Victory Over Self
The Thrill of Victory
Victory over Self
John 12:20-26
 
I hope you are enjoying our study of what it means to live under the authority of Jesus Christ and get to share and enjoy the victory that He provides us. 
 
It is unfortunate that many, many Christians never know what it is to have a spiritual victory in their life.  And even though Scripture paints this beautiful, amazing picture of what a life lived “in Christ” looks like, it never quite looks that way in their life. 
 
We’re kind of like the couple who were relaxing on the couch one Sunday afternoon.  The husband was laying there with his head in her lap.  She reached down and carefully removed his glasses and said, “You know, honey, without your glasses you look like the same handsome young man I married.”
 
“Honey,” he replied with a grin, “without my glasses, you still look pretty good too!”
 
Sometimes, if we twist our head and squint and overlook the details, we maybe resemble a little bit of what we are supposed to look like.  But unfortunately, we miss the benefits and blessings of what God has for us. 
 
So we’ve been looking at The Thrill of Victory.  We are being led in triumphant procession, chained to the chariot of Jesus Christ. Everywhere we set our foot is conquered ground because Jesus has already overcome it. 
 
Therefore, we can know victory over sin and Satan because the Lamb has prevailed, and He is willing to share His conquests with us. 
 
Now that’s victory from God’s side, but what about our side of it?  How do we appropriate that victory in a consistent way?  How do we get it off the pages of Scripture and active and working in our lives so that it’s not just doctrine or theology but practical and usable?
 
Notice what Jesus has to say in John 12:20-26
 
Sigmund Freud, who was the father of modern psychiatry and not a Christian, had a favorite story of a sailor who had been shipwrecked and washed upon a tropical island. 
 
The natives of that island took him and made him king, absolute ruler for a year.  After that year, he was to be banished to a deserted island.  They explained to him that he had two choices.  With the first choice, everything he wanted during that year of his kingship would be given to him.  He could immediately take that which was given to him and use it, consume it, enjoy it for the present, and then be banished to a deserted island without any resources. 
 
Or, he had a second choice:  he could take all that he received during that year of kingship and conserve it, lay it aside so that when he was banished to that deserted island, he would have resources enough to live. 
 
Two alternatives; two choices. 
 
The fact of the matter is that you and I have two choices in life and only two, as well.  We can either consume our life for the present, or we can conserve it for the future.  We can either enjoy our lives for the present moment, or we can lay them aside and use them in such a way that they will be future resources. We can either live for God or we live for self.  
 
That’s what Jesus is saying as he lays out this very important principle in verse 24.  Let’s read it again. 
 
Verse 24
 
Notice the teaching:  if you have a single grain of wheat, you can do two things with it.  You can consume it, eat it, use it to satisfy a present need, or you can let that seed die, put it into the ground and cover it up with dirt and allow it to die and bring a harvest at a later time. 
 
A bag of seed setting in a warehouse or barn is not worth much; it is only when that bag of seed is sown into the newly plowed ground that it becomes invaluable.  The farmer must give up that present possession if he is going to have a future harvest.
 
I find Jesus’ response to Philip very interesting.  These Greeks want to meet and visit with Jesus, and Philip brings that word to Him.  Instead of saying, “Sure, bring them on up!”, He says the time has arrived for the Son of Man to be glorified, and then starts talking about farming.
 
 
 
 
Then, later on in the passage he tells what that means.
 
Verse 32-33
 
So when He says, “The time has come that the Son of man should be glorified”, it means it is time for his crucifixion. 
 
So he knew it was time now that he should face the cross and the time of his crucifixion was near at hand.  So He explained his crucifixion.  It was not the death of a martyr, and it was not the slaying of a thief.  Rather, it was a grain of wheat sown into the ground so that it must bear much fruit.  Jesus gave them this object lesson of spiritual harvest and fruitfulness. 
 
If a grain of wheat is not sown into the ground, it abides alone.  It remains a single grain of wheat.  Those are almost condemning words because they describe the lives of far too many Christians. 
 
Even though we have been provided everything we need through Jesus, even though we can know victory over sin and Satan, how many of us today would have to say, and may have to say at the judgment seat of Christ, “Here I am, but I am alone.  I have no fruit with me.  I consumed whatever I had for the present, and I refused to fall in the ground and die.  I'm here; but I'm here alone.”
 
Jesus says, “That is not the purpose of a grain of wheat.  That's not the purpose of a seed.  The seed is to fall in the ground and die; therefore, it may bring forth much fruit.”
 
So, I want us to look at this principle because in this principle we discover the key to appropriating the power and victory of Christ into our lives.
 
Today we are going to consider “victory over self”.  And rather than looking at how to have it ( we’ve covered that already), I want us to see the results of it.  Now as we look at the results of it, we get to discover whether or not we are experiencing it. 
 
And if we’re not experiencing it, then we need to back up to a previous message and deal with our submission to the Lordship of Christ and our victory over sin and Satan.  Because here in John 12 we find what happens when we’re experiencing what we’ve learned so far.
 
Now look again at verse 24.  In this verse, Jesus establishes that principle, and then he goes on to tell us how this expresses itself. 
 
The first thing is this:  if I have victory over self, in other words, if I am willing to die and fall in the ground and be covered up, then I will have
 
1. Fruitfulness
 
Now remember, we find everything we need, every example we could learn from in Jesus.  So Jesus says, “The time has come for my dying”.  Why was Jesus dying?  We could say, “It was God’s plan, or that’s the reason He came” or something like that but more to the point, He died to be fruitful. 
 
He wanted to affect your life and mine by what He was doing.  Think about it like this:  What if he had not died?
Would He still be God?  Absolutely.  Would He still be in perfect and holy?  No doubt.  Would He still be in Heaven?  Yes, but He would be there alone.  None of us would ever be there with him.  Neither would Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, nor any of the Old Testament saints be there.  He would be alone.
 
And so for Jesus to have a gathering of fruitfulness into his life--if his life is to mean anything and impact others, he cannot preserve it.    He must be willing to die. 
 
Now the last thing the world will ever tell you to do is die to self.  Everything about our culture focuses on worshipping self.  If it feels good, do it. You’ve got to think about our own self first.  Look out for number one. 
 
That is the primary, driving thought of the abortion industry today.  Kill your own child if you have to be happy.  Do all that you can to preserve self. 
 
And nothing so strikes against the grain of today's culture as do the words of Jesus that if we are to bring forth fruit, we must die.  Nobody wants to die, not spiritually or physically.  Nobody wants to die to themselves.  We have the idea that we must live and realize ourselves and come to the consciousness of all that we are within ourselves. 
 
Yet, the Lord comes along with direct contrary advice.  He says, no, the life is not to be saved; the life is to die so that it can bring forth much fruit.  If we are not being fruitful as we ought to be, it is simply because we have not yet learned how to die to ourselves. 
 
The secret of fruitfulness is that life comes out of death.  Paul echoed this in 2 Corinthians 4 when he talks about his ministry.
 
Verses 7-12
 
Now don’t rush by this.  This is one of those thoughts that would have us sit down for a while and ponder and meditate on it:
 
Anytime life is working in somebody, it is only because death is working in somebody else.  For anybody to live, to be born again, to be saved, it requires somebody to die.  It required Jesus to die. 
 
And if you and I will bear fruit and win those who are lost, it requires the same thing of us.  That’s the reason many of you will never share your faith or even come to visitation.  You are more important to you than they are important to you.
 
As long as you live, that’s all that matters.  If you have to sacrifice some time and energy and go out of your way, they can just go to hell.
 
That means if we will know victory over self, it f we are chained to the chariot and living in victory over sin and Satan we must die; die to ourselves, die to our own plans, wishes, and will, and to be covered up out of sight so that they no longer see me.
 
Let me give you an Old Testament illustration of that.  Think about Sarah, the wife of Abraham.  Sarah is a great example of this”life out of death” principle.  We learn early on in her story that she cannot have children.
 
And yet, God comes along and says she will be the mother of generations.  Why do you suppose God took a old, barren woman and said that of her?   
 
Why would it be that God would make to that woman a promise of motherhood and then wait until Abraham was one hundred years old, impossible for him physically to bear children? 
 
Watch the principle:  Sarah had always been dead as far as having children was concerned.  Abraham was as good as dead, being one hundred years old.  Yet, out of that death came the life of Isaac.  God did it that way to demonstrate this principle that life comes out of death.   That's the way God works, contrary to man's natural reasoning.
 
But life comes out of death, whether we are talking about a seed in the ground, a barren woman having children or you impacting you friends and neighbors with the gospel. 
 
Every time somebody is saved in our church, it is because somebody has died.  They have died to convenience in order to pray.  They have died to their time in order to visit.  They've died to their embarrassment in order to share the gospel.  Somebody has died. 
 
And until people are willing to die, there will be no fruitfulness.  And the main reason there is so much barrenness in our personal lives and the life of the church is because we are so alive to ourselves. 
 
When we are experiencing victory over self there will be fruitfulness.
 
Then notice verse 25
 
Now he says there will be
 
2.  Fullness
 
We already have eternal life.  John speaks of eternal life on two planes.  Jesus said he came that he might bring life and life more abundant.  So there is life, and then there is abundant life.
 
And notice Jesus says, fullness of life is for those who “hate their life in this world.”  They are the ones who enjoy eternal life.
 
On the other hand, those who love their life (in this world) lose it.  
 
It is interesting that two different Greek words are used here to translate the word life.  The first two words translated life is our word psyche.   The last word in eternal life is “zoa” as in zoology.  What’s the difference?
 
Eternal life speaks of life in general.  In other words, the commodity of eternal life is for those who hate their life in this world and not for those who love their life in this world. 
 
Now to understand that thought, it is extremely important to understand the first use of the word “life”  The first usage of the word, and it’s used twice, speaks of the inner man.  It has more to do with ego and drive and motivation. He is talking about the mind that makes decisions, makes plans, that charts its own course.  He is talking about the inner will. 
And the idea is this:  Unless a person hates that inner will that drives him to live for himslef, he cannot enjoy the abundance of life that is in Jesus Christ. 
 
That is what dying is.  Taking your independent self, your wanting to do it your way, your plans, your vision, your ego and burying it in the ground and hating it.  Here again, we are in such conflict with the philosophy of the world.
 
It is also interesting in this passage that he says, those who love their life lose it. In other words, if you like living for self and that is your motivation, then you will never have the life that Jesus provides for you. 
 
In fact, it is in the present tense.  Those who love their life are already losing it.  Now, think about this for a minute. This is so paradoxical to man's way of thinking.  If you love your life, you are going to retain and guard your ego at any cost.  You are actually, even right now, in the process of losing it, of destroying it. 
 
Do you know who the Inuits are?  They are the
Eskimos of Canada and Greenland.  Do you know how they hunt bear?  They take a piece of bone, preferably  the bone of a wolf, and they whittle each end to a sharp point, coil it, freeze it in blubber, and lay it along the path that the bear travel. 
 
Then they wait and watch.  A bear comes along and smells that blubber and swallows it.  He has just killed himself, but he doesn't know it.  He thinks by eating this he is going to save his life. 
 
The Indians follow along at a distance and watch the bear as he weakens.  Every movement the bear makes, the sharp points of that bone tear into his flesh and lance his stomach.  He begins to bleed internally, and finally dies.  He thought he was saving his life, but the moment he swallowed that blubber, he killed himself. 
 
It's tragic today that many people today think they are saving their lives.   Look out for number one.  Nobody tells me what to do.  I have a right to do with my body as I please.  I have a right to choose my own course of life.  I have a right to my own way.  The minute you do that, you have killed yourself, and now you are just waiting to die. 
 
On the other hand, Jesus says, Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.  So you begin to develop and grow as a Christian.  You say “no” to what the world offers and “yes” to the desires of Christ.  You live denying the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  You live your life differently.
 
But it makes a difference in your personal life, and your family life and eventually your eternal life as you discover the fruitfulness and fullness of falling in the ground and dying.
 
Well, there's one last word.  When we are experiencing victory over self, not only will there be fruitfulness, and not only will there be fullness in sharing the abundant life, but there will be
 
 
 
 
3. Faithfulness
 
Look at verse 26
 
Service is an outgrowth of this.  You can't get away from it.  No man will serve two lords at the same time.  He will hate the one and love the other.  It is only as we die to our own egos and our own wills and our own selves then we are qualified to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We will follow him. 
 
Watch this:  whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am there will my servant be also. 
 
Now, there are two things about that. 
 
1)  Where Jesus is, that's where we'll be.
 
Wonder where Jesus is?  Wherever he is, that is where we ought to be.  In our daily life, it may mean one thing for one person, may mean another thing for another person.  If Jesus Christ came to Ardmore, Oklahoma, today where do you think he would be?  Where do you think he would go? 
 
I have an idea he might go down on East Main, or down on the street and talk to the homeless.  Maybe He’d go down to the jail or over to the hospital.  He might not go the places we go. 
 
But I want to tell you something, wherever Jesus is, there will his servant be also.  If we are really his servant, we’re going to go where He would go.  We need to ask ourselves in our own individual lives, where is Jesus?   Wherever he is ministering, that's where I want to be.  But it means another thing.
2)  It means that wherever I am, there Jesus is also.
 
What’s the difference?  That means I am never alone. You cannot separate the servant and his master.  Where Jesus is, that's where I'll be. 
 
Conversely, where I am, that's where Jesus will be. 
 
No matter where I am, perhaps in the most desolate place I could ever imagine, and I feel isolated and cut off from everyone else, Jesus is there.  That ought to be enough for us. 
 
Then he ends with this promise:  and my father will honor him.  Spurgeon used to tell the imaginative story about a prince and his servant who were traveling.  They fell into the hands of bandits.  The servant was with the prince.  And the prince was more than likely going to be killed, if not ransomed. 
 
The prince fell ill, and the servant began to minister to him.  There came a day when the servant had an opportunity to escape and save himself, but he stayed with the prince, ministering to him.  Then the king found out where they were and sent an army and rescued him.
 
Spurgeon said, now who do you think the king is going to honor?  He is going to honor that servant who stayed by his son.  I don't really understand all that this verse means, but I know this much:  the one who stays with Jesus is honored by God. Be faithful and you will know the joy of victory over self.
 
Let’s pray.