John 12:23- 28 How To Have Life

John 12:23- 28 BEGINNING TO LIVE

Jesus Christ The Only Begotten Son of God, was born of a virgin and came into this world for one purpose only, and that was to pay mans sin debt as He died there on the cruel cross of Calvary.

Ø Listen as I read today’s text found in

John 12: 23-28 23And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If 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 honour.

Ø 27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

I read about a man named Richard Bandler who was telling about visiting a psychiatric hospital and dealing with a man who believed that he was Jesus Christ. He didn’t believe it in a spiritual sense, but literally.

Bandler walked into the room to meet this man, and ask him; “Are you Jesus?” “Yes, my son,” came the reply. Then Bandler said, “Wait here. I’ll be back in just a minute.”

The man was a little confused by Mr. Bandler suddenly leaving, but Bandler returned in a few minutes with a measuring tape. He asked the man to hold out his arms, and as he did so Bandler measured the width of his outstretched arms and his height from head to toe. As soon as he was done measuring, he suddenly left again. The man claiming to be Jesus didn’t know what to think.

But it wasn’t long until Bandler came back. He was carrying a hammer, some large spiked nails, and two long boards. He began pounding the nails into the boards to form a cross — exactly the right size for the man who was claiming to be Jesus. “What are you doing?” the man asked, as his voice began to rise. As Bandler was putting the last nail in the cross, then Bandler asked again, “Are you Jesus?”

Once again the man replied, “Yes, my son.” Then Bandler said, “Then you know why I’m here.”

Somehow, the man suddenly remembered who he really was. He began yelling: “I’m not Jesus! I’m not Jesus!” He was not nearly so interested in being Jesus at that point.

And a lot of people like to think they could be Jesus. They are amazed at his ability to heal. They are awestruck at his wisdom. They are attracted by his power. They think they would be like Jesus, until they understand what he did and the sacrifices he made. They would like to live his life, but they would not like to die his death.

But in a very real sense He is asking all of us exactly that.

Jesus invites us to share in his death. Jesus is asking all of us to partake in his death. He don’t want us to literally die on a cross the way He did, or any other kind of physical death.

Listen as Jesus described his death in, John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Farmers know that a seed will not produce fruit if it’s not put under the soil; the seed is therefore no good at all as for as producing fruit, the seed therefore must give it’s life to bare fruit.

If it just lies on the ground and never germinates, it remains a seed and never becomes the plant it was intended to be.

When a seed lies in the ground and comes into contact with moisture, it changes its appearance & form, but as it dies a green shoot of life begins to come from it. It is being transformed. Death has transformed it. It dies to what it was, to become something else — something greater than its former self. Because of the death of that one seed, a plant will live which will produce a great deal of fruit, as well as many more seeds.

Like the seed, Jesus knew that his death would lead to life for many. It would also lead to life for himself.

Think of what would have happened if Jesus had not been willing to die. There would have been no resurrection for him, or us. There would be no salvation from our sins. There would be no Savior to whom we could go for forgiveness. Jesus would have still been on the earth, instead of sitting at the right hand of the Father in glory interceding for us. If he were still here he would have continued to heal and teach, but we would still be in our sin. There would be no grace, only law.