Greeks Seeking Jesus | John 12:20-36

Grant Castleberry preaches "Greeks Seeking Jesus" from John 12:20-36 at The Lord's Day Service at The King's Chapel, Sunday, March 29, 2026.



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Transcript

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Let's pray one more time. Heavenly Father, open our hearts and minds to your word. Would the word do its work in our lives? And may we glory in Christ. In Christ's name. Amen. Well, open your Bibles to the text that we just read, John chapter 12. We're going to look at this encounter in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. To understand what's going on, you have to understand the context. If you remember, Jesus had done the most amazing miracle. He'd raised this man, Lazarus, from the dead. Lazarus' name in history has become synonymous with resurrection, new life. I was watching Interstellar the other day, and the missions that they sent out to find the new planets. You remember they were called the Lazarus missions. Lazarus, that name has gone down in history as symbolic of new life. And of course, the Pharisees are hearing all this. Everybody's talking about Lazarus. And the Pharisees, they can't stand Jesus, and they are intimidated by what's going on. And so they even concoct a plan to kill Lazarus. They want to kill him. So everybody's talking about Lazarus. Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he comes to Bethany, he's coming to the Mount of Olives, and there's thousands in Jerusalem for the Passover, and they begin to come out with palm branches. Palm branches. And the symbolism of this is that about 150 years later, Judas and Simon Maccabees, they called Judas the Hebrew Hammer. They had delivered the Jews from their Greek invaders. And they had gone out of Jerusalem, they had defeated the Greeks, and when they had come back into Jerusalem, the Jews went out and welcomed Judas and Simon Maccabees with palm branches. It was a symbol of victory. And that's where they begin celebrating the Feast of Lights, Hanukkah. So what's the symbolism of the palm branches? What are they expecting as Jesus comes into Jerusalem? They're expecting a political victory. They're expecting Jesus to overthrow their oppressors. Now, Jesus, what's his plan? Does he come riding on a great horse? You know, great leaders throughout history have ridden great horses, haven't they? Even the Texas Rangers. I was reading Larry McMurdy's Comanche Moon. The great Texas Rangers rode great horses. Alexander the Great rode a great horse. Napoleon rode a horse from Egypt, an Arabian steed. Great leaders ride great horses. What does Jesus do? In fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9-9. He gets a donkey and he comes lowly and meek into Jerusalem. How's he coming the second time, by the way? At the second coming? Is he riding a donkey? No, he's riding a white horse in judgment. But this time, he is coming to redeem his people. Now, many of the people understood that he was the Messiah. Many of the people are worshiping him for genuine reasons, I believe. I don't believe everybody in the crowd simply believes he's a political ruler, but many do. And they begin shouting. They quote Psalm 118. Now, when the Jews would come to the festival of tabernacles and to the Passover, as they would go to Jerusalem for these feasts, they would recite Psalm 113 to Psalm 118. All of those Psalms, they were called the Psalms of Halel. And they would recite these Psalms throughout the feast. So it's not surprising that they're thinking about this. The Hebrew word that we call Hosanna means save us. It's a cry for God's redemption. And throughout Israel's history, it became a cry of declaration that Yahweh saves. And so as Jesus is coming, he's riding on this donkey, they're shouting out, Hosanna, save us. Hosanna, save us, Hosanna, save us. Quoting Psalm 118, verse 25. How was he going to save them? Well, if they would have read just four verses earlier, Psalm 118, 22, says this. He was going to save by being rejected. And so he comes into Jerusalem. There is a frenzy, a roar. If you look at verse 17, the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. They're saying, this is the one. This is the one we were telling you about. This is the one who raised Lazarus from the dead. Here he is. Here he is in the city. So there's this huge uproar. And there are some Gentile God fearers in Jerusalem. In this passage, they're simply called Greeks. But what that means, they're not necessarily of Greek descent. This word is used to describe anybody who is not a Jew. And so there's some Greeks in Jerusalem. They become interested in who this Jesus is. Look at verse 20. Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Beth Seda in Galilee. Is Philip a Hebrew name or a Greek name? It's a Greek name, right? Many suspect that that's the reason why they came to Philip. So they they come to Philip, who was from Besseda in Galilee, and ask him wonderful, wonderful request. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip really doesn't know what to do with this because he knows that Jesus came to seek the lost sheep of Israel. Over and over again, he's emphasized this that he's come first to the Jew. What do we do with this? Philip doesn't know. What do you do when you don't know? You ask your buddy, right? He asked Andrew. Verse 22, Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew is sometimes known as the evangelist to the Gentiles, right? So Andrew, he goes to Jesus. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Now, I don't think that Jesus ever actually went and talked to these Gentiles. All we're told is a response that he makes to Andrew and Philip, and I think the rest of the disciples are listening in. Look what he says. It's absolutely amazing. Verse 23. And Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. All throughout his ministry. Remember at Cana when they ran out of wine and his mother came to him and said, What do you, can you do something? He said, Woman, my hour has not yet come. He said again and again that his hour is in the future, his hour being this moment in history where he will die for sinners. That's what the hour refers to. But now look what he says. He says, the hour has come. The hour has come. And then look, for the Son of Man to be glorified. Isn't that interesting? That out of all the language that he could have chosen, because so much is happening at the cross, isn't it? When we think about the cross, we think about our redemption, we think about the forgiveness of sins. And he could have said that. He could have said, now the hour has come for the Son of Man to make propitiation for sin. He could have talked about that, but what does he say? What's foremost on his mind? He says, now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. That in his mind, the ultimate reason for the cross is the glory of God. Now there's a lot of other reasons for the cross that are at the foot of the cross that come before the cross, but the ultimate reason for the cross is the glory of the name of the Son, the name of the Father, and even the name of the Spirit. That's so counterintuitive, isn't it? And we're naturally so focused, so inclined to focus on ourselves. But here Jesus is saying that the cross is ultimately about his glory. I find that so countercultural. Everybody's asking, what's in it for me? Right? What's in it for me? What does Christianity do for me? And Christianity says that the real point of all of this is his glory. So in the rest of these 17 verses, 15 verses, he's going to give us five ways that the cross demonstrates God's glory. And I just want to give them very briefly to you. The first way is in verse 24. That the cross displays the Son's character. Look at verse 24. This is the explanation. Truly, truly. Amen, amen. 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. It's an agricultural analogy. Every farmer understands it. That in order to reap a harvest, you have to plant the seed into the ground, and that seed has to break, to germinate, and to be fertilized, be watered, and then ultimately it bears fruit. But in order for that to happen, the seed has to be planted. What is the fruit of Jesus' atonement? It's us. The fruit is the salvation of sinners. So Jesus is saying for that to happen, I have to be planted, I have to die. Now, when we reflect on Jesus' character, when we look at the Gospels, if you were to cut off in the Gospels the passion of the Christ, the atonement and the resurrection, we would still glory in Christ, wouldn't we? Because he is the most amazing person who has ever lived. He is the God man. He's amazing. He spoke like no one had ever heard someone speak. You read the Sermon on the Mount. It's the greatest discourse that we've ever read. When they try to arrest Jesus in the temple, the temple guards go to arrest him. They can't arrest him. They go back to the temple authorities. They say, No one has ever spoken like this man. He worked miracles. He healed leprous men. He raised the dead. He turned water into wine. He calms the storms. He possesses authority. He can call demons out of a man and cast them into a herd of swine. The demons knew that he was in authority over them. People said he doesn't speak like the scribes. He speaks as one having authority. He lived a perfect life. Even Pilate said, I find no fault with this man. Jesus testified. He said, I honor the Father. He displayed perfect compassion for people. So you take the man Jesus Christ and you take all of that and you ask yourself, is that God man worthy of worship? And we would all say, Yes, he is. But why do we love Christ so much? Why do we love him so much? It's because he gave up his life. He is the greatest man, yes. But the greatest man gave up his own life to save sinners. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus marched to the cross to show his love for us, to show his love for you. He gave up his life. The excruciating pain of crucifixion. Oh, it was awful. But then to incur the wrath of God, the perfect one, taking on our sin penalty on our behalf. Isn't that why we love him so? Isn't that why we glory in Christ? Yes, he's the greatest man, but he's our redeemer. And it's in his redemption that we see his character so wonderfully revealed, isn't it? One thing I love to see up here when you're singing at the end after after the message, one of the reasons y'all see that I stand up here almost every Sunday, Phil's normally leading. And so many of you, I just see the tears rolling down your faces. And that's because you know his grace, you know his love. And so you've seen the greatest man, but you've also seen his sacrifice, and you glory in it. So that's the first way that the cross demonstrates his glory. The second is that the cross becomes the path of his followers. You see, it's not just that Jesus lived this sacrificial life, and then that we have wealth, friends, and influence. That's the prosperity gospel, right? What does he say? He says, no. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This is a Jewish idiom. Notice that word hate. It means to love something less. It does not mean to literally hate your life and commit suicide or something like that. It means that you value something else more to such a degree that it could be said that you hate something. And Jesus is saying that you must value Christ in his kingdom more than anything else. So in this way, the sacrifice of Christ becomes the model and the archetype for how the Christian is to live, being willing to suffer for him. It's a cross-centered life. Jesus said, Luke 9, 23, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me, forever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Saving faith is not just intellectual belief in who Jesus is and what he's done, is it? It's to trust in Jesus Christ. To trust alone in Jesus Christ. It's to put all of your hope in him and to release all of your hope in everything else that you're leaning on in this world. My great uncle, he was a preacher, Cajun preacher in Louisiana, always used to say, Grant, you don't commit yourself to Christ, you surrender yourself to Christ. That is the essence of saving faith. I was reading this week about an old preacher named R. A. Tory. Has anybody ever heard that name? R. A. Tory. He was the he was the uh pastor at Moody Church in Chicago about a hundred years ago. And Tory, raised in a Christian home, really he heard the gospel and rejected it. And the reason why he rejected it is because he did not want to submit his life to Christ. So this is what his biographer said about Tory. He believed everything a broad-minded citizen of the 19th century needed to believe about Christian doctrine, with only a handful of skeptical reservation about some of the harder doctrines. He was willing to identify himself publicly with the church. But as he read the church membership requirements closely, he recognized that to be a Christian meant to surrender your will and your future plans to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That was something he was not willing to do. After all, he wanted to be a lawyer, but Christ might want him to do something else. And he continued down that path, and his conscience kept convicting him to the point where he almost committed suicide. He looked for a razor, he couldn't find it, and he knelt down in his room and said, Lord, I give my life to you. That's trusting in Jesus Christ. It's not just mental ascent, it's coming to the end of yourself. This is why Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a man who finds a treasure hidden in a field. And what does he do? He sells all that he owns to buy that field. It's like a man who finds a pearl of great price. What does he do? He sells all that he has to buy that pearl. So it's this willingness to give up your old life and say, Lord, my life is yours. I have been crucified with Christ. Right? It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, the Son of God who gave himself for me. It's Christ's life. Verse 26, he says, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. Akoluthio, it means to pattern your life after Christ's life. To look at the God man and say, I am going to follow him. How do you serve Jesus in this world? Does he ask you to do grandiose things? Does he ask you to do things that will be talked about in the newspaper? No, he just asks you to follow. To follow him. Spurgeon said, quote, the highest service is imitation. If I would be Christ's servant, I must be his follower. To do as Jesus did is the surest way to bring honor to his name. Let me keep this in mind every day. How does this bring glory to Christ? How does this bring glory to God? Think about this. It's that your life reveals Christ's life. When people look at You. What should they see? They should see Christ. Do you remember in Antioch they were first called Christians? Christian means little Christ. That everywhere running around, you have little people imitating Christ's life. And so wherever people see Christians, what are they to see? His body. They are to see Christ. Because is it because we're so great? It's because we're so grand. What does he say? You serve me and you follow me. And in this way, you reveal Christ's life to the world. Little Christ. Writer of Hebrews says, Hebrews 13, 13, therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. So the Christian life is the cross before the crown. It is service to Christ now and then the honor and the glory of the world to come. This is how we are to live following Christ. And in so doing, it displays his glory. Third way, the cross displays the glory of God. It displays the Father's character. Not just the Son's character, not just a way for us to follow, it displays the Father's character. Look at verse 27. He says, Now is my soul troubled. The word for soul is suke. It's where we get our word psychology. It speaks to the inner man, speaks to the heart. Speaks to who you are on the inside. And Jesus uses this word. It's uh the Greek word teraso. It's the same word that Jesus used to describe himself when he came to Lazarus' tomb. The death of Lazarus. He was troubled. It means for your insides to be turned on end. Have you ever received news that just shook you? Shook you to the core, where you were just you were just going along in your life, and then all of a sudden your soul is depressed, and you don't know what to do or how to handle it. That's how Jesus feels. All of a sudden, he's here, he knows he's here for the cross. And he says, My soul, and even thinking about all of this, is troubled. And notice what he does. He reminds himself why he's here. He reminds himself why he's here in this moment. It's marvelous. He says, What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? That's one option. Should I pray that? Father, save me from this hour? No. But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. Ooh. This is high theology. Look what he says. Father, glorify your name. Notice this resolution, this resolution of purpose, that the Father's name would be glorified in this hour. What does it mean for something to be glorified? It means for its character qualities to be displayed and then rejoiced in. So what he's saying is, he says, Father, I've come to this hour that the character qualities of the Father would be seen, and in so seen, they would be praised and rejoiced in. That's why I'm here in this hour. The glory of your name. Is the glory of the Father. Is that our heartbeat? Even in our sanctification, if we're honest, how often when we stumble and fall, we're like, dang it, I did it again. It's about the fact that we fell. But how often do we think about the fact that we've dishonored him? Jesus, his mind is wired to the honor and glory of God. How does the cross reveal the Father's glory? Obviously, the heavens declare the glory of God. You see the Hubble, the pictures of the Hubble telescope. It's the glory of God, right? You go outside, and if you can see through the pollen, everywhere you look, you see the glory of God. The other day, walking on our street, we saw a bald eagle. You're like, amazing. It declares, even the creatures declare the handiwork of his hands, right? We see his glory even when you taste good ice cream. Everything points to his character. But Jesus says the cross. This is amazing. Most reveals this glory of God. How so? How so? Because it is at the cross, first and foremost, that the love of God is displayed. I had a friend one time, he said, How do I know? How do I know God loves me? How can I really know he loves me? Answer. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You see, God wasn't reluctantly giving the Son. God loved us and He sent His Son to die for us. So if you ever wonder, does God really love me? You look back in history, you say, yes, He does. He's shown me that He loves me. You see, the cross is just this amazing demonstration of the love of God. That He gave His own Son. That He came. He sacrificed Himself. What other proof do you need of the love of God? And then the righteousness of God, right? The righteousness of God. You know, in Islam, they believe that Allah just forgives people. That Allah will just forgive. He just asked for forgiveness. He forgives. The problem with that is there's no justice. You see, God is just. God cannot excuse evil. Evil must pay. Your blood screams for justice when you see somebody take an innocent life of a child or assault a woman. You want justice. And friends, God is just. And Paul says that in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, the justice of God. Because when Jesus was dying on the cross, God was not excusing sin, was He? He was pouring out on the Son what would take you forever in hell to pay. He was pouring the just penalty for sin out on the Son. It's just amazing what Paul says. Jot this verse down, Romans 3.25. He says, talking about Christ, he says, God put forwards as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. And this was to show God's righteousness because in his forbearance he had passed over former sins. Talking about in the Old Testament, God had forgiven people like David and Moses and Abraham and Noah and Seth. God had forgiven all these people. But God is just. And so Paul says, verse 26 of Romans 3, the cross was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. For this reason, Martin Luther said that you have to have a theology of the cross. In other words, we understand God through the lens of the atonement. Yes, we glory in all of his attributes. But where else do you see his love and his righteousness displayed than here? So we come to the cross, we glory in it, we glory in the Father's character. And notice the heartbeat of the Father. A voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. So this is the Father's objective, that his name would be glorified at Christ's redemption, that there would be a manifestation of his character, and that we would rejoice in it. Verse 29, then the crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel has spoken to him. So it was an audible noise, a massive noise. Some thought it was thunder. You know, if you mistake something for thunder, it must be very loud. Or an angel. Angels must have loud voices. Verse 30. This is so intuitive. Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Later on, Jesus' disciples would remember the voice. They would be encouraged by it, that this is a validation of whom they had believed. Interestingly enough, there's three times in Jesus' ministry when an audible voice is heard. At his baptism, remember when the Holy Spirit comes down in the form of a dove? There's a voice. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That's when he inaugurated his prophetic ministry. At his transfiguration before he goes to Jerusalem, a voice is heard with Peter and John on the mountain. That's when he inaugurated his priestly ministry. And then here at his triumphal entry, when he is inaugurating his kingly ministry, this voice is heard. But don't miss the message of the voice that the Father will be glorified. That's the third way that the Father is glorified in the atonement. Fourth, the cross brings the judgment of Satan. Verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. In John 8.44, Satan's called a liar and the father of lies. In John 14, 30, Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world. Paul calls Satan in 2 Corinthians 4.6 the God of this world. That word world is the Greek word cosmos. And the the lexical meaning of that word, even in John's gospel, is extremely variant, meaning that there's lots of different meanings for this word cosmos. So you really have to use context to understand what is specifically being talked about. And sometimes the way that John uses the word world, he uses it to describe the evil systems that are under the control of Satan. For example, 1 John 3 15, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. So Satan is the God of this world. He is the ruler of this world. And Jesus is saying that at the cross, this ruler of the world will be cast out. Isn't that interesting language? Thrown out. It's like you're thrown out of a bar. You know, just imagine somebody being thrown out onto the street. What's he saying? He's saying something is going to happen at the cross that will throw Satan out. It will be a fulfillment of the prophecy all the way, made all the way back in Genesis 3.15. Do you remember that a seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, but he would bruise his heel. So that prophecy was made, and the cross will be a fulfillment of it. And it's interesting, there's all sorts of prophecies made about the atonement. Think about Isaiah 53, what we just read earlier, Psalm 18, 22. There's all sorts of allusions to the atonement in the Old Testament, but Satan misses them. The reason I know he missed them is because he helps orchestrate the crucifixion. He possesses Judas and brings Judas to betray Jesus on the Mount of Olives, and Jesus is betrayed. Satan thinks that in the crucifixion he's winning. How confused is he? Because what happened at the crucifixion is Jesus takes away the guilt and shame of his people. So what Satan would do, remember the book of Job, is Satan would waltz into heaven. He would waltz into heaven, and what he does in heaven with the Father is he makes accusations. Have you considered what she's done? Don't you know when she was 18 what she did? Did you see what he did when no one was looking? And Satan comes and he makes accusations before God over and over and over again against these people that have been forgiven. So what does Christ do at the atonement? He takes away the ground of the accusation. So that when Satan comes, God says, get out. Don't you know it's paid in full? It's paid in full. There is no ground of accusation. Jot down this verse, meditate on it. It's important. Colossians 2, 14 and 15. He says, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Listen to verse 15, he disarmed the rulers and authorities, these are evil powers, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Isn't that amazing? So, in a real sense, at the crucifixion, at the cross, Satan was defeated. Jesus said in Luke 10, 18, he said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. So he knows his time is short. Now he knows that the accusation, his only weapon against you, the accusation of guilt and shame, has been taken away. Isn't that awesome? Praise be to God. When I was at Pine Cove as a kid, we used to do this chant. It was Romans 16, 19. And it went like this. I still remember it. Romans 16, 19 says. Romans 16, 19 says. Be excellent at what is good and be innocent of evil. And then it says, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet. Yeah. We all jump up and down right then. The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet. Christian, that is true. And it happened at the cross. Okay. Fifth and finally, there's one other way that the cross will bring glory to God. The cross draws all men to him. Verse 32. He says, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth. What's he talking about there when he says I'm lifted up from the earth? The cross, right? Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, he says, When I'm lifted up, and that's explained in verse 33. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. He says, But when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. So I think this is in the context of the Greeks, the Gentiles coming. This is in his mind. And what he's saying here is that at the cross I will redeem for myself not just Jews, but a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. All the nations, all the peoples. No one too far off. And this verb he uses, I will draw. It speaks of a, we talked about last week, a rope pulling a bucket up in a well. So Jesus is saying, when I am lifted up, I will draw. Certainly. This will happen. This is not wishful thinking. This is not like I hope I will draw, I hope this will happen. He's saying, no. If I'm lifted up, I will draw all people to myself. Before the cross, where were all the Gentile nations? Just use your world history. What were your ancestors doing? They were running around in Germany painting themselves with blue paint and wearing kilts, right? I mean, just pagans worshiping Norse gods and sun gods and just all sorts of pagan idolatry. That was our ancestors. That's our history. What happened? What's happened the past 2,000 years? What's happening? The great missionary enterprise, right? And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. The gospel goes forth, and Jesus is drawing all people to himself. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. So, in a sense, you you look out. This is the glory of God. Is you see people from every tribe, tongue, and nation giving praise to his name in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. It's the church. It's amazing to see what Christ has accomplished. A church history book I like to read is written by a guy named Nick Needham. It's five volumes. But the title of all of the volumes, the title of the series is 2,000 years of Christ's Power. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power. Christianity. Going forth and pagans, the vandals, and the Visigoths, and the Saxons, and the Chinese, and the Samurais in Japan, all these people being converted to Christ. It's amazing. So, what's the response to all this? Well, here's the response. In some ways, the crowd doesn't understand verse 34. So the crowd answered him, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. In other words, like, are you going to set up the kingdom now, a political kingdom now? How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? This confuses us. Jesus responds, look at verse 35. The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. Now who's the light there? Jesus is the light, right? I am the light of the world. John 7. He's saying, You believe in me while you have the light. What does darkness represent? Evil and rejection of Christ. So he says, don't fall into darkness. Believe while you have the light. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. Verse 36, while you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. What he's saying is that there's an urgency. There's an urgency with our lives. We don't live the Christian life half-heartedly. I was reading Jerry Bridges, and he says, a lot of Christians, they live their life like they're on cruise control. You know, just like set the speed and just, you know, if you're in a Tesla, just take the hands off, you know, and just sit there. Just let it drive you. He says, no, we're to live our lives like we're driving in a race. We need to be race car drivers. We need to do as much good for the glory of God while we can. You need to believe the gospel while you can. Today is the day of salvation. Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today for Christ. That's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, believe in me now, because night is coming. I told the ladies in the Bible study this week when I was growing up in North Dallas, there's a church we used to always drive by, Park Cities Baptist Church. And big church. You can see the steeple from downtown Dallas. If you're in the petroleum club in downtown Dallas, you can look north. You can see Park Cities. And on the steep, there's a clock on four sides. So when you're driving down the road, you look up, you see the clock. And on the clock, the words are written, night cometh. The day of darkness is coming when it's too late. Believe today. Live for the glory today. Glory in him. And friends, listen, I am praying that there will be an awakening here to the glory of Christ. This isn't just theoretical or philosophical. Jesus came into the world and he demonstrated the glory of his name and he demonstrated the glory of God. And it's time for us to be gripped by this and for it to compel everything in our lives. Lord, may this be so. Lord, we want this to be so. We are glorying in these realities of what you have accomplished. At the cross, the love of God and the righteousness of God displayed. Our Redeemer wasn't just content to demonstrate his perfections, but he lowered himself by becoming obedient, even obedience to the point of death on a cross. Lord, we we believe in our hearts that you are the Son of God. You believe that you died for our sins. We believe that you rose again for our justification. We believe that you have ascended to the right hand of the Father, where you rule and reign, and that one day you are returning again for your saints, and we will receive resurrection bodies, and we will always be with you in a new heavens and a new earth. We believe these things. But Lord, help us now to follow you and to live for what's most important for your honor and your glory in Christ's name. Amen.