Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.highlandparkbaptist.net/sermons/95944/the-glory-of-the-triune-god/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] I want us to begin this evening with a passage in John 13, which is where we've been for a while. [0:21] Let me read this. [0:34] Therefore, when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. [0:47] If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him immediately. Finally, Jesus continues, Little children, I am with you a little while longer. [1:06] You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, where I'm going, you cannot come. I found out that most commentaries on this section of Scripture begin with the words of Jesus, Now is the Son of Man glorified. [1:30] That's where they tend to begin. But let's note that there's some brief but inspired words that come just before those of the Lord Jesus. [1:45] because this section here begins with the words, Therefore, when he had gone out. And that is where we're going to begin tonight in our study. [1:59] And that really is a significant revelation to believers when he had gone out. Christ, of course, had been speaking in the upper room under what the Puritans spoke of as a painful restraint. [2:21] Now that's their words. They came up with a lot of interesting phrases of words. And the Puritans that I looked at said it was painful for Jesus as long as Judas was present among them. [2:34] And, you know, we studied the last time we met of how Judas had been dismissed from the assembly. [2:46] And he left to go out and consummate his horrible sin of betrayal. And now that the traitor is removed, the Lord Jesus is free to pour forth his soul in a sort of continuous stream of revelation. [3:09] And this is going to go on until the band of followers leave the upper room to make their journey down to Gethsemane. [3:24] The Garden of Gethsemane. Now we have been calling our study the inner sanctuary. [3:34] And it is. But with Judas now departed, the Lord has truly taken up his own he's lifted the disciples into the inner sanctuary. [3:49] Now we can really experience through them the inner sanctuary. Through the inspired writings tonight we enter into with the followers of Christ we enter into the most holy place in the New Testament. [4:07] We shall not depart this sanctified place until we step into Gethsemane. And of course our study will be through just prior to that. In this most holy place the Lord Jesus engages in a loving intercourse with His disciples. [4:29] And what is the difference with the conversation while Judas was present and now the conversation now that he is gone. And the difference is that everyone left in the upper room belonged to the Lord. [4:46] only the chosen, the elect of God are present and this frees Jesus to express Himself in very profound intimacy. [4:59] He is with followers and true believers in Christ. Jesus is with His own children and He is now going to open up with expressions that have to this point been held in the secret chambers of His heart. [5:19] The Lord will now reveal to His followers of all ages the secrets of His heart to the extent that we can take it in. So the first statement the Lord makes following the departure of Judas is this, now is the Son of Man glorified. [5:42] Now is the Son of Man glorified. And I think it's important to pause for just a second and note that Jesus is speaking in the present tense. [5:55] When He was in that room and He has not been to Calvary yet, obviously, He's speaking and He says in the present tense, now is the Son of Man glorified. [6:07] It was as if it were occurring at that very moment. He'd entered into the glory of the cross which we'll be looking at. This glorification is a reference to His atoning death on the cross and it is mere hours away we could say the satisfaction or the appeasement. [6:30] We heard those words I think yesterday. And it is a reference to the cross. Now to the world, the cross appears to be a shameful act, a disaster for the Lord and for His mission. [6:50] He dies as a criminal. He dies as an enemy of Rome and of the leadership of Israel. And yet, we all know it is through the cross where the Lord's glory was most clearly put on display. [7:10] Peter makes a reference to this in the book of Acts chapter 3. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when He had decided to release Him. [7:34] You remember that? I've always said it was amazing to me that Pilate found Jesus innocent and condemned Him to death. Now the world doesn't understand that truth. [7:46] only followers of Christ can grasp at some level at least that He was glorified through the cross. [8:01] The cross is central to the Christian faith. Those that are outside it's foolishness. Absolute foolishness. I remember years ago hearing a college professor on the radio professor of religion. [8:14] I was a young believer I made an assumption if you were a professor of religion in a university you had to be a believer. I found out there's none of them are believers. None of them. [8:26] But He was mocking the cross. The cross is central to the Christian faith. It is what sets us apart from the world of religion. [8:39] So we're going to take a little time tonight we're going to examine in what manner or in what ways Jesus was glorified through the cross. [8:52] And the first is this Christ was glorified because through the cross He was able to completely satisfy God's demands for justice. [9:16] Total satisfaction. And the scriptures are very clear and we all know this we've all got it memorized Romans 3 23 the wages of sin is death. [9:31] That's what you earn when you sin you earn death. Adam and Eve experienced that this immediate separation from God they went and hid from God. [9:44] I say to people where do you go to hide from God? But that's what they did. I went to a funeral this week had a visiting pastor I don't know who he was he got up there he said well our friend here he knew Jesus he needed him he said people often say well why should I pay for the sins of Adam I wasn't there and he said well the answer is that we're on a football team and Adam committed a penalty but when the quarterback commits a penalty we all suffer the penalty it's on us all and I'm going I went to someone and said we all committed a penalty but I didn't do it I'm thinking get me out of here Jesus completely satisfied the wrath of God toward sin [10:46] Paul Worsher was preaching a year or so ago in a church and it was going to be there seven days and the first day first sermon he got up and he said Christ God the father put Christ on the cross to completely satisfy his demands for justice because without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin they finished up that morning and the pastor got him into his study and said did you say the father put Jesus on the cross he said yeah and did you say he did that to satisfy his wrath he said yeah he said well we thank you but you won't need to come back this evening or the rest of the week you can go home and he left he left the second point I'll make and it's related to the first the death of Christ on the cross satisfied this wrath toward those who are being saved toward those who are being saved because [11:53] God's wrath is satisfied there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus I gave a message at my mother-in-law's church and I read that passage and I said you know it's probably unfortunate we in there but that's in the middle of a sentence how do you know the people that are not going to be condemned it's just because they walk in the spirit or they walk as Jesus walked we can identify I'm sure in some poor way Paul had this to say in Colossians chapter 2 having canceled out the certificate of death consisting of decrees against us which were hostile to us and has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross he nailed our sins to the cross man I'm working on a song when he was on the cross [13:01] I was on his mind I may need some help I've been working on that for 30 years third Christ was glorified through the cross because his death destroyed the power of sin destroyed it Romans 8 3 for what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh God did I love that he just stopped there what the law couldn't do God did okay how did God do it sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin he condemned sin in the flesh the law could not deal with the sins of people and we condemned them I always run into people and say well in the [14:03] Old Testament Jews were saved by keeping the law and I run into people here what's your hope future glory while I'm keeping the law how you doing not so good but I'm going to get better I've said before we take the greatest commandment love God with all and we never kept that one second have we any of us any of us the law the law only condemns it does not save God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to dwell among us now let's be very clear Jesus never sinned we all know that he was sinless but he took upon himself our sins there's a major difference there isn't he imputed himself our sins and imputed to us his righteousness I have a great trouble with that sometimes to think positionally in God's eyes I'm righteous [15:12] I don't feel very righteous very often if ever but he took upon himself our sins in so doing he became the sin offering demanded by our righteous God thus God was able to condemn every sin committed by his children and declare us just or justified in his sight and we all know justification is a legal declaration of innocence not guilty God the father did not ignore sin there's some with a weak theology like to say God the father did not turn a blind eye to sin God the father placed our sins on his dear sinless son while he was on the cross and to me that has to be the agony that separation from the holy [16:17] God which we'll get to here in a moment fourth Jesus was glorified by his death on the cross by destroying the power of Satan he destroyed the power of sin and now it's Satan's time until that time Satan according to scripture had the power of death but he was defeated at the cross I sometimes think Satan had to read the end of the book but he was defeated he's a defeated quote so Jesus as the son of man and that's a messianic term is glorified on the cross and then our passage this evening goes on and it says that God meaning God the father is glorified in him not only was Jesus glorious nature put on display on the cross but so was that of God the father his glory was displayed and I think we sometimes fail to realize that the trinity was glorified through the cross we look at it [17:34] I'm sure I know the world does a lot in the world as an instrument of cruel death but through it God in trinity was glorified so how was God glorified we're talking about the father well first the cross and the death of Christ put on display the supreme and sovereign power of God nothing happened on that day that caught God by surprise or was a violation of his will nothing now the world and the devil tried with all their might to destroy Christ there came against our Lord an array of demons fallen angels there were men controlled by Satan Judas is a good example Roman leadership Jewish leadership and of course Satan himself in fact Jesus was in the upper room when Satan indwelt him and Jesus dismissed him took Satan out with him got rid of both of them but it all failed when did they know that their evil plans had failed demons and all these others they knew it when [18:54] God raised his son from the dead can you imagine the high priest when the word got to him and they said body's gone well his followers had to come and get him no one came to get him we were there all night guarding the tomb nobody I've always found it interesting that the first believers that even came to the empty tomb were women and not men and there's a simple explanation the men were hiding and women weren't and they came and saw the tomb was empty but they knew that the plan had failed when God raised his son from the dead Acts 3 15 but you disowned the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you put to death you put to death the prince of life the one whom God raised from the dead a fact to which we are witnesses they asked for Barabbas didn't they [20:04] Barabbas son of the father a fake father a false father a human father a sinful father they asked for a murderer to be released instead of Christ and then in Acts 13 but God the father raised him from the dead he was glorified in raising Christ from the dead very popular verse if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved Romans 10 9 Colossians 2 12 having been buried with him in baptism in which you also raised up with him through faith and the working of God who raised him from the dead so God the father was active in raising his son from the dead and by doing so was glorified in 1 [21:10] Peter 1 21 we read this for he was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God and it's the God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God second the cross brought glory to the father because Christ's death declared God's justice we know that the penalty of sin is death we already looked at that we already knew anyone we know that any violation of God's holy standards had to be atoned for by a sinless offering it's because of these things that Isaiah said the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him meaning the Messiah Christ God did that he caused the iniquity of all of us to fall on his son 1 Peter 2 24 and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross why did he do that so that we might die to sin [22:30] I'm still dying to it not dead yet to it but I'm dying to it we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed it was the apostle Paul in the great book of Romans who tells us through the sacrifice of Christ the son that God the father could at one and the same time be just he didn't vacate or violate his justice he was just and a justifier to those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and you can read about that in Romans 326 third the father is glorified by the death of Christ because it is there that we see the holiness of [23:31] God the holiness of God is revealed in the cross now from the human perspective we have this great dichotomy God hates sin at a level I don't think we can ever fully appreciate ever fully grasp or understand God loves his son with an infinite love I don't think we will ever fully grasp or understand to manifest his hatred of sin the father placed his precious son on the cross of suffering Jesus became a curse on the cross so much so that the father turned away from him we know from scripture that God the father's eyes are much too pure to look upon sin and on the cross his beautiful perfect eternal son became sin for us and again [24:36] Jesus did not sin or become a sinner he was completely sinless but he became sin by taking upon himself the sins of his people the father turned away and Jesus cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me now I like to think that what Jesus was saying was my God the father my God the Holy Spirit why have you forsaken me I haven't had a lot of support for that in the commentaries but it fits my theology so I can say fourth the death of Christ was a supreme expression of the faithfulness of God the father you ever think of it that way God the father was faithful to his word by sending his son to die on the cross his faithfulness would put on display on the cross when Adam and Eve committed this act of sinful disobedience they plunged the human race into sin and separation from their creator and that separation was immediate they died immediately they died spiritually and when they did that and let me say this if Adam and Eve had not sinned and if no one had sinned until Tom [26:19] Holland came on the scene and I sinned I would have plunged the human race into sin and disobedience it had been me but it was Adam and Eve and we call it Adam's sin rightfully so it was in the garden of Eden now tainted with sin that the father spoke to our parents and gave them a promise he promised them this and he's actually giving them this promise by talking to Satan for the servant and the Lord says I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel that is the first I believe messianic promise in the [27:23] Bible here God tells Satan in the presence of Adam and Eve that war has broken out it now exists between him Satan and the woman and between the offspring of Satan and that's demons and everything evil including evil humans and the offspring of the woman which is Christ Jesus Satan and his offspring are going to bruise the heel of Jesus and you know what guys that could be very painful you ever get a bruise on you it could be painful but it's not going to kill you you're going to live through it Christ is going to bruise and I prefer the word crush the head of Satan that is a deadly blow and that happens at the cross by the way [28:24] I looked up enmity in the original Webster's dictionary 1828 and it said it's the quality of being an enemy it is hatred it is being in a state of opposition and the serpent Satan and the seed of the woman have certainly been in a state of opposition so here we have the promise of a deliverer all the way back Genesis 3 15 you know there's this thread throughout the whole Bible even down to John the Baptist where they're asking him if he is the deliverer and there was a lot of guys came on the scene are you him and so here we have the promise that the father is going to be faithful to send the deliverer and he did thousands of years later but he kept his promise other passages that promise a redeemer followed in the Bible [29:33] I suggest you read Isaiah chapters 52 and 53 great portion of scripture we have this brief passage in Matthew 121 she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins Jesus is savior because he saves his people the father promised to send his son and did so even though he knew it would result in death on the cross I mean let's face it when did the father and the son know the cross awaited him eternity he knew it in eternity God remained faithful to the promise he had given all the way back in the garden of Eden I'm going to throw this in for free and not charge for you it's interesting to me [30:37] Adam and Eve got taken out of the garden and the garden got removed from earth they were both taken out fifth Christ's death brought glory to the father because it was a powerful demonstration of his love this example of love the example of the love of the cross has spread throughout the entire globe for 2,000 years and it's still spreading I've been in 46 countries and everywhere I go I find believers I find believers I was on an elevator in China a guy had a little dove he saw me looking at it I couldn't speak and I was going everywhere I go you find believers why the gospel is so powerful it will find a way to penetrate the darkest areas of the world it is so powerful [31:44] I remember when some guys were doing research I can't remember where maybe South America but they were talking about the soul and these guys had a concept of that and they were talking about creation one of these guys was a believer and this tribal guy said who made all that and he said God does he have a name he said the creator does he have a name he said Jesus Christ and he said I always knew he was there but I never knew his name this is a guy like in darkest Africa I knew he was there I'd come out at night and talk to him and look up but I didn't know his name until just now so it was a powerful demonstration of his love again Paul Romans 5 8 God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners [32:48] Christ died for us well we were sinners get a hold of that verse guys I love Lloyd Snitzer a lot of you don't even know who I'm talking about him whichever you do love lovely man love him like a father always with the Lord and but he struggled in his Christian walk with personal sin and he would come to me and I said well we all struggle with that he said no but he said I understand that Jesus died for my sins but what about all my sins after I was saved my future sins I said boy when Christ atoned for your sins all your sins were future you had 2,000 more years before you could be born you would be born and I don't know if you ever saw it he said he said glory I'm thankful for the grace of God but he struggled with it Christ died for us while we were sinners [33:51] John said this in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins we heard that word yesterday I used it last Sunday we're using it time they were coming back around the pendulum swinging we're starting to use that word propitiation we've kind of lost out on that the satisfaction the appeasement the atoning sacrifice and then back to Paul in Galatians chapter 4 but when the fullness of time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born of a virgin Mary born under the law born into the Jewish nation under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons because of [34:56] Christ we have been adopted into the family God loved us so much that he sent the redeemer to die in our place so that we might be adopted into the family of God that's a great great concept in our passage in John 13 the Lord Christ makes a final statement concerning his glorification in John 13 32 if God is glorified in him God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him immediately again a great passage now you may not have caught on but in the span of three verses Jesus has used the word glorify glorified five times five times the word glorify glory in this passage the [36:02] Lord departs from the present tense we started with that he was speaking in the present tense now he uses the future tense and he says not only is he going to be glorified right now but he will be glorified and so he switches now to the future tense he says God will glorify him and now the Lord looks beyond the cross and he looks to the time of his exaltation where he will be returned to the father's right hand it's where it's been eternity and he's going home and I think this was on the heart of Paul when he wrote in Philippians 2 9 for this reason God also or God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name now it's only going to be a short time from the upper room until the glorification of [37:12] Jesus now God is just hours away we all understand that right it's just hours away but to accomplish this it's going to be necessary for the Lord to do something it's going to have to leave his disciples behind and that very thought was agonizing this was their struggle this was their struggle he must leave them in order that he might sit down at the right hand of the throne of God a few days earlier he had told his true followers that they would have him only for a little while longer and don't you know probably most of them never spoke up certainly didn't ask the [38:13] Lord but they were just pondering that maybe slipping off you know a couple guys said what does that mean! of course they still had the Jewish Messianic view when's he going to reestablish the kingdom and kick the Romans out of here that was the messianic view of the Jews when he told them I'm only going to be with you a little while longer and in that conversation he referred to himself as the light and told them to walk while they still had the light and he said do not allow the darkness to overtake you walk in the light as I am the light not me Jesus and here we have another passage of inspired scripture little children I am with you a little while longer you will seek me and as [39:18] I said to the Jews now I also say to you where I am going you cannot come now don't worry we're going to expand on that verse next time but the Lord here uses what is probably the most tender and most affectionate term for little children in the Greek language it is the Greek word technion the word appears eight times in the New Testament it appears one time in John 13 and I just read it and it appears seven times in the epistle of 1st John so John was fond of that word no one else seemed to be but John was the Lord very soon was going to be gone from their visible presence and that was difficult to bear remember [40:19] Peter will jump out and say Lord I'll never leave you I'm sure he adhered himself to them but I'm not going leave he's going to be leaving their visible presence where he was going they could not follow for now but he went on to tell them you will join me later you will join me later that had to be comforting so we have Christ here anticipating the cross where he would put on his supreme love for his own children and we've already studied the great sacrificial love expressed by Jesus in washing the feet of the disciples remember that he washed their feet that's what the lowest slave did and he also washed the feet of the betrayer [41:23] Judas got his feet washed that night and that was a great example of sacrificial love but the cross would be the greatest demonstration of sacrificial love when the son of God would sacrifice himself and you know what it was not only a great example of sacrificial love then it still is and it will be forever it will be forever so with that let's pray go to go to go