The One Who Hates His Life Will Keep It

(John 12:25-26)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning, we saw
Some God-fearing Gentiles
Had come to the Passover Feast to worship.
They heard about Jesus
That He had raised a man from the dead,
That He was hailed as the Messiah
When He entered Jerusalem
And they were interested in Him
They wanted to learn more about Him.
They showed every indication
That the Spirit of God was drawing them to Jesus
In a saving way.

We also saw that Jesus was interested in these Greeks.

He wasnt in a position to entertain them at that moment,
But He knew that their interest in Him
Was an indication that the time
Of His glorification was drawing near
That it was time for Him to lay down His life
That He might be the means of saving many

Not only from among the Jews,

But from all the nations.

B. Preview.
1. This evening,
We want to consider that
What Jesus was about to do
Applied to those Gentiles
If they were to follow Him
That it applied to His disciples
Since they were already following Him
And that it applies to us
Since the Lord calls us to follow Him.
When Jesus said, 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 (v. 24),
He meant this not only for Himself,
But also for everyone who will come after Him.

2. Jesus had to die on the cross

He had to take the curse of the broken covenant on Himself
In order to save many, in order to save us.
But in a very real sense,
Jesus had already been dying His entire life:
He continually denied Himself

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That He might serve others
That He might serve us
That He might save us.

Jesus now says that what He did for us,

We are to do for others.
This should come as no great surprise
Since He calls us to imitate His example in everything.

This evening, lets consider

That we also must die
If we would bear fruit.

II. Sermon.
A. Jesus tells us first that we must
Deny ourselves in this life/hate this life
If we are to see heaven.
Another way of putting it is:
We will deny ourselves if heaven belongs to us.
He says in verse 25, He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this
world will keep it to life eternal.
We cant love our lives in this world
We cant live like those in this world
Who dont know God,
Who are His enemies
And expect in the end to enter heaven.

We must give up our lives here

To gain that life that is to come.

As weve already seen,

Jesus was speaking as much to Himself
As He was to His disciples
And even to these God-fearers,
When He said, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains
alone (v. 24).
There is a price we must be willing to pay
If we are to serve the Lord.
He said things like this throughout His ministry:
We read in Matthew 8, Then a scribe came and said to Him, Teacher, I will
follow You wherever You go. Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes and the
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head
(vv. 19-20).
Jesus says to him:
Do you really want to follow Me?
The accommodations arent going to be too lavish.
Are you willing to accept this?
Are you willing to endure whatever you must to follow Me?

He said to the crowds that were following Him on another occasion,

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and
children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My
disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be
My disciple (Luke 14:26-27).

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Do you want to be My disciples?
To be My disciples,
You must love Me more than your parents, your spouse,
Your brothers and sisters.
If theres a conflict between what they want you to do
And what I want you to do,
You must choose what I want.
If you want to do one thing,
And I want you to do another,
You must do what I call you to do.
If serving Me means that you have to die,
You must be willing to it.
Do you still want to be My disciples?

Jesus isnt saying that to be His disciple

We have to have some kind of death wish;
Or that we cant be concerned for our health or wellbeing
Not to do so would be to break the 6th Commandment.

Jesus was never careless with His life,

Nor did He put it on the line needlessly.
What does this say about recreations
That unnecessarily put our lives at risk?

He also doesnt mean we cant enjoy anything

Any good food,

Or recreations,
Or breaks from our vocations/vacations,
As long as what we do
Doesnt involve anything sinful.

Jesus often had to get away from the crowds

To pray, to refresh Himself and regain the strength
He needed to minister to others.

But He is saying there are certain things we cant love:

We cant love the world or the things in the world.
John writes, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (1
John 2:16).
He writes further, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him
(v. 15).

He is saying we cant love even the good things

He has given us in this world more than we should.
We just saw earlier that our love for even the most important of these things
Should be something more like hatred
Compared to our love for Him.
If we love anything more than Him,
That thing is an idol it is our God
And God is a jealous God

He must be first in our hearts.

He is telling us that we cant put

Our own desires in front of His:
Thats what He means when He says
We must pick up our crosses
We must die to what we want and do what He wants.
Thats what it means to be a servant.

And He means we must be willing

Even to die for His cause
If thats what He calls us to do.
In one sense, were all called to be martyrs:
We must be willing to lay down our lives for Jesus.
Paul said to the Ephesian elders, But I do not consider my life of any account as
dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received
from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts
20:24).
He said to the believers at Caesarea,
When they tried to talk to talk him out of going to Jerusalem
Where they knew he would be arrested and imprisoned:
What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to
be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus (21:13).
Thats what Jesus would do.
Thats what we should do as well.

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If we put ourselves
And the good things of this world
Ahead of Him
If we love our lives here
And do what we want to do,
Rather than what He calls us to do
We show that we dont yet know Him.
If we die in that condition,
We will not enter into heaven.

But if we let go of these things:

If we see this world for what it is
The enemy of God
If we turn from it,
If we lay down our lives
And pick up our crosses
We show that we do know Him.
We will not only keep our lives here
Not only will the Lord preserve us
Until our work in this world is over
When were finished,
He will take us to heaven.

B. Jesus goes on to describe

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What this laying down of our lives
What this hating of our lives
Looks like:
It looks like His life.
If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me (v. 26).

What is Jesus really calling us to do?

Hes calling us to do what He did.
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 (v. 24).

Jesus had a purpose:

To advance His Fathers glory/kingdom.

He had a way of achieving this goal:

Obedience to His Fathers commands.

He had a single mind and heart:

To go where His Father called Him to go,
To do what His Father called Him to do,
To suffer what He called Him to suffer,
To do whatever He must to glorify Him.

He had a godly character:

He loved His Father with all His heart,
And His neighbor as Himself;

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He was patient with all men;
And He humbled Himself to become the servant of all.

If we would hate our lives here,

If we would follow Him (v. 26),
We must live to advance His cause,
Do so in the way He commands,
Be willing to do whatever He calls us to do
Whenever He calls us to do it,
No matter how much we might have to suffer,
In love, patience and humility.

If we have trusted Jesus,

And are by His grace on the way to heaven,
Hes already given us the ability to do these things
By His Holy Spirit
We simply need to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit,
By seeking to be filled with His holy presence.

C. Finally, understand that the Lord

Doesnt call us to give up this world
And make all these sacrifices for nothing.

If we hate our lives here,

If we serve Him and follow Him here,

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There is a reward:
And where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father
will honor him (v. 26).
1. If we will serve and follow Him,
We will be where He is.
Where is Jesus?
In heaven.
If we serve Him,
We will also be there.
Jesus says, Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in
Me. In My Fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would
have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you
may be also (John 14:1-3).
Jesus prayed, Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with
Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for
You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
Notice in our text,
And in the last two passages I quoted,
Jesus refers to Himself as already being in heaven:
If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant
will be also (12:26).
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3).
Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I
am (17:24).
Hes either referring to His divine nature
Which was then in heaven,

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As well as everywhere else;
Or to the fact
That His going to heaven was so certain,
Thats He was already there.

But the point is,

As certain as He is there,
So we will be,
If we leave this world behind
And follow Him
And that world is far better
Than the one in which we now live.

As Matthew Henry put it,

He weans us from this world,
By setting before us another and better world.

2. But theres more:

We will not only be where He is in heaven,
We will also receive a reward.
He says, If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him (v. 26).
Remember what Jesus said,
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 (John 12:24).

If we hate our lives here,

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If we follow Him
By dying to ourselves,
We will bear much fruit,
Because it means we are abiding in Jesus.
Jesus says in John 15:5, I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in
Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
And if we bear much fruit,
We will receive a reward.
Heaven is the reward Jesus deserves
We dont get there by our works.
The honor the Father will show us
Is what we deserve by the works we do by His grace.
Nothing we do really deserves a reward,
But He rewards it because Jesus cleanses it from all impurity.

And so as Jesus died to Himself,

Gave Himself to serve His Father,
Bore a great deal of fruit,
And received a reward.
If we follow His example,
And die to ourselves,
We will bear much fruit
And receive a reward as well.

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3. How can we do a better job
With what the Lord has given us to do in this world?
How can we better advance the kingdom of heaven?
We must hate our lives here,
Die to ourselves,
Pick up our crosses,
And follow Jesus.
We must do what Paul exhorted the Colossians,
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the
things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life
is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you
also will be revealed with Him in glory (Col. 3:1-4). Amen.
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