In 'Death and Abundant Harvest,' Jason Dohm explores John 12:20-26, focusing on Jesus' journey to the cross. The sermon highlights the contrast between Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent teachings on the necessity of his death for the salvation of humanity. Dohm emphasizes the metaphor of a grain of wheat falling to produce abundant harvest as a representation of Jesus' sacrifice leading to the redemption of many. The sermon also discusses the presence of Greeks seeking Jesus, illustrating the global reach of his message. The necessity of prioritizing eternal life over earthly attachments is emphasized, with a call to genuine faith characterized by following and serving Christ. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the ultimate reward for believers: eternal fellowship with Christ and honor from God the Father.

So our text today is John chapter 12 20 through 26 Context I'll begin reading at verse 12 We found you places Verse 12 it says The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, said on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him. Therefore the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. For this reason the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign.

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. Now verse 20, now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying, sir we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

But Jesus answered them saying The hour has not come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone, but if it dies it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor." The title of the sermon, which I greatly dislike, even though I wrote it, is death and abundant harvest.

It really does reflect the text. This text is about the great victory that the Lord Jesus Christ won by going to the cross. Jesus in our text is talking about his death and the necessity of his death in God bringing many sons to glory. There is such a great victory won in what seems to be a defeat as Jesus goes to the cross. So this really is what our text is about.

When we left off in last week's text, The multitudes were receiving Jesus as king. We had the text which is known as the triumphal entry. The multitudes knew that Jesus was entering Jerusalem at the week of the feast. They heard that he raised a man from the dead. They gathered together.

The disciples didn't understand what was happening. That's what the text said at the time. At the moment, at their triumphal entry, the disciples didn't understand exactly what was happening. But later they understood that prophecy about the Messiah was being fulfilled right before them. The crowds were taking up on their lips the words of Psalm 118, which is a psalm about the Messiah.

They were praising the Messiah. Jesus had very intentionally laid claim to being the fulfillment of Zechariah 9 by acquiring the cult of the donkey and coming into Jerusalem that way. So this is more of what we've seen again and again in the Gospel of John which is the marks of the Messiah. There are certain marks that let you know that the man Jesus Christ was really the God man that God had promised to send to save a people. And Jesus is just fulfilling more prophecy in that text.

Our text today stands in stark contrast as Jesus teaches about His death and the necessity of His death to bring life to sinners. So we go from our last text, the crowds rising up in praise to proclaim that Jesus is their King to this week with Jesus teaching about how he has to die. You really can't get a much starker contrast than that. Last week the crowds, the multitudes are rejoicing and taking Jesus as King. This week Jesus is talking about why he has to die.

So we come to the text, and ask the Lord to help us. Oh God, this is the great source and the only source of life for us, the death of your precious Son, shedding His blood so that we could be clean. All of our defilements could be washed away and we could stand before You as if we had never sinned, as if we had offered up to You the life that your Son offered up to you. A life of unbroken, cheerful obedience. Thank you for these robes of righteousness that are offered to us in your Son.

We pray in His name, asking you to help us to learn from the text. Amen. So I'd like to begin by rereading and considering a small portion of our text, verses 20 through 22. So hopefully you still have a finger in John chapter 12 follow along as I read verses 20 through 22. Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.

Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus. So in these three verses, certain Greeks wish to see Jesus. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, It's Greeks. Certain Greeks wish to see Jesus.

I'd like to give you some facts that will help us to understand what we have before us in these verses. I'm going to give you four facts that help us get a grip on this. Fact number one. There's a separate Greek word for Greek speaking Jews. So this is not that word.

The word here, now there were certain Greeks, is a different word than the word you would choose for a Greek speaking Jew. That word is used in Acts chapter 6 in the early life of the New Testament Church. Greek speaking Jewish widows are being overlooked in the distribution. So you're with me. You know about that text.

There's a different word used in Acts chapter 6 for those Greek speaking widows. It's rendered in Acts chapter 6, Hellenists. So if you look at the Greek words, they look almost exactly the same, but there's only a couple of letters different. That would tell us that these aren't Greek speaking Jews, but God fearing Greeks. So that's number one.

Fact number one. There's a separate Greek word, not this Greek word, for Greek speaking Jews. Fact number two. This word can mean Greek, meaning technically Greek, born in Greece, but it is often much more broad than that. The normal use of this word doesn't have to be technically true at all, born in Greece, but it is very often used much more broadly because Greek language and Greek culture is the dominant language and culture of the world in which Jesus was born and lived.

There are many languages, but the dominant language in the known world at this time was Greek, even though the Romans were ruling the world at this point. The dominant language and the dominant culture, in fact you see Greek culture in Rome, in their culture. And so This is reflected in the fact that the New Testament was written, not in Hebrew like the Old Testament was, but in Greek. It is just a reflection of the fact that The dominant language was the Greek culture in the world at that time. That's fact number two.

Often when you hear of a Greek, you're talking about someone who's not a Jew. A Jew simply. So this is fact number three now is the New Testament gives us multiple examples of God-fearing Gentiles. So in the temple we actually have a place for their worship. It's called the Court of the Gentiles.

Gentiles couldn't go into the temple proper where you would find the altar. They were not allowed to go there, but there was actually a court for God-fearing Gentiles to come and worship. Here are some New Testament examples of God-fearing Gentiles in the New Testament. The centurion in Luke chapter 7 comes to Jesus wanting His servant to be healed and the elders of the Jews actually appeal to Jesus to do this for this man and they say He loves our nation and has built us a synagogue. At the end of this account Jesus actually commends this centurion for his great faith.

He is a God-fearing Gentile. Or the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 says that the Ethiopian eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship. This is a God-fearing Gentile. And Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.

Acts chapter 10, Cornelius is described as a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and yet Peter had trepidation about going there because he was a Gentile until this vision comes to him on the rooftop. So that is fact number three. The New Testament gives us multiple examples of God-fearing Gentiles. And that's really what we have in our text, these Greeks who come to Philip. Fact number four, of all the disciples, Philip's name is the most purely Greek.

So there's twelve disciples. If you go and look at all of their names, there is Jewish context and history to a much greater extent for every other one of the twelve names. Philip is a purely Greek name. You will not find Phillips in the Old Testament. That could be coincidence, or it could be that Philip has connections among God-fearing Gentiles.

This is the fruition of that. This is evidence. It is possible that that is just coincidental, but it would be a mistake to come away and not notice that Philip is a Greek name to a greater extent than any of the other names of the disciples. So, these Greeks who are coming to worship come to Philip and tell Philip that they want to see Jesus. We are not told why they want to see Jesus.

And we are not told how this unfolds. They are going to disappear after these verses. In verse 29 we read that there are people standing by who hear what Jesus has said and who hear something of the voice that sounds from heaven. But we are not sure Whether these are the people or not, the text isn't clear. What you should deduce from that is it doesn't matter.

If you needed to know it would be clear in the text. Here's what we know and here's what I believe John the Gospel writer wants us to know. People from outside of Israel know about Jesus, have heard about Jesus, and it has raised their curiosity. Often When we read the book of Acts, we are assuming that when Paul and his companions go to a Gentile city and they go to the synagogue, that these are people who were unaware of the things happening with Jesus. That's almost certainly not true.

That's almost certainly us not thinking right about it. God fearing Gentiles and Jews from outside of Israel were coming to worship and were hearing the scuttlebutt. What was the scuttlebutt? Well, it was the buzz that was happening. It was about the Lord Jesus Christ and things like Him healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, calling corpses forth from their tombs.

News of Jesus and news of the triumphal entry, this man coming into Jerusalem at the Passover and being received as king is not going to be restricted to the borders of Israel. The world was present at the sacrifice of the Messiah in very real ways. I think that's what John the Gospel writer is getting to here. I'll say that again. The world was present, not just Jews, not just people within the borders of Israel, but the world was present at the sacrifice of the Messiah in very real ways.

Jesus is the Savior not just of Jews but of Jews and Gentiles and this word of Jesus and what He had been teaching and what He had been doing and that He was received as the King of the Jews and That He was put to death was known outside the border of Israel and we are being given insight to that now. It appears to me that it isn't clear to Philip that he should advance the wishes of these Greeks, so he tells Andrew. It reads to me like he doesn't know what to do. They come, they want to see Jesus, he's not sure whether he should advance their interest to Jesus, and so he tells Philip with the result being that they both go to Jesus and tell Jesus. Philip is from Bethsaida in Galilee, So are Andrew and Peter.

So Philip is going and telling Andrew they are from the same town, Bethsaida, which is a small fishing village on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. It literally means house of fish. Bethsaida literally means house of fish. Wonder what dominates their economy. This is a small fishing village on the coast of the Sea of Galilee.

The town name literally means house of fish. Of course, Peter and Andrew are brothers who are in a fishing business with James and John, so we would already have known this about them. These two men from the same town go and tell Jesus about these Greeks who want to see Jesus. Now the next verses, 23-25. Follow along.

But Jesus answered them saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. In these verses we have God's surprising plan for Jesus' glory and our life.

So if you are filling in blanks on the handout, it is glory and life. God's surprising plan, Jesus is telling us about God the Father's plan for His own glorification, for Jesus' glory and for our life. How can sinners be made right with God? We are being taught about that in these verses. It is a surprising plan.

It is not the plan I would have come up with. It is not the plan you would have come up with. But it is the necessary plan to reconcile sinners to God and to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ through the reconciling of sinners. Verse 23 begins, But Jesus answered them. The them being at least Andrew and Philip, it might have been the rest of the disciples.

It's possible that others were present as well, but it's at least Andrew and Philip. But Jesus answered them. The King James and the New American Standard and the ESV render it and Jesus answered them. Why do some render it but Jesus answered them and others render it and Jesus answered them. It's because the Word can be rendered either way, and it's rendered almost a thousand times as and.

So it's even more but, it's 1200 and sometimes but, but it can be rendered either way. I prefer and here because it doesn't seem to me that what Jesus says next stands in opposition. In other words, what Jesus says about the hour has come for Him to be glorified doesn't seem to be standing opposed to the request of these Greeks who have come to worship to see Him. Jesus says the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. The hour is the appointed time on the divine calendar for Jesus' all-important defining work.

What is Jesus' all-important defining work? The cross. When Jesus says the hour has come, He is talking about this divine appointment with the work that He came to do above and beyond every other work which has laid down His life and pay the ransom for sinners. To this point, John the Gospel writer has been repeating that it was not yet his hour. So we have seen that repeatedly in the Gospel of John.

Not yet. Not yet his hour. An example of this. Chapter 7 verse 30. Therefore they sought to take him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

For many chapters now, the leaders of the Jews have wanted to lay their hands on Jesus, but they couldn't. They meant to, they intended to, they tried to, but they couldn't. Why couldn't they? Because His hour had not yet come for this great work. Or in the next chapter, in chapter 8 verse 20.

These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one laid hands on him, for his hour had not yet come. So John The Gospel writer has been stressing this. They want to do something but they can't do it because His hour had not yet come. Now Jesus says, the hour has come. The hour is here.

This is the beginning of the last week of Jesus' life. He is getting ready to lay down His life. The hour has indeed come. So the hour is the appointed time for Jesus' death on the cross. How can that be the same hour as his glorification?

Doesn't that seem strange to you? The hour has come for me to die. The hour has come for me to be glorified. What? Surely the hour for Him to be glorified is the triumphal entry, yes?

The multitudes gathering to say, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the Son of David, the King of Israel." No, Jesus says, the hour in which I am lifted up and glorified is the hour in which I lay down my life for sinners. How can this be true? I ask for you to consider Philippians chapter 2. You can turn there if you'd like. I'll be reading Philippians chapter 2 verses 8 through 11.

I've been quoting it a lot recently, but I can't stand to not quote it today because it's so appropriate for what's before us. Philippians chapter 2 verses 8 through 11. Paul writes of Jesus, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Now why would he say even the death of the cross? Clarifying the kind of death.

Because he is highlighting how shameful that death is. No Roman can be crucified. It's too gruesome. It's too shameful. No Roman citizen can undergo this shameful, this painful, this gruesome of a death.

So the Apostle Paul here in Philippians 2 is highlighting how shameful and debasing the death that Jesus came to die was. Now continuing in verse 9. Therefore, because Jesus came in the form of a servant, appeared in appearance as a man and humbled himself to this death, therefore God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." Friends, when Jesus was appointed to take on flesh and die in order to be the Redeemer, he was marked out for glory. So man looked at that criminal dying on the cross and they said for shame. God had marked him out for glory.

God had marked him out to be redeemer for all eternity. What do we see in Revelation? We see the multitudes bowing down and worshiping the Lord Jesus as the Lamb who was slain for all eternity. To God the Father, to Jesus God the Son, The cross is not defeat and shame. The cross is glory.

Why? Because He is buying a people. He is glorifying Himself by laying down His life to make sinners the object of His grace. He will eternally be worshiped as the Lamb who was slain. This shameful death of a criminal when Jesus would willingly lay down His life as the Son of Man was always the plan for victory, not defeat.

That's why it's such a surprising plan. You see the cross and you say, there's defeat there. No, no, no. There's victory there. There's glory there.

Jesus has been marked out for honor by being given the assignment to go and to die for sinners. He is being marked out for glory. And Now in verse 24, Jesus gives an illustration about a grain of wheat. Let me ask, If you knew nothing about farming, you didn't know anything about farming at all, what would you think if you saw someone take a kernel of wheat and put it in the ground and cover it up? You would say, you just wasted that.

You just wasted that. We could have at least had a little bread with it. If you knew nothing about farming and you saw this kernel, this single kernel, put in a hole and cover it up, you'd think, well that's that. But that's not that. The truth is exactly the opposite.

If you don't put it in the ground and cover it up, it remains alone. But if you do that, You get exponential gain. It looked like a waste. But it's really exponential gain. Not addition, not 9 plus 3 equals 12.

Not even multiplication, 9 times 3 equals 27. Woohoo! But exponential growth, which is multiplying the multiplication. So in wheat, it's one kernel equals a plant of wheat which is on average five heads, on average 22 kernels per head. Okay, so this is multiplying the multiplication.

That's exponential growth. So for those of you scoring at home, it's 1 into 110. 1 into 110. Explosive gain, explosive growth. You want all your investments to do that well.

One into a hundred and ten. That makes it so you don't have to choose between making bread and planting. There's plenty for bread and there's plenty for planting when you have exponential gain. It looks like one thing, it looks like taking a dead thing and just getting rid of it, covering it up, but The truth is exactly the opposite. Listen to Hebrews 2 verse 10.

Hebrews 2 verse 10. For it was fitting for Him, Him is God the Father, For it was fitting for God the Father for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. It was fitting for God to put that grain, that one grain of wheat into the ground and to cover it up while the world says, you fool, you fool, you've wasted it. But God knows there is exponential gain. God knows that the death of the one results in the exponential gain in the bringing of many sons to glory.

It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Now in verse 25, Jesus teaches us this principle is true for more than just His death. Yes, it is true that Jesus must die. If He doesn't die, He is alone. He alone is righteous.

He alone is fit for heaven. But if he dies, there is exponential gain. Many sons are brought to glory through his suffering. But in verse 25, he teaches that it is not just true of him, but it is true of those who will follow Him as well. Look at verse 25 again.

He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Verse 24 was about Jesus. Verse 25 is about you and me. If you love your life you'll lose it. If I love my life I'll lose it.

But if you hate your life in this world, you'll keep it for eternal life. The same is true for me. Friends, this is about our affections. This is about not what's happening with the words of your mouth, or the front that you put up, but what's happening behind the front in your heart. The interpretive key is the phrase, in this world.

What do you think of your life in this world? Turn to Luke chapter 12. I think the best commentary on what Jesus is saying is Jesus' commentary that Jesus has said in Luke chapter 12. He gives us another word picture. He tells a parable in Luke chapter 12 verses 16 through 21.

Follow along as I read this. Luke chapter 12, 16 through 21. Then he spoke a parable to them saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. So here we are back to farming and exponential gain. It worked.

This man planted and got exponential gain. The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself saying, What shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? That's how plentiful it was. Not enough room to store the exponential gain.

Verse 18, so he said, I will do this, I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry.

God said to him, Fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Here is a man who loved his life in this world. God gave him exponential gain and all he could think about was his ease for years to come.

He said to himself, soul, he spoke to his own soul, soul You have many things laid up for many years. Glorify God with it. No, that's not what he said. He said you have many things for many years. Eat, drink, and be merry.

He loved his life in this world and God was in none of his thoughts. He was rich towards himself and poor towards God. He didn't know that his life would be required of him that very night. And he lost everything. Everything this man did was lawful.

Planting crops was lawful. Building bigger barns was lawful, laying up was lawful, but he lost his life. He hoarded it for himself. He loved his life and he lost his life. This is just what Jesus is talking about in our text.

Believers in Christ in every age when push came to shove have shown themselves willing to give up everything. Will everything be required of you in this life? Here's the answer to that question. Are you ready? I'm going to answer the question.

Will everything, will you have to give up everything to follow Christ? No one knows. Many have followed Christ and push came to shove. And they had to decide, walk away from everything and keep Christ, or walk away from Christ because you love your life in this world. And the Christians, the ones whose hearts were really towards the Lord walked away from everything.

Many Christians have never been required to walk away from everything. You don't know whether it will be required of you. I don't know. But Christians in every age have been willing to when push came to shove. This much we know.

If you love your life in this world, you'll lose it. At the end of the day, when push comes to shove, if you have to choose and you are not willing to walk away from everything to have Christ, you will lose your life. You will be like this man in Luke chapter 12. Finally, let me talk about two of these Greek words here in verse 25. The word rendered lose.

He who loves his life will destroy it. When Christ is not first in your affections. You are killing yourself. You're destroying your life. The word rendered keep.

He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternity is most literally rendered guard. Again, all of the English translations that we like render it just like New King James, keep. But it's most literally guard. When you look at the New Testament usages of the word, It clicks and makes sense. When your life in this world is far from first in your affections, as if you would hate your life in this world, you're guarding your life for eternity.

If you love this life, you're killing it, you're destroying it. If you hate your life in this world, if it's far from first in your affections, you're guarding your life for eternity. Verse 26, our last verse. Jesus says, if anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also.

If anyone serves me, him my Father will honor. Here in this final verse we have the great marks and rewards of a Christian. If you are filling in blanks on the handout, if you are taking notes that way, it is marks and rewards. The great marks and rewards of a Christian. Jesus gives us the marks of a Christian.

How do you know if someone is a Christian? The marks are here. Jesus gives us the rewards of a Christian. How do we know what Christians will receive? Jesus tells us here.

This verse fleshes out what it means to cast off your life in this world and thereby keep it for eternity. It's hand in glove with the verse that came before it. Jesus just talked about hating your life in this world and so keeping it or guarding it for eternity. This fleshes that out. What does it mean to cast off your life in this world and thereby keep it for eternity?

The NASB or the New American Standard and the ESV translate this much more forcefully. New King James, our text, says, if anyone serves Me, let him follow Me. The NASB and the ESV render it more forcefully, if anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. They mean the same thing. In either translation, this is what Jesus is getting at.

If you serve him, you must follow him. You must follow him. It's true by definition, to serve Him is to follow Him. To follow Him is to serve Him. This is speaking of those who have turned their back on loving life in this world.

By definition that means they have done so to serve the Lord Jesus, to follow the Lord Jesus. They have turned away from love of life to serving Christ. They are the two things in view. If you have turned your back on loving life in this world, then you have turned to serving and following Christ. The opposite is also true.

If you have turned your back on serving and following Christ, you have turned towards loving your life in this world. They are being set forth as the two options. Friends, this puts a knife in the heart of false profession. Do you see that? This puts a knife in the heart of false profession.

There is a false Christianity. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 15 verse 8. Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29 and he says this, These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." So, praise from the mouth, Honor from the lips, but behind the face, in the heart, there's no affection. The heart is far away. The heart is loving life in this world.

The mouth says, I serve you. The mouth says, I'm following you. But the heart is serving other things. But it's behind the shield. So your neighbor can't see it.

Your family members can't see it. Your co-workers can't see it. Your co-members at church can't see it, your friends can't see it. God can see it. God not only hears the words of your mouth and the honor that's coming from your mouth, but sees beyond the shield into your heart and sees every affection of your heart.

And He knows it's far from Him. It's far from Him. That's far from him. Churches are filled with people who profess Christ, but they don't serve Christ. Churches are filled with people who talk, but don't actually follow.

They have a lip religion. They have a mouth religion. But they don't have a heart religion. And lip religion cannot save you. Heart religion saves you.

You might say, so if you serve and follow Jesus, you are saved, therefore you are saved by serving and following Jesus." How does that fit with salvation by grace alone through faith alone? It does not. Therefore that's not what Jesus is teaching. Jesus is not teaching that you are saved by serving Him and following Him. He's simply saying, My life tells the tale of the affections of my heart.

My life tells the story. The real story. Not my mouth tells the story. My life tells the story. How I spend my money, how I spend my time.

Who I have as my closest Relationships tells the story about the affections of my heart It isn't ultimately My words your words are supposed to match your heart, but when there's conflict believe the life Life and words are supposed to match up, but when they don't, believe the life. They are telling the real story of the affections of the heart. Jesus speaks of those whose lives demonstrate that they have the new hearts of being born again. That's what He is teaching here. He is saying you can see it when someone has been born again because they have new affections and you can tell because their life is different.

They serve Christ. They follow Christ. They have evidence that there is a heart of flesh in there where there used to be a heart of stone. The heart of stone loves life in this world. The heart of flesh world.

The heart of flesh loves Christ. Of those who have the evidence of being born again, He sets forth two great rewards. Christians, this should make you happy. Are you ready to be happy? Christians have this as their rewards.

Number one, where He is, they will be. Where Christ is, you will be. Turn to John 14. Flip two pages to John 14. Look at what Jesus says in John 14, 1-3.

He's teaching us something in our text that should quiet our hearts. Listen to John 14. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. Jesus is in heaven He has gone to prepare a mansion for you, if you belong to Him. That where He is, you may be also, not for a day or a week or a month or a year or a decade or a century or a millennium, but for all eternity to be with him. Listen to Paul, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8. Paul writes, We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Paul says we are confident and happy about something. That when our time is up in this world, when we are absent in the body, we will be present with the Lord. We are confident we will be present with Him. And we are happy that we will be present with Him. Paul in Philippians said, I just can't decide, fruitful labor or to die and just be with Christ.

It's better to die and be with Christ. This was Paul's perspective throughout his writings. I could go to Thessalonians too, But I'm not. 2 Corinthians 5 is just an example of Paul's theology, which is, it's best to be with Christ. Better to die.

Listen to John. So, we're in the Gospel of John, we're studying at the feet of John the Gospel writer. He also writes 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, those three letters, and he also writes Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Listen to the last verse, except one. There's one more verse after this.

The second to the last verse of the Bible. Where John the Gospel writer writes, He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming quickly. That's Jesus. Jesus is giving the testimony of revelation. Jesus says, surely I am coming quickly.

Here's what John says in response to Jesus saying he's coming quickly. Amen. Even so, Come Lord Jesus. When John hears the Lord Jesus. Remember, John is the disciple who Jesus loves.

When John hears Jesus saying, I'm coming quickly, John can't amen it quickly enough. And to say, even so, just as you said, come Lord Jesus. Friends, I submit to you, this is in the heart of every Christian. A desire to be face to face. Think of in your closest moments to Jesus, so just get that said in your mind, That's the framework for understanding this.

Your closest moments to Jesus. Your sweetest times of fellowship with Jesus. Now think that they're only a shadow of what it will be like face to face. It should set your heart burning to be face to face with Him. That's just a taste.

Your sweetest communion with Him is just a little taste. It's a shadow of the substance and the reality. Our hearts, The heart of a Christian burns to be face to face with the Lord Jesus. Where He is, we will be. Second reward.

They will be honored by God the Father. They will be where He is, they will be where Christ is, and they will be honored by God the Father. That's the last phrase of our text. If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him. Now think about what is about to happen in the Gospel of John.

What is that? The crucifixion. The suffering and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is that? Fundamentally, what is the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

It is Jesus getting what I deserve. It's Jesus being treated like a sinner in order to be a substitute for sinners. It is Jesus bearing the dishonor, the deserved dishonor of sinners. Now think, those who are joined to Christ will enjoy the honor of God. Jesus takes on the deserved dishonor of sinners and gives to them the honor of His Father.

This is astonishing. To deserve the treatment that we see in the sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but instead of that, not only to just have that wiped away, but instead of that to enjoy the honor that Jesus deserves is astonishing. This is the great exchange of the gospel. He gets what I deserve. You can watch Him being treated like you deserve to be treated.

To be treated and you getting what he deserves in his eternal, cheerful obedience and unbroken fellowship with his father, what he deserves you get. Applications, I'll give you three. Three applications. Number one, train yourself not to despise hardship. This is a different kind of kingdom.

In the kingdom of the world, winning begets winning. Love winners. In Christ's kingdom, often In Christ's kingdom, often the things that look like the greatest defeats are actually the victory that God has planned and purposed and brought to pass. So we have to train ourselves to not despise hardship because God has something in mind for those hardships. In Christ's Kingdom, the greatest victories come out of hardship.

You can't walk through life despising what God has in mind to glorify Himself and give you good. Number two. Don't expect the world to have a frame of reference for this. This is all foolishness to the world. It's sort of an implication of the first application.

Your family is going to say, why are you doing that? Why are you depriving yourself of that? Your friends, your coworkers are going to say, that's crazy. The Templeton's Friends and family are going to say, they are going to have family members somewhere at some time, and friends and neighbors and coworkers say, you've got it so good here, why go to Turkey? You don't know any of those people.

They're Muslims for crying out loud. That's not how Christ's kingdom works. They don't have a frame of reference for it. We have a frame of reference for it. Jesus died.

It looked like this dead thing is just getting put in the ground and covered up, and what a waste. No, not a waste. Not a waste for Jesus, not a waste for us, not a waste for the Templetons. You have to be willing to part with the world's sensibility over these things. They don't know what they're thinking.

They don't know what they're talking about. They don't know what they're asking for. We know. We know where the great gain is. Number three.

Never bribe people to put their faith in Jesus. Never bribe people to put their faith in Jesus. Never bribe people to put their faith in Jesus. Jesus never did that. Undoubtedly, the expectations of the disciples were riding high.

Triumphal entry, multitudes, Hosannas, blessings. It's happening! They had to be saying in their heart, it's happening! And we get the good spots. We know that from other places in the Gospels.

They were saying that. Who gets the best seat? Jesus says, I'm about to die. Jesus says, if you love your life in this world, you're going to lose it. If you hate your life in this world, only if you're willing to embrace discomfort and hardship in order to follow me, can you be saved?

That's the gospel that Jesus preached. People have no right to expect that when they throw themselves upon the mercies of God to be saved, that their lives are going to get better outwardly. They have no right to expect that. Now, they'll have peace with God that passes understanding. And they'll have joy that they never had before.

But their health might not be better. Their income might go down, not up. People might like them less, not more. You can sort of expect any and all of that. Because God is more interested in His glory and our growth than He is in our comfort and our having health and larger paychecks and more people praising us and liking us.

He's a whole lot more interested in His glory and our growth. Jesus always told, when He called them to follow Him, He always told them what to expect. He always leveled with them. He actually told them to count the cost. Not come for the goody bag, but count the cost.

God can do everything. God pours out abundance on some of His people. Some of his people he gives marvelous health till their last day. But you don't have the right to expect that. And that's not why you come to Christ.

You come to Christ to reconcile you with a holy God. Let's pray. God, thank you for your word. I pray that you would continue to help us in the extended teaching time that you would give men insight into this text. Help us.

Continue helping us. In Jesus' name, Amen.