I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 12, and I want to read verse
! 20 through 26 and have you follow along. John chapter 12, verse 20 through 26.
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 up 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. Let's pray. Father, as we come to you this morning with the Word in hand,
thankful that you have given to us the Scriptures, clear and settled in the heavens,
that we come with dependence upon your Spirit, enabling us to have open hearts and understanding
hearts that we might hear and behold glorious truths out of your Word. Those who are here that
know the Lord Jesus, join in praying together that as we learn more about the Lord, that we would also
grow in our love for Him and our willingness to serve Him and our obedience and our submission to
His supremacy, that we would be satisfied together. And those who are here that have not come to faith yet,
my prayer has been, and I know that this fellowship joins together in praying for that same end,
that today, this day, would be the day of salvation for them, that your Spirit would bring them to see
the darkness and despair of their soul and understand that there is no help apart from the work of Christ
and from their calling upon His name as Lord and Savior. I pray that the teaching of your Word would be
marked by the enabling of the Spirit of God and that your people would task together with me,
praying for me, praying for me, and for the Word's impact in their own lives and also in the lives of
others. And we thank you for this in advance. In Jesus' name, amen. Earlier in the week, last week
actually, ended up in a very situation, very interesting situation, having a conversation with a man.
Started out by his saying to me, what day is it? What day is it? He was a little kind of discombobulated and
took me a second to figure out why he was asking, but as things played on, I said, it's Saturday. And
he said, oh, oh, good. I said, okay. And I said, would you like some oatmeal? He said, absolutely.
And the conversation played on, and I ended up actually having an opportunity to talk to him a
little bit about the Lord. And at the start of the conversation, he said to me, I start out an atheist,
and I moved to be an agnostic, and I've become a Christian. That sounded just tremendous. Yes,
I like that. Except he had already told me that he'd been drunk last night, and that's why he needed
to know what day it was. Now, I want you to know that Christians do all kinds of bad things.
How many of you have made mistakes and sinned before? Okay. Okay. Most of us probably haven't
been wasted all night, but we've done lots of things that are not an exact test of our faith.
But here was a guy who started out, you know, letting me know about his previous problem,
and then eventually ended up talking about the Lord, and that kind of led into his, oh, yeah,
I'm a Christian. So I asked him just a very practical question. So how's that going for you?
You follow what I'm saying? How's it working out? Well, I'm not really there, you know.
I said, well, would you like to talk about it? No, I'm good. Off he went.
I bring that up because what we are looking at this morning
is a passage of Scripture that is not written to the unbeliever.
And it is a passage that clearly indicates what following Christ actually means.
One of the sweet truths of the gospel is that salvation brings change to us.
From the moment of our broken heart that brings us to repentance and calling upon the name of the
Lord for salvation, we have a change of address.
We no longer are doomed to spend eternity in hell paying for our own sins,
but because of the finished work of Christ, we have the absolute certain prospect
of eternal joy and glory in Christ's presence.
We also are a different person.
Now, that doesn't mean that all the changes that will take place
have already come about in a practical sense,
but it does mean that we are not who we used to be.
And as we continue in growing in our faith,
we see more and more of the work of Christ in our lives and an affection for Him.
And without question, one of the things that should characterize the person
and does characterize the person who is a true believer
is that they can look in the rearview mirror
and see that things are different than they used to be.
This passage this morning is going to help us understand
and really, in practical terms, gauge, evaluate the authenticity of our own faith.
I will tell you as well that this passage is a convicting passage
and one that will make you uncomfortable
if you are yielded to the Spirit
and the Spirit enables me to preach with Bible authority and humility.
I've got to tell you that one of the things that characterizes
Tim Kenoyer's general study of the Scriptures
is that there's seldomly a week that goes by that I don't say,
this is the best passage.
I'll tell you that.
I have to say that this week I had to add something
that was very pertinent to my own heart.
I had to say, in addition, this is the best passage.
I had to say, this is a passage that makes Tim Kenoyer uncomfortable
and called me to repentance and to change.
We'll see how that plays out in your own life, okay?
Well, let's look at the passage and recognize, first of all,
that as we dive in here and look at verse 20
and play out a little bit,
we recognize that this passage tells us about Christ's global impact.
It's appropriate for us to recognize that what takes place in this passage
is a change of direction in Christ's ministry.
Earlier, Jesus had sent His disciples only to the 12 tribes of Israel.
The starting place of His ministry had been to the nation of Israel,
and over and over again, He made it clear that His presentation
and His offer and His ministry was directed towards the nation of Israel,
to the Jews.
You'll remember when the Syrophoenician woman came and asked that He heal her daughter.
He said, listen, it is unfitting that children's bread be given to the dogs.
And what was her response?
I love this one.
She said, hey, dogs get crumbs.
And Jesus healed that woman's daughter.
But His communication was that, hey,
the ministry that I'm engaged in here at this moment is particularly to the Jewish nation.
When the Samaritan woman came to Jesus,
He made the statement in that passage back in John chapter 4.
He said, salvation is of the Jews.
So here we have on this great time of feast and the Passover
where worshipers were gathering into the city of Jerusalem,
up come a group of Greek worshipers.
That's what we're told here.
And they ask if they can have an interview with Jesus.
Now look at the passage.
It says, they came and asked Philip.
And Philip, instead of going directly to Jesus, what does he do?
He goes and consults with someone else because he's just a little uncomfortable.
He has all that past instruction from Christ as, hey, listen, here's what you do.
Here's how you minister.
And I want you to be focused on the Jewish people and the Jewish nation
and be sure that they hear the message of repentance.
And so when these Greeks came and asked for the privilege of talking with Jesus,
Philip was a little uncomfortable.
And so he goes to Andrew and they probably had a little bit of a discourse together.
Well, I'm not sure.
What do you think?
Let's go ahead.
And they both come together to Jesus.
You get that?
Here they are.
They're in front of Jesus.
And they, oh, by the way, there's a couple Greeks.
You know, they're not Jews, but they like to talk with you a little bit.
It's very interesting here that these Greeks asked to talk to Jesus.
We have no further detail about their motive,
but it's fair to surmise that their thinking had been affected
by the dramatic sequence of events.
They had come to worship, but in that period of time, just prior to the cross,
let me kind of rattle off some of the very significant things that had happened.
For one, Jesus had healed Lazarus, raised Lazarus from the dead,
and that was a dramatic, powerful evidence of his deity and his power.
Secondly, he had entered into Jerusalem with all the fanfare and the regalia.
Remember that he had come with palm fronds being waved and people shouting out,
Hosanna, Hosanna.
They were lit up at the prospect of Jesus coming in as the regal authority
and ruler that was going to bring victory and blessing to them.
Remember they threw down their coats in front of Jesus,
and he came in on a donkey.
That had to be significantly striking to the Greeks.
Furthermore, Jesus had cleansed the temple.
I want you just to stop and think about this just for a moment.
How many of you know where Mecca is?
Anybody know where Mecca is?
Hello, we have some Mecca people here.
Okay, you know where Mecca is?
Can you imagine in your right mind someone going in?
Well, let's try the Dome of the Rock where the golden...
Do you follow what I'm saying?
Just imagine someone going in there and cleaning house
and getting rid of all the false worship that is going on
either at Mecca or in Jerusalem where the Golden Dome is.
Do you think that would cause a little bit of a stir?
What do you think?
I mean, it would light things up.
And the Greeks, no doubt, had heard about Lazarus,
about the wonderful entrance, and cleansing the temple.
And so here we have them coming and asking for an opportunity
to interview Jesus.
They want to learn something.
And here is Jesus who takes advantage of this.
And what He does is He points now to the gospel's global impact.
In including the Greeks and inviting this conversation
instead of repressing it, He makes it very, very clear
that the interest of the Greeks was indicative,
pointed to the fact that the day was coming
when the gospel's impact would not only be of value
in the nation of Israel but would be across the entire globe.
I love the fact that the gospel is not limited
to an ethnic group or to a physical location
like the land of Israel.
It has value to every single person
who comes into the world.
And it is supremely important,
not just to the nation of Israel,
but to all of us because what?
Salvation is the very heart
of what Jesus came to bring to mankind.
And I like the fact that here is Jesus
kind of making an early indication of the fact
that the gospel's flow and impact
was going to transcend the nation of Israel.
It was going to have global impact.
That was actually what was part of the Abrahamic covenant.
Isn't that right?
God made the commitment and promise to Abraham.
He said, through you,
all the nations of the world will be blessed.
How?
By virtue of Christ being the Savior of all mankind,
offering salvation through His finished work on the cross.
Now, as we push further into the text,
you're there in John chapter 12,
you'll find that after this little business
of the matter playing out of the question,
hey, listen, there are Greeks that want to meet you,
I want you to notice Christ's response.
And Jesus answered them.
Who is the them?
Answer that question in your own thinking.
Who was Jesus talking to?
He wasn't talking to the Greeks.
They were kind of standing back, you know,
a little bit.
There's Philip and Andrew.
Can these people talk?
Jesus says, hey.
I believe Jesus was talking primarily to His disciples
who had come with this question,
Philip and Andrew.
And He makes it clear
that something has come to fruition
and is at the point.
And here's what Jesus says.
My time is here.
My time is now.
Now, stop and think for a moment again,
and it helps to kind of keep a picture
of the larger context of Christ's ministry.
Over and over again prior to this,
Jesus had made statements like,
it's not my time.
My time is not now.
It's not the moment.
And here He is.
In verse 23, Jesus answered them,
the hour is come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.
I want you to think just for a moment
about how Philip and Andrew must have felt
when they heard Jesus say,
yep, it's time.
This is it.
I'm going to be glorified.
What kind of thinking do you think they had
about what Christ's glory was all about?
Oh, so that you remember,
when they had had the Last Supper together,
immediately after that tremendously spiritual moment,
what had they been bickering about as they left?
Does anybody know?
They were fussing with each other
about who was going to have the right hand
and the left hand
and who was really going to be important in the kingdom.
They were all lit up about the prospect
of being in charge.
That's what they were interested in.
And here is Jesus saying,
it's time.
I'm going to be glorified.
And here they are in the heady rush of thinking,
yeah, it's Hosanna time for real.
And yeah, we're going to set aside that donkey
and he's going to be doing the horse thing
and we're going to be part of it.
And then boom.
Look at it.
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.
Here in the moment of the Greeks coming
and asking for an opportunity
to get to know Jesus a little better
and Jesus making it clear
that all mankind
open to the call
and the significance of the gospel,
here he makes a stunning statement
and what he does is he announces
that his worth and glory
is going to be in his death.
Look at verse 24.
Let me read it again.
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.
I want you to think with me,
secondly, about the fruitfulness
of the cross.
Jesus was at the very pinnacle
of his popularity
and yet in the very same sentence
where he spoke about his glory,
he spoke about his death
and its fruitfulness.
The words truly, truly,
just so you get clued in on this,
are always a signal
of something that is really important
that is going to be said next.
Now I want to frame that.
There's not a word in the Bible
that does not have significance.
We would agree to that.
All scripture is given by inspiration
and is profitable.
But truly, truly
is one of those little signals
that the Spirit of God relies upon
and Jesus relied upon
to say,
hey, pay attention to this.
It's a little bit like
when you were in class
and the teacher would say,
this is going to be on the test.
What did all of you do?
Yeah, yeah,
I've heard that before.
No, that's not what you did.
What did you do?
You underlined,
you know,
test, arrow,
and when you were reviewing
for the exam,
what did you do?
You went back
and looked for what?
You looked for those parts
that you'd underlined.
So you can,
here's what you can do
if you,
and it's not adding to the Bible
when you make a marginal gloss.
You know what a marginal gloss is?
A little note in the margin says,
hey, this is important for me.
This is really something
to hold on to.
Jesus has some advice
you need to pay attention to.
Jesus used the very common illustration
of what happens to a seed
to make the point about his death
and what would follow.
You see,
a seed's fruitfulness
really is impossible
apart from its death.
It doesn't happen any other way.
I told my wife earlier
this morning, actually,
I said, hey,
over the Labor Day holiday,
I actually intend to plant kale
and turnip greens
or a couple other things.
You know,
fall is coming.
How many of you noticed that?
It's a weather change.
Yes.
And so,
in order for those seeds
to actually do anything
and be productive,
I have to put them in the ground.
They have to die.
And then,
something happens.
And here is Jesus
relying upon that
little common fact of farming
to make the point that
his glory
could not be separated
from his death.
He made it clear.
Glory
and death
are linked together.
And his death
on the cross
would bring salvation
for an unnumbered host,
and it would be
the means of glory.
I want you to look with me
just for a moment.
You're there in John,
but I want you to turn back
to the book of Isaiah.
As I was studying
earlier in the week
and,
well,
last week,
and just pondering
the marvel of this text
and convicted deeply,
I was struck by
what the passage in Isaiah
opens up for us.
And just,
it had a
significant contact
with me.
Look at
Isaiah chapter 53
verse 10
and 11.
Yet,
Isaiah chapter 53
verse 10,
it was the will
of the Lord
to crush him.
I think in the King James
it says,
it pleased the Lord
to bruise him.
And you stop
and think about that.
I mean,
how many of you
as fathers
have had to spank
your sons?
Don't raise your hands.
I'm not looking for
who has done
and who has not.
But I,
a father that is
guided by the Spirit
of God
and recognizes
that there are times
when discipline
is necessary
would probably confess
that in the moment
there is no pleasure
in what you're doing.
You do it out of obligation,
out of necessity.
You do it because
of the burden
of what you know
is your responsibility
responsibility
as a father.
If there's any potential
of pleasure,
it is at the hope
that your obedience
to the Scriptures
are going to bring fruit
in that little child's life
that are going to be
a blessing to that child
and to the Lord Jesus.
So it's hard for me
to imagine
what this passage
actually says
about God the Father
in terms of
His pleasure
and His satisfaction
in causing
His own son
to die.
That's what's in view.
Isaiah 53,
verse 10,
it says,
Yet it was the will
of the Lord
to crush him.
He has put him
to grief
when his soul
makes an offering
for guilt.
He shall see
his offspring.
He shall prolong
his days.
The will of the Lord
shall prosper
in His hand.
Out of the anguish
of his soul.
He shall see
and be satisfied.
By his knowledge
shall the righteous
one,
my servant,
make many
to be accounted
righteous.
Do you get a thrill
when you think about that?
Here's what's being said.
Back in the book
of Isaiah,
it says this,
number one,
that Christ was
a sacrifice
and made
an offering
for guilt.
How was guilt
satisfied
in the Old Testament?
Does anybody have an idea?
You had to make
a sacrifice.
You see,
here's the idea
that we need
to get our hands around.
Underneath
and behind
the reality
of our own sinfulness
is that something
has to be done
about that sin.
I've got to tell you,
throwing coins
in an offering plate
don't do it.
Saying that
you're a pretty good person
doesn't do it
because the heart
is deceitful
above all things
and desperately wicked
and there is no way
that a man
can redeem his heart
by his own activity
and his own effort.
The infinite offense
of sin
deserves
an infinite penalty.
That is a mathematical equation.
Does that make sense
to you?
And only
the infinite
endurance
of suffering
in hell
or the infinite
blood of Christ
will bring about
satisfaction
to the debt
that sin creates.
And here
is the Scripture
making it clear
to us
that Christ
by his offering
is going to satisfy
the debt
and look at verse 11
and it says,
and make many
to be accounted righteousness.
That word
accounted
means
that his righteousness
is put over
on my account.
why is it
that I can say
with absolute confidence
that there is thou
therefore
no condemnation
to them
who are in Christ Jesus?
It is because
the righteousness
of Christ
was placed
on the account
of the sinner
who is repentant
and calls upon
the name of the Lord.
And so you look
at this passage
and you recognize here
that Jesus
is making it clear
going back to
the passage
in John chapter 12.
He is making a statement
that listen
I am going to die.
They didn't expect that.
They'd heard him
say it many times
but he made it
very very clear
that he was going
to die
and that as a result
of his death
those who came
to faith
would be the fruit
of his sacrifice
and be the fruit
the outcome
the product
the blessing
that came
from his willing
sacrifice.
So let me ask you
a practical question
because the remainder
of the sermon
is not aimed
at unbelievers
but is aimed
at you who are here
who know Christ
and I would say
that the vast majority
of you would say
I know Jesus
yeah
I'm one of them.
I want you to recognize
that what Jesus
is going to say next
really puts us
on the spot
of asking ourselves
the question
am I the fruit
of his sacrifice
for sin?
Ask yourself
that question
am I
the fruit
of his sacrifice
for sin?
Jesus
had this statement
made by his disciples
these people want
to come and meet you
and talk with you
Jesus said
yep
it's now time
that I'm going
to be glorified
how?
I'm going to die
my death
is going to produce fruit
are you the fruit
of his sacrifice
for sin?
That brings us
to the third thing
that I want you
to recognize
it starts out there
in verse 20
where the Greeks
came and said
alright we want
to see Jesus
now here we are
looking at verse 25
and 26
whoever loves his life
loses it
whoever hates his life
in this world
will keep it
for eternal life
if anyone serves me
are you in the anyone?
are you that?
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
here's the question
am I one of the anyone?
is that fair?
am I an anyone?
am I a person
who really knows
Christ?
here were the Greeks
they wanted to know
more about Jesus
they were interested
in knowing
this spectacular
newsworthy
individual
and he says
listen it's time
I'm going to be glorified
and my glory
is going to be
directly linked
to my dying
for other people
what has taken
place so far
in this passage
is Jesus
bringing attention
to the cross
but let's take it further
now what he says
is
the fruit
of faith
produces
people
who act
like me
do you get that?
the last
two verses
are really
for us
as believers
to kind of
double check
to see whether
or not
we are
what we say
we are
the Greeks
wanted to understand
Jesus better
and he wanted
to be very clear
that his disciples
in particular
understood
what following him
really meant
knowing Jesus
means following Jesus
and bringing fruit
to his glory
you want to see him
then follow his path
take his
life
and walk
with him
be fruit
that brings glory
to him
and be one
who
by virtue
of the life
that you live
evidences
the transforming
power of the cross
so what does
true faith
produce?
what does
true fruit
look like?
it would be wrong
to skip over
this passage
and not have it
brought to bear
on our lives
personally
and I got to tell you
I was listening
earlier last week
to John Piper
preaching on this
passage
and remember
I said that this
passage is a great
one but it's also
deeply
convicting
true faith
is hard
let's get that
clear in our minds
it would be wrong
not to declare
the truth
that Jesus
had here for us
that following
him is costly
and hard
I
every now and then
just to kind of
intrigue and
entertain my soul
I kind of
skip through
channels that have
a lot of
televangelists on them
you know
wonderful preaching
about how I can
have a better house
and fly in a jet
and you know
all that kind of stuff
you know it's a
really popular stuff
and do you realize
that the health
and wealth gospel
is thriving today
around the world
and you know what
when you listen to
these guys preach
you kind of wonder
what in the world
was Jesus talking
about
about sacrifice
where's the truly
truly in all of that
listen to what
Jesus had to say
about what it means
to follow him
for one we choose
death
look at the passage
whoever loves his
life loses it
what
I'd like to
follow Jesus
if it means I get
something for
that in return
hey
that's not wrong
thinking
you're thinking
I'm
wrong
wait
God does not
call us
to sacrifice
without promise
of reward
the problem
is
is we end up
being far
too short
sighted
I'll never
forget
reading
in Desiring God
about
a missionary
couple
that arrived
from years
on the field
broken and
spent by
their ministry
I think it was
in Africa
and they
happened to be
arrived
they happened
to be arriving
at the same
time that
some significant
dignitary was
arriving
and the band
was there
to welcome
this individual
as he got
off the
steamship
and as he
is walking
off the band
strikes up
and they're
giving all
this fanfare
and the wife
commented to the
husband
there's nobody
here to greet
us
and he said
I'm not home
yet
we're not home
yet
let's be
honest
serving
Jesus
is hard
you choose
death
there is
truth in
the fact
that
salvation
is a
death
of our
past
and our
corruption
but it
is also
a conscious
choice
that we
make
from day
to day
of putting
our old
desires
and habits
to death
and can I
tell you
that keeps
on going
on
for the
rest of
my life
I continue
because of
what Jesus
has done
in my life
of choosing
to not
do things
and put
to death
the flesh
that is
at battle
and at war
with my
own heart
for things
that don't
last forever
as Judith
and I
were praying
this morning
and spending
time together
I talked
about the
fact that
that we
look forward
to a time
when we can
be invested
again with
ministering to
international students
I love going
out to the airport
and picking
them up
people who
hardly know
a thread
of English
and begin
to minister
to them
why
highly expensive
costly
proposition
but one
that has
gospel import
and impact
and when
we choose
to follow
Christ
we choose
to die
there's another
statement that
Jesus makes
he says
we choose
to hate
this life
in this
present age
there is a
seduction
in the world
around us
hey we all
entertain it
don't we
it used
to be
it used
to be
when we
wanted to
indulge
our fancies
and we
wanted to
become
better
consumers
we had
to rely
on catalogs
remember
those
old days
I mean
Sears
and Robux
catalogs
how many
of you
lived with
fantasies
of what
you could
buy
from
this is
a
previous
generation
most of
you
don't even
remember
those days
now
when you
go on
Facebook
when you
go on
the internet
when you
go to
CNN
when you
go to
Fox
News
over in
the margin
guess what
there is
there's
advertisement
and just
try this
just click
on one
single item
on Amazon
and express
an interest
and you
begin getting
emails out
of the
ether
and it's
like hey
we saw
that you
were interested
in that
sweeper
and we
want you
to know
that it
is the
very best
sweeper
that anyone
in the
world
can possibly
have
and if
you just
click here
you can
buy it
with
PayPal
you know
how it
is
here's
what you
do
you
choose
to put
that
life
to
death
you
choose
to
follow
Jesus
in
the
cross
look at
what he
says
here
in the
passage
he
says
if
anyone
serves
me
he
must
follow
me
he
must
follow
me
we
are
far
too
focused
in
indulging
ourselves
in
our
own
fantasies
to
the
pleasure
of our
private
individual
interests
and
we're
not
about
the
cross
there's
one more
thing
we choose
to serve
look at
the
passage
if
anyone
serves
me
and by
the way
I'll
take a
cheap
shot
here
next
week
pastor
shearer
begins
to
preach
for
four
weeks
there's
no
cheap
shot
in
that
part
but
I
am
going
to
be
responsible
for
taking
care
of
the
nursery
and
I
am
going
to
invite
all
of
you
to
serve
in
the
nursery
you
hear
me
there
will
be
some
personal
invitations
some
of
you
have
been
on
the
periphery
you
know
what
periphery
means
it
means
way
outside
I'm
going
to
put
my
arms
around
you
guys
I'm
going
to
speak
politely
to
you
women
and
I'm
going
to
say
hey
over
there
every
now
and
then
there
are
some
of
you
haven't
been
in
a
nursery
ever
since
your
kids
left
you
know
it's
like
I'm
not
doing
that
yes
you
are
at
least
I'll
invite
you
pastor
Saul
is
smiling
and
grinning
because
he
had
that
responsibility
previously
right
oh
okay
we're
going
to
choose
to
serve
I
want
you
to
see
some
other
thing
not
only
is
true
faith
hard
but
true
faith
is
glorious
we
live
fruitful
lives
whoever
hates
his
life
in
this
world
will
keep
it
for
eternal
life
we
live
fruitful
lives
can
I
tell
you
that
the
believer
lives
with
an
ambition
and
expectation
of
what
is
coming
ahead
is
that
the
way
you're
living
are
you
living
with
such
an
expectation
that
your
children
even
now
are
despairing
of
how
many
dumpsters
get rid
of
the
trash
you
collected
no
we're
living
with
an
ambition
for
eternity
we
keep
our
lives
in
eternity
I
want
you
to
notice
something
else
there
in
the
passage
it
says
those
who
follow
Jesus
join
him
in
glory
where
I
am
there
will
my
servant
be
also
how
much
do
you
think
about
the
day
that
you
are
going
to
be
with
!
Christ
in
glory
you
know
I
was
talking
with
a
believer
earlier
in
the
week
last
week
and
he
was
commenting
about
how
much
he
looked
forward
to
heaven
truth
of
matter
is
he
had
17
surgeries
and
as
we
were
having
conversation
about
life
he
brought
up
how
much
he
was
looking
forward
to
his
new
body
I
think
17
surgeries
is
fairly
significant
and
I
said
to
him
you
know
what
it's
an
indication
of
our
own
frailty
that
the
thing
we
sometimes
think
about
is
so
superficial
the
pleasure
of
heaven
will
not
primarily
be
a
new
body
and
I
can
say
that
as
a
68
year
old
the
pleasure
of
heaven
will
be
seeing
Jesus
where
I
am
there
will
my
servant
be
finally
look
at what
it says
at the
last
part
the
father
will
honor
him
psychologists
came up
with a
very
interesting
test
to
determine
the
probability
of a
child
succeeding
in
life
do
know
what
the
test
is
it's
a
marshmallow
test
simple
you
put a
kid
in a
room
set
him
at
a
table
and
put
one
marshmallow
on
the
table
and
you
say
to
the
kid
hey
you
can
eat
this
marshmallow
now
if
you
wait
I'll
reward
you
the
kid
who
has
an
inability
to
think
beyond
the
moment
grabs
and
gobbles
the
marshmallow
at
the
moment
the
kid
who
waits
indicates
by that
perspective
a level
of
understanding
about
what
may
lie
ahead
there
are
some
of you
here
this
morning
that
profess
to
know
Christ
but
you're
one
marshmallow
Christians
it's
all
about
now
it's
all
about
what
you
have
your
investments
will
not
travel
with
you
your
hobbies
will
not
travel
with
you
your
trophies
will
not
travel
with
you
I
remember
burying
being
at the
funeral
for
Bill
Brock
who
was
the
founder
of
this
church
and
as
I
was
there
at
the
graveside
with
the
family
I
just
looked
over
there
to
the
side
and
there
was
John
Kenneth
Galbraith
headstone
do
anybody
know
who
Galbraith
is
probably
this
current
generation
he
was
a
heavy
lifter
along
the
lines
of
Bill
Gates
etc
an
incredibly
rich
man
buried
in a
plot
no
bigger
than
Bill
had
and
has
I
know
Bill's
in
heaven
and
beloved
as
you
look
at
this
passage
here's
the
thing
that
should
be
undeniably
clear
to
us
those
who
know
Christ
are
invested
in
the
future
those
who
know
Christ
have
ambition
for
what
lies
ahead
do
you
see
in
your
life
the
clear
indicators
of
a
willingness
to
put
away
and
put
to
death
things
that
encumber
your
present
life
and
service
or
are
you
so
occupied
with
the
moment
that
it's
fair
to
say
you
should
probably
be
asking
yourself
the
question
do
I
really
know
Christ
because
here's
the
characteristic
Jesus
said it
very
clearly
whoever
loves
his
life
loses
it
if
anyone
serves
me
he
must
follow
me
let's
close
in
prayer
our
father
God
this
morning
as
we
have
attended
to
the
word
I
recognize
that
it
is
primarily
for
the
believer
that
is
here
today
to
challenge
them
to
think
consciously
and
deliberately
does
my
life
produce
the
fruit
of
faith
can
I
see
that
Christ
has
made
a
difference
in
my
ambitions
and
my
affections
in
the
things
that
I
talk
about
in
the
interest
that
I
have
in
my
willingness
to
serve
there
may
be
some
today
that
are
here
that
recognize
when
they
compare
their
heart
against
the
model
of
scripture
there
may
be
some
that
say
I
have
drifted
away
from
my
first
love
and
this
morning
the
spirit
of
God
is
convicting
me
that
needs
to
be
restored
there
may
be
some
here
that
do
not
know
Christ
that
they
have
not
yet
come
to
faith
and
this
morning
it
would
be
our
plea
that
your
spirit
would
draw
them
to
the
cross
and
see
!
the
emptiness
and
darkness
of
their
soul
has
no
remedy
apart
from
Jesus
we
ask
this
in
Jesus
name
Amen