The Loss and Gain of Life in Christ

I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 12, and I want to read verse

John 12 · chapter mention

! 20 through 26 and have you follow along. John chapter 12, verse 20 through 26.

John 12:20–26

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 asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went up 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 wheat 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. Let's pray. Father, as we come to you this morning with the Word in hand,

thankful that you have given to us the Scriptures, clear and settled in the heavens,

that we come with dependence upon your Spirit, enabling us to have open hearts and understanding

hearts that we might hear and behold glorious truths out of your Word. Those who are here that

know the Lord Jesus, join in praying together that as we learn more about the Lord, that we would also

grow in our love for Him and our willingness to serve Him and our obedience and our submission to

His supremacy, that we would be satisfied together. And those who are here that have not come to faith yet,

my prayer has been, and I know that this fellowship joins together in praying for that same end,

that today, this day, would be the day of salvation for them, that your Spirit would bring them to see

the darkness and despair of their soul and understand that there is no help apart from the work of Christ

and from their calling upon His name as Lord and Savior. I pray that the teaching of your Word would be

marked by the enabling of the Spirit of God and that your people would task together with me,

praying for me, praying for me, and for the Word's impact in their own lives and also in the lives of

others. And we thank you for this in advance. In Jesus' name, amen. Earlier in the week, last week

actually, ended up in a very situation, very interesting situation, having a conversation with a man.

Started out by his saying to me, what day is it? What day is it? He was a little kind of discombobulated and

took me a second to figure out why he was asking, but as things played on, I said, it's Saturday. And

he said, oh, oh, good. I said, okay. And I said, would you like some oatmeal? He said, absolutely.

And the conversation played on, and I ended up actually having an opportunity to talk to him a

little bit about the Lord. And at the start of the conversation, he said to me, I start out an atheist,

and I moved to be an agnostic, and I've become a Christian. That sounded just tremendous. Yes,

I like that. Except he had already told me that he'd been drunk last night, and that's why he needed

to know what day it was. Now, I want you to know that Christians do all kinds of bad things.

How many of you have made mistakes and sinned before? Okay. Okay. Most of us probably haven't

been wasted all night, but we've done lots of things that are not an exact test of our faith.

But here was a guy who started out, you know, letting me know about his previous problem,

and then eventually ended up talking about the Lord, and that kind of led into his, oh, yeah,

I'm a Christian. So I asked him just a very practical question. So how's that going for you?

You follow what I'm saying? How's it working out? Well, I'm not really there, you know.

I said, well, would you like to talk about it? No, I'm good. Off he went.

I bring that up because what we are looking at this morning

is a passage of Scripture that is not written to the unbeliever.

And it is a passage that clearly indicates what following Christ actually means.

One of the sweet truths of the gospel is that salvation brings change to us.

From the moment of our broken heart that brings us to repentance and calling upon the name of the

Lord for salvation, we have a change of address.

We no longer are doomed to spend eternity in hell paying for our own sins,

but because of the finished work of Christ, we have the absolute certain prospect

of eternal joy and glory in Christ's presence.

We also are a different person.

Now, that doesn't mean that all the changes that will take place

have already come about in a practical sense,

but it does mean that we are not who we used to be.

And as we continue in growing in our faith,

we see more and more of the work of Christ in our lives and an affection for Him.

And without question, one of the things that should characterize the person

and does characterize the person who is a true believer

is that they can look in the rearview mirror

and see that things are different than they used to be.

This passage this morning is going to help us understand

and really, in practical terms, gauge, evaluate the authenticity of our own faith.

I will tell you as well that this passage is a convicting passage

and one that will make you uncomfortable

if you are yielded to the Spirit

and the Spirit enables me to preach with Bible authority and humility.

I've got to tell you that one of the things that characterizes

Tim Kenoyer's general study of the Scriptures

is that there's seldomly a week that goes by that I don't say,

this is the best passage.

I'll tell you that.

I have to say that this week I had to add something

that was very pertinent to my own heart.

I had to say, in addition, this is the best passage.

I had to say, this is a passage that makes Tim Kenoyer uncomfortable

and called me to repentance and to change.

We'll see how that plays out in your own life, okay?

Well, let's look at the passage and recognize, first of all,

that as we dive in here and look at verse 20

and play out a little bit,

we recognize that this passage tells us about Christ's global impact.

It's appropriate for us to recognize that what takes place in this passage

is a change of direction in Christ's ministry.

Earlier, Jesus had sent His disciples only to the 12 tribes of Israel.

The starting place of His ministry had been to the nation of Israel,

and over and over again, He made it clear that His presentation

and His offer and His ministry was directed towards the nation of Israel,

to the Jews.

You'll remember when the Syrophoenician woman came and asked that He heal her daughter.

He said, listen, it is unfitting that children's bread be given to the dogs.

And what was her response?

I love this one.

She said, hey, dogs get crumbs.

And Jesus healed that woman's daughter.

But His communication was that, hey,

the ministry that I'm engaged in here at this moment is particularly to the Jewish nation.

When the Samaritan woman came to Jesus,

He made the statement in that passage back in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

He said, salvation is of the Jews.

So here we have on this great time of feast and the Passover

where worshipers were gathering into the city of Jerusalem,

up come a group of Greek worshipers.

That's what we're told here.

And they ask if they can have an interview with Jesus.

Now look at the passage.

It says, they came and asked Philip.

And Philip, instead of going directly to Jesus, what does he do?

He goes and consults with someone else because he's just a little uncomfortable.

He has all that past instruction from Christ as, hey, listen, here's what you do.

Here's how you minister.

And I want you to be focused on the Jewish people and the Jewish nation

and be sure that they hear the message of repentance.

And so when these Greeks came and asked for the privilege of talking with Jesus,

Philip was a little uncomfortable.

And so he goes to Andrew and they probably had a little bit of a discourse together.

Well, I'm not sure.

What do you think?

Let's go ahead.

And they both come together to Jesus.

You get that?

Here they are.

They're in front of Jesus.

And they, oh, by the way, there's a couple Greeks.

You know, they're not Jews, but they like to talk with you a little bit.

It's very interesting here that these Greeks asked to talk to Jesus.

We have no further detail about their motive,

but it's fair to surmise that their thinking had been affected

by the dramatic sequence of events.

They had come to worship, but in that period of time, just prior to the cross,

let me kind of rattle off some of the very significant things that had happened.

For one, Jesus had healed Lazarus, raised Lazarus from the dead,

and that was a dramatic, powerful evidence of his deity and his power.

Secondly, he had entered into Jerusalem with all the fanfare and the regalia.

Remember that he had come with palm fronds being waved and people shouting out,

Hosanna, Hosanna.

They were lit up at the prospect of Jesus coming in as the regal authority

and ruler that was going to bring victory and blessing to them.

Remember they threw down their coats in front of Jesus,

and he came in on a donkey.

That had to be significantly striking to the Greeks.

Furthermore, Jesus had cleansed the temple.

I want you just to stop and think about this just for a moment.

How many of you know where Mecca is?

Anybody know where Mecca is?

Hello, we have some Mecca people here.

Okay, you know where Mecca is?

Can you imagine in your right mind someone going in?

Well, let's try the Dome of the Rock where the golden...

Do you follow what I'm saying?

Just imagine someone going in there and cleaning house

and getting rid of all the false worship that is going on

either at Mecca or in Jerusalem where the Golden Dome is.

Do you think that would cause a little bit of a stir?

What do you think?

I mean, it would light things up.

And the Greeks, no doubt, had heard about Lazarus,

about the wonderful entrance, and cleansing the temple.

And so here we have them coming and asking for an opportunity

to interview Jesus.

They want to learn something.

And here is Jesus who takes advantage of this.

And what He does is He points now to the gospel's global impact.

In including the Greeks and inviting this conversation

instead of repressing it, He makes it very, very clear

that the interest of the Greeks was indicative,

pointed to the fact that the day was coming

when the gospel's impact would not only be of value

in the nation of Israel but would be across the entire globe.

I love the fact that the gospel is not limited

to an ethnic group or to a physical location

like the land of Israel.

It has value to every single person

who comes into the world.

And it is supremely important,

not just to the nation of Israel,

but to all of us because what?

Salvation is the very heart

of what Jesus came to bring to mankind.

And I like the fact that here is Jesus

kind of making an early indication of the fact

that the gospel's flow and impact

was going to transcend the nation of Israel.

It was going to have global impact.

That was actually what was part of the Abrahamic covenant.

Isn't that right?

God made the commitment and promise to Abraham.

He said, through you,

all the nations of the world will be blessed.

How?

By virtue of Christ being the Savior of all mankind,

offering salvation through His finished work on the cross.

Now, as we push further into the text,

you're there in John chapter 12,

John 12 · chapter mention

you'll find that after this little business

of the matter playing out of the question,

hey, listen, there are Greeks that want to meet you,

I want you to notice Christ's response.

And Jesus answered them.

Who is the them?

Answer that question in your own thinking.

Who was Jesus talking to?

He wasn't talking to the Greeks.

They were kind of standing back, you know,

a little bit.

There's Philip and Andrew.

Can these people talk?

Jesus says, hey.

I believe Jesus was talking primarily to His disciples

who had come with this question,

Philip and Andrew.

And He makes it clear

that something has come to fruition

and is at the point.

And here's what Jesus says.

My time is here.

My time is now.

Now, stop and think for a moment again,

and it helps to kind of keep a picture

of the larger context of Christ's ministry.

Over and over again prior to this,

Jesus had made statements like,

it's not my time.

My time is not now.

It's not the moment.

And here He is.

In verse 23, Jesus answered them,

the hour is come

for the Son of Man to be glorified.

I want you to think just for a moment

about how Philip and Andrew must have felt

when they heard Jesus say,

yep, it's time.

This is it.

I'm going to be glorified.

What kind of thinking do you think they had

about what Christ's glory was all about?

Oh, so that you remember,

when they had had the Last Supper together,

immediately after that tremendously spiritual moment,

what had they been bickering about as they left?

Does anybody know?

They were fussing with each other

about who was going to have the right hand

and the left hand

and who was really going to be important in the kingdom.

They were all lit up about the prospect

of being in charge.

That's what they were interested in.

And here is Jesus saying,

it's time.

I'm going to be glorified.

And here they are in the heady rush of thinking,

yeah, it's Hosanna time for real.

And yeah, we're going to set aside that donkey

and he's going to be doing the horse thing

and we're going to be part of it.

And then boom.

Look at it.

Look at it.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth

and dies,

it remains alone.

But if it dies,

it bears much fruit.

Here in the moment of the Greeks coming

and asking for an opportunity

to get to know Jesus a little better

and Jesus making it clear

that all mankind

open to the call

and the significance of the gospel,

here he makes a stunning statement

and what he does is he announces

that his worth and glory

is going to be in his death.

Look at verse 24.

Let me read it again.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat

falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone.

But if it dies,

it bears much fruit.

I want you to think with me,

secondly, about the fruitfulness

of the cross.

Jesus was at the very pinnacle

of his popularity

and yet in the very same sentence

where he spoke about his glory,

he spoke about his death

and its fruitfulness.

The words truly, truly,

just so you get clued in on this,

are always a signal

of something that is really important

that is going to be said next.

Now I want to frame that.

There's not a word in the Bible

that does not have significance.

We would agree to that.

All scripture is given by inspiration

and is profitable.

But truly, truly

is one of those little signals

that the Spirit of God relies upon

and Jesus relied upon

to say,

hey, pay attention to this.

It's a little bit like

when you were in class

and the teacher would say,

this is going to be on the test.

What did all of you do?

Yeah, yeah,

I've heard that before.

No, that's not what you did.

What did you do?

You underlined,

you know,

test, arrow,

and when you were reviewing

for the exam,

what did you do?

You went back

and looked for what?

You looked for those parts

that you'd underlined.

So you can,

here's what you can do

if you,

and it's not adding to the Bible

when you make a marginal gloss.

You know what a marginal gloss is?

A little note in the margin says,

hey, this is important for me.

This is really something

to hold on to.

Jesus has some advice

you need to pay attention to.

Jesus used the very common illustration

of what happens to a seed

to make the point about his death

and what would follow.

You see,

a seed's fruitfulness

really is impossible

apart from its death.

It doesn't happen any other way.

I told my wife earlier

this morning, actually,

I said, hey,

over the Labor Day holiday,

I actually intend to plant kale

and turnip greens

or a couple other things.

You know,

fall is coming.

How many of you noticed that?

It's a weather change.

Yes.

And so,

in order for those seeds

to actually do anything

and be productive,

I have to put them in the ground.

They have to die.

And then,

something happens.

And here is Jesus

relying upon that

little common fact of farming

to make the point that

his glory

could not be separated

from his death.

He made it clear.

He made it clear.

Glory

and death

are linked together.

And his death

on the cross

would bring salvation

for an unnumbered host,

and it would be

the means of glory.

I want you to look with me

just for a moment.

You're there in John,

but I want you to turn back

to the book of Isaiah.

As I was studying

earlier in the week

and,

well,

last week,

and just pondering

the marvel of this text

and convicted deeply,

I was struck by

what the passage in Isaiah

opens up for us.

And just,

it had a

significant contact

with me.

Look at

Isaiah chapter 53

Isaiah 53:10

verse 10

and 11.

Yet,

Isaiah chapter 53

Isaiah 53:10

verse 10,

it was the will

of the Lord

to crush him.

I think in the King James

it says,

it pleased the Lord

to bruise him.

And you stop

and think about that.

I mean,

how many of you

as fathers

have had to spank

your sons?

Don't raise your hands.

I'm not looking for

who has done

and who has not.

But I,

a father that is

guided by the Spirit

of God

and recognizes

that there are times

when discipline

is necessary

would probably confess

that in the moment

there is no pleasure

in what you're doing.

You do it out of obligation,

out of necessity.

You do it because

of the burden

of what you know

is your responsibility

responsibility

as a father.

If there's any potential

of pleasure,

it is at the hope

that your obedience

to the Scriptures

are going to bring fruit

in that little child's life

that are going to be

a blessing to that child

and to the Lord Jesus.

So it's hard for me

to imagine

what this passage

actually says

about God the Father

in terms of

His pleasure

and His satisfaction

in causing

His own son

to die.

That's what's in view.

Isaiah 53,

Isaiah 53:10

verse 10,

it says,

Yet it was the will

of the Lord

to crush him.

He has put him

to grief

when his soul

makes an offering

for guilt.

He shall see

his offspring.

He shall prolong

his days.

The will of the Lord

shall prosper

in His hand.

Out of the anguish

of his soul.

He shall see

and be satisfied.

By his knowledge

shall the righteous

one,

my servant,

make many

to be accounted

righteous.

Do you get a thrill

when you think about that?

Here's what's being said.

Back in the book

of Isaiah,

it says this,

number one,

that Christ was

a sacrifice

and made

an offering

for guilt.

How was guilt

satisfied

in the Old Testament?

Does anybody have an idea?

You had to make

a sacrifice.

You see,

here's the idea

that we need

to get our hands around.

Underneath

and behind

the reality

of our own sinfulness

is that something

has to be done

about that sin.

I've got to tell you,

throwing coins

in an offering plate

don't do it.

Saying that

you're a pretty good person

doesn't do it

because the heart

is deceitful

above all things

and desperately wicked

and there is no way

that a man

can redeem his heart

by his own activity

and his own effort.

The infinite offense

of sin

deserves

an infinite penalty.

That is a mathematical equation.

Does that make sense

to you?

And only

the infinite

endurance

of suffering

in hell

or the infinite

blood of Christ

will bring about

satisfaction

to the debt

that sin creates.

And here

is the Scripture

making it clear

to us

that Christ

by his offering

is going to satisfy

the debt

and look at verse 11

and it says,

and make many

to be accounted righteousness.

That word

accounted

means

that his righteousness

is put over

on my account.

why is it

that I can say

with absolute confidence

that there is thou

therefore

no condemnation

to them

who are in Christ Jesus?

It is because

the righteousness

of Christ

was placed

on the account

of the sinner

who is repentant

and calls upon

the name of the Lord.

And so you look

at this passage

and you recognize here

that Jesus

is making it clear

going back to

the passage

in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

He is making a statement

that listen

I am going to die.

They didn't expect that.

They'd heard him

say it many times

but he made it

very very clear

that he was going

to die

and that as a result

of his death

those who came

to faith

would be the fruit

of his sacrifice

and be the fruit

the outcome

the product

the blessing

that came

from his willing

sacrifice.

So let me ask you

a practical question

because the remainder

of the sermon

is not aimed

at unbelievers

but is aimed

at you who are here

who know Christ

and I would say

that the vast majority

of you would say

I know Jesus

yeah

I'm one of them.

I want you to recognize

that what Jesus

is going to say next

really puts us

on the spot

of asking ourselves

the question

am I the fruit

of his sacrifice

for sin?

Ask yourself

that question

am I

the fruit

of his sacrifice

for sin?

Jesus

had this statement

made by his disciples

these people want

to come and meet you

and talk with you

Jesus said

yep

it's now time

that I'm going

to be glorified

how?

I'm going to die

my death

is going to produce fruit

are you the fruit

of his sacrifice

for sin?

That brings us

to the third thing

that I want you

to recognize

it starts out there

in verse 20

where the Greeks

came and said

alright we want

to see Jesus

now here we are

looking at verse 25

and 26

whoever loves his life

loses it

whoever hates his life

in this world

will keep it

for eternal life

if anyone serves me

are you in the anyone?

are you that?

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

here's the question

am I one of the anyone?

is that fair?

am I an anyone?

am I a person

who really knows

Christ?

here were the Greeks

they wanted to know

more about Jesus

they were interested

in knowing

this spectacular

newsworthy

individual

and he says

listen it's time

I'm going to be glorified

and my glory

is going to be

directly linked

to my dying

for other people

what has taken

place so far

in this passage

is Jesus

bringing attention

to the cross

but let's take it further

now what he says

is

the fruit

of faith

produces

people

who act

like me

do you get that?

the last

two verses

are really

for us

as believers

to kind of

double check

to see whether

or not

we are

what we say

we are

the Greeks

wanted to understand

Jesus better

and he wanted

to be very clear

that his disciples

in particular

understood

what following him

really meant

knowing Jesus

means following Jesus

and bringing fruit

to his glory

you want to see him

then follow his path

take his

life

and walk

with him

be fruit

that brings glory

to him

and be one

who

by virtue

of the life

that you live

evidences

the transforming

power of the cross

so what does

true faith

produce?

what does

true fruit

look like?

it would be wrong

to skip over

this passage

and not have it

brought to bear

on our lives

personally

and I got to tell you

I was listening

earlier last week

to John Piper

preaching on this

passage

and remember

I said that this

passage is a great

one but it's also

deeply

convicting

true faith

is hard

let's get that

clear in our minds

it would be wrong

not to declare

the truth

that Jesus

had here for us

that following

him is costly

and hard

I

every now and then

just to kind of

intrigue and

entertain my soul

I kind of

skip through

channels that have

a lot of

televangelists on them

you know

wonderful preaching

about how I can

have a better house

and fly in a jet

and you know

all that kind of stuff

you know it's a

really popular stuff

and do you realize

that the health

and wealth gospel

is thriving today

around the world

and you know what

when you listen to

these guys preach

you kind of wonder

what in the world

was Jesus talking

about

about sacrifice

where's the truly

truly in all of that

listen to what

Jesus had to say

about what it means

to follow him

for one we choose

death

look at the passage

whoever loves his

life loses it

what

I'd like to

follow Jesus

if it means I get

something for

that in return

hey

that's not wrong

thinking

you're thinking

I'm

wrong

wait

God does not

call us

to sacrifice

without promise

of reward

the problem

is

is we end up

being far

too short

sighted

I'll never

forget

reading

in Desiring God

about

a missionary

couple

that arrived

from years

on the field

broken and

spent by

their ministry

I think it was

in Africa

and they

happened to be

arrived

they happened

to be arriving

at the same

time that

some significant

dignitary was

arriving

and the band

was there

to welcome

this individual

as he got

off the

steamship

and as he

is walking

off the band

strikes up

and they're

giving all

this fanfare

and the wife

commented to the

husband

there's nobody

here to greet

us

and he said

I'm not home

yet

we're not home

yet

let's be

honest

serving

Jesus

is hard

you choose

death

there is

truth in

the fact

that

salvation

is a

death

of our

past

and our

corruption

but it

is also

a conscious

choice

that we

make

from day

to day

of putting

our old

desires

and habits

to death

and can I

tell you

that keeps

on going

on

for the

rest of

my life

I continue

because of

what Jesus

has done

in my life

of choosing

to not

do things

and put

to death

the flesh

that is

at battle

and at war

with my

own heart

for things

that don't

last forever

as Judith

and I

were praying

this morning

and spending

time together

I talked

about the

fact that

that we

look forward

to a time

when we can

be invested

again with

ministering to

international students

I love going

out to the airport

and picking

them up

people who

hardly know

a thread

of English

and begin

to minister

to them

why

highly expensive

costly

proposition

but one

that has

gospel import

and impact

and when

we choose

to follow

Christ

we choose

to die

there's another

statement that

Jesus makes

he says

we choose

to hate

this life

in this

present age

there is a

seduction

in the world

around us

hey we all

entertain it

don't we

it used

to be

it used

to be

when we

wanted to

indulge

our fancies

and we

wanted to

become

better

consumers

we had

to rely

on catalogs

remember

those

old days

I mean

Sears

and Robux

catalogs

how many

of you

lived with

fantasies

of what

you could

buy

from

this is

a

previous

generation

most of

you

don't even

remember

those days

now

when you

go on

Facebook

when you

go on

the internet

when you

go to

CNN

when you

go to

Fox

News

over in

the margin

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you know

how it

is

here's

what you

do

you

choose

to put

that

life

to

death

you

choose

to

follow

Jesus

in

the

cross

look at

what he

says

here

in the

passage

he

says

if

anyone

serves

me

he

must

follow

me

he

must

follow

me

we

are

far

too

focused

in

indulging

ourselves

in

our

own

fantasies

to

the

pleasure

of our

private

individual

interests

and

we're

not

about

the

cross

there's

one more

thing

we choose

to serve

look at

the

passage

if

anyone

serves

me

and by

the way

I'll

take a

cheap

shot

here

next

week

pastor

shearer

begins

to

preach

for

four

weeks

there's

no

cheap

shot

in

that

part

but

I

am

going

to

be

responsible

for

taking

care

of

the

nursery

and

I

am

going

to

invite

all

of

you

to

serve

in

the

nursery

you

hear

me

there

will

be

some

personal

invitations

some

of

you

have

been

on

the

periphery

you

know

what

periphery

means

it

means

way

outside

I'm

going

to

put

my

arms

around

you

guys

I'm

going

to

speak

politely

to

you

women

and

I'm

going

to

say

hey

over

there

every

now

and

then

there

are

some

of

you

haven't

been

in

a

nursery

ever

since

your

kids

left

you

know

it's

like

I'm

not

doing

that

yes

you

are

at

least

I'll

invite

you

pastor

Saul

is

smiling

and

grinning

because

he

had

that

responsibility

previously

right

oh

okay

we're

going

to

choose

to

serve

I

want

you

to

see

some

other

thing

not

only

is

true

faith

hard

but

true

faith

is

glorious

we

live

fruitful

lives

whoever

hates

his

life

in

this

world

will

keep

it

for

eternal

life

we

live

fruitful

lives

can

I

tell

you

that

the

believer

lives

with

an

ambition

and

expectation

of

what

is

coming

ahead

is

that

the

way

you're

living

are

you

living

with

such

an

expectation

that

your

children

even

now

are

despairing

of

how

many

dumpsters

get rid

of

the

trash

you

collected

no

we're

living

with

an

ambition

for

eternity

we

keep

our

lives

in

eternity

I

want

you

to

notice

something

else

there

in

the

passage

it

says

those

who

follow

Jesus

join

him

in

glory

where

I

am

there

will

my

servant

be

also

how

much

do

you

think

about

the

day

that

you

are

going

to

be

with

!

Christ

in

glory

you

know

I

was

talking

with

a

believer

earlier

in

the

week

last

week

and

he

was

commenting

about

how

much

he

looked

forward

to

heaven

truth

of

matter

is

he

had

17

surgeries

and

as

we

were

having

conversation

about

life

he

brought

up

how

much

he

was

looking

forward

to

his

new

body

I

think

17

surgeries

is

fairly

significant

and

I

said

to

him

you

know

what

it's

an

indication

of

our

own

frailty

that

the

thing

we

sometimes

think

about

is

so

superficial

the

pleasure

of

heaven

will

not

primarily

be

a

new

body

and

I

can

say

that

as

a

68

year

old

the

pleasure

of

heaven

will

be

seeing

Jesus

where

I

am

there

will

my

servant

be

finally

look

at what

it says

at the

last

part

the

father

will

honor

him

psychologists

came up

with a

very

interesting

test

to

determine

the

probability

of a

child

succeeding

in

life

do

know

what

the

test

is

it's

a

marshmallow

test

simple

you

put a

kid

in a

room

set

him

at

a

table

and

put

one

marshmallow

on

the

table

and

you

say

to

the

kid

hey

you

can

eat

this

marshmallow

now

if

you

wait

I'll

reward

you

the

kid

who

has

an

inability

to

think

beyond

the

moment

grabs

and

gobbles

the

marshmallow

at

the

moment

the

kid

who

waits

indicates

by that

perspective

a level

of

understanding

about

what

may

lie

ahead

there

are

some

of you

here

this

morning

that

profess

to

know

Christ

but

you're

one

marshmallow

Christians

it's

all

about

now

it's

all

about

what

you

have

your

investments

will

not

travel

with

you

your

hobbies

will

not

travel

with

you

your

trophies

will

not

travel

with

you

I

remember

burying

being

at the

funeral

for

Bill

Brock

who

was

the

founder

of

this

church

and

as

I

was

there

at

the

graveside

with

the

family

I

just

looked

over

there

to

the

side

and

there

was

John

Kenneth

Galbraith

headstone

do

anybody

know

who

Galbraith

is

probably

this

current

generation

he

was

a

heavy

lifter

along

the

lines

of

Bill

Gates

etc

an

incredibly

rich

man

buried

in a

plot

no

bigger

than

Bill

had

and

has

I

know

Bill's

in

heaven

and

beloved

as

you

look

at

this

passage

here's

the

thing

that

should

be

undeniably

clear

to

us

those

who

know

Christ

are

invested

in

the

future

those

who

know

Christ

have

ambition

for

what

lies

ahead

do

you

see

in

your

life

the

clear

indicators

of

a

willingness

to

put

away

and

put

to

death

things

that

encumber

your

present

life

and

service

or

are

you

so

occupied

with

the

moment

that

it's

fair

to