John 12:20-24. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
I think that our Saviour looked upon these Greeks as a sort of vanguard of the great army of Gentiles who would come to him as the result of his death; but he fixed his eye upon the cause rather than the result, and so he began to talk about that death of his, and how it was that it would work such glorious results. If you want a corn of wheat to grow, you must put it into the ground; it must be resolved into its primary particles,-for that is what «to die» means,-and then it must spring up again with newness of life, or else it can never be multiplied. It was so with the Lord Jesus himself; it is still so with us, it is in proportion as we ourselves shall be prepared to die that we shall be prepared to give life to others.
John 12:25. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
To hoard your energies will be really to destroy them, like hoarded wheat which in the end becomes useless; but to give up your energies, to expend your life-forces, this is to sow the wheat, and this is the way to ensure the harvest.
John 12:26. If any man serve me, let him follow me;
Do not let him invent some new method of service: «Let him follow me.» If you would do Christ a service, it cannot be by will-worship, or by any way of your own devising: «If any man serve me, let him follow me.»
John 12:26. And where l am, there shall also my servant be:
«He shall be with me in tribulation; he shall be with me in humiliation; but he shall ultimately be with me in triumph and in glory.»
John 12:26. If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Those servants of Christ who follow at their Master's heel, and do his bidding at all times, are the true knights of the King who win the honours that God alone can give.
John 12:27. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Often, my brethren, should we be checked in prayer if we would be as wise as our Lord. «What shall I say? Shall I ask to be delivered from sickness? Shall I ask that I may not endure the troubles, which are the common lot of men? Shall I pray to be screened from persecution?» You see, I am rendering our Lord's question into our language, bringing it down from the lofty height of his divine thought to the level of our poor humanity. We must often pause before we pray, and say with our Lord, «For this cause came I unto this hour. Have I not been brought here on purpose to suffer? Have I not been led to this place that I may glorify God by submitting to all his will?» Therefore, sometimes let us check ourselves in prayer, lest we should ask what is not for our own good or for God's glory. The next word of the Saviour will give us liberty enough, for he went on to say,-
John 12:28. Father, glorify thy name.
When we are pleading about that glorious name of Jehovah, we may pray with vehemence and importunity: «Father, whatever I do or suffer, glorify thy name.»
John 12:28-29. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
Ah! they did not understand the voice of God, or the cause of the voice speaking to them. If the men of the world in our Saviour's day did not understand the Father's voice to the Only Begotten, do not expect that the men of the world today will understand the divine voice in your heart. They will reckon that you are in error, and that God has not spoken to you; it has only thundered. They will be ready to invent all kinds of stories of angels, and I know not what, so as to get rid of the voice of God to you. But you know it; if you are God's children, you know his voice, and you also know what he means when he speaks.
John 12:30-32. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
This is the sermon, which has the Greeks for a text. They are already coming, being drawn to Christ: but when he dies, when he is lifted up upon the cross, instead of losing his attractive power, he will have greater drawing force than ever: «I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.»
John 12:33-34. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him,
As they were always doing, capaciously answering; not answering to him with sentiments that responded to his, but replying against him with their caviling.
John 12:34-41. We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
It is an awful thing to resist the Spirit of God, for if his softening influences are withdrawn, the heart grows hard; if his enlightening influences are taken away, the eyes of the understanding are darkened. I do believe there are many who have so long trifled with conscience and violated the best instincts of their nature that they are given up as those who are past hope. I pray God that it may not be so with any here; but it was so with many in the generation amongst which Christ laboured.
John 12:42. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him;
Christ has his secret followers in the darkest days. There are men who believe in him even when the current of infidelity runs most strongly.
John 12:42-43. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
For which they deserved great censure. Yet some of them cast away their cowardice at the last, for Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus were among those who confessed their love to the crucified Christ.
John 12:44-49. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
Christ did not pride himself upon being a great original thinker. He took his word from his Father's mouth; and the preacher of the gospel is to be no inventor of new thoughts. The «thoughtful» man of whom we hear so much is just a man who is rebellious against God. The Lord's true servant is to repeat God's thoughts, not his own, to borrow from the Scriptures, to borrow from the teaching of the Holy Ghost, even as the Lord Jesus Christ did.
John 12:50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
If the great Head of the Church was thus only a messenger, the deliverer of a message from the Father, should not we, who at our best are such poor ministers of Christ, take heed to it that we also can say, «Even as the Father said unto me, so I speak»? God grant it! Amen.