An Invitation to Die — Carter Conlon

The Call to Receive God’s Presence

John, chapter 12, please, in the New Testament, thanks again for your prayers. This message is called, An Invitation to Die. Now, it's not as morbid as it sounds, an invitation to die. Father, I thank you, Lord, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, without you, there would be no church, there would be no hope, there would be no future, and we'd have no strength. I thank you, Lord, that we're not relegated to just stories about you, but you actually do walk with us.

Moses himself said, Lord, it's only your presence among us that makes the difference. We're not willing to settle for stories. Lord, we want your presence. Jesus, help me to speak this. Help us to understand it.

Help us to know this is life. This is not death, it's life. God Almighty, give our feeble hearts the ability to embrace these truths. I thank you for this, with all my heart, in Jesus' name. Now, you remember in Acts, chapter 27, when Paul was on a ship that was on a journey and it got caught in a storm, the ship was breaking apart, the sailors and soldiers were doing everything in their power to undergird that ship, they tied ropes around it, they would do everything possible to keep it afloat.

And at a certain point, they began to realize that this thing is going down, and that's where the Word of God, through the Apostle Paul, came to the deck of that ship. And Paul told all 276 people that were on that ship, take some meat now, you're going to need some meat to get through this storm.

And that's what this message is about this morning, it's meat. Meat gives strength. Meat causes you to grow. Meat gives you a certain endurance that milk won't. Milk is good for children, but when you get to full age, you'll need meat, you'll need solid food.

And that's what this is today, and you'd be wise to take a moment just to bow your heart before the Lord and say, God, give me the grace to be able to hear this. An invitation to die, John chapter 12, verse 23.

Christ’s Invitation to Die and Live

And Jesus answered them saying, the hour has 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 abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be.

If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. 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, Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

Now Jesus is speaking about his death. He's speaking about it very, very plainly. And he's really issuing an invitation to those that were close to him, or at least professed to be close, because we know there was one in that crowd that really was an imposter.

But he was giving an invitation to follow him into his death, that his life might also be manifested in them. Remember the scripture says in the New Testament, it's a faithful saying, in a sense, if we die, if we be dead with him, we shall live with him.

But what do these things mean? How do we understand these things? What does it mean to have a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die? I mean, I see it theoretically, but how do I understand it? How do I bring it home so that my natural mind can lay hold of it?

The Parable of the Four Soils

Now let me just share with you a little bit from a parable in Matthew chapter 13. It's the parable of the sower and the seed. Now Jesus was speaking about himself, taking seed, which is the promise of life that God gives through Jesus Christ, abundant life on the earth, eternal life in heaven, a full life.

And that seed was sown and landed on four different types of soil. Now the first type is a person who will hear what I'm about to speak to you today. For example, they'll consider it just for a moment and just go, nah.

He likened it to the wicked one comes and just snatches it away. Satan himself saying, no, this is not the Christian life. This is not for you. You don't have to endure this. This is for somebody else, another time, maybe a form, an edge of the gospel, but really it doesn't apply to you today.

And he snatches that seed away and it's gone. Second type is a person who says, yeah, this is right and receives it in a sense with joy, but has no root. It doesn't really go down deep. It just finds like a more or less a superficial place in the mind to abide.

And there's an agreement with scripture. This is right. This is true. Thank God. This is me. And I understand what it says, but there's no root. And when trouble and persecution arise, that type of a person is easily turned away.

I didn't bargain for this in the Christian life. You see, I have a reputation that needs to be maintained. I have an agenda that needs to be fulfilled. I have a destiny that I need to reach forward to.

And I didn't anticipate that embracing this kind of a word was going to put these three things in my life into jeopardy. And so that seed finds no good ground in that type of a heart. Third type of a person receives the seed and really does, I think in measure, want to embrace this kind of a truth that Jesus speaks about in John chapter 12.

But the cares of this world and the love of money and the personal agenda come in. And the scripture says that this seed is there. It's actually in the heart, but it's choked by these things and bears no fruit.

Because the promise, of course, is that there's going to be much fruit born to the glory of God in the heart that is fully opened and fully willing to receive the seed as God plants it in the heart. And the fourth type of a person is a person who hears these things Jesus said and understands them.

The seed finds a place. It finds a heart that is willing to receive it. And fruit begins to be born. It's supernatural fruit. Some 30-fold, some 60, some 100-fold. It's the person that says, Lord, I open my heart to embrace your death before I embrace your life.

I open my heart as the ground opens itself to the seed. The seed is, it's the seed that does the work. The seed goes into the ground. The seed dies first and then begins to live. But the ground, what does the ground do?

The ground just simply opens itself and receives the seed. And when you and I open our hearts and say, Lord Jesus, I receive this invitation into your death that I also, Lord, may know your life and that fruit might be born through my life that brings glory and honor to your name and to your Father's name.

Dying to Self-Rule and Personal Agendas

Now what are the things we need to hear and understand? What is a good heart? In verse 25, I believe is the key. Jesus said, he that loves his life shall lose it. And he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Now that doesn't mean that you walk around going, I hate my life. I mean, that might be quite easy for some to do here this morning. What he's really talking about is if you and I attempt to hold on to what we are, what we imagine we should be, what we think will bring us satisfaction, we just simply hold on to a view, perhaps a view that you had even before you came to Christ, or I had it before I came to Christ, and we hold on to this view and we're not willing to let it go.

We're not willing to be taken to those places where God alone will lead us and guide us and be glorified through us. If we hold on to our own sense of what we think life should be, oh yeah, you'll find a gospel that will cater to that.

There's all kinds of gospels today that cater to people who just simply will not let go of their agenda, will not let go of their self-image, will not let go of their sense of their own future, their own destiny, and all the rest of these things.

And so there are people out there who do cater to this erroneous view of the Christian life. But if we hold to these things, we risk losing the glory of God that could have been revealed through us. We risk losing, that's what he's talking about, if we hold on to this old self-view, we risk losing what we could have had in this life.

I've said it to you before and I say it again today, I'm not willing to stand before the throne of God one day and find out what my life could have been, what could have been accomplished if I had only been willing to let go of a few things in my life that really were not going to glorify God, and most of it, folks, is just an illusion anyway.

Following Christ’s Way of the Cross

And then he says in verse 26, if any man serve me, let him follow me. Now he just said I'm going to be dropped into the ground essentially, it's a type. Can I put it simply, Christ did not come to do his own will, he came to do the will of the Father.

He was born to die. That was the purpose of his life. He could not be turned from it. When they came to make him a king, he walked away from it. No matter what was offered to him of this world, when Satan himself said, listen, let's just cut the whole procedure short, all you have to do is just agree with me, just bend your knee to me, and if you've come to rule the world, then you can rule it.

Why go to a cross? Why have to suffer death? If it's all about ruling and reigning, I give it to you now, if you'll just acknowledge that my ways, the way I view heaven, the way I viewed God, the issues of my heart are right.

If you just bend your knee to it, then you don't have to go through all the suffering that's before you. But he was born to die. He was born to be given for others. As you are, as I am, when we are born again into the kingdom of God, yes, we're born out of sin and out of darkness, we're born into a promise of abundant life in this world and an eternal life in heaven with God, but we are also born, remember Jesus said, if any man serves me, let him follow me, where I am, there will also my servant be, and if any man serves me, him will my father honor.

One of the greatest truths that you and I will ever embrace is that we are not born into the kingdom of God to live for ourselves anymore. Yes, there will be gratification, there will be times of glory.

We will be provided for, there will be happy times, we have vacations, we do things like normal people will do, but on top of all of that, we are born as a church to be given for the lost of this world.

First given to God, but secondly, given for the work of God, which is the redemption of lost humanity. It's not just to accumulate things for ourselves and to finish the race saying, wow, I'm the president of my corporation and I have X amount of dollars in the bank and I got stock over here and I got a house in this country and I got a yacht over here, wow, I won.

How many souls do you have? Well, I didn't quite get around to that. It's not about these things. The only thing that we take with us are our family members, our friends, and those that are close and important to God.

There's a day coming folks, we sang a song, what will it be like when I get to the throne? Well, I'll tell you one thing, your bank account, your 401k, your house, your job, none of that will be there.

All that will be there. The only thing that will be there is you. Praise God. This church won't be there. This building won't be there. Our musical instruments won't be there. The choir loft won't be there, but the choir will be there.

Paul’s Daily Death and Supernatural Strength

Realistically, the whole dialogue is about death and Jesus knew that those whose hearts would reject the invitation to be partakers of that death could not possibly bear lasting fruit to the glory of God.

Those who are not willing to be given for the purposes of God and the earth. Paul sums it up in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 31 with three words and these three words I believe were the key to the supernatural strength and revelation that Paul had.

Remember, he wrote to the Ephesians, he said, oh, that you could see what I see. In the last part of his life, he writes to Timothy, he said, fight a good fight, run a good race, preach the gospel, be instant in season and out of season.

Three words Paul said, I die daily. I die daily. We're given an invitation in Christ, firstly, to die to our own efforts, to escape the penalty and the power of sin and an opportunity to trust in the one who overcame and promises us life.

Trusting Christ Instead of Human Strength

Oh, thank God. Thank God, folks. I don't know what you're battling with today, but I can tell you something that's really good news. Best thing you can do today is die to all your efforts to get out of it in your own strength.

Just admit you're a dead man, a dead woman. You just simply are not going to get out. You're not going to change. And just like Lazarus came out of the grave, you come out of the grave today and say, God, thank you for calling me.

Thank you for touching me. Thank you, Lord, for unraveling the death that the enemy would have wrapped my body and my mind in. Thank you for setting me free. Just die to all the efforts to escape the power of sin in your own strength.

Hallelujah. I'm telling you, folks, if we can lay hold of this, this place should be filled constantly with the glory of God, the shouting of the saints, the clapping of our hands, the leaping and dancing in the air.

As you and I have just learned that we don't, we didn't win this victory on our own strength. We don't get it because we read the Bible 16 hours a day and pray the other eight. That's not where the victory comes from.

As good as those things might be, the victory was won on Calvary 2000 years ago. Hallelujah. And secondly, we die to every voice that says you can't. Hallelujah. Because God says you can. You can be everything God's called you to be.

You can walk out of the prison that's trying to hold you. You can escape the wounds of your past and they do not have to dominate your life anymore. You can preach the gospel. You can love the unlovable.

God says you can. That's the fruit. That's the abundance. When you and I make the choice to let Christ live his life through us as his church on this side of eternity, all things become possible to him who believes.

Hallelujah. You can. You can go through any door. You can do anything that God calls you to do and everything that God asks you to do that the father may be glorified through the son. We die to all that is within us, which would tempt us to be other than what we're called to be.

Christ’s Humility and Servanthood

It's a great, great temptation to touch the glory of God or to get involved in religion that brings nothing to the glory of Christ. Listen to the words of Paul to the Philippians. I'll read it to you.

Chapter 2, beginning at verse 3, let nothing be done through strife for vain glory. In other words, don't do things seeking glory for yourself. It's pointless. It has nothing of eternity in it. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Let every person consider other people better than you are. Turn to the person beside you and say, you're better than I am. Feels good, doesn't it? Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

In other words, don't attend the house of God just looking for what you can get from God for yourself. But think about other people. Be among those people that say, Lord, if you bless me like Hannah did, I'll give it back to you for your kingdom.

If you bless me, oh God, as much as within me, I'll make sure that somebody is fed, that somebody gets clothing, that somebody gets an encouraging word in this world. God, I will not use what you give to me for myself.

I will use it for your glory. Oh God, if you bless me, it will be used for your glory. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every other name. Equal with God, and it wasn't robbery to declare himself equal with God. He could have walked around. The glory that was seen in him on the Mount of Transfiguration could have been with him every day, all day.

He could have spoken profound mysteries constantly. He could have unlocked the secrets of the universe. Could have been the most sought after speaker in the history of the world. But instead, he came to this world and took upon himself no reputation, born in a lowly family.

Eventually, the son of a single mother, and became a servant, began his ministry serving people who had run out of wine at a wedding, and was made in the likeness of men. In other words, he identified with us.

Approaching the Throne of Grace in Weakness

Doesn't that the writer of Hebrews says, we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our weaknesses, our infirmities, but was in all points tempted just as we are, and yet without sin.

Therefore, the writer says, we can boldly come to the throne of grace, not in our strength, but in our weakness, to find help in our time of need. And he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross, even though he was equal with God.

We die to trying to figure out everything that comes our way, and trust in the power of Christ's life within us to bring us to a place where he'll glorify his own name. Thanks be to God, folks, that you and I don't have to figure everything out.

Because we're getting to a time where the world can't figure out its problems. There are no solutions, just as the prophets foretold. Men's hearts are beginning to fail them. The ambassadors of peace will soon weep bitterly in this world.

A lawlessness that is almost unimaginable against God and the ways of God is rising among the nations rather quickly at this moment. Immorality is starting to be called moral, and morality is starting to be called insanity.

The world is moving in the very direction the scripture said it was going to move into. We don't have to figure our way through it. I thank God for this. We draw close to the Lord, and we say, God Almighty, let the seed of your life, let the power of your death begin to work in me.

Give me the grace, Lord, to put off everything that is going to be a hindrance. My own thinking, my own reasoning, my own way of seeing my way through all my struggles and trials and problems, and let me, oh God, just simply embrace the victory that you won for me in its totality.

Let that become my life. Let it become my trust. Let me not have to figure things out. Listen to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians, actually, in chapter 1, in verse 8, he said, We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia.

We were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

Paul said, listen, I've got to be honest with you. We came into such trouble and trial that we had no way out. We had no strength to fight anymore. We got to the point where we didn't think we were going to make it, physically.

He said, I don't want you to be ignorant of this, that there are trials in the Christian life from time to time that will take us beyond where human strength is able to carry us. But he said, we had the sentence of death in ourselves.

We had to trust, as Christ had trusted his Father, when Jesus went to the cross, and he said these words, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. All he had was the promise of God, that out of this death was going to come life.

He had to trust God, just the same as you and I have to trust the Word of God to take us through our situations that seem to be impossible, and indeed they are to the natural man. We trusted in God, Paul said, who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, and whom we trust he will yet deliver us.

He did deliver us, he does deliver us, he will deliver us. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. I'll tell you one thing folks, I don't have to figure it out. I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and trust God right through to the end of this race.

Being Given for the Needs of Others

He will not fail, he will not forsake his church, and his church is not going out of this world with a whimper. We're going out with a song, we're going out with strength, we're going out with a life sustaining us that doesn't come from this world, doesn't come from a program, you'll never find it in a how-to book.

You find it in the life of Christ, having embraced first the death of the cross, breaking the penalty of sin, breaking the power of self-focus, walking in the will of God through this world, saying, Lord, thank you that I have the privilege of being given for other people.

Folks, that's where the power of the Christian life is. That's where it is, that's where it's always been. It's in being given, with Christ living his life through us, being given for other people, in however God leads you and I to do that.

And it will be different for all people. What I'm called to do might not be the very express thing you're called to do, but it will always be focused on people, disadvantaged, people who are afraid, people who are going to be hungry, people who are going to be cold.

It will always be about people. And if you want to know the resources of God, move towards human need. You'll find even the miraculous begins to flow through your hands and through your life. Jesus said in our opening text in verse 27, Now is my soul troubled.

Born for This Hour

Aren't you thankful for honesty? He didn't say, wow, the day has come. Isn't this exciting? Now is my soul troubled. We don't fully understand, and I never will for sure on this side of eternity, what it meant for God in a sense to be separated in the measure he was from himself.

I don't understand that. The father turned his back on his son, put the full weight of your sin and mine upon him, and the full wrath of God came on Jesus Christ. He was about to be separated from his father in that sense, in a measure that he had never known forever.

He had not been born, he always was. And you and I, our natural minds, it's like a thimble trying to take in an ocean. How do we understand this? Unless God one day reveals it to us. Now is my soul troubled.

You know, the irony of the troubling is that there was another way in a sense. He just didn't have to do it. He'd still be God. Heaven would still be his. The angels would still be there. There would still be sufficient structure and worship.

It would all be going on around the throne of God as Isaiah saw it. But you wouldn't be there. And I wouldn't be there. And he knew it. And he said, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

But for this cause, I came to this hour. For this cause, you were born at this time. Did you know that? You're not some fluke of nature. No matter how you were born or whatever the circumstances were, Scripture bears witness that God knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb.

And he appointed you to this time. He appointed you to this year, 2010. He appointed you to New York City in this moment or wherever it is that you're from. You're appointed to this time. And so Jesus said, what shall I pray?

Deliver me from this hour? But I was born for this hour. You and I were born for this hour. If trouble is coming to our society today as we know it, we don't live to escape it. I feel sorry for the people that are buying ranches off in Montana somewhere.

There's going to be nothing there. It's going to be empty. Sure, you have your six-month supply of food and your shotgun, but that's all you've got. You won't have the presence of God. And what are you going to do?

Let people starve? If things get very, very difficult in the cities and surrounding areas, are you just going to hole up with your Bible and let the whole world starve? No, folks, that's not the way it works in the kingdom of God.

Now is my soul troubled. What shall I pray? Father, deliver me from this hour. But for this cause, I came to this hour. I came to go to a cross. I came to be given for the needs. They couldn't be met any other way, but by the grace and the goodness of God.

Glorifying God Through the Church

Father, glorify thy name. Oh, you know, that's really the abandonment that we as a church in this age have got to get to. Where again we say, Father, glorify your name. Whatever that means. Let me be given that other people may come to the saving knowledge that you are providing through the cross.

That they may have eternity in heaven. That that which you created in your image might be restored. Father, glorify your name. I'm yielding myself to the cross as it is. And there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and I will glorify it again.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's God saying, I've never failed. I've never failed anybody. Nobody. I've never failed anybody that put their trust in me. I have glorified my name. My power did come upon Elijah.

I have brought the children of Israel out of darkness. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. I could go through the scriptures and tell you, and lead you to the places where he has glorified his name. And he says, and I will glorify it again.

Son, they're going to put you on a cross. They're going to mock you. They're going to spit on you. They're going to whip you. They're going to nail you. But you're going to take upon yourself the sins of the world.

You're going to go down into the grave. But on the third day, I'm going to raise you from the dead. I will glorify my name. Hallelujah. And when you and I have the courage to say, Father, glorify your name in me.

You'll hear that voice from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. I will keep you in the midst of the storm. I will provide for you in the midst of trial. I will give you power and resources that normal, ordinary men and women don't have.

I will glorify my name. Your testimony will not be how I did this or how I accomplished that. It will be one name on your lips and one name alone. The name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? Deliver me from this hour. No, for this hour, I was born. You were born for this hour, my friend. You were born for this hour.

It doesn't matter what your education is. It doesn't matter how young or old. It doesn't matter your background. You were born for this hour. And all that is required of God is a heart that embraces the full working of the death of Christ to be able to know the life of Christ.

It's a heart that says, Lord, whatever you need to do in me, do it. Wherever you need to take me, take me there. Whatever you want to do, give me the grace not to say no. Give me the grace to let you lead me.

We sang that today, the orchestra earlier. Draw me nearer, O precious Lord. We sang that other song, Hosanna. I see a near revival coming. I see it too. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that in my generation, the church is going to be the church again.

I'm so glad. I'm so glad that I can see the body of Christ coming out the other side of 20 years, 20 plus years of charismatic stupidity. I'm so glad we're going to be the church again. And hardship is going to make us the church.

Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. We're going to be the church. We're going to be among that body of believers in New York City and wherever it is that you're from that are going to be willing to say, Father, glorify your name.

Feed some hungry people through me. Help others through my life. Speak kind words to them through me. Heal those that have diseases through the laying on of my hands. God almighty, take authority over the devil when I pray and let the works of Satan be bound and let the life of Christ begin to come forth.

Oh God, thank you that you're going to give us courage to say to this young generation, there is a God. His name is Jesus. He is alive. He does know who you are. Thank God for a church that is not going to tower under the rules and regulations of the ungodly.

Thank God, even if it means a cross. Thank God. An invitation to die. My altar call is very simple this morning. Father, glorify your name. For everybody here, everybody in the annex and any of the overflow rooms, that it's in your heart after hearing this word to say, Lord, I want to receive that full life that you have for me.

And whatever that is going to lead me to, Lord, I'm asking you to glorify your name. And you will hear those words. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. You will hear those words spoken to your heart today.

The Holy Spirit will speak it to you. If it's in your heart. Now, if you need to get out of sin, this is a good chance to do that. It applies. Just, Father, glorify your name. Just get me out of this.

If you need healing from tremendous pain, oh, Father, glorify your name. If you're just filled with hatred because of past experience, you can say, Father, glorify your name. Just get me out of here. Give me a loving heart.

And change this indifference in me to compassion. And you will hear him say, I have glorified my name and I will glorify it again. And he will do it in you. And that's a promise that I feel in my heart from the Holy Spirit to you today.

The Willing Heart and the Final Prayer

Praise God. As we stand, as the orchestra is going to lead us in worship for a few minutes, I'm going to ask you to make your way to the front of the sanctuary as we stand together and we're going to pray.

Those who want to pray that prayer, Father, glorify your name. In the annex, please, you can stand between the screens, if you will. The beauty of this truth is really found in the fact that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong.

It's simply the willing heart that wins. God comes to the willing heart. God comes to the person who is able to say, Lord, you've got to help me to live. First, I need to die to all of myself and then you help me to live.

And it's just the hungry heart gets the victory. It's as simple as that. There are people here today at this altar, if you are fully surrendered to God, you have no idea yet what God could do through your life.

I'll tell you one thing for sure, when you get to the end, there will be a shout of glory in your soul. You will know it's been all God and none of you. You won't need to write a book about it because you'll hold the book.