WWUTT 921 Some Greeks Seek Jesus?

Jesus came to die for the sins of not just Jews but Gentiles, from people all over the world who would turn from sin and believe in Him, and so be saved when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 12.

Last week we finished up the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and we'll pick up the section today that goes from verses 20 through 26.

The Apostle John wrote, Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some

Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and they asked him,

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew, Andrew and Philip went and told

Jesus, and Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the

Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of weed falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. So coming back again to verse 20, where it says,

Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. Now this is not going to be the same day as the triumphal entry.

That was the section that we looked at, verses 12 through 19, where Jesus comes into Jerusalem to shouts of,

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, in the fulfillment of what the prophets had written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

And this coming Sunday, we remember that event with what is referred to as Palm Sunday.

That is what's on your calendar. That's what's celebrated in the majority of churches in the world on April 14th of this year.

It is remembering that day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem, setting up the events that would ultimately culminate with his crucifixion on Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, a week after his triumphal entry.

So this section we're looking at today, verses 20 through 26, this would have been maybe the day after, maybe a couple of days after the triumphal entry.

It wouldn't have been the same day because the kind of the feast, everything that's going on for Passover seems to be well underway.

And there are some who come to the feast who were Greeks. Now, this is a word that's also synonymous with Gentiles.

So it's not like they were Greco -Roman, but they specifically were non -Jews. And they would not have been from Samaria or from Galilee or from Judea, but from the outskirts, maybe some

Greek town where there was a synagogue. And it was through the teaching of the law of God there in the synagogue that these

Greeks would have heard about Passover. And they came to fear God through the teaching of his law.

And because of everything that was laid down in Deuteronomy regarding how the Passover was to be kept, these

Greeks inquired of the Jews as to how they should worship. And they were told to go to Jerusalem at the time of the

Passover. So that's what they're doing here. Now, when they sat in the synagogue and they heard these things taught, they would have had to take the lesser seats because the seats nearest to the teacher or the most important seats in the synagogue, they would have been occupied by the

Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Jews. So the Greeks, or in this case, the

Gentiles, would have sat more toward the back or away from the teacher. They had the lesser seats in the synagogue.

And how much more does this speak of these men who would have taken seats of shame just to hear the word of God proclaimed and obedient to God, fearing of God and obedient to his law and his commandments?

They come here to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. And they have also heard about this

Christ, this Jesus, who is called the Christ, who people are starting to talk about as being the

Messiah, which these Greeks would have heard about in the law of Moses. Also, remember, Deuteronomy 18, where Moses said, there is one who is going to come who is like me and you are going to listen to him.

So even through the law of Moses, they had heard about this coming Messiah, this promised prophet who is even greater than Moses.

And some are starting to whisper that Jesus is that man. And these Greeks had heard about Jesus raising

Lazarus from the dead. They had probably heard from heard about some of the other miracles as well.

And they would possibly have been just arriving in Jerusalem at the time of the triumphal entry.

So perhaps they had seen the commotion surrounding him and were wondering, well, who is this guy? So having heard these things about Jesus, either the day after or a couple of days after the triumphal entry, they come to Philip.

It says in verse 21, these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee.

Now, that's interesting that John would include that. It's possible that John was just mentioning something about Philip that maybe we didn't previously know.

But another possibility is that Philip grew up in a town that was close to where Jesus grew up.

It was known that Jesus was from Nazareth. When you read about the triumphal entry in Matthew 21, specifically, there were people that were saying, hey, what's all the commotion about this guy?

And the people who were with Jesus singing his praises said, this is the prophet

Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. So as people were inquiring about the commotion, they were calling him the prophet of Nazareth.

So if these Greeks were coming into Jerusalem at the time of the triumphal entry, they would have heard that said about Jesus.

And so they inquired of Philip, who grew up in a town near to Nazareth, which was Bethsaida.

We want to talk to the disciple that we think would be closest to Jesus.

That really may have been the mentality of the Greeks in coming to Philip specifically.

And for John to say that Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee, Philip grew up. He is from a town that was close to Jesus.

Maybe he's the closest disciple. So you have the Greeks coming to him and saying, we want to see

Jesus. Now, look at the way they address him. It says, sir, which is a title of respect.

However, that's translated to us from Greek. We know that, sir, in English is a respectful title.

So they're speaking to him respectfully. They're eager. They really desire to want to meet

Jesus. So they come to Philip and say, sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Now, here's something interesting to consider. Whenever you come to your Bible to meet with Jesus, to hear the word of Christ spoken to you, you actually come to Christ the same way that these

Greeks wanted to hear from Christ. You are hearing from Christ's apostles.

The New Testament that we have was written down by the apostles of Jesus. It's the teaching of the apostles.

That's what we have here in the books of the New Testament. So we actually come to hear the word of Christ the same way through those who were closest to Jesus.

In Second Peter, chapter one, Peter says that we didn't invent for you clever myths, but we were eyewitnesses to his majesty.

And John begins his first epistle the same way. First John chapter one, that he is speaking as one who was with him from the beginning.

We have heard. We have seen with our eyes. We have touched it with our hands. These things concerning the word of life.

So we come to our savior just like that, hearing from those who were closest to him.

And the Greeks, likewise, they want to meet Jesus. And so they go to Philip, who they think to be the closest apostle to Jesus and saying that we want to meet him, sir.

We wish to see Jesus. And Philip went and told Andrew and Andrew and Philip went and told

Jesus who had said in Matthew 18, 19. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven.

And so here you have, like the testimony of two witnesses who are coming and inquiring of God and that these

Greeks may have the thing that they are asking for. They are asking as God fearers to meet the son of God and to who agree on their behalf, who who recognize that these

Greeks are genuine in their request and their desire. So therefore, they ask of Jesus appealing for them.

And Jesus will give to them that which they have asked for. Now, it doesn't it doesn't say that exactly in the text.

It doesn't say now Jesus then turned around and went and talked to the Greeks. But that's implied. That's what we come to understand, because as they come and they deliver this message to Jesus, verse 23,

Jesus answered them. The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified.

Now, Jesus is actually speaking of fulfilling that which he had said to Nicodemus back in John chapter three.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life, not just from the

Jews, but also from the Gentiles. So Jesus is speaking here, fulfilling that thing, which just a couple of years ago he had said to Nicodemus, the son of man must be lifted up, fulfilling that which was depicted by the bronze serpent on the post in that story in the book of Numbers, where the people were grumbling against God.

He sent serpents into the camp when a person was bit was bit by the serpent. They would be poisoned and they would die when they cried out to God for relief.

God told Moses to raise up a bronze serpent on a post so that anyone who looked at this bronze serpent, if they were bit by a snake, they would look at the serpent on this up on this post and they would be healed and they would live.

And so anyone who looks upon Christ who will be lifted up on the cross, they will be healed.

They will be forgiven their sins and their transgressions, and they will live forever in the mercy and grace of God.

Whoever believes in him will have eternal life. And then we have

John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, not just Jews, but Jews and Gentiles that he gave his only son, that whoever from among Jews and Gentiles believes in him should not perish, but will have everlasting, eternal life.

And so Jesus is saying here that time has now come when the son of man will be lifted up and whoever among Jews and Greeks will look upon him will live now that these

Greeks are coming and inquiring of the disciples to see Jesus. Jesus is saying by the providence of my father in heaven, all of these things are coming together, leading up to the humiliation of Christ, his crucifixion, which was going to happen on Friday, his arrest late

Thursday night, early Friday morning, his trial, his crucifixion, all of this was coming to effect.

And Jesus knows this because of the Greeks that have come to inquire of Jesus. So now he knows the son of man must be lifted up so that all who in the world who would believe in him will therefore be saved and have eternal life.

Jesus says the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly,

I say to you now, remember, same words that Jesus used with Nicodemus when he was speaking with him.

Truly, truly, I say to you, and from the Greek, it's translated from the word

Amen. Amen. Just the same way as we conclude a prayer with Amen, which means so be it.

It means to be in agreement with everything that has been prayed. This is the way that Jesus begins his answers because he is in agreement with everything that he is about to say.

He is speaking with authority. These words that he is about to say are the very words of God himself.

Of course, we know that because Jesus is God incarnate. We know that because we've read the word of God more fully confirmed.

But Jesus is speaking with this authority to his disciples so that they may know and believe.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

Now look specifically at the language, the way that it's used there. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

A grain of wheat was the most valuable of seeds. There was not a crop more versatile, more valuable than wheat.

And so when you have a seed from the most valuable crop and Jesus is the seed of Abraham, he is the offspring that was promised the

Messiah who is to come. So referring to himself by a seed means that he is the fulfillment of the seed of promise from the

Old Testament. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it doesn't merely fall to the earth and dies, but into the earth, into the soil, just as Jesus is going to die and be buried in the earth.

And unless that grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. So you have a grain of wheat falls on the top of the ground, not into the earth, but just on top and it just remains alone.

Nothing happens to it. Nothing fruitful ever comes from that grain of wheat if it just falls to the ground and dies.

But if it falls into the ground and dies, it bears much fruit.

It turns into a harvest. That one single grain of wheat falls into the ground and will grow up into a stalk that produces many, many more seeds.

So not just one more seed, not one seed producing one seed, but one seed producing many seed. It becomes fruitful.

Whoever loves his life, Jesus goes on to say, loses it. In other words, whoever loves his life in this world, whoever loves the things of this world, whoever would not want to lose their life for the sake of Christ, but rather keep their life and heap up things for themselves and live for themselves.

Well, they're going to find out they're going to lose themselves. There is nothing to gain living for yourself except death.

That is the fruit of unrighteousness. That is the wages of sin. It is death. James chapter four, verse one.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you?

You desire and do not have. So you murder. You covet and cannot obtain.

So you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

You adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

If you're a friend of the world, if you desire the things of the world, if you are chasing after the passions of your flesh and the desires of the body and the mind, you are therefore a friend of the world and at enmity with God, you are still separated from God.

You are an enemy of God. James goes on. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell within us?

But God gives more grace. Therefore, it says God opposes the proud.

But he gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the

Lord and he will exalt you. You have these Greeks that have humbled themselves and they have come to the disciples speaking very respectfully to them that they desire to see

Jesus. And Jesus says to his disciples, whoever loves his life is going to lose it.

But whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

In other words, when someone loves God more than their own life, they will receive eternal life.

If anyone serves me, Jesus says, verse 26, he must follow me.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Jesus will say to his disciples later on in John 14, 15, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments.

And he says, and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him.

And he's going to expound on this even more in the Lord's Supper, which we have coming up in just a couple of chapters from now.

May we also desire to draw close to our Passover lamb, he who had sacrificed himself for our sins, that we may also die to ourselves and live fully unto

Christ. The instruction that's been given to us in Romans 12, one and two. Therefore, in view of God's mercies, the mercies that have been shown through his son, that though what we deserved was death, he gave his son to die for us.

That all who believe in him may live by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, your whole body, heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Everything that you are, this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God revealed to us through the scriptures, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt

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