Let me invite you to turn back in your Bibles to John chapter 12, to words that we read from verse 20 to 26.
! That's going to be our focus this evening.
We have the request from those who are visiting Jerusalem.
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
We wish to see Jesus.
You can sense the anger and the desperation in the voices of the enemies of Jesus in verse 19.
They have witnessed the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem with celebration, with adoration, and it has pressed every button in the minds and hearts of his enemies.
Their exasperation, you see that you are gaining nothing.
Look, the whole world has gone after him.
They say this despite the fact they put the word out like gangsters, that if anybody knew where Jesus was, they were to tell him or tell them, and they would sort the rest out.
You have that in the very last words of the previous chapter.
Chapter 11, verse 57.
Chief priests and Pharisees had given orders.
If anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him.
They're behaving like gangsters, but nobody's listening to them because Jesus has raised someone from the dead.
And that carries more credibility than what the religious leaders of the day are doing.
And so in exasperation, they cry out that the whole world has gone after him.
And then as if to illustrate that very truth, you have some Greeks who were visiting Jerusalem at that time, meandering their way through the crowds to the disciples who would largely have been surrounding Jesus or certainly been very close by.
And almost as if an illustration of how the whole world is going after him, here you have these non-Jewish people coming with a desire to see Jesus.
In some ways, the words of Jesus' enemies were prophetic, that the whole world has gone after him.
Because if we trace the history of the Christian faith, that's exactly what's happened, isn't it?
Unlike the other major faiths in this world, whether we think of Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism, they are still strongest in their heartlands.
Where these movements began, and other than migration of those from these areas, they haven't really seen growth in any other part of the world, unlike Christianity.
Christianity, which is always on the move, whether from the start in the Middle East and heading westwards along North Africa and into Europe and then into North America.
And now what we see in our generation, we see the movement of Christianity is going south to South America, to Africa.
And it's gone east with more Christians in China than our people living in the United Kingdom.
Because the message of Jesus truly has the world going after him.
And we tonight are part of that worldwide movement of those who will hear of Jesus.
And of course, little did these enemies of Jesus realize how prophetic their words would have been,
which is actually one of the things that reoccurs in John's Gospel.
People speak about things that they don't actually realize how true they are.
But what we see in the ultimate fulfillment, if we have the panoramic view that John himself is given in Revelation,
we do see, do we not, that people from every tribe and nation and language and tongue are going to be before the throne.
They're going to be looking at this lamb that looks as if it had been slain.
But this lamb is alive.
This is the Lord Jesus himself.
And so this evening, I want us to work through this section from verse 20 to verse 26.
Noticing, first of all, that there is a request.
Very simply, there is a request.
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
And Jesus' life, as you will know, is bookended by unexpected visitors.
At the start of his life, near the start of his life,
he has these unexpected visitors from the east who want to come and bow down and worship.
And here now, towards the very end of his life, he has these unexpected visitors coming from the west
to simultaneously bow down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
The actual, behind the translation we have here, it says that there's a repeated asking that took place here.
And it's put the disciples in a little bit of a quandary.
Because they know that Jesus has a target on his back.
And they know that the enemies of Jesus are looking for any opportunity to try and cause difficulty for him.
So therefore, Jesus, speaking to non-Jewish people,
at this time of the year, is that going to be, is that going to cause more difficulty?
And so Philip goes and tells Andrew.
Then Andrew and Philip, verse 22, they went and told Jesus what was taking place.
Because eventually they realised, from what they had seen in their front row seat,
watching, observing, listening, learning from Jesus,
that actually Jesus is someone who welcomes genuine interruptions.
They've seen that throughout the past three years.
They've seen that with different people.
As he's walking with Jairus to the home where his young daughter is dying,
there is the interruption of this woman who's been plagued for the last 12 years with illness.
And Jesus sensed power going out from him.
And so he stopped and he interacted with her.
And she was made well.
And so he welcomed that genuine interruption.
He welcomed the genuine interruption that children would bring.
I don't know if there's many kids in here tonight.
But one of the things I say to the schools that I go and visit regularly is that Jesus always had time for young children.
And children were very different then to today.
I mean, today we almost idolise at times our kids.
Because back then they literally were the lowest of the low, but not with Jesus.
He would welcome genuine interruptions.
Or you think of the blind men hearing that Jesus is walking along.
And they're shouting and they're screaming.
And to everyone else, this is an irritant.
Why can't they just keep their mouth shut?
But no, not with Jesus.
Because Jesus welcomes genuine interruptions.
And of course we can culminate that line of thinking when we land on the cross.
Because you think, well, if there was ever a moment where Jesus would be excused for not actually receiving an interruption.
It would be as he's hanging on the cross paying for sin.
And yet he hears somebody on a cross beside him saying, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And so having come to that conclusion that actually Jesus welcomes genuine interruptions.
Andrew and Philip go and tell Jesus.
And so we have the third reference in the Gospel of John of Andrew bringing people to Jesus.
First of all, he brought Peter to Jesus.
He then brings the young boy with his packed lunch to Jesus.
And here he is taking these foreigners to Jesus.
Now, what an example Andrew is of being somebody who helps other people meet Jesus.
What an example to follow.
But let's ask the question, why did they want to see Jesus?
They've come with this request, we want to see Jesus.
The question is why?
Why do we want to see Jesus?
Had they heard something of the power of his miracles?
Had they heard that the authority of the words by which he spoke
was in a different league to anybody else?
Had they heard that he was a man and a mission?
We don't actually know the answer.
All of these things or a mix of these things could be true along with many other things.
But what we do know is that they wanted to see Jesus.
So what will they see when they look to Jesus?
What do we see when we look to Jesus?
Well, when we look to Jesus, we see somebody who is fully human,
with a fully human frame, just like you and I.
A frame that needs to be fed.
And a frame that needs to be rested.
A frame that needs to have water.
A frame that could only be in one place at one time.
When we look to Jesus, we see someone who was, in that sense, fully human.
He became man without ceasing to be God.
Because not simply is he fully human.
When we look at our Savior, we realize that he is fully divine as well, is he not?
Who else in history has had the power to drive out disease?
Either by the words that he spoke or by the very touch of his hand.
Who else had the power to silence demons?
To drive demons away?
To free those who had been plagued by them?
You live on a windy island.
I grew up on a windy island.
None of us have been able to ever stop the wind from blowing.
Or the swell of the waves.
But Jesus could by just uttering a few words.
Who else could speak into death and say to a little girl,
Wake up.
Reaching down into death.
Even by his words to bring her back to life.
Who alone had the power to decree, declare someone's sins to be forgiven.
All of these things are what we would expect.
If somebody claimed to be divine, we would turn around and say, prove it.
And what we see when we look at Jesus is we see someone who is fully divine and someone who is fully human.
It's not some mixture when it's 70, 30 or whatever.
Fully divine, fully human.
That's who we see when we see Jesus.
And he is the one who, having taken this human frame to himself without ceasing to be God,
who came on this worldwide mission that all the way through John's Gospel we hear about.
He's going to be the Lamb of God.
He's going to take away the sins of the world.
He's going to be the expression of the love of God.
For God so loved the world.
He declares himself not simply to be the light of the nation, but the light of the world.
God, he's the one who's going to gather his sheep from other pens, from other areas.
He's going to bring them together.
They are coming with this desire to see the one who stands alone as the God-man who has come on a mission to save men, women, boys and girls.
And so the request is the wisest request anybody could ever make.
It is the wisest focus we could ever have, that we want to see Jesus.
And if we have seen Jesus for who he is, not simply fully God and fully man out there, but fully God and fully man who has come on a mission to save us,
then making sure that our vision of who Jesus is doesn't get clouded by our responsibilities and by our duties and all the different distractions of this world,
well, that's our responsibility.
We want to keep seeing Jesus because there is none else other than him, is there?
So we see, first of all, in this passage, we see that they've come with a request not to be entertained, not to learn something,
but they want to see the Savior.
And this request is met in verse 23 and verse 24 with an answer.
In fact, verse 23 to 25 is met with an answer.
Because frequently when Jesus is initiated in a conversation, whether it's a question or a statement,
he frequently replies with a question himself.
And he comes not necessarily with the way that people would expect him to answer.
He comes in different ways.
And this is another one.
So, sir, we wish to see Jesus.
They come to Jesus.
And in response to this, he sees something they don't expect.
Because he says, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
And they're going, okay, that's not quite what we were thinking about.
They just want to see you.
But Jesus is, as ever, multiple steps ahead.
And he's going to deal with their request by actually clarifying what it is, who it is, that they're actually going to see.
And so he sees and views this as a turning point.
This is a turning point whereby here you have non-Jews coming to him with a desire to see him and to know him.
And now he sees the hour has come.
That the request from these Greeks is a sign in the mind and understanding of our Savior that there is now a different moment that has been reached.
Because now is the time that the gospel, the message, the good news that he is about to secure is going to go beyond just the lost sheep of Israel.
You'll recall on a couple of occasions that phrase, the lost sheep of Israel, and similar phrases were used to narrow down the scope of Jesus' ministry.
That he sent his followers out to gather in the lost sheep.
When you had the woman who came desperate for healing for her daughter, she recognized that she was not of Jewish origin.
That she was one of the dogs in that sense, the derogatory term of the day.
But she recognized that even the dogs would eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table because the scope of Jesus' ministry had been limited.
With this request, Jesus sees something change.
Because he now moves on to the fact that in light of this request, the hour has come.
Because up until this point, the hour is always in the future.
It is almost like a drumbeat that is beating at different times throughout the gospel of John.
His hour has not yet come.
And yet we reach here and his hour has come.
We know that Jesus operated to a very different timeline and timetable, didn't he?
His family, who up until that point didn't believe in him, thought it would be very straightforward for him to take his miracle roadshow from the north to Jerusalem in chapter 7 for the Feast of Tabernacles.
And Jesus reminded them, for you any time is right, but not for me.
Because Jesus was living this perfectly obedient life in every single detail, according to the Father's will, according to the Father's timetable.
And yet now he realizes something is different here.
This is now an occasion that has moved on to the next stage, if you like, of his mission.
That with this hour coming, his death and all that is going to unfold with regard to his death and all that his death is going to secure, that's now come closer into view as we have this request from these non-Jewish people.
And so this hour has arrived.
And he said, it's the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified.
And it's that phrase, Son of Man, that stands out.
Because if we were there and if we'd had some of the knowledge of the Old Testament that some of the people standing there would have had,
their ears would have picked up at the use of the term Son of Man.
This would have been loaded with significance for them.
It's almost as if they would have looked to somebody around them and said, did he actually see that?
He said Son of Man, didn't he?
With some of them, their hearts would have began to beat that little bit faster.
Because this term was loaded with significance.
The significance you find in the Old Testament, you go back to Daniel chapter 7,
and it talks about this worldwide never-ending rule that will come with the Son of Man, come with the one sent by God.
And here is Jesus referencing himself as the Son of Man, as the one who has come.
And a little bit like you, I mean all these analogies, they work to an extent and then they don't.
But you think of how candidates for the US presidency, when they're about to announce their nomination to put themselves forward as a candidate for their party,
that they'll go to a location that's significant for them.
And the setting will just be what it needs to be.
And the wording will just be what they think it needs to be.
And everything will be planned and coordinated for this great statement that they are in this race,
and they're going to bring change and whatever else they promise that never actually materialises.
But that's how they do things, isn't it?
Well, we reverse back a few thousand years, and this is what some of the people there would have been thinking.
Here is Jesus.
He is, we're at Passover time.
And he's talking about himself in terms of the Son of Man.
We are now moving on to a new level.
The hope that we've been waiting for is about to be realised.
And so for the folk who were listening, it was falling into place.
And yet what they hadn't realised, didn't realise, perhaps had forgotten,
what Jesus had said earlier on in chapter 3,
when he talked about that for the Son of Man to be the one who would ascend,
he needs to be the one who first of all descends.
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
For Jesus to be this Son of Man, for him to be the one who was going to secure the freedom
that they desperately needed, which was on a spiritual level rather than on a political or physical level,
then he not simply would have to descend to live among them,
but his descent was going to be a descent to death,
which is why, again in John's Gospel,
Son of Man is quoted in relation to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
And so we have this request,
and we have this answer that is given,
where Jesus is bringing the focus round to what's about to take place.
The hour has come,
and the Son of Man is now going to be glorified.
And the glorification is going to involve a dying.
Verse 24,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone,
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
He's talking about being glorified in the context of dying.
And for us, that seems very odd,
because in the occasions that we do speak about glorification,
if we do speak about trying to give people the recognition that they deserve,
well, that almost involves a sense of exaltation, doesn't it?
It involves a sense of prominence,
a sense of attention being given in that sense.
And yet Jesus is going in the very opposite,
and he's talking about glorification in the context of death.
Now, we know that as the passage, as the chapters unfold,
the glorification in the context of the crucifixion is going to be made clear,
again in this chapter, again in the following chapter.
And so what the people of the day would class as the greatest humiliation,
and what people throughout history have classed as not simply a humiliation,
but a conundrum that cannot be solved,
if Jesus was who he was, why on earth did he die in that way,
is actually going to be the very means of his glorification,
in the same way that this seed has to die before life can come from it.
So Jesus has to die before this worldwide mission is going to move forward.
And so he is receiving this request, they want to see him,
and you're going to see me,
but you're going to see me in a very different way to how you imagine me to be,
because the hour has come,
and the Son of Man is about to be glorified,
and you think exaltation,
but actually it's going to be humiliation.
You think coronation,
but it's actually going to be crucifixion.
That is how you're going to see me.
And it reminds us, does it not,
that actually we need more than just Jesus' example,
outstanding though it was.
We need more than Jesus' teaching,
authoritative and unique as it undoubtedly was,
what we need is the death of a substitute in our place,
so that we may be set free and welcomed into a relationship with God.
And so the Son of Man,
he is at this hour going to be glorified.
I suppose in life we've all been in this situation,
that when we go through certain events,
or we meet certain people,
then our lives change.
Those of older generations,
who in Providence had to endure the war years,
were very much shaped by the war years.
On a more positive note,
when you met your now spouse,
then life was never the same after meeting your spouse.
When we go through certain events,
when we meet certain people,
our lives are changed,
and they are not the same again.
Jesus goes on to talk about our lives being changed
when we see the identity of Jesus Christ,
and we see the mission of Jesus Christ.
That when we recognise that he is the Son of Man
who was glorified in his crucifixion for us,
then life changes.
Verse 25,
whoever loves his life loses it.
Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it forever.
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 honour him.
This is telling us the outworking of seeing Jesus
is that we're going to see ourselves very differently.
We're going to see our lives very differently.
We're going to see our acts of service very differently.
This is where we take the teaching of Scripture,
and we could maybe talk about it in a theological sense,
and now the practical implications of that,
because seeing Jesus for who he is
changes how we view ourselves
and how we view others.
Jesus makes it clear here
that a love of the self
actually leads to self-destruction.
But the converse is true,
is that when we actually have a love for our Saviour,
and all that will come to us from that,
including the various different suffering and struggles
that will come our way for having a living faith,
then the reward is so very different.
And so seeing Jesus
changes how we view ourselves
and how we view others.
It moves the agenda from ourselves
to others
in a way that it was not like that before.
Let me illustrate.
Some of you will have heard of a guy called George Muller.
He lived a long time ago.
He was an evangelist,
and he also helped initiate
and then organise orphanages,
cared for tens of thousands of children
in the day,
back down in the Bristol area.
He was asked at one point,
what was the secret
to his effectiveness
as a follower of Jesus?
And he bowed his head
and he answered along these lines
that the secret of his effectiveness
was the day he died.
And he bowed his head a little more.
The day I died
to my opinions,
to my preferences,
to my taste,
to my will.
The day I died
to the approval
or censure
of this world.
The day I died
even to the approval
and blame
of my brothers
who didn't understand
some of what I was doing.
He's illustrating
in a very clear way
what happens
when somebody meets Jesus.
that our lives
are turned
the right way round.
And our perspective
about our rights
and our preferences
and our desires
and our demands
go off
in a different trajectory.
The effectiveness
of this guy's
ministry and life
was orientated
around seeing
Jesus for who he is
because that exposes
us for who we are
and in light
of what we are
then we wish
his will to be done
and not our will
to be done.
And so
the surprising
greatness
of what Jesus
promises us here
is that those
who do see our lives
through the lens
and rubric
of who Christ is
actually have the honour
of the Heavenly Father
resting upon us.
Let me look at this
from a slightly
different angle.
There was a guy
in the 1960s
called
J.W. Tucker.
He was a missionary
and
he was actually
martyred
for his faith
in the
I think it was
the Congo
DR Congo
or the other Congo
I'm not sure which.
He was martyred
for his faith.
He was attacked
he was killed
he was bundled
into the back
of a truck
and then he was
thrown into
the
Bomo Kande River
apologies for the pronunciation
it's probably incorrect
Bomo Kande River
where his
remains
were then
eaten by crocodiles.
Some 30 years later
a friend
of this man
Tucker
went back
to that country
and he heard
what had happened
after
the martyr
of J.W. Tucker
he heard
that
there was
one person
who actually
came to a faith
when Tucker
was alive.
He was a local
policeman
and the policeman
came to
see Jesus
and to
follow
Jesus' feet
to live his
life for Jesus
things changed
and he had
this burden
placed upon him
by God
for this
particular group
that had
murdered
J.W. Tucker
but he just
didn't know
how to
connect
the message
of Jesus
to them
until one day
somebody told him
of a tribal
tradition
for that
people group
and the tradition
went something
like this
that if the
blood of any
man flows
in the
Bomo Kande River
we must
listen to
his message.
The policeman
heard this
and he thought
that's my key
so he went
to this area
and he said
that sometime
a man
was killed
and you
threw his
body
into the
Bomo Kande
River
where he was
then eaten
by crocodiles
and his
blood
flowed
through
that river
before he died
he left me
a message
so at that
point
it's all ears
the blood
of anyone
flowing
in the
Bomo Kande
River
we need
to listen
to his
message
and so he
said he
left me
a message
he left
me a message
about God
the God
who made
everything
that we
have
a message
about the
God
who made
everything
who loved
this broken
world so much
that he sent
his son
into this
world
and his son
lived a perfect
life in this
world
in fact he was
the only one
to ever live
a perfect
life
and do you
know what
happened to
his son
that his son
ended up being
crucified on a
cross
not for his
own sin
but for the
sins of his
people
for the sins
of the world
and as he
explained the
gospel to
this tribal
group
many of them
were converted
so 30 years
later when this
friend of G.W.
Tucker went
there there
were thousands
of Christians
in that
tribal group
who had come
to faith
on the basis
of somebody
who was willing
even to suffer
to the point
of death
so that people
might see
Jesus
because seeing
Jesus
is so
remarkably
serious
because seeing
Jesus
and keeping
our eyes
on Jesus
is
where we
must be
in these days
of communion
as we see
Jesus
our minds
inevitably
focus on the
cross
don't we
and they focus
into the cross
that place
where we see
the glory
of God
displayed
with the
holiness
of his
justice
and the
depth
of his
love
on that
cross
we see
the remarkable
dual truths
there
that we
are perfectly
known by
God
and yet
simultaneously
perfectly
loved by
God
because
the glory
of Jesus
that we
need to see
and respond
to
is what
we see
on the
cross
so with
all of that
being said
what takeaways
do we have
from a passage
like this
this evening
let me ask
you first
of all
have you
seen
Jesus
do you
want
to see
Jesus
the Bible
makes a
promise
that
those who
seek
will
find
don't
rest
until you
have seen
and savoured
bowed
before
the living
Lord Jesus
for yourself
and if
you
have
seen
the Lord
Jesus
how wonderful
it would be
to glorify
the Lord
Jesus
by being
like Andrew
and helping
other people
to see
the Lord
Jesus
because
what more
could we do
for our family
and friends
and communities
and country
than help
people
to see
Jesus
and if
we want
other people
to see
Jesus
then
as I
alluded
earlier
on
we need
to make
sure
that we
are keeping
our eyes
on Jesus
that we
are setting
our affections
on things
that are above
where Christ
is
that we
have our eyes
fixed on him
there's much
that can
distract us
some good
things can
distract us
and some
not so good
things can
distract us
but keeping
our eyes
on Jesus
is so very
very precious
and perhaps
even
there may be
some of us
this evening
who
have seen
the preciousness
and the
delight
and the
wonder of
how this
saviour
could love
someone like
me
someone like
you
but you've
not yet
made that
known
that Jesus
is precious
well maybe
it's time
isn't it
to let other
people know
that you have
seen Jesus
and you
do savor
Jesus
and you
want to
serve
Jesus
in the
strength
that he's
given to
you
and if
that's
the case
well come
and join
us
be with
us
as we
see
our
saviour
and as
we
savor
him
at his
table
this
coming
Lord's
day
if we're
spirit
and well
amen
let's
bow our
heads
as we
pray
father
thank you
for a
passage
like this
there's
so much
in it
we pray
that you
would help
us to
think deeply
upon what
your word
says to
us
and again
we pray
father that
if this
has been
a season
whether a
long season
or a short
season
whereby our
vision of
Jesus has
been clouded
by other
things
father we
pray that
these clouds
might be
lifted
and that
we would
have a
clear vision
of the
wonder
of the
saviour
who loved
us
and gave
himself
for us
we pray
this in
his name
amen
we're going
to conclude
my singing
in psalm
number 22
psalm 22
from the
sing psalms
verse
of the
psalter
you'll
find this
on page
27
psalm 22
from verse
27
on page
27
psalm 22
verse 27
page 27
and we
sing these
words
through the
lens of our
understanding of
who Jesus
is
that these
words
remind us
and can only
really apply
to our
saviour in
that sense
the whole
earth will
remember him
and turn
towards the
lord their
god
all peoples
will bow
down to him
the nations
of the world
abroad
down to
verse 30
posterity
will serve
the lord
and generations
still to come
will tell a
people yet
unborn
the righteous
acts that he
has done
we're going to
stand as we
praise god
27 to the
end
the whole
earth will
remember him
and turn
towards the
lord their
god
all peoples
will
the
!
the
!
the
lord
and
!
the
!
the
!
the
earth
will
!
the
earth
will
feed
and
worship
with
an
offer
in
all
those
whose
destiny
is
dust
will
hum
!
the
need
And generations still to come
will tell the people yet unborn
the righteous acts that he has done.
Until the Lord returns,
Orantly calls us home.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord turn his face towards you
and grant you his peace.
And the people of God said, Amen.