the trinity and the way that the father speaks to the son and the son's love for the father it's just beautiful all of a sudden the father spoke of his son the first time was at his baptism as he is set apart as the prophet the second at the transfiguration after his announcement of his priestly work and now at the end of his ministry he's being held as king by the father the father immediately responds to the prayer i have son i have glorified it, my name, and I will glorify it again. What the Father was saying to the Son is, I've glorified myself in you, my beloved Son. He did that already in the signs Jesus did, but now the Father's saying, I will glorify my name in you in your own exaltation. You're going to get up. You're coming out of the grave. Again, Jesus answers the Greeks, We want to see Jesus. Jesus says, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. Listen to this statement. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what death he would die. Jesus says here, the single great thing that would happen through his death is the casting down of the devil, frustrating of his work. And, notice what he says, I'm going to bind his influence that he has. I'm going to bind him through my death and resurrection and exaltation. I'm going to bind the devil. And if I'm lifted, I want you to listen to this, I will draw all peoples to me. The Greeks have come to Christ. They don't even know what they need. And he just said, I'm going to, from every nation, and you know what the word is fascinating, I'm going to drag a whole host of every nation right to me and my feet. That's the best news ever that could be announced in the Gospel of John. When I'm lifted up, when I'm seated, and he's seated today, what he's saying is, you're not going to have to worry about finding the wrong Messiah. I will, same word as John 6, drag all peoples to myself, like dragging a lake, and I'm going to bring them to me. Now, here's where I think, in the context of his death, there comes this encouragement and warning. The people hear this and say, well, we've heard from the law, Christ remains forever. How can you say this? How can you say this about the Son of Man? They still don't really know who he is. But I think we're meant to feel the sort of caution that Jesus already gave in this context of verse 25. 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, now think of what the question was, There, my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. In verse 35, you put that together. A little while longer, walk in the light. The light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he's going, but while you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light. The point is here, is everyone is missing the real reason Jesus came. nobody is seeing Jesus for the reason that he came what do you need today they were caught up in the excitement of Jesus they were caught up in the show about Jesus but they were not appropriating and understanding Jesus I wonder um is that not the big issue for us today what do we want from Jesus right now? What do you want from Jesus right now? I was reading C.S. Lewis and the article that was written, and in Screwtape, listen to this. The senior demon advises Wormwood, his nephew, and the younger demon how to get the patient in this life to turn from God. How do we do it? How do we get the patient to turn from God? Let your patient begin by treating patriotism or pacifism as part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the cause in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favor of the British war effort or of pacifism. The way Wormwood, this article goes on to say, could shipwreck the Christian faith of the patient, listen to this, was not to get the patient to believe one side or the other, but to get the patient to make one side or the other his whole religion. That's Lewis. When did he write that? I think all this applies. What do we want from Jesus? Politics can become people's religion. I think that's what's happened here. I think this functions as a call. Who are you following? What are you following? What are you after? My way, listen carefully, is a way of a cross, then glory. my way is a way of a cross, then glory. All that you're after comes. You're going to be, if you're going to be a true follower, following that path. A way of a cross, then glory, because you're going to look like me. And every other way, there's many ways that are trying to pull you off that path in life of following me. And you can get sucked into it. Sin, the devil, the world, our own flesh, everything pulling us away from Jesus and following and coming to him. And in context, the Jews now only have a few more hours. That's why the gospel was taken from that nation and taken to the ends of the earth. The light is going to go out to the Gentiles. That's the good news here. The light is going to go out to you. and the kingdom is going to be preached to them, says Jesus. And they will hear the will of the Lord, and they will come to me. I think this is important because what I took away from this, at least for myself in thinking about this, some of us need to ask the very important question, if Jesus evaluated our lives, we who have been in the church our whole life, raised in it and had everything, everything handed to us on a silver platter. How is your faith any different from what we've seen in the terrible attitude of the Jewish nation to Jesus? That's an important question. They wanted great signs. They wanted everything to go well. They wanted their kingdom restored now. They wanted political ease and a good life. they're fair-weather fans. They're fair-weather fans. It's like those who like the Padres. Their attitudes to a Christ of the cross stunk. It stunk. And they saw it in their worship. They made excuses not to want to be there. But I think there's wonderful news here. The kingdom would be taken from them and given to another. A nation who would bear the fruits of it. Guess who that is? It's you. Here you are. And in that kingdom, and among those people, he would remember their sins no more. United of all the nations in the earth, including Jews. That's a powerful message. But this is what we need from Jesus today. Of anything that I've said today, this is what we need from Jesus today. More than anything in this earth. More than everything the world's telling us. More than all the stuff you're bartered with on the news. More than everything you're being pressured with. What you need from Jesus right now is what? Forgiveness. Forgiveness of your sins. That's why he went to die. And that's what he went to do. Forgive you and make you new. A people who would love him in response to his love for you. And you want to see what that looks like as you come to the table this morning? He'll create it. Look at Mary. That's why, he said, whenever the gospel's preached, whenever this good news of me laying down my life and justifying a people and bringing a people, dragging them to me, you want to know what it's going to look like? She's a memorial wherever the gospel's preached because that's what the gospel will produce in the lives of those who truly receive me. Study Mary. Look at her. Just read it just for a second, and we'll go to the supper. It's so beautiful. Six days before the Passover, Jesus, therefore, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Judas said, what in the world are you doing? That could have been given to the poor. She loved him because she saw what he came to do. She had faith in him and he loved her. He had come to lay down his life for her. He had come to forgive her and he's come to do that for you. That's what he did in A.D. 30. When he said it's finished, all your sins were dealt with. Past, present, and future. He's forgiven you. He's loved you. You are his. He's dragged you here today to him. And it's about a changed heart. That's what John is showing us we need. A new birth. A brand new born-again heart that will respond to Jesus. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Well, you're going to see him right now on the table. He died for you, and he gave his life. He loved you enough to do that so that today you could taste and see that he is good and that he's for you. Believe him and respond in faith like we should to so great a salvation. Let's pray to you. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us today to understand the beautiful sacrifice that's made. May we follow you and come to you for all the right reasons and respond the way that we should to your steadfast covenant love given through the sacrifice of your Son. Give us true hearts of faith. Forgive us, for we're just like these people. We know it. Left to ourselves, it would be even worse. So may we be a people who respond the way that we should. A thankful people. A people who are overtaken by the love that we've received. Who love to worship and realize that we follow in the way of a cross and then glory. And to accept who we are made to resemble. Thank you for being a faithful Savior, O Lord Jesus, and loving us to the end. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.