Somebody Has to Die

May 25, 2014 (Memorial Day; 2011 revised)

Somebody Has to Die

John 12:20-36                            NOT EDITED

SIS—There are several levels of freedom and at each level somebody has to die.

As we come to this memorial day 2014, I want us to be keenly aware that we are at this very moment engaged in a great war:  we call it a “War on Terror.”  We will be entering the 14^th years come September, but this war hardly raises an eyebrow—unless you are one of the thousands of military families who are paying the price, or have paid the ultimate price.

I recently read a quote from Elie Wiesel, the Nazi Concentration Camp survivor, who went on to win a Nobel Peace Prize and spearhead the building of the Holocaust Museum in Washington.  I think it applies as well to fallen soldiers as it does Holocaust Survivors.  Wiesel said, (and I may not be quoting it exactly) “When we forget those who died, they die twice.  There was little we could do about the first death, but we can do much to avoid the second.”

May no fallen soldier ever have to die twice.  We must remember.

On patriotic days such as this, I think a lot about freedom.  I am mindful of just what it takes to become and to continue as a free nation, or as a free person.  I also turn my attention to the ultimate expression of freedom:  my freedom from the penalty of sin which is eternal death in hell.  So, as I was praying to ask God for a message on freedom this statement invaded my consciousness and captivated my soul:  freedom means:  “somebody has to die.” 

There are three levels, or expressions of freedom, and to achieve each level of freedom requires that somebody has to die.  To gain political freedom, a soldiers have to die.  To gain spiritual freedom, a Savior had to die.  To experience personal freedom, my self has to die – then, I am truly free.  Let’s read what Jesus said about the matter of gaining true freedom:

20 Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 So they came to Philip,  who was from Bethsaida  in Galilee,  and requested of him, “Sir,  we want to see Jesus.”22 Philip went and told Andrew;  then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man  to be glorified.

24 “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat  falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.

This passage must be understood in the light of the passage that has gone before:  the Triumphal Entry.  The disciples had just witnessed one of the most glorious events in their three years of walking with Jesus.  Jesus was heralded and celebrated as the Coming King, the Messiah in the line of David.

Then we have verse 20 that begins:  “Now some Greeks.”  The scene turns from Jesus in the celebrated city of the Jews to a brief, but abruptly ended, reference to “Greeks.”  What is the Holy Spirit telling us through John?

This passage is first of all a condemnation of the Jews.  They were willing to embrace Jesus as long as He led the charge against the Roman tyrants, but they wanted no part of His message of death and sacrifice.  Ultimately, the Jews would lead the charge in crying out for the crucifixion of the very one they were celebrated just a week before.

Secondly, this passage completely shatters the idea that Christ came to give us political victory over our enemies:  in this case the Jews believed Jesus would crush the Roman tyranny that pressed the yoke of servitude upon their necks.  Instead, Jesus obliterates the idea of such political conquest by turning abruptly to the message about “dying.” 

Too many people wanted an “easy believism” that would fulfill their immediate gratifications.  But Jesus had a different mission.

The key concept we must gain from this text is this:  in order for us to be free—politically, spiritually, and personally—someone has to die.  The price of freedom is blood.  To secure any freedom, somebody has to die.

The Bible speaks a great deal about freedom, both directly and indirectly.  It speaks of freedom both in terms of political freedom and spiritual freedom.

Lev 23:13 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke  and enabled you to live in freedom.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent Me to heal  the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;

Gal 5:1  Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm  then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Jesus said in His own words, (Jn. 8:32)  If you continue in My word,  y you really are My disciples. 32 You will know the truth,  and the truth will set you free.”Conclusion:  Freedom is an important aspect of what it means to be “created in God’s image.”  Freedom is first and foremost a spiritual matter.  Our Founding Fathers—writing within the context of Christianity—stated:We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.Redemption brings about freedom.  Those whom Christ sets free in the spiritual realm are “truly free.”  The Bible speaks of freedom as a core component of redemption.  It is possible, of course, to make freedom simpy a matter of a birthright by having been born in America.  But, freedom must include more than patriotic matters.  Freedom at its core is a spiritual matter.

There are three levels of freedom—political, spiritual, and personal—and each level or expression of freedom requires that somebody has to die.

Jesus refers to that “somebody” as a grain of wheat.  It dies a single grain in the ground but produces a harvest of many.  Just like the death of a soldier produces freedom for many, or the death of the Savior produced freedom for many.  One dies, many benefit.  That’s the Law of the Dying Wheat Kernel.

1.  Political freedom requires that a SOLDIER die. (vv 12-15)

12 The  next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 they took palm branches  and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna!  He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One  s—the King of Israel!”  14 Jesus found a young donkey  and sat on it, just as it is written: 15 Fear no more,  Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

The Jewish people were looking for a king who would be a conquering Soldier, not a dying Savior.  They long for freedom from political oppression.  They wanted a Soldier. They were right in one thing:  the realized that to be politically free they needed a soldier.  To be politically free a soldier has to die.

Remember I am using the word soldier today to represent all the members of our armed forces.  Since our great country was founded some two plus centuries ago, over a million men and women (mostly men) have died to secure and to keep our nation’s freedom.

All over the world there are cemeteries, like Flanders Field in Europe or Arlington National Cemetery in Washington that have row upon row upon row of crosses and headstones of soldiers killed in battle.  These are men (and some women) who left homes here in America boarding planes and ships, but returned in a box.  When we see these row upon row upon row of white crosses or simple headstones, it should remind us that to have political freedom, a soldier has to die.  Let us not take our liberty to lightly. 

I do not think it idolatrous for us to take a moment to thank God for the soldiers who secured our freedom with their service, or with their very lives.  As we read in the passage above, and I’ll repeat it here.  God said to Pharoah through Moses:

Ex 8   1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

The people of Israel were politically in bondage to the Pharoah of Egypt.  Consequently, they could not worship God in the way God desires to be worshipped.

True worship—in its God-ordained full expression—requires freedom.  This is not to say that those who are not “politically” free cannot worship God.  One of the largest bodies in the world is the Chinese, unregistered and illegal, church of China.  Even under immense threat and persecution millions of believers gather daily to worship God.

But, God wants all people to be free to worship Him openly and enthusiastically without the threat of death or persecution.  Political freedom is important to God.  He shows that over and over again throughout His Word.

But, political freedom is not the essential state of freedom.  Someone can be politically free and still remain in harsh bondage to sin.  There is the matter of “spiritual freedom.”

2.  Spiritual freedom requires that a Savior must die.  (vv 24-26)

My little brother is an example of someone who was politically free but spiritually in bondage.  He was born in America and lived his entire 40 years in political freedom.  But, he was not free.  Sin, in the shape of a bottle, had captured his soul.  Soon, his body and mind were also POW’s to the Demon Brew.  He remained free politically, but spiritually he spent over three decades—three decades—in spiritual bondage.  Only the last 8 months of his life was he truly free – spiritually free.  But, the years as a POW had staked a claim on my brothers health.  Then, at last, he was truly free as he passed into Glory Land.

There’s more to freedom than a soldier’s death can provide.  True freedom—freedom from sin and eternal death—requires that a Savior must die.

From the very beginning God shows us that in order for man to be “free” (that is, spiritually free, or absolutely free) blood must be shed.  Let me take you all the way back to the Book of Genesis, to the Garden of Eden:

Gen 3   20The LORD God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

Recall that after Adam and Eve sinned their eyes were open (they became aware of their shameful nature) and they clipped off some fig leaves to cover they nakedness – an illustration of man trying to solve his sin problem on his own, in the way man thinks best.

But, that would not do.  God fashioned a covering from the skin of animals.  The implication is that God killed the animals to provide the skins.  Man’s attempt at absolution did not require anything or anyone to die, but that was insufficient in God’s eyes.

Move forward a little bit to the story of Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Abel.  Abel’s gift (sacrifice) was acceptable because it resulted in the life of one of the animals in his flock.

Then come to the story of the exodus from Egypt when the last plague—the one that secured the freedom of Israel—was the death of the first-born.  Again, freedom—true spiritual freedom, absolute freedom—requires the shedding of blood.  In the case prior to the exodus, it was the blood of animals.  Exodus required the blood of a first-born son.

Now, let us come to Jesus.  Here in our text Jesus abruptly turns from a discussion of the great celebration when He entered Jerusalem to this conversation:

24 “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat  falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.

Spiritual freedom requires that somebody die, and that Somebody had to be an absolutely perfect being—it had to be God, Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity.  Only this perfect sacrifice would atone for man’s sin.

True freedom is freedom from the penalty of sin which is eternal death—that is eternal separation from God in hell.  Sin is such a serious matter—a cosmic problem that only the Creator, Himself can remedy—that it required the death of Jesus Christ.  Only a dying Savior can bring life to many.  Jesus is that “kernel of wheat that had to die for the fruit of salvation to become available for the many.”

Now, many people object to the fact that spiritual freedom requires the shedding of blood – of hundreds of thousands of animals in the Old Testament to the blood of the perfect, sinless Son of God.

The objection focuses on the love of God.  Why would a loving God have such a cruel, even barbaric, requirement for forgiveness of sin?  This line of thinking becomes problematic by reducing God’s attributes to only, or even primarily, love.  God is love, but God is more than love.

God is also holy.  He is absolutely holy.  Therefore, no sin, even a seemingly minute sin can exist in God’s Presence.  God is a consuming fire and the nature of fire is to destroy that which is “not fire.”  God’s consuming fire of holiness must, but His nature, destroy any sin however minute.

God is also just.  God has declared by fiat and by His nature that “the wages of sin is death.”  Any and all sin must fall under the penalty of death according to God’s justice.  God cannot change this fact because it is part of Who He is, as well as what He has declared.  So, any and all sin fall under this penalty, and the penalty must always be paid.

A story I read one day may help us better understand why the only true Savior must be a dying Savior, and must be absolutely spotless.  Therefore, the only true way to pay the penalty of all sin for all time would be for a Holy God, Himself, to cover that penalty.  Here is the story that I think helps us understand that.

There was once a tribe where the chief was a wise and powerful man. He was respected for his physical strength as well as his tough and fair laws which everyone respected and obeyed. However, one day, it was discovered that someone was sneaking into the tents and stealing. The chief ordered that this person be found and that the punishment for this crime would be 40 lashes with the whip. "No one is exempt!" he declared. "This punishment must be served." The tribe agreed that it was a fair punishment. However, the chief was devastated when he discovered that it was his frail old mother who was the thief. "Surely in her old age, she will never survive 40 lashes," he thought, "but I cannot change the punishment, for it is fair and just and has already been announced." At the thought of losing his mother whom he loved, he was heart-broken. When the time came for the punishment to be administered, the chief gave the order to begin and at once, his mother cried out, "Save me my son!"  Immediately, the chief ran and embraced his mother, shielding her entire body from the whips. As the whips came down upon his back again and again and the pain filled him, he quietly whispered to his mother that he loved her.  The Chief, himself, bore the penalty He Himself had declared must be paid.

So, as we stand here today in the shadow cast by the memories of those brave men and women who died on battlefields to bring us political freedom, and, as we stand here today in the shadow of the Old Rugged Cross upon which Jesus Christ, God’s Only Son, died to make available spiritual freedom,  we still have not exhausted what it means to be “free, truly free.”

In order to be politically free, a soldier has to die.  In order to be spiritually free the Savior had to die.  But, in order to be

3.  Personally free, the Self has to die.

Jesus did not die to set all men free.  Let me say again, Jesus did not die in order to set all men free.  There is a sense in which God “limited” the substitutionary gift of salvation to only the “elect,” or those who would “personally” accept what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

Only when a person “crucifies” his or her SELF, will they be personally free.

Look at our text again in verses 24-26:

I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat  falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.  k 25 The one who loves his life will lose it,  and the one who hates  his life  in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there My servant  also will be.  If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor  him.

Here is the great lesson Jesus had been trying to teach His disciples for over three years—and would continue to try to teach them right up to His death on the cross—in order to be “personally free” (that is absolutely spiritually free from any sway sin can have in your life now and for eternity), somebody has to die – that somebody is SELF.

A soldier dies to make political freedom available.  A Savior died to make spiritual freedom available; but the Self must die to make personal freedom a reality.

You will never be free until you “personally” crucify your Self by embracing fully, and eagerly Jesus Christ as the Lord of Life.  Paul said,

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live.  Yet it is not I who lives but Christ who lives within me.  The life I now live I live by faith in the One who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)

This is what Jesus tried to teach the disciples in Luke 9:23:

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with  Me, he must deny himself,  take up his cross daily,  and follow Me. 

There’s no victory without a battle.  There’s no empty tomb without an occupied cross.  The call to follow Jesus is a call to “come and die.”

Freedom is more than simply being loosed from the chains of political tyranny.  Many people around the world do not have that kind of freedom.  Freedom requires more than Jesus Christ dying on the cross.  Jesus died on the cross and still every minute of every day men, women and children pass into eternity as slaves to sin and confined to hell forever.

True freedom is personal freedom.  This comes when our self dies by accepting the free gift provided in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

There are people even here in this room that will die and spend eternity in hell even though a Savior has died to make salvation free and available.  But, you cannot get into heaven until the Self dies.  That is a decision you must make, and you must make that decision before you take your last breath.

I am so thankful today for the soldiers (service men and women of all the forces) who have paid the absolute sacrifice to make America the most free nation in the history of the world.

I am thankful for the Savior, Jesus Christ, who paid the ultimate penalty for my sin, and the sins of many, when like a grain of wheat He planted His life blood on a hill called Calvary.

I am thankful that my SELF, is being crucified with Christ as I embrace Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior every moment of every day.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop” (John 12:24).

We are all blessed recipients of that single grain of wheat, Jesus Christ, who died to give His life a ransom for many.  May we all embrace the freedom that Jesus Christ has provided.  Let us die to self, and live for Him.

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