Studies in the Gospel of John 01 - the Glory of God — Alden Gannett

Tonight, again, to John, Chapter 13. For you who are first-timers tonight, we are studying these days, both morning and evening, the Upper Room Discourse, John 13 -17. Tomorrow morning, Lord willing, unless the Lord gets here first, we're going to talk about the Lord's return, that favorite text in Chapter 14, Let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. Were it not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will what?

Come again and receive you unto Myself. Where I am, there ye may be also. This will be our text tomorrow morning, Lord willing. And then tomorrow night, the answer to the question of Philip in verse 8 of Chapter 14, Lord, show us the Father.

How do we these days show the unsaved world, God the Father? And our Lord answers so helpfully, we hope your schedule allows you to be here. Now, tonight, we begin with verse 31 of Chapter 13. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.

If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me, and as I said unto the Jews, where I go ye cannot come.

So now I say to you, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. And by this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Tonight, our hearts together again. Precious Father, we turn now to the Word, a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. Make it that to each of us as we wait before Thee now, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Three Announcements in the Upper Room Discourse

The Lord has washed the disciples' feet. Judas has been dismissed. Now he is ready for this great Upper Room discourse. The text before us tonight in John 13, 31 to 35, are three introductory announcements.

The first, in verse 31 and in verse 32, is the announcement of His glory, of His glorification. In verse 33, the announcement of His departure. In verses 34 and 35, the announcement of His new commandment.

Let's look at them together. It is significant that these are the truths with which our Lord introduces this entire section. He is occupied with His glory. He is occupied with His departure. He is occupied with a new commandment.

The Glory Emphasized Throughout John 12–17

These great truths introduce the following. I conclude from these verses, and I trust you are honoring the assignment of reading chapters 13 through 17 each day, if you notice how much the glory is emphasized.

Go back to chapter 12 with me, verses 23 and 24. Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Accept a grain of wheat, fall into the ground, and die, and abideth alone.

But if it die and bringeth forth much fruit, now is the Son of Man glorified. Here in chapter 13, verses 31 and 32, the verses we just read, now is the Son of Man glorified. In chapter 14, verse 13, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Chapter 15, verse 8, In this is my Father glorified. Chapter 16, and verse 14, He shall glorify me. Chapter 17, verse 1, Father, the hour is come glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth.

I finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Verse 22, And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.

Verse 24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold mine glory. If the Lord talks about it that much, it must be pretty important. That's the point I get.

Like a grandmother talking about her grandchildren. You know, talks about them all the time. Sure, why, they're important, that's why. You're around people very long, it doesn't take you long to discover what's important to them.

They talk about it normally, and they talk about it again and again. I'll never forget the first time I made a pastoral call, the very first time. I was told by some folks in the church that one of the families in the community had a brand new baby.

I've learned since that all babies are brand new. And we went to the hospital, I went to the hospital as this young green horn went behind the ears to visit this couple, and finally found where they were.

And there were the mother and father in the room, and some of the members of the family, and asked them how they were. They were just fine. Wasn't it a lovely day? Yes, it was a lovely day. And the mother interrupted and said, the baby weighed eight pounds and three ounces.

Oh, isn't that nice? And, you know, it's just been a wonderful week, I said, hasn't it? You know, things have been great. We just had a delightful week, had a wonderful time at college. And the mother interrupted and said, the baby was so many inches long.

Oh, isn't that nice? And we went on to talk some more about what a grand week we had, and how busy I'd been at the college, and so on. And the mother interrupted again and said, the baby just looks like his daddy.

Oh, isn't that nice? You know. And I went on and told again about how great the weather was, and what a fine day it was, and what a good time we had in church that morning, and everything. And the mother interrupted again, and, you know, just the cutest bug you ever saw in your life.

I finally got a point. I've never forgotten it. That baby was important. That's all the mother wanted to talk about. And I didn't have sense to not talk about the baby. Yeah, you talk about the things you're interested in, don't you?

Sure, sure. What's the Lord talking about all the way through here? It's glory. It's glory. What's glory? Glory of manifestation. Manifestation of what? Whatever it is. And when you're talking about the glory of God, we're talking about the manifestation or display of God.

Well, what's that? His attributes, those qualities which make God God. His love, His mercy, His grace, His goodness, His truth, His faithfulness, His omnipotence, omnipresence, His omniscience, these great qualities that make God God.

And I get the impression already from our text, as our Lord introduces His upper room discourse, that He's concerned about the display of Himself. And most of us are concerned about the displays of ourselves, the importance of His glory.

Christ Glorified Through His Death and Resurrection

Look at the time of His glorification, verse 31 of John 13. Therefore, when He was gone out, that is, Judas just departed, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified. Now! And God is glorified in Him.

When's the now? Right there with the departure of Judas. Why had Judas departed? He'd made up his mind once and for all to go out and betray Jesus Christ. His action had been decided. His dastardly deed had been committed already, as far as he was concerned.

He'd made up his mind to go out and betray the Son of God. Back in chapter 12, verse 23, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. What hour? Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die.

The hour of His crucifixion. Back in our text, John 13, verse 33, He speaks of His departure. He's going away. Where? To the cross, and then He's going to be ascended. He's going to be raised, and then ascend to the right hand of the Father.

Now, Jesus Christ is to be glorified in His death and in His resurrection. Now, closely tied in with this is the nature of His glorification. I'm profoundly impressed with this, that our Lord should say in our text, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.

Now He is to be glorified in the act of crucifixion. He is to be glorified in the giving of Himself. He is to be glorified in the laying down of His life. He is to be glorified in the darkest hour of human history.

He is to be glorified in the darkest hour of His own experience, when the wrath of man was against Him, when all hell would be poured out upon Him, in that hour of diabolical hatred toward Jesus Christ.

He says, Now is the Son of Man glorified. I don't like those hours, do you, when they come to me. I don't like it when people don't agree with me, you know. I don't like it when persecution comes my way.

I don't like it when I'm at cross purposes with someone. I don't like this kind of ascending when I have trials and difficulties and problems, especially with people. The Lord says, Now is the Son of Man glorified.

Remember, James puts it this way. He counted all joy when he fell into divers testing, knowing that the trial of your faith has a purpose. He goes on to describe it. Now, our Lord is glorified also in resurrection.

Leave your finger here and turn over to Philippians chapter two, that great text on the exaltation of Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter two, verse five, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

What was that mind? Full being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, that is, emptied himself and took upon him the form of a born slave, and was made in the likeness of men.

Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, the most shameful, disgraceful kind of death known to man. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Finish it to the glory of God, the Father. You and I will never understand what it meant for the Son of God to come to earth. There was no room for him in the inn. We shall not understand what it meant for him to live there among men, and have them pick him up and throw him over the cliff.

Despised and rejected of men, we cannot appreciate what it meant for the Son of God to be accused of casting out demons in the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. We cannot understand, never will understand, the agony of the garden, where he sweat as it were great drops of blood, the anticipated holiness, infinite holiness, in contact with deity and sin.

Then never, never, never, never will we understand Calvary, where Jesus Christ calls out to God the Father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For in that moment God the Father laid on him all the rot, all the rebellion, all the revolution, all the debauchery of mankind.

God the Father laid on him the iniquity of his own. That's the mind of Christ, but that's only part of it. Therefore God hath highly exalted him. Give him a name that's above every name. Jesus is the sweetest name I know.

Now, our text tells us back in John 13, verse 31, that God is glorified in him, and if God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself. You see, the Father is glorified in the Son in all this.

How is the Father glorified in the Son? By means of the Son manifesting the glory of the Father. When we look at Calvary, we see the love of God. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

When we look at Calvary, we see the mercy of God as the thief, the penitent thief, cries, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord Jesus, the Savior, in mercy says, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

The grace of God is seen in Jesus Christ at Calvary. When he cried out, it is finished. What was finished? A perfect and complete and eternal redemption for all mankind. The Father glorified in the Son.

Humanity’s Chief End Is to Glorify God

What's this mean to us tonight? I go back in my mind to Psalm 19, and hear the psalmist declare, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament show us his handiwork. Look and you'll see the glory of God.

I turn to Isaiah, and let's take time to turn there. Isaiah chapter 42, Isaiah chapter 42, one of the great texts on this subject in the Bible. Isaiah 42 verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to carved images.

The New Scopio translates. Chapter 43 verses 6 and 7, I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone who is called by my name, for I have created him.

Why? Tell me. For my glory. Our Presbyterian brethren are right when they wrote the Catechism, and said the chief end of man is to glorify God. What are Texans? I turn in my mind to the New Testament, and read those precious words in Roman for all his sins.

Why? We've come short of what? The glory of God. Not short of man's moral standards, not short of man's situational ethics, short of the glory of God. And I jump to 1 Corinthians 6, and hear Paul write, what, knowing not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you, but you have of God, and you're not your own, for you're bought with a price.

Therefore what? Glorify God in your body and in your spirits, which are God's. And in chapter 11 of the same epistle, he says, whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to what? Glory of God.

Paul gives his own testimony to the Galatians, and says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's glory. The very first subject of concern of our Lord to his disciples is his glory.

The first concern of you and me, his disciples, is to be his glory. Period. God created me for his glory. God's given me a family for his glory. He's given me a house for his glory, a car for his glory, a bank account for his glory, stocks and bonds for his glory, park of the palms for his glory, a ministry for his glory, everything for his glory.

That's it. Nothing else matters. Nothing. Amen? Amen. And when we get to glory, we're going to be around the throne, and we're going to sing praise and honor and glory to him who sitteth on that throne.

Praise shall be his forever and ever and ever and ever. I ask you a question tonight. As I ask myself the same question, are you, am I living totally and completely and absolutely for the glory of God?

And is everything that I am and everything that I possess all to the glory of God? Or am I living unto myself rather than unto him who died for me and rose again? The nature of the human heart, verse John 2, is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life.

Isn't that right? Satan's sin was pride, wasn't it? He made that same appeal in the Garden of Eden, where you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. It was his same appeal to Jesus Christ in the Mount of Temptation.

Why, cast thee, turn these stones into bread, get up on the top of the pinnacle, and cast thyself down. Display! Satan hasn't changed. Think of the glitter and the glamour tonight, all to the world that attracts people to people.

Christ’s Departure to the Cross and the Father

God's concerned. God looks down into your heart and mind tonight and knows the answer to our question, do I live to the glory of God? The second concern of our Lord in our text tonight, John 13, verse 33, is his departure.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, where I go ye cannot come. So now I say unto you, the time has come when he must announce his departure.

He addresses them as little children, technia, the only time here this word is used, born ones, dear ones, his own. I have news that will sadden your heart, and all the way through the Upper Room Discourse, our Lord talks about his departure, and we shall see tomorrow morning, Lord willing, that of these three announcements, Peter picks up this one, Lord you're going away, what in the world do you mean by this?

There's nothing I hate to do more than to tell folks I'm changing ministries, leaving. When we had to announce to the folk in Birmingham last April that we were leaving, a most difficult experience. People don't like to talk about this, and our Lord here says, yet a little while I'm with you, just a while longer now.

Ye shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, where I go ye cannot come. Where's he going? To the cross. Why can't they go with him? Same reason the High Priest of the Old Testament went alone into the Holy of Holies once a year, there with blood to sprinkle upon the mercy seat.

No one else was to go there save the High Priest alone. Our Lord must go to the cross of Calvary alone, and there suffer and die in our stead. He goes alone. We shall go on in verse 36 tomorrow morning, Lord willing, and see that our Lord is going on back to the Father.

The New Commandment to Love One Another

He's leaving them. He must now tell them, and he has much to say about this in the chapters which follow his departure. Now is the time to announce it. The third announcement, verses 34 and 35, the announcement of a new commandment, and I love this.

He starts with his glory, then says, I'm leaving you. He starts with his glory. He's to be glorified in his death and resurrection. Now I'm going to leave you. In my absence, I leave you with a responsibility.

In my absence, there is to be activity on your part. In my absence, here's an assignment. What is it? A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. All the while I'm gone, here's your job.

All the while I'm gone, all the time I'm absent, from my departure until my return, a new commandment I give unto you. Notice it's singular. It's singular, a new commandment. I am here wrapping up every responsibility you have between now and my return.

I like things simple, don't you? My wife says I'm going to have a heart attack trying to simplify things. I'm going to die trying to get things simple. Well, I like them simple. I find that the Lord's principles are simple.

That's right, very simple. Here it is. He wraps all of man's responsibility into one four-letter English word. Why like that? A new commandment. Oh, do you see the importance of this commandment? It's the first one.

It's the first thing he talks about after he talks about his glory and departure. The first responsibility he gives to man in this one simple statement engulfs everything. A new commandment. What is the nature of this new commandment?

Vechi love. Vechi love. It's that wonderful Greek verb, agapato, the noun agape. It's the word that speaks of the preciousness of its object. We love because of the value. It's the verb of John 3 .16.

God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten son. You and I look at the world and see sin, rebellion, wickedness, distrust, jealousy, murder, theft, rape, wickedness. You and I see drunkenness and debauchery.

We see a world like that. Our Lord sees a world so precious that he sent his son to die for it. He hated their sin. He loved their souls so much that he gave his son the preciousness of the object. You and I were so precious to the Lord that he gave him to die for us.

You and I were so precious to the Savior that he laid down his life for us. That very word our Lord uses for our relationship to one another, which you love. He didn't say we had to agree. Isn't that good?

Boy, that's great. That lets us off a big hook before we start, doesn't it? There's a man in this house that agrees with me on everything. I've got the best wife in all the world. Isn't that right, gentlemen?

Amen. Did you hear that? That fellow's in trouble. Yes, sir, boy. Well, he gets home. He must be single. All right. See, we don't agree on everything. This text does not say we have to agree. It does say we have to what?

There's a world of difference. There's a world of difference. My wife thinks that text in Ephesians ought to be wives being objections to your own husbands. It's a mistranslation of the text. Oh, no, it isn't.

Of course, she's teasing. Hmm? Honey, when you love me as Christ loves the church, I'll submit to you. That isn't what it says either, is it? Nor does it say I'm to love her if she submits to me. That isn't what it says either.

I am to obey. I am to obey. What am I to do? Love. The issue is not whether I like what you do, whether I like the way you part your hair, the way you cut your hair. You like the way I cut mine? Boy, mine's different anymore, isn't it?

Boy, mine's out of style, out of date. I tried to let it grow a little while ago and got as unruly as my carnal nature, so we just went back and had it cut off again, you know. Some people don't like it.

It's not long enough. You know, it doesn't get down to hair, you know. You like my coat tonight? It was given to me. Maybe it's not conservative enough, is it? Some dear lady in Birmingham gave it to me.

Tie and everything. Hmm? You have to love me anyway. See? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Saves a great word, isn't it? Got an assignment for you till the Lord comes. Love. It's present tense, which means in the Greek, not present in time, but continuity.

I'm to go on and keep on and ever love everybody. That's what it says. Yeah, but you don't know some of the folks here at Park of the Palms. Well, maybe I don't, but I know what the text says. You don't know my neighbors, but I know what the text says.

Because you don't know about my kids and the way they've been acting, and you don't. But that's what the text says. The text says to love. You see, my spirituality is not to depend upon you, in your character, or your attitude, or your thinking, or anything.

Now, here's something that's superior to all that. Here's the love of Christ itself, that can love a Saul of Tarsus, and can love a woman of Samaria, and can love a woman of John 8, taking on the act of adultery.

And oh, here's a Lord that can just love anybody and everybody enough to die for them. Now, what are the objects of this love? He says one another. Saints. He's talking to disciples, and he says to disciples, you're to love each other.

How about that? I have a lady in Birmingham who talks about the saints, and by that designation she means the unsaintly saints. Have any of those around here? Don't answer that. If it's normal, you do.

If people are people, you do. Huh? Always unsaintly saints. Told you last night, meet them wherever I've been. Every so often I see one in the mirror, sneaks in on me. Huh? Amen. Amen, brother, that's right.

Yeah, but you know the saints around here. Boy, I had a saint in my church in Dallas, Texas some years ago. I was preaching to the book of Leviticus, and I was calling a spade a spade. I was trying to help the young people back in those days, even before the sex revolution.

We talked about fornication and adultery. I talked about it and spoke strongly as the Bible did on the subject, and felt that I was trying to help them in every way. And the next day I got a telephone call from one of the elders of my church.

Preacher, you young upstart preacher, what in the world are you talking about? Talking like that and preaching like that on Sunday morning? And he went on and on, and if telephone lines could sizzle, that line would have flared.

After he finally ran down, it was my turn. And then I said, and now brother? And at that moment, down went the telephone. The rascal. This text says I'm supposed to love him. That's right. One time we had a problem in the same church, and the problem was that I made an announcement one Sunday.

I was brand new from the North, and the announcement I made was, we're going to have a Fourth of July picnic, and bring your bathing suits. The next night we had a Sunday school officers and teachers meeting at the Parsons.

And after the meeting, one young man stood by and said, what do you mean by that announcement yesterday morning? I said, what announcement? You know. I said, no, I don't. Yes, you do, he said. I said, no, I don't.

What announcement? Tell me. That one about the picnic. What about the picnic? I was as green as grass. What about the swimming? What about the swimming? Well, this business of bringing your bathing suits.

What about bringing the bathing suits? Well, before I was saved, he said, when we went swimming, I went swimming for the last of it. I said, don't ever go swimming again. That's real simple. Nobody's ever told me that there were people down in the Southland who didn't believe in mixed bathing, they called it.

I suggest the terminology mixed swimming. It's so much better. So we talked together, he said, our family's quitting the church. He said, there's another family that was offended, they're quitting the church.

My heart sank. So the next night I went to see this family, sat down with him and his wife and explained from my innocency that I had no intention of this thing, that I had no background for this. I was new in the South and this, that and the other, and tried to explain the best I could and told them our responsibility is to love each other.

And got nowhere. He said, well, I'm sorry. We just feel that we've lost all confidence in you and we'll be leaving the church. I went the next day to the other brother. The other brother had such confidence in the ministry of the word that he drove 75 miles one way on Thursday nights to hear me teach.

And now he's taking his family out of the church, they're through, going by to see him. Brother, so and so, I'm so sorry this happened. I wouldn't have offended you for the world and I meant it with all my heart.

Well, he said, I'm sorry, this is worse than adultery. Imagine making a statement like that. Those young preachers do that. So I kept explaining to our brother our responsibility is to love each other.

And though we may not agree on this or that, I need to study this out. This is a new concept to me. This is brand new to me and so on. Sorry, we just sit there in the church on Sunday morning and call you a hypocrite.

I'm sorry we're through. I don't think they even said, I'm sorry, we're just through. So I said, well, brother, so and so, let's pray before we go. He said, you're not praying in my house. And I walked out of that house with my head between my legs.

God showed me something that day. By the way, the end of that story is that we were back in their home, wonderful fellowship they came to the church. And later on, the Lord worked things out as if things had never happened.

Praise the Lord. What did God teach me that day? There's something far more important than agreeing with a brother. That seeing eye to eye on any given issue, I don't care how big or small or strategic or significant it is, my first responsibility is what?

To love. And that was worth all the heartache in those days with a dear brother in Christ, was to see this lesson that my first responsibility is to love. Now notice the quality of his love. He does not say here, like he did in the Old Testament, that I'm to love with all my heart.

He does not say here, I'm to love my neighbor as myself. Here's why it's new. It's new in quality. What's new about it? I'm to love, said Jesus, as I have loved you. Well, how much did he love me? Enough to die for me.

Enough to die for me. And he says in this verse that I'm to love you enough to die for you. That's exactly what he says. Let me turn it around. You're to love me enough to die for me. That's exactly what it says.

Greater loveth no man than this, that a man what? Lay down his life for his friend. You're my friend. Chapter 15. This is great, I tell you. No wonder Paul in 1 Corinthians says the greatest of these is what?

Love. Same word. This will work. This will work for you, for me. This will work at Park of the Palms. This will work in your church. This will work in your community where you live, where you're from.

This will work in your family with your neighbors, with your enemies. That's right. Where do I get this kind of love? The fruit of the Spirit is love. This is divine, isn't it? This is supernatural, isn't it?

God is love. God is love. As we shall see in chapter 15, Lord willing, when we abide in him, Christ actually lives. There's that marvelous infinite love of which we're speaking here. The love that caused Jesus Christ to die for a Peter and to die for a Thomas and to die for a Judas caused him, as we saw last night, to present that sock to Judas Iscariot and mean it.

How do I get this love? By faith. I claim it. I claim it. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. I received him by faith, so I walk in him by faith. And as I walk step by step, moment by moment, I claim the love of Christ.

And I'll have within me something that's supernatural, something that's humanly inexplainable. I'll know something of the length and the depth, the height and the breadth of the love of Christ which passes knowledge.

I can take you to a lady in a certain town in America who knows that six nights a week his wife is out, her husband is out in a motel with some other woman, and on Monday night of every week he's home.