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Father, I pray as we do that today that you will work in us with your spirit and till the soil of our hearts. Lord, that would be hearers and doers of your word and not hearers alone. Father, I pray that you'll hide us in the distractions of the world around us as we come to worship you now and to hear from you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Well, I want to be the first to say it, even though where we are it's 5 hours and 20 minutes early. Happy New Year's, everyone.
For those who were here with me before, everything began and I was troubleshooting the soundboard and sound equipment trying to get it working. One of those knobs I turned was the wrong knob. And so I want to sound like a shout out everyone today forgive me because when the music came on, it put 1500 watts of speaker through my little office and recording room and about giving me a heart attack. So I apologize. I got it promptly fixed.
So today we're going to continue our journey through the book of John, where it's been a couple weeks since we've been here. I wanted to remind everyone that last time we were in John, two weeks ago, that Jesus had come and he had raised Lazarus out of the grave. His last great miracle before his resurrection itself. And the result of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave was that they decided officially from this point forward, to seek him out and to arrest him and to kill him.
That was the last big occurrence where Jesus was out and around other people. He will, through the rest of the book of John until he is arrested and tried, mainly be with his disciples. He will go away and he will be off on his own, on his own with the disciples. It is also from this point forward, we are in the week of his crucification. So from chapter twelve until he's arrested and crucified, it's all on the same week.
And in a few chapters, we'll be within the same day of his crucifixion. I'll let you know when we get there. So with all of that caught up and just refreshed in our minds, let's begin by reading John, chapter twelve, verses one through eight. It says, six days before the passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was the one Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there.
Martha was serving them. And Lazarus was not one of those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus'feet and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was about to betray him, said, why hasn't this perfume sold for 300 dinari and given to the poor?
He didn't say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money bag and would steal part of what was put in it. Jesus answered, leave her alone. She has kept it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
All right, let's break this down. So six days before the Passover. This is the Passover week. Crucifixion week, or as we like to call it today, Easter week. The week leading up, typically John, chapter twelve, later on.
Here in the chapter anyways, is used on the Sunday before Easter as a message for Palm Sunday. Because Jesus will ride in on the donkey in this chapter. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. There he goes to Bethany, where Lazarus had been, and there he has a dinner.
And at this dinner, everyone is reclining with him. They're chilling, they're talking, doing whatever they're doing. They're all content, except for one person, Mary, while the others are content just to be with Jesus. Mary has this humility about her, this servant's heart, where she not only serves Jesus, but she gives everything that she has to him. She fully surrenders.
It says that she took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard. It's about 300 denari. So people have converted 300 denari into the usd, and that's about $60.
It's the equivalent of $60. However, we can't think of it as $60 today, while 300 denari converted as $60. You have to look at it with inflation for the wages that were paid back then and the wages paid today. Back then, 300 denari took the average worker 300 days of labor to earn 300 days, or roughly ten months. So to put that in perspective, ten months of your labor, what is that worth?
For the average middle class american, that's roughly $20 to $24,000. So if we were to make an equivalent of this perfume that Mary had poured out at the feet of Jesus and the sacrifice that it really was to her, if we were to make that equivalent to us, that's a sacrifice of about $24,000.
Have you ever thought about that sacrifice when you just read it and be like, okay, expensive perfume, it's poured out? We think expensive perfume is fairly replaceable. We really do. And so when we read the story, it's very difficult for us to grasp the significance of what Martha had done. Perfumes, even the most expensive perfumes that we buy, we can go and replace.
If we dropped it and broke it, spilt it out. So there is significance here. And like I said, to truly understand it, think about working for a year and then taking all of that money and giving it to Jesus, keeping none of it. There's a sacrifice here to be made. There is a reason the story is told, because Mary literally gave her all to Jesus.
She became fully submissive to him, fully sacrificial. But it's more than that. It's more. Look what she does. She not only pours it and anoints his feet, but she wipes his feet with her hair.
The reason there's significance in this is God loves a cheerful giver. Paul stresses that here in the New Testament, God wants us to give out of our heart. He wants a believer to give to him. Not because they're afraid of brimstone and hellfire. Not because they're afraid of excommunication from their church.
Or because if they don't give, they won't be blessed. But because they love him and want to give to him. And the expression that we see with Mary in verse three, pouring out a year's worth of her wages, using her hair to anoint his feet with it. The emotion, this is a gift that is from within her heart. This is a gift where she is cheerful about it.
She wants to do it. She is fully committed, mind, body and soul, into the gift that she is providing for Jesus. And the house fills with the fragrance of the perfume.
Now, a person here named Judas Iscariot, everybody's favorite disciple, right?
Judas here, he gets upset, and look what he does. He says, why didn't you sell this perfume? It's worth 300 danari, right? Let's modernize it. It's worth $24,000.
Why did you waste it? Think of how many people that could have helped. $24,000 could help a lot of people. But is Judas really concerned about the poor?
No, he's a thief. Right? Judas sells Jesus out for just a little bit of silver to go off and be crucified. Because Judas wants the money. He's greedy.
And there's something about that that Jesus, he touches on. Look at verse eight. He says, you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
There's an extent to which I struggled at this verse. When I first came across it, when I first got saved, became a Christian and read this. Even though I know the reason Judas said it was because he wanted to steal the money for himself. Even though I knew that there was a degree to which I could agree with what Judas said and struggled with what Jesus said, you always have the poor, but you won't always have me here. And when I first read it, I was like, well, you teach us to give it all to the poor, right?
And it took me a little bit of digging to get down to the meaning of it, because it's deeper than that. It's deeper than that. The best friends of the poor people tend to be the best friends of Jesus. Think about that. Those who are the most willing to give everything for the cause of God, to sacrifice everything, their life, their well being for the cause of God, to follow him wholeheartedly, those are the ones most apt to give to the poor.
The person unwilling to open up their purse to God is not likely to open up their purse to the poor man. It's not in them.
And Jesus is hinting at that to Judas here, you always have the poor with you, but you don't always have me. He's telling Judas, Judas, if you're not willing to open up to me, you're hardly willing to open up to the poor.
I have a quote here from someone else that says about the same thing that I'm saying. But he says it in a different way. He says, the poor always have you with but me. You do not always have but those who reckon at waste. This is how this other pastor put it.
Those who reckon at waste to pour out wealth for the cause of Jesus. Will not likely break their treasure boxes on behalf of the poor.
If you find it wasteful to give to Jesus, you probably find it wasteful to give to the poor. And that is what Jesus is getting at here in verse eight. To Judas, Judas, would you know, we know after the fact that Judas wanted it because he was a thief. The disciples, at the moment of this happening, remember this wasn't written for 20 to 30 years after the event. So in the moment when this happened, the disciples didn't know that Judas wanted it for the money that was added in 25 years when it was written, that was put there for our information.
So we need to read Jesus's response in the context of what everyone else knew. And everyone else knew that Judas wanted to give it to the poor at the time. And Jesus knew his heart. Jesus knew his heart that not just that he wanted to steal. But if you considered it waste to pour out wealth for Jesus, you will not break your treasure box on behalf of the poor.
Let's continue with verses nine through eleven. My heart, I still feel it. Boom boom, boom, boom. From when the speaker blasted me. Verses nine through eleven.
Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus. So at this point in time, Lazarus is gaining both popularity. Well, he's getting attention of every kind.
There's an old saying that any publicity is good publicity. That's not always true. The publicity of Lazarus here, a man raised from the grave unequivocally, no question about it. He had been dead for three days, stinking and rotting and bloated up and everything. And he came back at the command of Jesus.
People want to go see him, but look what happens. The chief priest, the same people, the Pharisees, the sadducees, the members of the Sanhedrin that want to kill Jesus. They also plot to kill Lazarus. Because the miracle caused people to believe in Jesus.
Think about that. A miracle. A miracle that is so evidently of God. Who has the power to raise the dead, except God. So evidently a blessing from heaven.
That the only response that you should have is praise God. And fear and tremble at the sight of that miracle. But instead, because it causes people to believe in God, they plot to kill them. They plot to kill Lazarus with Jesus.
Verses twelve through 19 says the next day, when the large crowd that had came to the festival. Heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written.
Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him. And that they had done these things to him.
Meanwhile, the crowd which had been with him. When he called Lazarus out of the tomb. And raised him from the dead. Continued to testify. This is also why the crowd met him.
Because they heard he had done the sign. Then the Pharisees said, one to another, you see? You accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.
All right? The biggest thing to notice here, it just blows my mind away. This is the week that Jesus is crucified at this point. Because this is now the next day. So in this chapter, we've spanned two days at this point.
This is five days away from the crucifixion of Christ.
Five days. Keep that in mind when you read this. Look what the people are saying. Five days away from the crucifixion. They take palm branches, and they go out to meet him now at the palm branches.
Keep in mind he's riding on a donkey down the trail. And they have palm branches. And you've seen in television how they wave palm branches over royalty. That's what they're doing are they're waving the palm branches over Jesus. And they are shouting, Hosanna.
Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The king of Israel.
The reason this stands out to me and is so significant is actually not the fact that it was prophesied in the Old Testament, the fact that it was prophesied and happens, is of interest to me, because I have an interest in looking at all the prophecies and seeing which ones are fulfilled and which ones we've yet to see doing with end time. I have a huge interest in that. But what's fascinating is these are the same people who five days later shout, crucify him. Crucify him.
In a period of five days, these people go from shouting Hosanna to crucify him.
It is one of the reasons that I don't judge in a day or two whether a profession of Christ is a profession of Christ. Because you can go from today shouting Hosanna to five days from now seeking to kill him.
His disciples are there.
They have no idea what's going on.
In fact, his disciples have urged him to stay away from crowds. They seek to kill you, and you're going to go, and they've got no idea what's going on. This is a change of tune for a minute. Everyone's praising him and worshipping him. They remember the spirit that helps them help, that cause them to write these gospels.
The spirit of God that told them what to write and helped them to remember all things, also showed them the prophecies in the Old Testament and how they came true. And that's why it says that they remembered after he was glorified. They remember these things written about him as a result of all of this. In verse 17, it says, many are believing in him. They're testifying, and as a result of this, the Pharisees, they actually begin to turn on each other.
They turn and they say, one to another, look, you've accomplished nothing.
You're at fault. No, you're at fault. They're losing their power, and they're not even unified in getting rid of Christ right now. Instead, they're attacking each other. They're like, you're at fault.
You didn't do enough to stop him. And they accused the world of going after him. If only it were true. If only the world really did go after him.
But it's with great purpose that the world did not. Could you imagine if the world actually went after Jesus back then and did not crucify him? There'd be no atonement. So it's with great reason that they didn't. In fact, Jesus God hardened a lot of people's hearts.
And we know even through today, it says that he hardened the hearts of the Jews for the sake of the Gentiles so that we could be saved.
In verses 20 through 24, we read that. Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. So they came to see Philip, who was from the Sadia in Galilee and requested of him, sir, we want to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
And Jesus replied to them, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. If it dies, it produces much fruit.
We can't stop here. I know I have it broken up, but let's go through 26. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me where I am. There my servant also will be.
If anyone serves me, the father will honor him.
So at this point, the Greeks, the Gentiles, are taking interest in Christ. The Gentiles are desiring to see him. They've heard about him and they come and they say, we want to see Jesus. And they go and tell Jesus. And he says the following.
He says, the hour has come.
The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Throughout the gospel of John, up until this is the first time we see this. Throughout the gospel of John, we have seen Jesus say, my hour has not yet come. My time has not yet come. The time is not yet right.
And Jesus now signifies that the time of his death has come. He says the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. How is he going to be glorified? Well, he's glorified in his death, burial and resurrection. That he reconciles all men and that he reconciles men unto himself, and that we worship God as a result.
And he was glorified in that, is glorified today in that, and will continue to be glorified in that as more people are saved and into the eternity as we live with him and glorify him. And he predicts the way that he dies. Here.
He first says this, though I tell you this, that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. Just think about that for a moment. A grain of wheat, right? He's talking about the seeds.
A seed that never dies and falls to the ground. Will it ever produce offspring?
No. If you go and cut the seeds off and put them on a tray and never let them fall into the soil, never cultivate them. They remain by themselves. They're dead, essentially, but they never died.
In order for a seed to produce fruit to reproduce, it must fall to the ground and die. And die. In this sense here is to completely yield all that it is to the ground. The seed completely yields itself and allows the ground to transform it into something new. And that new thing, whether it be wheat or corn or tomatoes, peaches, apples, that new thing is a plant that produces much fruit.
The mission of Jesus was not to come here and live. It was not to come here to be your companions. The mission of Jesus was to come here and to die. Right. Now, there's twofold here.
It says that the seed must fall to the ground and die. Two components. Jesus fell to the ground when he emptied himself of the former glory that he had in heaven and came to earth in the likeness of man.
But now jesus must die. If jesus does not die, he will truly remain by himself. Truly. Because if jesus did not die, God's chief creation that he sought so much to save would perish. None of them could be saved.
But through the death of Jesus, he yielded so much fruit. Through that fruit, every name who would confess the name of Jesus would be saved and would be with him eternally.
But there's even more to that. To this, he's foretelling of his death.
But how about what he's saying to us? I have from another pastor here, he says this. If the seed refuses to die, the quickening power refuses to act. The Holy Spirit, which is our quickener, can only work in the newness of life, where there is death, this new divine life begotten out of the death of the self. Life is the life that glorifies God in bearing much fruit.
He that soweth to the flesh shall reap out of the flesh as out of the poisoned soil reaps corruption. When I read that paragraph the first time, preparing for tonight, that actually hit me, right. I know so many people who go through life through the motion, sinning, doing the same things over and over. They believe in God, but their life never changes. And they even would say, I pray, I read, I ask God to take it from me, to help me to get me through this.
And yet, day after day and week and month and year, it remains the same. And the reason is, while they may have fallen to the ground, they have refused to die. They refuse to die. The Holy Spirit cannot work inside of the flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot force us to become a new being, a new life.
Right. God can't do that. He could, but he doesn't. He gives us the choice. So the Holy Spirit is only effective inside of us if we die to ourself, if we die to sin, to our old nature, and if we allow him to quicken us, to bring us back into a new life that is fruit producing.
But so as long as we are even holding on to our old selves, we have not died. If we grasp at what should be our old life at all, as if we are holding on to it and are unwilling to let it go, the Holy Spirit cannot produce inside of us the fruits of the spirit, like the seed who dies and yields itself entirely to the ground, like Christ who died and yielded himself entirely to the cross, fully surrendered, let go of his life altogether, even in the face of the mockery. Well, if you are the son of God, or if you are God, you can get yourself off the cross. That's what they said to him, and he yielded himself entirely to that death. If we do not do the same, then we are still living in the self life.
We must, as the seed, die before we can produce fruit.
Jesus then says, the one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Again, those who are grasping at this life will lose it. Those who are grasping to keep their sin, their lust, their desires, this life, they will lose their life. They will die a mortal death, and they will die a spiritual death. But those who hate their life in this world, who hate the sin, the corruption, the greed, the way they feel when they are beholden to sin, who hates it and just wants to let it all go, they will actually find their life, and they will keep it through the eternities, though they will die that physical death, they will keep their spiritual life.
They will be resurrected unto eternal life. Jesus then says, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. In order to serve Jesus, we must follow Jesus. We must follow in his footsteps and his path and his ways. If Jesus is doing x and we're off doing y, we cannot serve him.
We must follow after him. But we must think of what serving Jesus really means.
He says, if anyone serves me, he says, where I am, my servant will be. And if anyone serves me, the father will honor him. What did jesus do when he came to this earth? Did he come here to be worshipped, to be praised, to be served, to be beholden to hand and foot? No, jesus had zero servants in this time here.
He had no one waiting on him hand and foot. It's even said that he didn't have a bed to lay his head on. Jesus came here to serve people. And serve people he did. He healed people.
He served people. He helped them serve the needy, the widows, the poor. And he says, where I am, my servant will be. So. If we are servants of Jesus, and we are where Jesus is, we will be found with the poor, the widows, the needy, the sick, we will be found serving them.
We won't be found being served. We will be found serving them. And it is that reason that Jesus says that he will say to some, when you saw me, you never fed me or gave me water or clothed me. And then they say, well, when did we see you and do that? And he says, when you feed the poor, the hungry, when you clothe them, when you assist them, whatever you do to the least of them, you do to Jesus.
So if we are to be found where Jesus is, we are to be found serving other people from the same other pastor. He says, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Right? Christ says that in Matthew 1624. Let him deny himself to go after a self denying Christ.
Remember, Jesus denied himself in every way. Denied himself of his glory, of his angelic hosts that did serve him, his throne of everything. To come here. So to go after a self denying Christ is impossible without the denial of ourselves.
We must deny our own thoughts, our own will, our own power and interest. Anything that would hinder the will of God, his power and interest from being accomplished in us or by us, must be denied by us. We must let it go entirely as we enter into this new year.
I hate New Year's resolutions. I hate them for two reasons. One, how many of us actually make it more than two weeks, if that, while maintaining whatever resolution we made? It's rare. I often fail day one.
But day two, I hate New Year's resolutions, is a resolution, in our oldness of life, is no resolution at all.
But as we enter this new year, a time of the year where people tend to sit down and look to better their lives, look to right wrongs, look to do what they couldn't do in the year or years past, it's a time where we reflect and do this. Let me offer a different thing for you to consider today.
How about following Christ? Right? This year, for many people, has been filled with hurt, with despair, anxiety, hopelessness, helplessness, lostness, depression.
And not just this year, but the year prior and the year before that. And for some people, even many years before that, ongoing.
You might even be one of those people right now listening to me tonight, why don't we enter next year with a newness of life?
It like the seed, he says the seed must fall to the ground and die to produce much fruit today. How great would it be if you could put behind you that hopelessness and despair and trade it for peace, reconciliation, for hope, for help, for the love of God, and not have to worry about the weary world that it is in which we live.
It requires that you die to yourself, to recognize that the life you live is sinful, to recognize that you do not live in a way that's pleasing to God, that we are self serving, self centered, and a willingness to let it go. And despite the hopelessness that we have to believe that Jesus Christ really is God, really did come here, did die, and really did raise again.
That belief is the entire foundation and basis of not just our salvation, but the hope that's actually in us. Is that right there? That because he died for me and rose again, that the hopeless and hopeless state I'm in can disappear because it's no longer me but Christ. And to confess him as your lord and God, right? Not just your savior, but your king, to fully deny yourself, your thoughts, will, power and interest, anything that would hinder you from God.
And he says he would save you. He says he would give you life. He says that tonight. He says if anyone hates their life in this world, will keep their life for eternity.
If you're ready to do that, as we go to our closing prayer here, I offer you if you can admit those things, believe those things and confess Jesus, let's verbalize it to him tonight together.
Let's end this year and this day as the sinners we were, and enter in tomorrow as God's saints, his beloved, those whom he died to rescue and redeem.
After you do that, please let us know A, so that we can glorify God and celebrate with you. And b, because Jesus says, if you confess me before your fellow men, I will confess you before the father.
Immediately after closing prayer, we'll partake of the Lord's communion.
And then we will meet again Wednesday at 630 for our Bible study in revelation. As we end and go to our closing prayer tonight, I want to wish everyone once again a very happy new year. This was a wonderful year to have you all with me, to have you fellowship with me and with Christ together. Let's pray. Father, I admit that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself, that my ways are not your ways.
And I believe, Lord Jesus Christ, that you are God in the flesh. That you literally came into the world you created, lived perfectly. I believe that you went to the cross on my behalf as my substitute to trade my life of sin for your life of righteousness. That I may be the righteousness of God in you. And I confess you, Lord Jesus, as my God and my king and my savior.
And Lord, I am ready to deny myself and to come to you as a dead being. That you may produce in me life that is fruitful, that I may glorify you. Father, I pray that anyone right now who is struggling, Lord, would you let them hear you tonight and come to you that tomorrow as we wake up and start a new day and a new year, Lord, that you would be glorified as people are received into your kingdom. We thank you and love you. In Jesus'holy name we pray.
Amen. Amen.
Okay, I will be right back. I just gotta go grab my communion.