The Life-from-Death Principle Explained

Introduction to the Sermon Series and Prayer for the Spirit

0:04 The following message was delivered on December 1st, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer that we may know in the deepest recesses of our own hearts this morning a truth that is constantly brought before us. It was underscored in the Sunday school hour that in the New Covenant community it is the ministry of the Word and of the Spirit by which God advances His work in the hearts of His people and calls from within the community to those without. And the only way men enter that community is when the Word by the Spirit gives them a sight of their sin, a sight of the glory of the Redeemer and the mediator of the New Covenant and brings them to embrace Him in repentance. And in faith. Let us then with one heart plead that as we open our Bibles and the Word is set before us that the Spirit will come in power. Let us pray.

1:19 Our Father, we do thank You for the privilege of celebrating in the hymn we have sung the majesty, the glory, the beauty of Holy Scripture. We thank You for this blessed book. We thank You. In Your providence, it is in our hands, in our language.

1:42 We thank You that in Your kindness we meet today unhindered by the civil authorities to worship You and to attend to that Word. And, O our God, we plead that You would send the Holy Spirit, that His ministry in conjunction with the Word will be a very present reality, to every mind, to every heart, that there would be in the very atmosphere of this building a felt sense that You are near in the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit and that the Word will come to every one of us, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. O God, hear our cry, for we know a part, a part from the ministry in conjunction with the Word, our souls will be left like a barren wasteland. Hear our cry and visit us, we plead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Church's Manifesto: Holding Fast to Core Principles

2:54 As many of you are familiar with at least the broad outlines of the book of the Revelation, you will know that in the opening chapter of that book, we have the record, of how the aged Apostle John was exiled to a rugged, rocky island called Patmos for his testimony to the Lord Jesus. And there on that island, as recorded in chapter 1 of the book of the Revelation, John was given a shattering, awe-inspiring vision of the resurrected and exalted Christ. And in that vision it is made clear to John that the Lord Jesus, in all of the glory of His exalted person, continues to minister to His churches as the great prophet, priest, and king of His churches. And in chapters 2 and 3 we have the record of the seven messages addressed to seven churches in Asia Minor

4:13 by this exalted Lord exercising His prerogatives as prophet, priest, and king of His churches. And in speaking to the church of Thyatira, the one who is described as having eyes as a flame of fire, feet like under burnished brass, says to that church in Revelation 2 and verse 25, Never the less. Never the less. Nevertheless, that which you have, hold fast until I come.

4:52 That which you have, hold fast until I come. And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations. Now it is in the spirit of seeking to hold fast that which we possess, that which we have as a deposit from the risen Christ, that we have for some months been attempting to identify the leading principles of our life and ministry as a congregation throughout the nearly 25 years, under the general title of a manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, we have spent considerable part of 28 Lord's Day morning worship seasons identifying the specific tenets of the manifesto, demonstrating their biblical origins and roots, and appealing to you as God's people

6:12 for a renewed, commitment to the preservation of these things, or in the language of Revelation 2.25, appealing to you to hold fast that we have until he comes. Thus far we have examined six of these tenets, each one of them set before you in the form, affirmation of determination. They have been stated, demonstrated, and applied as follows.

6:50 We are that Jesus Christ shall have his rightful place in this church, one message on that affirmation. Secondly, we are determined that all doctrine and practices of church shall be molded by the Scriptures. Two messages on that tenet. Number three, we are determined to maintain a self-centered climate in the totality of our church life.

7:22 We are determined to maintain a self-centered climate in the totality of our church life. Life, one message. Fourth, we are determined that our life and ministry will clearly determine the unique place assigned to the church in the saving purposes of God. Messages on that affirmation.

7:45 Number five, determined to strive for a true, regenerate, and genuinely converted church membership. Messages 11 through 18, and then messages 19 through 27. Affirmation number six, we are determined to pursue a biblically established standard for church officers. Now today, as we come to the 28th message in this series, we take up the seventh affirmation, which I believe will take two at the most.

Affirmation 7: Validating the Life-from-Death Principle

8:25 Three messages, and it is this. We are determined to validate in our corporate experience a life principle, and I'd like you to envision the words, life out of death, hyphenated and with quotation marks around them. We are determined to validate in our corporate experience the principle of essential Christianity. Now please.

9:04 Don't be discouraged or turned off by the initial impression of that mouthful of words. I layered long and synonym finder, bouncing various approaches off my own wife until I settled upon that particular choice of words in that particular order, and I believe if in dependence upon the Holy Spirit you will give to these words mental effort, and I believe if in dependence upon the Holy Spirit you will give to these words mental effort, and I believe if in dependence upon the Holy Spirit you will give to these words mental effort, and I get the parking ticket from the parking lot, and they have a special arrangement for, quote, the clergy. And therefore I go to the front desk and I ask who it is that validates the parking ticket of a clergyman. And once they're satisfied that I'm a pastor making a pastoral visit in the hospital, They have a stamp, which they place upon my ticket, and I put the ticket back in my pocket, and when I finish my visit, go back into my car, come up to the gate, I hand them my ticket,

10:23 and I'm about to pull away, and while they're waiting for some money, I say, I am a clergyman, I am a pastor, you will see the validation on the ticket. We validate something in that we place a commitment to that particular thing. Well, we are determined to validence, that is, in our life together as a church, the life principle, and we're going to see what that is. It is a principle, it is a fundamental law or truth upon which other truths are based, and it is one that is essential to real Christianity. Wherever you have real saving religion,

11:20 this life-out-of-death principle operative. Where this principle is not operative, whatever there may be of the forms of Christianity, of the vocabulary of Christianity, of the rituals of Christianity, you have nothing but an empty shell. You have what Paul describes a holding to the form of godliness without thereof. For wherever...

11:51 For wherever the vital genuine Christianity is present in an individual heart and in the corporate experience of any Christian church, there you will find operative this life-out-of-death principle. Now, in seeking to begin in the opening up of this matter, we'll follow this basic track. This morning, the principle expounded from the scriptures, and I plan to expound it in terms first of the foundational text, and then, God willing, next week, several supportive texts, and then, having expounded the principle from the scriptures, we shall see the principle illustrated in our own life and experience as a church, and then, God willing, make some pertinent applications. First of all, then, the principle expounded from the scriptures in terms of the foundational text, which embodies, which states, which illustrates, which enforces this.

The Foundational Text: John 12:20-26

13:12 And what this text principle, 1 Corinthians 13, is to the nature of biblical love. 1 Corinthians 15, to the nature and necessity and indispensability of bodily resurrection, as part of the Christian faith. And the text to which I make reference is found in the Gospel of John, and this is where we'll part for the rest of our time this morning, the Gospel according to John, chapter 12, and I shall read in your verses 20 through 26. John, chapter 12, verses 20 through 26. The overall setting of the passage, the last Passover, in our Lord's earthly pilgrimage is about to dawn, and the events described here have to do with that feast, that great feast in the history of Israel, by which much of her heritage was embodied and passed on from generation to generation. And we read in verse 20, Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship the feast.

14:35 These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh, and telleth Andrew, Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus. And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily we say unto you, accepteth and dieth by itself alone.

15:16 But if it die, it beareth, loveth his life, loseth it. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I so my servant be, if any man serve him, him will the Father.

15:46 ... text in all of which embodies, which is essential to all Christianity, individually or corporately.

Circumstances of Jesus' Utterance (John 12:20-22)

16:07 And as we examine this passage, we shall do so in terms of five units of thought that very naturally follow the numerical order of the verses. First of all, notice with me, as we examine this foundational text, the circumstances. The circumstances of this utterance. The circumstances of this utterance.

16:33 Verses 20 through 22. Now there were certain Greeks among them that went up to worship at the feast. These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, Andrew cometh and Philip, and they tell Jesus.

16:55 Now here, the circumstances are set before us in some detail, though not with all of the detail that our innocent curiosity would desire. According to verse 20, as the time of the Passover drew near, there were some converts to the old testament faith of the Jews from among the Gentiles who had come up to Jerusalem to worship according to the law of Moses. You will remember that in the divinely ordered construction of the tabernacle and of the temple, there was a court, at least of the temple, a court of the Gentiles. And so those who from among the Gentiles had seen in the revelation of God's testament the true and the living God, the only God who is, and had been brought to attach themselves as proselytes, they, like good, devout Jews, would come up to the annual feast at Jerusalem and there worship God according to his own revealed will in the law of Moses. And on this last Passover of our Lord's earthly sojourn, prior to his crucifixion, resurrection, and subsequent ascension and session

18:24 at the right hand of the Father, there were certain Greeks, we don't know, how many, except we know there must have been at least two of them, for it's in the plural. And these Greeks had apparently recognized certain of the twelve who were in close and constant proximity to Jesus at this festive season. Now I remind you that it's at this season that in conjunction with two special events, the very buzzword in all Jerusalem was of Nazareth. The raising, the coming of Lazarus from the dead, and our Lord sent three at this Passover season to be alive with conversation about this Jesus of Nazareth. And if you question that, simply read the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the Gospel of John in their entirety and you will see that that is an accurate summation. So these Greeks knew who Jesus was, and apparently began to visually take in who his inner circle of followers were, and for a reason unrevealed, they single out Philip, one of the twelve, and they ask him, saying, Sir,

19:51 he would see Jesus. Now obviously they didn't mean we want to have a peek at him, like Lazarus, like Zacchaeus, climbing up in the tree, and he wanted to see Jesus pass by. Well, he was not asking simply to see Jesus from a distance. He'd already done it.

20:06 He'd already done that. These Greeks were asking that they might have an audience, a personal interview, a pastoral counseling session with Jesus. And, for what reason, we don't know. Philip did not go directly to Jesus, but he went to Andrew, and then the two of them came and they tell the Lord Jesus that there are Greeks, these proselytes from among the Goyim, from among the Gentiles, Gentile nations who have attached themselves to the worship of Jehovah according to the Old Testament revelation, and they are desirous of having a personal encounter and interview, a face-to-face dialogue with Jesus of Nazareth. Now those are the circumstances of the utterance of this very basic text which embodies the life, the death, the principle essential to all saving real Christianity. But then notice, secondly, the solemnity of this utterance. For our text not only gives us the circumstances of its utterance, but the solemnity of this utterance.

Solemnity of Jesus' Utterance (John 12:23-24)

21:27 Verse 23, And Jesus answereth them, the them referring to Philip and to Andrew, There is no proof, there is no proof that the Greeks had been brought, they could have been. The subsequent context indicates that much of this was spoken in the hearing of multitudes, but we know at least this much. He said these words according to the laws of grammar, the pronoun them having as its most immediate antecedent Andrew and Philip, most likely saying these words to them that they might carry them back and tell them to these Greeks who desired to see him. He speaks and when he speaks there is an unusual solemnity preceding his utterance. And that solemnity is to be found in two things. Number one, the precise of redemption and the precise manner in which his words are introduced.

22:39 See this in the text. Jesus answereth them saying, the hour, the moment you hear the word hour, minute, second, or day, you are brought into the realm of and our Lord is with unusual solemnity the utterance he is about to make to this precise time by using these words, the outcome that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now previously throughout the book of John he had said my hour has not for example in chapter 7 and verse 6 chapter 7 and verse 6 Jesus therefore said unto them my time but your time is always ready. Our Lord was that in fulfillment of the Father's will there was not only a place for everything he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die but there was a time for everything in the Father's redemptive plan and purpose.

24:07 Again in chapter 7 later on in verse 30 we read they sought therefore to take him and no man's hand on him because not yet of this amassed him why could take him by violent hands and put him to death? In the purpose of God in redemption his time his hour had not yet come. We find a similar statement again in chapter 8 and verse 20 but now but now Jesus in response to this request from this unnamed number of Greek proselytes the solemnity of what he is about to say by saying this statement because I am about to make it within the very name of the Son of Man is about come to pass

25:21 the Son of Man shall be glorified from his apprehension in the garden of Gethsemane to his arraignment before Caiaphas and then Pilate and Herod and back to Pilate the mock trial the scourging the cross placed upon his back the trip to Golgotha the agony of him the forsakenness the mockery the taunting of the thief the shroud spent in a borrowed tomb the glories of Easter morning the post resurrection appearances his ascension back up into heaven in clouds of glory in the sight of the disciples put all of that together Jesus says the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified

26:44 I am about to say to you that in the history of redemption the salvation plan over centuries of Old Testament history the salvation to be effected by Messiah's voluntary suffering death, resurrection and ascension this come what solemnity that a redemption purposed in eternity unfolded by promise and prophecy and type and shadow over centuries has now reached the hour its accomplishment in space time history the person and work of the Son of Man may I say it reverently all eternity like an inverted pyramid its point on which the salvation of a vast multitude whom no man can hinges it is all come as its open end nothing less than the vast reaches of eternity past

28:13 and eternity to come in the salvation of the souls of a vast multitude that's solemn stuff and Jesus before he makes this utterance speaks of the solemnity of it by pointing to this precise time in the history of redemption and then the second thing that points to the solemnity is the precise manner in which the words of this utterance are introduced verse 24 verily unto you now this formula of the double men peculiar to John's gospel we find in the synoptics Matthew Mark and Luke many statements where Jesus said Amen I say unto you but in John's gospel we have the double and perhaps the best way to translate it is something along this line most solemnly final word to men unto you

29:34 more unto you perk up your ears whenever you have that double amen our Lord did not use it carelessly he was not like people who always I swear to God and hope to die and then they they say it so often you know they're lying most of the time Jesus did not use this formula frequently but whenever there was a truth that he was determined men should not regard difference or lightness he preceded it with his Amen most assuredly solemnly I say unto you so we not only have the circumstances of this utterance the coming of these Greek proselytes at the time of the feast to desire an interview with Jesus but the solemnity of the utterance a solemnity highlighted by our Lord stating that this was the precise time in the history of redemption

31:01 when all this and promised and foreshadowed was about to come to pass in the glorification of the Son of Man a solemnity underscored by the very manner in which he introduced the words verily verily say unto you but now thirdly from the circumstances and the solemnity of the utterance consider with me the substance of this utterance the substance of this utterance verses 24b and 25b verily verily I say unto you except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die it abideth by itself alone but if it die it beareth he that loveth his life loseth it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal the substance of this utterance of Jesus why what is it that these spiritually hungry Gentile converts to the faith of the Jews must know about Jesus whether they ever get to have an interview with him or not what is it that Jesus would have

Substance of the Utterance: Life Out of Death (John 12:24-25)

32:30 Philip and Andrew carry back as messengers to these who came up to the feast if they do not carry back a message the Master will meet you at such and such a time and place if they do not carry back the good news to these Greeks who came up to the feast to worship with a passion to get into first hand contact with Jesus if that desire is not realized what is it that our Lord would have them to know about him whether they see him or not well in the substance of his utterance our Lord sets forth two things the first is that in the world of agriculture there is no reproduction and fruit without death that is what he wants them to know something they already knew but he underscores in the world of agriculture there is no reproduction and fruit without death look at the statement we are almost disappointed we think surely if our Lord is about to say something introduced by the solemnity of the time in redemptive history by the solemnity of his double amen something that is not understood by any five year old in Palestine would understand kind of disappointing isn't it look what he said

33:58 except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die it abides by itself it perished what Jesus was saying he was grain of corn if in your home if it sits there in a bin in your barn it will sit there when someone removes it or a rat comes and eats it but as long as it is on the shelf or the bin and it knows nothing of being placed into the cold damp earth and allowed until by emanation of God processes it uses its life and identity as a grain of wheat or as a kernel of corn it begins to rot and it begins to feed itself and sends a shoot downward and then it breaks up above

35:25 the process of germination has taken place what is there to be what is and he says something that was clear to everyone to whom he spoke that a wheat fall into the earth it will all contain it will be alone alone and if the earth is enfolded then what happens it becomes the beginning of a stone that was originally placed in the ground it beareth the substance of his utterance in its first

36:53 strand in the world of agriculture there is no reproduction and fruit without death but then our Lord says a second thing in the substance of his utterance in the world of man's salvation there is no life without death in the world there is no life loveth his life looseth it that's the grain of wheat that does not fall into the earth and die he that loves looses it and he that hates life in this world like the grain and looses the fundamental identity in the soil unto life eternal you see the two things that form the substance of our Lord's profound statement in the world of agriculture there is no life without death in the world of man's salvation there is no life without death now this passage in the context its primary significance

38:23 in pointing to the hour which has come Jesus of the woman is to bruise heads the nations what must happen must die this nation be that I should be glorified in rejection suffering death and resurrection that if I of men I must like the seed be prepared I shall abide alone dignity and glory sinless mysterious person is the God man in all equity

39:40 the wonder of the mystery of the incarnation the enfreshment of God Mary's womb of the uniting in one person, to ent and unangled natures, yet constituting what he would be the object of the wonder of angels and seraphs and cherubim, but he would abide alone as far as any fruit from among the fallen sons of Adam. From among the fallen daughters of Adam he would have no fruit to worship him, but like that grain of wheat he would abide the son of man, the

41:01 seed promised in Genesis 3.15, the seed missed in Genesis 12. If he is to bear much fruit, he must go into the earth, he must die. And commentator Lenski has beautifully captured as it applies to the Lord Jesus, if a grain of wheat be not put into the soil, it will indeed not die, but it will then itself remain alone and produce nothing. So will the son of man remain alone. If he does not stoop to death on the cross, but if the grain falls into the earth and is consumed, it brings much fruit. So the son of man, God's incarnate son, by dying will produce millions of children of God, fruit in the most glorious abundance. The death of Christ was the death of the most fertile grain of wheat that ever existed.

42:08 He is quoting Augustine. The death of Christ was the death that ever existed. In the petition of these Greeks, Jesus sees the great harvest that will go on and on as the product of the grain of wheat himself, which fell. The substance of this utterance, our Lord, points us to the fact that it is only as he himself is willing to be the grain of wheat that died that life will ever be. Now, if some of you may question whether or not that is the proper interpretation of the passage, let me try to convince your judgment. For you'll notice as you come down to verse 27, we have what I would call of the struggles of Gethsemane.

43:17 Having said in verse 23, the arm, notice what he says in verse 27, now crucifixion of death, and abandonment are now a and what shall Father save from this hour but for this call this hour. Verse 31, now is the time of judgment of this world. Now, prince of this world, be cast out in eye,

44:15 signifying by what manner is not forced by the explicit statements of the Lord Jesus. And as he contemplates himself as that grand and glorious,

44:40 his soul is as he He anticipates what it will mean for him to be glorified in the accomplishment of the redemption of his people. The redemption of those Greeks who were but representative of the vast scale of his soul. Nonetheless troubled as we were reminded of a recent message. With a holy expression of a holy to all.

45:18 Semony would break expressed more fully in the garden when he said if it be possible. Oh my father let this cup pass.

45:29 My soul troubled if it is possible. May the seed remain safely on the shelf. May it remain safe.

45:40 Special place of honor. In a special place of dignity. May the seed remain. For this seed Jesus said will be buffeting.

46:00 Clubs plucked will abide.

46:36 Agriculture. No life in the world. And salvation. No life.

46:48 So in this verse. We have the most blunt. The most clear. The most foundational statement of the life out of death.

46:59 To be found anywhere in the word of God.

Sweeping Application: Personal Salvation (John 12:25)

47:03 And in this seventh affirmation of the manifesto. What I am saying is this. That we are detestable.

47:30 To what it means to us. Because of verse 25 and 26. For we move from the setting. Circumstances of the utterance.

47:40 The selectness. Laminate of the utterance. Substance of the utterance. Now look at verse 25.

47:45 The sweeping application of this utterance. He that loveth his life. Lose it. And he that keepeth his life in this world.

47:58 Shall keep it. Or he that hateth his life in this world. Shall keep it. Unto life eternal.

48:05 You see Jesus moves from figurative language. Hating the life out of death principle. With its pride. To himself.

48:19 Disciples might take back to the Greeks. This message.

48:24 If you would know Jesus. If you would prove.

48:31 As the grain of. That died. That I may bring forth fruit unto salvation. For in this way alone.

48:39 Will the son of man be glorified. And all his people. Glorified in him and with him. But what is true for me.

48:46 Now follow closely Jesus says. What is true for me. In the procurement of redemption. What is true for me.

48:54 In the securing of redemption. What is true for me. In the accomplishment of redemption. Is equally true.

49:02 In the application of redemption. In the appropriation of redemption. For every single sinner. Who will ever be saved.

49:10 Notice the generic terms. The general terms. He. Anyone.

49:16 Not just me. His life. Lose it. He that hateth his life in this world.

49:29 Shall keep it. Unto. Life eternal. This is a sweeping application.

49:35 Which Jesus makes of his own. Solemn utterance.

49:41 He says. The life out of death principle. That is operative to secure redemption. Is equally operative.

49:49 In the application and reception. Of salvation. No imagery now. And only alternatives.

50:02 And you can only choose. One of them. And it will seal your eternal destiny. Look at them.

50:08 The first is. Love your natural. Self-centered. Self-sparing.

50:13 Self-seeking. Self-willed life. And you'll lose any hope. Of eternal life.

50:19 And may God the Holy Ghost. Come with.

50:25 Blindness of some of your hearts. This morning. I fear. I fear.

50:30 I feared. My prayer.

50:48 For himself as the savior. He says to you. If you would be saved. Hear his word.

51:43 He's sinner. If Jesus. Did not die. If you're to be one of those.

52:03 Redeemed. You must die. You must die. You must die.

52:09 Your natural. Self-centered. Self-sparing.

52:16 There's any hope of eternal life. That's one alternative. Here's the other. Look at his words.

52:22 He that hateth his life in this world. What's that mean? He that hates the life. With which he was conceived.

52:30 With which he was born. In which he or she lived by nature. Life centered. In you.

52:37 What you want. How you want to think. How you want to live. How you want to use your faculties of sight.

52:43 And of touch. And the faculties of your sexual appetites and nerve endings. The standards for interpersonal relationships. Mom and dad.

52:52 Friends. Boyfriends. Girlfriends. Your morals at work.

52:56 What magazines you'll read. What magazines you'll hide. In the bottom of your dresser drawers. While naming the new.

53:00 In your life. In this world. With which I was conceived. In which I was born.

53:22 In which I lived. And I'd be. Sinful. In this world.

53:26 In which I was born. In which I lived. For what it is. A life for which I was never created.

53:35 A life which is dictated. By the God of this world. And by depraved. And fallings.

53:41 And appetites. And a mind blind to the glory of God. Produced the deeds. And the thoughts.

53:57 Which demanded if God was to have a harvest among the sons of men. One of the persons of the Godhead would have to become a grain of wheat. And come and live among us. And fall into the ground.

54:10 And die. And when I see that that life that I think is so grand and glorious. So full of liberty and joy. Nothing but a seething smolder.

54:25 It was that life which necessitated the inflamement of your son. It was that life that with its mingled accumulated rottenness was there and landed on his cheek. It was that life bound up in the nails that pierced his hands. It was that life that formed the droplets.

55:07 That made those black clouds that shrouded the heavens. Oh God I see in him my only hope of mercy. That in his perfect life and in his death there is forgiveness even for me. There is nothing in this world for forgiveness and acceptance.

55:51 To be bound to him in faith to serve him now. And to live with him forever. That's the second alternative. And there's not a third.

56:05 There is no third. Jesus said. You're going to love that life or you're going to hate that life and live. This is what choosing Jesus.

56:33 What nonsense. When he said now is my soul. What shall I say Father save me. Oh for this hour I came forth.

56:48 All he saw as the fruit of his suffering was a bunch of people who say oh yeah I trust Jesus death to go to heaven. Who are still loving this life in this world. He would have said it isn't worth it. Anyone who lived like hell while saying they're going to heaven because they trust in my death.

57:09 You say Pastor aren't you squeezing me. I'm not squeezing you. I'm not squeezing too much into the text. No I'm not.

Subsequent Explanation: Serving and Following Christ (John 12:26)

57:16 You look at the next verse. After looking at the sweeping application of the text now look at the subsequent explanation of the utterance verse 26. If any man serve me servant be if any man serve me him will the father. What does it mean to hate one's life in this world.

57:54 It means to become the present servant of Christ. If any man serve me right. If any man serve me. It means.

58:02 I become the present servant of Christ. Then he says let him follow me. It means I become a present follower of Christ. So my servant be to die to this instant in the virtue of his death for sin I die.

58:41 Jesus means that I become his servant and if I'm his servant I will follow him and if I follow him then I'll go where he is. And all of that because of the last part of the verse if any man serves me him will the father honor. What an amazing statement. We die to the thing that will destroy us to take him as our only portion whom we don't deserve and in being bound to him in faith and love we become his servants being his servants in the strength of his spirit in the multiple motives that grow out of his cross.

59:22 We serve him whose yoke is easy and his burden is light and when it's all over we go to heaven to be with him. And now Jesus said. All of this. All of this is the fruit of the Father putting honor upon such people.

59:37 I read that text and I said Lord it can't mean what it seems to me. You can read it in Greek, Urdu, English, anything it says the same thing. And if any man serve him will the Father be honored like the grain of grain of corn to die. I have hated this present life and in embracing the Lord Jesus in whom eternal life is bound up.

60:17 They follow him. And over all it is to state these my Father honors. No I haven't read more into the text that belongs there. Jesus himself states it.

60:34 And I want to state in my final summary as I've sought to open up this most fundamental of all the text in the Bible that illustrates and establishes the life out of death principle essential to saving Christianity. God willing next week we'll look at four verses. We'll look at four verses. We'll look at four supportive texts.

Concluding Questions and Applications

60:56 Much more briefly and then seek to show how we've sought to implement them. But none the less we've sought and are determined to seek to live by this principle. But as I close may I just press three very straightforward simple questions to the conscience of every hearer this morning. Having sought to open up the text.

61:22 This has been ninety percent pure exposition. I do want to close with these questions. Number one. Do you see why Jesus had to be the seed that died before he could gather an abundant harvest of redeemed sinners to himself?

61:37 Do you see why he had to die before he could gather an abundant harvest of redeemed sinners to himself? No sinner could ever be saved with our Lord's consent at the expense of his Father's glory. Jesus would allow no sin. I want to close with these questions.

62:03 Number one. In توala ran playback voice on cпDEN' airport namedMA I do this as the enduring veteransisten talk to Athens approach the cloister. Nothing will serve!.

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62:34 .'

62:39 Righteousness break forth as the noon day. He said, except the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But in my death, salvation will be secured for those inquiring Greeks. And for a great multitude whom no man can number out of all the nations, I either abide alone in all the integrity of my holy being, or in voluntary submission to the will of my Father, I fall into the ground as a seed and I die.

63:13 But I know that the fruit of that will be a harvest. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame. And I say it reverently. And sitting here this morning, I couldn't help but think of it.

63:31 When Jesus was saying these words, my soul is troubled. The grain of wheat must die. But I know death. Death will mean, shall I say, leave me from this hour? No!

63:48 One of the things that encouraged him to do so was he looked down through the corridors of time and he saw a group of hell-deserving sinners sitting on an old horse pasture in Montville, New Jersey, in 1991, singing his praises. And he said, Father, it'll be worth it to have them as my own.

64:12 Do you see why he?

64:17 My second question is this. Do you see him? In the light of this passage, that you cannot, until you're ready to die, not for your sins. No, Christ did all of that.

64:35 But you must die to self-will, self-seeking, self-indulgence. You must hate that natural life with which you were conceived and born and which you've lived to this present hour. Do you see there's no salvation for you until you hate your life in this world? Then and only then, in attachment to Christ, will you have that life which is eternal.

65:01 You must become the servant of the great seed who died.

65:06 And if you're his servant, you follow him. And if you follow him, you'll end up where he is.

65:12 You don't become his servant. You don't follow him. You'll end up where he is not. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.

65:22 That's the issues, folks. Would to God I could traffic in things of lesser weight. But these are the words of Jesus. Verily, verily.

65:32 I say to you, my third and final question. Do you see how crucial it is for us to understand and live by this principle of life out of death as a church? If we're to be fruitful in subsequent generations, you see, of life unto eternal life in this and in subsequent generations. And I'll have more to say in the application of this, God willing, next week.

66:12 But I'm asking you the question, do you see how crucial it is? The moment you begin to circumscribe, your whole perspective by what you want and what pleases you and what makes you feel good. Do you know what you're saying?

66:34 Potential to bear coming up out of one's seat.

66:45 Friend, that's exactly what you do when you begin to think in terms of what I like, what pleases me, what satisfies me, what I'd like to do. My wife doesn't like me to do this when I preach and I don't do it often. But I want to show you for the mean, narrow spirit it is. It is so un- Not you.

67:08 So unlike him. A church that wants to be a- Remember. Remember, that's where it starts, next generation. Just have a dozen or two young men and women that marry.

68:02 Start making jobs based on more money, more bucks.

68:13 This world.

68:30 And there'll be no fruit unto everlasting life. You might fill up the pew. Maybe consider the hottest church in this county. But there'll be no fruit that will last to everlasting life.

68:42 True life only comes out of death. And there will be no corporate death unless you're prepared to live the daily death of saying no to sin. Yes to Christ. Oh, you see, some of you are unconverted.

69:04 The buttons and switches.

69:11 Who by God's grace have said that vicious self that would have taken us to hell. What a wonderful thing to be liberated from living for yourself. To be free. To be what I was made to be.

69:28 To live unto the God who made me. And to do so through his son and in the fellowship of his son. And to have as my prospect that I'm going to be where he is. And since he said he's- He's gone to prepare a place for us.

69:43 And he who made a world with all of its intricate beauty, my interior decorator, Jesus, must be in what he's preparing for us and has been preparing for these many years. May God write his word upon our hearts and may the spirit of God work it into the texture of our souls. Let us pray. Oh, God, our father, we thank you for your holy word.

Closing Prayer

70:16 Thank you. We praise you. We thank you for. Our Lord Jesus, we thank you for your willingness to be the grain of wheat that would fall into the earth and die.

70:29 We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were not content to dwell alone, but you thirsted our salvation. And all how we pray this morning, Lord Jesus, come and with the voice that raised a dead Lazarus, raise sinners from the death of their self centeredness. O, don't have my почesque soul. I pray to you, Lord Jesus.

70:57 Disbut us! Let us pray. Our Lord Jesus, I trust that you will grain us對啊 joys. Your own treasurer must come and bring uscado, nourish us, purge us of all from wrong Corinthians' sins, prick us to death, enter us into theczenie of goodness, offer us into paradise.

71:06 And to pursue our state and our salvation as people and to sacrifice heroes and Whether we may contributed so much money to this cause of liberty for the prayers of our spirits. We say to the Lord Jesus, now we come before you, see my beloved who was kahda hubir ahwire out. You face your ph訠 story . We know that.

71:24 You must come and testify to it. You have tried it. We.