Anne Frank’s Diary

• “I want to go on living even after my death”

• Who doesn’t!

Thomas Donaldson had cancer• Didn’t want to die• Time to find cure• Wanted head frozen• Grafted on new body• Wanted frozen alive –

would kill him• Sued California for

the right – and lost

Jesus heading to the cross• Public ministry

coming to a close• Drama unfolding• Crowd gathered for

Passover

Leaders upset at his success

• John 12:19 NIV So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"

Gentiles more receptive• John 12:20-21 NIV

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. (21) They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus."

Didn’t answer them directly• For the first time:

– John 12:23 NIV Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

• He says it later:– John 17:1 NIV …

"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

Jesus looking ahead to cross

• The event all history had been building to• The event he had come to earth for in the

first place--to be the Savior of humankind

Jesus explained what would happen at the crucifixion

• John 12:24 NIV I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Jesus was saying he was the one kernel of wheat

• On His way to the cross to die, be buried, and resurrected

• This would lead to a great harvest of souls – now and in future generations

Opening of the Gospel for the Jews and for all people

• The Cross was going to bring them in

Why is this important to us?

• But for the cross we’d be like them – outside looking in

1. HIS STRUGGLE

• Pressures from outside and inside• Jesus saw the time had come

– The time He came to earth for– Not without a severe struggle

Matthew 26:36-42 NIV • Then Jesus went with his

disciples to a place called Gethsemane … (37) He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. (38) Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…

Matthew 26:36-42 NIV • (39) Going a little

farther, he … prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." ... (42) He went … a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

Even in our text He says:• John 12:27 NIV

"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

Pressures on Jesus

• Outside – people plotting to kill him• Inside – could he go through with it?

Woody Allen• “I don't want to achieve

immortality through my work – I want to achieve immortality by not dying”

• Which is it?– Immortal because others

remember us?– Immortal because Christ

has once and forever battered down the gates of death?

– Empty stage or empty tomb?

2. OUR STRUGGLES

• External pressures– From jobs, other people & our families

• Internal pressures– From sickness, sorrow and grief

• “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen”

When you’re up to your neck in alligators …

• It’s hard to remember that your objective is to drain the swamp

Troubles hit us in multiples• One thing breaks,

and two or three others follow

• One bill is due and something else drains the finances

• A family member gets well and another gets sick

Boxer Quick Tillis moved from Tulsa to Chicago

• “I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under my arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears tower. I put my suitcases down and looked up at the Tower and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to conquer Chicago. When I looked down, the suitcases were gone!”

External pressures wear us down

• Problems at work drain our energy

• Criticism and snide remarks come from all directions

• Big things & little things

Entries from John Wesley's journal ...

• Sunday, a.m. May 5 Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore

• Sunday, p.m. May 5 Preached in St. John’s. Deacons said, “Get out and stay out.”

• Sunday, a.m. May 12 Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either.

Entries from John Wesley's journal ...

• Sunday, a.m. May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.

• Sunday, p.m. May 19 Preached on the street. Got kicked off the street.

Entries from John Wesley's journal ...

• Sunday, a.m. May 26 Preached in a meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during the service

• Sunday, p.m. June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. 10,000 people came out to hear me....

What’s the use?• When it seems

pressures can get no worse

• Internal struggles kick in to unsettle us

• People say, “I can’t take the pressure. I’m so depressed”

The Great Grimaldi • 1835 – Man visited a

doctor in Florence, Italy, with symptoms:– Anxiety, exhaustion,

sleeplessness, unable to eat, avoided friends

– In good physical shape• Prescription: Go see the

Great Grimaldi– “He’ll cure your sadness

and make you laugh.”• “He can’t help me. I’m

Joseph Grimaldi!”

Reactions to crises

• Quit church• Reject Christianity• Give up on Lord• Break up homes• Alcohol or drugs

Many Christians live their lives in a fog

• Cupful of troubles cloud vision & dampen spirit

• Anxiety, turmoil & defeat choke them

• Jesus went through the same struggles

• Would he say, “It’s too great a sacrifice?”

3. How Jesus Resolvedthe Conflict

• Prayer in the midst of the struggles:– John 12:28a NIV Father, glorify your

name!"– “It’s OK--go ahead with the plan--I’m

ready to go. Glorify Your Name.”

One thing reconciled him to the cross

• John 4:34 NIV "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

• David:– Psalms 40:8 NIV I

desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

Prayer is not a panacea

• Things do not change overnight– Jesus continued toward the Cross– David continued to do God’s will

• We have our pressures and struggles• Can we say “Glorify your name in my

life – I desire to do your will” – and keep on going?

Diary of David Livingston• Walked 29,000 miles• Wife died young• Stiff opposition from his

Scottish brethren• Ministered half blind• “Send me anywhere, only

go with meLay any burden on me, only sustain meSever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart”

God’s response• John 12:28b NIV Then a voice came from

heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."

• First at Jesus’ baptism:– Matthew 3:17 NIV And a voice from heaven

said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

• Second at the transfiguration:– Mark 9:7 NIV … a voice came from the cloud:

"This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"

Confusion in the crowd• John 12:29 NIV The crowd that was there

and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

• When God speaks to you, do you recognize His voice and understand?– Are you looking for him to speak in a certain

way?– Are you looking for a big booming voice?– Or the small whisper?– Most of the time do we only hear the thunder?

Response to prayer?

• Church PA system picked CB broadcasts, from passing truckers

• In middle of prayer: “Lord be with us …”

• Voice over the PA, “I’ll be right on down, good buddy!”

John 12:30-33 NIV

• Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. (31) Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. (32) But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (33) He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

What about the Greeks who came to see Jesus

• Did they become disciples?• Scripture suggests they may have• Reference to Greeks in the early church:

– Acts 11:20 NIV Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

– What does this say to us?– It shows us three things:

1. Our priority: to “dothe will of the Father”

• He will see us through to the end• Whether he lifts the pressures or

carries us through them

Dietrich Bonhoeffer• 1943 – imprisoned for

opposing the Nazi regime & executed two years later

• The day the sentence was carried out he conducted a service for the prisoners

• One of those prisoners an English officer who survived wrote these words:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer• “Bonhoeffer always

seemed to me to spread an atmosphere of happiness and joy over the least incident and profound gratitude for the mere fact that he was alive. He was one of the very few persons I have ever met for whom God was real and always near.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer• “On Sunday April 8 1945

Bonhoeffer conducted a little service of worship … He found just the right words to express the spirit of our imprisonment and the thoughts and resolutions it had brought us. He had hardly ended his last prayer when the door opened and two soldiers entered.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer• “They said ‘Prisoner

Bonhoeffer come with us.’ That had only one meaning for all prisoners – the gallows. We said good-bye to him. He took me aside. ‘This is the end; but for me it is the beginning of life.’ The next day he was hanged in Flossenburg.”

2. The choice isours to make

• Whether we follow or not• Whether we are a peripheral

Christian or a devout Christian• But he says in this text, “Whoever

serves me must follow me.”

He Lives!• Luther, facing peril

at Worms, needed unseen strength

• Found sitting, tracing on the table with his fingers the words: “Vivit! Vivit!” He lives! He lives!

3. It warns us not totrifle with opportunity

• Let in the light of the gospel while you can

• Walk while you have the light and trust in the light

John 12:35-36 NIV • Then Jesus told them,

"You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.

John 12:35-36 NIV • (36) Put your trust in

the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Louis Pasteur – one life’s effect• Rabies epidemic • Worked on a vaccine • 9-year-old Joseph

Meister bitten by dog• Mother asked Pasteur

to inject her son • His epitaph: JOSEPH

MEISTER LIVED!• Greatest legacy: those

who live eternally because of our efforts