Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
So that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. This morning we're reading from the Gospel of John, John chapter 12. We know that three times in the Word of God that God the Father spoke from heaven to God the Son. One of those times is here in John chapter 12.
And I'd like us to begin reading. in verse 20 and we'll read down to verse 28. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bathsauda. of Galilee.
and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. In other words, the time is coming that you're going to come to understand who I am. you will get the right reputation and viewpoint of me.
And it is at this time. If I could say it this way, that I will become famous. Verse 24. Verily, 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.
He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If 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 honor?
Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, Glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it And will glorify it again.
And may God add his blessing to the reading of his word. And all God's people said. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we pray for your blessing now.
and the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Father, we are weak, you are strong. We are nothing, you are everything. And so, Lord, please meet with us this morning. We pray for the anointing and the power of God.
In Jesus' name. Amen. A number of years ago, I was on a missions trip overseas in the country. of Kenya, Africa. As we were driving out of the Game park that we had gone to for a couple of days off of vacation called the Maasai Mara.
I notice a zebra standing by the side of the road, just standing there all alone. I don't know if you've ever seen a zebra in real life, but they're just the coolest animal. It's like God took black and white paint and just painted them. And I guess I was just contemplating the zebra, and I asked. The missionary, I said, why is it that people don't ride zebras like you ride other horses?
And he looked at me like I was dumb. And he said, Why, you don't understand? I said, No, I don't. He said, zebras. are too stubborn to be broken.
And he said, really, zebras are good for two things: for people like you who like to look at them. and people like me who like to eat them. But fundamentally That in many ways they can't be practically used. because of their lack or their unwillingness to to be broken. We often see in the economy of God's creation.
That the things that he created. only become useful when they are broken. Have you ever considered that? What man makes when it is broken becomes useless. What God has created when it becomes broken becomes useful.
Think about the eggs you ate this morning. They were only useful because they were cracked. Think about the vegetables that you eat. They come out of the ground, but they can't grow until the ground has been plowed up, until the ground has been broken, then the seed can be sown and the fruit can come forth. We know it's true.
in building houses. You live in a house and the house that you live in was made because somebody went out and they cut a tree down. And then they cut it even more. We were just in a sawmill in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago, and we saw them bringing in these white and red oak trees. They had cut them down, and they were skinning them down, and they were making them usable.
In the economy of God, things that become useful experience some kind of brokenness in their life. And if that's true of what God has created in this physical world, how much more in the people that God has created in his own image? That the people that God uses are people who have become broken. Fact is, Pastor, I've experienced this in my own ministry: that the difference between one person over another person in ministry is usually not their abilities. Nor is it their talents.
It's not their education. And I'm not demeaning them, by the way, because God uses all of those things. It's not their intellect. It's not even their opportunities. But rather, it is the level of their brokenness.
And the deeper the level of brokenness, the greater the level of usefulness. Paul said it this way: when I am weak, I am what? Strong He says, I do not boast in my abilities. I do not boast in my own wisdom, but I boast in the power of God. And the power of God is only experience when you go through different levels of brokenness.
John teaches this here in John chapter 12. Where he tells us a basic principle of brokenness, he uses in a figure of speech. Would you notice what he says? In verse 24, Jesus said, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
A kernel of wheat simply is the seed that is sown to bring forth wheat. And as that seed is sown, there is an outer shell that has to come off. And when that shell comes off, the inner life of that seed comes out. It grows, it ripens, and it brings forth fruit. Fruit.
And what was Jesus doing here? He was setting forth a principle. Through a simple picture or illustration. And he was saying this, first of all, because he was speaking about himself. He said, the hour of my glory has come.
You're going to comprehend and understand who I am because of what is getting ready to take place. He says in verse 23, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Here is what's going to make me famous. And what was that? It was his being nailed to a cross.
His being crucified for our sins. For on the cross, God demonstrates His love for us. On the cross, He satisfies His own justice. On the cross, He provides for us complete pardon and forgiveness of sin. The reason we sang as we sang this morning, the reason we boast of Jesus is because He went to the cross, and on the cross, His body was broken, and He was bloodied, and He was beaten so that you and I can be forgiven of our sins.
And His renown is found in the fact that He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And as a result, God hath highly exalted Him.
Now let me ask you a question. If Jesus had to be broken... What about you and I? He who is without sin had to be made low. We with sin have been.
have to be made even lower. If he was despised and rejected of men, if he was a man of sorrows, if he was mocked and cursed, if he was beaten with stripes, if he was crowned with thorns, if he was nailed to a cross, do you think it will be different for you and I?
So, what do we see in Jesus? We see the great principle of brokenness. He was broken and wounded for us. And out of that brokenness on the cross comes our eternal salvation. Out of that brokenness on the cross comes a fountain filled with blood where we can be forgiven and saved.
God uses broken things. And that is not only true of the Son of God, as Jesus said here in John chapter 12, but it's definitely true of the saints of God. Look at what he says in verse. 26.
Well, back up to verse 25. He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, Let him follow me. And where I am.
There shall also my servant be. If any man served me, Him will my Father Honor. Notice the statement, he said, where I am. There will my servants be?
Well, where was Christ? Where was Christ? He was going to the cross to die. What is God asking of you as a believer? He's asking you to go through the same experience.
Would you please listen to me? Are you a Christian? Yes or no? Are you a Christian? Christian, confess it.
Yes or no? Yes. Then if you are a Christian, Then every one of you will follow your master. And where was your master going? He was going to the cross.
Every one of you. must go through the same experience.
However, he's not saying here you have to die for him like he did on a cross, but what he is saying is that you cannot live for yourself. To die to yourself means that you do not live for yourself. What did he say in verse 25? He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
The word life there is the word soul, your suke, psychology. He's referring to your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your desire, the person that's there inside of you, that when you die, it's all gone. That's what he's talking about. And he's saying here: your soul is like a seed, a kernel of wheat. And every seed has its life principle on the inside of it.
Every seed has life on the inside, it's called the embryo. And the life in the seed lies dormant. Did you know that? A seed has life, but that life is dormant. Because there's a hard outer covering called the shell.
until the shell comes off. The life on the inside cannot come out. The shell is what Jesus is talking about. that has to die. He's talking about the way you think.
He's talking about what you desire. He's talking about your choice. He's talking about you, Christian. And what he's saying is that all of us are encircled with an egotistical. Self-loving shell.
Everybody here is egotistical. It's not like, oh, we got a few people in our church that are narcissistic. You all are. We all are. How many of you could identify with Paul when he said, The good that I would do, I don't do.
And that which I don't want to do, I do. How many of you have ever felt that you were bipolar spiritually? You know what I'm saying? The good things I don't want to, the good thing, the bad things I don't want to do, I do them. The good things that I should do, I don't do.
And then Paul came out and he said, It is no longer I that do it. And the I he's talking about there is his awareness of his relationship with God. I don't want to do these things. But he said, I have a problem, and that problem is sin that dwells with inside of me. It's that part of you that thinks and plans your own future.
It's that part of you that thinks and plans its own future. It charts its own course. It's stubborn. It's stiff-necked. It's hard.
It's obstinate. It's proud. It wants its own way. It stands for its own rights. It seeks its own glory.
This is what he says has to die. This is what he's talking about that has to be broken. To hate your life means you're simply not living for the concern of yourself. It's not about you. It's about Hyun.
So, what are some of the areas? Where you and I have to be broken. Folks, please understand. When I say these things this morning, I'm not talking about the fact that a few of you need this. I'm talking about everybody in this room does not get a pass.
On brokenness. If Jesus was broken, so must you be.
So, what are the things as believers that we have to be broken over? Number one, we need to be broken. over our own sins that we commit. Would you consider this morning The sins of David. contrasted to the sins of Saul.
Both of them were kings of Israel. What was the sin of David? He committed adultery? Dishonesty And he murdered the husband. of the woman he committed adultery with.
Consider the sins of Saul. He was impatient. And he offered a sacrifice. which he shouldn't have done. He did not fully obey God's command in destroying all the Amalekites.
The sin of Saul was simply impatience. and incomplete obedience. Question. Who was the worst in sinning? Who is the worst?
I mean, what, do you consider adultery worse than impatience? Do you consider murder worse than incomplete obedience? Let me ask you a question, who suffered the greatest punishment? Saul lost his throne, and David suffered, but he continued in his position. What's the difference?
The difference is this. That Saul made an excuse for his sin and covered it. And David told the whole. world about it in the scriptures. Psalm 51, David said, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. The difference between one sinner. over another sinner is not the sin. but it's the way you approach it before God.
Let me ask you a question. What sins in your life right now are you unwilling to give up? What sins in your life? Have you hid?
Someone has said that there's three lives we all live: we have a public life. We have a private life. And we have a secret life. And generally, our greatest sin. is in secret.
Have you brought those sins out before God and begged God to forgive you? and to cleanse you. Often, all of us here, we all harbor in our heart. Secret idols. Do you remember in the Old Testament?
When Jeremiah was taken into the beautiful temple, And when he got inside the temple behind the closed doors. in the secret God unveiled to him. All of the idols that the people were worshiping in the house of God. I say this this morning simply because it's just true of human nature. Then, in the secret of our own soul, we have idols that we do not want to give up.
And though we may be externally looking good, and though we may be going through the motions. Yet in our secrecy We harbor or hold on to or think we deserve, or we have secret things that we want more than we want to follow God and His will. And the battle is right there between the idol. and really following the Lord. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad.
I'm saying this because it's true. And what is brokenness? Brokenness is the surrender of my will to God and saying, Lord, you are master of all. There's nothing in my life That I do not bring out to you. If I sin, I confess it and I acknowledge it and I put it under the blood because where the blood touches, the Spirit then comes and empowers you to overcome the sins in your own life.
And yet believers live In some cases, for a long time, with sins that have never really been confessed, and you harbor them, and you hold on to them, and you justify them. Whether it's a justification because it's something you desire, or it's a justification because it's something I don't deserve. I don't deserve this, and therefore I hold in my own heart those sinful desires and emotions that are wrong. And what does God do? He's bringing you to a greater brokenness.
There's a brokenness over sin, but then there's also a brokenness. over self dependence or self-reliance. You know the story well. Moses. Lived 120 years and his life was divided up in three 40-year segments.
The first 40. Then from 40 to 80. And then from 80 to 120. His first 40 years, he grew up in the home of the king of Egypt, the most powerful man on earth. He was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians in their culture.
And after 40 years of growing up in the world, he came out and he announced, I am somebody. And God said, well, I can't use you. And so for the next 40 years, he sent him to the backside of a desert. And from the age of 40 to the age of 80, in secrecy and in quietness, he took care of sheep in a desert. And after he had learned the ways of the world, in the desert, he learned the ways of himself.
And at the age of 80 years old, he no longer said, I am somebody. At the age of 80, he said, I am nobody. And God said, well, I can use you now. And for the next 40 years, he saw the ways of God and he learned the ways of God as he led the Jewish people out of bondage in Egypt and brought them through the desert and brought them to Mount Sinai. And there he discovered what God was like.
And he no longer said, I'm somebody. He no longer said, I'm nobody. He said, God, you are everything. That's not easy lessons to learn. Think about it.
Have you ever heard of a guy named Jacob in the Bible? Jacob went years, years before he was broken. He had faith. He had faith. But he also was very manipulative.
How do we know that? It's in his very nature. It's the very name. He's called the name Jacob means the heel catcher. The one who trips other people up, the one who's always trying to get an edge, always trying to be first.
And that part of his nature, that part of his own personal character, that part of him that was tremendously self-willed, took years before he came to the place where he was broken over it. It was not until God touched His thigh. And crippled him in a wrestling match with God that he came to that place of brokenness. And he manifested his brokenness when he went from wrestling. Too yielding.
When he went from controlling to clinging. When he went from trying. to trusting. And when God saw the change in his life, he changed his name. His name, Jacob at birth, went to Israel.
The name Jacob, heel catcher. The name Israel, prince with God. And God was able to use him. Why? Because of his own powers of manipulation?
No, because of his humble dependence before God. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, said, God chose me because I was weak enough. He trains somebody to be quiet enough and little enough. And then God uses him. Vance Havner, the famous Baptist preacher from the state of North Carolina, said, the Lord had the strength, I had the weakness.
So we teamed up and it became an unbeatable combination. George Mueller, the man of faith that lived in England, that ran an orphanage by faith and fed thousands of young people. Said there was a day when I died. I died to George Mueller, his preferences, his taste. I died to the world, its approval or censure.
I died to approval or blame of my brethren or friends. And since then, I have strived only to show myself approved unto God. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Clay pots. Do you know in the land of Israel, there's one thing you're guaranteed to find if you look for it?
It's called pot shards. Because pots were cheap and they broke easily, and you threw one out to get another. It's like what we do when we drink a soda pop with a can and we drink it. What's the value of the can? Nothing.
We just throw it out. And the Bible says that God has placed the treasure of eternal life, the treasure of his spirit in earthen vessels. Why? That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. May I say to you, God is going to use every everything in your life.
To root out. your own self-will.
so that you will become surrendered to God. He'll use your wife The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this today? Every man is born with a sin nature.
Romans three twenty three says For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, we're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept him as our Saviour. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt.
The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans ten nine says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior? There is no greater day than today to take care of this.
Would you accept Christ as your Savior? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Kerwin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day.
God bless you. Mm-hmm.
